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

[BelleZora]

Originally Posted by speakingtohe

In the summer I work in a tourist place on the Alaska Highway. The 2nd most frequent question I get asked is WTF is poutine

Helen

Please: tell us the 1st most frequent question you get asked. I must know.

[CRussel]

Originally Posted by alansplace

Hmmm....looks yummy, sounds yummy, what's the fuss about I wonder?

It's the heart attack on a plate aspect. Though I really don't see how anyone can complain about "regular" poutine, when there are versions like Poutine au foie gras from Au Peid de Cochon, in Montreal.

[speakingtohe]

Originally Posted by alansplace

Really?! I traveled the Alaska Highway several times in the late 1960's. Just where do you work?

Also, WTF is poutine?!

http://yukonmotel.com/

[speakingtohe]

Originally Posted by BelleZora

Please: tell us the 1st most frequent question you get asked. I must know.

What is the Wi-Fi password.

Helen

[MickeyC]

You think poutine is bad; next time you're in Hawaii try a Loco Moco but check with your cardiologist first. And keep in mind, Hawaii has the highest per capita consumption of Spam in the entire US.

[bfisher]

Finished "Gettysburg: The Last Invasion" by Allen C. Guelzo. Enjoyed it much more than I had expected, very well written for a book by an academic. Also challenges some of the accepted views about Gettysburg; it was good to read something that wasn't a rehash.

[alansplace]

Originally Posted by speakingtohe

http://yukonmotel.com/

Neat looking place!

[Dhevi]

Just started "Prince of Fools" by Mark Lawrence. So far, it's a "like". We'll see if he captures my attention as well as he did with the Broken Empire series.

[HarryT]

Two books completed in the last week:

"The Hollow" by Agatha Christie. Her 45th book, originally published in 1946. Poirot is invited to dinner by neighbours at his new country cottage. When he arrived, he find a man dead by the side of a swimming pool, and his wife holding the revolver that she has apparently just shot him with. But is it the open and shut case that it initially appears to be?

This is an absolutely excellent book, with a real "twist in the tail" that took me totally by surprise. One of Christie's best.

"Spin" by Robert Charles Wilson. Excellent hard SF novel that won the Hugo in 2006. One day, the stars disappear, and it is discovered that the Earth has been enclosed by an artificial membrane that slows down time for the planet: for every 1 second that passes on Earth, 3 years go by in the outside universe. Can the mystery be solved before the Earth is destroyed by the expanding sun as billions of years go by in the outside universe? Very, very good indeed, and there are two sequels that I've not yet read.

[PurpleStar]

Originally Posted by HarryT

Two books completed in the last week:

"The Hollow" by Agatha Christie. Her 45th book, originally published in 1946. Poirot is invited to dinner by neighbours at his new country cottage. When he arrived, he find a man dead by the side of a swimming pool, and his wife holding the revolver that she has apparently just shot him with. But is it the open and shut case that it initially appears to be?

This is an absolutely excellent book, with a real "twist in the tail" that took me totally by surprise. One of Christie's best.

"Spin" by Robert Charles Wilson. Excellent hard SF novel that won the Hugo in 2006. One day, the stars disappear, and it is discovered that the Earth has been enclosed by an artificial membrane that slows down time for the planet: for every 1 second that passes on Earth, 3 years go by in the outside universe. Can the mystery be solved before the Earth is destroyed by the expanding sun as billions of years go by in the outside universe? Very, very good indeed, and there are two sequels that I've not yet read.

I really enjoyed Spin as well when I read it several months ago. I didn't really like the sequels, though, but maybe it's just me.

[Hampshire Nanny]

Originally Posted by HarryT

Two books completed in the last week:

Me too. I read Murder and Mendelssohn by Kerry Greenwood, the final (so far) book in her mystery series starring Australian Phryne Fisher. Then today, I finished Restless in the Grave by Dana Stabenow. This is #19 of 20 in her mystery series set in and around Niniltna, Alaska. (Seems apropos to be reading this given the above conversation about Alaska.) I've asked my library to find me a copy of the next/final-so-far book in the series. It should be here by mid-week.

Originally Posted by HarryT

"Spin" by Robert Charles Wilson. Excellent hard SF novel that won the Hugo in 2006. One day, the stars disappear, and it is discovered that the Earth has been enclosed by an artificial membrane that slows down time for the planet: for every 1 second that passes on Earth, 3 years go by in the outside universe. Can the mystery be solved before the Earth is destroyed by the expanding sun as billions of years go by in the outside universe? Very, very good indeed, and there are two sequels that I've not yet read.

'Twas a freebie in 2008. If I recall correctly, it was one of the books that TOR gave away in the lead-up to the launch of their new web community. I don't think I actually got around to reading it, so maybe I should move it higher on the TBR list.

[WT Sharpe]

Originally Posted by Hampshire Nanny

...Australian Phryne Fisher....

I may be wrong, and please correct me if I am, but I thought she was a British ex-pat living in Australia.

[Hampshire Nanny]

Originally Posted by Hampshire Nanny

M... Australian Phryne Fisher...

Originally Posted by WT Sharpe

I may be wrong, and please correct me if I am, but I thought she was a British ex-pat living in Australia.

Born in Australia. Living in near poverty. When a young girl, her father ascends to some title when a cousin dies. Moves to England. Leaves school to drive an ambulance in France during WWI. Moves to Paris after the war & hangs out with artists; models for various painters. In book 1, Cocaine Blues, she is asked to go to Melbourne to look for the daughter of a rich family (can't remember if the father is titled or not, probably doesn't matter). Decides to stay in Australia and become a private investigator. In book 2, Flying Too High, she buys a house at 221 The Esplanade, St. Kilda and adds a 'B' to the street number so that her business card says "Miss Phryne Fisher, Investigations, 221B, The Esplanade".

So -- she starts out Australian, becomes English, and winds up back in Australia. Fortunately as far from her father as she can get, and with her own fortune so she can live as she wishes.

[WT Sharpe]

Originally Posted by Hampshire Nanny

Born in Australia. Living in near poverty. When a young girl, her father ascends to some title when a cousin dies. Moves to England. Leaves school to drive an ambulance in France during WWI. Moves to Paris after the war & hangs out with artists; models for various painters. In book 1, Cocaine Blues, she is asked to go to Melbourne to look for the daughter of a rich family (can't remember if the father is titled or not, probably doesn't matter). Decides to stay in Australia and become a private investigator. In book 2, Flying Too High, she buys a house at 221 The Esplanade, St. Kilda and adds a 'B' to the street number so that her business card says "Miss Phryne Fisher, Investigations, 221B, The Esplanade".

So -- she starts out Australian, becomes English, and winds up back in Australia. Fortunately as far from her father as she can get, and with her own fortune so she can live as she wishes.

Now I remember. You're right, of course. Thanks for refreshing my memory.

[caleb72]

A while since I last posted.

I read Anathem by Neal Stephenson. Loved this book. Bit of a mind-bender, but it was creative and thoroughly involving. 4.5 stars.

Under Western Eyes by Joseph Conrad. Glad I've added another Conrad title to the pile, although it didn't grab me as much as Heart of Darkness.

The Cuckoo's Calling by Robert Galbraith. Didn't like it that much at the start and I was particularly uninterested in the female lead. However, the detective, Cormorant Strike, became more and more interesting as the story progressed and I managed to get more involved in the story in the latter half of the book.

Dust by Hugh Howey. Well, I intentionally spread my enjoyment of this trilogy over three years and now it's at an end. Although, I had predicted the major plot development for this novel while reading Shift, this didn't lessen my enjoyment of this final novel at all. 5 stars - and I'm looking forward to trying one his other novels.

Casino Royale by Ian Fleming. Having been a bit of a fan of the Bond movies, I jumped at a discount on all of Fleming's Bond novels. This was OK, but Bond is quite the misogynist. He doesn't have the suave sophistication of the Bond I remember from the movies. He's cold, callous and - just to reiterate - really seems to dislike women. Still - it's good to read the original.