Theatre Board Book Group

For anyone who saw and loved The Revenant, the 2002 novel written by Michael Punke on which the film is based is an awesome companion!

Just started Brian Cox's memoir of playing Lear. Seems to be leaning more towards the gossipy than the serious actOR, which I appreciate.

Bedtime reading is by the witty and sharp 'sage of Baltimore', HL Mencken, in The Vintage Mencken (1990) gathered by the late Letter from America radio reporter Alistair Cooke back in 1955. A man who used a wider vocabulary than many of his peers, Mencken had much to say about the country he observed.

I started reading that as a temporary break from the magnificent biography Cain by Roy Hoopes. James M Cain wrote The Postman Always Rings Twice, Double Indemnity and Mildred Pierce, all turned into famous noirish thrillers by Hollywood and then some later remade too, among many novels and much journalism.

Reading on my London Underground journeys at present, is a play script of a production about footballers I missed at the Royal Court when it was staged there in 2014, The Pass by John Donnelly.

I think I'm two behind - last one I read was The Governor's Wife which was a glorified American politics essay and bored me rigid.  I used to shell out for his hardbacks too!  Not many authors I'd do that for.  

Was the standalone, The Case Against William any good?  Looks more like his old stuff and it's hovering in my Amazon basket at the moment.

^ You might have just convinced me to buy it samuelwhiskers . I am intrigued to find someone who whinges more than I do!

Can't wait to read the first volume of Andrew Lloyd Webber's autobiography " Unmasked" which I believe is published by Harper Collins on 6th March next year.

I recently read Black Widow, my first Brookmyre, and struggled a bit with it.  Might give him another go then.

I've just read "A Handful of Ashes" which is the second in the Dr Harry Kent series written, believe it or not, by a London medical student under the pseudonym Rob McCarthy.  It's probably worth reading the first one, The Hollow Men, beforehand, which is also good but 'Ashes' is much better I think.  Lots of medical jargon but done in such a way for us peasants to understand.  A bit like reading an episode of Grey's Anatomy or The Night Shift.  Forensic pathologist teams up with police DCI to solve a suicide that he suspects isn't a suicide ....you get the idea.

East West Street by Philippe Sands. About the two lawyers who thought up the legal terms, 'crimes against humanity' and 'genocide' . Gripping story of their lives and author's family's life focused on Lemberg, Lvov, Lviv in WWII and has account of the Nuremberg Trials. Excellent book. (Not to be flippant but it could inspire at least two Spielberg movies with parts for Mark Rylance..)

Thought some of you might like to do this. It's really hard choosing just one and I'm sure my nomination won't make the short list anyway, as it's certain to be full of fantasy stuff, but I'm going to have a go.

Trouble is, what to choose? I want to choose a book that had a massive impact on me at the time of reading. With this in mind I have a few.

Five on a Treasure Island.  When I was 10 I was sick with excitement on the day I was going on my first guide camp. I was taking an overnight train and I woke up the morning of departure with long hours to wait and each minute feeling like a week. I'd been given this book for Christmas and it was sitting untouched in my bedroom. Well, I picked it up and read it in one sitting. The day flew past as I was so engrossed and it was definitely my introduction to the crime books I love today.

The Thorn Birds. Just wow. I remember browsing in WH Smiths and a lady standing next to me started waxing lyrical about how wonderful this book was. She convinced me to buy it and I have since read it many times. Sadly, it is one of those books that maybe doesn't do subsequent readings so well and I feel jealous of anyone who is reading it for the first time.

Or do I go for Roald Dahl's The Twits? I have read this so many times to the various kids I've taught as it is such a great book to suck them into reading as it's so naughty and funny and a bit off the wall.

Still on the children's theme, Wonder by RJ Palacio is a book that should be read by everyone over the age of 9 instead of that Harry Thingamy rubbish. A beautiful book about a facially disfigured child that made me cry, mucho.

The Pillars of the Earth. I just loved this, from the informative stuff about building cathedrals back in the 12th century to the cast of characters from good to bad to evil to beyond evil.  A monumental saga that had me riveted. Absolutely brilliant stuff.

Hmm. Not sure. But I love Richard Osman's world cup of various things, so I will be nominating something.  I'd love to know what other people are nominating. 

Having watched Christopher Nolan-shaped hit film Dunkirk on a cinema screen recently, I was intrigued enough on seeing a secondhand copy of a play text that seemed to shed another light on war-related events in 1940, to buy it and start reading. Three Days in May, written by Ben Brown and produced by Bill Kenwright, premiered at the Theatre Royal, Windsor, and may well have toured elsewhere. It is about the British War Cabinet-level conflict that occurred over whether to fight on or do a deal with Hitler. Did anyone here ever see the play when it was staged and if so how did it come across to the audience you were in?

I saw it at Trafalgar Studios. Warren Clarke played Churchill. My memory is it was very good, though I can't remember too many details now, other than it being a battle of wills between Churchill and (I think) Lord Halifax, who was in favour of negotiating a surrender. Churchill was portrayed as being much less sure about fighting on than legend would have us believe - whether that was based on truth or was an invention of the writer I've no idea - and in a sense that gave the story a bit more depth and helped it be something more than just flag-waving "bulldog spirit" stuff.