What Fiction are you reading this week, Oct. 25, 2020?

[hermetic]

Bon jour.

Bibliothèque nationale de France, Paris

Hell is empty. All the devils are here. Opening lines from Louise Penny's latest, All the Devils Are Here. That sounds like it could be about the U.S. right now, but no. Instead, Chief Inspector Gamache of the Sûreté du Quebec is back and investigating a sinister plot while visiting Paris. Coincidentally, I just finished reading The Bones of Paris. Seems I can't get away from the sinister side of the City of Light.

Listening to Gods of Guilt by Michael Connelly. Lawyers and drug cartels in L A.

Hope you can have a safe and fun Halloween.

[niyad]

1. Orange trait.or's health plan.

[Srkdqltr]

2. I read All The Devils are Here just before reading Sarah's Key. not sure I would like Paris 😁😁

[hermetic]

4. I just started it

so I don't know how bad it's going to seem. But I spent some time there back in the 80s and thought it was pretty neat. I'd go back.

[Srkdqltr]

6. I won't be a spoiler but they were both worth reading.

[hermetic]

9. Oh gosh,

Sarah's Key sounds really good...

"PARIS, JULY 1942: Sarah, a ten-year-old girl, is taken with her parents by the French police as they go door-to-door arresting Jewish families in the middle of the night. Desperate to protect her younger brother, Sarah locks him in a bedroom cupboard - their secret hiding place - and promises to come back for him as soon as they are released."

[The King of Prussia]

3. "The Sinking Admiral"

by various members of The Detection Club. A collaborative effort - and it's a bit patchy. Next up will be "Death of an Avid Reader" by Frances Brody. I'm sure there's a joke to be made about that title, but things are too grim for joking at the moment.

[hermetic]

5. Oh my.

Yes, I get what you are saying. I find my sense of humor getting harder to rouse up, too. And that's just not like me at all.

Sounds like a good story, though, what with a haunted library and all.

[SheltieLover]

7. Dead Giveaway by Leann Sweeny

It is okish, but not compelling. I've been at it for several days.

[hermetic]

21. The title is compelling enough

I guess that's why there are about a dozen other books also using it.

Well, it's not terribly long so you've probably finished it by now and moved on to something more interesting. Read on.

[SheltieLover]

22. It's okish...

No, I'm still reading it. Sort of. Lol

[Ohiogal]

8. Thanks a Lot, Mr. Kibblewhite

This is a bio of Roger Daltrey from The Who

I’m findings it very readable ... I enjoy biographies of rock stars

Bruce Springsteen’s was one of my favorites

[hermetic]

10. He explains here

Where the title came from. Good stuff...

&ab_channel=CBSThisMorning

[cilla4progress]

11. Still reading Follett's The Evening and The Morning

(915 pgs. long!).

Written in 2020, it is a political statement on the drumpf era of corruption and sadism!

[hermetic]

12. Yikes

I guess that's one "good" thing about 2020. It's given writers new villains and evil scenarios to write about.

[cilla4progress]

13. Well, it's interesting, hermetic..

I got the book because I was fortunate to see the Bayeux tapestry, which depicts the Norman conquest, in person a couple years ago. I read that it is the "prequel" to a trilogy(?) of Follett's. It's good reading. Well-researched. Not high literature, by any means.

Well, there is so much corruption and sadism in the story. As I read it (600 pages in, now) I thought - I need to double-check the copyright. Sure enough - 2020!

The corrupt characters are political (church) leaders. It all rings a very large bell!

[hermetic]

14. Oh, I see

This is the prequel to Pillars of the Earth and he just wrote it, years after the Pillars.

It would be awesome to see the tapestry. A rare opportunity.

[Ohiya]

15. I'm also "visiting" Paris...

Maigret's Childhood Friend - Georges Simenon

[hermetic]

20. Now I understand...

Had to look this up. When I first saw it, I saw 'Magritte' so was thinking Georges was Rene's childhood friend. But what book is it?

Actually, Maigret's Childhood Friend is the 69th book in a series of 75 about Inspector Maigret.
I tell ya, getting old ain't easy.

[Staph]

16. Heads You Win, by Jeffrey Archer

Alexander Karpenko is a teenager in late 1960s Leningrad. His father is murdered by the KGB for trying to start a trade union, so Alexander and his mother escape on a cargo ship. But there are two ships available during the window of time when they can escape, so they flip a coin to decide which one to hide on.

From this point on, the story splits. Alexander, now called Sasha, and his mother get on the ship to England; Alexander, now called Alex, and his mother flee to America. Their various stories are split by chapter, as we get to see how the young man's life is altered by his circumstances.

I'm fascinated!

(FYI - I read All The Devils Are Here last week. I enjoy the Inspector Gamache books, but this one was a little darker than usual. And I read The Evening And The Morning the week before. I love all of the Pillars Of The Earth books, which I guess are now refered to as the Kingsbridge Series. I get a lot of great recommendations from the Fiction Group!)

[hermetic]

18. That does sound fascinating

Thanks for the great synopsis. This is a good place for book finds. Some very awesome people post here. I am so grateful for you all.

[Atticus]

17. Beau Geste. nt

[hermetic]

19. There's an oldie

but a goodie, as they say. Hope you are enjoying it and I am really pleased that you are here. I read your posts all the time and I feel your anguish about what's going on. Books offer such a great relief from the every day stress and that's why we get together here every week. So, welcome.

[matt819]

23. Let's see

Last week I finished the latest from Val McDermid, How the Dead Speak.

Tony's in jail, Carol is out of the police, so that's a twist. The new head of her old unit is a moron, as are the new hires. The old stand-bys are still there - Paula and Stacey - and there's some comfort in that, but without Tony and Carol the investigation is more muddled than it needs to be. Val McDermid is big on forensics, and there is lots of forensics involved, but the crimes are mostly solved by legwork, interviewing suspects, etc., usually by the old crew. So, a good read, but a little disappointing.

I'm doing a bit of slogging through the next one in the series by Arnaldur Indidason, Arctic Chill, about the murder of an immigrant teenager. Indidason does a great job capturing the conflict between Icelanders and immigrants. Sort of the American story under trump but on a more human scale. I think there are five more to go to catch up.

I finally finished listening to the uncut version of The Stand by Stephen King, around 36 hours. What's remarkable is that he wrote this book in the late 70s and early 80s, and yet it resonates today, probably because of the pandemic. He doesn't address the political component of his pandemic but rather the impact of the (much worse than Covid) pandemic on the ground. I have mixed feelings about watching the new mini-series of the book. This may not be "classic" Stephen King, but it's definitely work the time.

Now listening to Crooked Letter, Crooked Letter by Tom Franklin. Almost finished. It's a tremendously depressing book. Don't get me wrong. It's well written, a good story, great character development complete with baggage, flaws, etc. I'm not sure how realistic is his portrayal of black-white relations in Mississippi in the 70s and 80s, but it strikes me as plausible, complete with mixed relationships. ingrained and unrepentant racism, etc. The "present" is the early 2000s, and the way Franklin discussed racial issues in the context of the more recent period is subtle. I haven't read Tom Franklin before, and so I don't know if this is is "thing," but IMHO you can't go wrong giving this a try. I'll try his other books, though none is available on audio from my library.

I have four books out from the library now so that I have something else to pick up when I finish the Indridason book:
The Less Dead by Denise Mina
The Mountains Wild by Sarah Stewart Taylor
Braised Pork by An Yu
Under Pressure by Robert Pobi

Not sure which one will get the nod - probably Denise Mina, though I think this is a standalone.