You’re a sheep with good taste.
I am halfway through *The Fear: Robert Mugabe and the Martyrdom of Zimbabwe * by Peter Godwin. He recounts the terrible things Mugabe has done to his fellow citizens as he desperately tries to cling to power in his old age. I can’t read more than a few pages without crying.
Finished The Sherlockian a fun novel in which Graham Moore interweaves a modern-day mystery with a historical one.
Conan Doyle was, apparently, an avid diarist and apparently one of the great mysteries involves the fact that some of his letters and one of his diaries were missing upon his death. For years the lost diary has been searched for, and then one day one of the foremost Sherlockians announces that he has found it.
But on the morning he was to present it - before he *can *present it, is dead body is discovered.
The book interweaves the tale of the search for his murderer and the diary and the historical tale of why the diary disappeared.
If you enjoy a mystery, if you are a fan of Conan Doyle, if you like historical fiction, have a look at this.
Just got done with Unbroken: A World War II Story of Survival, Resilience, and Redemption
Just wanted to say thanks to** FoieGrasIsEvil** for recommending it back in the May edition of Whatcha
Raced through Jon Krakauer’s Where Men Win Glory this weekend, about former NFL star/Army Ranger Pat Tillman’s death due to friendly fire in Afghanistan, and the subsequent coverup. It wasn’t as good as Krakauer’s Into Thin Air or Under the Banner of Heaven, and was a little distractingly anti-Bush at times (and Lord knows I’m no fan of the 43rd President), but overall was worth a read.
Started and finished Vurt by Jeff Noon. I always find this book a quick, addictive read. A good filler read as I waited for Desperate Journeys, Abandoned Souls to arrive. Absolutely love this book, been waiting a year to clear up enough time to reread the tales of castaways, some surviving and most not. Each story serves as an excuse to delve into their time and place, since most of the stories predating the 20th century.
That’s a great story, isn’t it? I loved that book. Glad you liked it.
I have to plug the novel We, The Drowned again. I’m not finished with it yet but it is a magnificent novel.
I just read Hounded, the first book in this series based on a recommendation from one of these threads. I wasn’t that impressed. I’m not sure the Dresden comparison is that apt, as this wasn’t really a mystery. And we meet Dresden fairly early on in his career and watch him gain in power and abilities, while his adversaries also become bigger and badder.
In the Iron Druid series, Atticus is 2100 years old and is already taking on the Gaelic pantheon. Not a lot of scope for character development here.
I’ll probably read the next ones in the series, but I’ll try to get them from the library.
I am finishing The Silent Girl, the latest Rizzoli & Isles novel by Tess Gerritsen. It’s good, not her very best. I’ve met Gerritsen and like her, so I’ll always give her a read.
I was going to read Devil All the Time next, but something came in that I have to get to first. So Pollock will have to wait. He’ll come after that.
Finished Willa Cather’s ***Sapphira and the Slave Girl ***(interesting but uneven… an odd mix of progressive idealism and patronizing racism).
Just started Sherwood Anderson’s Winesburg, Ohio. Not impressed so far.
I read that as an assignment in college and was also underwhelmed.
Still on my SF binge. I’m re-reading 1901 by Robert Conroy, an alternate history where Germany invaded the United States. And I just started The Cassini Division by Ken MacLeod.
I revise my opinion. She nailed me with the twist ending. I really didn’t see it coming. I am not worthy.
Man! That is so tantalizing, now I have to read it!
I am all over this book! I’m Danish, Jensen is my grandmother’s maiden name, I love a good seafaring tale, I love long books, and the reviews are unanimously great. How could I resist? Can’t wait to start it.
Have begun (again!) Patrick O’Brian’s Aubrey-Maturin series. Up to H.M.S. Surprise.
I discover something new every time I (re)read these books. This is probably my 4th time through the entire series.
I just finished The Ridge, by Michael Koryta. This guy writes two kinds of books, crime novels and supernatural thrillers. I don’t read the straight crime, but his supernatural stuff is solid and getting better all the time. Recommended!
Next up, The Best Horror of the Year, Vol. 3, edited by Ellen Datlow.
I read The Ridge a couple of weeks ago. I trust you also read The Cypress House and So Cold the River?
Yep, I liked The Ridge best so far.
Simul-reading Hans Prinzhorn’s Artistry Of The Mentally Ill from 1922, and Orhan Pamuk’s The Black Book from 1990.
Doc Prinzhorn has the edge so far.
Love those - I’ve read through them twice, plus I listen to one of the audio books every year with my husband during our long car trips. I prefer the Patrick Tull recordings, but they are expensive and the library has the ones read by Simon Vance, so we have switched.
I spent the last week reading A Dance with Dragons. A good read, but as with A Feast for Crows, Martin doesn’t spend enough time with the characters I care about.