“Simenon. The Man, The Books, The Films” by Barry Forshaw (published by Oldcastle Books)
Detective, defectives under the magnifying glass
I wouldn’t call it an obsession, as such, but certainly a deep fascination. It began decades ago with the many books and then spread to the author himself – The Man – and finally on to the resultant films. Not in quite the same order as in this book, then, and certainly not with the same depth of knowledge, for Forshaw shows that there are still things to be learned about all aspects of this fascinating subject.
Netherlands to be guest of honour at Budapest Book Festival
The Netherlands will be the guest of honour at the 28th Budapest International Book Festival held between September 28 and October 1 at the Millenaris Park, organisers said on Wednesday.
“Ian Fleming & Georges Simenon. The World of Bond and Maigret” (published by ERIS gems)
Two best sellers chat and swap secrets
Writers Ian Fleming, an Englishman, 1908-1964, and Georges Simenon, a Belgian, 1903-1989, created two of the greatest characters in 20th-century fiction – licensed-to-kill Secret Service agent James Bond 007 and Parisian detective Chief Superintendent Jules Maigret. The two authors met for a conflab in ...
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“The New Investigations of Inspector Maigret” by Georges Simenon (published by Penguin Books)
Human bloodhound gives evildoers short shrift
Georges Simenon having died in 1989, the uncovering now of any “new investigations” would be exciting news indeed for fans of our favourite Parisian policeman. Simenon bequeathed us 75 “Maigret” novels and 28 short stories, and the latter is what we have here – ...
“Colditz. Prisoners of the Castle” by Ben Macintyre (published by Viking)
Fresh understanding of an oft-told tale
Books about Colditz run into the dozens, and others about escapes from German prisoner of war camps would be in triple figures, so author Macintyre is necessarily offering something new, what’s described as access to an unprecedented range of material that adds up to ...
“Saving Freud: A Life in Vienna and an Escape to Freedom in London” by Andrew Nagorski (published by Icon)
Psychoanalyst’s mind wasn’t clear on threat to himself
It is March 12, 1938 and German troops are marching into Austria without a shot fired. Adolf Hitler is absorbing the country of his birth into the Third Reich. His anti-Semitism is vicious and Jews have been fleeing him for years. But Vienna’s most ...
“Be My Baby” by Ronnie Spector with Vince Waldron (published by Macmillan)
Married to a musical mastermind, and a master of emotional abuse
What a fascinating read – The Ronettes were near the top of the rock ’n’ roll world for a while, then singer Ronnie Spector had no career, no husband, no babies – and no hair, the long sexy hair that was her last thing ...
Sisi and her Greek Odyssey
Hungary’s beloved queen appears in an intriguingly different light
One year after Austrian author and journalist Stefan Haderer wrote his first book on Empress Elisabeth and her special relationship with Greece, the English translation is finally out. Under the Spell of a Myth, independently published with Amazon KDP, provides a fresh perspective on ...
“The Jersey, The Secrets Behind the World's Most Successful Team” by Peter Bills (published by Pan Books)
How New Zealanders took the ball and ran with it
A bit of an odd thing happened after Peter Bills published his book in August 2018 about the all-conquering New Zealand All Blacks rugby union teams that had a better winning record than any other sports teams in history – they actually started to ...
Slovakia guest of honour at Budapest’s 27th International Book Festival
Slovakia is guest of honour at the 27th International Book Festival Budapest to be held from Sept. 29 to Oct. 2 at Budapest's Millenaris Park, organisers told a press conference on Thursday.
“The Hatter’s Ghosts” by Georges Simenon (published by Penguin Books)
The art of cutting long stories (and words) short
Prolific he may have been but prolix he was not. Georges Simenon, the author of some 400 books (about half of them any good, the rest unabashed pulp), said he once read a statistic that half the people in France used no more than ...
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“Born on the Fourth of July” by Ron Kovic (published by Canongate)
52 years in a wheelchair, so far
The Vietnam War was an American disaster. Iggy Pop, who performed in Budapest last year, avoided it by acting crazy at his draft hearing. Creedence Clearwater Revival sang about the “Fortunate Son”s of senators who were assigned at home instead of fighting in the ...
“Greyhound” by C.S. Forester (published by Penguin Books)
Dogged by death in the deep
C.S. Forester died in 1966 and he is not forgotten in The Budapest Times office, where we have a nice little collection of 18 of his books. But they don’t include “Greyhound”, and in fact we were a bit puzzled when it was published ...
Sisi and her Greek Odyssey
Hungary’s beloved queen appears in an intriguingly different light
One year after Austrian author and journalist Stefan Haderer wrote his first book on Empress Elisabeth and her special relationship with Greece, the English translation is finally out. Under the Spell of a Myth, independently published with Amazon KDP, provides a fresh perspective on ...
Most commented articles Books
“A Promenade in Parc Munkácsy” by Alexander York (published by Austin Macauley)
Colourful characters twist and turn in crime caper
Debut novelist Alexander York has seemingly gone for filmic atmosphere rather than minor style issues such as crossing the “t”s and dotting the “i”s, and Hungarians can be along for the scenic ride as the action sets out from England and passes numerous Magyarország ...
“Greyhound” by C.S. Forester (published by Penguin Books)
Dogged by death in the deep
C.S. Forester died in 1966 and he is not forgotten in The Budapest Times office, where we have a nice little collection of 18 of his books. But they don’t include “Greyhound”, and in fact we were a bit puzzled when it was published ...
“BOWIEODYSSEY70” by Simon Goddard (published by Omnibus Press)
Long wait for the stardust to arrive
On March 19, 1970 yours truly was a 19-year-old junior reporter in the Bromley and Kentish Times newspaper office in south-east London. One day I answered a ringing phone and a woman said: “I think you should know that David Bowie is getting married ...
