The first James Bond book that Ian Fleming wrote and I recognised some of the details from the 2006 film of the same name. Le Chiffre is a nearly bankrupt member of the secretive SMERSH organisation (SMERSH is a conjunction of two Russian words: ‘Smyert Shpionam’ meaning roughly ‘Death to Spies’. Le Chiffre and BondContinue reading “Casino Royale by Ian Fleming”
Category Archives: france
Cross of Fire by Colin Forbes
This is an extremely long thriller at over 550 pages. It needs to be though as there are so many characters not all of whom are what they seem to be at first appearance. The good people are: Paula Grey, Newman (who appears to be in a permanent bad mood), Nield, Butler, Tweed, and Marler.Continue reading “Cross of Fire by Colin Forbes”
Marshlands by Andre Gide
This is autofiction, a form of fictionalized autobiography. Autofiction combines two mutually inconsistent narrative forms, namely autobiography and fiction. The protagonist of Marshlands is a writer who is writing a book called Marshlands about a reclusive character who lives in a tower and can fish out of his windows. The narrator or protagonist is someoneContinue reading “Marshlands by Andre Gide”
Night at the Crossroads by Georges Simenon
Georges Simenon books are so easy to read. There’s snippets of conversation, vivid descriptions of the countryside, and a mystery thrown in for good measure. Maigret investigates a crime at the Three Widows Crossroads where a diamond dealer is found dead at the wheel of a car that’s in the wrong garage. In this tale,Continue reading “Night at the Crossroads by Georges Simenon”
Night at the Crossroads by Georges Simenon
Georges Simenon books are so easy to read. There’s snippets of conversation, vivid descriptions of the countryside, and a mystery thrown in for good measure. Maigret investigates a crime at the Three Widows Crossroads where a diamond dealer is found dead at the wheel of a car that’s in the wrong garage. In this tale,Continue reading “Night at the Crossroads by Georges Simenon”
Book Review – A Sentimental Journey
This is the story of Yorick, a sentimental traveller, who on a whim decides to journey from England first to France and then head towards Turin in Italy. His journey takes him via Calais, Amiens, Rennes, and Versailles to Paris. Yorick doesn’t describe his impressions of the places he visits, the monuments, the architecture orContinue reading “Book Review – A Sentimental Journey”
Book Review – A Sentimental Journey
This is the story of Yorick, a sentimental traveller, who on a whim decides to journey from England first to France and then head towards Turin in Italy. His journey takes him via Calais, Amiens, Rennes, and Versailles to Paris. Yorick doesn’t describe his impressions of the places he visits, the monuments, the architecture orContinue reading “Book Review – A Sentimental Journey”
Days of Reading book review
For as long as reading is for us the instigator whose magic keys have opened the door to those dwelling-places deep within us that we would not have known how to enter, its role in our lives is salutary. It becomes dangerous on the other hand, when, instead of awakening us to the personal lifeContinue reading “Days of Reading book review”
Days of Reading book review
For as long as reading is for us the instigator whose magic keys have opened the door to those dwelling-places deep within us that we would not have known how to enter, its role in our lives is salutary. It becomes dangerous on the other hand, when, instead of awakening us to the personal lifeContinue reading “Days of Reading book review”
Anti-Pope Games, Avignon – France – 4
Excerpt from the book Sports the Olympics Forgot This book describes 40 sports that ought to be played but aren’t, because I made them up. ============ Dating from 1645 the oldest athletics event is the papal shot-putt where contestants have to land their throws in a papal mitre that is placed 15 metres and 23 centimetresContinue reading “Anti-Pope Games, Avignon – France – 4”
Julian Worker Fiction Writing 