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

[issybird]

Originally Posted by seanyyz

I am just finishing up Patrick Gale’s latest novel Take Nothing With You. It is about an older single guy in London but most of the book is composed of scenes from his very peculiar childhood. This is probably my favourite book he has written.

This is a new author to me and one I see I need to look into. However, and as an aside, I always view with suspicion blurbs of the "For all readers of Ian McEwan's Atonement or L P Hartley's The Go-Between" type as in the Goodreads page. At least I can see the similarity there; sometimes the books cited have nothing at all in common to my eye.

[MickeyC]

Just finished The Other Woman by Daniel Silva and it was definitely not one of his best. It seemed to just randomly plod along then stop.

Next up The Doorbell Rang by Rex Stout

[astrangerhere]

Listening to Shirley Jackson's The Haunting of Hill House. It's a bit early, but I was assaulted by Haloween decor in the home improvement store this morning, so I thought "why not?"

Reading Sayaka Murata's Convenience Store Woman on my Kobo.

[Apache]

I finished P. T. Deutermann's newest WWII book Iceman.
I loved this book. An excellent story and you get a real feel for the US Submarine operations during the early days of the war. I highly recommend this book and the other WWII books he has written.

In 1942, off the port city of St. Nazaire in occupied France, a United States Navy S-class submarine assigned to the Royal Navy lurks just outside the borders of the minefield protecting a German U-boat base. Lieutenant Commander Malachi Stormes, the boat's skipper, patrols dangerously close to the minefield entrance and manages to trap and sink three outbound U-boats in one spectacular attack. Britain decorates him, the U.S. Navy promotes him and then gives him command of a brand new class of submarine, a fleet boat called Firefish. Based in Perth, Australia, having been driven out of the Philippines by the Japanese juggernaut, the Perth boats are the only American forces capable of hitting the Japanese in the western Pacific.

Stormes, with his cold, steely-eyed focus on killing Japanese ships, is an enigma to his officers and crew, especially when it becomes clear that he is willing to take huge chances to achieve results. Firefish sinks more ships than any Perth boat on her first war patrol, but Stormes' unconventional tactics literally frighten his crew. Driven by a past steeped in the whiskey-haunted violence of the Kentucky coal fields, whose psychological scars torment his sleep and close him off from personal relationships, Stormes is nicknamed The Iceman. His crew is proud of their boat's accomplishments, but wonder if their iron-willed skipper will bring them home alive.

With intense action and featuring authentic submarine tactics in the early years of the Pacific war, The Iceman continues P. T. Deutermann's masterful, award-winning cycle of thrillers set during World War II.

The other books of his set during WWII are:
1. Pacific Glory (2011)
2. The Ghosts of Bungo Suido (2013)
3. Sentinels of Fire (2014)
4. The Commodore (2016)
Apache

[issybird]

Originally Posted by astrangerhere

Listening to Shirley Jackson's The Haunting of Hill House. It's a bit early, but I was assaulted by Haloween decor in the home improvement store this morning, so I thought "why not?"

I thought Bernadette Dunne did a excellent job reading this.

[pdurrant]

Originally Posted by pdurrant

Guardian of the Horizon was splendid, and I'm moving straight on to the next (internal chronology) in the series, A River in the Sky

And straight on to The Falcon at the Portal, the 13th Chronologically, but the 11th to be published.

[astrangerhere]

Originally Posted by issybird

I thought Bernadette Dunne did a excellent job reading this.

100% agree! She is really nailing that 1950s sound too (whatever that is). All I know is that it's working for me.

[Bookpossum]

I have never read anything by Shirley Jackson, but I hear good things about her. I must try her.

I have just finished reading a book of short stories by Jane Gardam called Missing the Midnight. I enjoy her style, which has an elegant simplicity to it.

[pdurrant]

Originally Posted by pdurrant

And straight on to The Falcon at the Portal, the 13th Chronologically, but the 11th to be published.

Another delightful book. Although after one particular event the villain became obvious.

While I'm tempted to move on to the next, I've just noticed that I haven't read the latest F&SF yet, and since the next issue is due imminantly, I think I'll read that. A bit of a break between volumes is probably a good idea. I don't want to run out of them too soon.

So next up: F&SF for July/August 2018.

[melmac]

Recently devoured Sharp Objects by Gillian Flynn which I could not put down, I very much enjoyed it which surprised me a little as I did not finish Gone Girl. I have also watched the TV show and its a pretty good representation of the book with some brilliant performances.

I've just finished reading Snap by Belinda Bauer this was a straightforward mystery which I really enjoyed there were 2 or 3 plot points that were a bit preposterous but I didn't mind as I was so invested in the character. It was not only a fair mystery but an emotional journey there was even an occasional bit of humour, recommended.

[Dngrsone]

You have one more left, Melmac: Dark Places Personally, I thought Gone Girl the weakest of the three books. Sharp Objects was my favorite, but Dark Places is pretty darn good as well. IMHO.

I am almost halfway through The Murder of Roger Ackroyd by Agatha Christie. I have not abandoned it yet, but it really isn't pulling me in, either.

[melmac]

Originally Posted by Dngrsone

You have one more left, Melmac: Dark Places Personally, I thought Gone Girl the weakest of the three books. Sharp Objects was my favorite, but Dark Places is pretty darn good as well. IMHO.

I'll add Dark Places to the long TBR list.

[CRussel]

I just finished N.K. Jemisin's The Fifth Season, the first in her Broken Earth trilogy. This was the Hugo Award winner for best novel in 2016, and I can certainly see why. That being said, my own reactions to it are rather more mixed. I had a horrible time getting into it, nearly giving up a couple of times, but after about 40% I finally started to figure out what was happening, and as it started to make (a little) sense, I made more progress. When I finished, I realized I couldn't put a rating on it. Could be anywhere between 2 stars to 4 stars for me, and I'm going back and forth on the rating. Will I read the next? Oh, definitely. But NOT right away. I need a break from it and will try something a bit more mindless. Next up, Skeen's Leep from Jo Clayton.

[drjd]

Finished The Case of the Musical Cow by Erle Stanley Gardner, which finally turned into a high voltage court room drama with surprising scientific investigation arguments. Recommended read.

Next up, another one of the remaining three Gardner novels, not decided yet.

[pdurrant]

Originally Posted by CRussel

I had a horrible time getting into it, nearly giving up a couple of times, but after about 40% I finally started to figure out what was happening, and as it started to make (a little) sense, I made more progress. When I finished, I realized I couldn't put a rating on it. Could be anywhere between 2 stars to 4 stars for me, and I'm going back and forth on the rating.

I gave it three stars in the end. There was some brilliant stuff in there, but also some awful stuff. I see I said in my comments on it that I didn't think I'd be getting the next books.

Hmm... I might change my mind if they come on special offer, if only to see whether I feel the acclaim is deserved.