Finished The Donut Legion. It was a bit like a Hap and Leonard story, without Hap and Leonard, and without snappy dialogue. The writing was poor and the constant leering at female characters by both author and male characters was embarrassing. The middle dragged terribly. Still, by the end, you had your good guys and your bad guys in a hideously gory fight and the good guys won, as per the formula. Has Lansdale forgotten how to do these?
Started today on The Future is Female, Volume 2, the 1970s. This is an anthology of sci-fi written by women, and the only volume in the series which my library has.
Finished Your Table is Ready: Tales of a New York City Maitre D’, by Michael Cecchi-Azzolina, which was okay.
Now I’m reading Four Aunties and a Wedding by Jesse Q. Sutanto, which is a cozy mystery.
Right now I have four books going: The Canyon’s Edge by Dusti Bowling (for Project Lit at my youngest’s middle school); The Dreaming: Waking Hours by G Willow Wilson and Birds of Prey: The End of the Beginning by Sean McKeever, and A Darkness Absolute by Kelley Armstrong as my audio book of choice.
I finished Witch Mark by C.L. Polk. It was okay, I may read the rest of the series but it won’t be too soon. I’m always irked when a book ends before the story conflict is completely wrapped up.
Finished Four Aunties and a Wedding by Jesse Q. Sutanto, which I enjoyed.
Now I’m reading Arch-Conspirator by Veronica Roth which appears to be a science fiction retelling of Antigone.
Started The Boys from Biloxi, by John Grisham. I generally like Grisham’s stuff, though I’m thinking this one won’t have the heft of The Reckoning or some of his other novels, but we’ll see.
I finished The Canyon’s Edge yesterday and started Finding Neverland, vol 1 by Kaiu Shirai. I also finished A Darkness Absolute as my audio book and moved on to the next in the series, This Fallen Prey.
Finished Arch-Conspirator by Veronica Roth, which was okay.
Now I’m reading American Sirens: The Incredible Story of the Black Men Who Became America’s First Paramedics, by Kevin Hazzard.
Finished listening to Killers of a Certain Age by Deanna Raybourn. A highly entertaining story of four sixty-something women who, as trained assassins, have been working for a clandestine organization for forty years, eliminating such undesirables as drug lords, evil dictators, and other such scum. The women have been asked to retire and are given a Mediterranean cruise as part of their severance package. When they discover a fellow assassin on board who is targeting them, they attempt to turn the tables on their former employer. Would recommend.
Next up: Shadows Reel by C.J. Box, last year’s Joe Pickett novel.
Finished The Tide of Victory (Belisarius #5), by Eric Flint and David Drake.
Now reading The Dance of Time (Belisarius #5), by Eric Flint and David Drake.
Next up: Not sure – this is the last book in the Belisarius series. May reread The Journey of Man: A Genetic Odyssey (Spencer Wells) or The Little Ice Age: How Climate Made History 1300-1850 (Brian M Fagan), or look for something new.
I will be very interested in what you think of it, it’s on my want to read list.
I finished Lament at Loon Landing the 6th Secrets and Scrabble book by Josh Lanyon. Josh and I have a … troubled history, she is far too fond of borderline domestic abusers for herr MCs’ boyfriends for my comfort. This series, being a cozy, she has to rein in that side of her psyche and make Jack actually likeable. GASP!
I am still reading Stiletto by Daniel O’Malley. Big book is difficult to read when my joints hurt.
Up next on the Kindle: Too Many Fires the 5th Daniel Owens book by Ripley Hayes. This one looks to be an emotional book… I hate when my characters are not getting along.
Note that I said I may reread it.
Okay, still interested in what you think of it…
Fagan is quite readable, and of course it’s a very interesting subject. Actually, you might want to read two of his other books first, if you haven’t already read them:
The Long Summer: How Climate Changed Civilization – end of ice age to AD 1200
The Great Warming: Climate Change and the Rise and Fall of Civilizations – 10th-15th centuries
(In fact, I think I’ll reread all three of them, not just the third one.)
Finished American Sirens: The Incredible Story of the Black Men Who Became America’s First Paramedics, by Kevin Hazzard. Strongly recommended. One of the best books I’ve read this year.
Now I’m reading Boss of the Grips: The Life of James H. Williams and the Red Caps of Grand Central Terminal, by Eric K. Washington.
Finished Dead Wake: The Last Crossing of the Lusitania, by Erik Larson. Quite good, although I could probably have done without President Wilson’s courtship of Edith Galt. Larson was supposedly trying to show how the president was distracted at this time, but I don’t see how his distraction added to the ship sinking. But quite good. It was my third Larson, and I’ve become quite a fan of his.
Have started Jude the Obscure, by Thomas Hardy.
Cleopatra’s Needles Bob Brier
The intriguing history of the obelisks of ancient Egypt, from how they were quarried and moved (contrary to what you might see on pseudo-historical websites we know how it was done and it didn’t involve aliens or lost technology) to how they were looted by the Romans and then by France, Britian and the United States.
Interesting book about a cool topic. Lots of nice pictures too.
Out of my last library run, three out of the five books I picked up were total duds. I’ve already mentioned how Gentleman Jole and the Red Queen sucked. I also got Tam Lin by Pamela Dean, which turned out not to be a modern-dress fantasy about the Tam Lin ballad but instead a story about annoying girls girling around at college. Apparently the fantasy bit shows up sixty pages before the end, but that was four hundred pages after I lost interest. Today I started and then quickly gave up on The Sheltering Sky by Paul Bowles. I thought it was about ex-pats in north Africa after WWII. It’s actually Mid-Century White Male Literature, a genre I despise.
Fortunately I also got Written in Red by Anne Bishop which is an entertaining urban fantasy with werewolves and Old Goriot by Honoré de Balzac which is also quite entertaining.
Finished Boss of the Grips: The Life of James H. Williams and the Red Caps of Grand Central Terminal, by Eric K. Washington, which was okay.
Now I’m reading The Best Crime Stories of the 19th Century, edited by Isaac Asimov, Charles G. Waugh, and Martin H. Greenberg.