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

[issybird]

Originally Posted by Loosheesh

Nice to know. I got the Delphi collection of the author's works because I always meant to try the Thorndyke novels, but I wasn't aware they were actually howdunits. I might attempt one on the weekend.

If I can offer some advice: Skip the first couple of novels and try the short stories. it took Freeman a bit to find his legs and he didn’t start off with howdunit. Frankly, I thought the first novel unreadable. I was lucky to have started with a short story collection and I was enchanted; if I’d started with the first novel I’ve had moved on in a hurry.

[Apache]

Originally Posted by Fbone

I've read several McCammon's books. Enjoyed them but they are long slower reads and I'm not always in the mood for them. The Border is a nice length.

I will have to read The Border. I read The Wolf's Hour years ago and remember enjoying it.
Apache

[Apache]

Originally Posted by issybird

If I can offer some advice: Skip the first couple of novels and try the short stories. it took Freeman a bit to find his legs and he didn’t start off with howdunit. Frankly, I thought the first novel unreadable. I was lucky to have started with a short story collection and I was enchanted; if I’d started with the first novel I’ve had moved on in a hurry.

Thank you for this. I will have to read them.
Apache

[Fbone]

Originally Posted by Apache

I will have to read The Border. I read The Wolf's Hour years ago and remember enjoying it.
Apache

I also enjoyed his Matthew Corbett series but it's a slow read.

[gmw]

Originally Posted by Fbone

I've read several McCammon's books. Enjoyed them but they are long slower reads and I'm not always in the mood for them. [...]

A good summary. I'm not really a big fan of horror, so some of his books don't appeal to me anyway, however I enjoyed Boy's Life, Swan Song and The Wolf's Hour - but they definitely fit the "long slower reads" description.

I recently found McCammon's Blue World collection in ebook which I bought mainly for the last two stories - the first 11 are standard-fare horror shorts. Something Passed By is so memorably peculiar that I really like it, while the eponymous Blue World novella turns out to be ugly but good.

[Loosheesh]

Originally Posted by issybird

If I can offer some advice: Skip the first couple of novels and try the short stories. it took Freeman a bit to find his legs and he didn’t start off with howdunit. Frankly, I thought the first novel unreadable. I was lucky to have started with a short story collection and I was enchanted; if I’d started with the first novel I’ve had moved on in a hurry.

Thanks for the heads-up! I see my Delphi bundle has 7 collections of short stories, so I have more than enough to sample

[Uncle Robin]

I had a productive day yesterday, starting on my "fill in the gaps" programme of Golden Age reading. Three very different books from 4 very different authors., all enjoyable mysteries. Sayers and Carr were wittier and funnier than I expected: "mother-wit" and "pusillanimous pachyderms" fine examples. Sayers was a bit of a chore at times, with everyone talking like they were fresh from Blandings, only in earnest.

The ingrained casual misogyny and racism of the Queen debut was a bit of a surprise though. I knew that a book written in the late 1920s would be different in that regard, but to have lengthy passages extolling the way their POC houseboy idolised his massa while repeatedly comparing him physically to a monkey was still hard to stomach. And if I had a buck for every slur against women in book 1, I could buy the rest of the series, it seemed. Despite that , I enjoyed all 3, and will be continuing with all 3 series for now.

[Loosheesh]

Originally Posted by Uncle Robin

The ingrained casual misogyny and racism of the Queen debut was a bit of a surprise though. I knew that a book written in the late 1920s would be different in that regard, but to have lengthy passages extolling the way their POC houseboy idolised his massa while repeatedly comparing him physically to a monkey was still hard to stomach.

I’m starting one of the Freeman collections (John Thorndyke’s Cases) and right away I get this in the intro:

The Anthropologist at Large includes a mini-lecture on the different physical features of various racial types, which may cause the modern reader some discomfort; The Moabite Cipher also makes reference to other cultures, such as the “beastly Russians”. However, bearing in mind the age in which the stories were written and the eugenist interests of Freeman, they hardly come as a surprise and must be taken in their historical and biographical context.

The stories were published in 1909, according to the intro. Looks like I’ve been warned.

[Uncle Robin]

Originally Posted by Loosheesh

I’m starting one of the Freeman collections (John Thorndyke’s Cases) and right away I get this in the intro:



The stories were published in 1909, according to the intro. Looks like I’ve been warned.

Yes. I wasn't expecting 21st century values, but was still surprised by the extent of the issue. Given that Sayers is often accused of anti-semitism, perhaps having such casual racism displayed by a couple of Jewish writers was karmic balance.

[gmw]

My goodness, I didn't realise so much time had past since I last noted by reading here...

A Room Full of Bones and A Room Full of Bones by Elly Griffiths. Books 4 and 5 of the Ruth Galloway mysteries. More of the same really, but entertainingly so, so both get 4/5, albeit only just. I'm not sick of them yet but thought it was probably a good idea to move on to something else for a while.

The Quiet at the End of the World by Lauren James. YA Sci-Fi: the two youngest people on the planet. I thought the idea was intriguing even if the set up was less than convincing, but ultimately it was too young for my tastes and didn't really explore the ideas it had raised. But the way it was told was entertaining and easy to finish, so 3/5.

The Rampart Trilogy by M.R. Carey: The Book of Koli, The Trials of Koli and The Fall of Koli. The multiple first-person perspectives is not something I like very much, but it did give the story a particular feel that worked quite well. I liked it well enough, but it felt too long, so 3/5 for each book and the series (no particular book stood out from the others).

Then, with some other stuff going on here, it was time for some comfort reads: the Tiffany Aching series by Terry Pratchett. The Wee Free Men, A Hat Full Of Sky, Wintersmith, I Shall Wear Midnight and The Shepherd's Crown. Intended for younger readers but I do enjoy these very much. They are great fun although they do get progressively more grown-up and serious as the series progresses. Pratchett's final Discworld story, The Shepherd's Crown is worth reading for a fan of his work, but the fact that it "was not quite as finished as he [Terry] would have liked when he died" is quite apparent, on the other hand it does wrap up this series about as well as could be expected.

[Bookstooge]

Finished up Gogol's Dead Souls. Not impressed.

[pdurrant]

Originally Posted by pdurrant

Next up: The Hidden Palace By Helene Wecker. Another recent purchase, the sequel to The Golem and the Jinni.

A splendid sequel. A very good fantasy novel.

I started The IPCRESS File by Len Deighton three days ago. A recent purchase following the splendid recent TV adaptation, but it's turning into a slow read.

[acprinter]

I think today I will start Jamaica Inn by Daphne du Maurier

[ReadingManiac]

Originally Posted by acprinter

I think today I will start Jamaica Inn by Daphne du Maurier

Funny, I was just thinking of starting My Cousin Rachel. I've been wanting to read more du Maurier for ages. Jamaica Inn is on my list.

[ReadingManiac]

Originally Posted by Bookstooge

Just be aware that some of his anthologies are geared towards kids and middle school and so far I haven't found a good way to differentiate those from his murder/mayhem/crime fiction without just diving in.

I'll keep that in mind, thanks!