I’ve had little success finishing books the past couple of months, and the ones I’ve finished have left me cold.
Until today.
Yesterday I picked up The Last to See Me, a ghost novel by an author I didn’t know. The blurb mentioned that it was her first supernatural book, which is generally a bad sign: when “literary” authors go genre, too often they’re slumming and condescending and clumsy all at once, thinking genre fiction is easier than it is. This book, though? This is the real deal: a ghost story told because the author had a damn fine ghost story to tell. It’s the kind of book that I’m handing to my wife to read because I want to talk with someone about it. I finished it today in one long session while my daughter’s interminable pinewood derby tournament passed by.
After a night’s sleep on it, I do have a caveat: I’m not certain the plot holds together, and there may be some dangling threads by the end. But the writing and the characters are wonderful, and since I kinda like messy stories, those caveats don’t bother me much.
Finished Dracula, by Bram Stoker. Better than I thought it would be, although it did drag in spots. I was surprised at how prominent a character Renfield was, and what part he played.
Started Wait Till Next Year: The Story of a Season When What Should’ve Happened Didn’t and What Could’ve Gone Wrong Did, by William Goldman and Mike Lupica.
Last night I finished A Good Month for Murder: The Inside Story of a Homicide Squad (I was a little further along than I thought when I posted on Wednesday). I’ve always had a bent for criminal thrillers, and this true crime book – set in a familiar locale – was right up my alley. Thanks, The wind of my soul!
I didn’t start anything new right away, but tonight I’ll most likely begin Bad Things Happen (based on Roderick Femm’s recommendation).
Will do!
Me, too! Well, enough to download a sample, anyway. Which I will check out after Bad Things Happen.
You know, it occurs to me that I could probably get through a decent chunk of 2018 simply reading recommendations from these threads…
Kar Kaballa by George H. Smith – I saw this in the book racks when I was a kid, but never read it, so now I’m getting the chance. Interesting, so far. I hadn’t realized that it was a series. There are two other books in the series, along with a published earlier version of this one.
Beyond the Farthest Star by Edgar Rice Burroughs – another one of those I saw but didn’t read back in the 70s
Climbing Mount Improbable by Richard Dawson – one of these days I’ll work through all his popular books on evolution.
El Borak and other Desert Adventures by Robert . Howard – I think I might have read all the individual stories, but this is the edition that came out a few years ago with all the alternative versions and fragments
Dangerous Water: The Biography of the Boy who Became Mark Twain by Sam Powers. Stumbled across this in a used book shop, and had never heard of it. Having finished the Autobiography and being a big Twain fan, this looked pretty interesting.
For my bedside reading I’m still working through The Twilight Zone Encyclopedia by Steven Jay Rubin
On audio I finished Douglas Preston and Lincoln Childs’ Crimson Shore[ – an annoying book. It’s as if the first 2/3 is one book with all the loose ends wrapped up, and they suddenly start a completely different book in the last third, in which a monster very gorily kills off virtually all the main characters from the first part of the book. It’s as if the publisher came to them and said “The book’s not long enough. And it needs more supernatural and gore.” so they obliged. You can argue that there were hints and foreshadowing in the first 2/3, but it’s pretty damned superficial stuff that doesn’t materially affect the plot, and could’ve just been dropped in later when they realized they needed more stuff.
Nonetheless, I decided to pick up another of their books, the one immediately preceding it – Blue Labyrinth, but I may already be regretting it.
I just finished The Secret History by Donna Tartt; it came up as a recommendation sometime last fall, I bought it off Amazon, and let it sit on the nightstand for months. Given this came out 26 years ago, my thumb is clearly on the pulse of America.
I’m moving on to her 2014 The Goldfinch which won a Pulitzer, and also Red Rising which was another recommendation.
My free time right now is woefully constricted with grad school, but I find that whatever free time I have I waste on shitty freemium games, so I might as well try to force myself into better habits.
My recent reads. I hope I’m not duplicating any that I commented on in February:
A Medal for Murder, by Frances Brody. Historical mystery. While I am not completely consistent, I really hate mystery plots that rely utterly on coincidence, and this one does. Irritating. Every suspect should also have been punched repeatedly.
Even If It Kills Her, by Kate White. Contemporary mystery. I just love Kate White’s smooth, unobtrusive style.
The Anatomist’s Wife, by Anna Lee Huber. Historical mystery. Interesting enough, but some too stupid to live actions on the part of the sleuth.
High Stakes, by Dick Francis. Love Dick Francis. This isn’t one of his best, but I don’t care.
Joy of Reading, by Charles Van Doren. I decided to read more books on books. I pretty much don’t like them, so this was a stupid decision! This is boring, complacent, and entirely expected.
Greek Wedding, by Jane Aiken Hodge. Historical suspense. Why is everyone completely interchangeable, especially in their dialogue?
High Fidelity, by Nick Hornby. Entertaining, despite Rob being someone who should be shot through a cannon.
I finished the Oz books and the two Trot and Cap’n Bill books. I’m reading a couple of library books. I just finishedI Let You Go by Clare Mackintosh. Twists with twists. I really enjoyed it.
I’m now reading Make Them Cry. Not loving it as much, and I think I’ve pegged who the killer is and I’m not even a third of the way through.
I am grump and I do need a Snickers. Which leads to an inevitable question: Where my Snickers at? You can’t just ask that question and not provide one, dammit! And no, a book recommendation does not count!
Hmph.
But thanks for the recommendation. I tend to be very iffy on comic fantasy, but I will add it to my not-infinite-yet TBR pile!
Turns out The Last to See Me will have to wait a bit longer: the new Tyler Dilts novel, Mercy Dogs, was just released. I’ve started (and am so far enjoying) Bad Things Happen, but Mercy Dogs will be next.
The Last Voyage of Columbus: Being the Epic Tale of the Great Captain’s Fourth Expedition, Including Accounts of Swordfight, Mutiny, Shipwreck, Gold, War, Hurricane, and Discovery, Martin Duggard, 2005
Not sure why the unwieldy title was necessary, but the book is a good read so far. I think most people are ignorant of the man’s background and what happened to him after his first voyage to the New World.
Finished Wait Till Next Year: The Story of a Season When What Should’ve Happened Didn’t and What Could’ve Gone Wrong Did, by William Goldman and Mike Lupica. The authors alternate chapters, and I found Goldman’s parts much more interesting, especially his descriptions about a game he saw with Bronco Nagurski as a kid, a modern-day Columbia University football game, and a description of Doug Williams’ Super Bowl victory, as described by two (decidedly un-woke) fictional movie producers as a possible movie for Eddie Murphy. (This book was written in the late 1980’s.)
It is also Goldman who describes September eleventh as “a day that will live in infamy”. (He’s referring to the day in 1987, when the Mets lose a ball game.) Of course he couldn’t have known, but I still cringed on his behalf.
Continuing with my cozy and historical mystery kick:
A Most Novel Revenge, by Ashley Weaver. Historical. Set between the wars in England. The third in a series and very enjoyable.
This Side of Murder, by Anna Lee Huber. Also historical. Also set between the wars in England. The first in a series and, despite a REALLY STUPID plot point, also very enjoyable. More old-fashioned seeming than the Weaver.
Live and Let Growl, by Laurien Berenson. Contemporary. The 19th! in a series that is completely the comfort food of books. Not a strong entry.
A Skeleton in the Family, by Leigh Perry. Contemporary. This is a silly damned premise, but I enjoyed it a lot. The skeleton is not figurative. His name is Sid. I laughed.
