I’m still working my way through The Scramble For Africa: White Man’s Conquest of the Dark Continent 1876-1912 by Thomas Pakenham, having just finished Paul Theroux’s very readable Dark Star Safari.
I’ve got The Moon Is A Harsh Mistress by Robert A. Heinlen and The Man In The High Castle by Philip K. Dick on order, but if they don’t arrive before Christmas I have Jared Diamond’s Collapse to keep me going…
Finished Jar City, my Icelandic entry into my around-the-world challenge.
Holy mackerel, the Scandinavians write some grim books.
I’m about a third of the way through Three Days to Never by Tim Powers. This is another novel set (as far as I can tell so far ) in the world of his prior novels Last Call and Expiration Date. Weird scenarios involving ghosts and paranormal powers are being played out behind the scenes of our real world while all the “normal people” go on with their lives in blissful ignorance.
Powers has a real knack for this kind of story.
You might want to wait until after Christmas to read Collapse. It will bring you right down. His attempt at being optimistic in the last chapter wasn’t very convincing.
Finished Princeps Fury. Quite enjoyed it and I think it may be indicating that the next one will be the last. I have mixed feelings - I am enjoying the series, but also don’t want a series to go on forever like the Robert Jordan one. We’ll see.
As I warned you last month, I am reading some sappy Christmas books this month.
Finsihed 'Twas the Night Before. Trite, sappy, predictable and of course being the big old sap I am, I loved it.
Noella falls in love with Tom Douten. Noella is a true believer of Santa and Tom is a Scrooge and non-believer (yes, yes, his name is a little heavy handed). She can’t let go of this one thing and it ruins their romance - until Tom is lost in a storm and she realizes that her love for him is more important than his lack of belief. But of course, Tom learns something about the magic of Christmas.
Scrooges and humbugs - stay away, you’ll hate it. If you are a lover of the season, give it a go; you’ll have to over look the the flaws, but you’ll still enjoy the story.
Started The Joy of Living: Unlocking the Secret and Science of Happiness By Yongey Rinpoche Mingyur. So far facinating, but I am just starting it. It has been explained that his brain waves have been monitored during meditating and he has been “named” the happiest man on earth. He talks about meditation and how it can change the brain. I suspect that this will be a long read for me, because my mind wanders a little when reading this type of book, but I think I will enjoy it.
I’m reading Amagansett by Mark Mills. The writing is fine, but I’m getting really tired of crime fiction where the main character (usually a cop but not always) is romantically involved with the victim, or someone in the victim’s family. I guess I’m tired of romance in crime novels. If I wanted to read romance, I’d read romance. Why can’t cops care about victims just because they’re human beings?
I’ll keep reading, but if the cop falls for the victim’s sister, I’m done.
Gave up on the Alcott (have I mentioned I hate excerpts?) and replaced it with John Kelly’s The Great Mortality: An Intimate History of the Black Death. So far, very good.
I don’t know if this counts for Singapore, since it was written by an American in Bangkok who now lives in Abu Dabi, and I don’t know how easy it is to find outside of this area, but a friend of mine, James Eckardt, wrote Singapore Girl, about a torrid love affair he had with a Singaporean transsexual in the city-state in the mid-1970s. A review is here. I bought my copy straight from the author himself, and it’s quite a good read. Considering his present status as honorable family man and grandfather, I have to say he had some balls to write this. (The book is actually banned in Malaysia.)
For Thailand, I would recommend anything by Pira Sudham. He’s very good. Look him up. From the poor Northeast, he managed to receive a quality education in England thanks to some scholarships. Writes only in English, never in Thai, but a big theme in his writings is what it’s like to be a poor northeasterner. I have an autographed copy of his People of Esarn, a collection of short stories.
Working on I shot a man in Reno : a history of death by murder, suicide, fire, flood, drugs, disease, and general misadventure, as related in popular song, by Graeme Thomson. A lot drier than you’d think.
Finished my car audiobook, So Brave, Young, and Handsome by Leif Enger. It was decent and held my interest, but seemed to end abruptly. I was frequently annoyed with the narrator because I identified more with his wife. And the title seems to refer to Hood Roberts, who I thought was a minor character. Anyway, it got me through the last month.
Just finished reading for the first time the first two books in the Dresden Files, Storm Front and Fool Moon; I’ll have to pick up the rest of the series as the local library doesn’t have them. And the first book in his Furies series, since they don’t have that either. I’m about halfway through Worlds of Weber ( David Weber short stories ) and The Feeling of What Happens by Antonio Damasio.
Rereading Crown of Slaves. Next up, probably Gardens of the Moon by Steven Erikson.
Having just finished Collapse, I’ll second that. Depressing as hell. Also, while I found the premise interesting and thoroughly enjoyed Diamond’s Guns, Germs, & Steel, this one was a chore to finish. I don’t know why, but it seemed very dry to me, much moreso than GG&S. Maybe I’m just not as interested in the subject matter as I thought, since the writing style is pretty much the same as the previous book.
Currently finishing The Ball Is Round: A Global History of Soccer by David Goldblatt. It is, as the title suggests, a comprehensive look at soccer from its earliest beginnings in various cultures to the continuing development of the modern game. Very interesting if you like the game. Well-written, too.
And I just started Stephen King’s Needful Things. I got it as a gift over ten years ago, but was kind of burned out on King at the time, so never bothered to pick it up. Never saw the movie, either. I’m only a hundred or so pages in, but so far, I really like it. Seems to have a similar feel and tone to It, which is one of my favorite King books, and which ended my self-imposed King moratorium when I re-read it around this time last year. Could be the start of a new holiday tradition at my house.
I thought the first was the weakest - it started slowly for me. But if you’ve followed my posts, I’m really enjoying the Furies series.
Well, I’m done. The cop didn’t fall for the vic’s sister but he fell for the librarian. The former BF of the victim fell for the sister. If Mills had shown as much love for his characters as he did for the region, I might have kept going.
I picked up the next book on the night table but there were too many “as if” clauses in the first couple pages, so I dumped that too.
I’m back with a re-read of A Game of Thrones.
Winter in Kandahar was terrible. Terrible, terrible, terrible. I cannot type that enough times in relation to this book.
*Pet Sematary *was creepy and the last sentence is a killer.
I’m listening to Something Wicked This Way Comes and *Sound of Thunder *, shorter works by Ray Bradbury. Enjoying Bradbury’s use of language. I also find I have a voice-crush on the narrator.
Heh. I just last night finished rereading Last Call. I love Powers’ books. Any of you out there who love magical realism and pirates (and who doesn’t?) should read On Stranger Tides. Blackbeard, the fountain of youth, and voodoo: what more could you want?
Started and finished it . . . twenty years or so ago. Don’t remember a bit of it. I hope I still have my copy, so I can read it again.
RR
I love the Dresden books (I think the later ones get better). But I was a bit eh on the Furies. I read the first book and thought it was okay but I think I pushed the sequel into my “no hurry to read” category.
Just started The Horror Writers Association presents Blood Lite : an anthology of humorous horror stories, edited by Kevin J. Anderson. I must admit I’ve been putting off reading this because the cover art is so awful. I think it’s an artist’s rendition of Pee Wee Herman wearing a vampire costume. A classic case of “don’t judge a book by its cover”! I’ve read the first two stories and enjoyed hell out of both of them (of course, one was by the great Joe R. Lansdale).
Between the holidays and the wrap-up of a project at work, I’m under a lot of stress right now with very little free time to read. When this happens I tend to sacrifice sleep and read late at night, although I can’t decide if this helps or makes things worse.
Anyway, I’m looking for light material. I finished another David Sedaris book (I like those okay) and last night I picked up Georgette Heyer’s The Talisman Ring. It appears to be one of her madcap comedies, so that will suit me.
I found a copy of Christopher Moore’s *Fluke *at the used bookstore the other day, and I might try that next. I wasn’t crazy about the first book of his that I read, but I wanted to try one more before I give up on him.
I sacrifice the reading, but it gives me a rotten attitude.
I loved Fluke! I hope you enjoy it too.