I don’t know that it was that cruel - I think it was more about someone who had a much better opinion of himself than was actually warranted. But I agree that it’s nowhere as good as 3MB(+Dog).
Inspired by, my unfulfilling experiment with Terry Pratchett, I took Ann Patchett’s “Bel Canto” home. No idea where it is really going yet, but I like her style and even her page turners are worth it.
I have ordered it!
Interesting. I found “Three Men in a Boat” to be way too twee for my tastes, so maybe I’ll love “Diary of a Nobody”.
A few days ago I finished The Lincoln Lawyer, which I really should never have read given my weakness for a good legal thriller series: between that and a publisher who wisely included a few pages of the next book at the end, it should surprise no one to learn that I immediately started #2 in the Mickey Haller series (The Brass Verdict).
So now I’m in the process of reading about Mickey Haller (by Michael Connelly), Johannes Cabal (by Jonathan Howard), and Joe Dillard (by Scott Pratt). I have a *lot *of books to catch up on. 
I also consider myself to be in the process of reading about John Puller (by David Baldacci) and Danny Beckett (by Tyler Dilts), even though I’m caught up on those series: the last books were released recently, and there’s no reason to believe there won’t be more. Oh, and there’s a fair chance that the Mickey Haller books will lead me to start reading the Harry Bosch books (also by Michael Connelly).
You’ll enjoy it.
My library has it. Top of my list.
I love Mickey… so much MORE than Harry. Harry, I tolerate, but Mickey I flat out adore!
Mickey is more lovable, yes. But Harry has grown on me. An acquired taste? But I do recommend the Harry Bosch series too, especially since the two team up eventually in the Haller series. But you don’t have to have read the Bosch series to enjoy. I’ve read every book of Connelly’s except his latest, and I’m waiting for the paperback. Connelly’s become my go-to guy since the death of Tony Hillerman.
On the home stretch of Faust’s This Republic of Suffering, now focusing on burial rituals, and I’m also a couple of chapters into Conan Doyle’s The Hound of the Baskervilles, which I haven’t read in many years. My edition includes the original Paget illustrations - great as ever.
Finished The Moon and Sixpence, by W. Somerset Maugham. A fictionalized account of the life of artist Paul Gaugin. Very good. I’m a big Maugham fan but had never gotten around to reading this one. My favorite of his is The Razor’s Edge. In fact, it’s one of my favorite books period. I credit reading The Razor’s Edge with giving me the gumption to get out of that dead-end West Texas shithole I grew up in. Edge is apparently a big favorite of Bill Murray too. He reportedly would only agree to do Ghostbusters if the studio let him do a film version of The Razor’s Edge first. Both films came out in 1984, Ghostbusters making considerably more money but Edge one of the best movies of that year.
Next up is Tortilla Flat, by John Steinbeck.
Oops! Wrong thread. :o
I’m familiar with/a fan of the Bosch character from the Amazon Original series (I love me some Titus Welliver!), but that wouldn’t keep me from also reading the books. I believe the Haller book I’m reading now is the one where he meets Bosch; it seems to be something like #14 in the Bosch universe. I’ll probably wind up wanting to read the Bosch stuff just because I’ll enjoy the character.
I finished I’m Down by Mishna Wolff. An interesting memoir about growing up white but with a father who embraces the black culture.
Also completed Penpalby Dathan Auerbach. Horror books can definitely be polarizing and this one was highly rated over on Goodreads.com. I didn’t think it merited that much of a rating but it also wasn’t horrible either.
And because I wanted to read a mystery novel, I found Cupcakes and Killing: A Cozy Mysteryby Cora Wilkins. Holy fudge this was bad. Bad bad bad. It was exemplary of what happens when you write a novel for NaNoWriMo and have good spelling and grammar but that’s about it. It read like it had no editor.
Just started 2666 by Roberto Bolaño. Isaw this on a list of recommended readings for a book I love.
I finished The Clockwork Scarab by Colleen Gleason today. Decent foray into YA Steampunk, nothing life altering but a fun read nevertheless. Sherlock Holmes niece and Bram Soker’s little sister are recruited by Irene Adler to solve mysteries forthe Princess of Wales. The characters are interesting and there was a certain amount of development for the two main characters. The book is definitely a young adult’s, there is a nice kiss, lots of blushing and some queasy tummies but nothing “adult”. The villian is a fairly steroetypical pulp fiction villian and I suspect the big reveal is not going to be too shocking. (I’ll take bets on who it is right now).
Just finished Terry Pratchett’s Small Gods. Not bad, but not as good as I’d hoped it would be, based on a number of reviews. Usually, there’s one or two lines on almost every page I want to memorize, or read out loud. Not this time. And when I read the description of the villain… I knew he was going to die by having the tortoise fall on his head.
Haven’t decided what’s up next. I’ll see what’s in my library bag…
Next up is Frontier Grit: The Unlikely True Stories of Daring Pioneer Women, by Marianne Monson.
Finished Carter & LOvecraft by Jonathon L. Howard and ummmm MEH
I suspect if I were a Lovecraft fan, I would have enjoyed it more but most of it made no sense and after harping on it the whole damn book, we still never found out why Charlie shot himself…
Because the lawyer and Charity were squid monsters? I dunno
Finished Tortilla Flat, by John Steinbeck. The picaresque adventures of a group of friends in a section of Monterey, California post-World War I. Published in 1935, this is the novel that first brought him fame. It was okay.
Have started Steinbeck’s Cannery Row. Published 10 years later, it too relates the picaresque adventures of a band of friends in a section of Monterey but is not a sequel. So far, it’s far superior to Tortilla Flat. I watched the Nick Nolte/Debra Winger film version at the time it came out, but that was 35 years ago and I don’t remember much.
I’ve just finished Emil Zola’s The Earth which was stunningly brilliant. Sadly I only have five more books to go in the Rougon-Macquart cycle.