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

[pdurrant]

Originally Posted by pdurrant

Next up: Another very recent purchase: Harpy's Flight by Megan Lindholm, who now writes as Robin Hobb. First in a Tetralogy.

A enjoyable introduction to the fantasy series, introducing the two main characters of the series and giving us their back stories (one in brief) in a clever way. 4/5

Next up: a random choice from the TBR pile: The Big Time by Fritz Leiber, bought back in May 2011!

[Fbone]

Originally Posted by Fbone

Next, another freebie, Artemis Fowl by Eoin Colfer.

Fun, quick read. I thought the characters were a hoot. The magic rules seemed to be somewhat helter-skelter but it's done purposely I'm sure. It's that type of book. One thing I forgot, the author really hates humans and their behavior --a lot. It was overdone. Rated C [3 stars].

Next, Peter and the Shadow Thieves by Dave Barry, Ridley Pearson, Greg Call (Illustrations). Looking forward to this. I loved the previous book in series.

[pdurrant]

Originally Posted by pdurrant

Next up: a random choice from the TBR pile: The Big Time by Fritz Leiber, bought back in May 2011!

Which was a good Time Wars story, in an R&R base. 4/5

Next up: A random pick: Naughty Neighbour by Janet Evanovich. A Romance I picked up as a freebie way back in February 2010.

I liked the first Stephanie Plum book. Didn't like the second so much. Haven't tried the third yet. So let's give this stand-alone a go and see if I should keep her stand-alone freebies on my TBR.

[Luffy]

The quality of the Plum books is all very unpredictable. There's neither a pattern of good books nor a steady decline after xth book. At least to the neutral reader there isn't.

[pdurrant]

Originally Posted by pdurrant

Next up: A random pick: Naughty Neighbour by Janet Evanovich. A Romance I picked up as a freebie way back in February 2010.

I liked the first Stephanie Plum book. Didn't like the second so much. Haven't tried the third yet. So let's give this stand-alone a go and see if I should keep her stand-alone freebies on my TBR.

It was OK. A light and fluffy romance, with plot holes galore. But readable. I'll leave the others in my TBR for occasional light reads.

Next up: a random pick, Sharpe's Waterloo. The 20th in Bernard Cornwell's Sharpe series.

[Luffy]

My 2-star review of Home Work: A Memoir of My Hollywood Years, by Julie Andrews:-

Spoiler:

A kind of sugary vibe encompassed almost every sentence in the memoir. Every director in Julie Andrews's career is nice, even those that aren't. Still. I kind of enjoyed this experience.

How ironic it is, that Julie Andrews, who didn't want to be typecast as Mary Poppins, is just that character in her autobiography. Dozens of spoonfuls of sugar are involved in her recording.

But she remains relatable. She remains human. I just don't think she has escaped her insecurities. All those psychoanalytic sessions might have made her knowledgeable on the topic, but it was all a waste. She grew old gracefully, but she never grew up.

[cc_in_oh]

I had a batch of library holds come up so taking a break from Maigret (up to Maigret and the Old Lady - somewhat confused that Maigret has now been back at work for several books with no explanation for his being retired in Maigret in NY and Maigret's Holiday).

So I've finished The Law of Innocence - enjoyable but with several major plot lines left unexplained or unresolved, and IMO would have benefited from a bigger role for Bosch.

Now I have the latest Nero Wolfe continuations starting with Murder Stage Left (unfortunately not in Kindle format so reading on a Fire HD10 with Overdrive app that doesn't seem to support the notes and highlighting I'm used to on my Paperwhite.)

Also listening to Ring for Jeeves and missing Wooster; also don't like the reader as well as earlier books - that guy was a master of the 4-syllabe "Rather".

[Uncle Robin]

Learning much about Christie, Sayers and Co from The Golden Age of Murder by Martin Edwards

[Uncle Robin]

This raised too much of a chuckle not to share, from The Golden Age of Murder, the 'malediction' promised to newly inducted members of the Detection Club should they break any of the pledges they uttered on initiation:

‘You are duly elected a Member of the Detection Club, and if you fail to keep your promises, may other writers anticipate your plots, may your publishers do you down in your contracts, may total strangers sue you for libel, may your pages swarm with misprints and may your sales continually diminish. Amen.’

[pdurrant]

Originally Posted by pdurrant

Next up: a random pick, Sharpe's Waterloo. The 20th in Bernard Cornwell's Sharpe series.

Which was excellent, as expected. A good fictionalised account of the Battle of Waterloo. And some interesting events for Sharpe, too.

Next up: Another random pick: Between Two Thorns by Emma Newman. A freebie I picked up at Amazon back in 2016. Let's see if it is worth my time.

[rainerm]

Fiction: Thomas Pynchon's Vineland -- I don't what book the blurb writers read, but this is not a funny book. It's deeply funny in parts -- it's a Pynchon book after all, but this is a largely sad book. The people in the book are routinely desolate and mean, and it reflects uncompromisingly on campus politics and so-called direct political action. I'm only halfway through, but Vineland has displaced V and Bleeding Edge to become my favorite Pynchon book. IMO, the best one he's written so far.

Non-Fiction: Paul Hewitt's Conceptual Physics -- This is a 101 book, and I was afraid it would not amount to much, but it's been great so far for a reader such as myself, one who's been trying to read physics as a novice. I've read some books on Physics in the past, and I've found them very useful and eye-opening, but I still remain a novice. Yet I keep going back because it's a fascinating discipline.

[Uncle Robin]

3/5 for The Golden Age of Murder - marked down for its odd treatment of Ngaio Marsh. For a book bearing its name to mention her fewer than 6 times in its 500 pages, and not once to discuss her work, seems rather a mystery itself. She is dismissed as "Ngaio Marsh, who became one of her country’s most admired detective novelists" that phrase being the longest about her in the whole book.

[astrangerhere]

Originally Posted by Uncle Robin

3/5 for The Golden Age of Murder - marked down for its odd treatment of Ngaio Marsh. For a book bearing its name to mention her fewer than 6 times in its 500 pages, and not once to discuss her work, seems rather a mystery itself. She is dismissed as "Ngaio Marsh, who became one of her country’s most admired detective novelists" that phrase being the longest about her in the whole book.

Yeah, I did not really like this book when I read it earlier this year. I felt like it was more flash than substance and really just re-hashed things over and over.

[Uncle Robin]

Originally Posted by astrangerhere

Yeah, I did not really like this book when I read it earlier this year. I felt like it was more flash than substance and really just re-hashed things over and over.

It did expand my shopping list I will be looking out for several of the books mentioned in it, especially from some of the names less familiar to me. Also, the author impressed me by replying within ten minutes to an email I sent asking about Marsh's absence from the book.

[DrNefario]

Originally Posted by pdurrant

Next up: Another random pick: Between Two Thorns by Emma Newman. A freebie I picked up at Amazon back in 2016. Let's see if it is worth my time.

I enjoyed that one enough that the sequel is still on my wishlist.