Finished this one a little after midnight. Damn, this is a good book, but it leaves no horror unturned. There’s a Neil Gaiman blurb on the back where he says he can’t wait for the next installation (although the book ends satisfyingly, it certainly leaves the door open for a series). I can’t agree: I’m happy to wait a few years before diving back into this horrorshow world.
I’ve been on a binge after not reading any books for far too long.
I just finished “River of Doubt: Theodore Roosevelt’s Darkest Journey” by Candice Millard.
This book is about T. Roosevelt, his son Kermit, and Brazilian explorer Candido Rondon’s and others harrowing exploration of a large, uncharted tributary of the Amazon River now called Rio Roosevelt. A bit of bad planning, brutal conditions, and the continued loss of supplies and men led to the near death of Roosevelt himself, and it seems he never recovered his health fully after this trip. After returning, some even doubted the truth of this trip but everything was well documented.
Great story, well written!
Oops! I somehow manged to put the following post in last month’s thread by mistake 
Finished The Monkey’s Raincoat, the first of a string of novels by Robert Crais featuring private detectives Elvis Cole and Joe Pike. Murder, kidnapping and drug deals in 1987 Los Angeles. Very good. The title is a reference to the 17th-century Japanese poet Matsuo Basho, who wrote: “Winter downpour; even the monkey needs a raincoat.” The novel won the 1988 Anthony Award for “Best Paperback Original” at Bouchercon XIX and the 1988 Mystery Readers International Macavity Award for “Best First Novel” and has since been named one of the 100 Favorite Mysteries of the Century by the Independent Mystery Booksellers Association. A little strange though in that I read Crais’ 2017 novel first and then this 1987 one – written 30 years apart, mind you – and he has the same cat in both. Definitely the same cat, an old street cat he lets live with him and which had once been shot in the head with a .22. This is one tough cat.
Next up is Crais’ second novel, Stalking the Angel.
I’ve read several of his books, including that one. They’re all engaging, if not always accurate.
Started today on A House of Ghosts, by W.C. Ryan. A group of people gather at an island mansion during the first world war to hold a seance. Then somebody gets murdered. Oh HELL YEAH.
I finished Joe Haldeman’s The Forever War, a great military sf novel about a millennia-long interstellar conflict. It holds up pretty well and has a perfect ending.
Just started Jack Vance’s 1968 sf novel City of the Chasch, which so far isn’t really wowing me, but I’ll keep at it.
TR fan that I am, I was underwhelmed by River of Doubt. I think Edmund Morris tells the story much more engagingly in Colonel Roosevelt, the last of his TR biographical trilogy.
I must’ve gone to the wrong preschool - I don’t ever remember reading these: Sinister 70s Collection 1 Coaster by Steven Rhodes | Society6
Finished Autonomous, by Annalee Newitz. It’s excellent, and probably the best science fiction novel I’ve read this year.
Now I’m reading 1066: The Story of a Year, by Denis Butler.
A Death in the Jungle How a Language and a Way of Life Came to an End in Papua New Guinea Don Kulick
The “death” in the title is the death of the Tayap language, spoken in one small village in Papua New Guinea, which is being replaced by the English-based creole Tok Pisin (Tok Pisin - Wikipedia)
The author is an anthropologist who lived in the village and learned the language. He writes about this and life in the village, and the challenges of working and living with people whose worldview is radically different from his own.
I enjoyed the book and found it interesting to compare his experiences with my similar (but much less intense) experiences living in the developing world.
This sounds like it’s right up my alley! Please let us know your thoughts on the book once you’ve finished.
Re-reading some Stephen King. Finished Insomnia, now about two-thirds the way through Rose Madder. (Neither is anything like his finest work, but I like 'em.)
Finished it. Not bad, but not in the same league of some of his wonderful short stories (“The Moon Moth,” first and foremost).
Now I’ve started Ian Fleming’s 1956 James Bond novel Diamonds Are Forever. So far, so good.
Just finished:
Outland - by Dennis E Taylor. Great scifi, looking forward to other works by him.
Hell’s Gate - by Bill Schutt. Also great historical and (mild) scifi. Will continue this author.
Working on:
Hell Divers VI: Allegiance - by Nicholas Sansbury Smith. Fantastic series and this one’s great too.
Background (when not reading something else):
Our Oriental Heritage - by Will Durant. I keep getting drawn away by shinier books, but am determined to finish these.
Finished 1066: The Story of a Year, by Denis Butler. Very well done.
Now I’m reading The Clockwork Witch, by Michelle D. Sonnier
Not a novelization of the Sean Connery sf/cop movie set on Io, I presume?
Nope – Alan Dean Foster did that (like 90% of SF movie novelizations in those years)
I finally finished Poul Anderson’s Operation: Luna, which took me forever to get into. But once I got going, it was filled with weird tongue-in-cheek references, puns, and asides
("Remoreselessness said my unruly mind. “Is that the inability or refusal to acquire more than one walrus?”)
I then acquired and read a couple of weird guide books:
Off the Ancient Track: A Lovecraftian Guide to New England and Adjacent New York by Jason C. Eckhardt and
The King Arthur Illustrated Guide by R.J. Hutchings
Now I’m halfway through The Penguin Book of Witches, a collection of source documents in English and American witchcraft trials, edited by Katherine Howe. She does a much better job of her history here than in her novel that I “read” on audio last month, but she still occasionally says something that’s not quite right. The rest of her research makes up for it, though.
Finished The Clockwork Witch, by Michelle D. Sonnier, which I enjoyed.
Now I’m reading A Second Browser’s Dictionary: A Compendium of Curious Expressions and Intriguing Facts, by John Ciardi.
I put a pause on my reread of the excellent Man of Rome series by Colleen McCullough to read a borrowed library book, Nine Perfect Strangers by Liane Moriarty. She’s becoming an automatic for me.
In the wings, when I’m done with Sulla and Gaius Marius and Aurelia and Servilia and Caeser and Octavian is Snakes and Ladders, by Victoria Selman. It’s her third book in the detective series and I’ve liked them very much.
No Country for Old Gnomes by Delilah Dawson and Kevin Hearne.
It’s been a big year for Hearne with me. A year ago I hadn’t heard of him. But I picked up a couple of his books in February and enjoyed them, so I’ve been going through the stuff he’s written. No Country for Old Gnomes is the eighth book of his I’ve read this year.