Sarah Waters - The Night Watch

oh, i love him, he's very northern .
m's milk was ok, not fantastic.

i know you liked mother's milk (I didn think the opening was one of the best I've ever read..but was sorely disappoitned wtih what followed..)

i heard a bit of sarf of the river read on R4 the other night, it sounded interesting

my other bedtime reading is a collection of simon armitage poems

i can seeeeeeeeeeee you bundy .

i am now reading south of the river by blake morrison. v. good so far, easy to read & interesting characters.

(don't bother with Mother's Milk btw, it was truly pants)

ahem
cod
are you me?
the last two books I read were:
last king of scotland
and
night watch

(btw i'm now reading inheritance of loss by kiran desai, hoxty has lent it to me. she's quite the most well-read person i know so far -it's Ok)

hmm i knwo a little light relief after that
prev one was "last king fo scotland" htat i loved.

need some more reccomendations

Ah well. Onwards and all that. I'm sure Piers will come up with the goods!

well i ploughed through it not giving a toss for nay of he charaacters tbh and htne htough why am i reading htis cos its dull

LM - why was it so "crap"? Or is that the extent of your analysis?!!

its crap i think

I've loved all of Sarah Waters' books, though found that The Night Watch was less magical than the others (don't know if that's the right way to describe it. What I mean is, I felt there were supernatural tones in the other books).

Thought The Night Watch had great historical detail (have read a lot of WW2 history, particularly from a social perspective) and was very evocative.

My only "complaint" is that I would have liked to known more about what became of the characters. Reading the story backwards, though it obviously helped explain the position of the characters at the start of the book, meant I knew right from when I began reading, that I would never know "what happened next" ..... so somehow was reading with a sense of disappointment, though I did enjoy the story for its own sake, if that makes sense ?

I was not that impressed, although I found it got better as it went on. All the characters are the same!

I think Sarah Waters is dying to write porn, and should just go write porn and get it out of her system, rather than feeling the need to construct vague plot and characters around the smut ...

There is a Booker List thread - we're all working our way through the list, I think ...

Have to admit I was a little disappointed with Tipping. It started off so well but I found the last quarter a bit hard to get my head around - was every woman in Victorian London gay???

Haven't read it yet, loved Fingersmith but am struggling a bit with Tipping the Velvet because it seems disappointing after Fingersmith.

DH read it in the summer and was completely hooked - stayed up late one summer night when he was home alone to finish it.

Loved it!! Very sad too though, and what brilliantly developed characters. Great idea to write it in reverse style, that was a bit different. Hope Ms Waters is back at her laptop soon. Have just got Affinity to read now. Am reading Joanne Harris then promised myself I'd do Jane Eyre. Anyone any new recommendations?

I've read all of hers apart from 'Tipping...' and think she is fabulous. I really loved Night Watch and am crosing everything that she wins the Booker. Bet she won't though.

Must enquire in my library if there is a local book club, it might make me get a move on and finish a bit sooner. Any on line book clubs anyone can recommend?

Marina - I live in a village up north, far from the madding culturally diverse crowd of the capital and would like to think there were no closet homophobes amongst our reading group but you never know...

We did read the biography of Billy Tipton "Suits Me" about a jazz musician who passed herself off as a man for over 50 years. 'He' had been married 5 times too. The mind boggles.

LOL 'ready brek glow'

ah, ok, thanks Marina. Yes, i saw a piece on culture show (i think) about her and her research and she takes it very seriously..but without wearing it heavily if you see what i mean (a bit like rose tremain who also does acres of research for her books but manages to avoid the 'she switched the bakelite light switch off' trap - imo)

i used to share a flat with sarah waters ( a long time ago! students...) she was very nice and unassuming. i often think of her now and then think 'so that's what booker nominated authors are like', it seems so odd. i think i expect them to be...different...have a certain ready brek glow...
.
tbh the night watch is the fist one of hers i've fancied and if i can ever find time to finish 'theft' (not even shortlisted in the end, huh) i intend to read it.

oh, just realised this is a book club thread and i'm not a member - hope that isn't a breach... how do you join book club?! (not that i ever seem to find time to read)

Do you think Sarah Waters is a pansie Marina? Must check her website to see whats shes writing next.

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