Summer is half over, so time to update my reads:
Quote:
Originally Posted by Synamon
I'm halfway through the seventh in Deborah Crombie's Kincaid/James British police mystery series and still enjoying this series very much.
The latest Bruno, Chief of Police novel, Children of Men by Martin Walker, has been released so that's next up and it's time to mix in some non-fiction so I'll start listening to The Emperor of All Maladies by Siddhartha Mukherjee shortly.
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I've now read up to and including #15 of the Kincaid/James mysteries. Very enjoyable British mysteries with recurring characters.
The latest Bruno was a bit slow getting out of the gate, but still interesting and well written.
The Emperor of All Maladies was excellent. It's a blend of science and history which is fascinating, although I did tune out with the heavy terminology during the discussion of current research near the end of the book.
Carrying on my usual summer experiment of reading new authors I tried Cornelia Read's
A Field of Darkness. Not as gripping a thriller as I'd hoped, so I won't read more by her.
Another an author new to me was Adrian Magson with
Death at the Clos du Lac. I liked the detective, but the story was a bit far-fetched.
I listened to Julian Barnes'
The Sense of an Ending. The past is malleable in this short literary novel that peels back the layers of memory.
I had previously read and enjoyed
The Redbreast, so I thought I'd read Jo Nesbo's first Harry Hole novel
The Bat. It's set in Australia and there were info dumps that took me out of the story, which wasn't that compelling in the first place.
Another new author read was
Borrowed Time by Robert Goddard. The mystery was revealed slowly and the author kept you guessing whether the narrator was reliable. I'll probably read more by Goddard.
I eagerly consumed
The Silkworm by Robert Galbraith/J.K. Rowling. It started slowly, but that's how a spider's web starts and Rowling spun out a good mystery. Robin wasn't as front and center this time, the main voice was Strike's; he's plenty interesting so I hope there will be more.
I listened to
The House of Mirth by Edith Wharton. I preferred
Age of Innocence which I listened to last year.
I tried out Nicci French, reading
Blue Monday. It was an okay thriller, but I didn't really warm to the main character - a moody psychiatrist.
I snagged
The Martian from the library, as others here have raved - it's a fun ride. My husband enjoyed it even more than I did, since he's a scifi fan.
I listened to a stand alone by Adrian McKinty read by Gerald Doyle
(my current voice crush) called
Hidden River. In this one the protagonist is a police officer who is a heroin addict by choice and tries to escape The Troubles in Ireland by doing some detecting work in America.
My second Steven Galloway read this year was
Finnie Walsh, a coming of age tale set in Canada, inevitably centered on hockey. Really charming and it evoked fond memories of John Irving's
A Prayer for Owen Meany, one of my favourite books.
I snuck in an Agatha Christie,
Appointment With Death. Set in Jordan, Poirot doesn't make an appearance until the end, so not my favourite, but still entertaining.
I gave Louise Penny one more chance, #7 in her Three Pines series,
A Trick of the Light. There was too much self-pitying and moralizing for me to enjoy it, I give up on her.
Such a shame, the first couple of books were great.
My find of the year so far is Elly Griffiths's Ruth Galloway mystery series. Over the past month I read 4 of these. Great cast of characters and setting.
I'm currently gagging on the last of Deborah Harkness' witches and vampires trilogy,
The Book of Life. My husband liked these and I listened to the first two with him in the car on long trips, but fantasy historical romance or whatever this is doesn't appeal to me. Unfortunately I have to know how this stupid thing ends, there better be a resolution.
