topic Re: Anyone ever read Ruth Rendell/Barbara Vine? in Book Club

Anyone ever read Ruth Rendell/Barbara Vine?

songbird — Thu, 29 Dec 2022 20:28:31 GMT

Ruth Rendell (she died several years ago) wrote wonderful psychological thrillers. In fact, she might have cemented that type of mysteries. I love her books and she was Stephen King's favorite author. A lot of other authors are fans of her and she has influenced that type of mystery. Her books are suspenseful, because you know who the killer is almost immediately. What you don't know is who the victim is. Her most suspenseful book is A Judgement in Stone. In that book, she gives away the entire plot in the opening lines. All you know is that a women killed an entire family for a specific reason. But you don't know is when it will happen or how. She started writing her first book in 1965 and continued to write up to 2015. She also wrote under the name Barbara Vine. She was very creative with her plots. Sometimes she had two independent plots going on with both plots via accident colliding with each other (and resolving each plot without any of the characters knowing)

A little note about her character. She started out as a journalist. But it began to bore her. The newspaper put her in the society section. She wrote a piece about a speaker (which she didn't see) and sent it off. What she didn't know was the speaker died in mid speech. She got fired. From then on she began writing.

Re: Anyone ever read Ruth Rendell/Barbara Vine?

icezeus — Thu, 29 Dec 2022 22:08:13 GMT

No I have not but the book sounds interesting. I have just requested "A judgement in Stone", from my library.

Re: Anyone ever read Ruth Rendell/Barbara Vine?

kaydee50 — Thu, 29 Dec 2022 21:32:56 GMT

@songbird Thanks! Requested it from our library. Always looking for unfamiliar authors and mystery stories!

Re: Anyone ever read Ruth Rendell/Barbara Vine?

Judaline — Thu, 29 Dec 2022 22:13:15 GMT

I've read and very much enjoyed her Inspector Wexford novels. Her mystery novels I only read one and didn't really care for it.

Re: Anyone ever read Ruth Rendell/Barbara Vine?

IMW — Thu, 29 Dec 2022 22:59:35 GMT

Yes she is one of my favorite mystery writers. I love Adam Dagleish. Read all her Work. Another great one is PD James----

Re: Anyone ever read Ruth Rendell/Barbara Vine?

blueroses47 — Thu, 29 Dec 2022 23:30:38 GMT

I loved Ruth Rendall. I don't think I've read all her books, but most of them I think. She was one of the most interesting suspense writers because she would base her books on different psychological problems, sometimes. One of her books had to do with anorexia, the one you mention AJudgement in Stone (one of my favorites) was based on illiteracy and the shame of it. There were other things like that, but my memory is failing me.

Anyway, her plots were so unique, so unusual, nothing like the cookie-cutter mysteries you come across a lot. It made me always wonder what kind of a person she was, what went on in that brain of hers.

One year a bought several of her mysteries as Christmas gifts for my brother, and then he became a fan too.

I haven't read many of her Barbara Vine books, but the one I remember loving was "Anna's Book", I think that was the title.

Re: Anyone ever read Ruth Rendell/Barbara Vine?

songbird — Fri, 30 Dec 2022 11:45:45 GMT

@blueroses47 A Judgement in Stone is considered her best book. My favorite is A Sight for Sore Eyes. My edition was hard back with a illuminated cover, so you saw yourself when you looked at the book cover. And considering the plot of the story, very telling. The main character is a sociopath but he's very appealing. Like Hitchcock, some of her villains are more appealing then the hero.

Re: Anyone ever read Ruth Rendell/Barbara Vine?

Judaline — Fri, 30 Dec 2022 13:13:50 GMT

@IMW wrote:
Yes she is one of my favorite mystery writers. I love Adam Dagleish. Read all her Work. Another great one is PD James----

I forgot about Dadleish. Yes!

Re: Anyone ever read Ruth Rendell/Barbara Vine?

blueroses47 — Fri, 30 Dec 2022 16:40:52 GMT

@songbird wrote:
@blueroses47 A Judgement in Stone is considered her best book. My favorite is A Sight for Sore Eyes. My edition was hard back with a illuminated cover, so you saw yourself when you looked at the book cover. And considering the plot of the story, very telling. The main character is a sociopath but he's very appealing. Like Hitchcock, some of her villains are more appealing then the hero.

Yes, her villains are very interesting, as I recall. I can't remember if I read A Sight for Sore Eyes. I was reading a lot of her books about twenty-five years ago, when I first retired. Some I bought, but many were from the library, so they're not on my bookselves to keep reminding me that I read them.

I'm thinking now that I should go back and revisit her books, since I'm more into a reading mode lately than I had been the last few years.

Did you see the movie that was made based on A Judgement in Stone? It was a foreign film, French I think, and it had a different title. It was a good adaptation, if I recall correctly. It starred an French actress, Sandrine Bonnaire, who I was familiar with, only because she was a girlfriend of William Hurt, who I happened to be a fan of.

She was too attractive for the role, but they dulled her down quite a bit, and she was okay. Naturally the book was much better.

Re: Anyone ever read Ruth Rendell/Barbara Vine?

songbird — Fri, 30 Dec 2022 17:20:57 GMT

@blueroses47 I don't know why, but the film adaptations of many of Rendell books are French. No I did not. I would have loved to see it! That book was scary with that woman who couldn't read or write! Is it still under the title a Judgement in Stone? I saw this in Amazon. 17 films set from Ruth Rendell (not the Inspector Wexford) I don't see it. It could be under a different title. They are probably in French with English titles. Strange that they are French. These are very English stories! There's even a film adaptation of May & June (one of Rendell's short stores) You should read her short stories! Very memorial.

Ok I found it. a French film the title: La Cérémonie is a 1995 crime drama film by Claude Chabrol, adapted from the 1977 novel A Judgement in Stone by Ruth Rendell. The film echoes the case of Christine and Lea Papin, two French maids who brutally murdered their employer's wife and daughter in 1933, as well as the 1947 play they inspired, The Maids by Jean Genet.

I see where Rendell got her idea! I didn't know it was based on an actual fact!

Re: Anyone ever read Ruth Rendell/Barbara Vine?

blueroses47 — Sat, 31 Dec 2022 15:19:30 GMT

@songbird wrote:
@blueroses47 I don't know why, but the film adaptations of many of Rendell books are French. No I did not. I would have loved to see it! That book was scary with that woman who couldn't read or write! Is it still under the title a Judgement in Stone? I saw this in Amazon. 17 films set from Ruth Rendell (not the Inspector Wexford) I don't see it. It could be under a different title. They are probably in French with English titles. Strange that they are French. These are very English stories! There's even a film adaptation of May & June (one of Rendell's short stores) You should read her short stories! Very memorial.

Ok I found it. a French film the title: La Cérémonie is a 1995 crime drama film by Claude Chabrol, adapted from the 1977 novel A Judgement in Stone by Ruth Rendell. The film echoes the case of Christine and Lea Papin, two French maids who brutally murdered their employer's wife and daughter in 1933, as well as the 1947 play they inspired, The Maids by Jean Genet.

I see where Rendell got her idea! I didn't know it was based on an actual fact!

I was going to look up the name on Imdb, but I see you beat me to it. Yes, La Ceremonie was the title. As I said, I did enjoy it, but I think I read the book first, and thought it was better. But, the books usually are. This is worth watching though.

I'm going to track down the one you said was your favorite. I don't think I've read that. Oh, and another I really liked had a crossword puzzle as a key element, and the title was something about a crossword, like "one down, two across", but not that exactly. You'll probably know which one I mean.

Oh, to just have my old memory back when I could remember proper names, and titles of things without always having to look them up.

Re: Anyone ever read Ruth Rendell/Barbara Vine?

laluzdelmundo — Mon, 09 Jan 2023 06:29:41 GMT

@songbird There are authors I enjoy for the way they write as much as for their characters and stories they tell. Ruth Rendell is one of them. When she died, I remember being kind of mad because now that's the end of her books. Since you mentioned her, I believe I need to re-read The House of Stairs, which may be my favorite of the Barbara Vine titles.

Robert B. Parker and Joyce Carol Oates are two more whose writing style I've always found extra appealing although they couldn't be more different.

Re: Anyone ever read Ruth Rendell/Barbara Vine?

songbird — Mon, 09 Jan 2023 10:32:51 GMT

@laluzdelmundo wrote:
@songbird There are authors I enjoy for the way they write as much as for their characters and stories they tell. Ruth Rendell is one of them. When she died, I remember being kind of mad because now that's the end of her books. Since you mentioned her, I believe I need to re-read The House of Stairs, which may be my favorite of the Barbara Vine titles.

Robert B. Parker and Joyce Carol Oates are two more whose writing style I've always found extra appealing although they couldn't be more different.

I like her so much, I began to collect her books. I have most of them. Ony 2 of the Inspector Wexford. I do have House of Stairs. Haven't read it in years. I'll have a read now, as I forgotten about it. LOL. When she died I was so sad. But then I thought....no more books! Like Elizabeth Peters/Barbara Michaels. The end of the line.

Re: Anyone ever read Ruth Rendell/Barbara Vine?

songbird — Mon, 09 Jan 2023 10:57:54 GMT

@blueroses47 Yes! A Sight for Sore Eyes. It has a disturbed main villain that you actually root for. I won't go in to the plot, except to say there are two of them that collide. The ending is one that is both shocking and so sad... It cried out for a sequel. But this time, it's inspector Wexford. How he realizes what happened is uncanny. As the circumstances of A Sight for Sore Eyes's ending has no witness other then the reader. It's called "The Vault" You can read both independently, but it really packs a wallop reading both in order. Another of my favorite is Talking to Strange Men. Couple of plots. A man pining away for his old girl friend, with a a vivid imagination & loves spy novels. And a group of middle school kids from a exclusive "public" schools playing spy games. The games & codes made from the opening lines of books. Throw in a molester who preys on children. The end results a great plot.