I started Sunstroke by Jesse Kellerman Friday. It’s enjoyable and I’m pleased to see he’s not trying to be either of his well known parents. So far his characters are interesting and while the book is a little slow, it’s not a slog and I had to make myself put it down so I could get to my meeting on time 
I’m wrapping up the second Harry Potter book: …And The Chamber Of Secrets. Another installment from my stepdaughter’s bookshelf. The first book was last month. Looks like I’m going to read all of these, they’re not bad at all for kid’s stuff. (My stepdaughter asks me stuff like: Who’s your favorite character; what house would you be in…)
:)
Huh, another writing dynasty, like Stephen/Tabitha King and their author son Joe Hill? I enjoy Johnathan Kellerman’s books, although not his wife’s so much. Will look for JK Jr.
I read NOS4A2 by Joe Hill a while back, without knowing he was Stephen King’s son until after I finished it. Good, enjoyable and well-done book but I kept muttering to myself how the author was trying to write just like Stephen King.
I, too, do not like Faye much, I can’t like any of her characters except Decker’s oldest daughter and I feel like she’s more interested in cramming being Jewish down my throat than in writing a mystery.
Just reread the last several chapters of Stephen King’s 11/22/63 again, and liked it even better. I was racing too fast (“What happens next?!?!?!?”) when I first read it.
It’s been years since I’ve tried reading her but as I recall the aggressive Jewish Thing in her books was distracting and besides the point, and put me off.
Recent reads:
Joe Hill’s short story By The Silver Water of Lake Champlain. Joe still on his winning streak! This small gem reminded me of Bradbury’s story The Foghorn, as I’m sure it was meant to do.
Michael Koryta’s The Apex Predator. Another short tale. This one hints at violence against animals, but it’s not graphic. A well-written story by a writer I’m liking more all the time.
Nick Cutter’s The Troop. I picked this up because Stephen King recommended it. It wasn’t terrible. I was reminded of Scott Smith’s The Ruins (Group of people in a bad situation, what order will they croak in?) However, there was a whole lot of grodiness and animals getting hurt in this one. If I hadn’t been stuck with it on a plane, I doubt I’d have finished it.
Sarah Lotz’s The Three. I read this on a plane as well, though it was about strange circumstances surrounding several plane crashes. 
It had a pretty interesting premise, but bogged down in the middle. I fell asleep and had a hard time finding my place again when I woke up (these same people still dithering about the same issues?!) but it was okay. If several planes crashed on the same day and a single child survived each time, I bet this really is how the world would react.
Terry Pratchett’s Mort. Dependably fun and clever.
Currently I’m reading Stephen King’s Mr. Mercedes. I generally take a day off work and gobble up a new King like Annie Wilkes gobbles up the new Misery installment, but since I just returned from vacation I guess I won’t do that. So far so good. A couple of tiny quibbles: Was “GUARENTEED” supposed to be misspelled on the job fair banner, or is there a typo in my book? I also see Mr. King trying to coin some new words (“deathcar, just like that, deathcar” and “widder-titter”). Nothing too egregious yet, but keep a smucking lid on it, okay Steve? Love ya!
I also recently read a free preview of Michael Koryta’s Those Who Wish Me Dead and it was smashing. I’m looking forward to that one almost as much as King’s. It’s next! And then I have some other stuff that looks promising. Life as measured by the state of the TBR pile is groovy.
Elendil’s Heir, thanks for taking on the thread!
I enjoyed the earlier Stackhouse books, but the latest ones were, well, really disappointing, IMHO. Jumped the shark around Dead and Gone if I remember correctly. I figure you may already have heard this, but this is the same series HBO’s True Blood is based on (somewhat loosely).
Taking another crack at Night Watch by Sergei Lukyanenko. I think I’m really reading this in the wrong language, but sadly I don’t read Russian.
Glad to.
I know I should be getting back to Far from the Tree, but George R.R. Martin’s short-story-and-essay collection Dreamsongs, Vol. II jumped off the library shelf and into my hands, so of course I had to start reading it. Best part so far: the complete series-premiere screenplay for an unproduced 1991 sf TV show, Doorways. It’s pretty damn good.
^ Still slogging through Far from the Tree. Interesting but often overgeneralized, and sometimes simply incorrect. It doesn’t help that he narrates the audiobook himself and keeps sounding like he’s about to cry.
He obviously poured his heart and soul into the book. Could you tell me, say, three errors you’ve noticed?
I’m nearly finished with Kent Haruf’s Eventide. I’m enjoying it quite a lot; even moreso, I think, than Plainsong. Perhaps it’s because a few of the characters were already established in Plainsong, but, having grown up in a very small town much like the fictional Holt, I can tell you that Haruf absolutely nails the conversations, mannerisms, and actions of rural Western Americans in Eventide.
I recently was invited to join a book group, and our first book, which we meet to discuss in a couple of weeks, is Donna Tartt’s The Goldfinch. I got halfway through it (and had to really push myself to get that far) but now have given up. I apologize in advance to those of you who may have love it, but OMG, what drivel. This is Pulitzer prize worthy writing? If so, then the state of American literature is in dumpster. Tartt has a few beautiful, eloquent passages (just a few single sentences, really) but desperately needs an editor with a very sharp red pencil to cut back on her push-it-down-their-throats-then-repeat style. I’m looking forward to hearing what others in the book group think.
I have moved on (with the giddy enthusiasm of a newly released prisoner) to Eric Larson’s Thunderstorm. I am completely absorbed in his description of, of all things, Marconi’s experiments that lead to the development of radio. I’ve always wondered how scientists figured out those mysteries and Larson offers a very readable account of the subject. I also think Larson’s style has improved since White City.
Also on the Kindle, Quiet, the Power of Introverts in a World That Won’t Stop Talking. I think I read about it here. Will start that after Thunderstorm.
I am reading Below Stairs: The Classic Kitchen Maid’s Memoir That Inspired Upstairs, Downstairs and Downton Abbey by the deceased Margaret Powell. I am really enjoying it. She’s a sharp writer with an eye for detail and well deserved contempt for the people she writes about. I finished reading Snobs by Julian Fellowes. It sucked. He images himself Wharton when he’s really Danielle Fucking Steele.
I hated that book. She’s such a fucking sanctimonious pig. I happen to think our drug laws are sort of insane and punish people far too harshly for minor crimes. But she’s so full of herself and how wonderful she and did she mention she’s blond and has a Smith diploma cause I’d forgotten for two pages that she blond and has a Smith diploma. She utterly lost me with that sort of self back patting.
The aristos, the servants, or both?
The aristos largely. She has no ridiculous Julian Fellowes delusions about the glory and wonder of most of the English upper classes.
Oh c’mon, don’t hold back. Tell us how you REALLY feel 
“and how wonderful she is . . . that she’s blond . . .”
What I really feel is that I should do a better job reading my own damned posts before submitting them. Damn it.