Last night I finished Pompeii by Robert Harris. It was ok but not great, although I did learn a fair amount about everyday Roman life at the time the volcano blew.
Now I’ve started David Sedaris’s second collection of diary entries, A Carnival of Snackery. It’s got some laughs but so far is off to a slow start.
Just finished Night Trains: The Rise and Fall of the Sleeper by Andrew Martin. Very niche book but if you like trains and spent a fair amount of time going on journeys on European railroads this is a nice book to read. It’s written in a way to shift back and forth from the author’s own anecdotal experience trying to recreate old-fashioned routes in the present day while also going into a lot of well-researched history about these type of trains. Information which ranges from very technical detail about how they functioned, to social history regarding the importance in society and the kind of people who worked and traveled on the trains in those days, as well as some quirky references to the portrayal of sleeper trains in popular culture.
Finished Far Sector , which is a Green Lantern graphic novel written by N.K. Jemisin. It was okay. The art by Jamal Campbell is outstanding, though.
Now I’m reading Dress Codes: How the Laws of Fashion Made History, by Richard Thompson Ford.
Started today on The Creepypasta Collection: Modern Urban Legends You Can’t Unread. I’ve read the first three or four stories, and they try so hard, bless their hearts. But nothing’s moved me yet.
Just finished Sabriel by Gabriel Nix. It was fun and entertaining. Def encouraged me in my ambition to be a necromancer in my next life.
Finished Dress Codes: How the Laws of Fashion Made History , by Richard Thompson Ford, when was interesting and which I would have liked more if I hadn’t already read many of the modern cases of people who protested dress codes and laws.
Now I’m reading a Weird Western anthology called Straight Outta Tombstone, edited by David Boop.
A couple of nights ago I finished Leviathan Falls, the final book in the Expanse series. If you liked the previous books, you’ll like this one. I really enjoyed it, although nothing in it was lifechanging. Amos remains my favorite character.
Finished Amongst Our Weapons by Ben Aaronovitch, the 9th Rivers of London series. And it was quite good, I liked it better than a few of more recent ones. One of the plot points wasn’t wrapped up, so I wonder if that’s going to figure into the next book.
I have one question: Did Beverley have her baby?
BabIES, yes she did.
I finished [quote=“Meurglys, post:37, topic:962053”]
The Cartographers by Peng Shepherd
[/quote] which was very readable but the premise at it’s core didn’t seem fully thought through and I thought the ending was weak.
Now onto This Fragile Earth by Susannah Wise. In the near-ish future all the integrated tech society runs on stops working and, as society collapses around them, a small family decide to get out of London and head for the wife’s home village. Enjoyable so far, even if they haven’t actually left London yet.
Read Mrs Pollifax on Safari by Dorothy Gilman. Mrs Pollifax never fails to delight, especially when doing a third act Mulan impression! The book is well paced, nicely plotted with just enough fluff, but not so much that it slows the pace down. The characters are decently 3 dimensional, even if a couple border on superhero status.
Not something if you’re looking for realistic espionage or even James Bond level of spy/action story, but a pleasant couple of hours read if you just want a snack.
I’m not going back to that Creepypasta book. The blurb on the cover says, “If you place this book back on the shelf now, you’ll save yourself!” I think they meant to add the word, “TIME”.
Started today on Our Lady of Mysterious Ailments, by T.L. Huchu, second in his Edinburgh Nights series about a ghost talker. Great narrative voice and some nice words to say about dung beetles. 
I read Convenience Store Woman by Sayaka Murata this week and absolutely adored it. It’s about a 36-year old single woman who works part-time in a convenience store. Her friends, family, and coworkers are all up in her business wondering when she’s going to settle down with a man and find a “real” job. The book takes a closer look at what it means to be different and not living up to social expectations, but it’s ultimately a fun and light-hearted read. Also short, at 110 pages. I highly recommend it.
I started in on two new books just yesterday. I have high hopes for My Sweet Audrina by V.C. Andrews. I read Flowers in the Attic by the same author and was absolutely drawn into the horror, creepiness, and melodrama of that story. I’m hoping for the same over-the-top, guilty pleasure factor in this novel.
Also started reading Bad Feminist, a collection of essays by Roxane Gay. As with the other book, I’m hoping for the same trademark style I’ve seen in her previous book. Gay wrote a memoir (Hunger) on the experience of being plus-size in America. Despite touching on some deep issues, the book was very readable and the prose flowed quickly. It was entertaining and enjoyable to read, even as it was educational. I’m hoping for more of the same in this offering.
Oh my. I’ll be interested to hear what you think! I read it like fifty times when I was a teen, but the cringe factor is high.
David Sedaris’s second collection of diary entries, A Carnival of Snackery, got off to a slow start but I’m enjoying it much more now and am about a third of the way through it. Sedaris reads most of the audiobook, but Tracey Ullman, for no particular reason that I can figure out, reads some, too. A good chunk of it is set in London and she certainly does better British accents than he does.
I remember my niece reading that back in the mid-Nineties. She really enjoyed it, too, although it didn’t lead her down that particular career path… that I know of.
I read Convenience Store Woman years ago and also enjoyed it.
Just finished Straight Outta Tombstone , edited by David Boop. The best stories were Alan Dean Foster’s “The Treefold Problem” and Maurice Broaddus’ “Dance of Bones”.
Now I’m reading the latest in Seanan McGuire’s Wayward Children series, Where the Drowned Girls Go.
Finished Where the Drowned Girls Go by Seanan McGuire, which was interesting.
Now I’m reading Remembering Woolworth’s: A Nostalgic History of the World’s Most Famous Five-and-Dime, by Karen Plunkett-Powell.
Oh, well, I finished This Fragile Earth by Susannah Wise but it had descended into nonsense by the end of it.
Now reading the much better Sea of Tranquility by Hilary St.John Mandell - got through the first 50 pages before work this morning! It spans 500 years or so in quite widely separated episodes, starting in 1912. Characters or events in her previous The Glass Hotel are referenced, and I think events from Station Eleven will come into play as well, but i haven’t got there yet.
I will get the new thread up tomorrow.