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gmw · 02-08-2020, 02:12 AM

For one reason or another it's been a while since I posted on this thread. Since then my reading has included...

The Bookshop by Penelope Fitzgerald. This was a New Leaf Book club selection and you can read more about it here:

In the Lair a collection of short stories by various indie authors. I bought this ages ago but only just got around to reading it. As might be expected, some were something of a disaster, some were okay, and a small handful were very good. My pick of the bunch would be: "Whispering Willows" by Patty Jansen, but I also liked "The Song Her Heart Sang: A Story of Thera" by Steven Savile and "Pickaxe" by Rhett C. Bruno. The good stories rescue this to a 3/5 for the collection.

Looking for something a bit more bright and cheerful I read five books in a series: The Not So Secret Emails of Coco Pinchard & Coco Pinchard’s Big Fat Tipsy Wedding & Coco Pinchard, The Consequences of Love and Sex & A Very Coco Christmas (short story) & Coco Pinchard’s Must-Have Toy Story (short story) by Robert Bryndza. Bryndza is perhaps better known for his murder mysteries (I haven't tried those yet, though my wife says they are very good). These Coco Pinchard stories are generally classified as romantic comedies, but I'd be more inclined to simply classify them as contemporary comedies. They are all good fun and quite compulsive in the strange way - not, I hope, for the prurient interest in reading someone else's emails, but because the author has put the stories together very well. Great characters, lots of laughs - or at least lots of smiles. 4/5 the lot of them.

And mood swinging the other way, I headed to the end of the world with the trilogy: The Last Policeman & Countdown City & World of Trouble by Ben H. Winters. Excellent. Somewhat surprising because I thought the end of the world would be more of a thriller ride, each was a surprisingly gentle mystery (with occasional sparks of violence) set against the background of impending doom. And I thought it really worked well. The mysteries twisted around quite well, not necessarily surprising, but well done. The large cast of characters were diverse and well drawn. The slow but accelerating decline of civilisation was convincing and felt quite real. 4/5 for all - perhaps 4.5/5 for the last one, I thought it was particularly well handled.

02-08-2020, 02:12 AM	#28718
gmw cacoethes scribendi Posts: 5,818 Karma: 137770742 Join Date: Nov 2010 Location: Australia Device: Kobo Aura One & H2Ov2, Sony PRS-650	For one reason or another it's been a while since I posted on this thread. Since then my reading has included... *The Bookshop* by Penelope Fitzgerald. This was a New Leaf Book club selection and you can read more about it here: *In the Lair* a collection of short stories by various indie authors. I bought this ages ago but only just got around to reading it. As might be expected, some were something of a disaster, some were okay, and a small handful were very good. My pick of the bunch would be: "Whispering Willows" by Patty Jansen, but I also liked "The Song Her Heart Sang: A Story of Thera" by Steven Savile and "Pickaxe" by Rhett C. Bruno. The good stories rescue this to a 3/5 for the collection. Looking for something a bit more bright and cheerful I read five books in a series: *The Not So Secret Emails of Coco Pinchard* & *Coco Pinchard’s Big Fat Tipsy Wedding* & *Coco Pinchard, The Consequences of Love and Sex* & *A Very Coco Christmas* (short story) & *Coco Pinchard’s Must-Have Toy Story* (short story) by Robert Bryndza. Bryndza is perhaps better known for his murder mysteries (I haven't tried those yet, though my wife says they are very good). These Coco Pinchard stories are generally classified as romantic comedies, but I'd be more inclined to simply classify them as contemporary comedies. They are all good fun and quite compulsive in the strange way - not, I hope, for the prurient interest in reading someone else's emails, but because the author has put the stories together very well. Great characters, lots of laughs - or at least lots of smiles. 4/5 the lot of them. And mood swinging the other way, I headed to the end of the world with the trilogy: *The Last Policeman* & *Countdown City* & *World of Trouble* by Ben H. Winters. Excellent. Somewhat surprising because I thought the end of the world would be more of a thriller ride, each was a surprisingly gentle mystery (with occasional sparks of violence) set against the background of impending doom. And I thought it really worked well. The mysteries twisted around quite well, not necessarily surprising, but well done. The large cast of characters were diverse and well drawn. The slow but accelerating decline of civilisation was convincing and felt quite real. 4/5 for all - perhaps 4.5/5 for the last one, I thought it was particularly well handled.