Over the weekend, I finished The Last House on Needless Street, and it was quite the mindfuck! As soon as I finished it, I turned back and started again. So it’s one of those that, once you have understanding, you see all the events in a different light. I’ll have to give it five stars just because of how much I’ve thought about it since I put it down.
Onward now to This Thing Between Us by Gus Moreno. It’s either about technology run amok, or a haunting, I’m not sure which yet.
Madhouse at the End of the Earth Julian Sancton
In the late 1800s exploring the Poles was all the rage. At some point, the tiny nation of Belgium decided to get in on the act. Maybe they wanted to known for something other than waffles.
So a ship was outfitted and set sail for the South. Their plan was to map the unknown coastline and find the South Magnetic Pole. Their main fear was getting stuck in the ice that starts to accumulate in the southern hemisphere autumn and being forced to overwinter in polar darkness. Which is of course exactly what happened.
For the rest of this incredible history, I encourage you to read this well-written and engrossing book.
I read this book when it first came out. It was a pretty good book, but the quotes on the book cover misrepresent it.
The movie was, I agree, no great shakes, but it was interesting for two debuts. It had Robert de Nirio in his first Mafia movie (although not his first gangster movie – he’d been Lloyd Barker in Bloody Mama the previous year) and Herve Villechaize in his first big role .It also gave us Jerry Orbach starring as Kid Sally Palumbo in what I think was his first crime role, long before Law and Order or Prince of the City of F/X (where he also played a gangster)
Now I remember how I came to choose this book. One of the threads here was about Bob Dylan’s song “Joey”, and somebody noted that Jerry Orbach and Breslin, among others in the New York arts and literary crowd, had become pals with Joey Gallo, upon who Kid Sally in Gang That Couldn’t Shoot Straight was somewhat modeled.
Whether Kid Sally gets blasted in the book, I don’t know so don’t tell me. Joey eventually did.
Finished both over the weekend. Both were pretty good. Playmates is very short, as Spenser novels go, but Parker packed a lot in.
I’ve started an audiobook of Mercury Rising by Jeff Shesol, about John Glenn, JFK and the early NASA manned space program. Best tidbit so far: Glenn’s Korean War wingman Ted Williams (himself of some small repute as a baseball player) said that Glenn was “an idol to me” and “the bravest man I ever met.”
Finished Humble Pi: A Comedy of Maths Errors , by Matt Parker, which was very good. It’s about assorted minor and major disasters caused by maths (he’s Australian and lives in the UK) mistakes. It includes my favorite sentence from a book this year: “This is where the phrase ‘Measure sea level twice, built a 225-metre bridge once’ comes from.” For more info: Great miscalculations: The French railway error and 10 others - BBC News
Now I’m reading The Care of Strangers, by Ellen Michaelson.
Finished The Care of Strangers , by Ellen Michaelson, which was okay.
Started Blue Marlin, a novella by Lee Smith.
Finished Blue Marlin by Lee Smith, which was okay.
Now I’m reading Fuzzy Mud, a science fiction novel by Louis Sachar.
Finished Keep Your Eyes on Me by Sam Blake. Quite a fun fast moving thriller. Definitely going to check out more of this author’s work.
I like Ruth Ware a lot. She along with Shari Lapena are my favorite current thriller writers. The Lying Game is a great book. I would recommend these four in order of her best:
One By One
The Turn of the Key
The Woman in Cabin 10
The Death of Mrs Westaway
Just read A Psalm for the Wild-Built, Becky Chambers’s latest novella. I’m an enormous Chambers fan, think she’s one of the best authors of the last decade–but this one didn’t do much for me. Not sure why: it’s very similar to a lot of her other work, but something about this one came across as a little pat or twee in a way that her others didn’t for me.
…and I liked it very much (“it” being Laura Lippman’s Dream Girl. Extremely well written, interesting characters (the author who is the central character is especially well done), creepy situation. One of my favorite writers.
Now off to read Jordan Ellenberg’s Shape, another book I’m looking forward to. It’s about geometry, but skimming through I suspect it will be about a lot more than that. Should be fun.
Thank you!
I finished Gus Moreno’s This Thing Between Us. I was impressed at first with the quality of the writing, but later things grew disjointed and boring, and fell apart. There was also a really bad animal death, so I don’t recommend this at all.
damn! I’m on the “impressed at first with the quality of the writing” stage, (about 30% of the book read accoding to my cell phone), I hope the let down is not too bad 
Sorry! Maybe you’ll like it and then you can explain it to me. 
Finished Fuzzy Mud , a science fiction novel by Louis Sachar. Intended for middle-grade and possibly YA readers, it’s quite well done.
Now I’m reading Show Me a Sign by Ann Clare LeZotte. It’s a historical novel about the Deaf community in 1805 in Martha’s Vineyard.
Just finished Razorblade Tearsby S.A. Cosby. Excellent read. 5 stars. Last week it was The Lincoln Highway by Amor Towles. Slightly surprised and disappointed by the ending but overall quite good. Very descriptive of USA in that time frame. Now on to A Shot to Save the World which is so far proving to be a huge disappointment.
I have the audiobook on hold. As I really enjoyed his A Gentleman in Moscow, and the Lincoln Highway actually passes through my hometown, I’ll be interested to read it.
The Ocean at the End of the Lane by Neil Gaiman
Middling at best, kind of boring to be honest. I was disappointed. Except for Sandman and Good Omens, I’ve found Neil Gaiman to be really disappointing. I read The Graveyard Book and while it was ok in parts, I found it less than great as well.
Anyone else find Gaiman to be only a so-so author most of the time?