Happy spring all, and Happy Mother’s day to all you mothers.
I am reading Carter Beats the Devil by Glen David Gold
So far I am very much enjoying it.
Linkto April’s thread.
Happy reads!
Happy spring all, and Happy Mother’s day to all you mothers.
I am reading Carter Beats the Devil by Glen David Gold
So far I am very much enjoying it.
Linkto April’s thread.
Happy reads!
I am simply swamped in work right now, but next in the lineup is Wizard of Lies about Bernie Madeoff.
Cuba Libre by Elmore Leonard. I’m loving it so far. I’ve been working my way through his books, it took a while to get used to his writing style.
About halfway through Killer in the Rain, and Other Stories, by Raymond Chandler. Chandler is always excellent. So far, I’ve read all of these in one form or another, but it’s always good to revisit him. What he would do is take several that appeared in magazines like Black Mask or Dime Detective Magazine and hammer them into one complete novel. Not sure if I’ve read all of his novels, but some of these short stories I recognize, although they have their own separate endings.
(The novel and movie The Big Sleep famously leaves one murder unsolved in the confusion, and even Chandler admitted he didn’t know who killed the character. But what happened is clear in the short story “Killer in the Rain,” which forms part of the The Big Sleep, although it would not have been plausible to go that route in the larger novel, what with the changes that had to be made to accommodate the new story.)
I have just started Last Call: The Rise and Fall of Prohibition by Daniel Okrent. I have a lot of other reading to do, so I may have to renew this one from the library before I can finish it while reading several other books in the meantime. But so far it’s an interesting social history.
Also, update: Charlie Chan: The Untold Story of the Honorable Detective and His Rendezvous with American History by Yunte Huang won the Edgar Award this week in the category of Critical/Biographical. I thought it was excellent and several other people expressed an interest.
I’m about to dump (or skim) the new Hap and Leonard by Joe Lansdale, Devil Red. I wasn’t too happy with Leather Maiden or Vanilla Ride either, so this might be the end of my Lansdale addiction.
The Haunter of the Ring & Other Tales, by Robert E. Howard.
It’s a collection of short stories that covers all the Howard stuff that’s not Conan the barbarian.
About to embark upon Djibouti, by Elmore Leonard.
I’ve started CJ Cherryh’s Faded Sun trilogy. 100 pages in and not much has happened.
I’m also starting Richard Dawkins’ The Greatest Show on Earth. Whatever you think of him he’s a lucid entertaining writer.
I finished Godel Escher Bach. Not sure it was worth the effort. the ideas are more clearly explained in I am a Strange Loop and Nagel and Newman do a better job explaining Godel’s proof.
Also finished a bunch of hard boiled detective fiction by George Pelelcanos. Very very dark.
I have heard great things about Godel Escher Bach, but just a cursory view of it made me think it would be a lot of work to read. I’ll have a look at I am a Strange Loop.
I am currently enjoying a mystery novel entitled The Unbelievers by Alistair Sim. Its a really cool murder mystery, set in Victorian era England. I love it so far.
I’ve been interested in that. Of course you’ll tell us how it is.
Finished Truthseeker by C.E. Murphy. Murphy writes light fast-paced urban fantasy which I generally enjoy - and I enjoyed this one. Usually her books are part of a series, but can stand alone, but this does not. Whether it is a dualogy or a trilogy is unknown.
Lara Jansen is born with the ability know when people are telling an untruth. Truth echos through her like music and lies send a discordant note. She is sought by an unseelie prince to help him find the killer of his brother.
There were times when I felt Murphy kind of shoe-horned in explanations of how the magic in this world works, in order to fit the plot, but I overlooked it. I will finish the series.
Still reading (and liking) Carter Beats the Devil and I’m about 2/3 of the way through it.
Just finished Declare by Tim Powers. Good story that held my interest despite the fact that that man needs an editor. Jeez, the exposition and side bars went on for pages and pages.
I’ve just started A Talent for War by McDevvit. heard good things, so I’m kind of excited for the series.
I so picked up The City and the Cityby Meiville. I loved Kraken, but have not been a fan of his Un Lun Dun universe, so we shall see.
As I mentioned in the other thread, I’m in two book clubs at the moment, both of which, coincidentally, have chosen chick lit written by women named Paula for our current reads. Paula McClain’s The Paris Wife is a romantic historical novel about Ernest Hemingway’s first wife; Paula Froelich’s Mercury in Retrograde is a Sex in the City-style name-dropping, fashion-obsessed NYC comic novel. I gave up on the first last week; I’m still reading the second. Utterly silly, kind of fun, but not at all my usual kind of book.
I’m also still dipping into Theodore Sorensen’s nonfiction memoir Kennedy and Susanna Clarke’s very good short story collection The Ladies of Grace Adieu now and then.
Put down The Physics Of Consciousness. Evan Harris Walker - a man with a PhD in physics, attempts to take on the riddle of the meaning of life and what Consciousness is.
He starts by giving us a foundation in physics and though he tries to make it accessible to the layman, some of it is still a over my head.
But the reason I put it down is the underlying sadness of the book. Mr. Walker started this journey when a loved-one died young. In each chapter he relates memories and the sad tone is not one that I want in my life at this moment.
I suspect that if I see it through, there will be offered a message of hope or gladness, but for now, I will put it aside to await a less-stressed time in my life.
Ender in Exile - Orson Scott Card. After having re-read Ender’s Game and Ender’s Shadow, then going through the rest of the Shadow books for the first time.
Almost finished, so will soon have to decide what to move on to next (something different, this finishing my current run of previously unread Ender series books).
Uh oh, I just started Devil Red this morning and Leather Maiden will be next! So far, I’m only about 10 pages into Devil Red and I’ve found three typos.
I just finished The Forgotten Garden by Kate Morton, about the mystery surrounding a little girl abandoned on a ship headed for Australia. The mystery turned out not to be all that amazing, but it was a cozy journey and I was pleased with the rate at which puzzle pieces were handed out. I did have to jot down some notes for myself in order to keep character’s relationships straight, but that may be due to my meager amount of reading time and the fact that the story is told through various people at various times.
I also just finished a children’s book called The Tilting House, by John Llewellyn. It was just okay, promising a lot more than it was able to deliver.
Started and finished The Third Man by Graham Greene in the last couple days. I never saw the movie, but this little novella was not great. It probably should have been a full length novel, but it reads like it might have been rushed to coincide with the movie’s release or something.
Good to know, since it is sitting on my shelf waiting for me.
Now reading The Hole We’re In by Gabrielle Zevin. Its a pretty bleak book actually, but pretty engrossing because the characters are all in one family and they are utterly believable in their chaotic mess of debt, hypocrisy and greed.
Time to head to the library today to reload.