Margaret H. : forum comments they have written

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re: Spy Thrillers I see that I misspelled Manning Coles. His main character, Tommy Hambledon, has a sense of humor, and started his career during World War i (!) in Drink to Yesterday.. A substitute teacher in sixth grade read us part of one of them (Alias Uncle Hugo) and I was hooked. Len Deighton is also good, as is Desmond Bagley (his are more thrillers than spy novels). Michael Gilbert's books with Mr. Calder and Mr. Behrens are great - not enough of them! He might also like Gavin Lyall. Hmm - all the ones I like seem to be British authors and older books. Some of the more recent ones I've tried (Dan Brown comes to mind) made me so annoyed at the badly drawn charactres and ridiculous situations that I gave up reading them after a couple of chapters. There's someone named David Gibbins whose first book (Atlantis) was so unintentionally funny that i did read the whole thing - sort of like the old Doc Savage pulps only three times as thick, and with equally absurd technology. I think I'd better stop now before I dis someone's favorite writer. Margaret H. 12 years ago

re: Spy Thrillers Can you give an idea of which authors he's read and liked? I haven't read many recent spy thrillers, but there are a lot of older ones who I still re-read, like Simon Harvester, John Welcome, and Mannng Coles. Margaret H. 12 years ago

re: Looking for recommendations for Humor Books? Anything by Calvin Trillin, especially when he's writing about food: American Fried; Alice, Let's Eat; Third Helpings (collectively known as The Tummy Trilogy; Travels with Alice; Feeding a Yen. Or there's his novel about the New Yorker who finds the perfect parking place, Tepper Isn't Going Out. Also lots of books of funny political commentary and politically inclined poetry, which he writes as the Deadline Poet.. Margaret H. 12 years ago

re: Mystery / Thillers / Forensics Since you like Carl Hiaasen, you might enjoy Thomas Perry. Start with Metzger's Dog or The Butcher's Boy (which has a sequel). Then, if you like those, try his Jane Whitefield series, starting with Vanishing Act. When I was reading the first Lee Child book, it made me think of John D. MacDonald's Travis McGee books - they're oldies but still good. Margaret H. 12 years ago

re: Shogun for kids? I'd highly recommend Lian Hearn's Across the Nightingale Floor. It's first in a trilogy of what turned out to be, I think, five. It has some elements of 'real' historical Japan, and some slightly fantastical and imagined ones, and lots of action. Margaret H. 12 years ago