[URL]http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/4043647.stm[/URL] Thread merge alert; he came from Luton.
I've only read "Wheels", "Airport" and "Hotel", and I can't remember anything about any of them. Luton's never struck me as "that bad", but then, I've never been forced to live there.
I wasn't forced to live there; work beckoned, admittedly a bit further south along the M1, and it was that much cheaper to live there than on the doorstep of their or of where my flatmate was working at that time. It's not *that* bad, so long as you know which bits to steer clear of.
I've read most of them, I think. When I was about 13. I picked up a few a year or so ago, for brain-off reading, and they're ok. At least he can write. Plotting and characterisation not the best. For some reason I've been craving Ian McEwan the last couple of days, but I don't have any here. Me too. I'd rather go to Luton than to pretty much anywhere Up Norf.
I would have been a similar age when I read them, along with the extensive Dennis Wheatley and Sir. Walter Scott collections we had in our house for some reason (my parents certainly never read them). I've never read any. Angie has an aunt there, and the part she's in seems nice enough. The town centre bit doesn't look any worse than a typical mid-sized industrial town-centre should. And there's plenty of parks and stuff. I'd probably prefer to live in Luton than somewhere where there's totally **** all to do except shop in same-as-every-other-place shops, like Harlow.
I really enjoyed Amsterdam... or was it Enduring Love? I must get around to catching up on the ones I haven't read.
Ben Blaney wrote: [Ian McEwan] we've got some on the shelves, but there so far down the "possibly read in the future" list they may as well not be. But if you rate them, I might bump them up the list a bit.
Have you read Enduring Love yet? Not as good as Atonement (definitely in my top 10 books that one) but still excellent.
darsy wrote: [Ian McEwan] They're well-written and about people living their lives. That's about all I ask from fiction. That and "no spaceships or goblins".
<googles for which is which> The one with the baloon at the beginning - yeah! Loved that. And now a film with Samantha Morton, who I like. I haven't read Atonement, though I think I own it. I really enjoyed Amsterdam.
ah - I also like writing that challenges the way I view the world and the things that are in it, or discovering new ways to think about things that I thought were mundane. I don't mind shapeships, but I'm in total agreement with you on the goblin issue.
Hmmm, not sure it would work as a film. Move it up the list. That's one I haven't read. I started with 'The child in time' which really spooked and disturbed me the first time I read it. Actually that's one for darsy, in terms of looking at things differently, though what he did with structure, plotting and back then has been done since.
On Fri, 26 Nov 2004 18:09:55 +0000 (UTC), "Toby Augh-Nottoby" Iain McEwan I have the TV adaptation of that sitting waiting to be watched. Again not sure how it will translate to the screen.
