Hey!! Let's get some action going! What are we reading?

[NickyWithNook]

I vote publication date for the Narnia series. That's the way I read it, and therefore it must be the best way! Not the best argument, but I can't imagine getting introduced to Narnia in a different way.

[CRussel]

Originally Posted by Fbone

The Conan Doyle Estate gave Horowitz permission to write another Sherlock Holmes story and he did a good job. The author researched Victorian London extensively and it made the story come alive. Not as much artful deduction as the originals and the language was somewhat modern. Did they say "that's right" in 1890 London? The ending was not a complete surprise. A red herring and shocking revelations round out this title. Rated C [3 stars].

Next is Foreigner by C.J. Cherryh. My first with this author.

Yes, I enjoyed House of Silk, though I wasn't blown away by it.

I'll be interested to hear what you think about the Foreigner book. I'm a big fan, but it can be a bit slow for some people in places. But it works for me because the world is interesting.

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by Fbone

The Conan Doyle Estate gave Horowitz permission to write another Sherlock Holmes story and he did a good job.

I'm a little puzzled by this. Conan Doyle died in 1930; he's therefore in the life+70 public domain. Nobody needs anyone's "permission" to write a Sherlock Holmes story, as the enormous number of new Holmes stories illustrates. What was this "permission" that Mr. Horowitz received, I wonder?

[pdurrant]

Originally Posted by HarryT

I'm a little puzzled by this. Conan Doyle died in 1930; he's therefore in the life+70 public domain. Nobody needs anyone's "permission" to write a Sherlock Holmes story, as the enormous number of new Holmes stories illustrates. What was this "permission" that Mr. Horowitz received, I wonder?

It's the weird US copyright laws. In the US about 10 of the short stories are still in copyright.

There is currently a legal case going on to decide just this issue: Whether anyone needs permission, even in the US, to write/publish/produce a Sherlock Holmes story.

It's like the Happy Birthday copyright. IMO it's legal extortion, because for any individual it's cheaper to pay the licence fee than to take it to court.

[maianhvk]

Originally Posted by Dazrin

I prefer the published order but either seems to work ok if you are doing a re-read. I don't think I would love the series as much as I do if I had started with Magician's Nephew instead of The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe.

IMO Magician's Nephew is pretty boring.

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by pdurrant

It's the weird US copyright laws. In the US about 10 of the short stories are still in copyright.

Yes, I know the later stories are still under US copyright. What I actually meant was that Anthony Horowitz is a British author, and hence doesn't need anyone's permission to write a Sherlock Holmes story, because all the Holmes stories are in the UK public domain . Hence my question about what permission he would require.

[Gazella]

Originally Posted by maianhvk

IMO Magician's Nephew is pretty boring.

It was a very good book IMO, I finished it a couple of hours ago. I'm looking forward to reading The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. Midterms are coming up which means I won't be able to read as much as I'd like to

[pdurrant]

Originally Posted by HarryT

Yes, I know the later stories are still under US copyright. What I actually meant was that Anthony Horowitz is a British author, and hence doesn't need anyone's permission to write a Sherlock Holmes story, because all the Holmes stories are in the UK public domain . Hence my question about what permission he would require.

He needs* permission if his book is going to be published in the US, which is several times the size of the UK market.


*or maybe not. We should find out in a few months/years. Hopefully before the US copyright runs out.

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by pdurrant

He needs* permission if his book is going to be published in the US, which is several times the size of the UK market.


*or maybe not. We should find out in a few months/years. Hopefully before the US copyright runs out.

Thanks - interesting. I wonder how many of the innumerable Sherlock Holmes stories out there have actually paid this licence fee?

[pdurrant]

Originally Posted by HarryT

Thanks - interesting. I wonder how many of the innumerable Sherlock Holmes stories out there have actually paid this licence fee?

I think that all the ones published in paper in the US have paid it.

[Dazrin]

Originally Posted by Dazrin

I am going to change genres and start The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle.

Wow. I enjoyed that more than I was expecting. I read the previous 3 books (Study in Scarlet, Sign of Four, Adv. of SH) last year and while I enjoyed them, I wouldn't rate them as high as this one.

With that in mind, I am going to do my first re-read of the year: The Hound of the Baskervilles. I read this many years ago and remember enjoying it, but it had been my only exposure to Holmes and I was a bit turned off by the experience last year. Now, I am hopeful that his later works are closer to the Memoirs than the Adventures and I will really enjoy them too.

Note: I have been reading from the copies prepared for MR by HarryT. It is excellently formatted, although I wish it had better chapter breaks so I could quickly jump between stories, I am not savvy enough with Calibre to fix that issue. It also has very few other errors. I can only remember one right now and it was just a matter of a single letter ("me" instead of "my"?).

It looks like I may need to find a different source for the Case-Book when I get there, I hadn't realized there were portions that are not in the public domain here yet until reading some of the discussion above, but I will worry about when I get there, I have a while yet.

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by Dazrin

Note: I have been reading from the copies prepared for MR by HarryT. It is excellently formatted, although I wish it had better chapter breaks so I could quickly jump between stories, I am not savvy enough with Calibre to fix that issue. It also has very few other errors. I can only remember one right now and it was just a matter of a single letter ("me" instead of "my"?).

Would you be kind enough to make a note of any errors you find and let me know about them, please? I'd very much like this version to be as error-free as possible.

Thanks!

[poohbear_nc]

I've finished Joyce Carol Oates' The Accursed - a fascinating melange of historical fact & Gothic story telling! Anyone who can make Woodrow Wilson the "hero", well protagonist, of a quasi-vampire novel is truly a master author. [Why hasn't Oates won the Nobel Prize yet? Or the Pulitzer?] It's hard to describe without spoilers [as Stephen King noted in his laudatory review in last week's NYT Book Review] - but if you are fond of historical fiction, Gothic fiction, vampire tales, and the obsessional usage of the word 'unspeakable' - or if you've previously read Oates' Bellefleur or Mysteries of Winterthurn - you'll enjoy this book.

In one sense, this could be Oates' love letter to Princeton University -- in her own unique style.

[Rumpelteazer]

I finished James Rollins' The Last Oracle (#5 Sigma Force) last night. Another great adventure thriller. Until last year I read Steve Berry's Cotton Malone series but after a couple of books I noticed it was basically the same story told over again and again and stopped. Although each book in the Sigma Force series deals with an (religious) artefact the stories are different. Also there is no real main character and the focus shifts between characters helps keep it interesting.

[Dazrin]

Originally Posted by HarryT

Would you be kind enough to make a note of any errors you find and let me know about them, please? I'd very much like this version to be as error-free as possible.

Thanks!

Absolutely, I will try to find the one that I saw and send you a PM.