I picked up Keeping It Real based on advice in last month’s thread. It didn’t catch me the first time I tried to read it (actually, yesterday) - but that never means anything. Some books I ended up loving I put down more than once, so I’ll try it again.
I just started reading Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro yesterday, and am already about halfway through. I’ve heard that some people found this book boring, but I’m pretty absorbed in it even though there’s definitely not a lot of action.
I’ve never read Darkness at Pemberley, or even heard of it before, but a quick Google indicates that it has nothing to do with Pride & Prejudice other than borrowing the name of Mr. Darcy’s estate (not town). I haven’t read Death Comes to Pemberley yet, but the main character are the same characters from P&P. It doesn’t sound like there’s any connection between White’s Darkness at Pemberley and James’s Death Comes to Pemberley.
That was my reaction, too. Although I may have been too young (late teens) to appreciate the later ones.
I just finished Jo Nesbo’s Redbreast, so I have to read* The Devil’s Star *next since there was unfinished business in Redbreast. I started reading the Nesbo books after finishing *The Girl… *trilogy since that got me hooked on intelligent Scandinavian thrillers.
And in rechecking my notes, you were the one I have to thank for the Keeping it Real recco! :smack:
Current Kindle read: The Mind’s Eye by Oliver Sacks. In addition to his usual case studies of out-of-the-ordinary neurological issues; he also delves into his own story of dealing with an ocular tumor and its visual effects, both before & after treatment. Sacks writes of his patients with compassion; exploring and explaining their conditions in a compelling manner. I’ve enjoyed everything I’ve read by him so far & have picked up some additional recommendations from his writing.
Audiobook: Still working on The Prestige by Christopher Priest. Am well into Rupert Angier’s section; very interesting to read the alternate version of events already documented by Alfred Borden, his rival. Neither appears to be a completely reliable narrator, tho I think Alfred is the less reliable or the two, due to the nature of “the Pact” - which I’m still not quite sure I’ve figured out.
Very, very enjoyable - Simon Vance is the narrator. Will probably check the film out once I’m done with the novel; I have a vague recollection of having watched it, but can’t recall particulars.
Finished Jumper and it was decent. I wasn’t crazy about the ending but I don’t see how it could have gone much differently.
I started an audiobook today: The Scorch Trials, which is second in the Maze Runner series by James Dashner.
I’m also reading a sci-fi anthology, Lightspeed: Year One, edited by John Joseph Adams.
I finished The Eyes of the Overworld, the second in Jack Vance’s Dying Earth series. I have the final two books in the series, but I have to take a break from it. It’s just not doing it for me. It’s funny in parts, but the characters and plot are dull.
I also finally had my first Heinlein experience. I breezed though The Door Into Summer. Loved it, but it almost seemed to be YA. It was such an easy read. Is all Heinlein like that?
It was YA. Heinlein wrote several books that were intended for teenage readers.
But it’s also typical of Heinlein’s writing style. He aimed to be transparent rather than literary.
Just finished New Wave Facts About Flags, which had great graphics but several factual errors and very sloppy editing, and the Halo Graphic Novel, which other than a short cartoon segment by Moebius was rather disappointing.
I’m a little further into The Lost City of Z. I can’t say it’s knocking my socks off.
Starting The Tenderness of Wolves, the Costa- (formerly Whitbread) Award-winning debut novel of Scottish writer Stef Penney. It’s set in Canada in 1867. ISTR reading that she never went to Canada to research it because of her agoraphobia. I might be thinking of somebody else.
I’m reading The Great Typo Hunt: Two Friends Changing the World, One Correction at a Time, by Jeff Deck. Two guys are driving around the United States correcting spelling and punctuation errors on signs. I adore the concept, and there’s some good stuff in the book, but it’s not written very well. The author has a florid prose style - partly to be funny, I’m sure, but I’m finding it annoying. He writes stuff like: “I discussed my cross-country typo-hunting notion with barely anyone, cradling it close and secret lest the scrutiny of others burn mortal wounds into its gossamer body.” A little of that goes a long way.
I just started reading Death Comes to Pemberly. I was encouraged to find the prologue so entertaining: it’s a recap of the P&P plot from the point of view of Meryton society gossips, who think Elizabeth was maneuvering to catch Mr. Darcy the whole time. But I’m less impressed with the rest of the book, so far.
Finished it. Very good. Now back to trip research.
Finished The Grimrose Path (Trickster, Book 2) the second in Rob Thurman’s Trickster series. I mostly liked it, but the author’s too fond of the unreliable narrator trick - I guess that is her way of having the trickster trick us - but I find it annoying. Having said that, for the most part it is easy to read and fast-paced enough and I will probably read the next.
I just finished reading Stiff, by the same author, and I loved it.
I’m currently on The Family That Couldn’t Sleep, by D.T. Max. It’s about prion diseases, and it’s fascinating.
this is what i am reading now. it is amazing, funny, and very, very, cool. sometimes i just stare at a sentence and think " i never thought i’d see that in print", or even just thought of.
amazing book.
Just got The Fourth Wall, a Dagmar Shaw thriller from WJ Williams. There went my other plans for the evening.
I really liked this book too - I don’t remember exactly how came across it, but was inspired to get it from the library after reading Charlie Huston’s Sleepless, which **Eleanor of Aquitaine ** recommended.
Revisiting Winter’s Tale by Mark Helprin, who writes of a fantastical New York City that never was; spanning the turn of the twentieth century through the turn of the twenty-first, with touches of magical realism and steampunk scattered throughout. Absolutely gorgeous writing - lots of dog-earing and underlining in my copy.
This was stunningly good. It’s a mystery, an adventure, a bit of romance – basically a western. The plot was marginally on the lines of True Grit: Trapper for the Hudson Bay Company is discovered murdered in his cabin, several suspects disappear, several parties go out in search of the suspects, all in a brutal Canadian winter. I’m greatly oversimplifying. It was absolutely riveting.
I recently finished Ford Madox Ford’s The Good Soldier, and am about 220 pages into Dickens’ Little Dorrit.
Just finished The Best of the Rejection Collection, edited by Matt Diffee, a collection of cartoons rejected by The New Yorker for being “too dumb, too dark or too naughty.” Some very funny stuff in there - I’m going to copy about a dozen of 'em.