William Boyd

[DollyDayScream]

I've just read my first William Boyd - The New Confessions. I raced through it and really enjoyed.

Can anyone recommend my next William Boyd?

Ordinary Thunderstorms

Any Human Heart, lived it and not my usual read. Just reading his short stories at the moment.

Brazzaville Beach.

Sweet Caress. I preferred it to Any Human Heart.

A good man in Africa, his first and best

A good man in Africa. Brazzaville beach. Love William Boyd.

This is going to sound weird to recommend but I've only read one and it had some really good parts but quite flawed as well but still worth reading:- An Ice Cream War. I must read some more actually.

Definitely sweet caress and any human heart

I think that I'll try Sweet Caress next. Then Any Human Heart or Restless.

I feel jealous of you that you get to read any human heart for the first time!

Any Human Heart is superb, I also loved Good Man in Africa and the Ice Cream War. Restless is also good.

Personally I think his more recent stuff is a bit weak, and hated Sweet Caress.

I suppose it's v personal, but I loved 'Sweet Caress'. I really liked the little line photo's that were supposed to be genuine.

Another one I read, was a bout an insurance loss adjuster whose family were Transnistrian taxi drivers...
Any ideas anyone?

I second Ordinary Thunderstorms - in fact it's the only book by William Boyd that I have read but it has made me want to read more.

@ Fourfriedchickens

Armadillo. That was a strange one, I think they adapted for TV ages ago. He gets an Ancient Greek helmet stuck on his head IIRC.

I had forgotten Brazzaville Beach. The protagonist’s husband is a maths lecturer at Imperial College, called John. My friend John, who was a maths lecturer at Imperial College, said it made him feel weird reading it.

It's years and years since I read it, but I remember really enjoying The Blue Afternoon.

My absolute favourite is Any Human Heart, I could read it again and again. I also really enjoyed Ordinary Thunderstorms and Waiting for Sunrise.

Any and all of them! Any Human Heart is outstanding, WB is my all time favourite author. About to read his latest, Love is Blind.

I agree with this sentiment:

I feel jealous of you that you get to read any human heart for the first time!

Brazzaville Beach (see my username!)

Also really enjoyed The Blue Afternoon and An Ice Cream War.

Ordinary Thunderstorms for thrills and darkness. Any Human Heart for joy. Reckless (or is it Restless, I can never remember) for intrigue.

I did kind of enjoy Sweet Caress but I ended up partly blaming it for my husband's death [this is obviously crazy] and think it should only be read by the VERY stable.

Thank you for this thread. I have just spent three wonderful days re-reading Any Human Heart. A totally absorbing, very clever and beautifully written masterpiece.

Airfixkitwidow - jealous! If I didn't have a stack of borrowed books I need to read to return to friends/library I would be diving straight in again!

Restless is a favourite of mine. I still think about it years after reading it ~ in fact, I think I'll read it again soon

My standout favourite is Brazzaville Beach.