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

[Fbone]

Originally Posted by Fbone

I decided to remain in the 19th century and read The Leavenworth Case by Anna Katharine Green. An early detective novel written in 1878.

I wanted to read an early detective story and chose this one. It was ok although I felt the ending was a bit "out there." The author used a reveal method that isn't my favorite type. It's a common one used in early mysteries so I was expecting it. I did enjoy how the author developed motives for each character except for the murderer (?) which was surprising! Also, there were very few descriptive details of any kind. The story was mostly character driven. Rated C- [3 stars].

Next is a recent purchase (61¢). Clean (Mindspace Investigations #1) by Alexandra Hughes.

[fantasyfan]

Stephen Leacock was enormously popular in the first half of the twentieth century. Further Foolishness was published in 1916 and, while some sections show their age and have lost their effectiveness, it still has the capacity to entertain a modern reader.

It is divided into four topical sections: "Follies In Fiction", "Movies and Motors, Men and Women", "Peace, War, and Politics" and "Timid Thoughts On Timely Topics". These can be read in any order. The third section is the weakest and the humour is dated. On the other hand, it has a historical and cultural significance. There are some essays which certainly stand out. "Are The Rich Happy?" is still very funny. "the Snoopopaths" is a satire lampooning popular pulp novels of the time. Particularly interesting is " Madeline of the Movies: A Photoplay done back into words". Here Leacock is satirising the old silent morality film-short of the type created by D.W.Griffith and his Biograph company. We can still read this sketch with considerable pleasure. But one should remember that we tend to see such films as naive and antiquated. But Leacock was actually dealing with a state-of-the-art technology when he wrote it. He refers to it as "a moving picture photoplay". So there is an additional layer to the satire which we may miss entirely. The final piece in the book is an interesting essay "Humour as I See It" which is well worth reading.

Thus, many of the essays in the book show their age, but they also reveal what people found funny nearly a century ago. At the same time there are a fair number of genuinely humorous pieces which still work. Considering that Further Foolishness is in the public domain and available free from Project Gutenberg, it is well worth reading.

[MickeyC]

Originally Posted by ReneAZ

"A Death In Sweden" by Kevin Wignall. (spies/intrigue). Got this one free with my Amazon Prime account (get a choice of a free book from a selection of about 6 once a month). For an indie (I'm assuming) writer, I found it hard to put down and a very satisfying read.
------------------
Rene in AZ

Agree! I enjoyed it very much.

[pdurrant]

Originally Posted by pdurrant

The Big Book of Christmas Mysteries: The Most Complete Collection of Yuletide Whodunits Ever Assembled edited by Otto Penzler.

(This month's book club selection.)

Wow. It is a BIG book! And packed of really good stories. The only one I had any issue with was the Ellery Queen one, but only because of the style of that particular series. A most impressive and enjoyable collection.

Next up: Guardian by Jack Campbell. Third in his Beyond the Frontier series.

[Pulpmeister]

Currently reading a handful of Craig Rice novels from the 40s. She was an American woman writer (Craig was her maiden surname, Rice her first married surname) and lived a fairly high-speed life herself. The few I have read are of the Jake and Helene Justus/J J Malone series, and can best be described as screwball whodunits, in the tradition of 1940s movie screwball comedies, but also having a bit of The Thin Man back up the family tree. (The characters spend a fair amount of time tucking into the booze.)

She was reputed to have written the two novels by Gypsy Rose Lee, but I gather this has now been disproved.

The ones I have read are (in order of publication):

1: 8 Faces at 3
2: The Corpse Steps Out
3: The Wrong Murder
4: The Right Murder
5: Trial by Fury
6: The Big Midget Murders
7: Having a Wonderful Crime.

[WT Sharpe]

Originally Posted by pdurrant

...The only one I had any issue with was the Ellery Queen one, but only because of the style of that particular series....

So it's not the story itself so much as the whole EQ canon that you find unappealing? Surprising, because so many (myself included) like his works. True, the characters never develop in any meaningful way, but their very predictability makes each story feel as in you're in the company of old and trusted friends. And because of that unchanging nature of the characters and their relationships, the stories can be read in any order. Is that the very aspect that puts you off?

[orlok]

Originally Posted by alansplace

I enjoyed reading The Horrible Man a lot.

Sounds fun - I see it is #18 in the series. Did you just jump in at this point in the series, or have you read the preceding 17?

Currently reading Islands of Rage and Hope by John Ringo. I've read the previous 2 in the series, and this looks to be just as good. Still a lot of almost impenetrable US Military vocabulary, but I'm mostly keeping up.

[alansplace]

Originally Posted by orlok

Sounds fun - I see it is #18 in the series. Did you just jump in at this point in the series, or have you read the preceding 17?

Yes, I have read the series in order, I borrow one of them each month (1 a month is all that is allowed) from the prime lending library.

[pdurrant]

Originally Posted by WT Sharpe

So it's not the story itself so much as the whole EQ canon that you find unappealing? Surprising, because so many (myself included) like his works. True, the characters never develop in any meaningful way, but their very predictability makes each story feel as in you're in the company of old and trusted friends. And because of that unchanging nature of the characters and their relationships, the stories can be read in any order. Is that the very aspect that puts you off?

It was more the writing style, rather than the setting or the characters. I don't expect much character development in a mystery short story!

[WT Sharpe]

Originally Posted by pdurrant

...The only one I had any issue with was the Ellery Queen one, but only because of the style of that particular series....

Originally Posted by WT Sharpe

...Surprising, because so many (myself included) like his works....

Of course, "his" in the above quote should be in quotes, since Ellery Queen (the author) was really two cousins.

Originally Posted by pdurrant

It was more the writing style, rather than the setting or the characters. I don't expect much character development in a mystery short story!

[Luffy]

Hi WT Sharpe, I've had mixed reactions towards EQ. I thoroughly liked The Greek Coffin Mystery and also The Egyptian Cross Mystery. I've not dared to continue reading beyond the Lamp of God, because the last few books disappointed me.

What, in your opinion, are the best books in the series after LoG?

[orlok]

Originally Posted by alansplace

Yes, I have read the series in order, I borrow one of them each month (1 a month is all that is allowed) from the prime lending library.

I always prefer to start from the beginning of a series (though have sometimes jumped in the middle without realising - did that with the Jack Reacher books when I borrowed Echo Burning as an audio book from the library). I'll give The Tall Dolores a try - thanks for the pointer.

[Dngrsone]

Finished Anne Perry and the Murder of the Century, which was fascinating, and now reading Rules of Engagement by Elizabeth Moon.

[KyBunnies]

Originally Posted by KyBunnies

On to A Lady Like Sarah by Margaret Brownley
borrowed from my library.

Good book not preacher like some Christian fiction books. There were several times God was mentioned or how someone's name is in the Bible but that is it.

On to Seven Nights in a Rogue's Bed by Anna Campbell

I am thinking about what to start in audio. I can't decide what I want to listen to while I crochet a few things for Christmas gifts.

[WT Sharpe]

Originally Posted by Luffy

Hi WT Sharpe, I've had mixed reactions towards EQ. I thoroughly liked The Greek Coffin Mystery and also The Egyptian Cross Mystery. I've not dared to continue reading beyond the Lamp of God, because the last few books disappointed me.

What, in your opinion, are the best books in the series after LoG?

Hi, Luffy. Haven't seen you around for a while.

Try this one from 1966: A Study in Terror. I found it quite interesting, even though the entire book wasn't written by the cousins (John Watson's "lost manuscript" was actually penned by Paul W. Fairman, although in collaboration with Dannay and Lee). All the EQ segments were, of course, written by EQ, however, and it was quite fascinating. A small spoiler that I don't think requires spoiler tags: Dr. Watson evidently went to his grave thinking that Holmes had failed in his mission to find Jack the Ripper, but Ellery saw in the manuscript clues in Watson's own hand of which the good doctor didn't realize the full significance.