The Beauty and the Sorrow: An Intimate History of the First World War, by Peter Englund. Got a great review in the *NYT *and since my library is not getting it in anytime soon, I may fork over the cash and buy it. I love WWI histories, and this looks like a good one.
Catherine the Great, by Robert K. Massie. He’s an excellent author, and I enjoy Russian history (my paternal grandfather was born in her summer resort town, Ekaterinoslav, so I have a little personal interest). Again, library is being recalcitrant, but I can’t see buying this one, too; I will wait.
Steven King’s new 11/22/63. Good reviews: not the usual blood-and-monsters crap. Will give it a try.
I have been trying to slog through Gregory Maguire’s Out of Oz, but it is tough sledding. Lots of twee “Nookin, Weeble and Whoopsie traveled the long road to the Warblie Kingdom and encountered the Goatsie tribe . . .” Not really my cup of whimsey.
I’m on the library list for V Is For Vengeance by Sue Grafton. It’s been ages since she churned out a new one, and she better hurry up and finish the series, she isn’t getting any younger! I want to read Feast Day of Fools by James Lee Burke (I’m wondering if he’s finished with his New Orleans-setting books, but the last one was a cliffhanger.) And I’m hoping Elizabeth George will come up with a new doorstop - I may have missed one or two. And the new one by Ruth Rendell…
Two that I can think of right off the top of my head are The Prague Cemetary by Eco and Angelmaker by Nick Harkaway, who’s last novel The Gone Away World blew me away when it came out two years ago.
I scored on this one. I happened to check my library just as they got it, and put it on hold when the status was still “being bound” (or something like that - implying that they had it and were preparing it for library use). So I was first on the list for it, and it’s sitting here next to me, waiting for me to finish Farewell. I guess I’m in a Russian mood.
Lucky–let me know if it’s good! Massie said in an interview that he doesn’t give “the horse rumor” the dignity of a mention, which I think is a mistake.
I am extremely psyched for A Memory of Light by Brandon Sanderson and Robert Jordan, the final book in The Wheel of Time. Sure, the series is the butt of a lot of jokes and criticism around here, and even most of its fans will admit that a lot of it is deserved, but after a massive slog around books 6 through 10, it’s really come back to life… and these characters and this world have been part of my life for almost 20 years.
Seconded. Gone Away World is excellent, and I look forward to more from Harkaway. Redshirts, by John Scalzi. I have heard the first chapter and it rocks. Will have the book day of release, if not before.
I’m ambivalent about Micro by Michael Crichton and Richard Preston. On the one hand, it’s a Michael Crichton novel, which I can always get behind. I’m just wondering if his best writing really was behind him. I’ve enjoyed his recent books, but they’re nowhere near as good as The Andromeda Strain, The Great Train Robbery, Jurassic Park, etc.
The books that are currently hovering in my Amazon shopping cart:
American Emperor: Aaron Burr’s Challenge to Jefferson’s America - David O. Stewart Away Off Shore: Nantucket Island and Its People, 1602-1890 - Nathaniel Philbrick Catherine the Great: Portrait of a Woman - Robert K. Massie 1948: Harry Truman’s Improbable Victory and the Year that Transformed America - David Pietrusza Professor Moriarty: The Hound of the D’Urbervilles - Kim Newman
I’d suggest giving McGuire’s earlier tales a try. Confesions of an Ugly Stepsister and Mirror, Mirror are both great. Then he hit pay dirt with Wicked, and has carried it through three sequels (Son of Wicked, A Lion Among Men, and Out of Oz). He obviously knows where his money is coming from!
I read Wicked, Mirror Mirror and Ugly Stepsister when they first came out, but this was more twee than I could handle. Put it down halfway through.
Just bought (my damn library is getting *nothing *in!) Murder in the First-Class Carriage: The First Victorian Railway Killing by Kate Colquhoun, and The Beauty and the Sorrow: An Intimate History of the First World War by Peter Englund. Need train reading for Thanksgiving travel.
And am reading (thank you, library!) the excellent London Under: The Secret History Beneath the Streets by Peter Ackroyd.
I love Murakami - and it sounds like 1Q84 is in the same vein as Wild Sheep Chase, Hard-Boiled Wonderland and Kafka on the Shore, my favorites of his. How are you finding it?