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

[Dr. Drib]

As the title of my thread states: "What are we reading?"

Quarantine - Aaron Aaron Lebold

Pieces of Night - David W. Elliott

I'm about 1/3 through each one, alternating from one to the other.

[Renate]

Originally Posted by Dr. Drib

I'm about 1/3 through each one, alternating from one to the other.

Nope, not doing that.
I've got a one-track mind. And sometimes that track has only one rail.

[Dr. Drib]

Originally Posted by Renate

Nope, not doing that.
I've got a one-track mind. And sometimes that track has only one rail.

It's one of my failings as a reader!

[foosion]

I binged some Lord Peter Wimsey, in order: Clouds of Witness, Unnatural Death, Lord Peter Views the Body (short stories, DNF after a few), The Unpleasantness at the Bellona Club, Strong Poison, The Five Red Herrings (stopped after a few chapters - too much dialect/heavy accent; perhaps too much Wimsey without a break; may try later).

Starting Dune Messiah. I must have read it at some point, but it's not familiar so far.

[issybird]

Still reading:

Originally Posted by issybird

• The Cultural Life of the American Colonies

I've read:

• All the Beauty in the World: The Metropolitan Museum of Art and Me by Patrick Bringley, a memoir by a former guard at the Met and excellent.

Also reading right now:

• Pompeii: The Life of a Roman Town by Mary Beard
• Five Came Back: A Story of Hollywood and the Second World War by Mark Harris

Both also excellent.

I seem to have found my reading feet again, after a protracted summer. (Summer! Sigh. I miss you!)

[CRussel]

Originally Posted by issybird

I seem to have found my reading feet again, after a protracted summer. (Summer! Sigh. I miss you!)

Amen to that! And glad you've found your reading feet again.

I just finished reading Black Orchids, #9 in the Nero Wolfe series by Rex Stout. A solid pleasure, especially given that I listened to the Michael Pritchard narration of it.

[Dazrin]

I just finished book 3 of the Stormlight Archive, Oathbringer. One of my goals this year was to finish the first 4 books plus the 2 novellas set between them before book 5 comes out in December. I don't think I will make it but I should be close.

I have no idea where I will end up on my library's hold list, and it won't even let me put a hold on it yet. I really dislike Libby compared to the Overdrive website. It doesn't give me the information or features that I used to have in Overdrive (mainly recommendations and not-owned book searches.)

[pdurrant]

Originally Posted by pdurrant

Next up: Shadows over Baker Street. A Sherlock Holmes/Cthulu Mythos crossover anthology of short stories by various authors.

Which was slow going. I definitely prefer novels to short stories.

It was, of course, a mixed bag. Some were poor. Some were excellent.

Next up: Odds Against by Dick Francis. His first book featuring Sid Halley.

Written exactly 60 years ago, it's a fascinating look at 1964, as well as a very good thriller.

The office boy, for example, "His hair grew robustly nearly down to his shoulders, wavy and fanatically clean, dipping slightly in an expensive styling at the back. From behind he looked like a girl, which never disconcerted him. From in front his bony, acned face proclaimed him unprepossessingly male. He spent half his pay packet and his Sundays in Carnaby Street and the other half on week nights chasing girls. According to him, he caught them. No girls had so far appeared in the office to corroborate his story."

[DJUNGELSKOG]

I just started listening to Remarkably Bright Creatures. I have put a hold on it weeks ago and completely forgot about it but today I've received a notification that it's available!

[issybird]

Originally Posted by CRussel

I just finished reading Black Orchids, #9 in the Nero Wolfe series by Rex Stout. A solid pleasure, especially given that I listened to the Michael Pritchard narration of it.

Would that Prichard had done them all. His Nero Wolfe is phenomenal and I like his Archie and Fritz also. So much so that those are the voices I hear in my head when I read them (because Prichard didn't do the job for me for that book!).

As an aside, I was delighted to come across my copy of The Nero Wolfe Cookbook the other day. Hadn't seen it in forever; I'd think of it from time to time but assumed it had bitten the dust in a move or had gotten tossed. Tons of fun, and I don't cook!

[foosion]

Originally Posted by foosion

Starting Dune Messiah. I must have read it at some point, but it's not familiar so far.

Meh. Not up to the standards of Dune. His son, in the introduction, seems to excuse this by writing that it's a transition from Dune to the rest of the series. We shall see.

[CRussel]

Originally Posted by issybird

As an aside, I was delighted to come across my copy of The Nero Wolfe Cookbook the other day. Hadn't seen it in forever; I'd think of it from time to time but assumed it had bitten the dust in a move or had gotten tossed. Tons of fun, and I don't cook!

Darn -- never came across it in the days when I still bought DT books. Too bad, I bet it's interesting. Sadly, it doesn't even appear to be available anywhere in my Province in the public library system.

[pdurrant]

Originally Posted by pdurrant

Next up: Odds Against by Dick Francis. His first book featuring Sid Halley.

A fun, quick read.

Next up: Necessity by Jo Walton. The third volume of her Just City trilogy.

[foosion]

Originally Posted by issybird

• All the Beauty in the World: The Metropolitan Museum of Art and Me by Patrick Bringley, a memoir by a former guard at the Met and excellent.

Thanks for mentioning this. I'm about one-third of the way through and it's a lovely book.

The only other Met related books I've read are Thomas Hoving's Making the Mummies Dance, well worth reading (although not an ebook), and John McPhee's profile of Hoving. I just borrowed Metropolitan Stories, a novel about the Met.

The Met is such a wonderful museum.

[issybird]

Originally Posted by foosion

The only other Met related books I've read are Thomas Hoving's Making the Mummies Dance, well worth reading (although not an ebook), and John McPhee's profile of Hoving. I just borrowed Metropolitan Stories, a novel about the Met.

The Met is such a wonderful museum.

Thanks. I've just borrowed Metropolitan Stories myself.

Are you familiar with the delightful From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Finkweiler? It's a children's book set in the Met. I've also read The Night Life of the Gods, a comic novel set in the Met by Thorne Smith, author of Topper, but I can't recommend it.