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

[gmw]

Time for some catch up...

The Outcast Dead, The Ghost Fields and The Woman in Blue by Elly Griffiths - books 6, 7, 8 of the Dr Ruth Galloway mysteries. As with the last few, the mysteries are all feeling quite familiar, but they are short and fun reads. Mostly 4/5 except book 8 seemed to drag a bit, so time for another break.

The Girl from Oto by Amy Maroney, a historical fiction mystery. I thought this sounded interesting, and I mostly liked the writing but after 30% very little had happened and I was starting to avoid picking it up, so marking as DNF for now, I might try again some other time.

The Anthropocene Reviewed by John Green (author famous for A Fault in Our Stars). A collection of essays; mostly observations about being human, or about being an American human, anyway, as this is a very American-centric collection. I read this over a number of weeks, interspersed with other books - it needs breaking up. I liked the first half, maybe a bit more, of the collection, they felt more hopeful and outward looking, while the last part seemed to get more and more introspective - which was still interesting, just less actively enjoyable. 3/5.

Magic of the Gargoyles, Curse of the Gargoyles and Secret of the Gargoyles by Rebecca Chastain - the Gargoyle Guardian series. There really isn't much to these, no subtlety, no sophistication, no surprises, basically everything you expect from a modern YA fantasy romance . But I did rather like the fantasy concept and they were short (400 pages all up) and moved along very quickly making them an easy read. So I'm going to round from 2.5 up to 3/5.

I already mentioned reading The Little Paris Bookshop in a previous post.

Dinosaurs! by Scientific American. I rather belatedly got to this 2014 collection of articles about dinosaurs - always fun. Also interesting to see how much things have moved along in the last few decades.

[gmw]

I read the series City Between by W.R. Gingell. Books listed below*. This is a YA urban fantasy set in Hobart, Tasmania. There is some romance of a sort, but they're not romance stories as such. There are no really big cliff-hangers (just hooks, except maybe book 9) but there is an over-arching story that means they need to be read in order.

They were all good fun. The first person narrator, Pet, becomes the pet of two fae and a vampire. Pet is unashamedly Australian - at times almost painfully so (but not, perhaps regrettably, unrealistically so). Pet's narration provides a significant part of the entertainment in these stories. "Oi!".

I don't know if these started as a spoof of the power disparity so often evident in YA fantasy, but Pet as a pet is very well presented - and yet it is a role the main protagonist accepts on her own terms.

Somewhere around books 6, 7, 8 things started to drag a little for me, stopping too often for a cuppa, but the last two books move along very quickly and tie up the series very well. Satisfying and all up somewhere around 4/5.



* There are 10 novels (each just over 200 ADE pages): Between Jobs, Between Shifts, Between Floors, Between Frames, Between Homes, Between Walls, Between Cases, Between Decisions, Between Family and Between Kings. And there are two novelettes (fancy name for short stories published separately): Cloudy With a Chance of Dropbears and All the Different Shades of Blue, chronologically these fall either side of Between Walls, reading these is probably optional, they were apparently separated because these are the only parts not narrated by Pet.

[fantasyfan]

Outsiders: Children of Wonderis a splendid anthology dating in its HB edition from 1953. That first edition, published by Simon and Schuster was titled simply “Children of Wonder”.

There is a certain grimness to many of the tales but this seriousness and the literary quality of its contents set it apart from many of the other anthologies which dominated the “Golden Age” sci-fi market of the forties and fifties.

William Tenn provides an excellent introduction to the book as a whole and also some introductory comments to each of the stories. Unfortunately this unique volume is not available as an ebook.

[spacepope]

Well, the indie book didn't pan out sadly.

Started Lightning by Dean Koontz and why have I never read anything by him? Only 10% in but it's extremely intriguing so far. Probably will read it pretty darn quick.

[pdurrant]

Originally Posted by pdurrant

Next up: a re-read: A Wizard of Earthsea by Ursula K. Le Guin

Which is still excellent.

Next up: The Unknown Ajax by Georgette Heyer. Her 47th Novel, which I bought way back in August 2012.

[astrangerhere]

This is where I am right now:

• Listening to Mary Beard's most excellent SPQR: A History of Ancient Rome in audio
  
• Reading The Selected Letters of Willa Cather which was a library pickup and is rocketing to the top of my best reads of the year thus far.
  
• Planning to start the seventh novel in Anthony Powell's Dance to the Music of Time cycle - The Valley of Bones - on my Kobo later this week.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by pdurrant

Next up: The Crossing Places by Elly Griffiths. I've enjoyed her Brighton Mysteries. This is the start of a series set in North Norfolk.

I just added this on my TBR pile at or near the top.

[JSWolf]

I'm currently reading Fuzz by Mary Roach.

What’s to be done about a jaywalking moose? A bear caught breaking and entering? A murderous tree? Three hundred years ago, animals that broke the law would be assigned legal representation and put on trial. These days, as New York Times best-selling author Mary Roach discovers, the answers are best found not in jurisprudence but in science: the curious science of human-wildlife conflict, a discipline at the crossroads of human behavior and wildlife biology.

Roach tags along with animal-attack forensics investigators, human-elephant conflict specialists, bear managers, and "danger tree" faller blasters. Intrepid as ever, she travels from leopard-terrorized hamlets in the Indian Himalaya to St. Peter’s Square in the early hours before the pope arrives for Easter Mass, when vandal gulls swoop in to destroy the elaborate floral display. She taste-tests rat bait, learns how to install a vulture effigy, and gets mugged by a macaque.

Combining little-known forensic science and conservation genetics with a motley cast of laser scarecrows, langur impersonators, and trespassing squirrels, Roach reveals as much about humanity as about nature’s lawbreakers. When it comes to "problem" wildlife, she finds, humans are more often the problem—and the solution. Fascinating, witty, and humane, Fuzz offers hope for compassionate coexistence in our ever-expanding human habitat.

[j.p.s]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

I'm currently reading Fuzz by Mary Roach.

I haven't read Fuzz, but Mary Roach's books tend to be most enjoyable and quite informative.

[Moe The Cat]

Started My Cousin Rachel after this recommendation from pdurrant:

Originally Posted by pdurrant

I disliked the first few pages, which set the entire novel in flashback. But after that it got interesting. Nicely ambiguous.

Thank you, mouse!

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by j.p.s

I haven't read Fuzz, but Mary Roach's books tend to be most enjoyable and quite informative.

So far I am enjoying it after reading the first 2 chapters. I've liked the other books of her's that I've read.

[gmw]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

I'm currently reading Fuzz by Mary Roach.

Apparently it's called Animal Vegetable Criminal in Australia (and UK?). Both carry the same subtitle: When Nature Breaks the Law. Guessing it's another case of publishers solving a non-existent problem.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by gmw

Apparently it's called Animal Vegetable Criminal in Australia (and UK?). Both carry the same subtitle: When Nature Breaks the Law. Guessing it's another case of publishers solving a non-existent problem.

I don't like this UK/AU title. I prefer the original title of Fuzz. Also, the longer title just not sound like a Mary Roach title as most of her titles are one word.

[Uncle Robin]

Currently wading through Crime at the Noah's Ark the first of the three Dr Constantine mysteries by Molly Thynne. After reading several Sayers books featuring a very blue-blooded sleuth, the novelty value of reading a book by a very blue-blooded author appealed. The story started brightly, but I suspect that this will be last book of hers that I read.

[issybird]

Originally Posted by Uncle Robin

Currently wading through Crime at the Noah's Ark the first of the three Dr Constantine mysteries by Molly Thynne. After reading several Sayers books featuring a very blue-blooded sleuth, the novelty value of reading a book by a very blue-blooded author appealed. The story started brightly, but I suspect that this will be last book of hers that I read.

I think I tried this back when Molly Thynnes were free, and abandoned it posthaste, frankly. Just because something doesn’t involve an outlay doesn’t mean there aren’t costs.

Don’t forget there’s always the DNF card! An option that can’t be used up or expire.