What Fiction are you reading this week, May 16, 2021?

[hermetic]

University of Aberdeen Library, Scotland


Still working my way through Troubled Blood. Halfway there now. I find it interesting that each chapter opens with quotes from the poem The Faerie Queene by Edmund Spenser, which I find interminably long and impossible to understand. Wondering if that's supposed to be like a warning of some sort...

Just started listening to Randy Wayne White's Sanibel Flats. I've been looking forward to this highly-recommended series of Florida-based mysteries, involving marine biology, for some time now. A few days ago someone posted a video in The Lounge of this area so that's helping me better imagine the place.

What are you looking forward to reading this week?

[Timewas]

1. Just finished

Sandfords Ocean Prey... Pretty much standard Sandford stuff.

On a side note here. 28 years ago I was in a local book shop and mentioned Sandford Prey series, the proprietor said that he liked to books but how many could he come up with using Prey in the title,as if there might be some sort of limit

[hermetic]

2. Looks like 31 so far

Of course there's also the Virgil Flowers series; 13 of those. Plus the stand-alones. And, almost everything he writes turns out to be a best-seller. He is truly among the best of the best.

[Polly Hennessey]

3. I am almost finished with The Ice House by

Minette Walters and am loving it.

My bedtime Cozy is, The Cat of the Baskervilles by Vicki Delaney. Takes place on Cape Cod where Gemma owns a bookshop named Sherlock Holmes Bookshop and Emporium on 222 Baker Street right next to Mrs. Hudson’s Tea Room. Yes, there is a shop cat named, Moriarty. He hates Gemma. Sweet dreams.

[hermetic]

4. Wonderful!

A new series for me to seek out!

[The King of Prussia]

5. "The Darkest Evening" by Ann Cleeves

The latest in the "Vera" series. The exceptional standard continues.

Also read this week "Rule Britannia", Daphne Du Maurier's final novel. Opinions are divided on it, but I enjoyed it. I think it's safe to say that she didn't like Americans.

We've been buying lots of books recently as shops have re-opened, but I think next up will be a James Herriot - so long as Johnson doesn't change the rules again, we are visiting the James Herriot museum this week.

Stay safe one and all!

[hermetic]

7. I must say

That Du Maurier novel sounds fascinating. A "what if" tale from '72 and here we all are now; slightly different but the same.

You know we're all being set free here in what feels like a huge experiment to see what will happen. I remain skeptical and will keep myself masked. Meanwhile, I keep ordering books online that I can't find at the local library. My bookshelves are sagging.

[The King of Prussia]

11. It's an odd one

The premise is that Britain has left the EEC and the resulting economic catastrophe means that the US merges with the UK. American forces then become an occupying army, and I read it partly as a critique of the US in Vietnam.

England opens up more tomorrow, with the aim of being largely back to normal on 21st June. There is a lot of hoo hah about the "Indian" variant, but all evidence so far suggests the vaccines remain effective. We shall see.

[SheltieLover]

6. Looking for a new humorous cozy series

[hermetic]

8. Don't know how humerous

but you might want to check out Vicki Delany. She has a good bit to choose from.

[SheltieLover]

15. TY so much!

I'll give her work a look.

[The King of Prussia]

9. L C Tyler's "Herring " series

Are very light hearted, and also refer back to Golden Age fiction.

[SheltieLover]

16. TY very much!

I'll give them a search at the library.

[japple]

10. Sorry to say that I had to abandon Selena Montgomery's (a/k/a Stacey Abrams) book

Reckless. I just couldn't get into it and it is not a book I would normally choose to read. It's a cop/lawyer/murder story and if that's your bag, you might like it. I started reading Brit Bennett's book, The Vanishing Half and am already hooked.

FWIW my criteria for choosing what to read is simple. If I can't wait to get in my cozy place at night and spend time with the characters in the book I'm reading, I usually don't keep reading.

Thanks, as always, for the weekly thread, hermetic. This kitten season is about to run me aground already.

[hermetic]

12. I'll probably like it, then

The problem I'm having with the Rowling book I'm reading is too much character info. Get back to the mystery, already! Ah yes, different strokes. It's what makes the world so interesting.

Best of luck with the fuzzy babies. And thank you for doing that.

[Number9Dream]

13. Finished "Journey to the Center of the Earth" by Jules Verne

Though I had seen the 1959, James Mason, movie a few times, I had never read the book. I wanted to compare the book to the movie. They are quite different. In the book, the uncle and nephew are German, not Scottish. In the book, there is no sexy Swedish woman, no murderous Count Saknussemm, and no pet goose. There are many other differences as well. Though I guess I prefer the movie, the book was worth reading.

[hermetic]

14. Gosh, step into the wayback machine

I recall the movie being quite entertaining but there are some classics everyone should read. Good for you. All the Verne books are worth reading, IMO.

[bif]

17. "Migrations" by Charlotte McConaghy

Interesting novel. Not the happiest book, but it's well written. Also reading "Harpo Speaks" by Harpo Marx. Very entertaining.

[hermetic]

23. Hey, bif. Sorry I didn't see your post earlier

Migrations sounds like a fantastic book. Five stars and several awards. I suspect some here will want to read this, myself included.

Set on the brink of catastrophe, a young woman chases the world's last birds. "Propelled by a narrator as fierce and fragile as the terns she is following, Migrations is both an ode to our threatened world and a breathtaking page-turner about the lengths we will go for the people we love."

Then, Harpo Speaks; what a great title! NF, of course, but it does sound like a fun read.

Thanks!

[bif]

24. It's very compelling. I'm almost done with it.

I'll report back when I'm finished. Harpo Speaks is one of those books you can pick up, read for 20 minutes, then move on to something else. It's his autobiography and is just a delight to read. NF of course.

[bif]

25. Excellent book! Highly recommend it!

Beautifully written and haunting novel.

[TexLaProgressive]

18. Still listening, will start "This Virtual Night" sequel to "This Alien Shore" by C.S. Friedman

I really liked This Alien Shore. I has a strong but confused young woman racing across the galaxy for reasons unknown to her. There are smugglers, pirates, pirate corporations and humans that are alien but still human. Everyone has from birth brainware and there is a killer virus on the loose. It was loads of fun.

A Killer in King's Cove by Iona Whishaw was very good. It is her first adult novel and there was a lot of description in the beginning, but it worked well. The story of a young English woman with a secret past, as in she signed the Secrets Act, who moves to a haunted house in the wilds of British Columbia. There is murder and intrigue.

The Serpent's Shadow the second (well second to me) of Mercedes Lackey's Elementals series was excellent. What's not to love about magic with a heroine to admire. Strong women all three.

The readers of these novels were quite good.

[hermetic]

19. Such good things you bring

So folks can find new and different stories to get involved with. Thanks.

[Paper Roses]

20. If you enjoy books by David Baldacci: I just finished 'Walk the Wire'.

I can't recall how many books I've read by Baldacci but I think I like this one the best.

I wonder why I don't remember titles, sometimes I'm into the first chapter, no matter who the author is and then ...It dawns on me.
Off to the bookcase later for my nest book, have a great backlog, thankful for the Little Free Libraries.

[hermetic]

21. I like Baldacci

Here's something you might want to try. Before reading a book, look it up on the Fiction Data Base: https://www.fictiondb.com/
You have to have an account there now but it's easy enough to do and it is free. So, you can look up pretty much every fiction book ever published and read a brief synopsis to see if you might have already read that one. For instance Walk the Wire says:

When Amos Decker and his FBI colleague Alex Jamison are called to London, North Dakota, they instantly sense that the thriving fracking town is ripe for trouble. The promise of a second gold rush has attracted an onslaught of newcomers all hoping for a windfall, and the community is growing faster than houses can be built. The sudden boom has also brought a slew of problems with it, including drugs, property crimes, prostitution -- and now murder.

I like Little Free Libraries, too. My town has one just outside the Chamber of Commerce building.
Happy Reading!

[Paper Roses]

22. Thank you for this information, I never heard of it.

I am not a TV fan, watch only my local station for daily news AM & PM only and get most of my info on line. I get great pleasure reading and find books wherever I can. Many old timers like me are on a limited budget and cannot afford to buy some of the new issues of our favorite authors.

This information will be a great help to me. If I pick up a book by an author I admire, I can check out the info. Read it? Back to the Free Library.

We all have favorite authors, mine is Lee Child (Reacher). I collected all 25 of Lee's books and kept them. All others I donate after reading them.

I appreciate your info. Happy Reading. I'm going to set up an account now.