Not Constantinople?
It’s Istanbul not Constantinople
Why did Constantinople get the works?
That’s nobody’s business but the Turks
I’m halfway through The Book Makers: The History of the Book in Eighteen Lives. It has some interesting people in it like John Baskerville and Ben Franklin in it. Very enjoyable history reading.
Finished (finally) Howdunit: A Masterclass in Crime Writing by Members of the Detection Club, edited by Martin Edwards, which is okay for a beginning writer; Sharks Don’t Sink: Adventures of a Rogue Shark Scientist, by Jasmin Graham, which was interesting, and The Citadel of the Autarch, by Gene Wolfe, which used language brilliantly.
Next up: The Strange Trial of Mr. Hyde, by John A. Sanford, and The Velocity of Honey: And More Science of Everyday Life, by Jay Ingram.
I am currently reading Foreigner by C. J. Cherryh, I haven’t read SF in probably 25 years. I’ve read plenty of fantasy and urban fantasy but not much straight science fiction, but dang I need escapism right now!
I am also reading The Tuesday Club Murders by Agatha Christie because I am too tired this afternoon to parse all the words in Cherryh’s book.
Recently gave up on: The Quick and the Dead by Joy Williams. By chapter 6 I was questioning if I wanted to continue and looked up Goodreads reviews, always a bad sign. My suspicions were correct: there is no plot and Alice, the most obnoxious character, never changed. Back it goes to the book depository.
Delighted by: Where I Was From, by Joan Didion. It’s a meditation on California and Californians, specifically what they’re about. A lot of contradictions it seems.
Linden Hills, by Gloria Naylor. Dante’s Inferno set in an upper-class Black neighborhood in the 1980s. I freakin’ love this book.
The Hurting Kind: Poems, by Ada Limon: Guys, I think I’ve found my next Mary Oliver.
The Eustace Diamonds, by Anthony Trollope: The third of the Palliser novels. Lizzie Greystoke reminds me very much of my best friend’s ex-wife and I want to slap her. Pronoun left ambiguous on purpose.
Fine with: The King of Elfland’s Daughter by Lord Dunsany. It’s written in the highest form of High Forsooth, but it has its good moments like when the elf princess floated away with the autumn leaves because her human husband wouldn’t let her worship stars and stones.
I really enjoyed The King of Elfland’s Daughter.
Finished The Strange Trial of Mr. Hyde, by John A. Sanford. Not recommended. Also finished The Velocity of Honey: And More Science of Everyday Life, by Jay Ingram, which was very interesting.
Next up: Teaching Science Fiction: Education for Tomorrow, edited by Jack Williamson, and Learning the World, a science fiction novel by Ken MacLeod.
Finished The Exchange, John Grisham’s sequel to The Firm. Revisits Mitch and Abby McDeere, who as I recall had fled into hiding at the end of The Firm. It is 2005, they have since resurfaced, and Mitch is working in the New York office of the world’s biggest law firm. An Italian associate in the London office is kidnapped in Libya. What follows is about 300 pages of trying to cobble together a $100-million ransom, with Mitch in the middle of it. And that’s about it. I could have done without it.
Have started The Old Curiosity Shop, by Charles Dickens.
I did not. I ended up skimming the last few chapters because I got tired of the Highest Forsooth it was written in, the distinct lack of interesting characters, and the phrase “the fields that we know” on every single page.
Finished Paladin’s Faith, the 4th in the Saint of Steel series. I hope the next installment furthers the story of Judith!
Started today on a book of short stories with a horror/sci fi bent, No One Will Come Back For Us by Premee Mohamed. I’ve only read a couple so far, but they were delightful.
Finished Battle Mountain by C.J. Box, the latest in the Joe Pickett series. Box is a good writer, but the later books in this series have plots that are a bit more than far-fetched. I was pleasantly surprised when this book didn’t have anything out of the ordinary, then I was majorly disappointed when a key moment in the novel relied on a very unbelievable mode of communication between man and beast.
Next up: The Drowning Woman by Robyn Harding.
I’ve just started Hellhound On His Trail: The Electrifying Account of the Largest Manhunt In American History, by Hampton Sides. It’s about the hunt for MLK’s murderer and so far it’s grabbed me. Sides is a good writer, for sure.
Finished Teaching Science Fiction: Education for Tomorrow, edited by Jack Williamson, which had a few books and stories I’ve put on my TBR list, and Learning the World, a science fiction novel by Ken MacLeod, which I thought had interesting worldbuilding.
Next up: Who Owns the Moon? And Other Conundrums of Exploring and Using Space, by Cynthia Levinson and Jennifer Swanson, and an original novel based on the TV series Quantum Leap, Search and Rescue, by Melissa Crandall.
Reading Abaddon’s Gate, book 3 in the Expanse series. I think it’s my favorite so far. I’m a big fan of the TV series but the books are just as good, and not so much like the TV series that it feels repetitive. I think Corey Is one of the best science fiction authors in the business. This stuff will go down as classic. (Shameless plug for their new series, The Captive’s War. The Mercy of Gods is absolutely riveting.)
Also reading Hammett by Joe Gores.
It’s a semi-historical reimagining of hard-boiled PI novelist Dashiell Hammett as… A hard-boiled PI. A buddy of mine said it was a best of its genre, and I have a passing interest in noir, so I’m reading it. It hasn’t yet reached the inciting incident so I don’t have much to report yet. I like the protagonist and the writing style well-enough, though I’m not particularly interested in what he’s doing so far (gambling, mostly.) Apparently it’s based on actual events, minus the Hammett part.
I look forward to when he starts investigating stuff. Right now he’s just feeling bad about his writing which hits too close to home.
Just started on The History of Money by Jack Weatherford. It’s OK, but I find some of his statements doubtful.
You do know Corey is two different authors? That said …incredible writing.
Just finished Victorian Psycho by Virginia Feito. I was hoping for something a little more subtle or clever, but this was just full-on gore. Plenty of child and animal abuse, but so cartoonishly over-the-top it didn’t affect me. I still have this author’s Miss March in the TBR pile, and it got some good reviews, but I don’t know. This one wasn’t for me.
Lindbergh by A. Scott Berg. An excellent work. I picked it up along with another Berg biography, Wilson, at a library book sale.
At this point in my reading, Berg is still covering the earlier “good” parts of Lindbergh’s life. I’m interested to see how he will handle the later portions of the subject when Lindbergh became more problematic. It was the recent publication of H.W. Brands’ new book America First: Roosevelt vs. Lindbergh in the Shadow of War which caused me to decide to read Berg’s biography first as background before reading Brands’.
On the subject of people accused of being Nazi collaborators, I just read Wodehouse at War by Iain Sproat. Sproat was definitely putting forth the pro-Wodehouse version of what happened.
Sharing Space Cady Coleman
Memoir by astronaut Cady Coleman, who flew two Shuttle missions and did a six-month stint on the International Space Station. Mixes details of being an astronaut (and the challenges of being a woman astronaut) with “motivational speaker” stuff like doing your best even when people doubt you. Mostly common sense, but nothing wrong with that.
Recommended.
I finished The Drowning Woman by Robyn Harding. Two Seattle women, at opposite ends of the financial spectrum, are both in dire straits. When their paths unexpectedly cross, it sets off a chain of events with ever-darkening twists and turns, with a surprising conclusion.
Recommended.
Next up: Open Season by Jonathan Kellerman