I was looking for something with a Dresden Files kind of vibe, so I just finished *Hard Magic *and Under Wraps (The Underworld Detection Agency Chronicles). Hard Magic could have the subtitle (Private Unaffiliated Paranormal Investigations) since it is the first in a series regarding said PUPI.
Although neither lived up to the Dresden Files, I enjoyed Hard Magic and will read the sequel. Under Wraps was a little too much romance and a little too little urban fantasy.
Both books had a protagonist that seemed somewhat sex-obsessed, but Hard Magic didn’t fall into the icky trap.
The PUPI team were an interesting bunch - 5 20-something wizards who are brought together to form an investigative team. Each had their own interesting strengths and formed a neat little magical CSI team. The ending was a little bit of a let down, but I won’t tell because it would be a spoiler. As I said, I’ll keep reading this series.
I’m going to switch to a genre that is a little darker - the psychological thriller. I used to be an avid fan of the genre, but have mostly left it. I was fascinated with The Red Dragon and peeking inside the mind of a killer, but as I aged I started to be less fascinated and more repulsed. However, I have a friend who still enjoys the genre and I give him a book every year for Christmas. I try to give books that will be enjoyed, so I will read one or two and try to find that is well-written, rather than just pick one off the shelf.
That’s a great read, I love comedy novels and it’s hard to find good ones. There’s a sequel that I liked a little better called “Three Men on the Bummel” in which our now older and wiser protaganists take a bike trip.
Finished The Ambassador’s Wife, by Jake Needham. Very good despite the author voicing his own pro-smoking bias in the protagonist’s constant decrying of Singapore’s strict ant-smoking laws. I’d say up there with his The Big Mango. Contains this delightful exchange between the protagonist and his superior when a second, apparently related murder is committed in Bangkok and he wants to come up here to take a look:
"‘You want to go to Bangkok?’ the OC [Officer in Charge] said after a pause of suitable length to suggest reflection on Tay’s request.
"‘Yes, sir.’
"‘Bangkok?’
"‘Yes, sir.’
"‘Arent you a little old for that sort of thing, Sam?’
"Tay consulted his shoes. They told him to bite his tongue and so he did.
"‘This can’t be a coincidence, sir,’ he said after a moment. ‘The two murders are almost certainly related.’
"‘How are they related?’
"‘That’s why I want to go to Bangkok, sir. To find out.’
"‘Is it? Is that the reason?’
The OC drummed his fingers on the desk and examined a point somewhere in the air just above Tay’s left ear.
"‘That’s not why most people would want to go to Bangkok,’ he said. ‘It’s sure as hell not why I’d want to go to Bangkok.’
"‘Nevertheless, sir, it’s why I want to go.’
"‘Uh-huh,’ the OC said. 'It might be at that."
Next up: To Kill a Mockingbird, by Harper Lee. One of those books I have always meant to read but am just now getting around to.
Finally put down Tanya Huff’s Smoke and Mirrors, the second in her Smoke trilogy and I won’t pick up the third. I received the third book for Christmas and so I bought the other two. I like Tanya Huff and her Child Of The Grove is one of my favorites.
But this is just dreck. Short on plot, long on bad dialog, and as I mentioned before, she points out that Tony Foster is gay so often, it would have been easier to just call him Gay Tony Foster. It almost seems that the point of the series is to make being gay more accepted.
I kind of like this idea as a strategy - much of my morality was defined by the books I read as a youth. The problem is - she makes such a big deal of the fact that Tony is gay that it kind of achieves the opposite. By mentioning it every other page, she just calls it out to the reader and makes it seem like it is something that is not normal. Better had Ms. Huff just mentioned it in passing.
I think the part where she finally lost me was this: For most of the two books Tony is pining away for a straight actor. In the second book the actor has become more accepting of Tony. There is an internal dialog that goes like this: Oh. crap.
Maybe all that wanting did put some kind of a fag whammy on him.
Wizards affect the energies around them.
If that had been the only flaw, I would have stuck with it. The books spend much too much time trying to show the quirky side of the TV business. This one specifically also spends a lot of time with annoying and bratty children. Too many flaws and I can’t see the next being any better.
For the first time I’m reading The Clan of the Cave Bear series. I started Clan of the Cave Bear a couple weeks ago and now I’m half way through Valley of the Horses. I am absolutely loving this series.
Finished I Don’t Want to Kill You, the last (?) in the John Cleaver series by Dan Wells. I liked all these books quite a bit, but the ending of this one was both hard to take and hard to believe.
Next up, Mamba Point, a YA book written by a Doper.
The Ascent of Rum Doodle. A mountaineering parody and a lot like Three Men in a Boat in tone, but played entirely for laughs, without the intermittent serious bits.
My Dog Tulip. Not strictly comedy, but has some hilarious parts, provided you like dogs and aren’t squeamish about their, um, …functions.
Finished Midnight Rambler: A Novel of Suspense.It was a serviceable, but uninspired cop-goes-after-serial killer novel. The protagonist was mostly likable, the plot rather predictable and the details not too graphic. I may read the rest of the series.
P.G. Wodehouse also wrote some great comic novels. Pat Conroy’s The Lords of Discipline and The Great Santini are mostly serious, but have quite a few wet-your-pants-funny scenes, too.
For another funny and quaint book, I’ll suggest My Family and Other Animals, by Gerald Durrell. It’s a memoir about the years his eccentric English family spent living on a Greek island in the 1930s.
I finished The Terror, and it was excellent, one of the best books I’ve read this year. I wanted something a bit lighter next, so I’ve started a fantasy novel by Lois McMaster Bujold: Beguilement, the first of her Sharing Knife series. So far it seems… bland.
I just finished a rather remarkable book: *Peking Story *by David Kidd. He tells of his four years in Peking after the Communists have taken over. He has just married into a wealthy and influential Chinese family, and it is clear that the future is bleak. His writing is beautiful, and makes pre-revolutionary Peking a magical, almost dream-like place.
Finally at about the half way point on this beast. It’s just way too easy to put down, but I’m determined to finish it. I’m not entirely sure what the actual plot is. It seems like Clarke skips over what would be the best parts of the book, such as going from, “let’s ambush those soldiers,” to, “ok now they’re dead,” in consecutive sentences. I already mentioned in this thread how distracting the footnotes are. So yeah, I strongly do not recommend it unless a miracle happens in the 2nd half of the book.
IMO, Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell is a book that’s much more about the journey than the destination. In other words, if you aren’t enjoying it now, I don’t think you’ll change your mind later.
I listened to all three of Tana French’s audiobooks and really enjoyed them - especially the Irish accents of the narrators. The Likeness is enjoyable, but much more farfetched than In the Woods or Faithful Place. When I’m reading fiction, though, it’s almost always police procedurals and nearly always British police procedurals, so I’m a fan of the genre.
Right now, I’m reading Jo Nesbo’s The Redbreast. He’s supposed to be the answer to all the Stieg Larsson fans who read his trilogy and are looking for more Scandinavian mystery novels. Nesbo’s books are set in Norway (mostly) and are basic mystery/thrillers. So far, it’s been an enjoyable read. I read the Larsson books and then finished the Wallander series by Henning Mankell, so I was looking for a similar read.
For a women’s discussion group I’m in, I’m reading Cinderella Ate My Daughter. I just started it, so I can’t say whether it’s any good or not, but I’m betting it will spark a good discussion.
For a theology book club that I’m in, I’m reading A Republic of Mind and Spirit: A Cultural History of American Metaphysical Religion. This is interesting, but a slog. Luckily, one of the members of our group is a professor of religion, specializing in Metaphysical religions (did her doctorate on alchemy), so she has been providing background that the author assumes we have.
Right now, I’m reading Science of Discworld 2: The Globe in the evenings and at lunch. I have Mike and Psmith loaded on my iPod (thanks, Gutenburg), which I’m reading when I have a little time on my hands.
Finished Mamba Point, by Kurtis Scaletta. It’s about a young boy who moves to Liberia with his family, where he finds out that he has a special connection with a deadly snake. It made me want a snake of my own. I especially liked the 80’s references (the story is set in 1982).
Next up, Shivers VI, a collection of short horror stories edited by Richard Chizmar. The first story, Serial, was very fast-paced and gory. The second story is The Crate, by Stephen King, a straightforward re-telling of the segment from the movie Creepshow.
Blind Descent, by James Tabor. It’s a book about the search for the deepest caves on the planet. I refused to buy it on Kindle, as the price was $12, and am glad I waited for it to be available in the library. It’s really not all that well written, IMO, although the subject matter is interesting. Too bad Jon Krakauer didn’t take a shot at it.
