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

[HLS]

Originally Posted by pdurrant

I interrupted Shogun to read a local book club book, The Dictionary of Lost Words by Pip Williams.

It's set in the first half of the 20th century, and the background fro the characters is the compiling of the Oxford English Dictionary.

The characters are good, and I enjoyed the book overall. But I was a little put off by the introduction of fictional characters into history, in a place and time where the number of historical people is very small. That's to say - the people who worked for any significant length of time on the OED is small and well known. Having a minor and a major fictional character as part of that group seems odd.

4/5 overall.

I have Shogun but have never had the courage to read it yet.

[CRussel]

Originally Posted by HLS

I have Shogun but have never had the courage to read it yet.

I really enjoyed it. It's huge, but it keeps one's interest.

[Uncle Robin]

Originally Posted by CRussel

I really enjoyed it. It's huge, but it keeps one's interest.

When I was in my early tweens I read Tai-Pan and Noble House while visiting my Mum (her library was not kid friendly, but she was at work) but she didn't have Shogun. Not sure I'll ever complete the set

[Apache]

I have read Shogun multiple times. My only complaint is that he changed the names of the historical figures in the book.
Apache

[SteveEisenberg]

Just finished the newish Galbraith/Rowling Strike/Ellacott mystery, The Running Grave. I found it the best of the series -- generous in length, and generous to the characters.

I read a review suggesting that Rowling must be rejecting cuts advised by her editor. Sounds correct, but some great nineteenth century classics also were weakly edited. This outing, I think it was for the best, giving room to make series regulars multi-dimensional.

I don't read mysteries to guess the chief villain, but for those who do, the plot is complicated. A list of characters can help, and Rowling provides one on her web site.

[issybird]

I haven't posted here in a long time. Right now I'm reading:

• Browned Off and Bloody-Minded: The British Soldier Goes to War 1939-1945, by Alan Allport
• News from Tartary, by Peter Fleming
• The Vicar of Bullhampton, by Anthony Trollope
  
  and as an amuse bouche
• Eating for England, by Nigel Slater

I'm enjoying all of them.

[SteveEisenberg]

Originally Posted by issybird

I haven't posted here in a long time. Right now I'm reading:

What an awesome list!

I don’t generally like travel books, but the intro of News from Tartary was wonderful.

For now, I’m going back to Richard Gwyn’s superb biography of Canada’s first prime minister, John A. McDonald.