What are you reading the week of August 3rd, 2014?

[Enthusiast]

I just finished The Rosie Project by Graeme Simsion.

Several of you had read the Rosie Project so I ordered it from my local library. I found it to be highly entertaining—it made me laugh. I loved the characters. I believe my wife will find it appealing too. So thank you, SheilaT.

I have just started Stephen King's Mr. Mercedes.

[shenmue]

1. "The Remains of an Altar," Phil Rickman

Creepy mystery in the English countryside.

[Enthusiast]

4. Shenmue, I think we all like those creepy mysteries set in the English countryside.

England is just the best for a creepy countryside.

[shenmue]

6. Yeah :)

I just picture spiky trees and owls going "Hoot-whoot-hooo."

[canoeist52]

2. "Parable of the Sower"- by Octavia E. Butler

Prophetic for 1993 and painful to read. Begins in 2024 and accurately portrays the current drought in California and subsequent conflicts over the value of water. Also depicts the end results of corporate greed and slave wages.

But it also show the possible resilience of the next generation that never knew the better days of their parents.

"Parable of the Sower" is the first in a two-book series of science fiction novels, published in 1993.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parable_of_the_Sower_%28novel%29

"Set in a future where government has all but collapsed, Parable of the Sower centers on a young woman named Lauren Olamina who possesses what Butler dubbed hyperempathy – the ability to feel the perceived pain and other sensations of others – who develops a benign philosophical and religious system during her childhood in the remnants of a gated community in Los Angeles. Civil society has reverted to relative anarchy due to resource scarcity and poverty. When the community's security is compromised, her home is destroyed and her family murdered. She travels north with some survivors to try to start a community where her religion, called Earthseed, can grow."

[Enthusiast]

3. That sounds quite imaginative.

I will be interested to hear how you liked it when you are finished.

[canoeist52]

5. Just finished it last night. I'm waiting for the second book from the library.

It's well worth the time even though it depicts the brutality of reduced life circumstances. You always carry hope along with sadness of this group on their trek North.

[TexasProgresive]

7. Still reading "Playing for the Ashes" E. George

If I finish it I will start Ben H. Winters final installment of the Last Policeman. Can't wait to see how he takes out the world.

[shenmue]

8. Elizabeth George is cool

[TexasProgresive]

9. One of the things I like about her writing

is that she uses words that I've never read before. True some are British usage but some would be at home in American English- this woman has a love for the language.

The latest is from Playing for the Ashes. The passed a pentechnicon, a hearse, and an army lorry with solders riding on benches in the back.

Pentechnicon-a van used for the removal of furniture, formerly horse drawn. Who knew.

[shenmue]

10. Neat!

[scarletwoman]

11. Having run out of Scandinavian crime novels, I've moved on to Ann Cleeves,

and her Shetland Island series.

She has three other series as well, but I decided to start with the Shetland Islands because the locale seemed so intriguing.

Because they're all coming in via interlibrary loan, I've not been able to get them in order. So, I finished #3 of the series last week, and am nearly finished with #4 - hoping #s 1, 2, & 5 will show up later this week. #6 is a 2014 release, so it may take awhile. In the meantime, since I like what I've read so far, I'll probably dig back through the older series in her catalogue.

I need some kind of steady fix for awhile, while I wait for the English translations of the newest releases by my beloved Scandinavians. I've been waiting for Arnaldur Indriðason's Strange Shores for, like, FOREVER!!!!

[Enthusiast]

12. I had to look at the Shetland Islands on Google Earth.

[scarletwoman]

13. I don't suppose you happened to notice how close they are to Norway...

[Enthusiast]

14. About as close as they are to Scotland.

And the ponies are suspiciously similar to Icelandic ponies.

[closeupready]

15. 'Adam', by Ted Dekker - a thriller/suspense book - not perfect

He could have used a better editor, IMHO, and the underlying story seems to stretch the bounds of poetic license, but it's genuinely creepy and moves fast. A bit dark - and many thrillers have to strike a balance between entertaining and scary and in the process, many authors seem to go too much one way or the other, instead of striking the right balance - this one seems on the dark side.

[randr]

16. "Tibetan Peach Pie" Tom Robbins memoir

Just finished "Fierce Invalids Home from Hot Climates" classic Robbins hilarity