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

[CRussel]

Oh, I agree! But I am reading in order, so I will survive this. And Lord Peter is still delightfully piffelly.

[Steve Anderson]

The Private Sector by Joseph Hone. Great 1971 espionage novel for fans of Le Carré, Littell, McCarry and other true masters of the genre. The writing is fantastic and Hone gets it—a compelling spy story is not about the action of the plot but rather the characters' actions.

[pdurrant]

Originally Posted by pdurrant

Next: Future Perfect by Nancy Kress. Four Novellettes by Nancy Kress.

Which was very good indeed. Different futures involving genetic engineering.

Next: Space by Stephen Baxter.

[JLius]

Xenocide by Orson Scott Card. Not as good as Speaker for the Dead, but a very good read none the less.

[CRussel]

Originally Posted by CRussel

Still reading Five Red Herrings, by Dorothy L. Sayers. But I should finish today.

And still reading it. Not by any means her best, but I'll get to it later today. Meanwhile, I finished How's That! A Layman's Guide to Cricket, by Tony Whelpton. Understand that as a native American, and a Canadian by choice, I have ZERO understanding of cricket, but my news source of choice on my Kindle Fire is the BBC app, so I've been getting regular news about England's woes in Test cricket. Of course, none of it meant a thing to me, so when I saw this book in Amazon Prime, I had to give it a go. Useful, and would be more so if I could get some cricket on the telly to really start to get a better picture of what's happening and some of the strategy that I'm still missing. Well, I put a TiVo wishlist auto-record, so at some point it will show up.

[alansplace]

Originally Posted by alansplace

Completed my 2nd re-read of Skin Game! Loved it all over again!

Next is Catalyst (Catalyst #1) by Ashleigh Reese.

I quit reading Catalyst.

Next I'm going to be reading Mr. Mercedes (Unnamed Trilogy #1) by Stephen King.

[Rev. Bob]

I just read The Star Wars, the graphic novel version of an early Lucas screenplay. Very different from what got made, but you can see seeds of the whole trilogy in there.

I'm a chapter or so into Skin Game, but haven't been able to focus enough to make more progress. Maybe later this week, or at least after a nap...

[din155]

Finished “An officer and a Spy” by Robert Harris. It was a quick and engaging read and I am glad I picked it.

[alansplace]

Originally Posted by alansplace

I quit reading Catalyst.

Next I'm going to be reading Mr. Mercedes (Unnamed Trilogy #1) by Stephen King.

I read a couple of pages and found myself not quite ready to read Mr. Mercedes so I've postponed it.

Instead I started reading my freebie for August in the:

program. The one I chose for August was the fantasy The Paper Magician (The Paper Magician Series) by Charlie N. Holmberg.

[gmw]

Concrete Planet: The Strange and Fascinating Story of the World's Most Common Man-Made Material, by Robert Courland, 2011.

Non-fiction, obviously. I had thought the subtitle might be trying too hard, but it turns out to be, in my estimation, a perfectly accurate description of this book.

The first eight chapters take the reader through the history of concrete. From the evidence that concrete was being made before humans began to grow crops or fire their pottery, through to modern times and the current widespread use of reinforced concrete. Along the way we learn of the people and societies involved and the objects they created. Although this may sound dry, it is well researched, mostly well written (there were some parts through the middle I found a bit harder going), and has touches of humour to enliven the text. For example:

A surviving portrait bust of Cato exemplifies Roman mastery of subtle character delineation, for the sculpture shows a sour-faced, unrepentant reactionary. Today he would probably be a popular talk show host.

The life and works of Frank Lloyd Wright are covered in some detail. The Sydney Opera House also gets discussed, with the author describing Australia of the time as "Kansas with kangaroos" .

The final two chapters reach what I suspect is the real inspiration and purpose behind this book. A quote (actually from earlier in the book) is probably the best way to sum this up:

There has been an explosion of interest in Roman concrete, and it is not hard to see why. The Romans used concrete to build edifices capable of lasting thousands of years, while most modern concrete structures are incapable of lasting two centuries—and many are unlikely to endure beyond just one.

The author explains some of the current misconceptions about concrete (that it is fireproof, earthquake-proof and permanent) and how these came about. He discusses the high environmental impact of producing so much concrete. And he goes into what this is likely to cost us, and what can be done about it.

It's a good book that comes around to discussing issues of real and current concern.

[HarryT]

Just finished "Ordeal by Innocence" by Agatha Christie. This was her 60th novel, and was originally published in 1958.

Jacko Argyle was convicted of the murder of his adopted mother two years before, and died in prison, but now a witness comes forward who proves that Jacko was innocent. The police re-open the investigation, and what follows is a novel exploring the psychological impact on a family of the suspicions of each family member, wondering who actually committed the murder. Unlike the typical Christie detective novel, but I very much enjoyed it.

[plumboz]

I highly recommend "The Boys in the Boat, Nine Americans and Their Epic Quest for Gold at the 1936 Berlin Olympics". The author, Daniel James Brown, focuses on one of the young men who was a part of the Washington crew team, but the scope of the book also gives you a much wider picture of world events. Fascinating, inspirational and, even though you know where it is heading, even suspenseful.

http://www.danieljamesbrown.com/book.../#.U9-hbGPA7fg

[CRussel]

Finally finished Five Red Herrings. Not the best of the Lord Peter Wimsey books, certainly. Overall I still enjoyed it, though I did skim large sections of detailed timelines. Really not Sayer's forte.

Also finished L.E. Modisett, Jr.'s The Magic of Recluse. Overall, I enjoyed it quite a bit, though I admit to finding the reader quite annoying in parts (this was an Audible book.) All just in time to jump on a Kindle One Day Sale of all of Modesitt's books for $2.99 each. With most of them having equally cheap WhisperSync versions on Audible. Unfortunately, I only spotted the sale late last night, and it's gone already.

[PurpleStar]

I finished Star Trek: The Seekers: Second Nature by David Mack. This is a brand new Star Trek series with a new crew. Great start to the series so far, except of course it ended with a cliffhanger. So I'm definitely going to be getting the second book when it comes out at the end of this month.

I have just started Redemption by B.J. Daniels. (My favorite Harlequin author) This is one of those romantic mysteries with hunky cowboys! Very good so far. I will be reading the rest of the series too since the new book comes out at the end of the month as well.

[Apache]

I just finished the four books in David Aaronovitch's Peter Grant Series. I thought the were a very good read and especially loved the character's and the humor.
Apache