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

[pdurrant]

Originally Posted by pdurrant

Next: Back to crime. Roseanna by Maj Sjöwall & Per Wahlöö. A freebie I picked up back in September 2010, the first of their Martin Beck novels. I hope I like it, as I bought the next 9 for £0.99 each back in December 2013!

It was OK. A rather dull police procedural, with just a bit of tension at the end. Good enough that I'll read the next one when it comes up on a random pick, on the assumption that they get better. 3/5

Next up: another random pick, Metro Girl by Janet Evanovich. A freebie from Fictionwise way back in February 2010!

[DrNefario]

Originally Posted by pdurrant

It was OK. A rather dull police procedural, with just a bit of tension at the end. Good enough that I'll read the next one when it comes up on a random pick, on the assumption that they get better. 3/5

I think I bought all 10 at exactly the same time as you. I liked the second one much more, although I'm not totally sure why. The mystery wasn't great; I think it was just that there was some good character stuff and some deadpan humour.

I have been meaning to read the third one for ages.

[pdurrant]

Originally Posted by pdurrant

Next up: another random pick, Metro Girl by Janet Evanovich. A freebie from Fictionwise way back in February 2010!

Which was a fun bit of nonsense in an Action/Romance. In some ways it reminded me of the M*A*S*H books (the post-Korea ones) for the wild adventure well beyond any rational limit. 4/5 for the fun.

This makes 88 books removed from my TBR this year, and only 44 added!

Next up: Ratking by Michael Dibden. The first in his Aurelio Zen series. Mainly bought for my wife, although I don't know if she's read them. I hope I like them, as I have 11 of them bought back in February 2016!

[mlewis78]

I am back to reading The Library Book by Susan Orlean after an interruption to read library books that I'd had on hold (The Great Influenza by John M. Barry and The Sweeney Sisters by Lian Dolan). I like this one a lot but haven't binge read since I own it and don't have to return it to the library. I tend to stay online too long and that doesn't leave much time to read.

I was telling a friend (from high school in NJ, but she lives in Seattle now) on the phone last night about Susan Orlean's book. She had heard of it and wants to read it. She said that her uncle was director of the Los Angeles Public Library and left in the 1970s to work at the Baltimore (Pratt) one. The LA Library fire was in 1986. I asked her his name, because Orlean gives a history of the library and its directors.

[ReadingManiac]

Just finished a re-read of A Spark of Justice by J.D. Hawkins. Left me with tears in my eyes even though I remembered what happens!

Still reading Nightscape one chapter at a time. It's too weird to take all at once.

[pdurrant]

Originally Posted by pdurrant

Next up: Ratking by Michael Dibden. The first in his Aurelio Zen series. Mainly bought for my wife, although I don't know if she's read them. I hope I like them, as I have 11 of them bought back in February 2016!

And it turns out to be a bit depressing. The main character is virtuous, although it's not explained why he appears to be the only character not corrupt in some way. I'll try the next one when the series next gets picked randomly as my next read, in case it improves. 3/5

Next up: Sprig Muslin by Georgette Heyer. Another random choice, it should be an enjoyable, quick read.

[Luffy]

My 4 star review of The Sea of Monsters, by Rick Riordan:-

Spoiler:

Lately I've been avoiding overuse of 4 starred reviews, because they are the most common ratings generally speaking. And thus, by proxy, they are the most misleading ones. But if any book deserves high plaudits it's The Sea of Monsters.

I could tell that snippets of this book were derivative. Some of the borrowing of ideas led the trail straight to Greek myths. Others faintly reminded me of Harry Potter. There's no denying that Rick Riordan was the biggest winner among writers. He was smart and quick to build a fanbase.

I'm not sorry I read Percy Jackson. His are eternal stories. They are fun stories. Memorable ones. Inspiring ones. The ending too... loved it. This book is a step up from The Lightning Thief. The Titan's Curse is just round the corner. The end? Thought not.

[piperclassique]

If you want to read a book written by a great statesman who is also erudite, compassionate, and far seeing, then I have a recommendation for you.
In Place of Fear by Aneurin Bevan is available on kindle unlimited on Amazon.uk or you can buy it for £2.99
I have never read a more clear explanation of the principles of socialism. Written by the father of the NHS and first published in 1952, it speaks to us as if it were written today. I'm going to read it again for pleasure.

Sent from my YAL-L21 using Tapatalk

[hobnail]

A week or so ago I read French Exit by Patrick deWitt and enjoyed it. Then I got The Sisters Brothers by Patrick deWitt and really loved it. I'm looking forward to reading Ablutions.

[CRussel]

Originally Posted by CRussel

Just finished reading The Shooting at Chateau Rock, the latest Bruno, Chief of Police novel from Martin Walker. Delightful, as always. And the audio version, narrated by Robert Ian MacKenzie, was also superb.

OK, I often enjoy the food described in the Bruno books, and I've even learned a few things that I've carried over into my own cooking. But in this book there is a recipe for Lamb Shanks with Pomegranate and Walnuts that sounded really interesting, so I decided to make it. Wow, this was YUMMY! Only one ingredient that might be a bit tricky to find (though Amazon has it), and that's pomegranate molasses. And while the recipe is a two day affair, it's not actually that difficult -- it's just that you need to rub down the lamb in the morning, cook it in the afternoon, and then put it in the refrigerator overnight. The rest is fairly easy. If you're a fan of Bruno, by all means read the book, and do try the recipe.

(Note: for those who've been somewhat frustrated by incomplete recipes in earlier books, this one is fully written out. The only thing missing is the braising temperature, and that can be anywhere from 325F to 350F (160C-175C, or gas mark 3-4). It's not particularly critical, since you're braising and going by how done the meat is. )

[pdurrant]

Originally Posted by pdurrant

Next up: Sprig Muslin by Georgette Heyer. Another random choice, it should be an enjoyable, quick read.

And indeed it was. A wonderful regency romance, that kept me up much later than I intended. Utterly delightful.

Next up: Doctor Who: Fugitive by Tony Lee. From a Humble Bundle I bought way back in May 2014!

[pdurrant]

Originally Posted by pdurrant

Next up: Doctor Who: Fugitive by Tony Lee. From a Humble Bundle I bought way back in May 2014!

A humble bundle of Graphic Novels. Not my thing at all, it turns out. I read this one, and I've discard the other 18 from that bundle.

Next up: Trigger Warning by Neil Gaiman. A collection of his shorter works.

[issybird]

Originally Posted by issybird

I stayed on the memoir kick a while longer. Gweilo: Memories Of A Hong Kong Childhood by Martin Booth also was a terrific read, although I admit I wondered a little at Booth’s sophistication at the tender age of seven and I didn’t find his mother quite the paragon he did. But Spam Tomorrow by Verily Anderson was a pedestrian home front memoir and I found the author rather irritating. So I think that put an end to memoirs to me for now.

I ended up going back to the memoir well after all, with God’s Hotel by Victoria Sweet, an account of her practice at the last almshouse in America, in the years of its transition from patient-oriented to corporate medicine and its removal from its historic building to a purpose-built (but much less patient-friendly, according to the author) facility. I read this on a recommendation, not thinking it was really my thing, and I ended up loving it - the author’s synthesis of people, place, and her own evolving ideas of medicine which in fact went back to the twelfth century marvelously realized the almshouse, even given her biases and touch of arrogance. A five-star read.

I’m now reading a publication from this year, The Betrayal of the Duchess by Maurice Samuels, about the machinations of the daughter-in-law of the last Bourbon king. The author’s brief is that this was occasioned the transition of France to the modern era, including the nascence of modern anti-Semitism. It’s moving quickly and is entertaining, for all its seriousness of purpose.

[mlewis78]

Sunday morning when I could not get to sleep I finished The Library Book by Susan Orlean. I liked this book so much through about 3/4 of it and then realized later that she was overly-fascinated with the only arson suspect in the LA Library fire. He was arrested but not indicted and he changed his story so many times because he was a pathological liar who took pleasure in entertaining people by embellishing lies. A little like a "leader" we know, except that this guy, Harry Peak, did not inherit money.

The author did use any chronological order in the book. She introduced Harry Peak in perhaps the 3rd or 4th chapter, dropped him and kept bringing him back until the very end. He died of AIDS and she wrote it as if he was among the the first victims, but he wasn't.

I've started A Manifest Spirit: The 359th Fighter Group 1943-1945 by Janet Fogg. I'd read a book she edited that was diaries of her father-in-law, Howard Fogg, who was in the same fighter group. That one was Fogg in the Cockpit. My father was a fighter pilot in the group.

[astrangerhere]

I've been offline for a few days, but since I last posted, I have completed:

• Proof of Guilt by Charles Todd
• The Turn of the Screw by Henry James for the A Public Space bookclub
• The Empress of Salt and Fortune by Nghi Vo which I absolutely loved
• Sunshine Sketches by Stephen Leacock which I did not like at all, but it has made me want to re-read Winesburg, Ohio. This was for the New Leaf Book Club
• A Conspiracy of Ravens by Leah Moore

I am currently reading:

• Gently Sinking by Alan Hunter
• Middlemarch by George Eliot - one of my favorite novels of all time. Right up there with War and Peace.