What Fiction are you reading this week, January 22, 2023?

[hermetic]

The Mysterious Bookshop. The world’s oldest and biggest bookstore stocking only mystery, crime fiction, espionage, and thrillers.

I'm reading Sacred Clowns by Tony Hillerman from 1993. No, it's not about Repugs though there is a good bit of politics involved along with murder-solving. The clowns are koshare which are similar to rodeo clowns only with more religious significance. It's a great story that I'm finding hard to put down.

Listening to Body on Baker Street by Vicki Delany. A visiting author drops dead in the Sherlock Holmes Bookshop and Emporium on Baker Street and there's no shortage of suspects, between the author's bullied personal assistant, her frustrated publicist, the hapless publisher, a handsome rare book dealer, an obsessively rabid fan, and a world of other Sherlock enthusiasts with strong objections to the author's depiction of the Great Detective.

You reading any great books that are hard to put down this week?

[Orrex]

1. Just finished Cormac McCarthy's The Passenger

Now diving into (ha ha) Stella Maris.

[hermetic]

3. In case anyone's wondering...

That is the second of "a two-volume masterpiece: Stella Maris is an intimate portrait of grief and longing, as a young woman in a psychiatric facility seeks to understand her own existence."

Sounds absolutely incredible.

[Orrex]

12. The Passenger was very different from what I was expecting

McCarthy's been my favorite author for decades, and I can recite whole passages from memory. Heck, his grocery lists are better written than a lot of published fiction.

So The Passenger is very well written of course, with McCarthy's trademark quirks like scant punctuation and no quotation marks, etc., and the style is in place the story itself didn't really thrill me. Some solid characters and great interactions, but the text is very dialogue-heavy. I'd guess upwards of 75% of the text is spoken, and although me writes terrific dialogue, that's not where his real power lies IMO, and it's not why I return to his books again and again.

Stella Maris, the companion piece (as you note), is in fact 100% dialogue. I'm about 40 pages in, so I'll be curious to see where it goes and how it gets there.

Definitely don't regret buying them, but they're not entirely the works I was anticipating.

[SheltieLover]

2. "The Jury" by Fern Michaels -Sisterhood

Good stuff, of course!

Just finished "Midnight at the Blackbird Cafe," by Heather Webber. Also a great mild paranormal.

Just finished "Seven Year Witch," by Angela M. Sanders." "Bait & Witch" is the other in the series avail in e-format. Enjoyable, light paranormals.

[hermetic]

4. Of course!

Oops, forgot to "say" hi.

[SheltieLover]

5. Hi

Ty for the thread.

[cbabe]

6. The Light Pirate by Lily Brooks-Dalton

Family faces near future apocalyptic hurricanes. Terrifying. Haunting. How do we humans survive and persist.

Quarreling young brothers perfectly drawn. Hard working blue collar dad who tries his best.

Pregnant mom not as believable (quit architecture masters to marry).

Page turner not for the weak of heart.

[hermetic]

7. Wow

Told in four parts -- power, water, light, and time -- The Light Pirate mirrors the rhythms of the elements and the sometimes quick, sometimes slow dissolution of the world as we know it. It is a meditation on the changes we would rather not see, the future we would rather not greet, and a call back to the beauty and violence of an untamable wilderness.

Sounds awesome, and that's a word I rarely use.

[The King of Prussia]

8. "I Could Be You" by Sheila Bugler

First in a series of mysteries set near Eastbourne on the English Channel Coast. A new author to me, but on the strength of this, someone I will be returning to.

Otherwise this week, in mourning for David Crosby.

Happy reading!

[hermetic]

10. Thank you, once again

for finding us new books to enjoy. "Propulsive action and stirring plot twists abound in this compelling thriller... one of those books you'll read in one sitting. Thoroughly entertaining!"

Yes, that was terribly sad. He seemed like a very likeable guy with a lovely voice.

[Paper Roses]

9. Back to Baldacci: No Man's Land

Since I'm too broke to pay full price for my books, I connect with other readers in my town and we exchange books. When we all initial the books, the last reader donates them to the Little Free Libraries.

Thru the last few years I have, separate from the others, bought the whole collection of Lee Child "Reacher". Loved all the books but not the new ones done in collaboration with his brother. I bought them, not traded.
I think I live in a town without readers of Lee's work. I tried to sell 15 of his books for $10 and no takers. My feeling is that they are missing some good books.

I managed to collect the whole collection but the ones I posted on Facebook(local page) were duplicates that I bought on-line. Got not one reply. Lesson to me, keep a list if you find an author whose work you want to collect so that you don't have 'leftovers'.

[hermetic]

11. An action-packed thriller

It's nice that you are able to share with others in your town.

There really is no way to know what people will want to read. Depends on so many things. I've found several Reacher books at my Little Free Library.

[yellowdogintexas]

13. Kat Makris Greek Mafia .vol 3 Doing Crime by Alex King

I just read the 3rd book but for those of you who have not met Kat, here is a bit about the 1st book: Disorganized Crime

Kat Makris was a little girl when her father spun wild and outrageous bedtime stories about Baboulas, the Greek boogeyman, a lawless creature with a penchant for stealing gold and clashing with the gods. Now Kat is twenty-eight, single, a couch potato in a cube farm, when her father goes missing. Without him she's alone in the world.

Before the police can work their mojo, she herself is abducted by a couple of hoods with crooked noses, and she quickly discovers her father's old stories were true—true crime, that is. Baboulas is an infamous mob boss in Greece, and Baboulas is the one who has Kat holed up in a private plane bound for Greece. Now, to find her father, Kat must face the boogeyman …

The 2nd book is Truish Crime
The Godfather goes to the mattresses. The Godmother goes to the mixing bowls …

With her father still missing, and no news or ransom demands, Kat Makris is sweating under the blistering Greek sun. But when her grandmother receives a mysterious puzzle box from one of the Family’s most questionable allies, Kat’s not even remotely prepared for the worst.

Kat’s quest to find her father takes her from the vertigo-inducing heights of Meteora to Greece’s pebbled beaches, with a growing number of assassins on her tail. Kat’s presence in Greece means times are a-changing, and Grandma’s enemies hate change—unless it turns a tidy profit. The last thing they want is an unknown quantity shoehorned into Grandma’s tattered, black slippers.

As an all-round decent person, one without a rap sheet, it’s not what Kat wants, either. But Grandma has plans …

Doing Crime: A Kat Makris Greek Mafia Novel
With Grandma’s second best henchman and his wife tagging along, Katerina Makris is back in Portland to untangle some of her kidnapped father’s secrets. However, she gets sidetracked when she discovers her house is one corpse less empty than it was when she left. To complicate things, a pair of American cops are snooping around, asking questions about her missing father and a fellow detective they can’t seem to locate …

When it becomes apparent that her father’s secrets extend beyond the small safe in the bathroom wall, Kat races back to Greece, where she discovers the sexy, and very-very-bad-for-her, Detective Nikos Melas has been involved in a deadly stakeout. And Grandma has a new/old enemy who wouldn’t mind getting cozy with Kat, especially now that Grandma’s reign is growing shorter by the day.

It’s a long, hot Greek summer and the bodies are stacking up ... and exploding. Everyone on the dark side wants Kat to play on their team. Kat’s just trying to find her dad. What’s a mostly decent woman to do, and what are these green bits in Grandma’s cookies?

These books are so much fun! The dialogue is hilarious, and all the side characters are over the top
I had some Amazon points so I sprang for book 3 (my limit is usually $1.99)

[yellowdogintexas]

14. I finished The Women of Chateau Lafayette

I highly recommend this book!

Three very strong women in different eras dealing with extraordinary world events - with the Chateau linking them all

Great descriptions of the surrounding history and very well written characters.

[hermetic]

15. Thanks!

[japple]

16. Thank you for the weekly thread, hermetic. I just started De'Shawn Charles Winslow's

book In West Mills.

"Beginning in the 1940s and spanning 40 years, Winslow’s debut novel shares themes of acceptance and the importance of community through the eyes of a fierce, memorable anti-heroine . . . Winslow is a natural storyteller whose writing is like a mash-up of Zora Neale Hurston and Edward Kelsey Moore, and his characters spark to life, especially Knot, who Winslow magically makes both enraging and endearing. . . its humor and heart will win over many readers." - Booklist

[hermetic]

17. Sounds lovely

Winner of the Center for Fiction First Novel Prize and lots of other awards, too. Good reading.

[CrispyQ]

18. I finished "The Gods of Guilt" by Michael Connelly, a Lincoln Lawyer story.

It was a decent read. Not as good as "The Law of Innocence" but still a fast-paced, plot based story. These are the only two in the series that I've read. Now off to the library to find my next read. If I finish another book by end of January I'll be on track for my 30 books for 2023.