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

[hermetic]

All done with your holiday shopping?

I'm reading Miracle and Other Christmas Stories by Connie Willis. Fun stuff. Miracle was first published in 1991 so I about choked when I read that one of the characters pulled out a calculator, shaped like Donald tRump!

Still listening to Jo Nesbo's The Son. Good story.

What books will you be shopping around for?

[violetpastille]

1. I'm reading

"The Road" By Cormac Mc Carthy.

On the non-fiction side:

"The More Beautiful World Our Hearts Know is Possible" Reading it over and over again. And over again.
"The Yoga of Eating"
Both of these by Charles Eisenstein.

[hermetic]

6. I like this quote

“One of the ways that your project, your personal healing, or your social invention can change the world is through story. But even if no one ever learns of it, even if it is invisible to every human on Earth, it will have no less of an effect.”
― Charles Eisenstein, The More Beautiful World Our Hearts Know Is Possible

[violetpastille]

25. That's a pretty good summation of the book! n/t

[dameatball]

2. "The Wheels of Darkness" by Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child

I am enjoyably working my way through the Agent Pendergast series.

[Little Star]

4. I'm not reading it yet but....

I've pre-ordered the latest in Jonathan Kellerman's Alex Delaware series ~ The Wedding Guest.

It's not due out until Feb 5th.

[dameatball]

7. For no real reason I have never read any of the Delaware series. I probably should.

[hermetic]

8. He is a great character

That one goes a ways back, 2007. A luxury ocean liner on its maiden voyage across the North Atlantic, awash in wealth and decadence... Oh yeah.

[dameatball]

9. Ha! That is the same setting of the Pendergast book I am reading. Murder, robbery, terror and some

Last edited Sun Dec 16, 2018, 02:40 PM - Edit history (1)

occult to boot. Begins in an ancient monastery in the Himalayas then continues on to a maiden voyage of the new luxury liner "Britannia" from London to New York.

[matt819]

3. Got a few on the go

Just finished listening to the latest Andy Carpenter novel from David Rosenfelt. I've read or listened to all of them. Extremely light reading, and a lot of fun. Still don't like New Jersey.

Listening to Gale Force by Owen Laukkanen. Bearer bonds. Yakuza. Cut throat salvage business. Spunky female tugboat operator with cliched crew and tugboat cat. Pretty good thriller. Hope the good guys prevail.

Reading Not That I Could Tell by Jessica Strawser. Mystery/thriller. Mom disappears with her two kids. She's probably still alive, but fearful of someone. Maybe her husband. Maybe someone else. Lesson so far is to stay away from suburbs in Ohio. These people are fucked up. I'll keep going.

Also reading: The Infinite Blacktop by Sara Gran. Odd story so far. This appears to be the second or third in a series. Not quite sure whether it's quirky or tongue in cheek. I'll get back to it after the Strawser book.

Finished a few days ago: The Silver Bear by Derek Haas. Haas is a novelist, screenwriter, etc. The writing is, well, nothing to write home about, but the story is a page turner. The Silver Bear is an assassin who kind of stumbled into the profession. It's light in parts, but not a comedy. Lots of people die. I think this is the first in the series. I'll read the others.

[hermetic]

10. Was that Deck the Hounds?

This Christmas mystery, featuring criminal defense lawyer Andy Carpenter and his faithful golden retriever, Tara, showcases Rosenfelt’s trademark humor and larger-than-life characters.

Oh, I want to read that! And coincidentally, someone just used the picture from that cover in a Twitter feed of cute animals. Must be a sign...

[matt819]

13. Yes- (nt)

[RainCaster]

5. No fiction right now

I'm still digesting Bob Woodwards new book on DFT. Great writing, but a painful read because of the subject matter.

[hermetic]

11. Yeah,

I can imagine. Be brave!

[exboyfil]

26. If Stephen King had wrote it as fiction

Then it would be in the horror section.

In 100 years it will be in the black comedy section.

[pscot]

12. High Window (Hi Hermetic)

by Raymond Chandler. my library is closed for renovation so I'm rummaging my bookshelves for reading material right now. I have P.G.Wodehouse, Borges, Turgenev and Gilgamesh on my night stand right now.

[hermetic]

15. That's good

That you have so much to choose from at home. I never heard of a library completely closing before. You'd think maybe they'd set up a giant bookmobile or something. Maybe give you access to another library. Hope they're not closed for too long and that the renovations make the place much nicer.

[pscot]

23. Branch Library

They're getting new carpeting among other improvements. It will be done by the New Year so it's only a couple of weeks. There are actually 4 branches here on the island, but my hold list was depleted anyway so it's not much of an inconvenience.

[Dark n Stormy Knight]

14. Just finished Sense & Sensibility.

Moving on to Pride & Prejudice. I've seen some of the films based on Jane Austen's books, but never read the books.

I actually listened to S & S on audio book and liked it so much I got the book our of the library and read it. Then I got the annotated version of it and P & P out of the library. Perhaps my OCD is implicated in this.

[hermetic]

16. I suspect

being obsessed with Jane Austen is not a rare thing. You're among many.

[pansypoo53219]

35. almost the same. i finished all of austin. read emma last. time for pride & p.

then back to my 1891 encyclopedias + my famous orations 1908 set.

[Wawannabe]

17. Audio book this week

The Last Dragonslayer
Jasper Fforde

[hermetic]

18. From a nice review I read

"It takes a special kind of reader to appreciate a Jasper Fforde novel: A reader who is not afraid to believe in the impossible, who is not afraid to accept even the most eccentric set-ups, a reader who revels in the imagination and creativity that stems from the mind of one of the most creative contemporary authors."

I've put it on my list.

[Wawannabe]

22. It is my first Fforde

I just got a new to me CD player so borrowed the audio from the library.
I have listened to audio stories in the car on commutes but haven’t done that in many yrs. This one has a decent narrator.

People talking about audio on your thread reminded me that I did get into some of those stories.

I am not far in yet but it is developing and has sort of a cheery main character named Jennifer Strange.
Cheers

[PoorMonger]

19. The Hangman ( Baxter & Fawkes # 2) by Daniel Cole

A detective with no one to trust

A killer with nothing to lose

Detective Emily Baxter is still reeling from the Ragdoll case, and from the disappearance of her friend William “Wolf” Fawkes. Despite her reluctance to jump into another gruesome case, she’s summoned to a meeting of a new FBI/CIA/UK law enforcement task force in New York. There, she is presented with photographs of the latest copycat murder: a body contorted into a familiar pose, strung up from the Brooklyn Bridge, the word “BAIT” carved deep into its chest.

As the media pressure intensifies, Baxter is ordered to assist with the investigation and attend the scene of another murder, again with a victim inscribed with a word—“PUPPET.”

The murders continue to grow in spectacle and depravity on both sides of the Atlantic, and the team helplessly plays catch-up. Baxter must shake off the grief and fear that have paralyzed her for the last year so she can stop another terrible killer before it’s too late.

[hermetic]

20. Pretty grim stuff...

[demigoddess]

21. anything Stephen King wrote. New book and old ones. any one I can get my hands on.

[hermetic]

45. Well,

that should keep you busy for a while. Years even...

[TexasProgresive]

24. "Hidden Depths" a Vera novel by Ann Cleeves

Just in the opening chapters, so far so good.

[hermetic]

37. My library

has 4 of her older books so I will be checking those out soon. Hopefully this will encourage them to add some of her newer ones, at least in the Overdrive selections.

[exboyfil]

27. Brother by Ania Ahlborn

Deadman's Road by Joe Lansdale
The Thicket by Joe Lansdale

continuing my horror kick this year

[hermetic]

38. Yeah,

Those would certainly seem to fill that bill.

Ha! I looked up Deadman's Road and the first thing it says is, "Deadwood meets Cthulhu." (I'm quite familiar with both. )

[exboyfil]

43. Actually it turned out to be pretty disappointing

Same with Brother. I started The Thicket, and it began as a conventional western with people doing horrible things to each other. I decided to move on from horror and dumped it off my phone.

I am now trying non-fiction science for a while. Loaded The Equations of Life by Charles S. Cockell. I am starting on an evolution/cosmology/speculative xenobiology kick. I am also reading After the Dinosaurs by Donald R. Prothero, and I just got done reading Universe in Creation by Roy Gould.

[Jane Austin]

28. Just finished The Late Show,

from a new series by Michael Connelly, and am now listening to A Trick of the Light from Louise Penney's Inspector Gamache series.

Wonderful!

I had to beg off our Thanksgiving shindig owing to tummy trouble. Everyone felt sorry for me.

But I got to spend Thanksgiving and the day after with Michelle Obama reading her wonderful Becoming right in my two ears.

I enjoyed every moment of my Thanksgiving.

[argyl]

34. I'm halfway into Connelly's latest,Dark Sacred Night.

[Jane Austin]

36. Is Detective Ballard in that one?

I like her as the new heroine of this series.

[exboyfil]

42. Yes I started it

and then went back and read The Late Show to get her backstory.

[argyl]

48. Yep, she is. Her and Bosch are partnering on a particular case.

[hermetic]

39. Hope you got some good leftovers

Sounds like a wonderful way to spend any day.

Great selections, all around there.

[AlexSFCA]

29. I cant read any fiction since 2016

[hermetic]

47. That's too bad

Fiction is a great way to escape the insanity of our current reality. Literary fiction is good for your brain (see pinned article below). Your choice, of course.

[lordsummerisle]

30. Dead Souls

Ian Rankin

[hermetic]

44. Ian ranks

among my most favored writers.

[doc03]

31. Do the editorials in the local republicon paper count? nt

[hermetic]

46. Nah

That's a discussion better suited to the Bat Crap Crazy Forum, which I don't think we have here.

[Srkdqltr]

32. Very deep read.

Look Alive 25 by Janet Evanovich. Can't read this in public .

[hermetic]

41. Because this happens?

I agree.

[Srkdqltr]

52. Because there is no way to explain why I am Laughing.

[AdamGG]

33. The Fourth Hand - John Irving

Haven't read any John Irving for 30 years, glad this caught my eye in the bookstore.

[hermetic]

40. Sounds like a good choice

"John Irving has written a novel that is by turns brilliantly comic and emotionally moving, offering a penetrating look at the power of second chances and the will to change."

[Number9Dream]

49. "Wishin' and Hopin'" by Wally Lamb

If you like Jean Shepherd's "A Christmas Story, you'll probably like this story too. Lamb's holiday tale focuses on a feisty Catholic school fifth grader named Felix Funicello - a distant cousin of Annette Funicello. Both poignant and very funny, Wishin' and Hopin' transports us back to October, November, and December of 1964. This was even funnier the second time.

[hermetic]

53. Yeah,

that one is pretty close to the top of my must-get books. Soon....

Wishin' and hopin' you have a very merry Christmas!

[PoindexterOglethorpe]

50. Right now I'm reading

The Long Weekend by Adrian Tinniswood which is non fiction, about English country houses between the world wars. It's reasonably interesting, but is filled with names of architects and decorators and nobility and landed gentry I've never heard of. Still, it's a window into a long gone way of life.

[trixie2]

51. Just finished The Wednesday Sisters and now reading A Well Behaved Woman

Wednesday Sisters - great novel about a group of women across time. We see a lot of women's issues come to light. Excellent!

A Well Behaved Woman - novel about Alva Vanderbilt and NYC circa late 19th century. Very good.