That’s what I’m reading. I have no idea how far through it I am, though: it seems like the “progress” function was disabled for the Kindle edition (I’ve been all through the device settings; it works in other books, but seems to be unavailable for this one). I actually find it distracting to have no idea how much of the book is remaining. Odette and Felicity have just arrived at the ball in their live dresses.
Anyway, so far I’m enjoying it as much as the first one. I like the Myfanwy Thomas character, but I’m glad Stiletto focuses on others. I wouldn’t say it’s better than The Rook, but I don’t think it’s any worse.
Glad you liked it! I just found that compared to the first book, I found my mind wandering off more as I was reading, and I didn’t feel as much of a pull to come back to reading when I was away. Of course, I did move to a new house right in the middle of this book, but I read the first book as I was re-certifying as an EMT and participating as a member of a CMMI appraisal team at my company, so I had occasion to be pretty distracted both times.
Started reading my daughter’s copy of Harry Potter and the Cursed Child last night. I am trying really, really hard not to compare it to the books, but not very successfully. I need to hear about Albus’ experience at Slytherin! And the Time Turner is the worst possible device to revive, because it is the hardest to handle plot-wise. grumblegrumble
On audiobook, I tore thru four of the old old Tom Swift novels - Tom Swift and His Electric Runabout, Tom Swift and His Wireless Message, Tom Swift and His Submarine Boat, and Tom Swift Among the Diamond Makers. Innocent, gee-whiz YA fiction from the era where it was amazing to read about an airship that can fly ninety miles an hour! And send and receive Morse code messages from mid-air! Unfortunately the take-away is that Tom is a moron without the slightest notion of safety engineering, in the sense of “it’s our first tryout of the submarine - let’s go down a couple of miles and see if it works!” And no one bothers to say “gee whiz, Tom, WHAT IF IT FUCKING DOESN"T!!!” Not to mention Eradicate Sampson, the elderly colored man with his comical mule Boomerang, who does odd jobs around the Swift home. He calls Tom Swift, who is a teenager, “Massa Tom”. Tom calls him “Rad”. Oh, those colored folk - they are so funny. :rolleyes:
Other reading is Rough Justice, about a New York ADA and his years prosecuting various losers. About what I expected. No startling insights - mostly (so far) the struggle of an idealist against a cynical reality. They’re all guilty, they’re all losers, whether you go easy or throw the book at them it doesn’t really affect anything.
Next up is Grunt: The Science of Warfare and I have to get my phone fixed so I can do Tom Swift and the Visitor From Planet X, from the 1950 and 60s revival of the series.
Started today on The Big Book of Science Fiction, edited by Jeff and Amy Vandermeer. This is a big anthology; I will probably dip in and out of it. I wish it was a hardcover, though! The dern thing’s over three inches thick and I fear for its flimsy paper cover.
Finished book one of the Star Trek series I mentioned and rather then move on to book two right away decided to pick up Harry Potter and the Cursed Child. Like it so far. Since it is the script of a play it will be a quick read.
I’m enjoying some nutritious reading - Jane Austen’s Emma. I’m enjoying it 3-4 chapters a day, so as to extend my delight. I’ll tackle Patrick Rothfuss’s The Name of the Wind next.
After all these years, I’m finally getting around to “Ready Player One”, and am really enjoying it. Though I have a hard time seeing Tye Sheridan as Parzival in the movie, unless he’s only going to be playing an avatar.
Just enjoyed a week on the beach and did a lot of reading. I finished:
Michael P. Zatarga’s The Battle of Roanoke Island, about fighting along the North Carolina coast during the Civil War. The author had a bland writing style, alas, and left far too many typos.
Robert Lawson’s Capt. Kidd’s Cat, a favorite from my childhood, as great as ever.
Bertrand R. Brinley’s The New Adventures of the Mad Scientists’ Club, another favorite, the second short-story collection about a group of small-town science nerds and their elaborate pranks. Lots of fun - now I want to re-read the first.
Also re-read Ken Grimwood’s sf novel Replay, about re-living your life over and over again, which holds up pretty well the second time 'round.
I’m now more than halfway through Ian W. Toll’s Six Frigates: The Epic History of the Founding of the U.S. Navy, which is still quite good. Got through the Barbary Pirates campaign and now the War of 1812 is looming.
I’m about two hundred pages into The Lake House by Kate Morton, and I’m loving it!! It’s written in the same formula as all her other books: a frame novel, where there’s a mystery in the past, and someone in the present looks for clues to try to solve the mystery. And a good dose of romance thrown into the mix. I’m actually pleasantly surprised, because I’ve read all of Kate Morton’s novels, and she typically takes a long time to really get going. Her books tend to be around the 600 page mark, and you need to get about 200 pages in before you really get sucked into the story. But in her latest offering, Morton actually had me sucked in right from the beginning, and I love knowing that I still have so much of the book to enjoy!
I also just started Alphabetical: How Every Letter Tells a Story by Michael Rosen, which I learned about on the Straight Dope when delphica recommended it in the Top Ten Books You Read in 2015 thread. I’m still at the beginning, but so far, I really, really like it because the other is really unafraid to show his love for things intellectual. It’s those authors that don’t apologize for or joke about their nerdiness, but really embrace it and show an honest love for their subject matter, that are the most fun to read.
Then I’ll bet you’d really enjoy, as I did, Ken Jennings’s Brainiac: Adventures in the Curious, Competitive, Compulsive World of Trivia Buffs. Lots of unapologetically nerdy fun.
