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

[astrangerhere]

Originally Posted by astrangerhere

I'm currently reading:

• The audio book of Embracing Defeat: Japan in the Wake of World War II by John W. Dower and I think I'll finish it this week.
• Sarah Orne Jewett's The Country of the Pointed Firs. I've never read Jewett before, but I encountered her so much in my best book of the year last year (The Selected Letters of Willa Cather) that I thought it was time to give her a try. I'm reading a lovely version produced by Standard Ebooks.
• Osamu Tezuka's 1953 manga Princess Knight, which is turning out to be quite an interesting critique of gender roles in post-war Japan.
• My yearly re-read of Tolstoy's War and Peace at a one-chapter-a-day pace.

Finished:

• The audio book of Embracing Defeat: Japan in the Wake of World War II by John W. Dower
• Sarah Orne Jewett's The Country of the Pointed Firs

Still Reading:

• Osamu Tezuka's 1953 manga Princess Knight
• Leo Tolstoy's War and Peace

New Reads:

• The audio book of Connie Willis' Bellwhether, which is a little dated but still very funny.
• Georges Simenon's 21st Maigret novel The Judge's House

[Uncle Robin]

Originally Posted by astrangerhere

Let me experiment a bit. Your Currently Reading signature works for me, but I am going to log out and see if that is still the case.

ETA - I think I have fixed both the 2022 and 2023 tags in the signature. Thanks for pointing it out!

Great, working now!

[Tarana]

Finished Death in Disguise by Caroline Graham (Midsomer Murders). Excellent! Plot does vary from the episode this was based on. Also completed War Brides by Helen Bryan (whispersync title so alternated between reading and listening). This book alternated between very excellent and boring depending on the chapter, but overall I'm glad I read it.

On to Tree of Hands by Ruth Rendell as soon as I finish shoveling the driveway. The late UK writer wrote excellent stand-alone mysteries.

[issybird]

I feel as if I’m off to a good start, knock wood. I’m ticking off boxes on all my various challenges; I’ve only had one two-star rating (a sequel to a book I liked - I won’t be reading the conclusion to the trilogy); I abandoned two books that I think I ordinarily would have finished. As a result, my GR average rating thus far is 3.5 stars. It’s not a stated goal, but I’m trying to read “better” this year.

Noteworthy reads, i.e. 4 stars:

• The Fortnight in September by R.C. Sheriff
• Full Moon by P.G. Wodehouse
• The Way of the World by Nicolas Bouvier
• Ithaca by Claire North
• Home Fire by Kamila Shamsie
• The Seventh Cross by Anna Seghers
• The Collar by Frank O’Connor

Currently reading:

• Rachel Ray by Anthony Trollope
• Stones of Aran: Pilgrimage by Tim Robinson
• Home Fires Burning by Belinda J. Davis

Noting that this is my 74th Wodehouse in my quest to read all his books and my 22nd Trollope. His books are longer!

[pdurrant]

Originally Posted by pdurrant

Next up: The Crystal Gryphon by Andre Norton. I never got into her Witch World series. Perhaps this will do it.

Quite interesting. I shall carry on with the series.

Next up: Dragonshadow by Barbara Hambly. The second in her Winterlands series, and one I bought at full price yesterday!

[pdurrant]

Originally Posted by pdurrant

Dragonshadow by Barbara Hambly. The second in her Winterlands series, and one I bought at full price yesterday!

Which was excellent.

Next up: The Piper on the Mountain by Ellis Peters. The fifth in her Felse Investigations series.

[CRussel]

I'm about 25% into The Dabare Snake Launcher, by Joelle Presby. Strange, and more than a little confusing, but it's growing on me. I suspect that I'll either give up and abandon it, or end up liking quite a lot.

[Uncle Robin]

Now that it's February, I've started the shortest book on my TBR for the MR Storygraph Challenge.

Right in the Table of Contents, I've learned something I didn't know - that Machiavelli's famous 'feared/loved' dictum was actually phrased as a question in a Chapter heading, 37.

[astrangerhere]

Originally Posted by astrangerhere

Finished:

• The audio book of Embracing Defeat: Japan in the Wake of World War II by John W. Dower
• Sarah Orne Jewett's The Country of the Pointed Firs

Still Reading:

• Osamu Tezuka's 1953 manga Princess Knight
• Leo Tolstoy's War and Peace

New Reads:

• The audio book of Connie Willis' Bellwhether, which is a little dated but still very funny.
• Georges Simenon's 21st Maigret novel The Judge's House

Finished:

• The audio book of Connie Willis' Bellwhether
• Georges Simenon's 21st Maigret novel The Judge's House
• Dimestore: A Writer's Life by Lee Smith (who lives just down the street from me) (first five star of the year)
• Osamu Tezuka's 1953 manga Princess Knight

Still Reading

• Leo Tolstoy's War and Peace

New Reads:

• The Swimmers by Julie Otsuka
• Train in Winter: An Extraordinary Story of Women, Friendship, and Resistance in Occupied France by Caroline Moorehead

[pdurrant]

Originally Posted by pdurrant

The Piper on the Mountain by Ellis Peters. The fifth in her Felse Investigations series.

Which was enjoyable. Nice to see Dominic out of his own.

Next up: The Kaiju Preservation Society by John Scalzi. Looking good.

[pdurrant]

Originally Posted by pdurrant

Next up: The Kaiju Preservation Society by John Scalzi. Looking good.

And it was indeed extremely enjoyable. Great fun.

Next up: Three Shadows by Cyril Pedrosa. A freebie from Tor.com back in 2008!

[Uncle Robin]

Originally Posted by pdurrant

Which was excellent.

Next up: The Piper on the Mountain by Ellis Peters. The fifth in her Felse Investigations series.

I have The House of Green Turf as one of my prompts in the MR Challenge at Storygraph. I enjoyed all the Felse in my teens, started a re-read a few years ago. I suspect I'm one of not that many who couldn't get into Cadfael at all, but have enjoyed reading and re-reading Felse

[pdurrant]

Originally Posted by pdurrant

Next up: Three Shadows by Cyril Pedrosa. A freebie from Tor.com back in 2008!

A graphic novel on the subject of

Spoiler:

death of a child

Not really my kind of thing at all.

Next up: The Great North Road by Robert Louis Stevenson

[issybird]

Recently finished:

Rachel Ray by Trollope. Not among the best of his. The trademark Trollopean snark and social commentary, but the story itself was pedestrian.

A Thousand Ships by Natalie Haynes, a retelling of the downfall of Troy from the POV of the female characters. Nothing new here; no particular insight or creative retelling and it suffered from a lack of focus.

Never Mind, the first of Edward St. Aubyn’s Patrick Melrose novels. Hilarious and scathing if you have a taste for very black humor, but some serious content issues. Tread warily if you might be bothered.

Currently reading:

Shy: The Alarmingly Outspoken Memoirs of Mary Rodgers, the daughter of Richard and an accomplished composer in her own right. A must for Broadway fans; dishy and no holds barred.

[astrangerhere]

Finished:

• The Swimmers by Julie Otsuka - my second five star read of the year and my first fiction five star.

Still Reading

• Leo Tolstoy's War and Peace
• A Train in Winter: An Extraordinary Story of Women, Friendship, and Resistance in Occupied France by Caroline Moorehead

New Reads:

• Thomas Mann's The Magic Mountain (Wood translation) - I'm already a few books ahead on my SG challenge, so I am moving this one up from May. I have a two-day work thing near the end of February that involves a lot of sitting and doing next to nothing for 2 ten-hour days. There is no internet, so I always take a big doorstop book. This will be that book this year. Good chance to test out my new progressive glasses.
• Rome West by Brian Wood and Justin Giampoli, illustrated by Andrea Mutti