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Which AB group are you a member of?
Oh and here's another suggestion, from my blog:
'Tis the season to be reading. Tonight's suggestion: The Saga of King Hrolf Kraki. But it IS the perfect Yuletide read. Firstly because a lot of the Christmas imagery and symbols we have come from Norse mythology. Secondly because many of the events of the saga are set during Yule (Christmas' ancestor), from the supernatural visits of elvish women to the attack of a monster who plunders the cattles of king Hrolf. Oh and it has berserkers. And it is about time we bring berserkers back to the season. Oh yes and Bödvar Bjarki is a really cool hero that deserves to be better known. I actually preferred this saga to Beowulf and maybe even The Saga of the Volsungs.
I'm a member of The International Anthony Burgess Foundation Facebook Group, run by Burgess biographer Andrew Biswell who I think is also the director of the foundation.
I'm a member of that one too. In fact I know Andrew Biswell.
Yes, I think I spotted you on there a while ago somehow, possibly through your blog. That's great you know Andrew Biswell. He's the leading expert on the life and works of Anthony Burgess.
Yes I know. His biography was really great and an eye opener.
Anyway, another reading suggestion, taken from my blog:
'Tis the season to be reading. And here comes my very first new Christmas reading suggestion this year. A Scandinavian Christmas: Festive Tales for a Nordic Noël. An anthology of Christmas stories by Scandinavian writers, old and contemporary, famous and less famous. There's so much to love in there. Classic tales, some with tragic endings (you know the ones), you also take a detour via Ancient Rome with the Nativity as seen by Emperor Augustus in a mystical experience (Selma Lagerlof's The Emperor's Vision). But my favourite Vigdis Hjorth's Christmas Eve, about a alcoholic mother trying to satisfy her addiction and hide it at the same time. Showing the dark side of the season in all its bleak simplicity, it is a haunting piece. Anyway, the Scandinavians pretty much invented Yuletide, so you can't go wrong with this one.
'Tis the season to be reading (fa lala, lala..) For today's Christmastime reading suggestion, Cassandra Darke by Posy Simmonds. Apparently, it is a very freely adapted adaptation of Dicken's Christmas Carol. I must confess, while I did see a good bit of Scrooge in the main character, the parallels between the two works are not that obvious. This graphic novel (with emphasis on the novel bit, as there is a lot of text) stands on its own and the Dickensian source material is more easily identifiable when you read it a second time. But I digress. The action is set from one Christmas season to another. Title characer Cassandra Darke is an elderly art dealer, mean, ugly, selfish, arrogant, wealthy, utterly despicable. She loses her reputation and part of her fortune when she is recognised guilty of fraud. A year later, things go from bad to worse when she finds a gun in the basement where her ex lodger Nicki (who is also the daughter of Cassandra's stepsister and her ex-husband) used to live. This is a thriller with brains and heart, it is also a moral tale and a bit of a tragedy, with a protagonist who is not devoid of redeeming qualities... which might not be enough to save her soul, or her life.
A Scandinavian Christmas: Festive Tales for a Nordic Noël. An anthology of Christmas stories by Scandinavian writers, old and contemporary, famous and less famous. There's so much to love in there. Classic tales, some with tragic endings (you know the ones), you also take a detour via Ancient Rome with the Nativity as seen by Emperor Augustus in a mystical experience (Selma Lagerlof's The Emperor's Vision). But my favourite Vigdis Hjorth's Christmas Eve, about a alcoholic mother trying to satisfy her addiction and hide it at the same time. Showing the dark side of the season in all its bleak simplicity, it is a haunting piece. Anyway, the Scandinavians pretty much invented Yuletide, so you can't go wrong with this one.
It is one of the early Ed McBain's 87th Precinct novels (the third in fact) title The Pusher. It starts like this: "Winter came in like an anarchist with a bomb". It's the perfect crime fiction read for both the Season and the season. It has a merciless urban setting, plenty of violence, drug abuse, blood on snow and a Christmas miracle or two. I don't want to give anything away, but the afterword gives some details about the origins of said miracle. One of my favourite Christmastime reads.
One of my personal Yuletide pleasures: reading OHMSS by my parents' Christmas tree, while my son is playing with the model train (LGB). In very snowy Québec.
You can also find it on YouTube.
This sounds like something I'd absolutely love. I only have read the Fleming novels, I'm afraid if I start with the continuation novels the completist in me wants to read them all, and there are so many of them :p
I'm not keen on continuators usually, but this notwithstanding it sounds perfectly Christmassee.
I'm surprised they haven't used snowmobiles more in Bond movies. Only in TWINE, as far as I can remember. And the last proper snowy environment we had was in SP. I think we're due for a return, especially since Bond films are now released around November.
You should definitely give it a go this Christmas. It's a great bond continuation novel with plenty of twists and turns and Bond in an unusual and unglamorous setting.
Yes, I know you don't care for the Bond continuation generally but Icebreaker is one of the better novels in the series. I'd highly recommend it as a Christmas read.
The PTS for AVTAK also has Bond snowboarding and on a skidoo in an icy setting. It would be nice to see Bond back skiing again and it is something of a tradition within the Bond films.
Yes true, AVTAK had one too. A shame it turned too comedic.
Right now I have a gigantic TBR list, mostly Christmas anthologies. I hope to have a Yuletide reading program more crime fiction and thriller orientated next year. Maybe I'll have a copy of Icebreaker then.
Another note: the techno thriller The Fifth Horseman is set during Christmastime and thus makes for a great Christmas read:
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Fifth_Horseman_(novel)
Although it must be very dated now, I enjoyed it back then.
It's a good one. One of my favourites from the Bond continuation. The snowplough scene is especially great as is the ice water torture scene. Gardner really got the bit between his teeth in this novel.
I hope you're able to get a copy of Icebreaker before next Christmas, @Ludovico. :)
John Gardner on location researching for Icebreaker.
I've checked online quickly. Not easy to find: the novel shares its title with a few romcoms. Might try my luck in second hand bookshops.
I'd be happy to send you a copy if you like? :)
Thanks. I'll first try to plough through my TBR pile (I peomised my wife I would behave with new books purchases), but will keep that in mind.
Another suggestion for those who love poetry: Carol Ann Duffy writes a Christmas poem every year. I love them, even though I'm not into poetry.
That's fine. :)
In terms of the Bond continuation novels I would start with the first and what I still consider the best, Kingsley Amis's Colonel Sun (1968). It was written and set in the 1960s shortly after Fleming's own Bond works so it has that authentic feel down pat. you might then want to move on to the two Christopher wood novelsiations as many fans feel Wood got the Fleming writing style better than anyone else. James Bond, The Spy Who Loved Me in particular has interesting added background on the likes of Stromberg (here his first name is Sigmund) and Jaws. Reading these novelisations feels like an expanded universe for the two Bond films they are based on. They also turn two of the sillier Bond films into a slightly more grounded Fleming story. After that I would try the first three John Gardner Bond continuation novels - Licence Renewed, For Special Services and Icebreaker to see if you like them. Just a few suggestions on where to start with the Bond continuations off the top of my head! :)