I wonder if they’re being glitchy or something. I won’t panic about it yet.
For some reason, I had no idea Stephen King had another son besides Owen. So recently I picked up Joe Hill’s (later to be revealed to me as Joseph King) Stranger Weather, a collection of four novellas and I really liked it. Wondering whom this new (to me) writer was, I looked inside the back cover at his picture and I thought “Man, he kinda looks like a young Stephen King!”.
Of course, I got on the internet to see what other books he’d written and I found out the truth. Wow, did I feel dumb. I’m getting ready to hit the library up to see if they have anything else he’s written, as several of his books are pretty highly recommended.
I also just finished Ken Follet’s Column Of Fire, his latest entry in the Pillars of The Earth saga and immensely enjoyed that as well. His historical fiction really is quite good.
I wish a new Peter F Hamilton book would come out. I’m jonesing for some space opera.
Sorry, don’t know him, or know of him.
May I recommend The Mote in God’s Eye by Niven and Pournelle, or Tuf Voyaging by George R.R. Martin?
I can recommend The Guns of August, one of her earlier works and a great introduction to WWI.
Second both of these. And if you haven’t read it already, The Moon is a Harsh Mistress by Heinlein.
Finished and oldie but goodie; The Lord Darcy omnibus (1 novel and 9 short stories) by Randal Garrett. It’s set in a world where Richard the Lion-Hearted did not die early of his wounds and the Plantagents still rule the Anglo-French Empire. Also, the Laws of Magic were codified and experimented with, rather than the Renaissance and Newton coming along, so Magic plays the part of science.
Once you’ve bought into that world, you have pretty standard murder mysteries well-told and moderately puzzling. I enjoyed the re-read.
Just started on The Last Lion: Defender of the Realm, which was to be the third in a trilogy about Winston Churchill by William Manchester, who was unable to complete it due to ill-health and his subsequent death. Paul Reid was chosen by Manchester before his death to complete it, and at over 1,100 pages I think it will take awhile.
I am awaiting the arrival of Murder and Magic, if I remember correctly it’s a short story collection of Lordy Darcy adventures.
Agreed. The First Salute is also an interesting look at naval power during the American Revolution.
West With the Night, Beryl Markham. This is a beautifully written memoir by a woman who spent most all of her life in East Africa. She was one of the first bush pilots in Africa and the first woman to solo the Atlantic from east to west.
I’ve finished a couple of books so far this month.
The Lady of the Barge by W. W. Jacobs. It’s a collection of short stories, including the very famous “The Monkey’s Paw”. The previous collection of his stories I read skewed more towards hackneyed comedy; this one was more like a 60/40 mix of comedy and suspense, which I rather preferred.
Eugenie Grandet by Honore de Balzac. Several candidates scheme to be married to the innocent daughter of a heartless miser. I enjoyed the satire of provincial society and I was pleasantly surprised that it was significantly shorter than Pere Goriot (which had a rather large cast of characters).
Thank you both! Yes, The Guns of August is in my to-read pile, as is everything she ever wrote, I think. But I was lured by the siren song of the middle ages, which I love. 
Finished Life Itself: A Memoir, by Roger Ebert. Parts of it I liked a lot; mostly him talking about newspapermen, actors and directors he’s known. The stuff about his youth is much less interesting, although you can feel his sincerity about how much he loved his family.
Started Beneath the Sugar Sky, but Seanan McGuire.
I just logged into Goodreads to check, and my lists are ok (phew!). There is a banner on the site:
If I had to start over, I think I would go into a decline. And then I’d reread things and not know I was rereading until halfway through.
JFK liked The Guns of August so much he asked his senior advisors to read it, in order to better understand crisis management and hopefully learn how to avoid stumbling into war. The title of The Missiles of October, about the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis, is an homage to Tuchman’s book.
Cool. Thank you. I’m back to doing quite a bit more non-fiction reading, so history recommendations are especially welcome.
Wow, I was so sure! I went back and searched the old reading threads and see I had mixed you up with Crotalus. Sorry about that.
I’m messing about with Dear Fahrenheit 451: Love and Heartbreak in the stacks: a librarian’s love letters and breakup notes to the books in her life.
I finishedMycroft Holmes by Kareem Abdul-Jabbar & Anna Waterhouse today.It was a pleasant read, a bit violent and bloody towards the end, but the pacing was decent and the characters interesting. The ending was a bit Deus ex Machina’ed which even Abdul-Jabbar acknowledges.
New thread: Spring? Then why is it snowing?
Since you asked… several of these are Pulitzer winners, and richly deserved them:
Joseph Ellis, Founding Brothers - A great look at the Framers of the Constitution and their relationships - sometimes friendly, sometimes not, but almost always competitive - with each other.
Garry Wills, Lincoln at Gettysburg - Disassembles and explains the Gettysburg Address - literate, classy and insightful.
James McPherson, Battle Cry of Freedom - One of the best one-volume histories of the Civil War out there, IMHO.
Geoffrey Ward et al., The Civil War - Ditto.
David McCullough, Truman - A great bio of a long-underappreciated leader.
James Flexner, Washington: The Indispensable Man - Also a great bio. Read this to see just why Washington was so vital to the cause of American independence, and then how he practically invented the Presidency.
Garry Wills, Cincinnatus - Examines Washington as a man shaped by, and who became an icon of, the Enlightenment.
David McCullough, 1776 - Follows Washington as a determined and inspirational military leader during the darkest days of the Revolution.
Richard M. Ketchum, Victory at Yorktown - Explores Washington’s greatest triumph, in the 1781 battle which virtually ended the war.
Ron Chernow, Alexander Hamilton - A magnificent, highly readable profile of the brilliant but deeply flawed man, a key Washington advisor who did more than anyone else to lay the groundwork for generations of American prosperity.
Ugh, I quit. I thought I’d get a lot of leads on stuff I might enjoy, but lots of these little notes are just the author trying to be cute, but not saying much about the book. And then there are the lists. Well, hell, I can find a list of books anywhere. Fahgeddaboudit.
Started Maugham’s *The Painted Veil *which I am very much enjoying. Written in 1925. I finished The Kind Worth Killing and it was horrible. Of course it was compared to Gone Girl (which I hated) and Strangers on a Train. I’m also reading *The Woman Who Smashed *Codes, a biography of Elizebeth Smith-Friedman, who, with her husband, broke codes for the government in WWI and WWII. Fascinating.