A competition? I'll have to throw in the towel

Oh dear! I can't compete with Lindsay's image of a Blue Mercedes full of passengers, all putting aside their Daily Telegraphs as they strain to hear the next riveting chapters of Riccardo's story.

Although, come to think of it, Sand may be just right for a daily half-hour bus trip. Its fast-paced action (after a ponderous start) would break down well into a daily serial. A bit like those Jungle Jim serials my generation used to cheer at the Satdee matinees. Or like the Da Vinci Code.

And for the bus commuters, Sand may be much more nourishing fare than the Daily Terror.

Alas, I've yet to finish Sand. Ill try, but life keeps getting in the way. I won't go into details, except to say that I'm now pushing against deadline for a Probus club newsletter (and I'm as bewildered as you may be that I find myself in an old men's club where my fellows decided their wives should be referred to as "the ladies").

Also, I have to read Janette Turner Hospital's new novel Orpheus Lost before my No 1 Ladies Book Club meets on Tuesday morning.

I'm the only bloke among the dozen women who meet once a month. They may look rather staid, but the illusion shattered last month when one of our number, a well-known theatre identity, came in a few minutes late, and with superb diction and a voice trained to carry across an auditorium, declaimed her lines from The Vagina Monologues.

Ah, but I do digress, don't I? We're here to discuss Riccardo Maffey's Sand Against the Wind. And I fear Maffey will suffer when I read him alongside the brilliant author of Due Preparations for the Plague. Except for that, Sand might stand up reasonably well.

[Sand is my first go at reading an e-novel, but I've found it no handicap except that I can't do it away from my PC. No laptop or e-reader, so no reading in bed or in an armchair. ]

Like the other guys, I found it hard to get started. The Prologue did seem a combination of Fellini's La Dolce Vita and Visconti's The Damned. As with the films, a disturbing blend of elegance and decadence, of mistresses and overdressed fops.

And with so many characters! I got a notebook to write down their names, with little arrows showing who was up who.

Setting the scene was also a bit confusing, with the "flash forward" to March 1944 before taking up the story in September 1943.

However, it all works out and from that point we're in a narrative which gathers pace and tension in a most satisfying way. So far I haven't got past Christina's involvement in a plot to rescue Carlo from a hospital under German guard (I presume she succeeds, because he struts the stage the following March), so I'm not far into the book.

I will return after I clear my desk, so I have to admit the narrative has got me in. Also, history interests me, so the events in the background lift my enjoyment of Sand.

At this stage, though, I'm hoping Maffey develops his characters more strongly. I still don't understand what makes Carlo tick, nor Christina. So far, the attraction seems to focus on perfect boobs.

So, guys, I apologise for falling behind. I will try to post another comment when I finish Sand and have time to weigh my responses. I'll also look forward to chatting about our next book, but perhaps I should let you choose it.