I’m reading The Councillor right now, not finished yet so don’t give anything away yet*. It is pretty ridiculous how no one has figured out the two gay characters are totally gay and totally into each other. They’ve done everything except make out in the middle of the council table and I’m not sure that isn’t going to happen.
*I may have skimmed to see who the traitor was.
Right? Right? I went back to reread when the main character started wondering, “Hey, do these guys have the hots for each other?” because I couldn’t believe that it wasn’t open knowledge.
Okay, I need to read this!
I finished A Short History of Nearly Everything by Bill Bryson on audio and started Crooked River, an Agent Pendergast novel by Douglas Preston and Lincoln Childs. Rene Auberjonois, who used to narrate the series on audio, has died, so this one is read by Jefferson Mays. His rendering of Pendergast’s whispery New Orleans-accented voice doesn’t sound nearly as much like horror host Zacherle.
Emerald Labyrinth: A Scientist’s Adventures in the Jungles of the Congo
Eli Greenbaum
The author, an intrepid herpetologist, describes various expeditions in the eastern part of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, collecting and describing the reptiles and amphibians of this diverse and ecologically important area. Poor guy endures a lot, from attacks by stinging ants that sicken him, to malaria and typhoid fever, to dealing with armed warlords and their heavily armed teenage soldiers. And a spitting cobra.
Interesting and enjoyable book. Better him than me.
Finished Falling by T.J. Newman. I cried my face off. But it wasn’t because this book was any good. Due to the subject matter, I kept thinking of 9/11 and United Airlines flight 93, which makes me bawl. As far as this book goes, it was a predictable, insipid beach read with cardboard characters, and I will not be picking up anything by this author in future. < spit >
Next up, some fine quality literature to set me back on track: Grady Hendrix’s Final Girl Support Group.
Finished The Rangers Sorrow, which is not bad.
Read Master of Tomes by Honor Raconteur; nice wrap up to the trilogy.
Next up: not sure.
I’ve resumed my audiobook of Kate Atkinson’s Case Histories and am getting back into the flow of it; I’m now a little over halfway through. The story is pretty interesting and the reader, Susan Jameson, is terrific. She can do all sorts of voices very well.
Finished my audiobook of Goldfinger by Ian Fleming, as I read my way through the James Bond series. It’s a lot different from the movie (no surprise), and a pretty good spy yarn, although the late-Fifties racism, misogyny and homophobia is sometimes glaring.
Also skimming Gen. Sir John Hackett’s The Third World War: The Untold Story (1982), which I first read in prep school, about a what-if near-future (at the time) war between NATO and the Warsaw Pact. Some interesting stuff. Wouldn’t surprise me if Tom Clancy was a fan.
What fascinates me about that book is that it describes the US invading Grenada – a year before we actually did.
Finished Project Hail Mary , by Andy Weir. Another winner from that author, as far as I’m concerned.
Now I’m reading Turning of Days: Lessons from Nature, Season, and Spirit, by Hannah Anderson. It’s a collection of essays.
I, like @Left_Hand_of_Dorkness, just finished The Councillor and I have to say it was a good debut novel. The politicking was excellent, I liked the way Lysande’s grief for Sarelin was depicted as well as her increasing drug use. However. The sex was terrible. It felt like it was shoehorned in to make sure everyone knew that Lysande was bisexual. I almost threw the book across the room when I got to the minor BDSM at the end because it just felt like it was there to bog the story down yet again. (This is not a fast read.) Also, the general cluelessness among all the characters about Jale and Dante’s relationship was totally unbelievable. Like I said before, they did everything but have sex in the middle of the council chamber and still no one could figure out they were gay until the end. 
I’m going to make two predictions about the next book:
2. Lysande will turn out to be related to the White Queen, quite possibly her daughter.
The Empire Strikes Back came out forty years ago. I don’t think you need to spoil the idea that the orphan protagonist who’s fighting against a terrible villain that killed the protagonist’s mentor may have complicated ancestry.
I’ve been yelled at for spoiling less. I’ve learned to be overly cautious.
Finished Turning of Days: Lessons from Nature, Season, and Spirit , by Hannah Anderson, which was okay. I liked the essay about ferns the best.
Now I’m reading The Trail of the Lonesome Pine, by John Fox, Jr.
Fair. The Councillor is many things, but an intricate labyrinth of unpredictable plot twists it ain’t. I am sure you’re right, because that’s what happens with that kind of character.
I just finished Winter’s Orbit and really liked it. It’s a space opera political thriller murder mystery romance that manages to balance all those components pretty well. It’s a little like if someone did a live action version of John Scalzi: while I like Scalzi’s stuff a lot, his characters are kind of cartoonishy, his dialogue heavy on the smartass quips, his solutions always wrapped up in a bow. The characters here felt a lot more real to me. And the gender stuff was way more interesting than in The Councillor.
Now I’m reading The Constant Rabbit, a Jasper Fforde confection about an England with anthropomorphized rabbits.
Finished The Trail of the Lonesome Pine , by John Fox, Jr. Meh.
Now I’m reading Why a Painting is Like a Pizza: A Guide to Understanding and Enjoying Modern Art, by Nancy G. Heller.