What are you reading the week of Sunday, August 16, 2015?

[hermetic]

Still drifting through Chabon's Summerland. A really fun book. With wererats and Sasquatches and two kids trying to stop the end of the world from happening, what's not to like? It is 500 pages and I have been so busy harvesting and canning that sometimes I'm just too tired to read at the end of the day.

Plus, my poor old computer is on its last legs so I'm having a lot of trouble staying on line. A brand new one will be delivered in a few more days, though, and I am looking forward to being more active here then.

Meanwhile, what are you reading?

[Enthusiast]

1. Hi everyone! Thank you for the thread, hermetic. Summerland sounds fun—wererats!

I read Galore by Michael Crummey. I am going to start Gathering Prey by John Sandford.

Mrs. Enthusiast has been on vacation so she has been reading up a storm. She read All Creatures Great and Small by James Herriot. Then she read The Lost Island by Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child.

The Lost Island is the third book in the Gideon Crew series. I loved the other two Gideon Crew books as well as the four Wyman Ford books. I consider all the Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child books to be excellent, both when they write as partners and their solo efforts.

Next Mrs. Enthusiast read Gathering Prey by John Sandford. She zipped right through it saying it was really fast paced and exciting. She has yet to decide on a new book for this week.

[Number9Dream]

2. Just finished "The Devil Colony" by James Rollins

Another hard to put down, page-turner by Rollins. Non-stop action, plus science and history. It even touches on Lewis and Clark, and Thomas Jefferson.

"Terrible secrets, the sweep of history, an epic canvas, breathless action...nobody and I mean nobody does this stuff better than Rollins." (Lee Child on The Devil Colony)

[Enthusiast]

4. Is that series of Rollin's books stand alone? Or, should one start at the beginning?

I checked them out on Fantastic Fiction.

[Number9Dream]

8. The SIGMA series should probably start with the first one

I think "Sandstorm" is the first SIGMA book. Just to get used to the characters, then they stand alone.

[japple]

3. Finished John Twelve Hawks' book SPARK and

Last edited Mon Aug 17, 2015, 05:15 PM - Edit history (1)

enjoyed it very much. Started reading Ivan Doig's Sweet Thunder, another episode in the life of Morrie Morgan, who was brought forth in Doig's, The Whistling Season and continued in Work Song. These books are set in Western Montana and since my sister and I are leaving for that same area on Wednesday, I though it would be a great time to read Ivan Doig's last work. We hope to visit another ghost town (old mining town).

Hermetic, thank you for this thread and I can commiserate with you on the harvesting/processing. I don't have as much canning to do as I will (hopefully) have later when the tomatoes really start producing, but my thumbs are quite sore (and stained) from shelling peas and butterbeans and stringing/breaking green beans. The shelling and stringing is easy work and we can listen to books on tape while doing it.

Congrats on your new computer. Hope your connectivity and speed improve.

[Enthusiast]

5. Enjoy your trip to Western Montana. Be safe.

[japple]

7. Just visited the Ivan Doig page and found there is a literary event for the

late great author, which we will miss. It will be tomorrow, and we will be there on Wednesday. Event will be held at a bookstore on Last Chance Gulch--one of the sections of Old Town Helena.

[pscot]

6. Against The Day by Pynchon

I'm 80 pages in and still looking for some sign of a plot. There's plenty of time for developments, since it's almost a thousand pages long. I have The Informant by Thomas Perry as a backup in case I need to be revived.

[eissa]

9. The Time of the Hero

by Mario Vargas Llosa. The third, and final, Llosa book on my Summer reading list. I didn't think I could get into a story about life in a military prep academy in Peru, but leave it to Llosa and his superb character development and storytelling capabilities to draw you in and leave you wanting more.

[camelfan]

10. Darkness at Noon by Arthur Koestler

And then I'm moving on to The Sixth Extinction, by Elizabeth Kolbert.