What Fiction are you reading this week, May 6, 2018?

[hermetic]

Yesterday was the 10th Annual World Labyrinth Day. I had planned to join a local walk but forgot about it until too late. Anybody else attend one?


So, I was listening to Alice Hoffman's The Rules of Magic and I gave up about halfway through. The story was probably quite good but the reader was just awful, imo. It's the first audible I've ever encountered like that. The delivery was flat, droning. I could not maintain interest. I even played some for a friend who is an avid reader and he felt the same. Guess I'll just have to read the book some day.

I AM reading Axeman's Jazz by Julie Smith now and that's sure holding my interest. Great plot, fun characters. Look forward to reading more of her books.

What's holding your interest this week?

[CurtEastPoint]

1. Just beginning "The Nightingale." Interestingly, as I begin my trip to France.

[hermetic]

5. Wonderful!

Will you actually go to Carriveau? I don't even know where that is but I got to spend a couple of months in France many years ago and it was fantastic. As I recall, I didn't have much time for reading then.

I hope you have a most excellent time there!

[CurtEastPoint]

6. I had to Google and it's a fictional town but is supposed to be in the Loire Valley.

No, headed to Bordeaux, then E, then S, then E again over to Marseille then back to Paris.

[hermetic]

11. Aha

I was in Paris and the north, Normandy.

[Freedomofspeech]

18. Loved that book...

as did our entire book club.

[Ohiogal]

2. "Leaving Berlin" by Joseph Kanon

[hermetic]

7. That sounds like a great story.

A sweeping spy thriller about a city caught between political idealism and the harsh realities of Soviet occupation.

[Ohiogal]

12. Yes, it's my first stab at a Joseph Kanon book

The one about Istanbul looked good, too. (I am cheap and get my books from the public library). I like it so far, I read 60 pages last night!

[hermetic]

17. Pictures!

It just so happens that Mira, over in the Photography Group, has been posting some pictures from Berlin and Germany that you might find it interesting to see. There's some really great photos.

[Ohiogal]

29. Thank you, I'll check them out!

[dameatball]

3. "Noir" by Christopher Moore

This is a bit different, set in the 40's. Pretty clever so far.

[hermetic]

8. I am really looking forward

to reading that one. Do love Moore!

[lapfog_1]

4. unfortunately, the MSM will be shoving Drumpf's tweets into my cranium

so that is the fiction I'll be reading.

[hermetic]

9. I highly recommend

getting away from that crap and indulging in a bit of fiction. Just for the sake of your sanity. I know it helps my state of mind.

[matt819]

10. Keep reading

I felt the same way about rules of magic. But keep going. It’s not great but it’s worth the time.

I’m reading:

Lock in by John Scalzi. Sci fi. Intriguing. Appealing characters.

Sunburn by Laura Lippman. The protagonist is either a very strong willed woman or a murderous sociopath. Not sure yet. I think I might be okay with however it turns out. Set in 1995, which is interesting given the personalities and dynamics. I don’t think I’ve ever been disappointed with s Laura lippman novel. This one is a stand-alone.

[hermetic]

14. Sounds like you've got

some excellent finds there.

Lock in
"..."complicated" doesn't begin to describe it. It's nothing you could have expected." (Well, that got my attention)

and
Sunburn, "a tantalizing modern noir."

Yup, on my list now. Thanks.

[cyclonefence]

13. A Sentimental Journey

by Laurence Sterne. Cracking me up. It's very short, so I'm limiting myself to a couple of pages per day to prolong the delight. Just finished Bleak House (again). I think I'll spend my remaining years/months/days reading Dickens over and over.

[hermetic]

15. Ah, Sterne...

Author of Tristram Shandy. Delightful.

Hey, Dickens is great but I'd bet with a little searching you could find other books equally bleak. You know, just for a bit of diversity. But, whatever works for you. It's all good.

[cyclonefence]

16. When I read Tristram Shandy earlier this year

I couldn't believe it wasn't taught in any of my classes. I majored in English at a hoity-toity Seven Sisters school where we read every arcane and obscure author you can think of, but we never studied Sterne. I think he is one of the masters of humor, British and otherwise, and that Uncle Toby is perhaps the greatest second banana in the world.

[shenmue]

19. "The Hobbit," J.R.R. Tolkien

[hermetic]

20. You are off, then,

On an unexpected journey. Enjoy the adventure!

[MuseRider]

21. I just finished listening to Beartown

by Fredrik Backman.

I loved A Man Called Ove and thought it would be good to try another of his books. I loved it. It is about a small town and ice hockey. That is all I want to say, it was really a good listen.

I decided to try another so I started Britt-Marie Was Here. No opinion yet.

[hermetic]

23. Hi!

Is Beartown a new one? Did you like it?

I just read My Grandmother Asked Me to Tell You She's Sorry and I was rather disappointed. Do let us know what you thought of Britt-Marie Was Here. We are interested in opinions here.

[MuseRider]

25. I will.

That is too bad about the book you read, I had marked that for later reading. So far Britt-Marie seems a little like Ove. An entirely annoying character who apparently turns out good just misunderstood. We'll see. I won't really mind that at all if the story captures me at some point but it has not yet.

I think from reading the intro that Beartown is the next novel after Ove.

I actually really did like it. A large group of people defined well and put together by Backman in a interesting way. I am not interested in this sport but it was not tediously covered and only a means to the real story. I almost re-read it before the time was up on my library loan but decided to read it again one day. The story is nothing out of the ordinary, high school and younger kids doing a sport and into the "team" in a town that is all but down and mostly out whose citizens are depending on the kids to bring them back with a big win. IOW there was nothing particularly out of the ordinary I just really like how he told the story and how the characters were developed even if it was a little...here is a strong girl, here is her weaker friend, here is a major jock and here is a guy that is too but he is secretly something else. It just seemed to fit well together and entertained me for 10 hours or so and made me care about it. Pretty good IMO.

[Runningdawg]

22. Blackout - Connie Willis

The adventures of 3 time-traveling historians from 2060 who are stuck in WWII England.

[hermetic]

24. Oh fun!

I recently read To Say Nothing of the Dog which sort of had the same theme. I loved it. It kind of 'went on' in places but the wonderful ending made that all worthwhile.

[PoindexterOglethorpe]

39. Connie Willis is the best!

I love almost everything she's written. Make sure you realize that Blackout is only the first half of the book. The second half is All Clear. And yes, it's a second half, not a sequel. She wrote one very long novel and the publisher decided it was best to put it out in two volumes.

Her most recent book is Crosstalk, about telepathy. It was okay, but it's not one of my favorites. She is back to work on her Roswell novel, and is apparently considering writing another of the time travel novels. Hooray!

Connie is also a very nice person. I've had the pleasure of meeting her at various science fiction events I go to. She is warm, friendly, wonderfully opinionated, DESPISES Trump and is very vocal about it.

[Runningdawg]

43. It's the first book I have read by her

but I will be reading more.

[PJMcK]

26. The New York Times and The Washington Post

Just kidding! (wink)

[hermetic]

32. Well, of course

[PoorMonger]

27. The Rending And The Nest by Kaethe Schwehn

A chilling yet redemptive post-apocalyptic debut that examines community, motherhood, faith, and the importance of telling one's own story.

When 95 percent of the earth's population disappears for no apparent reason, Mira does what she can to create some semblance of a life: She cobbles together a haphazard community named Zion, scavenges the Piles for supplies they might need, and avoids loving anyone she can't afford to lose. She has everything under control. Almost.

Four years after the Rending, Mira's best friend, Lana, announces her pregnancy, the first since everything changed and a new source of hope for Mira. But when Lana gives birth to an inanimate object--and other women of Zion follow suit--the thin veil of normalcy Mira has thrown over her new life begins to fray. As the Zionites wrestle with the presence of these Babies, a confident outsider named Michael appears, proselytizing about the world beyond Zion. He lures Lana away and when she doesn't return, Mira must decide how much she's willing to let go in order to save her friend, her home, and her own fraught pregnancy.

Like California by Edan Lepucki and Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel, The Rending and the Nest uses a fantastical, post-apocalyptic landscape to ask decidedly human questions: How well do we know the people we love? What sustains us in the midst of suffering? How do we forgive the brokenness we find within others--and within ourselves?

[hermetic]

33. Ah, quite new

From your description I was thinking, "That sounds kind of like Station Eleven" which I quite enjoyed. So I will def have to read this one.

[PoindexterOglethorpe]

40. I hadn't heard of those books yet.

The only reason I hesitate to see if my library has them is that I have too many books checked out (11) and even more on reserve (17). Sigh. So many books, so little time.

[madaboutharry]

28. Outlander by Diana Gabaldon

Easy and enjoyable reading. I love Time Traveling Heroines.

[hermetic]

34. I LOVED that story

so very much. The first 3 books, anyway.

[The Blue Flower]

30. Donald Westlake: Brothers Keepers

Westlake was the master of comedic mysteries. I'm a long-time fan.

[hermetic]

35. How cool

Never heard of him, though. The book page says this book is Thrillers - Espionage Mystery & Detective Doesn't mention humor. I am curious; do these make you chuckle or lol? Are they funny on purpose?

[PoindexterOglethorpe]

41. If you like funny, read Westlake.

At least most of his books are funny, but they are not comedies. Certain situations will be highly amusing, often in the midst of a fairly serious attempt at a major robbery. In most of his books, if I recall correctly, no one actually gets hurt. He also published under a lot of other names.

[hermetic]

46. Yeah, I do

I find it more important lately to read stuff that makes me laugh. So thanks.

[Number9Dream]

31. Finished "Rise to Rebellion" by Jeff Shaara

It's a story of the American Revolution from about the time of the Boston Massacre to the Declaration of Independence. Although mostly historically accurate, this is found in the fiction section of the library. Shaara includes fictional dialogue between the characters to breathe more life into them. I enjoyed it even more than I thought I would.

[hermetic]

36. Shaara is highly regarded

for his writing: "again breathing vigor and passion into the dusty annals of our nation's history." I like that.

[PennyK]

37. State of the Onion by Julie Hyzy

It's a cute mystery about a chef in the White House kitchen. Not sure I'll continue that series, but fun.

I've finished the first two in the Max Liebermann (1900s psychoanalyst in Vienna) series by Frank Tallis, and I just got the next two from the library today. They're quite similar to The Alienist with more pastry, Nazis, and music.

[hermetic]

44. I should read that

I currently have "secret" longings to work in the White House kitchen.

[PoorMonger]

38. The French Girl by Lexie Elliott

We all have our secrets...

They were six university students from Oxford--friends and sometimes more than friends--spending an idyllic week together in a French farmhouse. It was supposed to be the perfect summer getaway...until they met Severine, the girl next door.

For Kate Channing, Severine was an unwelcome presence, her inscrutable beauty undermining the close-knit group's loyalties amid the already simmering tensions. And after a huge altercation on the last night of the holiday, Kate knew nothing would ever be the same. There are some things you can't forgive. And there are some people you can't forget...like Severine, who was never seen again.

Now, a decade later, the case is reopened when Severine's body is found in the well behind the farmhouse. Questioned along with her friends, Kate stands to lose everything she's worked so hard to achieve as suspicion mounts around her. Desperate to resolve her own shifting memories and fearful she will be forever bound to the woman whose presence still haunts her, Kate finds herself buried under layers of deception with no one to set her free...

[hermetic]

45. Girls!!

AmIrite? That does sound good, though.

[PoindexterOglethorpe]

42. Just finished All the Beautiful Lies

by Peter Swanson. It's pretty good. He's best known at this point for The Kind Worth Killing which was excellent. Lies is his most recent.

I'm also reading Another Day which is essentially a companion novel to Every Day. Both are by David Levithan, and tell the story of A, who wakes up every day in a new body, and Rhiannon, the girl he falls in love with. ED is told from A's POV, AD from Rhiannon. Very interesting. A movie based on Every Day came out several months ago and was quite good.

I've also just started The Fate of Rome: Climate, Disease, & the End of an Empire by Kyle Harper. I'm 20 pages in and I'm hooked. For one thing, climate and epidemiology are two of my many favorite non fiction topics, so combining the two is as if the book was written specifically for me. A while back I started some other book about Rome, and had to put it down no more than 30 pages in because it required a much greater familiarity with all of the well-known people of that era than I will ever have. This one is nothing like that.

[hermetic]

47. Hmm, interesting

And as you said, 'so many books, so little time.'