What Fiction are you reading this week, August 4, 2019?

[hermetic]

(That sort of looks like a metaphor for our country right now.)

I’ve just started Carter and Lovecraft by Jonathan Howard and I really like it so far. Very intriguing beginning: a rather curious case of suicide. Or was it?

Listening to The Cat Who Sang for the Birds by Lillian Jackson Braun. Meet prizewinning reporter, Jim Qwilleran, and his extraordinary Siamese cats, Koko and Yum Yum--the most unlikely, most unusual, most delightful team in detective fiction!

I also just listened to The Private Life of the Cat Who-- tales of Koko and Yum Yum, a short recording lending a glimpse into the personal lives of the two Siamese. They are so funny. My thanks, again, to Number9Dream for recommending this series.

Any fiction you’d like to recommend this week? Or not?

[trev]

1. "11/22/63," by Stephen King.

The jacket blurb led me to believe it was an alternate-reality look at the JFK assassination. While it is that, it is much, much more.

[dameatball]

3. Sounds interesting. Thanks.

[Cousin Dupree]

6. I don't care for many Stephen King books, but this one was highly recommended. I really liked it

[trev]

14. He's hit-or-miss for me. nt

[dameatball]

2. "The Obsidian Chamber" by Preston & Child. Approx. # 15 in the Pendergast series.

I have read every novel in the series since "Relic" and this is by far the weakest effort IMO. The evil genius brother, Diogenes, character has become extremely tedious. I'm 219 pages in so I may as well finish it.

[hermetic]

4. That's a shame.

Looks like a lot of people agree with you, too. (glancing at reviews)

Preston has written an interesting article about author doppelganging, which

occurs when someone starts publishing books just like yours, using your name, in order to game Amazon’s search algorithms. I write a series of thrillers with a partner named Lincoln Child, and our nom de plume is “Preston & Child.” Half a dozen years ago, an entity named “Preston Child” started publishing thrillers amazingly like ours, with similar covers and titles.

For years, Amazon’s algorithms mingled the books of “Preston Child” along with our books, as if they were by the same author. Our publisher investigated and was unable to confirm the existence of Preston Child. (It’s next to impossible to prove someone doesn’t exist.) It took Amazon several years before it adjusted its algorithms to distinguish “Preston Child” from “Preston & Child.”

https://azdailysun.com/opinion/online-book-selling-scams-steal-a-living-from-writers/article_b2a7795f-89ff-56ed-939f-3622f9fcdbcc.html

Doesn't seem to be the case here, though. Still, made me wonder.

[dameatball]

7. I think prolific authors can eventually become sort of stuck in a formula for success. Their books

often have a certain rhythm which, while effective, can become a problem when a reader has read many of that author's works. I remember picking up a book and after getting several dozen pages into it asking myself "Hey, haven't I read this one already?" I have had that feeling with authors such as Tom Clancy, Louis L'Amour (back in the day), even Stephen King, to some extent. Randy Wayne White was getting that way a bit, but he seemingly has taken a hiatus. Looking forward to his new book in 2020.

[japple]

5. Many thanks for the weekly thread, hermetic! I have just started reading Richard Powers' book

The Overstory and am blown away by the beauty and strength he brings to every page. It is awe-inspiring.

I finished reading Colson Whitehead's book, The Nickel Boys last week and cannot recommend it highly enough. I have put this on one the "Best Books of 2019" thread.

[hermetic]

10. I saw you did that.

I suspect that book will show up on many best-of-2019 lists.

Yes, I loved The Overstory. So much in that book I totally agree with. And so very sad.

[Cousin Dupree]

8. Outliers: The Story of Success by Malcolm Gladwell. Thought provoking, easy to read.

I Found it fascinating. It introduces you to components of success that you may never ever have considered. Oops. I forgot you asked for fiction. This book was so good Im leaving this non-fiction book on this thread.

[yellowdogintexas]

9. The Forbidden Temple by Ernest Dempsey

Part of a long series of adventure novels which center around an archaeologist and his best friend who is a former agent of a super secret agency which only answers to the POTUS.

There are 6 regular recurring characters and 3 or 4 who pop up now and then.

Lots of fun.

The team usually gets involved in some sort of search for a legendary ancient item/location and high adventure ensues.

I have 2 other similar series that I enjoy reading. the James Acton series by J Robert Kennedy and Templars in America series by David S Brody.

[hermetic]

12. That sounds a lot like

Raiders of the Lost Ark kind of tales. Good stuff.

[murielm99]

11. I am reading "Flight Behavior,"

by Barbara Kingsolver. It is not a new book. I missed it when it came out in 2012.

In this book, the monarch butterflies, instead of spending the winter near Angangueo, Mexico, migrate to a small, troubled farm in Appalachia. The restless young farm wife who discovers them regards this as a miracle. The town and the farm are inundated with tourists, journalists and scientists. The theme, of course, is climate change.

Of course this did not happen. It is a fictional event. But Kingsolver presents the events, the truth of climate change and how we react to it in a brilliant manner. I am glad I got around to this book finally!

[hermetic]

13. Interesting

I'm glad you did, too.

[northoftheborder]

15. I read that one, thought it a really good read, informative and entertaining.

[northoftheborder]

16. Finally finished The Overstory.

The beginning of the the book was beautiful, even poetic in its language. The middle got rather tedious, and I stopped to read some other shorter books. The end is sad. But I still recommend it- so much truth told through some interesting characters' lives.

Listening to an old classic Treasure Island! The narrators are fabulous!

Read "The Secret Book and Scone Society" by Ellery Adams. A group of girl friends, each with a traumatic back story, organize as a support group for each other, and end up solving a murder mystery. It is part of a series, which I hope to read more of.

Listening to "Days of the Dead", by Barbara Hambly, a Benjamin January series, but placed in Mexico instead of New Orleans. Takes place in the early 1800's before Texas became independent from Mexico. Always a murder mystery, this book describes the fascinating cultural background of Mexico in those years.

Another one to recommend: Suspect, by Robert Crais. A man on a police force adopts a former military German Shepherd. Both have psychological wounds (PTSD) from military service. Such a great canine story with the retraining of the dog for police duty, along with a crime drama.

[hermetic]

17. Thanks

For sure want to check out the one with the dog. I love stories like that.

Have to agree about The Overstory kind of running on in the middle, but it was still great.

[The King of Prussia]

18. The Notting Hill Mystery by Charles Warren Adams

Written in 1865 and billed as the first ever detective novel. Not too bad, written as a series of documents, letters etc compiled by an investigator working for a life assurance company.

[hermetic]

19. Wow

How cool is that! The first ever detective novel. Thanks.