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

[Uncle Robin]

Born a Crime got 4.5/5 for me at The StoryGraph, a very worthwhile read. Back to Leblanc/Lupin now and happily the current story, The Crystal Stopper, is actually rather interesting

[astrangerhere]

Originally Posted by astrangerhere

I've three other things going:

• I am listening to the Librivox recording of Thomas Hardy's Far From the Madding Crowd
• I am reading R.O. Kwon's The Incendiaries on my Kobo
• I am reading Robert Jackson Bennett's City of Stairs in paper form. This is the first of my goal to read at least 10 books in our collection that "belong to" or were selected for me by my wife.

I am dropping The Incendiaries. I just have no patience for college students, their tragic backstories, and their crises of faith. This is not a knock on Kwon's writing, which is very good. But the plot is just not something I care to read. Glad this was a library borrow for me.

[pdurrant]

Originally Posted by pdurrant

Next up: Fantasy Magazine #4 edited by Wallace and Tremblay. Another random pick from my TBR pile.

Alicia's Prayer: OK, but dull and doesn't really go anywhere
The Matreshka: OK, but unresolved
Branson Rebellion: OK, but too much for a short story
Irregular Verbs: Pretty good, but bad resolution and a bit sad
Under the Red Sun: Sad, and I didn't like it
Rosemary, for Rembrance: OK, but very sad
The Green Man: Weird, but not in a way I liked.
After Midnight: Very sad Cinderella reimagining
Mosquito Story: Sad, and I didn't like it
Why the Balloon Man Floats Away: Weird, but not in a way I liked.
Dead Sea Fruit: Sad and weird, but not in a way I liked.
Exposure: Sad and unresolved
Ticket to Ride: Sad
Mushroom Sprouting in Your Footsteps Like Tears: Interesting, but I didn't like it
During the Dance: OK. An attempt to have a happy ending to a very sad tale
Bizarre Cubique: A noble attempt, but I didn't like it.


In short, I didn't really like any of the stories. Looking back, Editions 1, 2 and 3 all only got 3* reviews. This doesn't even get that. I clearly don't share the tastes of the editors. All discarded. If I eve run out of somethig to read, I might give them ab=nother go.

Next up: James Potter and the Curse of the GateKeeper. The second in G. Norman Lippert's HP sequel fan-fic. (A freebie, of course.)

[astrangerhere]

Originally Posted by pdurrant

<SNIP>
In short, I didn't really like any of the stories. Looking back, Editions 1, 2 and 3 all only got 3* reviews. This doesn't even get that. I clearly don't share the tastes of the editors. All discarded. If I eve run out of somethig to read, I might give them ab=nother go.
<SNIP>

Seems like dropping some of your magazine subscriptions was not a bad move on your part.

[pdurrant]

Originally Posted by astrangerhere

Seems like dropping some of your magazine subscriptions was not a bad move on your part.

Well, these were back issues of a now defunct Fantasy Magazine that I got in a big bundle. I did enjoy my Analog, Asimov's, and F&SF issues. Just not £5 per issue of enjoyment.

TBR now just 847!!

[astrangerhere]

I finished Hardy's Far From the Madding Crowd on my commute yesterday.

I am still reading Robert Jackson Bennett's City of Stairs in paper form. This is the first of my goal to read at least 10 books in our collection that "belong to" or were selected for me by my wife. My wife owns these on Kindle (she reads on her phone) and I could not get them sideloaded onto my Kobo to save my life, so I am reading a physical library copy.

I started listening to Madeline K. Albright's Prague Winter: A Personal Story of Remembrance and War, 1937-1948 this morning with my coffee and paperwork. I adore working from home.

[Uncle Robin]

Currently reading Martin Edwards' Gallows Court - this Golden Age/noir mystery more engaging than his history of the Golden Age writers.

[Uncle Robin]

In my country, few if any have even heard of Bezique, my father's favorite card game. He's in his late 80s now, and my sister still plays it with him regularly, to give him company and try to slow down his cognitive decline. For those reasons, Martin Edwards' assigning it as an alibi to one of the characters in Gallows Court endeared the book to me even more.

[Roodavis]

Alan Lee is a new ePub only Author, so you wont find these books in your public library... If you liked the character development in Robert Parker's Spenser series you will enjoy getting to know Mackenzie August and his side kick Manny, as well as Ronnie, Timothy August and the rest of the characters in Alan Lee's Mackenzie August Mystery series. Plus the second series A Sinatra thriller that feature Manny as the main character. Very entertaining and easy to read.

Available on Kindle only, check him out at: https://www.amazon.com/kindle-dbs/en...SelectorHeader

[ReadingManiac]

The Stranger Times by C.K.McDonnell is a bizarre book. Really enjoyable though!

[LDB]

I'd never heard of the game. Wiki has a detailed article on it.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bezique

[Uncle Robin]

Originally Posted by LDB

I'd never heard of the game. Wiki has a detailed article on it.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bezique

My cousin and her partner visited my father in his rest home last week and Dad taught them both, keeping the game alive here at least.


I gave Gallows Court 4.75 at The StoryGraph, now reading Best Canadian Poetry 2019, another twofer for my Reading Challenge List - Five Eyes and poetry, with the bonus of being from a diverse set of writers, including First Nation poets

[Luffy]

My 3 star review of The Mysterious Benedict Society (The Mysterious Benedict Society, #1), by Trenton Lee Stewart:-

Spoiler:

It's been a long time since I read such an easy book. It's a sibling of Percy Jackson and a cousin twice removed of Harry Potter. I liked it, despite its cluster of weak points.

I'm not going to illuminate anyone on these weak points, because it wouldn't increase or impede the next reader's grasp in their read of this book. It's very problematic to make sweeping comments that damn the novel with faint praise.

What's concrete is that the story has some merits that only the biased can deny. The speed of the events coming at you from the horizon is usually constant. The surprises near the end were heartwarming. Recommended for all ages.

[SeaBookGuy]

Originally Posted by Uncle Robin

Currently reading Martin Edwards' Gallows Court - this Golden Age/noir mystery more engaging than his history of the Golden Age writers.

Reading this now, but having a tough time as Rachel is so very creepy!

[Uncle Robin]

Originally Posted by SeaBookGuy

Reading this now, but having a tough time as Rachel is so very creepy!

Agreed! I think that's part of why I liked it - a truly enigmatic anti-heroine lead, challenging and outside my normal reading habits.