I’ve been on something of a German and Scandinavian kick lately (everything read in English translation, alas). I’m currently about halfway through Willful Disregard by Lena Andersson. A woman becomes infatuated with an artist when she receives an assignment to write about his work. She meets him, falls for him in a big way, and they begin a romantic and sexual relationship. So far it is a very intelligent, wry look at relationships and the power dynamics therein. The subtitle is “A novel about love,” though I haven’t read enough to judge exactly how ironic it will turn out to be (my prediction: quite ironic indeed).
I read Born to Run at a friend’s recommendation. He recommended it a while ago, but I wanted to make sure I read it while the weather was warm, since I only incorporate running into my workout regimen when the weather is warm. It was a good book. Even though I’m into strength training more than running, the author does a good job of capturing the joy of exercise and distinguishing it from the mere desire to win/be better than other people. While it’s nonfiction, it’s the sort of book that reads like a story, so that people who typically read fiction will likely still enjoy it. But personally, my favorite parts of the book were the most non-fictiony parts of the book, where the author cited research on things like the benefits of running barefoot and how our body biologically evolved to run.
I also sort of finished another book: Songs of a Dead Dreamer and Grimscribe by Thomas Ligotti. The book is a collection of short stories, and originally, Songs of a Dead Dreamer was released as one collection, and *Grimscribe *was a separate collection. I finished the first collection, and I’m taking a pause to strategize a different method for reading the second collection.
Does anyone else out there read short story collections? How do you read them? The problem is that while these stories are good, they are only around ten pages long. Anytime you read short stories, it can be hard to settle in and read them straight through, because you start over with a new setting, characters, and storyline with every new story. And since these are short even for short stories, it’s definitely an issue I’ve found here. My plan right now: keep them around to read out loud on my road trip coming up this week. After I get back from the road trip, maybe read one story between each book that I read, and then in October, maybe I’ll up the frequency and finish the book, since these are horror stories and I like to read horror in October.
I’m actually impressed with the consistency of his stories. Most short story collections are a mixture of goodies and filler, but these stories are consistently strong. So I do want to finish the book – just using a different reading method.
Finally started some new stuff. Just finished Stephen King’s The Outsider on audio, and upon finding that one of the characters is from an earlier series I’d skipped, I’m going back and yesterday started Mr. Mercedes.
The Outsider was good, but the “trick” as to how someone could have an absolute, rock-solid alibi and yet have left fingerprints and DNA at a crime scene miles away becomes clear very early on, and then you’re waiting for the characters to catch up with what you already know. Still, the journey is fun. Despite being a Stephen King supernatural novel, I can’t see anyone finding it “scary”.
I really dislike short stories because of this. I want lots of setting, character, and plot development. The only “short story” I can name that I like is really long (James Joyce’s “The Dead”).
True, but I’ve also found that the short story genre lends itself to some things that you can’t get away with in a novel. For example, you can be a lot more experimental with your plot and setting (Kelly Link does this well). The short story genre is also really good for horror; John Connolly is an example of an author who does this (he writes novels that are more detective-related, and reserves the creep factor for his short stories). Karen Russell is an author who can write terrific short stories, but her novel sucked (in my opinion) because her writing style is just better suited for short stories – it has this dreamlike quality that only works when the story you’re telling is about the length of a dream.
Of course, if you’re not into things like surreal, experimental fiction or horror, then I imagine you would have absolutely no use for short stories.
While I love novels, I also enjoy short story collections because I like quick, fun plots so much, especially if they have a good twist. Another advantage of a short story collection is that if I don’t like one, I may very well like the next.
You people with your logic and stuff. shakes fist
Just started Leonardo da Vinci, by Walter Isaacson. I hope it’s as interesting as his other books.
On vacation, I read The Shimmer a stupid-as-hell book putatively about time travel or soul vampires or serial killers or how dumb Democrats are or men with chiseled chins or believing in Jesus or goddamn. It was an incoherent rightwing mess of a novel, but at least there were only like five characters and no philosophy whatsoever (beyond taking the occasional dig at Obama), so it was a fast read.
Now I’m reading Greeks Bearing Gifts, the final Bernie Gunther novel. For those not familiar with him, he’s a German cop who started policework before the rise of the Nazis and who muddled through the Third Reich trying not to do anything too horrifying. He more or less succeeds but comes out with a bone-deep case of self-loathing.
It sounds depressing as hell, and sometimes is, but it’s also got some of the best noir dialogue since Raymond Chandler, and the humor isn’t so much gallows as guillotine: razor sharp, and you’ll laugh your head off.
(I regret nothing.)
Both I, Robot by Isaac Asimov and Tuf Voyaging by George R.R. Martin are short-story fixups with framing scenes, and they’re among my favorite sf books.
I’m at the beach now, with lots of time to read! Recently finished:
Manhunt by James L. Swanson - Pretty good account of the Lincoln assassination and the search for John Wilkes Booth and his coconspirators. Swanson’s prose is a bit purplish at times, though, and several times he showed more sympathy to Booth than I thought appropriate.
The Sheriff of Babylon: Bang. Bang. Bang. by Tom King and Mitch Gerads - Gritty, bloodstained, well-crafted graphic novel about a tough American operative, training new Iraqi police officers after the fall of Saddam Hussein, who gets involved in a murder investigation with a tainted former Baghdad cop and a member of the provisional government. Not for the faint of heart.
Worlds by Joe Haldeman - Terrific 1981 sf novel about a poli-sci student and musician from an orbital colony who comes down to overcrowded, crime-ridden Manhattan in 2084 to study at NYU, and is drawn against her will into a deadly political conspiracy.
I’m going back to reading Richard W. Smith’s Bishop McIlvaine, Slavery, Britain & the Civil War, about a top Episcopal cleric who helped Lincoln as an unofficial envoy to the British government.
I enjoyed it very much until towards the end, when I thought the author stumbled badly, having the bad guy tell Harry what he intended to do, specifically enough that Harry could stop him. It was almost an Incredibles-style parody of a supervillain’s monologuing. The bad guy had no reason whatsoever to tip his hand to Harry like that.
IMHO, better books in the same vein are Life after Life by Kate Atkinson and Replay by Ken Grimwood.
I read cocoonspirators and then coco conspirators… can’t decide if I need better drugs or fewer ones 
Definitely purple prose of the breathless sort. It was an interesting book, though.
Booth might have been cuckoo for cocoa puffs, if that helps!
On the subject of short stories, I have to agree with the above poster who said you just start getting attached to the characters when BAM the story is over! I find this tooth grindingly annoying and somewhat depressing too…
So this week I have been flying through CS Poe’s Winter and Snow books and the side story Southernmost Murder m/m, sexy cops, interesting mysteries that aren’t overly complex glares at Jonathon Kellerman again and potato chippy fun. Work starts again next week so I need to get my fun out of the way now 
And since it’s been awhile, this is me on Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/user/show/3448061-kris
Just finished* Empire Express: Building the First Transcontinental Railroad*, by David Haward Bain. It’s a very thorough book, and if you’re interested in this subject, I recommend it. It does have a number of interesting anecdotes, like about the time a box of baby shoes partially derailed a train. (I feel like there’s a six-word story in there.)
Next up: Martians Abroad, by Carrie Vaughn
Heh. The talk of Dresden upthread is funny to me as I am now reading Butcher’s Dresden books for the first time. I’m about halfway through Fool Moon, the second book. I swear, while I like the books as popcorn wizardry/fantasy/detective novels, there’s something juvenile and extremely familiar about these books. I feel like I’ve read them before, and it’s possible I have, but…I don’t know.
I do agree that there is something about them that just kinda sucks you in. They aren’t great, they aren’t profound in any way, they’re just…fun.
I think they get a lot better, and then they get a lot frustrating.
Finished Disaster at Stalingrad, by Peter Tsouras. I did not like it. My time would have been better spent reading the actual history since I’m not all that familiar with the details. Indeed, it’s not alternative history in the sense of, say, Robert Harris’ Fatherland. It’s alternative history for serious military buffs who maybe play complicated video games in which they try to change the course of history. Tsouras gets way too bogged down in the intricate details of each side’s forces.
Have started Doctor Sleep, by Stephen King, his sequel to The Shining, in which young Danny has grown up to become an alcoholic like his father and seriously damaged by the events of the first book, which took place when he was five years old. Fascinating so far. About 100 pages into it, and it’s just as good as 11/22/63.
Finished The First Fifteen Lives of Harry August and thought it was pretty decent, though I have to agree with Elendil’s Heir’s criticism upthread, and I didn’t care for the torture scenes. I also have to say that I don’t understand why the quantum mirror was such a bad idea. Screw those linears; we’ve got to figure this out!
Starting this morning on a re-read of Stephen King’s On Writing. sigh He is so wonderful.
I love that book. I’ve read it two or three times.
Right now I’m working on book 3 of The Expanse series. So far the quality is holding up, which is nice. My experience with long series like this is that typically the first book or two are good and then quality drops precipitously. So we’ll see.