Of course I would never read a novel, but Rachel means "lamb of God" in the bible so this character must be good. See double entendre by the author, Mark. 

Tommy The First

I bought Rebecca recently but won't read it for a while. The 1979 BBC TV version was very good with the great Jeremy Brett (Sherlock Holmes) as Maxim and a winsome Joanna David as the second Mrs De Winter.

Not sure a moustache suited Jeremy Brett.

Now that was a bit different, wasn't it. They used a lot of Ghoul lighting in the picture.

Down here we call that kind of filming "noir".  It is characterized by the use of shadows, low lighting and almost always has a femme fatale.  And they are usually crime dramas.  I do like the term "ghoul lighting", though.

If you look at most of the old horror movies in black and white they all did it so that's where the term ghoul lighting comes from. It made people look more scarier than the make-up could do alone. I learned the term when doing photography and learning different lighting effects to use.

Did you take photography classes Pete? 

Did you take photography classes Pete? 

I did a lot of self study and purchased a couple of sets of  kodak books but also had a professional phographer for a close friend who taught it in the military as his trade. He did a lot of the portrait pictures of the Govennor Generals of Canada and higher ups in Ottawa. He had top of the line equipment and taught me developing etc because he had a photo lab for his office. I didn't pay for film which was a big bonus because it's expensive to buy as just a hobbist like I was. At one time I had 3 umbrellas and four flash units set up on tri-pods doing family photos. My family hated me because I was always clicking. The only one that let me away with it in the end was my youngest daughter.

Did you take photography classes Pete? 

I did a lot of self study and purchased a couple of sets of  kodak books but also had a professional phographer for a close friend who taught it in the military as his trade. He did a lot of the portrait pictures of the Govennor Generals of Canada and higher ups in Ottawa. He had top of the line equipment and taught me developing etc because he had a photo lab for his office. I didn't pay for film which was a big bonus because it's expensive to buy as just a hobbist like I was. At one time I had 3 umbrellas and four flash units set up on tri-pods doing family photos. My family hated me because I was always clicking. The only one that let me away with it in the end was my youngest daughter.

Yepper, the old family album & now everyone suffers thru selfies...............whether we want to or not. Strike a pose.

My current read is Churchill, Walking With Destiny by Andrew Roberts & I learned a new Brit word................"tiffin." I shall now amaze by barfly friends around noon tomorrow & revel them with my knowledge & vocabulary. 

Stand by for a Churchill centenary tomorrow.     

Did you take photography classes Pete? 

I did a lot of self study and purchased a couple of sets of  kodak books but also had a professional phographer for a close friend who taught it in the military as his trade. He did a lot of the portrait pictures of the Govennor Generals of Canada and higher ups in Ottawa. He had top of the line equipment and taught me developing etc because he had a photo lab for his office. I didn't pay for film which was a big bonus because it's expensive to buy as just a hobbist like I was. At one time I had 3 umbrellas and four flash units set up on tri-pods doing family photos. My family hated me because I was always clicking. The only one that let me away with it in the end was my youngest daughter.

Yepper, the old family album & now everyone suffers thru selfies...............whether we want to or not. Strike a pose.

With me ending up with family pictures right back to when photo taking first came out, it greatly helped me when doing the family tree. With me in my 70's now and to have photos of great great grandparents born in 1810, that alone covers 210 years of family history.

Now that we're approaching the dark side of the year, does anyone have a list prepared for the winter reading goals?

I've found a Stanton and Barling murder mystery set in the 12th century.  Barling is a clerk to one of Henry II's justices, de Glanville, and Stanton is a (no-good, heavy ale drinking, womanizing) messenger who goes along with him as one of the "King's Men" to investigate and solve murders.  The review promises historical accuracy regarding the laws Henry has just enacted -- a new system not entirely approved of by all the justices.

Now that we're approaching the dark side of the year, does anyone have a list prepared for the winter reading goals?

I've found a Stanton and Barling murder mystery set in the 12th century.  Barling is a clerk to one of Henry II's justices, de Glanville, and Stanton is a (no-good, heavy ale drinking, womanizing) messenger who goes along with him as one of the "King's Men" to investigate and solve murders.  The review promises historical accuracy regarding the laws Henry has just enacted -- a new system not entirely approved of by all the justices.

Churchill Walking With Destiny by Andrew Roberts, over 1,000 pages will take me thru most of the winter. 

I've just started The Present and the Past by Ivy Compton-Burnett. With a name like that you'd think she wrote children's stories or twee moral tales; she does write family dramas but dark unsettling ones.

I'm off to Hay-on-Wye next month to stock up on more books. 

Which American (Canadian even) novelists can you recommend I look out for in Hay-on-Wye? My favourite US writers are F Scott Fitzgerald, Edith Wharton and Henry James, although he can be a little turgid. Using those as a guide which classic authors should I read?

Other than those three I have a feeling that most US novelists wrote about crime or life on the prairie, not really my thing. 

Which American (Canadian even) novelists can you recommend I look out for in Hay-on-Wye? My favourite US writers are F Scott Fitzgerald, Edith Wharton and Henry James, although he can be a little turgid. Using those as a guide which classic authors should I read?

Other than those three I have a feeling that most US novelists wrote about crime or life on the prairie, not really my thing. 

Hemingway, Twain, Steinbeck, & Kyle Onstott. 

Oops, forgot about the Canadian contributions................Sgt. Preston, Dudley DoRight.

Of those Steinbeck and Hemingway seem the most likely. I'll give one or both a go.

I've just started The Present and the Past by Ivy Compton-Burnett. With a name like that you'd think she wrote children's stories or twee moral tales; she does write family dramas but dark unsettling ones.

I'm off to Hay-on-Wye next month to stock up on more books. 

I've given up on The Present and the Past, rather tedious, at least I know not to buy any more Compton-Burnett. 

I'll read some F Scott Fitzgerald short stories before I go to Hay next week. 

Shula, you mentioned Project Gutenberg a while ago. In Hay I bought East Lynne by Mrs Henry Wood. It was her second novel published in 1861, she went on to write over 40 more averaging two a year until her death in 1887. Her genre was the sensation novel so popular in the Victorian era. I've read a few by other authors in that style and some are...........err.........sensational to say the least, unconvincingly so. But so far East Lynne, after the first 170 pages, hasn't descended into the farcical that some others have, in fact it's on a par with the works of such contemporaries as Wilkie Collins or even Anthony Trollope 

East Lynne is by far her most famous and the only one still in print, barring "on demand" reprints. It has been dramatized on stage and screen several times, yet all her others are forgotten. But most, if not all, are available through Gutenberg, it really is a great resource for out of print works. 

Thank you for that, Mark. 

An aside:  Have you seen the movie The Ninth Gate?  Loosely based on The Club Dumas by Arturo Perez-Reverte. 

No, not heard of it let alone seen it. It looks kinda creepy.  

This is not about a book, but about a future book -- if I can find it.  I've just learned about a work of historical fiction by author J. Boyce Gleason titled Anvil of God.  It is about Charles Martel a/k/a "The Hammer".  So I did some research on the guy. 

As the garrison lay smoldering, Charles went on the strategic offensive. Leaving his siege train and a garrison of locals in Avignon, he crossed the Rhône with 10,000 men, bypassed Muslim-occupied Nîmes and fast marched west along the Mediterranean coast to Narbonne. He found the Moorish relief army in a fortified camp just outside the city walls. The Franks surrounded Narbonne and the camp with earthworks and built fortifications along the banks of the Aude to thwart waterborne assault. Charles then had his engineers build battering rams and catapults for an assault on either Narbonne or the camp.

He "surrounded the camp with earthworks and built fortifications along the banks" and "then had his engineers build battering rams and catapults"?  Really?  Just how long do you suppose this building took?  My mind is swirling with thinking about how long these campaigns really were.  I grow yarrow which was used in ancient times to staunch wounds.  I read that at one time one could track the path of the Roman army by where the yarrow grew.  So it would appear to me that apothecaries were sent ahead to grow the medicine cabinet.  You guys really plan ahead when you have your mind set on war.