Exceptional Books discussion

I have just finished All The Broken Places by John Boyne, a worthy sequel to The Boy in the Striped Pajamas. It is thought provoking, and recommended -as are all of John Boyne's books. My favorite is The Heart's Invisible Furies.

As a member I’m asked to nominate two books.

First; and before that even, I must come clean:

I became a GR friend of Ben Carlyle and have swapped messages since that time. This weekend Ben Carlyle was visiting London and so I went along with two other of his GR friends to meet and chat with him.

The Roads Chosen, by Ben Carlyle, is WRITTEN VERY WELL. It will never win a literary award and not receive the acclaim of such works as, Howards End, by EM Forster, 1910. Yet, with this work we are taken into a way of life rarely spoken of and shows its human side, for all its faults and all its greatness; you’re taken there by someone who has lived in that world.

It is a GREAT STORY. I too became tired with picking up those Graham Greene (1904–1991) termed as comic escapades; those which he felt didn't qualify as literary works. Yes, this is a novel, a suspense, espionage, thriller, but far from a comic escapade and exposes a most dreadful life experience that many young souls are forced to endure.

As yet, I’m not a mother; this book touched my heart and the story it tells has remained part of my life ever since reading.

As a member I’m asked to nominate two books.

Second; A Chosen Path, by Ben Carlyle, is part-two of a three-part story (I know it’s in three parts as the author told me). Part-three is written and awaiting final edit.

What has already been mentioned in a recent review, and I’m sure will be discomforting for others, is that the main protagonist in part-one [The Roads Chosen] takes more of a back-seat in part-two. This breaks with the current convention followed by most writing in the spy-thriller ‘series’ genre. The ‘Jack Menace’ ‘Mark Peril’ ‘Alek Hazard’ capers are what I see as ‘comic escapades’; and, as previously stated, “This saga is far from a comic escapade.”

A Chosen Path, by Ben Carlyle, is WRITTEN VERY WELL and is a GREAT STORY. One of the pillars the trilogy is built upon continues from part-one through part-two: it is, as Ben Carlyle said, to me, “Never doubt, the Russian having a long memory.”

Within you’ll discover a complex, joint-planning-venture, where the stage is set, then cloaked with smoke and mirrors, involves a huge cast of characters across an international arena, includes folk from Britain’s intelligence agencies, is meticulous in allowing the reader to understand the procedural side of how ‘pieces are moved on the board’. And canny: the plot-line unravels in what is an entirely credible fashion, yet keeps the reader from the ‘mission’s goal’ until the final act.

I’ll admit, I was smitten with part-one and so wanted part-two to be as bold and daring. It is.