I took a break from Seveneves to read The Martian, by Andy Weir, which I thought was awesome and fun. An astronaut is stranded on Mars, and has to plan his own survival in hopes of staying alive long enough to be rescued. It was really a delight from beginning to end.
DZedNConfused, amarinth, would you still recommend Anansi Boys to someone who abandoned American Gods? I would think that it would be hard to pick up a sequel to a book you’d never finished, and understand what’s going on, but it sounds like you two are recommending this book in spite of my abandonment of the first book.
I finished Jennifer McMahon’s The Night Sister. I didn’t like it as much as some of her previous work. She does mysteries with a touch of the supernatural, which I generally like, but I never achieved suspension of disbelief with this one.
I’ve just started on the new one from Michael Koryta, Last Words, which if it’s as good as his others, will be absolute gold. Try a free preview here: http://www.amazon.com/Last-Words-Preview-First-Chapters-ebook/dp/B0106E2F7K/ref=sr_1_2?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1440432228&sr=1-2&keywords=michael+koryta+last+words
Anansi Boys is not a sequel, it’s a more light-hearted and approachable take on the same theme of ancient gods manifesting in modern society. It probably does take place in the same world as American Gods.
Oh okay, thanks for the clarification Finagle!
As Finagle said, it isn’t a sequel to American Gods. It’s a side story involving one of the Gods in AG. So yes, I WOULD recommend it because it is a fabulous book.
It’s not a sequel, exactly. To me, it takes place in the same universe (the books share a character), but you need no knowledge of the events or characters or anything about American Gods to read Anansi Boys. It also has a very different tone and a very different structure. You still might not like it, but if you don’t, you’ll abandon it for different reasons than you abandoned American Gods.
Depending on your tastes, I’d recommend it.
I finished Fly on the Wall by Tony Hillerman. One of his first, if not his first, books, it really lacked the charm and hozho of the Jim Chee books.
Up next is Redbreast by Jo Nesbo. after that I may go in an entirely different direction and get that HUGE Daniel Silva novel out of my pile(s). 
Over the weekend, made some more progress in Salman Rushdie’s Imaginary Homelands (this time, several essays blasting Thatcher, imperialism and endemic Eighties British racism) and began Robert Parker’s first Spenser book, The Godwulf Manuscript. So far it’s definitely reading like an artifact of 1973, when it was published - square university officials, a scruffy student underground group, down-at-the-heels Boston, etc. Spenser is also more of a jerk than I remember.
Having just seen a remastered print of the classic postwar thriller The Third Man, I’m reading Graham Greene’s short story of the same name, which he wrote as a kind of treatment for the eventual screenplay. Most things are the same, but some are not - it’s interesting to see the differences.
That book was a one-off. You’ll never see that character again. Hillerman was born and raised in Oklahoma, and that’s why he set the story there.
I bought 12 Whitley Strieber books just because one of them was The Wolfen (the book is a hundred times better than the movie made from it).
I was pleasantly surprised to find The Day After Tomorrow was also one of the books in the batch (I was after The Wolfen and bought the lot because I figured all the other books would be just as fun to read.)
The rest of the batch are all aliens visiting us type of books. Which, normally, I will enjoy fantasizing along with but these… gah… the first person dialogue, the repeating multiple times of a single episode from various POV and the repeating of “facts”…
Well, I guess I have 10 campfire starting books.
And I have low standards when it comes to books. I liked Sitchin’s books. Streiber’s just didn’t flow, capture my imagination nor give me a protagonist to root for.
Finally finished What Alice Forgot. First off, I agree with all the other people that said it should have been at least 100-150 pages shorter. I didn’t mind the way she went overboard with the details on certain aspects of her life as if it was her first time doing it, but it got old, fast.
Overall, I’m not sure I cared for it, there was no resolution, no real climax.
Spoiler for those that have read it:
She lost her memory, gets back together with her soon to be ex-husband, gets her memory back and breaks up with him and everything goes back to the way it was before. IMO, what would have made it a little more interesting is if she either didn’t get her memory back and stayed with her ex and they worked through their problems. Basically, her memory loss giving her a second chance at life or even if she did get her memory back and she still decided to stay with him.
When I was around page 400 of a 450 page book and she still didn’t regain her memory, I figured it wasn’t coming back at that point.
Having said all that, I’ll probably see the movie when it makes it to Netflix/TV, unless it’s like a 6 hour lifetime movie.
Anyways, I’m moving on to Skinny Dip now. I read Bad Monkey a few months ago and I’m sure this will follow the same basic formula, so it should be quick and light. I liked Bad Monkey and this is supposed to be another good Hiaasen book.
I like Hiaasen, but all of his titles blur together. I can never remember which story a particular title involves.
After giving up on Walter Scott I’ve moved on to Jane Austen. I finished Sense and Sensibility and it was like a cool drink on a hot day. The plot moved quickly! Things happened without getting bogged down in description! The impassioned speeches didn’t go on for five pages without a paragraph break! 
While waiting for the new Louise Penny book, The Nature of the Beast, to come in for me at the library, I’m rereading Sophie’s Choice. I read it the first time in my 20s and I’m pleased to report that now, at 60, it’s holding up nicely.
I finished reading The Shaving of Shagpat by George Meredith; it’s a pastiche of an Arabian Nights story. For some reason, I thought it was going to be a satire, but it turned out to be a pretty straightforward imitation (aside from some of the silly, made-up names); he even kept in the constant “as the poet says…” interjections. I thought it made a pretty good fantasy novel, but I’ve read an Arabian Nights translation (by Mardrus & Mather) so I knew in advance that there would be formulaic flowery language (which might be a turn-off for some people).
Don’t forget the September thread!