Finished The Mother Hunt and started The Doorbell Rang in my continued working through Rex Stout’s Nero Wolfe mysteries. Have about 3 more to go and then start on the Robert Goldsborough novels that were written after Mr. Stout passed (they were commissioned by his trustees). Since I’ll be on a trip for the next three weeks, they’ll take up space in my baggage. We’ll see how many I can finish.
Buzz: The Nature and Necessity of Bees Thor Hanson
A brief but enjoyable and interesting look at the evolution and ecology of bees.
Recommended
The Devil’s Blaze Robert J Harris
A Sherlock Holmes novel set during World War 2. Holmes and Watson investigate mysterious cases of human combustion. More of a thriller than a mystery. Not that great.
Sounds intriguing and beneficial. I’ve added it to my To-Read list. Recently, I’ve read a string of underwhelming books that really aren’t worth posting about. But I’m currently reading two books that I’m enjoying:
The Secret of Our Success: How Culture is Driving Human Evolution, Domesticating Our Species, and Making Us Smarter by Joseph Henrich. I’ve been meaning to read this book for years, but kept putting it off because the title, the cover, and the synopsis all made it sound rather textbooky and dry. It’s actually far more engaging than I expected, with some neat insights into why we humans look, act, and behave the way we do, including some differences between cultures and ethnicities.
I’m also reading and absolutely loving The 7 1/2 Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle by Stuart Turton. As the synopsis says, “Aiden Bishop knows the rules. Evelyn Hardcastle will die every day until he can identify her killer and break the cycle. But every time the day begins again, Aiden wakes up in the body of a different guest at Blackheath Manor. And some of his hosts are more helpful than others.” I was apprehensive about this novel, since I’ve never read anything by the author, and it sounds quite different from the books I normally read. But this book is extremely well-executed (well, at least the first hundred pages are), and I am totally drawn into the story.
Next Month: Welcome to CHOCOLATE month!!
My daughter talked me into reading “Looking For Alaska” by John Green. 100 pages in and am enjoying it so far.
Have you read any of his other books? If you like that one, he has a lot of other good ones worth checking out. I particularly enjoyed Paper Towns. Turtles All the Way Down has some of the most beautiful prose I’ve come across in literature. And of course, The Fault in Our Stars is destined to become a classic.
I think I’ve only seen the film adaptations of his books. But my daughter has some of his other books, so I will most likely give them a read.
Are the books better than the movies?
The only film adaptation that I know of is The Fault in Our Stars. The book was fantastic, and the movie … honestly, I’ve seen it but I don’t remember my reaction to it at all. So chances are the book was better since it’s more memorable to me.
Finished listening to Desert Star by Michael Connelly. Another entertaining, hard-to-put-down Bosch/Ballard novel that has a real surprise for his fans at the very end.
Harry Bosch reveals that he has terminal cancer.
Next up: Plum Island, by Nelson DeMille. This will be the first book I’ve read by this author. Looking forward to it.
My daughter has informed me that Looking for Alaska was made into a series on Hulu.
Oh you’re right! I just Googled it, and the trailer looks decent but also geared more towards teens. Then again, the book was geared towards teens as well. Did you daughter mention if she enjoyed it?
I also discovered through Googling that Paper Towns was made into a movie.
I don’t have much going on this weekend, so I may have just found something to do.
She said she liked it enough to watch it twice. I may watch it this weekend, too.