What are you reading the week of Sunday, May 17, 2015?

[scarletwoman]

Late start to this week's thread - but here it is!

I finished the Ann Cleeves book, Thin Air, yesterday. Another solid entry in her Shetland Island series, although nothing particularly outstanding about it. It took me all week to get through it - I guess I didn't find it very unput-downable. Still, I'm sure I'll keep reading this series as long as the author keeps adding to it.

I'm now reading Sweetland by Michael Crummey and I am thoroughly caught up in it. I'm very glad I took the chance. It's one of those books that drops you into a place so completely - in this case, a small island off the coast of Newfoundland - that when you look up from the page, you half expect to see the beaches and weathered buildings outside your own window. I'm a little over 100 pages in out of 318, enough to know that this is a very special read.

So, what are you reading this week?

[TexasProgresive]

1. As I posted last week

I am rereading Morgan Llwelyn's 1916: A Novel of the Irish Rebellion. It's been quite a while since I read it and it is just as good this time around. The first chapters introduce to us young Ned Halloran on a trip to America with his parents for the wedding of his sister, on the Titanic. Ned survives the sinking but not his parents who never made it to the deck from their 2nd class state room, or his friend Dan who was in steerage. The 3rd class Irish were lock below decks.

I began thinking why Ms. Llwelyn had our man on the Titanic. In my opinion she is using the Titanic as a metaphor of Great Britain as it began it's slow descent from being a colonial power, and Ned, a powerless boy a metaphor for Ireland, Ireland, the iceberg that will founder the great ship of state that is Britain.

Yeah, I'm probably reading to much into this but maybe, I am right.

[scarletwoman]

5. I like your take on the Titanic being a metaphor of Great Britain.

Makes sense to me!

I read some of her early Irish historical fantasy novels years and years ago, and thoroughly enjoyed them at the time. They were the kind of thing I was really into in the 70s and mid-80s. I pretty much drifted away from that genre after that, and so I haven't read any Morgan Llywelyn since. As I recall, my favorite from those days was Bard: The Oddyssey of the Irish (1985). http://www.fantasticfiction.co.uk/l/morgan-llywelyn/bard.htm It may also be the last book I read by her.

I can see how her more modern historical novels would be intriguing, although I'm not particularly inclined to pick them up at this time. I do appreciate that she writes well, no matter what. I'm glad, though, that you've brought them up and I'll keep them in mind.

[TexasProgresive]

9. If anyone has an interest in Ireland in the 20th century

This series is outstanding. There is a chapter on the Bachelor Walk Massacre that is chillingly like the Kent State I'm going to use that word as well massacre. There are other things that sound like stuff that happens to people in our time and nation.

[scarletwoman]

10. Plus ça change, plus c'est la même chose.

The lives of the owned mean nothing to the Owners.

[TexasProgresive]

11. Oui, Mlle (or is it Mme) Scarlet. n/t

[scarletwoman]

12. Heh. I'm a widow, so I suppose it would be Mme.

Bon nuit, ma chère.

[TexasProgresive]

13. I've used up most of my French

I grew up in a French speaking home. I haven't been called chère since I was a child. It feels good, thank you. Bon nuit as will. I can hardly keep my eyes open.

[Enthusiast]

2. Hello, everyone! Thank you for the thread, scarletwoman. Sorry I'm late.

I did something I seldom do. I quit on a book in the middle. That would be Bucking the Sun by Ivan Doig. It was a book that was not doing it for me, for any number of reasons. I'm feeling guilty. Geez. This is no reflection on Ivan Doig or his fans in any way.

I have since started reading Open Season by C.J. Box. After reading a few chapters I came to the realization that I have read Open Season before, probably in 2001 when it was released. Well I'm reading it again. Mrs. Enthusiast did not read it at the time so there is that.

Mrs Enthusiast finished Strange Shores by Arnaldur Indridason on Thursday. She was as thoroughly involved in Strange Shores as I was. She loves the Erlendur character.

After Strange Shores Mrs. Enthusiast started Tooth and Nail by Ian Rankin.

The Michael Crummey books sounds interesting, scarletwoman. What a terrible position to be in, being relocated against your will. I understand it was commonplace among native Americans.

[scarletwoman]

6. I think there's no shame in giving up on a book that just doesn't work for you.

I looked through Ivan Doig's entire bibliography once I read The Sea Runners, but I have to honestly say that there was nothing else that interested me. His first book appears to have been a one-off, and from there he went into writing regional novels and stayed there. I'm just not interested in reading novels about that region at this time, so I certainly can't fault you for giving up on Bucking the Sun.

I'm glad Mrs. E enjoyed Stange Shores - I totally love the Erlendur character, too. I also loved the Rebus character, so I hope she enjoys Tooth and Nail as well. Although I must say that I'm glad I'm read the bulk of Rankin's books before I went on strike on any books that had serial killers as a plot device. In Rankin's hands I could tolerate it - at least at the time I was reading him - but I've now sworn off reading any other novels that feature serial killers.

The C.J. Box Joe Pickett series looks interesting, I'll keep them in mind. The truth is, however, that I much prefer foreign authors over American, and much prefer novels set just about anywhere else but in the U.S. My "escapist" reading means just that - for the most part, I choose to escape my effed up country altogether.

Oh, and the Michael Crummey book was absolutely extraordinary! You can read my little review that I posted separately.

[SheilaT]

3. The Kind Worth Killing by Peter Swanson.

I'm about halfway through and it's amazing. I don't want it to end.

Man meets a woman before they get on a flight from London to Boston. Man has recently discovered his wife is having an affair, says offhandedly, he'd like to kill her. Woman says, she can help. Complications ensue.

The chapters alternate between his narration and hers, and in the middle comes a plot complication I didn't expect. Wow!

[scarletwoman]

7. Cool! Thank you for that synopsis!

I really do love checking out what other people are reading - I pretty much always go look up all the books that get mentioned in these weekly threads, even if I don't always mention it.

So, thank you for posting!

[hermetic]

4. Where did the week go?

Busy, busy. Whoever said that retirement is boring never visited my house.

Anyway, finished The Sisters Brothers. Loved it. Well worth the wait. Cowboy noir, yee haw!

At one point I started thinking that if Hunter Thompson had been around during the gold rush, he might have written something like this. A road trip, drugs, alcohol and devious characters. Then it all wraps up nicely in the end. Highly recommend, if you're into that sort of thing.

Since I got that book from an out of town library, and it came with a little note saying that I should pay $3 for the shipping, I decided I would just stick with what my local library has to offer for a bit. So, I went for a C.J. Box, The Highway.

This book was in the Mystery section, as are all the Box's, but it's no mystery. Not to the reader, anyway. More of a Horror, I'd say. You follow along with a psycho long-haul trucker and know everything he does. It's very creepy and I want to read it all at once. A real page-turner. I expect to be reading more from C.J. Box in the future.

Happy reading, everyone!

[scarletwoman]

8. Well, if I manage to live long enough to retire, I'm certain it won't be boring for me, either. :D

I like your description of The Sisters Brothers:

...if Hunter Thompson had been around during the gold rush, he might have written something like this.

I looked it up last week after you first mentioned it. It definitely sounded, uh, different. I can't say I was attracted to it, but having thought about it for awhile, it sort of vaguely brings to mind the 1995 movie "Dead Man" - which I ended up liking very much in spite my initial resistance.

[Number9Dream]

14. Just finished "Ice Hunt" by James Rollins

Late to the thread, as usual. Typical James Rollins... Fast-paced, action, blend of science, monsters, clever escapes... enjoyable beach reading. Started "Blood Line" by James Rollins. Only 68 pages in. So far, so good.

[Enthusiast]

15. I've never read any books by James Rollins.

From what I'm reading on Fantastic Fiction his books remind me of Clive Cussler and the team of Douglas Preston and Lincoln Childs.

[Number9Dream]

16. If you're in the mood for a blend of action, science, archaeology, & clever escapes...

...Rollins is excellent (IMHO).

Hello Enthusiast.

He was a professional veterinarian. Like you said, similar vein as Clive Cussler & Dan Brown.

http://jamesrollins.com/

[scarletwoman]

17. It's never too late to add to the reading thread!

I'll have to look up James Rollins. I've never read anything by him.

Thank you for posting!

[Mz Pip]

18. Epitaph by Mary Doria Russell.

A novel about the people and event that led up to the gunfight at the OK Corral.

[scarletwoman]

19. Wow! I'd never heard of Mary Doria Russell, so I looked her up.

What an interesting body of work she has! Really quite fascinating!

Thank you so much for bringing her to this thread!