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

[Uncle Robin]

Originally Posted by cc_in_oh

Just found this thread so it will take a while to catch up, but wanted to say that I recently finished the Montalbano series and really enjoyed it. The cases aren't very complex but are interesting, but it's the cast of zany characters that made them fun reads for me - Salvo's constant misadventures with Livia and other beautiful women. his antics with the commissioner and Lattes, his feud with the pathologist, Livia's feud with the housekeeper, his irrational fury when Fazio tries to give him background info or tells him something is already taken care of, Catarrelli smashing his office door and mangling the language - in fact I think the translator deserves some kind of award for bringing it all to English so colorfully...

This is reassuring, thanks. I'm just starting the series with La forma dell'acqua , I'm trying to read along while listening to the audiobook, as an exercise in improving my Italian. There's not a whelk's chance in a supernova of my reading the whole series in Italian, so it's good to hear a positive summary of the series.

[SeaBookGuy]

Originally Posted by Uncle Robin

This is reassuring, thanks. I'm just starting the series with La forma dell'acqua , I'm trying to read along while listening to the audiobook, as an exercise in improving my Italian. There's not a whelk's chance in a supernova of my reading the whole series in Italian, so it's good to hear a positive summary of the series.

A friend and I who both came to really like the series fully agreed that this book is not the place to start. We recommend skipping this one and beginning with the next one instead if possible. So, if you're having trouble here it's the book, not you!!!

[Uncle Robin]

Originally Posted by SeaBookGuy

A friend and I who both came to really like the series fully agreed that this book is not the place to start. We recommend skipping this one and beginning with the next one instead if possible. So, if you're having trouble here it's the book, not you!!!

Ah, that's interesting, thanks! I actually do have book 2 in Italian, both ebook and audiobook - I grabbed them both when I feeling brave, so I might drop book 1 and try book 2 instead. I am currently watching The Young Montalbano , an Italian prequel TV series written with Camilleri as a consultant, and quite enjoying it.

[cc_in_oh]

Originally Posted by Uncle Robin

This is reassuring, thanks. I'm just starting the series with La forma dell'acqua , I'm trying to read along while listening to the audiobook, as an exercise in improving my Italian. There's not a whelk's chance in a supernova of my reading the whole series in Italian, so it's good to hear a positive summary of the series.

It would be interesting to compare Catarrelli's language-butchering in the original to the English translation.

I was coming off Rankin, Nesbo, Adler-Olsen, Peter Temple and Tana French so it was a change of pace and took a while to adjust to the lighter tone. Now I'm on to Maigret, another lighter one that I'm starting to enjoy. Unfortunately my libraries only have half the series in Kindle format so I'm having to skip a lot of them.

[SeaBookGuy]

Originally Posted by cc_in_oh

It would be interesting to compare Catarrelli's language-butchering in the original to the English translation.

I was coming off Rankin, Nesbo, Adler-Olsen, Peter Temple and Tana French so it was a change of pace and took a while to adjust to the lighter tone. Now I'm on to Maigret, another lighter one that I'm starting to enjoy. Unfortunately my libraries only have half the series in Kindle format so I'm having to skip a lot of them.

I've listened to roughly the first half of Maigret as Audible books so far this year. I paid roughly USD $10 each, but the narration has been outstanding! I have skipped a few where the plot description just didn't grab me.

[cc_in_oh]

Originally Posted by SeaBookGuy

I've listened to roughly the first half of Maigret as Audible books so far this year. I paid roughly USD $10 each, but the narration has been outstanding! I have skipped a few where the plot description just didn't grab me.

I can't put my finger on why I like the Maigret series - the cases and characters are nothing special but they're well written and Simenon seems to have a knack for storytelling...

[SeaBookGuy]

Originally Posted by cc_in_oh

I can't put my finger on why I like the Maigret series - the cases and characters are nothing special but they're well written and Simenon seems to have a knack for storytelling...

For one thing, he does a good job of changing things up for each book to avoid the series seeming formulaic.

[pdurrant]

Originally Posted by pdurrant

Next up: The Secret History of Moscow by Ekaterina Sedia. NOT history, but a fantasy novel I bought from Fictionwise back in May 2011. I'd completely forgotten I'd bought this one, so +1 for random choices.

Which was a fantasy set in Moscow in the 1990s. It's good to see someone using a mythology other than Western European. It was good enough that I'd be happy to read another book by the same author. 4/5

Next up: My most recent purchase: Now You See Them by Elly Griffiths. Set in 1964, nearly a decade after the setting of the last book, this is the fifth in her Brighton Mysteries with Edgar and Max.

[pdurrant]

Originally Posted by pdurrant

Next up: My most recent purchase: Now You See Them by Elly Griffiths. Set in 1964, nearly a decade after the setting of the last book, this is the fifth in her Brighton Mysteries with Edgar and Max.

And most enjoyable it was too. And a good set-up for some future books.

Next up: Lightspeed Magazine #2, July 2010, bought back in 2011 from Fictionwise. Science fiction short stories.

[SeaBookGuy]

Rereading Bitch in a Bonnet by Robert Rodi. Chapter-by-chapter commentary on the Jane Austen canon.

[Elektron]

Random Harry Potter fanfiction.

[bizzybody]

Originally Posted by Elektron

Random Harry Potter fanfiction.

Have you read the James Potter series?

[astrangerhere]

Originally Posted by astrangerhere

I am still working through Vera Brittain's Testament of Youth on my Kobo. I have a paper copy of A Classical Education from my library and I am listening to Ron Rash's The Risen while I row and bike.

After about three weeks of slow reading, I finished Vera Brittain's Testament of Youth. The post-war section lagged a little for me, but it was still a fascinating read.

I am listening to Around the World in Eighty Days for the New Leaf Book Club.

I started and dropped Sarah Gailey's Upright Women Wanted in paper. Will be going right back to the library. It just did not work for me at all for numerous reasons.

I then started the Revolutionary Girl Utena Complete Deluxe Box Set. My wife has been slowly collecting the hardcover or otherwise collected editions of famous manga from the 80s and 90s. We bought this last year and I read about a fourth of it last night.

[Elektron]

Originally Posted by bizzybody

Have you read the James Potter series?

No, no I haven't. I'll go check it out

[Luffy]

My 1 star review of Shadows in Death (In Death, #51) by J.D. Robb:-

Spoiler:

The author is on her last legs. Knowing what I do about her, I'd say she has run out of ideas. Had I not known about her success laden trajectory, I'd say Shadows in Death is the work of a beginner with traces of talent.

Having glanced at all the reviews I've read online, I'd say, without doubt, that I'm not the target demographic for this novel. I'm under 45 and single. I think married couples share their love of the same books through those like this.

The author made puerile comments in almost all chapters in this book. She tried hard to please her readers, but I sense her weaving the story in the background, and couldn't immerse myself in this novel.

The ending made me reread several words in disbelief. This climax was more like a low budget 80's action movie's script than a futurist procedural. The one liners were poor. The sentences ending the chapters just as. I wanted to like this book, wanted to believe my friends who gave it 5 stars.

Look, if you enjoyed Shadows in Death, fine. But though this book might make millions, its fan base is of a select few. What I'm trying to say is that this will not survive the test of time. Kudos to you fans. As for me, I have to start from square one.