What are you reading this week of June 18, 2017?

[hermetic]

Happy Father's Day!

Still reading THE BEAT GOES ON, short stories about Inspector Rebus by Ian Rankin. At anywhere from 9 to 30 pages each, these are really fun to read. Also zipping through Spider Robinson's THE CALLAHAN TOUCH right now. This is a tremendous story filled with puns and surprises and deeply touching moments. It's my favorite Callahan's book so far.

What are your favorites right now?

[murielm99]

1. I am reading a book by Richard Russo,

called Empire Falls. It has a 2001 copyright.

I read Straight Man by the same author. It was laugh out loud funny. Given the current climate, I need the laughs.

He is a Pulitzer Prize winner. I would recommend his books.

[CurtEastPoint]

2. if I recall correctly, the series on HBO was pretty good.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0376591/

[hermetic]

5. I have been wanting

to both read and watch EMPIRE FALLS for quite some time now. Thanks for your recommendation.

[CurtEastPoint]

3. The Nix...

having difficulty getting into it, however.

[hermetic]

7. I find 2 books

called THE NIX. One, from '09 by Abbey Frommer, sounds very sci fi and like part of a series. The other, by Nathan Hill and quite recent, is "a mother-son psychodrama with ghosts and politics, but it is also a tragicomedy about anger and sanctimony in America. . . Nathan Hill is a maestro." High praise from John Irving. Sounds interesting. I'm guessing this is the one you have.

[CurtEastPoint]

10. Didn't know there were 2 but yes...the second.

[PoorMonger]

11. I Liked It

The Nathan Hill book anyway - I also like MMO games though and I enjoyed the way the one was woven in. I found the narrative choices pretty interesting if the haunting part was a bit squishy and the protagonist wasn't that likeable at times.

[PoorMonger]

12. Musical Suggestion - 'Timebomb'

https://m.

From The Old 97's " Too Far To Care" (1997).

[TexasProgresive]

4. Another Ari Marmel book, "The Warlock's Legacy"

This is a completely different genre than "Hot Lead and Cold Iron." Warlock is more the type that my mother called thud and blunder or more charitably sword and the sorcerer. I just read chapter one and a whole lot of people are slaughtered by on black armor clad warrior. It seems to be really interesting.

About "Hot Lead and Cold Iron" I would've loved for my Mom to have read it and come up with a neat name. It takes place in 1930s Chicago, which is full of gangsters of all types. The main character, Mick Oberon is Fae. If you know any of the Irish legends the faery people went underground after the coming of people armed with "cold iron." Anyway Mick chooses to live in the outer world Chicago. And work as a PI. He has a wand that mostly allows him to draw on people's emotions. He can diminish some and increase others. It's a really interesting concept. Overall this was a lot of fun.

[murielm99]

6. That sounds wonderful!

[hermetic]

8. What murielm said ,

Glad you are telling us about these tales.

[PoorMonger]

9. Couldn't Find That Series

But , my library has another trilogy ( though book one was checked out this week - will give it a chance soon. )

[PoorMonger]

13. Shylock Is My Name by Howard Jacobson

Man Booker Prize-winner Howard Jacobson brings his singular brilliance to this modern re-imagining of one of Shakespeare’s most unforgettable characters: Shylock

Winter, a cemetery, Shylock. In this provocative and profound interpretation of “The Merchant of Venice,” Shylock is juxtaposed against his present-day counterpart in the character of art dealer and conflicted father Simon Strulovitch. With characteristic irony, Jacobson presents Shylock as a man of incisive wit and passion, concerned still with questions of identity, parenthood, anti-Semitism and revenge. While Strulovich struggles to reconcile himself to his daughter Beatrice's “betrayal” of her family and heritage – as she is carried away by the excitement of Manchester high society, and into the arms of a footballer notorious for giving a Nazi salute on the field – Shylock alternates grief for his beloved wife with rage against his own daughter's rejection of her Jewish upbringing. Culminating in a shocking twist on Shylock’s demand for the infamous pound of flesh, Jacobson’s insightful retelling examines contemporary, acutely relevant questions of Jewish identity while maintaining a poignant sympathy for its characters and a genuine spiritual kinship with its antecedent—a drama which Jacobson himself considers to be “the most troubling of Shakespeare’s plays for anyone, but, for an English novelist who happens to be Jewish, also the most challenging.”

My third Hogarth Shakespeare novel - I have only read Jacobson once - last year I tried 'J' - I found it smart , but also dense in a way that made the reading experience seem a chore. I'm hoping this will show some charm. Lots of people have compared Jacobson to Roth - on all things related to the Jewish experience , and I have always enjoyed Roth when I've read him. Although strangely I've yet to read his 'Operation Shylock'.

[hermetic]

14. Apt reading

for Father's Day.

Roth's novel sounds like a pretty wild ride. "Operation Shylock barrels across the frontier between fact and fiction, seriousness and high comedy, history and nightmare."

[PoorMonger]

18. Musical Suggestion - 'Mercy Buckets'

https://m.

The final track from The Drive By Truckers "Go Go Boots" (2011).

[hermetic]

20. I've always liked them

How they capture the feeling of the loneliness of the open road. And the camaraderie there, too.

[PoorMonger]

22. Great Live!

I've seen them live 4 times ; love them so much for their heart. Always been liberal - but it took their support of BLM with the 'What It Means' for some listeners to understand that.

https://m.

[pscot]

15. Hi Hermetic. Reading Fall of Giants

by Ken Follett. I can't resist these English generational sagas.

[hermetic]

16. Hi pscot

(do you pronounce that with a silent p? )

I found this review of Fall of Giants that you might enjoy reading. Granted, he doesn't much care for the book, or Follett, and it's almost as long as the book itself, but it's pretty funny. I enjoyed reading it and think you might, too.

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/141537729?utm_campaign=reviews&utm_medium=widget&utm_source=fictiondb.com

[pscot]

17. 2 syllables

I can see how having to read Follett while riding an exercise bike in order to earn your bread might embitter a sensitive critic. Follett writes grade-b fiction but comparing him to Herman Wouk is just mean.

[PoorMonger]

19. Walking The Perfect Square by Reed Farrel Coleman

(Moe Prager #1)

August 6th, 1998: Moe Prager, a former cop, waits to call his daughter for her 18th birthday. In the midst of an ugly family meltdown, Prager is desperate to find a way to make sense of what has caused his once-happy family to implode. As he waits, however, it is Prager who receives a call that might not only solve a case that has haunted him and his wife for twenty years, but might also supply the glue to patch his family back together.
December 8th, 1977: Patrick Maloney, a supposedly popular college student, walks out of a Manhattan nightspot into oblivion. It s no wonder Maloney s disappearance barely registers on the radar screen. Son of Sam strikes. Elvis is dead. It s the Sex Pistols vs. the BeeGees, Studio 54 and the Dirt Lounge, est and yin/yang, gas shortages, Quaaludes, pot and polyester, Plato s Retreat, The Rocky Horror Picture Show, and the neutron bomb.

Moe Prager, a cop forced into early retirement by injury, certainly hadn t noticed Patrick Maloney s disappearance. But when Prager s ex-partner calls with an offer to work on the case, Moe, wracked with self-doubt over his undistinguished career, signs on.

As Prager traces Patrick Maloney s steps from his upstate home to his college dorm on Long Island, from the Tribeca bar where he was last seen to an old flame s mansion on the Gold Coast, Moe realizes that nothing about the case, especially the details of the missing man s life, is as it seems. Even the picture his parents gave the police was two years out of date. Why? What could his parents be hiding? What tortured secrets might have driven Patrick to create a public persona so different from his true self?

Questions multiply as Prager searches for Patrick in New York s notorious punk underground, gay clubs and biker bars. Will Moe s blossoming relationship with Patrick s older sister help to bring Maloney back home or will it help to destroy any progress in the case? Can Moe overcome the roadblocks thrown in his path by dirty cops, corrupt politicians, and an ambitious reporter? And who are the truly ominous forces working behind the scenes to pull Prager into the very private hell of the Maloney family? Is Moe Prager running in circles or simply walking the perfect square?

After reading the more recent Gus Murphy books and really enjoying them I had to dig into this older longer standing series.

[hermetic]

21. That sounds fun

A good mystery along with things we remember from back then. There are a couple of his books at my library so I will have a look at them.

Being confined to my house today as it's too freaking hot to go outside for any reason, I have been listening to a new group. New to me, anyway. Calexico. They have a huge discography so seem ripe for finding theme songs. My fave album right now is The Black Light. I give them

[PoorMonger]

23. Rock On!

They are cool. Disovered them through daytrotter or audiotree sessions .

Could use one that to connect to 'The Black Ice' (Harry Bosch #2) which takes place in Calexico - the actual border town.

[PoorMonger]

24. Musical Suggestion ' Chain Lightning '

https://m.

From Steely Dan's "Katy Lied" (1975).