I started to protest “But I liked Tommy & Tuppence!”
" - oh wait…" as the realization sunk in that I was probably 15 when I read those novels, so yeah… 
I am now reading The Tale of the Dueling Neurosurgeons: The History of the Human Brain as Revealed by True Stories of Trauma, Madness, and Recovery by Sam Kean. It is wonderfully written - an excellent mesh of history and science. Highly, highly, highly recommended!
I’m still reading Finders Keepers. I can tell you now it’s better than Mr. Mercedes. But the worst thing happened to me this morning…I’m reading, I’m all caught up in the situation, not far from the end of the book. Major characters are in a room together, something drastic happens with the MacGuffin…and my phone alarm goes off. Reading time is over for the day, time to go to work, no more book until tomorrow!
I’m dyyyyyyyyinn!
I just finished Saint Odd, the 8th book in the Dean Koontz series. I didn’t enjoy this book as much as I enjoyed the others. There was nothing wrong with the writing; it just seemed a little downbeat throughout and lacked the whimsical feel of the earlier books. This is despite introducing a couple of interesting characters that he does nothing with except murder one. I also missed Raphael which I find kind odd (snort) since Koontz’ golden retriever fetish is a little off putting.
Now beginning: Outcast (military sci-fi - a new series offshoot of Star Force from VB Larson).
Was almost too busy to read last month, with the end of school and end of the concert seasons, plus my oldest graduated from high school!
I read Joe Abercrombie’s novel Half a King, which was fine for a young adult fantasy but not in the same league as his First Law books. I was a little disappointed in it actually, after all the great reviews, but then I’m not a big fan of YA.
I finally read Possession, by A.S. Byatt, which has been on my shelf for years. It’s parallel love stories: while hunting for clues about a secret affair between two Victorian poets, a pair of modern (1980’s) literary scholars fall almost reluctantly into an affair of their own. I liked it a lot, but I skipped over the poetry. There’s an okay movie version starring Gwyneth Paltrow and Aaron Eckhart as the modern lovers, and Jeremy Northam and Jennifer Ehle as the Victorian couple, with Lena Headey as the neglected lesbian lover.
I just finished Seveneves today, and I’m glad I knew absolutely nothing about it before I started it. I didn’t even read the blurb. I liked the first two sections more than the third - although other readers seem to feel just the opposite. I’ll have to go find that thread now.
I just finished The Winshaw Legacy: or, What a Carve Up! by Jonathan Coe. I’d read and enjoyed his Expo 58 and this was one of his novels available thru my local library.
It’s a bit Gothic, but mostly black humour/satire, set (mostly) in 1980’s Britain, with occasional flashbacks to the 1940’s and 1960’s. I’m sure a lot of the political jabs and other context went right over my head, but I still got the main gist of Coe’s theme.
The storyline jumps around quite a bit between different members of the Winshaw family (old money & mostly dreadful people) and Michael Owen, a struggling lower-middle class author who is tapped to write a history of the family - with occasional side visits to other minor characters. And not only does the storyline shift - but so does the viewpoint - it sometimes took me a page or two to figure out who “he” or “I” was in any given chapter. It all feels a bit much at first (I was tempted to start taking notes/ drawing diagrams), but things come together quite nicely at the end.
Michael Owen is quite the quirky character (as are most of the Winshaws) but Coe still manages to make him likable. The various and sundry Winshaws are also well-drawn caricatures, but come off as rather beastly (yes, even Tabitha!)
The subtitle is a reference to the 1961 film also known as No Place Like Homicide!, which itself plays a fairly important role in Michael Owen’s development. In fact, the climax of the novel draws heavily from the film, and others like it, while still providing a few surprises here and there.
I enjoyed Coe’s style of storytelling, although I felt this novel was a lot slower than Expo 58. For me, I think a little Coe will go a long way. He’s still on my list of authors to explore further (the library has The Rotter’s Club and The House of Sleep), but I don’t think I’m in any hurry.
Finished Stephen King’s Finders Keepers, second in his crime novel trilogy. Pretty solid, although I was never able to believe a teenage boy ever existed that was as well-spoken and quick-thinking as Pete, not to mention noble!
Started this morning on In The Unlikely Event, an adult novel by Judy Blume. I’m sorry to say I found it unreadable. Didn’t I used to like this author? I’d never have gotten as far as I did if it weren’t for fond memories of the kid books.
I was incredibly bitter to find out that it didn’t involve an actual duel between neurosurgeons.
Also…not a book for hypochondriacs. The list of amazingly wacky things that can go wrong with the brain is very long one.
Snerk. The footnotes alone are worth the price of admission. He’s a terrific storyteller.
I just finished Anonymous Lawyer, by Jeremy Blachman. The premise is that our hero, a cheerfully venal self-entitled Hiring Partner at big corporate law firm, starts an anonymous blog. It’s loads of evil, despicable fun.
I just finished Ready Player One over two days. I liked it a lot. It isn’t great literature, but it was a very fun read. With my first year of Grad School finished I’m finally able to read books for fun again. I’m not sure what I’m reading next. I think Longstreet’s memoir, or maybe For Whom the Bell Tolls.
Started, and 72 pages later, abandoned, The First Bad Man by Miranda July. I was actually enjoying the story as told by the mentally unbalanced and unreliable narrator at first, but came to realize that every character in the book is deeply weird in ways I can’t relate to.
Finshed the latest Bernie Gunther nover by author Philip Kerr - The Lady from Zagreb. It was awesome. Even after 10 books, this series still delivers.
Anyone interested in Noir should check out this series - as should anyone interested in novels set around WW2.
I just read The Vintage Caper, by Peter Mayle. It’s supposed to be about the theft of some rare and expensive wines and the people who solve the mystery, but really it’s about how nice it is to eat dinner and drink wine in France. It was a very nice piece of fluff to cleanse my palate after reading Gillian Flynn. It’s a shame that a French vacation doesn’t fit in the budget this year.
I just finished *The Thousand Autumms of Jacob De Zoot *by David Mitchell. It is set in Japan at the time just prior to the economic collapse of the Dutch East Indies Company. Unaware of this pending financial disaster, our hero, an idealistic young man who hopes to make his fortune in Asia and return to the Netherlands to marry the girl he loves, commits to a five-year clerkship in the Dutch trading center at Nagasaki. Life intervenes. It’s very good, with well-drawn characters and a story that moves right along. I highly recommend.
Finished It, by Stephen King. Very good. Quite an enjoyable ride. Recommended. And now I understand certain references in King’s 11/22/63. It takes place in the fictional town of Derry, Maine, with the action split between 1958 and 1985. In 11/22/63, a high-school English teacher stumbles across a portal to 1958, and the protagonist has a brief sojourn in Derry, where the child murders in It are briefly referenced. I understand he has other novels set in Derry too.
Next up is another King: The Shining. I did, of course, see the film when it came out so long ago, but I hear the book is still not to be missed. I’ll probably start that on Monday or Tuesday, as this looks to be a busy weekend for me.
Personally I hated it. Didn’t find it scary so much as frustrating, but that might be because I’m a woman so I spent most of my time screaming at Jack’s dish rag of a wife.
I finished Rob Roy by Walter Scott. It was not bad, but it felt a bit like a rehashed version of Waverley with a touch of Ivanhoe. “An English lad falls in love with a fiery Jacobite and gets swept up into a highland rebellion. Special guest star – a famous bandit who robbed from the rich and gave to the poor!”
I started today on Jonathan Stroud’s The Screaming Staircase. I’ve been avoiding it because it’s a kid’s book, which is dumb because I like kid’s books and I especially enjoyed Stroud’s Bartimaeus series. This new series reminds me of John Bellair’s stuff, by which I mean it’s pretty darn good.
OMG! I adore John Bellairs! I will HAVE to look for this one!