What Fiction are you reading this week, February 17, 2019?

[hermetic]

This is "House of Wisdom." Sure could use more of that around here. Of course, you can lead a man to books but you can't make him think.

I'm reading Galore by Michael Crummey. I had started this last year right after reading his Sweetwater but this one paled in comparison to that masterpiece, so I put it aside. Enjoying it now, though. The characters are so outlandishly funny. You just have to laugh at things like the little war that erupts between the Catholics and Protestants back in harsh and grim medieval Newfoundland.

Just finished listening to Before the Fall by Noah Hawley. Really good. Gave me some important things to consider about today's society.

So, I have this problem now. My computer died, murdered by Microsoft, so I am using an old, wonky tablet.
Typing is awkward so I will have to limit my replies today. I typed this all up in advance so I could paste it.
Hopefully by next Sunday I will have something better to use. Til then, do carry on our fine tradition of
recommending great things to read. Maybe write a little something about them.

[dameatball]

1. "Stonehenge" by Bernard Cornwell

[notdarkyet]

2. The heartbeat of wounded knew by truer. Not fiction nonfiction.

[notdarkyet]

3. Knee.

[2naSalit]

4. The Collected Speeches of

Donal J. T....



Sorry, couldn't help it, been holding that one in for a few weeks.

[The King of Prussia]

5. Just finished Stone Circle by Elly Griffiths

Excellent. The 11th in the "Ruth Galloway" series. I fancy a Ngaio Marsh next I think.

[Cuthbert Allgood]

6. American Pastoral by Philip Roth

Last edited Sun Feb 17, 2019, 04:24 PM - Edit history (1)

Really liking it so far. I do think it's one of those novels that probably isn't going to be as appreciated by a younger reader. I mean, the writing is fantastic, but the content is aimed at a bit more mature audience.

Just found out I'm the teacher teaching a new Marginalized Voices literature class next semester, so my reading list has just changed dramatically. I would love any suggestions. Maybe I'll start a thread to that extent here in Fiction.

[hermetic]

9. Cool!

Good idea.

[PoindexterOglethorpe]

7. "How to Stop Time" by Matt Haig.

The narrator is a man who was born March 3, 1581. Around the time he was eleven he stopped aging. Turns out there are others like him. I'm a bit more than a quarter in, and it's extremely good so far. Probably the best of this kind of novel I've ever read.

My sister, who recommended it to me, clearly thought this was a completely original idea with this author. It's not. John Boyne's book The Thief of Time has the same premise: man stops aging at some point, only in Boyne's book he seems to be the only one like this, and the reader eventually figures out what might actually be going on, which is somewhat clever.

What I like about the Haig book is that it deals with the modern problem of establishing a new identity every few years, which the Boyne book totally ignores, which made that one far, far less believable.

Anyway, at this point I recommend the Haig book, don't recommend the Boyne one.

[Atticus]

8. Besides Trump's "National Emergency Declaration"? nt

[exboyfil]

10. Necroscope 3: The Source

by Brian Lumley. Reliving the Cold War with vampires. Now in audiobook while I walk and shovel snow.

[SeattleVet]

11. Island of the Sequined Love Nun

Another of Christopher Moore's works. Roberto the fruit bat has been playing a key role in this one, too, along with a cast of assorted characters that mostly appear to be the type that are diagonally parked in a parallel universe.

How have I been missing out for the past several years? I only recently heard of him.

[japple]

12. Thank you for the weekly thread, hermetic. Condolences on the death of your computer.

I downloaded Country of the Bad Wolfes by James Carlos Blake from the library e-book collection. Unfortunately, I didn't have time to finish (466 pages) before it expired, however, it is available on amazon for $3.82, which is quite a bargain.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B006T3IIKQ/ref=dbs_a_def_rwt_hsch_vapi_tkin_p1_i1

Country of the Bad Wolfes by James Carlos Blake

Basing the novel partly on his own ancestors, Blake presents the story of the Wolfe family — spanning three generations, centering on two sets of identical twins and the women they love, and ranging from New England to the heart of Mexico before arriving at its powerful climax at the Rio Grande.

Begat by an Irish-English pirate in New Hampshire in 1828, the Wolfe family follows its manifest destiny into war-torn Mexico. There, through the connection of a mysterious American named Edward Little, their fortunes intertwine with those of Porfirio Díaz, who will rule the country for more than thirty years before his overthrow by the Revolution of 1910. In the course of those tumultuous chapters in American and Mexican history, as Díaz grows in power, the Wolfes grow rich and forge a violent history of their own, spawning a fearsome legacy that will pursue them to a climactic reckoning at the Río Grande.

[hermetic]

14. Thanks!

Today I got a rebuilt Mac Book so I am back in the saddle again. See ya Sunday!

[japple]

15. Congrats and happy typing!

[Ohiya]

13. Newcomer by Keigo Higashino

This is my second experience reading one of Higashino's books. According to the flyleaf he is the bestselling and most widely read novelist in Japan.

It's another mystery and I am enjoying it.