Hey!! Let's get some action going! What are we reading?

[Dr. Drib]

I finished The Eyewitness, an important literary novel by Ernst Weiss.

I just now started Kzradock the Onion Man and the Spring-Fresh Methuselah: From the Notes of Dr. Renard De Montpensier, by Louis Levy, a literary novella.

[graycyn]

Originally Posted by pdurrant

Delightful. I do like Rabbi Small.

Rabbi Small is good stuff!

Ironically, I first encountered this mystery series at our CATHOLIC church library when I was a child. But I loved mysteries, and happily borrowed the entire series from that tiny one room library, book by book. Don't know exactly how old I was, probably around 9-12, as by the time I was a teen, we'd stopped attending Sunday service.

I re-read the series as an adult and enjoyed them all again!

[pdurrant]

Originally Posted by pdurrant

And now: Lightspeed Magazine #11, edited by J. J. Adams. A random pick from the TBR.

A good issue. I enjoyed the original stories and the (mostly new to me) reprints.

Next up: The Red Pavilion by Robert Van Gulik. The seventh in his Judge Dee series set in Ancient China. Another random pick from my TBR pile.

[spacepope]

Originally Posted by spacepope

Trying to figure out what to read next too much YA recently...

.... So I ignored that and read Skyward by Brandon Sanderson, as I had gotten the book recently on sale and it was calling to me. Finished it at 1am . Really likes it, 4.5 stars. Immediately got book 2 from the library to start tomorrow.

[Dazrin]

Originally Posted by spacepope

.... So I ignored that and read Skyward by Brandon Sanderson, as I had gotten the book recently on sale and it was calling to me. Finished it at 1am . Really likes it, 4.5 stars. Immediately got book 2 from the library to start tomorrow.

If there's any type of wait list, you should go ahead and put book 3 on the list (Cytonic). You'll want to start it as soon as you can after finishing book 2.

[pdurrant]

Originally Posted by pdurrant

Next up: The Red Pavilion by Robert Van Gulik. The seventh in his Judge Dee series set in Ancient China. Another random pick from my TBR pile.

Which was very good. Judge Dee solving mysterious deaths, one of which happened 30 years before the story starts!

Next up: A Little Gold Book of Ghastly Stuff by Neil Gaiman. Part of a Neil Gaiman Humble Bundle in 2015.

[Moe The Cat]

One third through Richard Herley's newest, Stephen's Purpose, which I downloaded free from Smashwords. Very enjoyable so far!

[Fbone]

Originally Posted by Fbone

It appears I have the sequel to In the Labyrinth by John Bierce which I recently gave a one-star rating. I'll try a few chapters to see if Jewel of the Endless Erg is any better, otherwise, it's dropped like a wet towel.

This book was enormously better the previous. It's like it was written by a different person. I suspect a good editor was used on this one. Action-packed and engaging with a surprise at the end. The difference is really amazing. Rated C [3 stars].

[ReadingManiac]

CHRISTMAS READING TIIIIIIME!!!

I've dropped everything to do a re-read of A Christmas with the Dodger by Charlton Daines. First the feel good vibe, then I'll get into the spooky stuff.

[astrangerhere]

I stopped in between volume 2 and 3 of Ada Palmer's Terra Ignota series to read (and listen to her read) Amanda Gorman's first collection of poems Call Us What We Carry.

[Dr. Drib]

I finished the literary short novel Kzradock the Onion Man and the Spring-Fresh Methuselah: From the Notes of Dr. Renard de Montpensier, by Louis Levy. This was a wild romp through 'pulp' epistemology using familiar tropes. Published by Wakefield Press. [Kobo purchase.]

I just now started another Kobo purchase: The Irish sea, by Carlos Maleno. Published by Dalkey Archive, one of my favorite publishers of literary fiction.

[pdurrant]

Originally Posted by pdurrant

Next up: A Little Gold Book of Ghastly Stuff by Neil Gaiman. Part of a Neil Gaiman Humble Bundle in 2015.

Which was a delightful collection of stories, prose, and a small amount of verse.

Then I read Exhalation by Ted Chiang. A short story freebie from Tor. I found I'dd already read it in a collection, but an excellent story it was too.

And now I'm reading The Y Factor by Darrell Bain. An ancient Fictionwise purchase. But it no longer appeals. I will drop it shortly unless things improve.

[pdurrant]

Originally Posted by pdurrant

And now I'm reading The Y Factor by Darrell Bain. An ancient Fictionwise purchase. But it no longer appeals. I will drop it shortly unless things improve.

Abandoned. Dreadful tosh. I bought a lot of his stuff back before 2008, when self-published was the only non-DRM option. Nothing got higher than a 3/5. If I had any more by him in my unread pile they'd be discarded, but this was the last.

Next up, one bought yesterday: The Painted Queen by Elizabeth Peters (& Joan Hess). The last of her Amelia Peabody series, finished after the author's death, which finally dropped below £3 yesterday. I've been waiting a couple of years for this (I finished the previous novel in October 2019!)

[Uncle Robin]

4.25/5 for Il Gattopardo - it's a testament to the author's mastery of descriptive writing that I understood so much more than I expected to, and FELT more than I thought I would. The lovingly detailed descriptions of Sicily and especially the chapter on the death of Don Fabrizio pierced the limitations of my Italian and made me glad I read it first in the author's L1, not mine.

[acprinter]

Thanks to GrannyGrump I found a new author, F. Anstey. I read Vice Versa and liked it very much. My wife also read it and enjoyed it also. Good fun book.