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

[CRussel]

Just finished One Under, a Bill Slider mystery from Cynthia Harrod-Eagles. It's been a while since I read one of these, but I'm reminded how much I enjoy them. Some things are predicatable -- Slider will inevitably get in trouble with his boss, or the higher ups in the department, but he doesn't stop believing that everybody matters. All in all, a refreshing book and a solid 4 stars. Reminds me how much I've enjoyed these books.

[sydmalicious]

Originally Posted by TadW

Started to read The Road by McCarthy. A very gloomy and depressing story about a father and a son who try to survive in an Utopian America.

This has to be my favorite book of all time. Grim, but the love between the father and son carried so much of the story that the darkness was bearable.

I have other McCarthy books. I've heard Blood Meridian was far too gruesome.


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[sydmalicious]

Currently reading Critical Thinking by Simon Bradley, a Kindle Unlimited jobby, and Outliers by Malcom Gladwell in Audible, oh and Mage Slave by RK Thorne who is a friend of mine, in Audible. Once I'm done with that, I'm diving into Tools of Titans by Tim Ferris.


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[Dngrsone]

Finished Absent; my suspicion was correct. (Relatively) Happy ending, everyone can go home now and have pie.

Now reading The Far Traveler: Voyages of a Viking Woman by Nancy Marie Brown, which dovetails quite nicely with a Nova episode I saw the other day about discovering viking ruins on the North-American continent (Point Rosee, Newfoundland).

[astrangerhere]

Originally Posted by astrangerhere

Also started Flynn Berry's Under the Harrow last night on the Kobo.

Finished this today. One of the goodreads reviews described it as reading Broadchurch (the bbc series). I disagree a bit. It was more like reading the child of Broadchurch and Gone Girl. I loved Broadchurch and hated Gone Girl, so make of that what you will.

[drjd]

Originally Posted by drjd

Started reading Missing: A Private Novel by James Patterson and Kathryn Fox. A stock crime novel to go through if you do not have anything particular pre-decided to read at the moment.

I finished Missing: A Private Novel by James Patterson and Kathryn Fox and two other books during last days. Street of the Five Moons by Elizabeth Peters and Send No More Roses by Eric Ambler. I am also near completion of reading Atlantis Gate by Bob Mayer.

[CRussel]

Originally Posted by CRussel

Just finished One Under, a Bill Slider mystery from Cynthia Harrod-Eagles. It's been a while since I read one of these, but I'm reminded how much I enjoy them. Some things are predicatable -- Slider will inevitably get in trouble with his boss, or the higher ups in the department, but he doesn't stop believing that everybody matters. All in all, a refreshing book and a solid 4 stars. Reminds me how much I've enjoyed these books.

Next up, Old Bones, #19 in the Bill Slider series.

Meanwhile, I finished Whip Hand, the second of the Sid Halley books from Dick Francis. A good read, except way too much violence. Would have been 4 stars, but downgraded because of that violence to 3 stars.

[ATDrake]

Finished a re-read of Snow Woman, My First Murder, and Her Enemy, by Leena Lehtolainen, respectively #4, #1, & #2 in her Maria Kallio series of 1990s era Finnish police procedurals. I started the re-read of #4 because of morbid curiosity after reading #5 & #6 earlier, which kept referencing particular plot-important things that happened in #4 which I had no recollection of whatsoever even while re-reading, although the other parts of the story were familiar. (And then I went to revisit #1 out of curiosity, which I'd since acquired in French translation during a sale and wanted to compare (for no particular reason I can discern, the English translator changed the name of the murder victim, which didn't seem that unusual/confusing for an English-language audience). But the tandem side-by-side reading idea stalled as I started getting back into the story again and couldn't maintain the same speed in both languages.)

It seems that unless a case has something fairly distinctive and memorable* about it—either rather clever means or unusual motivation or really good execution of the twists or just plain ridiculous implausibility—I tend to completely forget the whodunnit until I'm practically on top of the confrontation scene again. I've had this happen before upon certain mystery series re-reads, but I thought it was a peculiar anomaly associated with just a couple of books, since I could remember the others just fine. But it turns out it's not them, it's me. Which I guess is a kind of value-add if I can get the full attempted case-solving experience out of them again?

Anyway, these were enjoyable as when I first read them, and interesting to see the bits of Maria's past life scattered throughout that would be referenced again in later books. That gave a nice sense of retrospective continuity to it all, and I liked going back over her character development as she eventually moves from not wanting to be a career cop and trying out various other options first before she would eventually settle down in later books. (And this time around I noticed there was a rather clever case-related translation pun in the title of #2. )

* Sometimes that doesn't work. I thought for sure I remembered who the culprit in #2 was because I remembered a distinctive aspect about them which they were introduced with. Turns out they were actually the victim in the next chapter, oops, and not in a “disposable catspaw of the greater mastermind” way. But I did remember the actual culprit after that, though not the motivation which the sleuth still beat me to figuring out again.

[ReadingManiac]

I noticed that a short story I bought long ago, Those Who Provide by Jaq D. Hawkins, updated and is now 4 short stories related to her goblin world! Free stories, Yay! Wish she would write some more novels in this world.

[MickeyC]

Just finished Purple Cane Road by James Lee Burke. Good read but don't try it if you're looking for a cozy mystery.

And just started A Necessary End by Peter Robinson

[WT Sharpe]

And Then You're Dead: What Really Happens If You Get Swallowed by a Whale, Are Shot from a Cannon, or Go Barreling over Niagara by Cody Cassidy and Paul Doherty is a wonderful, informative and quite humorous little book about some of the more unusual possibilities for meeting our demise. Have you ever wondered what would happen if you accidentally stuck your hand in the particle stream at CERN? Your hand would not suffer as much damage as you might think, assuming you held it perfectly still. There would be pencil sized hole through it, but given time it would heal. The bad news is that you'd be long dead from radiation poisoning before that happened, but at least you'd get to see the world turn blue first as the radiation shot through your optic nerves. Cool; if you're particularly partial to blue. From talking a wrong turn and finding yourself accidentally on the surface of Venus to being sacrificed in a volcano, this short and captivating book gives us a glimpse of fascinating possibilities in which our grand finale could play out; all augmented with case histories where applicable. Highly recommended.

[orlok]

Sounds like a hoot. Adding to my TBR pile.

UPDATE: Eeeek! It's only available in paperback in the UK, at £12.32!

[John F]

Originally Posted by TadW

Started to read The Road by McCarthy. A very gloomy and depressing story about a father and a son who try to survive in an Utopian America.

And in case no one has pointed this out since 2007, I believe it more distopian than utopian.

Originally Posted by sydmalicious

This has to be my favorite book of all time. Grim, but the love between the father and son carried so much of the story that the darkness was bearable.

I have other McCarthy books. I've heard Blood Meridian was far too gruesome.


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[pdurrant]

Originally Posted by pdurrant

Next up: F&SF, May/June 2017.

I've had a nasty cold, and I've been resting in bed for most of the past three days. Which was good for my reading. Lots read.

The F&SF was OK. Four Novelets and seven short stories. The only ones worth mentioning are "The Prognosticant" by Matthew Hughes, another in his fantasy universe with larcenous wizards, "The Woman with the Long Black Hair" by Zach Shepard, a goddess story, "My English Name" by R S Benedict, even though I didn't really like it, and "Neko Brushes", a splendid Japanese fantasy.

Then came The Chaos Gate by Josepha Sherman. From a recent Baen monthly bundle. A generic fantasy that didn't catch my interest, and I abandoned about 1/3rd of the way in.

Also from the bundle, Unforgettable by Eric James Stone. One completely impossible premise, but a rather nice story from it. I'd buy another novel by him.

Also from the bundle, Gods of Sagittarius by Eric Flint & Mike Resnick. A big disappointment. I stuck it out until 60%, but it's just not for me. Too much Resnick, not enough Flint.

The latest Grantville Gazette (#71) followed. The usual mix, with the addition of a couple of non-related stories. Enjoyable as always.

Also from the bundle: Darkship Revenge by Sarah A. Hoyt. A splendid next instalment.

Finally from the bundle: The Gathering Edge by Sharon Lee & Steve Miller. Excellent. And as usual, leaves us wanting more.


I'm now reading Hour Game by David Baldacci, the second in his King and Maxwell series.

[kansaskyle]

I finished Neuromancer, which was a two-star read for me. It was probably cool in 1984, but I don't think it aged well considering where technology is today. I didn't care for the way the story jumped around, and I never developed any kind of connection to the characters.

I read Ancillary Sword on Saturday, and gave it four stars. I'm looking forward to finishing the trilogy with Ancillary Mercy. The best part is all three ebooks were available through my library!