I finished “Parade’s End.” It’s a wonderful book, a bit of a hard go, but worth it in the end. I also read the new Kathy Reich book “Bones are Forever.” I am now reading Nigel Cawthorne’s A Brief Guide to Sherlock Holmes, and Lucy Worsley’s “If Walls Could Talk: An Intimate History of the Home.”

Bill1978 said

Well I have finally finished The Expected One and even though it finsihed with the set up for a sequel I have no inclination to search it out and read it. There was a small section in the book that was thrilling, but the author decided that wasn’t the path she wanted to take and so dropped it as soon as it raised its head.

My main isssues with the book is that in hindsight the Da Vinci code like link to paintings really serves no purpose to the overall story at all. Or at least the author doesn’t fully link to how these artworks really do help prove her story. I think the big issue with the book is at no point does it fully explain why Mary Magdelene hid her Gosepels. All that is haped about is how the Catholic Church and the evil cult of John The Baptis don’t want anyone to find it cause it might mean….I have no idea.

The other aspect that drove me nuts is that the main character is discovered to be the one who is able to find Mary’s Gospels because apparently that’s what Mary wanted to do. But nowhere in the book are we presented with Mary hiding the books and making this claim to show them to a certain person when the world needs the books. For all I know the main character may be the reincarnated soul of Mary which would go against Church taching anyway, so it can’t be that. For a book that the author is asking me to treat as factual, its almost like she went out of the wya to make me doubt the whole story as I find the whole search for the book, the whole secret society thing so far fetched and a lame rip off of The Da Vinci Code it’s not even funny.

And when we are presented with Mary’s 2 books (even though we are told with 3) it reads like the author just had Jesus Christ Superstar playing in the background. I know they are covering the same story as what is in the bible, but I just couldn’t shake off the feeling that the real story is plagiarising from a popular musical.

She also wants us to be shocked to discover that Mary was married to Jesus and had kids. That honestly wouldn’t surprise me so no shock. And then she presented stuff about Jesus telling Judas to portray him so the God’s plan can be achieved. Apparently this is shocking, I’ve always believed that Jesus told Judas to ‘betray’ him maybe I’ve been visited by Judas as a kid and I need to tell his story.

Oh and there is this terrible romantic scene between the main character and another character where I accidently let out a giggle and groan at the same time with how Mills & Boon it got and to be honest came out of nowhere. It was borderline Twilight with it’s sappiness.

So after read a ‘true’ ficitional book, I’ve decided to dive head first into a fiction piece that claims to be fiction and hopefully a thrilling run read. The Maya Codex by Adrian d’Hage. Hopefully its a fun romp through the end of the world 2012 style. It’s part of a trilogy. Hopefully more Matthew Reilly than the crap I just finished reading.

Hi Bill. It looks as if another papyrus has been found that claims Jesus and Mary were married and that she was to be a disciple. This may not shock us, but the Catholic church won’t like it. This was on the wire this morning:
http://www.reuters.com/article…..0520120919

Olga said

I’m having a break and reading Noel Streatfeild, I picked up a couple of books op-shopping. Thursday’s Child, and White boots. They’re gorgeous.

Harper Collins is asking what everyone’s favourite line from Bring Up the Bodies is. I asked who decided to release the book during the week of the anniversary of the murder of six innocent people. I think they might remove my remark *publisher rant over for the day*

I loved White Boots too. I have read Thursdays Child but can’t remember much about it. Some of my favourite books are childrens books. Ballet Shoes, The Phoenix and the Carpet, Wind in the Willows…lovely!
By the way, my favourite line in Bring up the Bodies was ‘The End’.

Louise said
By the way, my favourite line in Bring up the Bodies was ‘The End’.

I read Wind in the Willows for the first time this year. I had only read the abridged picture books when I was a kid. I fell in love with it so much I kept putting it down and then picking it back up when I was getting towards the end. Then I bought all the sequels by William Horwood.
I love reading children’s books, there is something soothing about them.

I did of course mean illustrations!

Olga said

Harper Collins is asking what everyone’s favourite line from Bring Up the Bodies is. I asked who decided to release the book during the week of the anniversary of the murder of six innocent people. I think they might remove my remark *publisher rant over for the day*

Well come on Olga and tell us what you really think!
I decided to pass on Bring Up the Bodies. I had thought about reading Wolf Hall and BUTB, but then I remembered my run of luck when it comes to most modern best sellers — I usually hate them in the end. (I’m thankful that the Amazon sneak peek of ‘Fifty Shades of Grey’ gave me a hint of what a poorly written novel it appears to be). Plus that, I didn’t have much interest in reading a fan-girl version of the life of Thomas Cromwell — someone I’ve never liked in Tudor history; finally, BUTB appeared to be a salute to historical fiction as brought to you by She-Who-Shall-Not-Be-Named and the “I know it’s fiction, but let me twist the truth just enough to confuse people even more” genre. (Carolly Erickson’s recent novel on Jane Seymour also seems to fit that bill).

I forgot about ‘A Little Princess’. I loved that too. Actually, when I moved house about 7 years ago I found my copy of it. Unfortunately it had a sticker on it from my primary school library. I don’t think I intentionally pinched it!

Tillall2none, good on you for taking on War and Peace, it’s full on! I read it when i was 20, and i have to admit, i sometimes skipped through the ‘war’ parts to get to the ‘peace’ parts. Who is your favourite character? My name is Natasha so id have to say she is, she is pretty flawed like me, my husbands name was andrew and if our daughter had not been a girl she would have been Anatole, not Ava….
I have been lucky, ive just had some surgery 8 weeks ago so have had the oppurtunity to read many books. I read the Other Boleyn Girl, i really enjoyed it, especially after reading The Red Queen, which im sad to say i didnt like. The last one i read was A Farewell to Arms by hemmingway, and i really loved that one. I read Hemmingway In love and war a few years ago so it was a really interesting journey for me. I spent the whole book thinking about him and his opinions of himself and the love that got botched between him and the enigmatic agnes von curewsky. I have to say, after i read In love and War i think she sounded a bit of a bitch, and i felt sorry for him, and then when i read Farewell, i felt so heartbroken. Not just for the main character but for Hemmingway in his youth, he seems to have been effected profoundly not so much by the war, but the broken heart he suffered.
Im a writer myself, and am writing a novel at the moment called “the dog days” so reading anything is good for me, although i need quality in what i read. Otherwise i think it’s like eating macdonalds instead of a decent nutrition rich flavoursome meal….