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

[gmw]

It's been some months since I've updated here. It's been a busy time and I've not read as much as usual. The highlights included...

Clockwork Boys and The Wonder Engine by T.Kingfisher. I think this fantasy duology could have been edited back a little and published together as a single novel, but they were good fun and something a little different. 4/5.

The Raven and The Reindeer by T. Kingfisher. Another fantasy, almost a fairytale. I loved this one almost without reservation ... just the ending felt a bit abrupt, perhaps because I was enjoying it so much I didn't want it to end. 4.5/5.

First four books of the London Charismatics series: The Fire in the Glass, The Shadow of Water, A Wrath of Sparrows (novella) and Bridge of Ash by Jacquelyn Benson. A YA fantasy (and romance) set in the lead up (and into) World War I. They felt a bit long to me, but that may have been my mood. However, I thought the setting and characters were very well done, and the story moved along well enough to keep me reading. I'm still waiting on the last book to be released. 4/5.

The Storied Life of A.J. Fikry by Gabrielle Zevin. Contemporary fiction. I don't imagine everyone's going to like this, but I loved it. 5/5.

Just One Damned Thing After Another by Jodi Taylor. First book of the Chronicles of St Mary's series. Time-travel fantasy. After a slowish start this is a fast paced thriller rather than historical or scientific treatise. Which is just as well, because looking back I can see various things I'd pick at, but while I was reading it was simply good fun. 4/5.

And I've just now finished:

The Undead Mr. Tenpenny by Tammie Painter. Book one of the Cassie Black trilogy. At first I thought it was turning into a fun novel, but then the Harry Potter jokes became unfunny as the significant elements of this story began to resemble aspects of the Harry Potter story. The central mystery intrigued me enough to finish ... and the finish was okay, although not entirely convincing. I'm rounding up from 2.5 to 3/5, and I still haven't decided whether to try the next novel or not.

[Luffy]

My 4 star review of Wild Fire, by Nelson Demille :-

Spoiler:

I temporarily toyed with the notion of not registering this reread. That is because I knew that it was more difficult writing an interesting review of books like this - books that required not a lot of talent, but a certain range of talent. I had fallen into the habit of reviewing nonfiction books this year. This is the first fiction book of the year for me. Also, I did not like my previous review. I had been, in the year 2014, regressing in terms of analytical thoughts and also misguided in the beliefs of what actually made a review good. So it came as a cold feeling to me when I realised that I wouldn't be able - as I said before - to write well here.

This book got the same rating twice from me. But this time I was able to picture everything much clearer. Bain Madox - the one and loony - made for a great villain. He wants to initiate project Wild Fire. And John Corey, the able cop that is neither the good one or bad one (he is just the funny one) is there to try and stop Madox. All of this seems quite clumsy. And to tell the truth, the writing in the book, trying in the initial pages to come across as understated, is overall, quite laborious. But the book works. The repetitiveness side of it is not its major fault. The book's major fault is that it does not sell the idea for its plot 100 %. But this is a thriller. And as thrillers go, they don't come much larger than life than this.

I decided to write a review of this reread without reading the last chapter of Wild Fire. The good guys win. But the slimiest of the baddies get their comeuppance to them in that last Chapter. This is no spoiler, see, because all thrillers are like this. The genre has as much stilted tradition as a medieval play. The jokes in the book dry up when they must and I think this shows some awareness on the part of Demille, who, frankly, has written far worse books in his yawning stretch of a career. Wild Fire is well written, but it wouldn't translate well if a cinematic adaptation was produced.

The book is also not very charming, nor has it become better over the years. But it is sometimes absorbing in its narration. And that is because the details of the plot are unique to the genre. The intelligent man's thriller is something that Wild Fire attempts to be. It succeeds partly in that too. Like a shark, the book keeps moving. Over the years, I have read a wide gamut of books. The more I think of this one, the more puzzled I become. This is because I don't know what is the hook in it. It is supposed to be the solving of the mystery and the foiling of the evil men's plans. But now reflecting on it, I simply cannot put my finger on what makes this book tick.

Finally, I must state that there were just the right number of characters in this thriller. Detective John Corey and his wife Kate Mayfield are colleagues who happen to be a couple, just like the ones in offices round the world. Kate is a strong woman who feels feminine. But for the life of me I cannot decide if the femininity is the result of bad writing or good. I'll leave it at that. I enjoyed rereading this escapist book with wiser eyes, and the read was not a total waste of time.

[pdurrant]

Originally Posted by pdurrant

Next up: First Family by David Baldacci. The next of his King and Maxwell series.

Which was an excellent thriller.

Next up: A freebie I picked up way back in October 2012! The Planet of the Gods by Grin Olsson

[isarl]

Finished The Hundred-Year-Old Man Who Climbed Out The Window And Disappeared the other day. It was a fun, light read and I enjoyed the use of setting changes to keep the pacing up.

Now reading The Memory Librarian by Janelle Monáe.

[astrangerhere]

Finished:

• Lab Girl by Dr. Hope Jahren

Still Reading

• Leo Tolstoy's War and Peace on my chapter-a-day to finish in a year pace.
• Thomas Mann's The Magic Mountain (Wood translation) - I really wish I had read this during the pandemic. It would have been absolutely perfect to read during the long isolation periods. As it is, I am really, really enjoying it now - much more than I enjoyed is masterwork A Death in Venice.

New Reads:

• The Ghosts of Eden Park: The Bootleg King, the Women Who Pursued Him, and the Murder That Shocked Jazz-Age America by Karen Abbott

[issybird]

I’ve started:

• Felix Holt, the Radical by George Eliot
• The Critic’s Daughter by Priscilla Gilman

[Deskisamess]

Reread The Remains of the Day, by Kazuo Ishiguro, which has become a favorite of mine.

Started Never Let Me Go, also by Ishiguro, a book I had started and put aside a couple of years ago.

Borrowed The Color of Air by Gail Tsukiyama from the library for the second time, just couldn't get into it the first time. I'll start it in a few days and see if it grabs me this time.

[Fbone]

Originally Posted by Fbone

Next will be A Year and a Day in Old Theradane by Scott Lynch

Funny and creative story. I'm disappointed it ended so soon. Rated B [4 stars].

Next, The Year When Stardust Fell by Raymond F. Jones.

[pdurrant]

Originally Posted by pdurrant

Next up: A freebie I picked up way back in October 2012! The Planet of the Gods by Grin Olsson

Which was abandoned after a few pages. Pages and pages of infodump. With a pronunciation footnote on the first page....

Next up: Death Comes to Pemberley by P D James.

Delightful, so far.

[issybird]

Originally Posted by pdurrant

Next up: Death Comes to Pemberley by P D James.

I thought this was dreadful. Abject failure as Austen pastiche and leaden and absurd as mystery. James was past her powers when she wrote this; it's a pity those with a stake in an author's career don't care more about her reputation but just grab the cash while they can.

[gmw]

Originally Posted by issybird

I thought this was dreadful. Abject failure as Austen pastiche and leaden and absurd as mystery.

I had the same reaction, issybird. Curiously, I found the TV mini-series better; it didn't make the mystery any less absurd, but the actors did bring some life to the script.

[Tarana]

Currently reading Smiler with the Knife by Nicholas Blake, part of the Nigel Strangeways series. So far, confusing but interesting mystery post WW2 England.

[CRussel]

Originally Posted by issybird

I thought this was dreadful. Abject failure as Austen pastiche and leaden and absurd as mystery. James was past her powers when she wrote this; it's a pity those with a stake in an author's career don't care more about her reputation but just grab the cash while they can.

Originally Posted by gmw

I had the same reaction, issybird. Curiously, I found the TV mini-series better; it didn't make the mystery any less absurd, but the actors did bring some life to the script.

I agree, the mini-series was OK, but I've tried 2 or 3 times over the years to read this and abandoned it every time. Leaden is the right adjective, I'm afraid.

[pdurrant]

Originally Posted by pdurrant

Next up: Death Comes to Pemberley by P D James.

Delightful, so far.

Originally Posted by issybird

I thought this was dreadful. Abject failure as Austen pastiche and leaden and absurd as mystery. James was past her powers when she wrote this; it's a pity those with a stake in an author's career don't care more about her reputation but just grab the cash while they can.

Originally Posted by gmw

I had the same reaction, issybird. Curiously, I found the TV mini-series better; it didn't make the mystery any less absurd, but the actors did bring some life to the script.

Originally Posted by CRussel

I agree, the mini-series was OK, but I've tried 2 or 3 times over the years to read this and abandoned it every time. Leaden is the right adjective, I'm afraid.

I'm abandoning at 25%. I quite liked the initial attempt at imagining the general attitude of the gentry to events in Pride and Prejudice, but it does bog down.

One of the final straws was
"... if Wickham and Denny had not returned by daylight, call in the estate workers and perhaps the police to institute a more thorough search."

POLICE? In 1818? In the countryside? Good grief. How did no editor catch that?

Next up: The Time Traveller's Almanac. A massive (1200+ pages) collection of time traveller stories.

[issybird]

Originally Posted by pdurrant

How did no editor catch that?

I've just finished a highly praised memoir that I found to be adequate at best, indifferently written and repetitive. But while it's not why I condemned it, this jumped out at me: "Sir Peter Wimsey"!

I can't excuse the author as it was just one of her many failings, but, again, where was the editor? The author should have been rescued from that one at least.