Actually, I think I once read a third book of Leonard’s that Givens may have been in.
Yes, he’s in Pronto, as well as a short story, and the novels Riding the Rap and Raylan. For more on the character: Raylan Givens - Wikipedia
I’m now about a third of the way through Jack Higgins’s The Eagle Has Flown, a 1991 sequel to his (much better) 1975 WWII thriller The Eagle Has Landed. Turns out, a key character from the first book, described quite clearly there as having been shot and killed… survived! Pretty much feels like Higgins wanted to cash in again on a popular early book of his.
Finished Iron Sunrise , by Charles Stross, which I enjoyed. I would’ve liked it better if one of the key characters hadn’t annoyed me so much. I may read Singularity Sky, which this book is a sequel to, since my husband assures me that the character I can’t stand isn’t in it.
Now I’m reading Mergers and Acquisitions: Or, Everything I Know About Love I Learned on the Wedding Pages, by Cate Doty.
Oaxaca Journal Oliver Sacks
Oliver Sacks is a world-famous neuroscientist who has written several books on the mysteries of the human brain.
And he is really, really into ferns. A veritable pteridophile.
In this short book he documents a trip to the region of Oaxaca, Mexico with other fern fans to explore the area, with an obvious emphasis on botany. Although he also talks about the human history of Oaxaca, it is mostly about ferns.
Although I don’t know my licopodium from my dryopteris, I found the book quite enjoyable. Next time I’m out walking I’ll try to pay more attention to these organisms.
The Bookseller of Florence: The Story of the Manuscripts That Illuminated the Renaissance Ross King
The fascinating story of Vespasiano di Bisticci, who rose from humble origins to become the most important manuscript dealer in 15th century Florence, a friend to kings and poets eager to acquire copies of Cicero and Plato.
Of course, he was also among the last great manuscript dealers, because a few hundred kilometers to the north, Gutenberg and his movable type changed the book world forever.
Enjoyable and interesting book. Recommended.
Ooooo! I need to look into that one. I’ve enjoyed the other Ross King books I have read.
Finished Mergers and Acquisitions: Or, Everything I Know About Love I Learned on the Wedding Pages , by Cate Doty. Meh.
Now I’m reading How to Rule an Empire and Get Away With It, by K. J. Parker.
Finished The Rest of Us Just Live Here by Patrick Ness. I honestly expected the book to be more “Free Guy” and a lot less Judy Blume. The book has pacing issues, stuff happens and then nothing much happens. The middle part was about as boring an tedious as I would think the life of an extra on a Marvel set. But the end is well paced and nicely climatic.
He does have a good ear for teens, both their dialogue and motivations were believable.
Yes, I’ve read several of his books. All enjoyable.
Picked up TC Boyle’s short fiction anthology titled Stories II this month. The volume of his output is staggering; this collection alone stands at 900+ pages, and then there are the novels too. This collection is very idiosyncratic. I particularly liked My Pain Is Worse Than Your Pain. Another staggering fact is that the collection features only his published stories. How someone could get published so often baffles me.
Other than that, I’ve taken up some introductory (101-level) materials on Logic. At the moment, I’m focusing on transductive reasoning in particular. Reading a short fiction anthology is great this way; it gives me the feeling of engaging in something sustained, as with reading a novel but also gives me enough room to read other things.
Finished Summer of Night, by Dan Simmons. It was long, annoying, and mediocre. There were several animal deaths. Most took place off screen, and the ones that didn’t…well, the writing was so poor they just glanced off me.
I had some trouble keeping the characters straight, but it was enough to know that there are a bunch of boy children, plus the sexy girl and the disgusting girl. Mr. Simmons had a habit of telling, not showing: oh, this guy is “the crazy neighbor”? Why? Because the author says so. This book is also put forth as being some great tale of nostalgia. As for me, I was pissed every time I realized I’d just spent five pages reading the blow-by-blow description of a dirt-clod fight, and the plot was no further ahead. The supernatural evil part didn’t make a whole lot of sense, but in the end, it all just winds up in a major gross-out.
At least it wasn’t about fucking vampires, that’s the nicest thing I can say about it.
I attempted to read The Girls by Emma Cline, but quickly abandoned it. The book is beautifully written, almost like poetry, but there was very little story to it.
Now, however, I’m reading two books that I am very much enjoying.
Landline by Rainbow Rowell does a very good job of actually telling a story. It’s light-hearted and flows well: a great book for when you don’t want to focus too hard and just want to relax into a fun story. It’s about a woman who discovers that if she calls her husband using a particular phone, she can reach her husband from 15 years ago and talk to him.
A Mother’s Reckoning: Living in the Aftermath of Tragedy by Sue Klebold is certainly not light-hearted – it’s the polar opposite. But the book is incredibly engaging. I mean, we think that the worst thing that can happen to a mother is that she loses her baby. Imagine if you not only lost your baby, but your baby also became notorious worldwide for killing and injuring nearly three dozen children in the deadliest mass shooting in the country’s history. Imagine picking up the pieces and surviving that. Her story is told in a way that is sensitive, responsible, heart-wrenching, and honest.
Hmm. I’ll try to think of a book about celibate vampires I can recommend to you.
I am throwing garlic in your general direction!
Despite innuendo and suggestion, there’s no evidence that either in the book, the 1922 film Nosferatu, or the 1931 film Dracula that the count himself ever attempted sexual seduction. He was literally out for blood. And, as David J. Skal made clear in his many books on the topic, Dracula was a feral predator. It was only later that his hypnotic power (and the sexual symbolism, which was always there) was interpreted as sexually seductive. You could imagine a woman giving in to Christopher Le’'s Dracula, or to Frank Langella’s or Gary Oldman’s (in fact, that’s very heavily suggested in the 1979 and 1992 films), but no the ray-faced Count Orlok in Nosferatu.
So, yeah – pretty celibate vampires.
Best I can do is gay vampires…
I started A Palm for Mrs. Pollifax by Dorothy Gilman yesterday. I’m ready for cozy spy hijinks in Switzerland after a cold, dreary, smoggy January in Utah!
Just finished Agatha Christie’s Murder on the Orient Express and liked it very much. I can see why it’s attracted Hollywood so much over the years.
I’ve now returned to Sally Rooney’s contemporary Irish novel Beautiful World, Where Are You, about two gal pals in Dublin and their work, families and love lives. Not really my cup of tea, but good enough to keep going.
It was a quick read (that’s the best I can say about it), but I just finished The Other Hotel: You Choose by Jack Stroke.
It’s a “choose your own story” kinda deal. I’d never read one of these, and it seemed like a cool use of the kindle platform, but the story was stupid and the whole thing a disappointment.
On the bright side, I just started Spindown by the hot new author Andy Crawford. I haven’t read any science fiction in years and I’m really getting into it.
Finished How to Rule an Empire and Get Away With It, by K. J. Parker, which was excellent and a lot of fun. Very reminiscent of Terry Pratchett’s Discworld novels about Ankh-Morpork and Moist von Lipwig.
Now I’m reading Atlas of a Lost World: Travels in Ice Age America, by Craig Childs.
Finished Simon Winchester’s The Men who United the States on audio. Very good and wide-ranging book. I found an error or misstatement in it that I might try to write to him about, however. Now I’m on to Stephen King’s Billy Summers that I picked up at the same going out of business sale.
Still going through Heinlein’s Pursuit of the Pankera in hardcover. It’s interesting, and carries on the Barsoom motif that the character’s names hint at much more satisfyingly than Number of the Beast did, but this still feels like a slog, rather than the usual Heinlein sweep.
For bedside reading, I’m still reading The Girl in the Hairy Paw. Glad I picked that up.