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

[haertig]

I recently finished "Dust" by Hugh Howey. After putzing around reading it intermittently over a few months. It wasn't a bad book, I just never got into regular reading of it. I'm glad I finished this Howey three-book series. All-in-all, a pretty fun story.

[Pajamaman]

Originally Posted by DiapDealer

I recently finished listening to Monsarrat's The Cruel Sea. It wasn't at all like I'd assumed it would be. But that doesn't mean I didn't like it. Quite the contrary, in fact. I found it to be a very pleasant distraction. But if you're looking for naval adventures and maritime tales of derring-do, you may want to skip past this book. It turned out to be more of a character study than your typical plot-based story.

A group of Royal Navy sailors struggling against the environment and the enemy during the Battle of the Atlantic. Told in seven parts; each part describing a year in the war.

A very fine book. The movie is great too. You may like the Guns of Naverone. The movie is excellent. Pretty sure I read the book, which is also very good.

[Pajamaman]

Just read The Gone World by Tom Sweterlitsch. Excellent science fiction. Probably the best "new" SF I've read in the last 10 years. A sort of mix between detective / CSI / and parallel universes.

[Uncle Robin]

Currently wading through Wolf to the Slaughter book 3 in Rendell's Wexford series. It is marginally less soporifically regressive than its two predecessors, but still very low on entertainment value. When I've finished it, that will have completed my customary "read the first three" for series detectives. Since her 60s works are not doing it for me, which of her later Wexfords are especially worth checking out?

[issybird]

Originally Posted by Uncle Robin

Currently wading through Wolf to the Slaughter book 3 in Rendell's Wexford series. It is marginally less soporifically regressive than its two predecessors, but still very low on entertainment value. When I've finished it, that will have completed my customary "read the first three" for series detectives. Since her 60s works are not doing it for me, which of her later Wexfords are especially worth checking out?

I’ve long thought that the obsessive fixation on reading series books in publication order is deleterious to enjoying the books. “Late-early” or “early-middle” to start seems the likeliest, once the author’s hit his/her stride and before the whole business gets worn out or the author starts to phone it in. Or both. Once you like a series, you might well circle back to the beginning.

I think there’s another issue here, too. There’s current and there’s classic and what’s in between is just dated. Eventually some dated will evolve into classic, hence the popularity of Golden Age even with its faults, but dated just isn’t that enjoyable. And much dated, even for an author as highly regarded as Rendell, may not ever make it to classic. At least digital will help in that regard; merit should out as books continue available.

As for Wexford, I got nothing. I read them all back in the day and got tired of him before Rendell did, which is typical for me. No blame to her; it’s a livelihood, not a holy calling.

[Uncle Robin]

Originally Posted by issybird

I’ve long thought that the obsessive fixation on reading series books in publication order is deleterious to enjoying the books.

I don't try to read entire series in publication order, I just like to read the first 3 to get a feel for the characters, and to see if they grow on me. It's an old habit, ingrained from my teens, when it worked very well with Marsh & Allingham.

It has not worked for me this year with Sayers, Queen, and now Rendell, and had mixed results with Brian Flynn, so I'm almost certainly not going to bother any more.

[CRussel]

I admit, a new (to me) series has somewhere between 50 and 100 pages to convince me it's worth reading. Which can be a challenge for some classics, but didn't stop me reading either Marsh or Allingham. And, fortunately, I was already enamoured of Sayers before I read the (awful) first book in the series.

One of the definite pluses of having a too large TBR is that I can be brutal about making that decision. After all, if this series doesn't work, there's many another on my Kindle.

[issybird]

Originally Posted by Uncle Robin

when it worked very well with Marsh & Allingham.

Not that long ago, I decided to revisit Allingham and ended up DNFing her first Campion, the dreadful Crime at Black Dudley. I gave up until a friend told me to give the next one a try and now I’m working my way through them with enjoyment.

As for Marsh, I didn’t like her back in the day and when I tried her again recently, I realized I was right the first time. I usually find it easy to overlook the classism in Golden Age books, but Marsh grates, especially in the post-war books. And I can’t stand Troy and her icky relationship with Alleyn. On the other hand, I enjoy Sayers and Queen, although I admit Queen the character, pontificating and patronizing, can annoy.

De gustibus and all that!

[Uncle Robin]

Originally Posted by issybird

I admit Queen the character, pontificating and patronizing, can annoy.

De gustibus and all that!

I think Queen is an excellent example of the flaw in my approach. Apart from the ASTONISHING casual racism that makes Sayers' works look like 21st century models of inclusivity, the element that really made me loathe Queen was the way his father was portrayed as a simpering idiot who literally needed his son to do all his thinking for him, because whenever Richard had any ideas or theories at all, his son would expose the fatal flaws in them. This from an allegedly esteemed senior police detective was too much. Calamity Town in contrast, was much better for the absence of the pointless pater.

[issybird]

I’ve finished an excellent noir-ish suspense novel, The Expendable Man, by Dorothy B. Hughes. Set in Phoenix around 1960, contemporary to publication, it builds tension until it upends expectations at about the one-third mark, so much so that I’d avoid reviews. Highly recommended.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by Uncle Robin

I think Queen is an excellent example of the flaw in my approach. Apart from the ASTONISHING casual racism that makes Sayers' works look like 21st century models of inclusivity, the element that really made me loathe Queen was the way his father was portrayed as a simpering idiot who literally needed his son to do all his thinking for him, because whenever Richard had any ideas or theories at all, his son would expose the fatal flaws in them. This from an allegedly esteemed senior police detective was too much. Calamity Town in contrast, was much better for the absence of the pointless pater.

Have a read of this. It's interesting. about Sayers and her Jews.
https://momentmag.com/curious-case-d...yers-jew-wasnt

[Bookpossum]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

Have a read of this. It's interesting. about Sayers and her Jews.
https://momentmag.com/curious-case-d...yers-jew-wasnt

Thanks Jon, that was interesting to read. Did it change your views on Sayers?

[Bookpossum]

On the question of reading books in order of publication: while I am not insistent on it, I do enjoy reading the books of an author I like in order to see how s/he develops in terms of style, characters and so on. Some of course don't, and just write the same book twenty times over with slight name changes!

At the moment I am reading the novels of Nancy Mitford, having received a half-price offer on the omnibus volume from Kobo a little while ago. So far I have read the first two, Highland Fling and Christmas Pudding which were mildly amusing. I am looking forward to reading the later novels as she develops.

[Uncle Robin]

Originally Posted by Bookpossum

On the question of reading books in order of publication: while I am not insistent on it, I do enjoy reading the books of an author I like in order to see how s/he develops in terms of style, characters and so on.

Exactly this. Sadly for me, the three authors I've tried it on this year have not delivered. I'm thinking a nice compromise might be to read in publication order but not necessarily ALL. Especially if the characters don't age over time.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by Bookpossum

Thanks Jon, that was interesting to read. Did it change your views on Sayers?

Nope. But that's because her first Wimsey book is too racist.