Book Club

Castel Di Sangro is good but the author doesn’t half get on your mammaries whereas Parks (great bloke too, met him in verona) just submerses himself one to it. Climbing the fence at Vicenza, Lecce away and all that jazz.

Someone asked, I have read the Cruyff book, excellent read and easy to get to grips with.

The book about Rayo Vallecano is excellent too, can’t remember the name of it though.

Quoted from aldi_01

Castel Di Sangro is good but the author doesn’t half get on your mammaries whereas Parks (great bloke too, met him in verona) just submerses himself one to it. Climbing the fence at Vicenza, Lecce away and all that jazz.

Keeping on the subject on all things Italian I remember reading Cosa Nostra a history of the Sicilian Mafia by John Dickie. Interesting that it all stemmed from the mangroves in Sicily .Likewise the Godfather films were so far stretched from the truth it was unreal .Hence the mafia in reality were cruel  sometimes  throwing people down wells and cementing them as  a form of scare tactic.

Quoted from aldi_01

The book about Rayo Vallecano is excellent too, can’t remember the name of it though.

Interesting to hear they've wrote a book about this small club. I had a friend from Madrid and he use to live close to the stadium. I remember going around there with him. Must be hard for small clubs like that when there competing with the giant that is Real Madrid. Added to that as you maybe aware there redeveloping the Santiago Bernabeu at the moment to a more modern feel. Finished plans look beautiful.

Quoted from Ipswin

All four of David Hewson's books set in Amsterdam are absolutely outstanding. They are fiction of course and therefore the police work has to be taken with a pinch of salt. I recommend them all, having spent a lot of time in Amsterdam personally (both socially and with the police) I can vouch 100% for the way he captures all aspects of the city, really puts you there IMO. The characters are superbly drawn and the plots are varied and complex. Read all four in May / June during lockdown and the hot weather - perfect!

He is also a very approachable chap We corresponded for a while as his main character drinks in what is my regular watering hole in Amsterdam and Hewson himself lived opposite. He gave me some advice about my own book

He has also published a number of novels set in Denmark but that doesn't do it for me

Be interested to know your thoughts Which of the four have you ordered by the way?

Thanks for the input.

I downloaded The Wrong Girl and started to listen to it today on my walk. Enjoying it so far, but there were many references in it to past events, so I sort of guessed it was part of a series of books.

The app I use usually lets you know if a certain book is part of a series by giving you the number it is in said series. For some reason these books are not numbered on the app and I thought they were stand alone books when I downloaded them. I checked on Google for David Hewson books and discovered that The Savage Shore is number 10 in a series of 10 featuring detective Nic Costa and are based in and around Rome.

The Wrong Girl is the second in the series of 4 that you mention, so I promptly downloaded the first in the series, which as you will know is The House of Dolls. I will curtail listening to The Wrong Girl and start The House of Dolls instead.

Will let you know what I think in due course.

Quoted from Manchester Mariner

I'm fascinated by the characters of wrestling and how it has ridiculously become a business worth billions. The title of Jim Smallman's book nails it "I'm sorry, I love you - A history of professional wrestling", it will always be my guilty pleasure and I was made up when a guy at work confessed to being a fan. I don't watch that much of it anymore but I do listen to a fair few wrestling podcasts, mostly about 80's/90's WWF/WCW and the crazy stories both in the ring and backstage.

I can imagine that conversation at work in a darkened corner with hushed tones ‘so you like wrestling too...? Sssssh don’t say it too loud-someone will hear!’😂

I like you don’t watch it much nowadays. Up until recently I’d have it recorded and fast forward through it but Ive cancelled the series link now.
I’ve recently (during lockdown) read Jim Ross’ first book and listened to his second on audible. Both absolutely brilliant.

Quoted from ginnywings

Thanks for the input.

I downloaded The Wrong Girl and started to listen to it today on my walk. Enjoying it so far, but there were many references in it to past events, so I sort of guessed it was part of a series of books.

The app I use usually lets you know if a certain book is part of a series by giving you the number it is in said series. For some reason these books are not numbered on the app and I thought they were stand alone books when I downloaded them. I checked on Google for David Hewson books and discovered that The Savage Shore is number 10 in a series of 10 featuring detective Nic Costa and are based in and around Rome.

The Wrong Girl is the second in the series of 4 that you mention, so I promptly downloaded the first in the series, which as you will know is The House of Dolls. I will curtail listening to The Wrong Girl and start The House of Dolls instead.

Will let you know what I think in due course.

They are both excellent novels, roughly linked as you observed. The fourth book 'Sleep Baby Sleep' is also outstanding. Book three 'Little Sister' (not connected with the others) is also very good but very dark

Enjoy !

Quoted from Ipswin

I read Cruyff's autobiography 'My Turn'. it was frankly awful and changed my mind about the man, great player but came across as a petulant twit

I read a book about Moscow Dynamo (I think) about their tour to UK in the 1950s but sadly a) I can't find the damn thing!  and b) I can't remember the title  

Ah, It comes to us all.

What does?

I forget.

Quoted from Rodley Mariner

I'm not sure it is fair enough. I would say that 'intriguing' is pretty clearly a positive thing for a book to be.

I think that’s an intriguing remark.

Quoted from Abdul19

Dynamo by Andy Dougan? I also enjoyed the Castel di Sangro book, although I found the author a bit irritating at times.

One of my favourite football books is 31-0 by James Montague (who also wrote the 1312 book mentioned by Aldi). Various tales from obscure places as World Cup Qualifying goes on.

I'd also recommend When Friday Comes by the same author and Behind the Curtain by Jonathan Wilson.

Yes, that’s the one!

Must look up the others you mentioned.

Quoted from KingstonMariner

I think that’s an intriguing remark.

With hindsight Kingston intriguing was the wrong word to use for a history book(now changed)  given the savages of what man has done to each other and is still doing . It was a off the cuff moment where I should of put in a better word but was due to my mind not thinking straight at that particular moment due to personal issues Iam dealing with at the moment.

We all make grammar mistakes though you included .

Quoted from Rick12

With hindsight Kingston intriguing was the wrong word to use for a history book(now changed)  given the savages of what man has done to each other and is still doing . It was a off the cuff moment where I should of put in a better word but was due to my mind not thinking straight at that particular moment due to personal issues Iam dealing with at the moment.

We all make grammar mistakes though you included .

I personally think intriguing is an entirely suitable word to describe a book that’s grabbed your interest. I think you may be overthinking it Rick. It’s all just opinions.