Wiki’s article on it: The Casual Vacancy - Wikipedia
Sorry, I’m a little confused. I know what it is. I was just asking if slm2955 got an ARC already. I wasn’t sure when they were going to go out, or if they were going out at all, since it’s not like Rowling needs pre-release buzz.
I believe security’s pretty tight to prevent leaks about the plot ahead of the official release - even some foreign translators are having to wait for the English language release before they can start to translate it.
I’d guess slm2955 works for the publisher and may have had to sign a non-disclosure agreement…
That makes sense. I know there were some concerns about ARCs being pirated.
My quest to re-read the Little House on the Prairie books is over. I’m very happy I did it. There was a lot I didn’t remember, and I definitely think it’s enhancing my reading of The Wilder Life.
I’ll second this - I got the Kindle version of the Wool Omnibus Edition and tore thru it. There were a couple of :dubious: moments (one character escapes near death at least 3 times) but otherwise it was great. I’ve got the 6th book (apparently a prequel) on deck - after tackling a couple of library books: including a re-read of Needful Things & Dan Simmons’ The Terror.
Am still working my way thru L.A Meyer’s Bloody Jack series in audiobook form - am up to Rapture of the Deep: Being an Account of the Further Adventures of Jacky Faber, Soldier, Sailor, Mermaid, Spy. Speaking of characters with multiple near-misses with death… 
Yes, the stories are more high adventure than historical fiction (and heavy on the fiction at that) - but I can see how they would spur interest in actual historical events/time periods (*My Bonny Horseman * piqued my interest in learning more about the Napoleonic wars, for example)
I have finally jumped into The Tuesday Next novels. After all the recommendations in this forum, I figured what the hell, and picked up The Eyre Affair this weekend. I’m not sure why I shied away from them, I loved the Big Over Easy, The 4th Bear and Shades of Grey (not that one), but something about these books just never spoke to me.
Boy, was I wrong. I’m about forty pages in, and I’m already hooked.
Yay! New books!
I’m a huge Jasper Fforde fan, and the Thursday Next novels are my favorites. The perfect series for lit geeks.
I still haven’t gotten around to Shades of Grey, even though it’s been sitting on my shelf for quite a while.
Oh man…I might have to see if someone will buy me these for Christmas!
Finished The Locator: The Knowland Retribution about a week ago. If you watched The Finder on fox, this is the book that it is loosely based on. I liked the Fox series and enjoyed the book. The series missed some of the book and added other bits of fun, and so I liked them both in different ways. I probably will read the second book (and so far the last)
Life is interfering with reading, so I am not too far into my next book.
I have to say, I found it a bit twee and even smug. Glad you’re enjoying it, though.
Finished this, and enjoyed it. It ended at a good point to take a break, so this time I really will wait for the TV series to catch up.
I started Ivanhoe last night, but I’m not sure yet if I’ll stick with it.
Finished Theodore Dreiser’s Twleve Men. Pretty good for the most part, although a few of these guys I would not care to meet myself. And this finishes the Dreiser anthology. (My favorite Dreiser book remains, hands down, An American Tragedy.)
Now I’m back to Michael Connelly, having started The Last Coyote. It’s my first read in the Harry Bosch novel but the fourth one in the series. I’ve seen an anthology in our library that may contain the earlier Bosch stories, but it was checked out when I finally went to get it. I think it’s not essential to read these in the exact order though. I read Connelly’s Lincoln Lawyer series somewhat out of sequence, and that was okay.
Yeah, it’s pretty smug, but I’m okay with that. I haven’t seen too much “twee-ness” and I’m usually a zero tolerance twee-er, so I’ll keep my eyes open.
I really like the way her father, the time traveler showed up asking questions about her timeline, just to be sure.
I’d like to think I’d have to check in occasionally if that were my job. I have trouble keeping my one timeline straight sometimes.
Just finished The Good Father by Noah Hawley, a rather dark novel about a rich, accomplished doctor whose life is upended when his estranged son, a 20-year-old drifter, shoots an Obamaesque presidential candidate at a rally. Or did he? The father tries to retrace his son’s steps in the months before the shooting, and come to terms both with his failings as a father and his son’s unknowable motivations. There’s also a disturbing subtext about political violence and assassinations in America. The book’s better than I thought it would be, with an odd but genuinely touching ending.
I got in my head a few weeks ago to read some Hemingway, having not read anything of his since I had to read The Old Man and the Sea in high school (and I didn’t care for it).
Started with A Farewell to Arms and didn’t really like it overall, but I appreciated it enough to continue with The Sun Also Rises. I liked that one a lot, then read For Whom the Bell Tolls, which blew me away. I’ll probably stop with Hemingway for a while, but I’m glad I read those three.
I’ve had a pretty good reading month so far. After thinking I didn’t like Neal Stephenson, I got totally immersed in Anathem and enjoyed it immensely.
I re-read Jo Walton’s book Farthing. Before I read it, I planned to read the other two books in the series (Ha’penny and Half A Crown, I think), but now I’m not sure I want to. The writing was fine. Plots where politics and society go into repressive states just make me really uncomfortable these days. :rolleyes:
So instead I read Walk Two Moons by Sharon Creech. Wow. I was totally captivated by the narrative voice in this book. A lovely book.
Just finished John Scalzi’s Redshirts. I’m definitely coming to understand I like Scalzi’s blogging better than I like his fiction.
Can’t decide what to read next yet: The Dog Stars by Peter Heller, The Snow Child by Eowyn Ivey, Cloud Atlas, Neuromancer, or something else. An embarrassment of riches, I think.
There are actually 4 published books in the Bangkok Sonchai Jitpleecheep Series, and a fifth to be published in January – just in case you want to read more of them.
I’ve read one of hers – Ruby Holler. Your post reminded me of her so I went looking for the book, remembered that I gave it to a neighbor’s grandchild. Captivating, indeed.
Loved The Dog Stars – Heller was on the local public radio show this week. He’s an Iowa Writer’s Workshop graduate. I’ve had good luck with those writers.
I’m almost finished with Triburbia by Karl Taro Greenfield. New Yorkers, or more specifically Tribeca-ers, ruminating and whining and conniving. It’s very entertaining.
The new one by Tim Egan is coming. It’s about the life of Edward Curtis, the photographer. Should be good.
I have finished all three of these books and I wanted to go on ahead and recommend them all, particularly Unholy Night (if you loved Abraham Lincoln, Vampire Slayer you will LOVE this) and Firebird. Firebird was an awesome sci-fi novel. The Thomas Becket book was also very good, but as its non-fiction it doesn’t quite give the same “kick” as the fantastical nature of the other two books.