Falco books – Millie Thom

I’ve been tagged by the lovely Suganiya to write a post about summertime reading. Suganiya is a blossoming writer, who has an interesting and varied blog, with posts on book reviews, discussions on fictional characters, and customs and traditions. She also participates in flash fiction writing challenges. You can read all these on her blog, Infinite Passion.

So here are the tag post requirements:

1. SHOW A BOOK WITH A SUMMERY COVER – e.g. the sea, beach and sun!

Not a great deal of choice for me with this one because my usual holiday reading tends to be in the same genres I read for the rest of the time, namely historical fiction and crime novels. But I can remember reading a few books with summery covers over the years and this is one of them:

This cover is of the Kindle version (the top third of which is unfortunately white, so doesn’t show up well) but I read a paperback edition that was in a bookcase in a holiday house we rented in Dorset a few years ago. The original cover had the same beach scene on it, as it’s a picture of a painting (called ‘The Shell Seekers’) which is the central theme of the story. The book was written by Rosamunde Pilcher in 1988. It’s an old-fashioned kind of book, almost cosy, family-saga styled compared with some gimmicky or fast-moving modern books with 21st style language and so on. I enjoyed it as a change from my usual reads.

2. PICK ONE FICTIONAL PLACE THAT WOULD BE THE PERFECT DESTINATION FOR YOUR SUMMER VACATION.

I’m going to cheat with this one because the place isn’t strictly fictional. This place was once a thriving city and now is just ruins, having been buried beaneath volcanic material for two thousand years. Of course I’m talking about Pompeii. The novel is set during the time of the eruption of Mt. Vesuvius in AD 79, so descriptions of the city are based on the author’s imagination, undoubtedly aided by the plan of the ruins and the artefacts found there. This is the book:

I’m also cheating because I’ve already been to Pompeii (as it is today, of course) and I took this book to read on the flight and any spare moments during our stay. When I say that I’d like to have a vacation there, I mean a quick trip in my Tardis back to Pompeii in the days before the eruption.

3. YOU’RE ABOUT TO GO ON A FLIGHT TO YOUR SUMMER VACATION AND WANT TO READ A BOOK THAT LASTS FOR THE WHOLE FLIGHT. WHAT NOVELLA DO YOU CHOOSE?

I’m not a fan of novellas as a rule, but I did have a think about a possibility for this question. So I picked this book because it looks very light and quick to read. It’s now on my Kindle, so I’ll have a read next week when I’m travelling up to Hadrian’s Wall. (I won’t be driving, on this occasion!)

4. YOU HAVE A CASE OF SUMMERTIME SADNESS. WHAT HAPPY BOOK DO YOU PICK UP TO PUT A SMILE ON YOUR FACE?

Right now I’d probably choose one of the books from the Falco series by Lindsey Davis. I’ve read most of them, but I think there are still a couple I didn’t manage to get around to. I’m really ‘into’ Romans at the moment and Falco always makes me smile. This is one I have already read, but it’s appropriately about Falco on a summer holiday:

5. YOU’RE SITTING ON A BEACH ALL ALONE… WHICH FICTIONAL CHARACTER WOULD BE YOUR BEACH BABE?

Definitely Thor from the film/movie of that name (i.e. played by Chris Hemsworth). He and his hammer can share my beach space any time. If he can’t make it across the Bifrost, I’ll have Falco.

6. TO MATCH YOUR ICE CREAM YOU WANT AN ICY COOL SIDEKICK! WHICH FICTIONAL SIDEKICK WOULD YOU PICK?

My first choice of sidekick would be Tonto from the movie The Lone Ranger (played by none other than the gorgeous Johnny Depp). I can justify this story as being based on books because I found quite a few of them on Amazon when I looked. Most are ‘kiddie books’, but that’s about my level. 😀

Here’s the cover of one such book – but no Tonto in sight! It called The Lone Ranger Book Classic and was written by Steff Fletcher and E. Joseph Dreany in 1956: