What Fiction are you reading this week, Apr. 25, 2021?

[hermetic]

Still reading Crooked River by Preston & Child, a real page-turner. A hundred pages left and I did not want to put it down last night. If you're looking for an edge-of-your-seat thriller, look no further.

Listening to Hidden in Plain Sight by Jeffrey Archer, the second novel featuring Detective Warwick who has just been promoted and reassigned to the Drugs Squad. It's quite enjoyable, delightfully witty. Archer may be a man of dubious character but he sure has a way with words. His audio books all have long waiting lists here.

What are you looking for in fiction this week?

[dameatball]

1. Just finished "The Honjin Murders" by Seishi Yokomizo and getting ready to start "2034," by Elliot

Ackerman and Admiral James Stavridis. It seems interesting....WWIII stuff.

Regarding your "Crooked River" reference, I have truly enjoyed all the Preston & Child books, going back to "Relic." Very entertaining always. If anyone wants to get into these books I highly recommend reading them in order.

[hermetic]

2. Hiya,

Relic was the first one I read. I agree that one should read the earlier ones to understand who the characters are and their relationships to one another. That said, I haven't read all of the books, just a lot of them. So I feel pretty comfortable mixing up the newer ones.

Your 2034 sounds intriguing. "A chillingly authentic geopolitical thriller that imagines a naval clash between the US and China in the South China Sea in 2034."

[murielm99]

3. I am reading

The Giver of Stars by Jojo Moyes.

It is about the women who delivered books from a traveling library in Kentucky. The book is based on a real service set up by Eleanor Roosevelt. The service, the WPA's Packhorse Librarians of Kentucky, ran from 1935 to 1943. The service brought books to more than a hundred thousand rural people.

This book captivated me from the first page. (I am a retired librarian).

[hermetic]

7. Did you read

The Book Woman of Troublesome Creek? I'm pretty sure it was japple who first recommended it here, I could be mistook. That was a good story, too. I could see myself doing that sort of thing.

[murielm99]

9. No, I have not read that one.

I will have to look for it.

[murielm99]

10. I have never heard of these blue people.

Apparently they were real.

Thanks. I learn new things at DU all the time.

[hermetic]

15. Yeah, me either

And I also looked them up. Fascinating.

[SheltieLover]

21. Just checked them both out!I just had go look up the blue people

I'd never heard of them! Ty both!

[murielm99]

28. There have been some serious plagiarism charges

against Jojo Moyes regarding the book The Giver of Stars.

I will read The Book Woman of Troublesome Creek soon.

It does sound like there are strong similarities between the two books.

[hermetic]

29. That is certainly interesting

I look forward to your opinion on that.

[MuseRider]

14. Another book about them?

That is fantastic. I do not know if it is the same group but I did read The Women of Troublesome Creek and loved it.

I am adding this right now and I have been floundering with books I do not get interested in right away. My brain is having a bad month!

I am on the library waiting list for the audio book. They have 4 copies so it should not be long. Thank you so much.

[SheltieLover]

19. Awesome!

Ty, Muriel! I'll put a hold on it at library!

Huge fan of Eleanor & FDR!

[SheltieLover]

4. Just finished Unlucky by DeLeon - Great read

A bit of paranormal. Mallory is a card cooler - when she touches someone, their luck turns bqd instantly.

She uses this professionally to swqy a poker tournament.

Exceptionally well written. Sadly, it appears to be a stand-alone, rather than a series, at least thus far. Prolific author, so this could change.

Now reading Swamp Santa. Great read. A Miss Fortune series book.

[hermetic]

17. Interesting super power

Never heard of that one before. My fairy godmother must have had it, though. I have the worst luck with card games.

[SheltieLover]

20. Lol

I'd never heard of it either, but I know zero about gambling.

[Staph]

5. I just got the ebook of Turn a Blind Eye,

the third Detective William Warwick book by Jeffrey Archer. I really like the character. Interestingly, in Archer's previous series, The Clifton Chronicles, one of the main characters was an author, whose primary book series was about a detective named William Warwick. Is that recursion?

I haven't started that one yet, as I'm reading the Comoran Strike novels by Robert Galbraith, aka J.K. Rowling. Well written and engrossing, but a bit on the gory side.

[hermetic]

11. I guess it is....

"Recursion has been described as the ability to place one component inside another component of the same kind."
I remember when you wrote before about Warwick, which caused me to add it to my list. Thanks for that.

So, I just got a notification from my library that a book I had requested has finally become available. It is Troubled Blood by Robert Galbraith. I saw that and was wondering why I had ordered it.... Oooh, now I remember. Thanks for that, as well.

[Polly Hennessey]

6. For my bedtime cozy, I am reading Maggie Sefton's,

Dyer Consequences. Sweet knitting mysteries set in Colorado.

For my afternoon read, I have started a Steve Berry book, The Alexandria Link. At first I thought it was something like a potboiler. Now, I am having fun with it. It is like a TV series. I am always ready to have a hero who finishes up the bad guys like they are candy corn.

[hermetic]

12. That sounds really good

I have always been fascinated with the idea of the Library of Alexandria. "Within that vast reserve of 500,000 manuscripts, one holds the key to ultimate power -- a revelation so shocking it could fundamentally alter modern geopolitics. Pursued by a lethal mercenary, Malone crosses the globe in search of this vast bounty of wisdom."

[Ohiya]

8. The Liar's Dictionary by Eley William and First Person Singular by Haruki Murakami

Here's a blurb from the cover of The Liar's Dictionary :

"A virtuoso performance full of charm...It's simultaneously a love story, an office comedy, a sleuth mystery and a slice of gaslit late Victoriana...The Liar's Dictionary is a glorious novel - a perfectly crafted investigation of our ability to define words and their power to define us."
- The Guardian

First Person Singular is a collection of eight short stories told in first person by a classic Murakami narrator - from the fly leaf.

[hermetic]

13. Excellent

Thanks for those great descriptions. Sure got me interested.

[The King of Prussia]

16. Just finished "The Boy who Fell" by Jo Spain

The fifth in her "Tom Reynolds" series of thrillers set in Ireland. Highly recommended.

Next up is "The Glass Room" by Ann Cleeves - the fifth in the "Vera" series.

Life stumbles on, Covid still seems on the decline. For the first time since this started, there are no Covid patients in our local hospital.

Still waiting for the inevitable Johnson fuck-up.

Stay safe.

[hermetic]

18. That's good news

They say cases here are really dropping off, but I don't trust "them" one bit. I suspect I shall spend many more years behind a mask. Oh well....

I do miss Miss Vera. I will have to hunt those books down somewhere.

[TexLaProgressive]

22. Well, I just don't seem to be reading real books lately-I blame the pandemic!

I am listening to the first of a two part series by C.S. Friedman This Alien Shore. BTW I was formerly know as TexasProgresive. Whenever we were allowed a name change I would try to change to TexasProgressive which is spelled correctly. But someone who never posts has that name. So I put Texas and Louisiana together since I have roots in both states.

[hermetic]

23. Howdy, TexLa

Hey, that sounds like a car.

Listening is just as good as reading. You know I'm always doing both. You're getting into some super sci-fi there, too. Great to see you again, my friend.

[TexLaProgressive]

25. Last week I listened to a Mercedes Lackey book

The Fire Rose The Elemental Masters Fairy Tales by Mercedes Lackey
I really liked it sort of based on beauty and the beast.

[hermetic]

26. Sorry I missed ya

I had to run off and do supper-type things.

That story sounds lovely. Did you ever read any Gregory Maguire? He writes fairy tale retellings and I loved every one I read. His most famous is Wicked which became a huge Broadway hit. But I see he's written quite a few more since then, most of which won awards of some sort. I'll definitely have to catch up on those.

[TexLaProgressive]

27. I'll give him a read one day.

The whole Elemental magic series appears to be inspired by old tales.

[japple]

24. Love your bookshelf, esp. that kitten section! Finished Be Frank With Me by Julia Claiborne Johnson

and highly recommend it if you're looking for something to lift your spirits. It is a romp thru old Hollywood with a couple offbeat characters. I liked it very much.

Next on my list:

Andrew J. Graff: Raft of Stars

“A rousing adventure yarn full of danger and heart and humor.” —Richard Russo

An instant classic for fans of Jane Smiley and Kitchens of the Great Midwest: when two hardscrabble young boys think they’ve committed a crime, they flee into the Northwoods of Wisconsin. Will the adults trying to find and protect them reach them before it’s too late?

It’s the summer of 1994 in Claypot, Wisconsin, and the lives of ten-year-old Fischer “Fish” Branson and Dale “Bread” Breadwin are shaped by the two fathers they don’t talk about.

One night, tired of seeing his best friend bruised and terrorized by his no-good dad, Fish takes action. A gunshot rings out and the two boys flee the scene, believing themselves murderers. They head for the woods, where they find their way onto a raft, but the natural terrors of Ironsforge gorge threaten to overwhelm them.

Four adults track them into the forest, each one on a journey of his or her own. Fish’s mother Miranda, a wise woman full of fierce faith; his granddad, Teddy, who knows the woods like the back of his hand; Tiffany, a purple-haired gas station attendant and poet looking for connection; and Sheriff Cal, who’s having doubts about a life in law enforcement.

The adults track the boys toward the novel’s heart-pounding climax on the edge of the gorge and a conclusion that beautifully makes manifest the grace these characters find in the wilderness and one another. This timeless story of loss, hope, and adventure runs like the river itself amid the vividly rendered landscape of the Upper Midwest.

Many thanks for the weekly thread, hermetic. I hope we will get back to some kind of "normalcy" before the end of summer.

[PoindexterOglethorpe]

30. Just finished To Catch a Thief

and then promptly watched the movie. Interesting differences between the two.

Right now I'm reading "Black Widows" by Cate Quinn. A man is found murdered on his ranch outside Salt Lake City, and police are convinced one of the three wives did it. Very good so far.

[PennyC]

31. The Preston/Child series is a hoot!

When trying to find something new, this thread is the best.
I love that many of the books feature my NY and they're just so escapist. Fun fun fun!