What Fiction are you reading this week, September 16, 2018?

[hermetic]

Still reading Lamb by Christopher Moore. Such a great story. Feels like it's taking almost as long to read as the Bible, but it's a whole lot more fun.

Listening to The Girl on the Train by Paula Hawkins. I saw the movie once but slept through most of it, I guess, as I can't remember much of it. I know many people don't like this book but it is easy to listen to as I work in the kitchen. Plus, it was the only book available right now from my Overdrive library. That has certainly become extremely popular.

What's popular with you right now?

[dameatball]

1. "Sword Song: The Battle For London" by Bernard Cornwell

And I agree about "Lamb." That was a fun read.

[hermetic]

3. This is, evidently,

a very popular series you are reading. Sounds like it would make a great movie, too.

[Ohiogal]

2. I thought

"The Girl on the Train" movie was confusing, and I read the book first! ( I enjoyed the book)

I had to keep trying to explain the plot to my husband, who had not read the book and was totally lost watching the movie with me.

I am still working on "The Whore's Child" collection of short stories by Richard Russo.

[bobbieinok]

5. Novels about the Jacobite rebellion of 18th century by Patricia Veryan

[hermetic]

6. Oh good

So it's not just me then.

Russo has a good book/movie, Nobody's Fool. Movie stars Paul Newman! Thanks for the reminder. I just found that in Overdrive's audio books.

[tymorial]

4. I am rereading the Well World books by Jack Chalker

My dad introduced them to me when I was a kid. I came across Midnight In The Well Of Souls the other day while cleaning out my storage unit.

[hermetic]

7. How fun!

Mr. Chalker has written a ton of books.

[tymorial]

8. Yes I've always liked him and he died far too young

I think I'll pick up the Four Lord of The Diamonds next

[shenmue]

9. Fear, Bob Woodward

[hermetic]

12. Hi, shen

Always nice to 'see' you.

[shenmue]

15. Thank you

[murielm99]

10. Set in Darkness,

by Ian Rankin. It is part of the John Rebus series.

[hermetic]

11. How'd I miss this one?

I thought I'd read all the Rebus novels but this doesn't sound familiar. Guess I'll have to look for it as it sounds great and I do love Rankin's writing. Thanks.

[murielm99]

13. Our library missed this one, too.

I bought it so I can donate the book to them after I finish it.

I learn so much about Edinburgh and Scotland when I read these books. Also, I spend some time looking up their colloquial language use. It is interesting.

[hermetic]

14. Me too

I am mostly of Scottish heritage so am always looking for stuff from there. My mom got to visit there some years ago and I sure would love to do the same.

[TexasProgresive]

17. Thank you I love John Rebus. I never heard of this one.

[hermetic]

18. You either, huh?

How odd. Oh well, something good for us to look forward to.

[TexasProgresive]

16. Rereading Robert Jordan's "New Spring" The prequel or 1st of the Wheel of Time

Dead Eye by Mark Greaney was good. The copy I have has a yellow circle on it with "I love the Gray Man." - Lee Child. I guess he would there are similarities with the Jack Reacher novels. Anyway it was a good read.

[hermetic]

19. Dead Eye

This one looks very popular. High praise from Lee Child. Another reviewer said, "the only thing wrong with this book is that it ends."

Ex-CIA master assassin Court Gentry has always prided himself on his ability to disappear at will, to fly below the radar and exist in the shadows -- to survive as the near-mythical Gray Man. But when he takes revenge upon a former employer who betrayed him, he exposes himself to something he’s never had to face before.

[japple]

20. Finished Taylor Brown's book, Fallen Land, which I thoroughly enjoyed. Several people have compared

his writing style to Charles Frazier's, an author whose work I dearly love. It is mesmerizing and dreamy. Once you find your way into the story, it carries you away. I have a friend who is visiting in Colorado and recently met Charles Frazier in a book store. She told him how mad she got at the ending of Cold Mountain! I am sure he was amused, if he could get in a word edgewise. Sally does go on...

By coincidence, I got a notice from the library saying that an e-copy of Varina by Charles Frazier had been automatically checked out to me, so I started it a couple days ago. Already, it's a very engaging story.

Thanks for the thread, hermetic, as usual. You are a wonderful host.

[hermetic]

21. Aw, thanks

You are a wonderful guest. You always bring interesting topics. Varina, for instance.

Teenage Varina Howell agrees to wed the much-older widower Jefferson Davis, with whom she expects the secure life of a Mississippi landowner. Davis instead pursues a career in politics and is eventually appointed president of the Confederacy, placing Varina at the white-hot center of one of the darkest moments in American history.

That sounds like a great story and I'm happy to see my library has it. So,

p.s. Your fig recipes sound wonderful.

[The King of Prussia]

22. "The Killing of Polly Carter"

The second spin off novel from the "Death in Paradise" TV series. Light-hearted, inconsequential and totally wonderful so far.

[hermetic]

24. Sounds delightful

That TV series is one I would like to see someday. Right up my alley.

Robert Parker has written a ton of books. Mostly mysteries, it appears, but also some westerns. edit: (Oops, seems it was Robert Thorogood who wrote that book. He has written a few himself.)

[hostalover]

23. The Children Act by Ian McEwan

It's a small book, very fast reading. Also very good and thought-provoking. However, I will NOT be seeing the movie!
Also finished The Private Life of Mrs. Sharma by R. Kapur. This was a different kind of book for me with an ending that I should have seen coming, but I'm never very good at that!

[hermetic]

25. Love Ian McEwan

His books are always so interesting. Not I movie I want to see, either.

[Eliot Rosewater]

26. this

https://www.democraticunderground.com/100211145190


Not the OP, just saying it is FICTION if anyone thinks the GOP will do the right thing for ANY reason...

[hermetic]

29. Sadly,

I think you're right.

[matt819]

27. Just a few

Finished Dead Man Running by Steve Hamilton over the weekend. I pretty much knew how it would turn out, but it was still a page turner.

Catching up on the Monkeewrench series by mother-daughter team P.J. Tracy, starting with number 5: Shoot to Thrill. Interesting cast of characters. Maybe I wasn't focused enough, but I found the first few pages a bit confusing. Somebody was being killed, but I couldn't figure out the details. Apart from that, it's proceeding apace.

Listening to Brief Cases, a Jim Butcher Dresden Files entry. I liked watching the series but haven't read the books. I should probably have started at the beginning, but that's okay. I'm enjoying the first story in the collection. Butcher clearly has a fun time writing these.

[hermetic]

31. Kewl, 2003 Minneapolis

I was there then. So I want to read this now: "People are dying for the new computer game by the software company Monkeewrench. Literally. With Serial Killer Detective out in limited release, the real-life murders of a jogger and a young woman have already mimicked the first two scenarios in the game."

This sounds like fun, too: "An all-new Dresden Files story headlines this urban fantasy short story collection starring the Windy City’s favorite wizard. The world of Harry Dresden, Chicago’s only professional wizard, is rife with intrigue -- and creatures of all supernatural stripes. And you’ll make their intimate acquaintance as Harry delves into the dark side of truth, justice, and the American way in this must-have short story collection.

[matt819]

28. Question for this group

I vaguely recall that the non-fiction group had similar weekly what-are-you-reading-this-week threads. Long time ago. I just popped over to that group and saw that it was generally very quiet.

Why is non-fiction not as active as fiction? I guess I can understand it. I'm a big fiction reader, though every once in a while I pick up non-fiction. I may not finish it, but I wouldn't mind commenting on what I'm reading and recommending to others.

In any case, this might be heresy, but what about allowing (encouraging? grudgingly tolerating?) posters here to include non-fiction recommendations on the weekly fiction thread?

[hermetic]

32. Oh we do/have done

If you search back through, you will find several instances when someone talked about a non-fiction they were reading. I think it was originally set up this way to avoid overloads.

Often the line between fiction and non is a thin one.

Anyone could start a discussion in the non-fiction group at any time. You could even volunteer to be a host there although that certainly wouldn't be necessary.

[Raster]

30. Brett Kavanaugh's Senate Judicial Committee testimony.

[hermetic]

33. Yeah?

Well how did you get to read all that when no one else got access? Hmmm?

[Raster]

34. I could tell you the story...

...alas, that too would be fiction.

[pansypoo53219]

35. i am basically off all fiction since i got 3 free 1903 encyclopedia britannicas.

but i just finished jane austin's 'other' books. started rereading persuasion. so i am doing them all. then back to my 1908 set of famous orations.

[PoorMonger]

36. It All Falls Down by Sheena Kamal {Nora Watts #2}

The brilliant, fearless, deeply flawed Nora Watts—introduced in the "utterly compelling" (Jeffery Deaver) atmospheric thriller The Lost Ones—finds deadly trouble as she searches for the truth about her late father in this immersive thriller that moves from the hazy Canadian Pacific Northwest to the gritty, hollowed streets of Detroit.

Growing up, Nora Watts only knew one parent—her father. When he killed himself, she denied her grief and carried on with her life. Then a chance encounter with a veteran who knew him raises disturbing questions Nora can’t ignore—and dark emotions she can’t control. To make her peace with the past, she has to confront it.

Finding the truth about her father’s life and his violent death takes her from Vancouver to Detroit where Sam Watts grew up, far away from his people and the place of his birth. Thanks to a disastrous government policy starting in the 1950s, thousands of Canadian native children like Sam were adopted by American families. In the Motor City, Nora discovers that the circumstances surrounding Sam’s suicide are more unsettling than she’d imagined.

Yet no matter how far away Nora gets from Vancouver, she can’t shake trouble. Back in the Pacific Northwest, former police detective turned private investigator Jon Brazuca is looking into the overdose death of a billionaire’s mistress. His search uncovers a ruthless opiate ring and a startling connection to Nora, the infuriatingly distant woman he’d once tried to befriend. He has no way to warn or protect her, because she’s become a ghost, vanishing completely off the grid.

Focused on the mysterious events of her father’s past and the clues they provide to her own fractured identity and that of her estranged daughter, Nora may not be able to see the danger heading her way until it’s too late. But it’s not her father’s old ties that could get her killed—it’s her own.

[PoorMonger]

37. The Drama Teacher by Koren Zailckas

By the New York Times bestselling author of Mother, Mother and Smashed comes a propulsive new thriller: the story of a desperate and devious woman who will do anything to give her family a better life

Gracie Mueller is a proud mother of two and devoted wife, living with her husband Randy in upstate New York. Her life is complicated by the usual tedium and stressors—young children, marriage, money—and she’s settled down comfortably enough. But when Randy’s failing career as a real estate agent makes finances tight, their home goes into foreclosure, and Gracie feels she has no choice but to return to the creatively illegal and high-stakes lifestyle of her past in order to keep all that she’s worked so hard to have. Gracie, underneath all that’s marked her life as average, has a lot to hide about where she’s from, who she is, and who she’s been. And when things inevitably begin to spin out of her control, more questions about the truth of her past are raised, including all the ones she never meant to, or even knew to, ask.

Written with the style, energy, and penetrating insight that made her memoir Smashed a phenomenon, Koren Zailckas's next novel confirms her growing reputation as a psychological novelist that can stand up to the best of them.