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

[Apache]

I will ahve to get them. I had seen something about her writing him out.
Apache

[Uncle Robin]

Originally Posted by Apache

I loved the Nero Wolfe series. I have them all in paper.
I just finished Tony Hillerman's Skinwalkers and at the end of A Thief of Time. These are 7 & 8 in his Leaphorn and Chee series. These are excellent books and I highly recommend them.
Apache

I really enjoyed the Leaphorn series in my 20s, and was interested to learn recently from Martin Edwards excellent The Life of Crime that Hillerman had expressly stated he was inspired by Arthur Upfield's Boney series. It raised that series in my esteem, too.

[Bookstooge]

Just read a short story, Echoes of the Tomb, from the Warhammer 40K universe. A good short story primes the appetite, like a single serving bag of potato chips.

[pdurrant]

Originally Posted by pdurrant

Next up: A Comedy of Terrors by Lindsey Davis

Which was the expected fun in 1st Century Rome

Next up: St Ives by Robert Louis Stevenson. No idea about this one.

[Bookstooge]

On Friday I finished Lord Emsworth & Others, another collection of short stories. Only one was a Blandings Castle story, so I felt gypped! Thankfully, that one story did carry the book....

[ReadingManiac]

Originally Posted by haertig

I've never understood the "group read" concept. Why not read something that you enjoy instead?

Well the idea is to discover books you might not have noticed. I've come across some great ones in genres I usually ignore that way. And there's always the option to chuck it if I'm not enjoying it.

I dnf'd My Cousin Rachel. It was rather different than her other books. I'll have to try Jamaica Inn.

[gmw]

Originally Posted by haertig

I've never understood the "group read" concept. Why not read something that you enjoy instead? [...]

Originally Posted by ReadingManiac

Well the idea is to discover books you might not have noticed. I've come across some great ones in genres I usually ignore that way. And there's always the option to chuck it if I'm not enjoying it.

I dnf'd My Cousin Rachel. It was rather different than her other books. I'll have to try Jamaica Inn.

A group read is more than just finding books you might not normally try (although that can be a big part of it), it can also be about learning to appreciate books in different ways partly by (sometimes) learning why others appreciate books that you don't. It's also about discovering things in books that you have never noticed, because different readers notice different things. Sometimes a group of readers interpret the same text quite differently. (In the NLBC here on MR, I remember a lengthy discussion about whether someone jumped out the window or whether they were pushed, and I thought it remarkable that different readers had such distinctly different impressions of the same scene.)

Of course if you can't stand a book for whatever reason then, group read or not, it may turn out to be a DNF, but in a group read even the reasons for that decision can add to the discussion.

I'd also add that some books are better for group discussion that others - or tend to lead to more interesting discussions...

A couple of days ago I finished The Little Paris Bookshop by Nina George, translated by Simon Pare. I had really mixed reactions to the book and one of my first thoughts was that I would have liked to discuss it with others. The book started out very sweet and gentle ( perhaps too sweet, and definitely exploiting my love of books for their own sake, but hey, exploit away, it was working for me ) but as it progressed I started to dislike some of the main protagonists - there was a selfishness to them that was turning me away. On the other hand, the fact of this impact on me, and that I'm still thinking about it now, seems to demonstrate a well written book. And days later I still don't really know what I think of it.

[ReadingManiac]

Originally Posted by gmw

A group read is more than just finding books you might not normally try (although that can be a big part of it), it can also be about learning to appreciate books in different ways partly by (sometimes) learning why others appreciate books that you don't. It's also about discovering things in books that you have never noticed, because different readers notice different things. Sometimes a group of readers interpret the same text quite differently. (In the NLBC here on MR, I remember a lengthy discussion about whether someone jumped out the window or whether they were pushed, and I thought it remarkable that different readers had such distinctly different impressions of the same scene.)

Of course if you can't stand a book for whatever reason then, group read or not, it may turn out to be a DNF, but in a group read even the reasons for that decision can add to the discussion.

I'd also add that some books are better for group discussion that others - or tend to lead to more interesting discussions...

A couple of days ago I finished The Little Paris Bookshop by Nina George, translated by Simon Pare. I had really mixed reactions to the book and one of my first thoughts was that I would have liked to discuss it with others. The book started out very sweet and gentle ( perhaps too sweet, and definitely exploiting my love of books for their own sake, but hey, exploit away, it was working for me ) but as it progressed I started to dislike some of the main protagonists - there was a selfishness to them that was turning me away. On the other hand, the fact of this impact on me, and that I'm still thinking about it now, seems to demonstrate a well written book. And days later I still don't really know what I think of it.

You've explained it so much better!

[Bookstooge]

Just finished up the Adventures of Sherlock Holmes. I think this series is fast approaching the time when an annotated version is going to be needed to understand the significance of certain words, phrases or circumstances. Part of that is being an American, but at the same time certain things that Watson mentions or talks about with no context seem to be more of a "time" than a "place".
Thank goodness I'm still motivated enough to go look stuff up online. But annotations would be nicer

[pdurrant]

Originally Posted by pdurrant

Next up: St Ives by Robert Louis Stevenson. No idea about this one.

Which was an OK adventure story, but do find a copy that has an ending, as RLD died before completing it, and it was completed from notes by Sir Arthur Quiller-Couch

And then I bought the next in the Valdemar series, that I've been waiting for ages to go on special offer and it never has. That was £3.99 for Closer to the Heart.

So I've just read Closer to the Heart and Closer to the Chest. Fun, quick reads.

Next up: The Hills Have Spies. The first in the next Valdemar trilogy.

[j.p.s]

Originally Posted by Bookstooge

Just finished up the Adventures of Sherlock Holmes. I think this series is fast approaching the time when an annotated version is going to be needed to understand the significance of certain words, phrases or circumstances. Part of that is being an American, but at the same time certain things that Watson mentions or talks about with no context seem to be more of a "time" than a "place".
Thank goodness I'm still motivated enough to go look stuff up online. But annotations would be nicer

Kindles have something called Word Wise that is mainly for use by people learning English as a not first language, but maybe it could also benefit native English speakers for unusal or older usages. I've never used it, but many books sold by amazon are "Word Wise enabled".

There is also a calibre plugin called WordDumb that can generate Word Wise and X-ray files. It is partially table driven and users can make custom modifications to the tables or submit sugestions for incorporation into the plugin.

https://www.mobileread.com/forums/sh...d.php?t=334681

[Fbone]

Originally Posted by Fbone

Next, Sixteen Ways to Defend a Walled City by K. J. Parker/Tom Holt.

Cleverly written with a snarky main character. Very non-politically correct. This may upset some and was probably done deliberately. I wasn't happy with the abrupt ending, however, by then I just wanted this to end. Two more books in series not sure if I'll continue. Rated C [3 stars].

Next, library loan, The Bone Ships by R.J. Barker

[gmw]

Originally Posted by Fbone

Cleverly written with a snarky main character. Very non-politically correct. This may upset some and was probably done deliberately. I wasn't happy with the abrupt ending, however, by then I just wanted this to end. Two more books in series not sure if I'll continue. Rated C [3 stars]. [...]

I had pretty much the same reaction to Sixteen Ways to Defend a Walled City and have never really considered continuing the series. I like some of Holt's books, but he does have a tendency to string together set pieces, like a series of comedy skits, rather than tell a flowing story, and while I enjoy each piece I find the overall result is often unsatisfying - as with this book.

[mlewis78]

I have started reading Legends of the Chelsea Hotel by Ed Hamilton. In March when I was in line at a photo exhibit of Karla and James Murray in the East Village, Ed Hamilton and his woman friend were just ahead of me. I heard of his book then and decided to add it to my kindle wishlist. Soon I was able to get it for 1.99 (as it is now). I was looking forward to reading it but was in the middle of a book I wasn't into (The Lincoln Highway by Amor Towles), so i had a lot of days when I didn't read it -- started it in March and finished early July. I took a break from it and read The Perfect Husband by Aphrodite Jones, which was about the Michael Peterson story (wife died falling on steps or by his murder of her in Durham, NC. Subject of a Netflix documentary and a recent HBO mini-series dramatization).

As a New Yorker living in a 5th floor walk-up for 45 years, I was appalled that people lived at the Chelsea Hotel with shared bathrooms. One bathroom per floor, I think. There were many drug shoot-ups in the bathrooms. The author moved in in 1996. I think he still lives there with his woman friend. It has gentrified, but I don't know if they ever added private bathrooms. I'm about 1/3 into the book. I'm feeling very smug that I have my own bathroom in my sub-par apartment in Hell's Kitchen.

Last week after I finished Amor Towles' Lincoln Highway, I read Lian Dolan's Lost and Found in Paris. OK book, but I was pleased that I could read it every night for a few days and finished it, unlike the Towles book. The plot didn't hold up. Luckily, I got it for 1.99 on Amazon. I listen to the Satellite Sisters podcast in which Lian Dolan is one of the sisters. I had read her previous book The Sweeney Sisters.

[Uncle Robin]

After reading hundreds of Regency romances in the last couple of years, I've decided to go back to the grande dame of the genre. Or, rather, the grande demoiselle. So far, I've only read two Austen, and the score is tied - loved P&P (clichéd I know), HATED Emma. That book has the rare distinction of being one of few that I actively hated, rather than passively disliked. I had to actually force myself to finish and unusually, I did make myself do so, rather than drop it. Emma remained, in my view, vile and contemptible to the very end. I'm hoping that my current attempt will break the tie and to the arguments in favor of Austen might add some Persuasion