Any other Dorothy Dunnett fans?

[Lymond]

I namechanged to Lymond recently to try to come across some other DD fans on mumsnet. [lame obsessive emoticon] I was hoping for

"Lymond - as in Francis Crawford of?" as a hijack on some other thread. But it hasn't happened yet. Any other Dunnett fans on mumsnet?

And anyone who has stumbled across this, if you want historical prose even more beautifully written than Wolf Hall, a hero even sexier than Edward Cullen, historical accuracy to outstrip even Patrick O'Brien, combined with humour and adventure, yet scarily unsentimental, go and buy or borrow the Game of Kings.

oh I say at Pogleswood

soooooooo if there is an online discussion group for all things Nicolas I wonder if there is Francisfanfic?

Anyway...work to do tum te tum wanders off webwards

I had Tante que je vivre (in English and French... so poncey I know) as a reading at our wedding, so you've just brought back some lovely memories AppleTreeWick!

Danny one of my favourite characters. Marthe, though, pah!

Pogleswood - the characters grow on you in HoN, but never to extent of LC, not for me, either. Never got Gellis, though apparently DD said that it is no coincidence that her name sounds like "jealous" and to read her with that in mind. There is also some sneaky and very clever plotting, so you discover at the end of the series that a character you've known from the first book is very different to how they seem.

There are some nice links; direct (lineage including some that has a bearing on K vs K, Dame de Doubtance kind of explanations about Lymond and Niccolo) and indirect (Niccolo having fears/thought/flashforwards to things that happened to Lymond)

In a rush, ask me to clarify if my witterings aren't making sense! Unfortunately don't have a DD level IQ (apparently hers was off the scale in some areas, which its easy to believe!)

Thank you for looking Mrs S! I'll keep hounding people on Amazon. Must check Abebooks too . . .
Lymond - why didn't i think of having that at my wedding! Mind you, it'd have made me cry. I really fancy the Companion - sound like it would be worth it?

Am very Gellis that you had the verse at your wedding Lymond brilliant idea.

The Lymond series was just brilliant - so dense and full of meaty goodness it left the most vivid images in my mind and may have permanently affected my sentence structure. I think it just set my expectations too high (for the next series and possibly men).

So have you ever managed to get a Lymond quote into general conversation?

I sometimes languish locked in L...the river crossing quote with the scotish heiress has stuck with me too, something like "we need practice at that, shall we do it again?" after falling in the river... As a quote it is highly adaptable especially when work goes to the dunny. What's the brother's name?

Yes ... I am going to re read them asap.

I'm impressed that you're sentence structure has been improved by reading them, ATW. I was an aspiring writer until I read DD, but realised I could never match up to that, and gave up, barely wrote again until I discovered mn!

I wasn't surprised when I found out DD was also a painter - she paints such glorious pictures with words, and as you say, leaves such vivid images. I usually skim read over descriptions in novels, and slow down for dialogue, but I savour every sentence with DD.

I've never had much luck recommending her to others, apart from DH. I have a personal theory that only BIG readers like her books. People who read a couple of books a week, most of their lives. Every one I know who likes her books fit that description. Am I right?

that should be your in the first sentence

Snigger's at self. I didn't mean to suggest that my sentence structure had been necessarily improved...I am just very ambitious about how many sub clauses and meanderings, ooh look snow, that I can squeeeeze into each paragraph sentence which I assume I got from DD. It's the scale that I'm copying really not the competence!

That's so sad that you stopped writing! I stopped too after my grammar and spelling and general lack of punctuation had been ridiculed once too often at college.

I used to read in bulk certainly but stopped reading upon conception of DD1 and am only just getting back into it. I have always found reading a big thick book (BTB patent pending) very comforting. Pratchett for example is a reliable source of good BTB.

That bookmatchingmap thing from earlier in the thread is a great idea I have copied a few names down to give them a try out.

Me me me - I'm a fan too. But I find they need a lot of concentration, and some fair old chunks of time, to read, which I find more difficult to find these days. As a result I haven't re-read them for far too long . I also find that since having children, I find it almost too painful to read Pawn in Frankincense.

Pissing myself laughing at "ooh look snow" DD would approve!

And another one Jackie No. I thought I'd have to bump for days to find anyone.... Agree with you about Pawn in Frankincense; I do re-read it, but still sob loudly at that part.

Happy to serve

Oh god, I'm getting tense at the very thought of Pawn in Frankincense. It haunted me for weeks when i first read it and that was long before kids! Haven't read it since having my own babies . . .

Yes,Pawn in Frankincense I find almost too much,it just keeps on being heartrending all the way through - all the storyline involving Khaireddin.(and Oonagh O'Dwyer)

JackieNo,if you have any spare time to do it,I'd recommend listening to them - it seems to require less concentration somehow.

Lymond,your big reader description fits me,and the friend who is also a DD fan,but I'm not sure about my Mum - though she was always a reader.

I think it's hard to convey to someone who hasn't read the books how much depth they have - they sound like standard historical romance if you describe them,but there is so much more to them,isn't there?

O this takes me back. I was obsessed when I discovered them (via my mum) at about 15. I loved them.
Pogglewood - yes I remember the death of Oonagh O'Dwyer - awful. But my personal favourite was the Russian one - the Ringed Castle and that masque type thing they do and Philippa falls, breaks her arm and is unconscious and you realise Lymond has fallen for Philippa...
I also hoped they would film them but it would be great if they did them justice.
Who would you allhave as Lymond? David Tennant?
Lovely to find so many fellow fans....
I too found Niccolo a bit harder to get into but who knows.

Oh god, yes David Tennant would be a good Lymond.

I had almost forgotten about Pawn in Frankincense

I definitely fall into the 'big reader' bracket - not so much since having DS as I find it hard to imerse myself in a book in the same way.

Wash your mouth out!!! DT as Lymond??? Have you read the books?? What happened to blond and blue eyed?

Sorry, that was a bit of a rant - don't get me wrong, I like DT, but not that way . . .

Hmmm who would play Francis Crawford? Erm I suppose physically Daniel Craig maybe or Tom Hardy?

Christopher Ecclestone would have been magnificent obviously but Mr CE is simply magnificent in everything so it goes without saying. Christopher Ecclestone pops down to Greggs. Magnificent.

And Phillippa...the wonderful woman who played The Devils Whore last year.

We'd have to fit John Simm in somewhere too....Danny! Marvelous I'll call BBC Drama shall I?

Daniel Craig? Daniel Craig? Noooooooo!Actually I think David Tennant is more the Lymond type,if it wasn't for the colouring.

But I don't watch enough TV/film at the moment,so I would have(from the past!) Benedict Taylor as Lymond www.imdb.com/rg/action-box-name/headshot/media/rm518099456/nm0852028 and Phoebe Nicholls as Phillippa. www.filmdope.com/Gallery/ActorsN/12831.gif

Also - Francis and Marthe are similiar enough to be mistaken for each other - so Francis must be relatively slight,surely??

I know he isn't blond and blue-eyed, but I think he would capture the manic edge really well. DC while gorgeous, would be totally wrong.

David Tennant with bleached hair, coloured contacts, and a lot younger perhaps! He does have the right kind of energy for Lymond, plus the voice, slight build, etc..
But he is much too old, isn't Lymond only 20 in GoK? (Though, admittedly, everyone assumes he's older).

I wonder whether DT has read them... good Scottish literature. It'd take someone like that getting behind them to get them televised.

Benedict Taylor hellllooooo you. TY for that Pogleswood.

Francis is 26 in Disorderly Knights I think....I always imagined him as you know...not a streak of piss like yer man Tennant there (no offence) [snigger emoticon]. More chunky...he wrestles as Thady Boy Ballagh surely and indeed is tending to fat by the end of Thady's time at court.

I will admit that the Marthe thing though makes a lot more sense if indeed he is less chunky than I had imagined. Hmmm OK I'm going to withdraw Daniel Craig (sos Dan) but will reassert Tom Hardy who's weight balloons up and down depending on the part quite happily. He does gaunt quite well and has the youth, the life experience plus he can actually act.

And no Phillippa is the lovely whatever she's called from Devils whore. I have never used the word luminous before in relation to a young lady...however she is indeed luminous - accept no substitute.

I could go for David Tennant as Lymond, quite easily (mind you, I could go for him full stop )

Daniel Craig would work for me as Niccolo, though he'd need to have darker hair. I definitely think of Lymond as the 'streak of piss' type, and Niccolo as more, um, chunky and muscled.

Mention of Andrea Riseborough who was in the Devil's whore reminded me of Michael Fassbender, who could work as Lymond, and Dominic West, who could be Niccolo.

Pogleswood - thanks for the recommendation about the tapes - I didn't even know there were any till I read about them on this thread

Daniel Craig would make a good Gabriel.

Nicholas should be someone like James Mcavoy.

I have spent the last day in bed with horrible virus , plus side I am half way through Niccolo rising!

I was just thinking coupla days ago that I wished I had more time to read!

Ha! Be careful what you wish for!

That sounds like to perfect kind of virus though Mrs Saxon - ill enough to be in bed, but not ill enough to not be able to read

Hope you get well soon.

A younger Russell Crowe as Nicholas for me; but my DH looks like RC, so I'm biased! (I'd rather he looked like David Tennant though!)

Could picture Daniel Craig as Gabriel. Would be perfect for making the viewers believe his deception of being a good guy, since we're used to seeing him in heroic roles.

Doesn't Lymond say that he knew Gabriel wasn't as he seemed when the boats of refugees got turned away from Malta; that if he was as good as he seemed, it would have killed him to have t do that/he wouldn't have let it happen?

Great thread!

Lymond, saw your name on another thread the other day and immediately thought of 'Long as I live ...' (Not that I'm going to love you forever - you know what I mean!)

'Kate is my friend. That much is true. But the songs were for her daughter. And the passion, for ever.'

!!!!

Loved the Lymond books, tho' years since I read them. This is making me want to read them all over again (but, sadly, lost my copies in the course of several house moves).

I did read the first Niccolo book and didn't much take to it. Tho', having read this thread, I see I'm going to have to try the series again.

Yes it is a great thread!

Combining mn and DD - my two biggest addictions...!

Yes I love that quote too PF. Sends shivers down my spine. Now why can't real men do romance like that?! (Though apparently Lymond is based on Alastair Dunnett... lucky Dorothy)