What Fiction are you reading this week, July 4, 2021?

[hermetic]

Have a safe and happy 4th.


Finally finished Moonflower Murders by Horowitz last night. It may be a while before I can get out to the library again since the heat dome has drifted east and it's gonna be 100 and more every day. I just can't go out in that. Instead I will finish up Peter Beagle's The Last Unicorn, and Fur Person by May Sarton, two books I bought a while back and have partially read. I don't have ac here, only a bunch of fans. So, I will just lie in front of one and read all day. Occasionally check the internet. That's my plan.

Listening to Lost in a Good Book by Jasper Fforde. The further adventures of Thursday Next, Special Operative in literary detection, wherein she learns to "book jump" around the works of Kafka and Austen, and even Beatrix Potter, in order to solve a mystery and save the world. This story is SO funny. I am

What's your reading plan for the week?

You all stay safe out there. I will do the same.

[rzemanfl]

1. I have a lot going on, but when I am not busy I am finishing up the Dennis Lehane-

Kenzie and Gennaro series. I am more than halfway through Prayers for Rain.

As a public service announcement for Kindle users, Hiaasen's Squeeze Me is on sale for $2.99. Great book.

[hermetic]

2. That's good to know

Thanks.

Your book sounds quite intense. "Another in a continuing series of first-rate thrillers from Lehane. As the series continues, however, there is an increasing willingness to perform acts that are clearly outside the law." Yeah, well...it's just a book, after all.

[rzemanfl]

3. Also, the acts are performed on people who richly deserve what they get.

It's kind of like Spenser and Hawk with no restraints, as if they had all that many.

[bahboo]

4. alsolutely LOVE the Thursday Next series....

so incredibly inventive and funny....

[hermetic]

5. Right?

And how can anyone not know Jack Schitt?

[The King of Prussia]

6. Fairly quiet on the reading front this week

Completed "The Lamplighters" by Emma Stonex. It's about the disappearance of 3 lighthouse keepers, and is loosely based on a true story. Definitely recommended.

Also finished "The Custom House Murder" by Mike Hollow. Set in Sept 1940 as the Luftwaffe turned their attention to London. It's part of a series, and I already have the next one on my tbr pile.

Currently reading "Scoop!" A cozy by Hannah Dennison. Very silly & very enjoyable.

Covid is, after many months, not the main national preoccupation. The England football team has reached the semi finals of Euro 2020 and we are all in a frenzy of excitement - including me (it'll end in tears, it always does).

Happy 4th July, but spare a thought for those of us who are still stuck with George III's descendants.

[hermetic]

7. Will do

Also must find Scoop. "Something is fishy at a funeral--and plenty is amiss at the service for Gordon Berry. The man was a champion hedge cutter. And people are to believe he electrocuted himself by striking a power line with his own clippers?"

[Laffy Kat]

8. "Phase Six" by Jim Shepard.

Another pandemic novel.

[hermetic]

9. Oh wow

"A spare and gripping novel about the next pandemic -- completed by the award-winning Jim Shepard before COVID-19 even emerged -- that reads like a fictional sequel to our current crisis."

[Laffy Kat]

10. Yes, it does.

"The End of October" by Lawrence Wright is also quite prescient, although it got a little far-out towards the end, I still enjoyed the novel.

[japple]

11. Finished reading Lighthouse Island by Paulette Jiles and I think

it was better on the 2nd reading. I read it several years ago, but had forgotten a lot. The strange weather patterns in that book are eerily similar to what we are having this year. So sorry to read that you are suffering thru the heatwave and without A/C. The summer in GA has been remarkably pleasant. It seems as though we are having the weather that you usually get in summer and you are getting ours. I have a friend who swears by body cooling packs that she orders online. I remember wearing a bandana with ice cubes around my neck on very hot days in NC.

After hearing rave reviews about this book, I downloaded it and can't wait to start reading tonight:

Dawnie Watson's The Final Revival of Opal & Nev

Opal is a fiercely independent young woman pushing against the grain in her style and attitude, Afro-punk before that term existed. Coming of age in Detroit, she can’t imagine settling for a 9-to-5 job—despite her unusual looks, Opal believes she can be a star. So when the aspiring British singer/songwriter Neville Charles discovers her at a bar’s amateur night, she takes him up on his offer to make rock music together for the fledgling Rivington Records.

In early seventies New York City, just as she’s finding her niche as part of a flamboyant and funky creative scene, a rival band signed to her label brandishes a Confederate flag at a promotional concert. Opal’s bold protest and the violence that ensues set off a chain of events that will not only change the lives of those she loves, but also be a deadly reminder that repercussions are always harsher for women, especially black women, who dare to speak their truth.

Decades later, as Opal considers a 2016 reunion with Nev, music journalist S. Sunny Shelton seizes the chance to curate an oral history about her idols. Sunny thought she knew most of the stories leading up to the cult duo’s most politicized chapter. But as her interviews dig deeper, a nasty new allegation from an unexpected source threatens to blow up everything.

Provocative and chilling, The Final Revival of Opal & Nev features a backup chorus of unforgettable voices, a heroine the likes of which we’ve not seen in storytelling, and a daring structure, and introduces a bold new voice in contemporary fiction.

My two little foster kittens have broken out with ringworm, the bane of the kitty rescue world, so I'll be busy washing and scrubbing for awhile.

Thanks for the weekly thread and HAPPY 4TH OF JULY!!!

[hermetic]

12. Your new one sounds great!

I am quite fond of Lighthouse Island.

I just watched the movie News of the World and oh, my. Been a long time since a movie made me cry. It was not a total retelling of the book but I think it was one of those rare cases where the movie was better than the book. Especially if you watch the extras on the DVD. Which made me cry again.

I am so sorry to hear about your poor babies' health issues. I've never had to deal with that one. Take care of yourself.

We have very little humidity here so that kind of makes the heat easier to deal with. As long as the electricity stays on.
Like you said, a few ice cubes around the neck will go a long way.

Thank you for being here.

[PennyC]

13. Castle Shade

I took a break from Pendergasting to devour the newest Mary Russell (& Holmes) book. This was a goodie that ended much too quickly!

[hermetic]

16. A new one!

I love Mary Russell stories although I haven't read all 16 of the previous ones yet. I doubt that will make reading this one next less enjoyable. Spooky old castles and maybe vampires. I am there!

[pscot]

14. "Julius Knipl, Real Estate Photographer

takes to the streets to discover a lost metropolis and its residents, summoning up half-forgotten yesterdays and celebrating the surreal substrate of the quotidian."

"With guarded enthusiasm, preparations begin for the annual banquet of the Liver and Kidney Society. A caterer sautees a thousand calves organs to serve as a symbolic appetizer. A worker at a chair rental scrapes dried soup from the padded seats of 500 folding chairs. A rundown hotel fumigates its disused ballroom." I'm eliding the multi-layered dialogue that brings vivid life to these everyday scenes


"Ben Katchor...has been doing for comics what Marcel Proust did for the novel..."Lawrence Wechsler in the New Yorker. Luc Sante calls JKRP the nirvana of the luncheonettes, the Atlantis of the wholesale novelty showrooms, the el dorado of second-story friendship-league lecture halls... the place Kafka retired to.


Also reading vol. 4 (or 5) of Christian Cameron's Ill-made Knight series. Finished (Horowitz) The Sentence is Death. Have (Horowitz) The Moonflower Murders on my nightstand.

Hi Hermetic

?

[hermetic]

17. Wow!

That sounds as ffun as a Fforde book, but yours is a graphic novel. Even better! So, they have it at a different library but maybe if I go in and beg, they will order it for me. It sounds absolutely delightful.

About Moonflower Murders, I will tell you something that I wish someone had told me before reading it. You might consider it a SPOILER ALERT, though, so read no further if you don't want that.

(Nice photo, by the way)

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In the middle of this book, he drops in an entire other book. I found it to be a waste of time. Just reading the first few pages would have been sufficient. It's all going to be explained at the end of the story, anyway. It is pretty cool how they adjusted the page numbers, though. The new books starts over at page 1, then the original picks back up where it left off. Anyway, I look forward to hearing your thoughts about it afterward.

[yellowdogintexas]

15. I dived into the unread J Robert Kennedy books I had picked up for 99 cents

on Book Bub.

This is a fun series about archaeology, artifacts, bad guys, and a coupld of archaeology professors who attract trouble like honey attracts ants. Fortunately there is a Special Forces group practically at their beck and call.

I also read book one in the Baby Ganesh series "The Unexpeccted Inheritance of Inspector Chopra"
A retiring Police Detective in Mumbai inherits a baby elephant from his uncle. This elephant turns out to have some interesting skills.

There are 5 books so far andy I look forward to reading them all

[hermetic]

18. I want to read Armageddon

In Armageddon, award winning and bestselling author J. Robert Kennedy once again mixes history and the problems of today in a riveting survival story sure to keep you on the edge of your seat. If you enjoy fast-paced adventures in the style of Dan Brown, Clive Cussler, and James Rollins, then you'll love this thrilling tale of archaeological intrigue.

[happybird]

19. Finally started Louise Penny's Inspector Gamache books

after the dozenth recommendation from my Mom.

I really enjoyed the first one (Still Life). Devoured it in two evenings.

Just started the second book last night (A Fatal Grace). So far, so good.

I like how, in the first book, the victim was well known and beloved by the whole village. In this second book, the victim is a newcomer and already widely despised.

Penny writes beautifully.

[hermetic]

20. I think you will be

a very happy bird. I have read them all and I love Penny. I love Three Pines and want to live there. I love the characters, especially Ruth and her duck. I love how there's so much art going on. Enjoy!