What Fiction are you reading this week, November 4, 2018?

[hermetic]

Did you remember to turn your clocks back?



Still reading Mycroft Holmes and enjoying it immensely.

Still listening to Barracoon: the story of the last "black­cargo" which is absolutely fascinating. Also listening to Christopher Moore's The Stupidest Angel. "Only Christopher Moore, the man who brought you the outrageous lost gospel Lamb and the hysterical fish tale Fluke could have devised a new holiday classic that tugs at the heartstrings and serves up a healthy slice of fruitcake to boot."

What will you be enjoying reading this week?

So, here we go then. I fervently hope that when we get together again next Sunday we will all be feeling relieved and happy. I certainly have never been so fearful about an election's outcome in my life.

[Squinch]

1. I'm continuing in my Halloween mood. A friend recommended "The Elementals"

by Michael McDowell.

I think he's very underrated. So far it's classic fun-as-hell Southern Gothic.

PS. The clock is awesome!

PSS. Yes! This is a good few days to hibernate in a book, and hopefully we will be celebrating in next week's installment.

[hermetic]

4. I could go for some

fun-as-hell Southern Gothic.

Maybe not so underrated:
"The finest writer of paperback originals in America." - Stephen King
"Surely one of the most terrifying novels ever written." - Poppy Z. Brite
"Beyond any trace of doubt, one of the best writers of horror in this or any other country." - Peter Straub

I'm definitely wanting to read this now.

[Ohiogal]

2. "Desolation Mountain"

by William Kent Krueger. I have read and enjoyed all his books.

You aren't the only one a bit nervous about the upcoming midterms, Hermetic.

[hermetic]

5. Right?

Thank the gods for DU.


Krueger delivers yet another “punch-to-the-gut blend of detective story and investigative fiction.” Sounds like a winner.

[dameatball]

3. "The Book of the Dead" by Douglas Preston & Lincoln Child

another in the Agent Pendergast series

[hermetic]

6. Those guys...

An FBI agent, rotting away in a high-security prison for a murder he did not commit...
His brilliant, psychotic brother, about to perpetrate a horrific crime...
A young woman with an extraordinary past, on the edge of a violent breakdown...
An ancient Egyptian tomb with an enigmatic curse, about to be unveiled at a celebrity-studded New York gala...

Simply irresistible.

[SeattleVet]

7. 'A Thousand Suns', by Alex Scarrow

Historical military fiction about the Nazi regime making a last-ditch effort in the closing days of the war to send a capture B-17 with a nuclear bomb to NYC to turn us against the Russians that are making their way to Berlin. Bounces back and forth between today and 1945, starting with the discovery on the plane (with most of the crew still aboard) off the coast of Rhode Island.

I am enjoying it.

[hermetic]

9. Sounds good

Intense.

[murielm99]

12. I just finished a nonfiction book about

Oak Ridge, Tenn. and the development of the atomic bomb. It was, "The Girls of Atomic City."

This might be an interesting read after that book.

[pangaia]

8. The Girl Who Played With Fire, for the 2nd time..

[hermetic]

10. Loved that whole story

Unforgettable.

[pangaia]

11. Lisbeth is my heroine.

[murielm99]

13. I went back to a Rebus book,

"Fleshmarket Alley."

I need to vent.

I was reading my book. This book details Scotland's problems with brown and black refugees, after Rebus gets involved in a murder investigation over the death of an asylum seeker. Scotland's problems are nearly as bad as those here.

I put the book down because I needed a break from the topic. I turned on my Tivo to watch the last Supergirl program. The plot was about the aliens, who are refugees on this planet, and the mistreatment they are receiving here. I watched the program. Then I was stupid enough to watch some Tivoed talk show. The topic was the caravan.

I was trying to do some things to get away from the awful news for awhile.

They need some help placing signs here and doing some last minute GOTV. I was trying to take a break from that, too. I will go back to it. I am not doing anything PERSONALLY to help refugees and asylum seekers. I need to get back to my activism.

[hermetic]

14. Yes, Scotland

surely has some dark and dirty attributes. Thank goodness for Rebus!

I don't watch TV at all so that saves me a lot of grief. Good for you, getting out there and helping GOTV. I used to be really active like that when I was younger. Now I'm just an old keyboard warrior.

[murielm99]

15. I am seventy.

I still do everything I can. Today it is raining, so I am not going out to place signs.

I went to a visitation the other day, to pay my respects to the patriarch of a local family. FIVE people stopped me to talk about politics.

I am not complaining. I recruited a Democratic election judge and found out that a staunch repubbie is now voting a straight Democratic ticket. She says her granddaughters have turned her into a liberal.

I know this group is about books. But there certainly has been a spillover in my life lately.

BTW, I am enjoying the Laurie R. King books as well, the books that feature Mary, protege and partner to Sherlock Holmes.

[hermetic]

18. Glad to hear

you are enjoying Ms King's books. And I am delighted for what you have done.

These days it's rather impossible to discuss ANYTHING without politics coming to the fore. I sure hope that soon we will be able to return to our normal behaviors and the evil that is enveloping our country will be vanquished.

[sinkingfeeling]

16. Just started "The Tattooist of Auschwitz" by Heather Morris. It's

a novel based on a true story.

[hermetic]

17. Wow, gosh

A vivid, harrowing, and ultimately hopeful re-creation of Lale Sokolov's experiences as the man who tattooed the arms of thousands of prisoners with what would become one of the most potent symbols of the Holocaust, The Tattooist of Auschwitz is also a testament to the endurance of love and humanity under the darkest possible conditions.

Just out this year, I am putting it on my want-to-read list.

[japple]

21. Me too. I read the review of The Tattooist of Auschwitz in Book Page and just started

reading it last night.

Thanks, hermetic, for the weekly thread, even though some of us don't make it to the weekly roundup.

[hermetic]

24. Oh, cool

I, too, was quite taken with the review.

No worries. Always glad to see you.

Good luck tomorrow. Hope your bullet-hole neighbors get their comeuppance.

[Lucky Luciano]

19. I'll probably read a bit about tr$&p talking about terrorism coming in the caravan.

[shenmue]

20. Don't know

[The King of Prussia]

22. A Darker Domain by Val McDermid

A cold case mystery set in Scotland against the background of the miners' strike. Unsurprisingly, it's really good so far.
Spent the rest of last week in Three Pines and its environs. Read Book 3 "The Cruellest Month", and it was so good that I had to carry straight on with Book 4 "A Rule Against Murder". Both terrific.
I'm trying to broaden my horizons, so when I finish "A Darker Domain" I might tackle "Wuthering Heights".

PS: Just vote FFS

[hermetic]

23. I've read a few

of Val's. Enjoyed them.

I loved Wuthering Heights as a teenager. So tragic.

You bet your sweet patootie I'll be voting. Never missed a vote yet.

[PoorMonger]

25. The Mere Wife by Maria Dahvana Headley

New York Times bestselling author Maria Dahvana Headley presents a modern retelling of the literary classic Beowulf, set in American suburbia as two mothers―a housewife and a battle-hardened veteran―fight to protect those they love in The Mere Wife.

From the perspective of those who live in Herot Hall, the suburb is a paradise. Picket fences divide buildings―high and gabled―and the community is entirely self-sustaining. Each house has its own fireplace, each fireplace is fitted with a container of lighter fluid, and outside―in lawns and on playgrounds―wildflowers seed themselves in neat rows. But for those who live surreptitiously along Herot Hall’s periphery, the subdivision is a fortress guarded by an intense network of gates, surveillance cameras, and motion-activated lights.

For Willa, the wife of Roger Herot (heir of Herot Hall), life moves at a charmingly slow pace. She flits between mommy groups, playdates, cocktail hour, and dinner parties, always with her son, Dylan, in tow. Meanwhile, in a cave in the mountains just beyond the limits of Herot Hall lives Gren, short for Grendel, as well as his mother, Dana, a former soldier who gave birth as if by chance. Dana didn’t want Gren, didn’t plan Gren, and doesn’t know how she got Gren, but when she returned from war, there he was. When Gren, unaware of the borders erected to keep him at bay, ventures into Herot Hall and runs off with Dylan, Dana’s and Willa’s worlds collide.

[sfwriter]

26. All science fiction

Ursula K Leguins The Disposessed and Brin’s Uplift War. My aim is to read all the Hugo winners by years end.

[hermetic]

30. Sounds like

a most worthy goal.

[Wawannabe]

27. Intensity

Dean Koontz
Read it in one day on Monday...

Well. It was intense.

[hermetic]

29. Whew!

That IS intense. 400+ pages. A murderous sociopath has entered a house, intent on killing everyone inside. A self-proclaimed "homicidal adventurer," he lives only to satisfy all appetites as they arise, to immerse himself in sensation, and to live without fear, remorse or limits. Ah, a typical Republican then...

[Wawannabe]

31. ...

Nailed it!

[qazplm135]

28. The Art of the Deal?

I kid, I kid.