What Fiction are you reading this week, November 5, 2023?

[hermetic]

Garage door painting.

I am listening to Assaulted Caramel by Amanda Flower, the first Amish Candy Shop Mystery. Bailey King is living the sweet life as assistant chocolatier in New York City. She has to return to Ohio, though, and the Amish candy shop where she was first introduced to delicious fudge, truffles, etc. A local developer has been found dead in the candy shop kitchen -- with her grandfather's chocolate knife buried in his chest. Despite the sincere efforts of a yummy deputy with chocolate-brown eyes, Bailey takes it on herself to clear her grandfather. But as a cunning killer tries to fudge the truth, Bailey may be headed straight into a whole batch of trouble. I am so glad I have a lot of leftover chocolates otherwise this delicious tale would have me drooling with desire.

I'm still reading Laurie King's Island of the Mad. Now we're in Venice, visiting all the fantastic, historical sites while searching for the missing friend. I'm having a great time traveling along with the help of Wikipedia, seeing all these places. Highly recommended. Plus, there's all the creepy Mussolini/fascist stuff going on which is chillingly similar to much we are seeing around us here these days.

I have to leave now to attend some important errands, so talk among yourselves. Share your reads and a little about them. I'll be back later today.

[FalloutShelter]

1. Eaters of the Dead

by Michael Crichton ( became the movie- The 13th Warrior)

[yellowdogintexas]

19. That is a good book!! nt

[FalloutShelter]

20. It sure is...

Only about 100 pages in and it is fascinating.

[Bayard]

2. Finished, "Grave Decisions," Stephen King

Will be choosing from my stack of new John Sanford's this evening.

[murielm99]

3. I am reading

Excalibur, by Bernard Cornwell. It is book three of an Arthurian retelling. If you think this has been done and overdone, think again. Cornwell writes magnificent historical fiction, and this is a good read. It is narrated by a warrior named Derfel, who later became a Christian monk. It leans on the Welsh origins of this story.

This is a dense, slow read, and will not be for everyone. My love of this author drove my choice of this trilogy.

[Number9Dream]

16. I'm also a Bernard Cornwell fan

Especially the Uhtred / Saxon series, which I'm on my second time through. I read "Excaliber" and liked it. But, only got about half-way through the second 'Arthur / Derfel' book, which I found rather depressing, and didn't finish it.

[QED]

4. Andrea Penrose's latest Wrexford & Sloane

Murder at the Merton Library.

I've enjoyed this series and ordered this latest for my tablet - just waiting for it to charge. I don't like reading on the tablet. I prefer a book I can hold in my hand but I also don't want to wait until July for the paperback.

I just finished "The History of the World in 6 Glasses" by Tom Standage. It was a good read, well written, and super interesting. Not fiction but kind of read like fiction.

[RainCaster]

5. The Tower of the Swallow, Andrzej Sapkowski

Number 4 in The Witcher series.

[usaf-vet]

6. Mercy Falls. By William Kent Krueger. Sheriff Cork O'Conner Series. I recommend reading them in order. See other series.

Still troubled by an ambush that leaves his deputy lingering near death, Sheriff Cork O'Conner must investigate the mutilation murder of a Chicago businessman. Soon, Cork finds himself distracted by the lovely female shadowing him and the handsome man stalking his wife.

This series takes place in Upper Minnesota's "Arrow Head Region." For those readers who like outdoor stories with Native American folklore weaved into well-written mysteries. Several of the books are focused on and in the Boundary Waters on the US Canadian Border. Known as a famous outdoor camping, canoe, and fishing region.
https://tinyurl.com/WmKentKrueger

Additional Series with some of the same outdoor adventure flavor.

C.J. Box The Joe Pickett Series. Wyoming Game Warden. 24 books series. Again, read in order if you can.
In my opinion, the books are far better than the recent TV series, especially if you are interested in Game Wardens and their daily jobs.
https://tinyurl.com/JoePickettSeries

Paul Doiron, The Mike Bowditch Maine Game Warden. 15 books in the series. Again, read in order if you can.
Good, fast-moving adventures. Mike is a younger single Maine Warden. Who work in different regions of Maine's outdoors. Including some of the Atlantic Coastal regions. A small heads-up. As a single character, he has "encounters" with several girlfriends. Some of the text can be sexually saucy. But no worse than you can see on TV. If you are sharing the books with younger readers...take note.
https://tinyurl.com/MikeBowditchSeries

[usaf-vet]

10. Anyone else have suggestion of authors who write fiction featuring game wardens?

I have tried several Nevada Barr books, but I couldn't get into them.

The best explanation I could give is they are too flowery. That is her use of a string of descriptive text. Example, not her writing, just my example. While explaining a tree, it might read..... a very tall tree with many branches, large leaves, dark brown trunk full canopy leaning slightly toward the south.

I know lots of people love her books, but maybe the couple I tried to read were not representative of her works.
For this, I apologize to her and her readers.

I can't read Steven King either!

[Bluebelle76]

23. Try Ben Rehder. Especially if you like a bit of humor.

His game warden is in Blanco County, Texas. (Real county.)

As Rehder wrote more books, he developed two minor characters that became much-loved major characters.

I know he's available on Amazon.

[usaf-vet]

24. Thanks for the tip. Shopping now.

[Paper Roses]

7. This book is a struggle. "Snow Falling on Cedars" by David Guterson.

I read all the time, no TV for me. Since I am lucky enough to be able to share books with others, I am grateful but this one is not only confusing to me but seems to drag along. It has taken me days to get to page 177 and have to get to 460. I hope I make it. I don't like to give up on any book.

[japple]

18. I loved Snow Falling on Cedars. I read it shortly after it first came out and, though I don't remember

lots of details, it left a real impression on my mind. I also read David Guterson's East of the Mountains and Our Lady of the Forest which I found to be equally compelling. I actually listened to East of the Mountains after I had eye surgery and couldn't read anything, and remember thinking that his writing style is so lyrical that it more easily translates to listening rather than reading for some people. At any rate, if you can't get into it, don't force yourself. I have given up on books when I was about 3/4 way through only to go back several years later and discover that it was wonderful. You might just be in the mood for a different kind of story.

[Basic LA]

8. Still rereading (audio) James Bond.

Now I'm up to "Dr. No," number six in the series (and about another ten to go). Great stuff, so well written. And each book builds on the previous, so it really is a series.

[beveeheart]

9. The Language of Flowers

by Vanessa Diffenback.

[japple]

17. I thoroughly enjoyed that book, though I read it so long ago that I don't remember

details. I do remember that the writing was so clear that I was able to picture everything in my mind.

[Jilly_in_VA]

11. When We Were Sisters

by Emilie Richards. It's the story of two women who grew up together in foster care from the time one was 9 and the other 14. One, Cecilia, went on to become a famous country singer, while the other, Robin, a talented photographer, is married to a driven lawyer, Kris, and lives in suburbia. They're reunited doing a documentary on the foster care system. It's really good so far, although there is no background on Robin and what got her into foster care at all.

On my other Kindle, I'm reading Babel, Around the World in Twenty Languages, by Gaston Dorren. It's nonfiction but deserves a mention. My love of languages drew me to it, and it's really fascinating, a study of the 20 languages spoken by the most people on earth and what makes them go. I learned, for instance, that Japanese is "gendered", spoken in different ways by men and women, although it's becoming less so recently as women push for equality. Who knew?

[japple]

12. At the suggestion of someone here in this forum, I started reading Charles Portis' book

Norwood and I have been laughing out loud every night since then. Many thanks to the DUer who recommended it. It is a hoot. I've read Dog of the South and True Grit, which is probably my favorite book.

[cbabe]

13. Finishing Elizabeth George/just one evil act

Big thick books great for rainy dark evenings.

Next up, Sandford’s latest: Judgment Prey.

[Jeebo]

14. "1984" by George Orwell

This is the fourth time in my life that I have read "1984". It is an awesome novel. I read it for the first time in high school, and it was one of the few books I read in high school that were required reading that I really enjoyed. "A Tale of Two Cities", "Lord of the Flies" and "2001: A Space Odyssey" were others. I am re-reading "1984" now because I want to read "Julia" by Sandra Newman, which is a re-telling of "1984" but from Winston Smith's girlfriend's point of view. But first, I want to refresh my memory of the "1984" world. The last time I read "1984" was in ... I think it must have been about 2005 or 2006. Randi Rhodes was recommending on her radio show that her listeners read it because it had similarities to George W. Bush's America. So after I finish "1984", next is "Julia".

-- Ron

[Polly Hennessey]

15. I'm reading two new ones.

The Well of Ice by Andrea Carter. A mystery set in Ireland. ‘Atmospheric and vivid’ according to the Irish Times. Am enjoy it but her descriptions of the freezing and gray countryside make me shiver. 🥶

The other is Thunder Bay by Douglas Skelton. It is the first Rebecca Connolly thriller by the author. Just started and so far am liking it.

[yellowdogintexas]

21. I just finished "What Happened in Vegas" #4 in the Kat Parker series

I have been working on.(author is K L Phelps) In the first 3 books, we find that Kat has some big memory lapses of the weekend she spent in Vegas. There are a lot of them, too. This book is the first part of Kat's backstory. It is more serious than the first 3 although we see flashes of some of Kat's quirks which become running gags in the after Vegas storylines. There is still a lot of humor though and some high tension moments.
At first I wondered why the author did not start with the events in Vegas, but having read this book, I think doing this allowed him to really have fun with the characters and let us get to know them first, then take us back to where it all started. Had this been the first book, I still would have wanted to read the series because ..cliffhanger...

Looking forward to the 5th book Waking Up In Vegas.

Now I am reading The Swagger Sword by David S Brody, in his Knights Templar in America series. Fact: In the 1980s, a Vatican archbishop and rogue group of Freemasons were implicated in the murder of Pope John Paul I. A decade later, that same cleric illicitly acquired an ancient Templar scroll directly undermining fundamental Church teachings.

Today, historians Cameron Thorne and Amanda Spencer-Gunn stumble upon a sword engraved with a map leading to this hidden scroll. A pope was murdered the first time to keep the scroll a secret. Can Cam and Amanda escape a similar fate?

Based on actual historical artifacts, and illustrated.
I love these books. Brody builds his stories around documented artifacts related to the Knights Templar which have been found in North America. Pictures of the items are included, and good descriptions of where they are found. History/archaeology/adventure fans will like them.

[ExWhoDoesntCare]

22. In the middle of

Kawai Washburn – Sharks in the Time of Saviours

Will probably get to Marilynne Robinson's Housekeeping and Tomato Red by Darrell Woodrell.

If I have time, I'm hoping to get to Andrew Shaffer – Hope Never Dies, the first of two books featuring Obama and Biden as amateur sleuths. Depending on how that goes, I might read the second one, too.



We all need something light and fun to read during times like these.

[yellowdogintexas]

25. I have read both and you may as well plan to read the 2nd one too

When I read them, we had no idea Joe would run for president in 2020.

Anyway the author has a lot of fun with their friendship and antics. They are a hoot.