I am re-reading Stephen King’s “The Dead Zone” and James Graham Ballard "Empire of the Sun ".
Looks like The Rook may not be available in Thailand. 
You’re not wrong to do so.
I finished Erik Larson’s Thunderstrucktoday and, despite the title getting AC/DC stuck in my head, I loved it. It follows the career of The Italian Version of “William” That I Cannot Spell Marconi and a mild-mannered homeopathic doctor named Hawley Harvey Crippen. Marconi, who I have decided was a right jackass, invents the wireless and spends most of the book trying to send transatlantic signals. Crippen murders his wife and his subsequent escape ends up helping Marconi’s career because the shipboard wireless plays a crucial role in his capture.
I felt that the Crippen parts of the story were better, but that may be because it was a good-old fashioned murder mystery. I was too busy hating Marconi to enjoy his chapters that much. I will warn you, though: do not read the chapters where Scotland Yard investigates Crippen’s basement anywhere near bedtime. Even in this day of CSI and Law & Order and Bones and other TV murder shows, it’s a pretty gruesome discovery. I literally made this face :eek: when I read that part.
Weenie.
:dubious:
Finished Man of Two Worlds, but was disappointed with it. Now I’m reading some Nero Wolfe novels, starting with Three for the Chair. I’m also continuing with The Annotated Peter Pan as my bedtime reading. On audio, I’ve re-engaged with Clive Cussler’s The Mayan Secrets. When I finish with that, I’ll have used up all the Cussler novels on audio from three local libraries.
Just finished Lionel Shriver’s We Need to Talk About Kevin. A powerful, well-written book, and one that makes you feel God had the right idea with the Great Flood but didn’t carry it far enough–He should have drowned Noah et al too and started over from scratch.
Last week I picked up several books and put them down again. Finally, suffering from a stomach virus and a dearth of printed material, I read Asylum by Madeline Roux in its entirety. I preferred the stomach virus.
So I broke out the Kindle and read The Wee Free Men by Terry Pratchett, which I’d saved for a rainy day. It was wonderful, as you all know. It’s silly, but I’ve always felt I was just too late to the Discworld party to start now. So anyway, I’m going to go back and start properly with The Colour of Magic, though I’m already disappointed knowing there will be no Nac Mac Feegle. If that doesn’t work out, I’ll at least go and read the rest of the Tiffany Aching books.
No, they didn’t find any of the sexual organs in the remains. It was just offal.
I’ll see myself out.
The earliest three Discworld books are, in my opinion, the weakest. They are good but he really hadn’t hit his groove yet. I love the Guards books, the Witches (Granny Weatherwax RULES) and several of the stand alone ones. If you DO just read Tiffany’s, make sure you have tissues close for “I Shall Wear Midnight”. It’s very poignant…
Do not read the books in order of publication - the first two are weak. Many have made this mistake and given up on the series …
The books are not really one continuous series, but a bunch of mini-serieses, each of which can be read on its own.
I read them in publication order and it worked for me, but yeah, that’s not the way to do it if you’re on the fence about whether you like the series or not. Start with the Witches, Guards or Tiffany and then fill in the blanks. A lot of the early Wizard books are kind of meh but the later ones like Reaper Man are a riot.
Okay, so Wyrd Sisters then? And definitely A Hat Full of Sky.
Wyrd Sisters and Witches Abroad are the best place to start with the Witches.
Hat full of Sky is the second Tiffany? Very good book, more Mac nac Feagles and general mayhem.
Today’s finished book is Monday the Rabbi Took Off. I liked this one better than One Fine Day the Rabbi Bought a Cross, the other “trip to Israel” book. Most of the story was great, but I couldn’t stand the chapters dealing with the congregation’s reaction to the Small’s vacation. They came out looking like a lot of backstabbing double-dealers, trying to second-guess Rabbis Small and Deutch. It got to the point where I was wondering if the council was going to auction off the rabbi’s job. Rabbi Deutch did give them a well-deserved verbal smackdown at the end and I hope they took it to heart.
Easier than Lullaby, that’s for sure! 
And while I’m on the subject (sort of) - I spent about the last month with the audiobook of Stephen King’s latest - Doctor Sleep - I wasn’t sure if I liked the idea of a follow up to The Shining, but Stevie done good with this one.
After an interlude set a few years after the events at the Overlook hotel, we fast-forward to Dan Torrance as an adult - a poorly functioning adult at that. An alcoholic (not too surprising) drifting from job to job across the eastern US - he washes up in a small New Hampshire town after hitting bottom.
We also meet a young girl - Abra - whose “shining” is stronger than Danny’s - so strong, in fact, it brings her to the attention of Rose the Hat and the True Knot. And you do NOT want to be brought to their attention.
Dan’s journey thru alcoholism to sobriety (via AA) certainly seems a good example of “write what you know” - King may have been exorcising some of his own demons here. Abra is well-written, and even supporting characters like Billy and Dr. John feel like real people. Rose the Hat is a worthy addition to the King stable of baddies, fitting right in with Pennywise and The Walking Man. The callbacks to The Shining are present, but not obtrusive; having read the book (or seen the film) is useful, but probably not mandatory - general pop culture knowledge would be basically sufficient, I think.
The revelation that Dan Torrance and Lucy Stone were half-siblings was a bit of a jaw dropper, tho there had been a few hints; and I should have caught on that Momo was catching a ride with Dan a lot sooner. I really enjoyed this novel and will be picking up a copy for myself eventually.
Just finished Roy Jenkins’s 1974 collection of short political biographical essays, Nine Men of Power. The chapters on economist J.M. Keynes and British Labour Party leader Hugh Gaitskell were the best; he had a different perspective but a bit of a tin ear when it came to American politicians like Joe McCarthy and Bobby Kennedy.
I started Fire Sale by Sara Paretsky last week…
I do like her but I really get tired of all the rich people being utter douchebags and screaming that a request for a charitable donation is begging for a hand out. I get tired of the guys always being chauvanistic pigs and everyone hates on poor V.I.
Yeah, well above and beyond that the book is good.
I’m currently reading The Martian, by Andy Weir. Loving it. Accept the basic premise, and it’s full of the gotta.