First half of the book I enjoyed well enough, but wasn’t thrilled by. Halfway through the book I said HOLY CRAP! and loved it like crazy from then on.
The second book is similarly wonderful. The third made me think the author should engage in less public therapy. Hopefully the fourth won’t have that issue, or issues.
I finished On the Beach by Nevil Shute. Very sad, but necessarily and appropriately so. Now I want to see the 1959 Gregory Peck/Ava Gardner movie. The most striking scene was where
a young couple commit suicide with their infant daughter rather than die gradually but inevitably of radiation sickness. Just… wow.
I’ve started an audiobook of John Grisham’s The Appeal, about a chemical company tycoon who loses a big lawsuit in Mississippi. He decides to bankroll the campaign of a candidate for the state supreme court to better the odds of winning on appeal.
I just re-read **Monte Walsh **by Jack Schaefer, the best western book I have ever read, and I recommend it wholeheartedly.
I finished Carry Me by Peter Behrens, which wasn’t the worst. I guess. The set up was fine – two families in Germany on the eve of the Nazis rise to power (it was a coincidence that I was reading this during the election, but it ended up making it seem more ominous). Each family is a bit of a mix – UK citizens, German Jews, German citizens born and raised abroad, etc so the main hook of the book rests upon this idea that while they are German, they are also outsiders in Germany.
However, the romance part was ridiculous. It was awful. I cringed through all of it.
Over the weekend I finished Sea Harrier over the Falklands by Cdmr. Nigel “Sharkey” Ward, a Royal Navy pilot during the 1982 war. Ward is opinionated, plain-spoken and more than a little arrogant, but he tells a good story.
I also read Official White House China: 1789 to the Present (second edition) by Margaret Brown Klapthor, a beautifully-illustrated volume. The Lincoln, Wilson and Reagan china was the best-looking, I thought. I was also pleased to see that a pottery near my hometown made several dozen plates for President McKinley.
Amber Dermont’s “The Starboard Sea”. It’s a better read than I expected it to be, she has a nice way of making a story flow. I look forward to reading more of her books.
Read The New and Improved Romie Futch over the weekend. Part Moby Dick, part Flowers For Algernon, part middle-aged-divorced dude in the deep south. I enjoyed it well enough, but I don’t think it’ll stick with me.
Currently about 3/4th of the way through Neil Gaiman’s “American Gods” which I’m enjoying. It’s fun meeting characters and thinking “Wait, I think I know who that’s supposed to be . . .”
I’m hoping to get Ron Chernow’s Hamilton biography for Christmas. Yes, I’m one of those people.
I’m so far behind so…
I finished Johannes Cabal The Fear Institute that was like pulling teeth out chickens to finish. Talk about BORING, And the multiple fake out endings had me cursing JRR Tolkien and Peter Jackson.
I have started Imprudence by Gail Carriger and I just don’t like the half YA/half adult voice in this series. It grates. And there are things hapening in this book that need to be seen from a different POV than Rue’s, I’m sad.
However Romancing the Inventor also by Gail Carriger is FANTASTIC! It’s the tone I love, the dry wit I love and it’s just page turning… or swiping whatever 
Started this morning on The Return of the Black Widowers by Isaac Asimov, as recommended by The Other Waldo Pepper in the cozy books thread. As advertised. 
I LOVE the Black Widower books! I think I have them all.
You read *all *the good stuff.
Great book. His Washington: A Life is also excellent.
OH! I forgot that I also read Two Necromancers, a Bureaucrat and an Elf by LG Estrella. It was short, funny, a bit silly in places, but a nice way to pass a cold morning.
Last night I finished John Grisham’s newest, The Whistler. It was…ok. Better build-up than climax. No twists, and not particularly creative. Not a bad read if you’re not expecting too much.
I started No Man’s Land, the latest in the John Puller series from David Baldacci, which was released last week. I’ve enjoyed this series so far, but am a bit leery of the “did our hero’s father – a military legend currently suffering from advanced Alzheimer’s – murder his mother when he was a kid” setup. I’m hoping this one doesn’t disappoint.
I read Gail Carriger’s Romancing the Inventor novella yesterday. It’s the first in a new series called SUpernatural Society, which according to the end pages will be LGBT stories. I’m hoping it will be stand alone adventures with her side characters. On the whole it was well written and progressed very nicely.
I just finished the first book and I’m starting the second tonight. It really sucks you in, doesn’t it?
Yup. Con/heist movies are one of my favorite genres. Fantasy is my favorite genre to read in. I loved this combination.
It’s fun when the “hero” isn’t a knight in shining armor. I’d forgotten that. How charming to root for the scoundrel!
Finished The Book Thief, by Markus Zusak. A young girl in Nazi Germany likes to steal books. It was okay.
Next up: The Count of Monte Cristo, by Alexandre Dumas.