What Fiction are you reading this week, July 15, 2018?

[hermetic]

Still loving The Missing and the Dead by Stuart MacBride. The character, DS Roberta Steele, is so funny. She needs her own series. She's always coming out with things like: "This is Aberdeen, not game of sodding thrones."

Still listening to The Golem of Paris which is so interesting. I've never imagined a golem as a woman but that would sure be a force to contend with.

Apologies for not getting back to some of you this past week but I have been having some real issues with my computer. As in, it just stops working for some reason. It's taken me an hour just to get this far this morning so no guarantees it will last out the day.

Regardless, what are you reading this week? Inquiring minds will want to know.

[Squinch]

1. Le Carre's Call for the Dead.

Le Carre is always a favorite. How did I miss this one?

[hermetic]

3. Maybe because

it was from 1962? It does sound like a good one, though.

[Paladin]

38. I'm about 2/3rds of the way through le Carre's new one, "A Legacy Of Spies."

It's wonderful, as I knew it would be. It helps to have read "The Spy Who Came In From The Cold" and "Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy" which is alright; they're classics as well, with lots of reoccurring characters.

Nobody does spy-craft novels better than le Carre'. Nobody.

[Squinch]

39. I think his writing totally elevates the genre to q new place.

Looking forward to that one.

[Paladin]

41. Have you seen the "Tinker, Tailor" movie?

The one with Gary Oldman as George Smiley? One of the few flicks I've ever seen that does justice to the iconic book.

[Squinch]

42. I did, but I have to say I liked the Alec Guiness version better. I think that might have been

what turned me on to Le Carre in the first place.

[Paladin]

43. Believe me, I was fully prepared to like Sir Alec's version more.

Imagine my surprise when Oldman---and the finest collection of modern-day English actors in one movie ever---won me over.

Hell, I love the book, and I love both dramatic versions of it.

[Ohiogal]

2. Sorry to hear of your computer problems, hermetic!

They sure can be a source of aggravation, no?

This week I am reading "The Right Side" by Spencer Quinn. This is a stand-alone, not one of the Chet and Bernie mysteries (I've read and enjoyed all of those too)

[hermetic]

5. Thanks, yeah

I'm really annoyed. But then I just read a description of your book and it kind of puts it all in a different perspective. That sounds really intense: "Enthralling, suspenseful, and psychologically nuanced, The Right Side introduces one of the most unforgettable protagonists in modern fiction: isolated, broken, disillusioned -- yet still seeking redemption and purpose -- LeAnne takes hold of you and never lets go."

My little problems now seem so... little.

[Ohiogal]

11. She has definitely taken hold of ME.

[CincyDem]

4. Trump's Tweets. Oh...wait...that's not what you mean. :-) n/t

[yonder]

7. You beat me to it.

[hermetic]

8. Uh huh,

I always advise avoiding those if possible. Very unhealthy. Hope you're having a good day, though.

[CincyDem]

10. ya know, since you mentioned it, I'm actually have a great day...

...Ms. CincyDem is heading home from a week+ at the beach with friends and last night was the end of my "what can I do with ground beef tonight?" meals for a while so I'm having a very good day !

[northoftheborder]

6. Whiskey Sea, by Ann Howard Creel

Young orphaned girl, during Prohibition in N. Y., fights her way out of deep poverty with her own strengths and independence; set in fishing village; she's finding romance on the current page being read - I don't know how this ends! Gripping tale, unusual setting, interesting characters, easy read!

[hermetic]

9. Sounds good

Entertaining, for sure.

[matt819]

12. A few, as usual

Reading Splinter in the Blood by Ashley Dyer, which is a pseudonym for a pair of writers. British police procedural with a ton of twists and turns. Enjoying it.

Listening to The End, the third installment (of more than ten) in Mark Tufo’s Zombie Fallout. Not great literature, but a fun listen. Just when you think things can’t get worse, they do. Over and over and over. You’ll start asking yourself whether you’re ready for the zombie apocalypse.

[hermetic]

14. I recently put

that Dyer book on my list as it's "filled with secrets, nerve-jangling tension, perplexing mystery, and cold-blooded murder." Good stuff.

[matt819]

18. All that and more

Some seriously troubled and flawed characters. I’m about 100 pages from the end and I know my suspect will be found to be just weird, not murderous So no clue who the killer is. Are the cops suspect? Yep.

[Glorfindel]

13. Just finished "The Outsider," Stephen King's latest

I really enjoyed it. Up next: "Be Sweet," by Roy Blount, Jr. My cousin recommeded it and gave me the paperback.

[hermetic]

16. The Outsider

"At a time when the King brand has never been stronger, he has delivered one of his most unsettling and compulsively readable stories." Well, that sure sounds like a must-read.

Blount has written some interesting things.

[murielm99]

15. The Book of M,

by Peng Shepherd. It is a first novel. It is dystopian fiction. (Maybe I should not be reading this type of fiction at this particular time)?

In the book, people start losing their shadows and losing all their memories and all sense of self. Chaos ensues. The shadowless become dangerous. In the section I am reading now, it looks like the shadowed are organizing, and the shadowless may be able to find a cure, or at least an imperfect remedy for their condition.

I am not sure about this book. At first, I was going to give it fifty pages, then discard it. I am continuing, because it got better and it is an interesting idea for a plot.

[hermetic]

17. I dunno

Dystopian fiction seems like a breath of fresh air compared to our current reality. Plus it usually has a happy ending.

[PoindexterOglethorpe]

27. I love dystopian novels. And for some reason your description of

The Book of M reminded me of Yesterday by Felicia Yap. In that one humans all belong to one of two types: Monos who can only remember yesterday (one day) and Duos who can remember two days (yesterday and the day before), hence their names. It has apparently been like this for along time. Enter the dead mistress of a novelist/aspiring politician, a Duo married to a Mono. I won't say more, but it's incredibly well thought out and plotted. This is a first novel, and I hope she writes many more.

[peggysue2]

19. Varina by Charles Frazier

Just finished the novel, a really interesting and thoroughly enjoyable story about Jefferson Davis' second wife, Varina Howell. I did not know anything about the woman prior to the read but finished with a good deal of empathy for her. She married Davis as a teenager (he was in his 30s at the time) and felt haunted by his first wife Knoxie. It was a strange marriage to say the least.

As interesting as Varina's story is the backdrop of the Civil War adds to the richness and complexity. The clashing ideologies of the time have an eerie resonance to the current mess we find ourselves in. The book certainly does not romanticize the war nor the bitterness left in the South after it was over. Davis was a hunted, hated and haunted man for the rest of his life, broken physically and financially, yet stubbornly defensive of his political stance.

I'm sure everyone here knows that Frazier also wrote Cold Mountain, an international bestseller that was later turned into an enjoyable movie. I could see this novel going the same way.

Frazier's writing is top-notch. The framing/structure is shaped by a series of interviews/conversations between Varina and a 40-something biracial man, James Blake, who--at the age of eight--happens to have lived in the Davis household a year or two before the war ended. Then he was known as Jimmie Limber (because he was double jointed) and accompanied Varina and her surviving children in their mad dash toward Florida to escape the Federal authorities following the surrender at Appomattox.

Anyway, thought I'd pass this along. If you enjoy historical fiction this is certainly a good choice. And, as I mentioned earlier, it has a strange parallel to what we're witnessing in real time. Nothing new under the sun, as they say.

[hermetic]

21. Nice write up!

Thanks.

[murielm99]

24. That sounds fascinating.

And I like the author!

[peggysue2]

25. Thanks, hermetic

This one deserves a good write up.

And yes, Muriel, it was fascinating and effective from my point of view. Not sure I would have deliberately sought out a book on Jefferson Davis' wife but I really loved Cold Mountain . So, when I heard Frazier was out with a new one, I knew I had to read it.

[japple]

29. This one is on my list. Glad to read that you liked the book. I've read all of Frazier's

works and love his style of writing. Thanks for the great write-up.

[heaven05]

20. lee child

[hermetic]

22. That Lee

Sure wrote a lot of books. Just sayin'...

[heaven05]

23. heck of a lot

when I was driving lyft and uber, I read a lot of him. Still, do.

[pangaia]

26. THE ART OF THE DEAL

KIDDING KIDDING

[PoindexterOglethorpe]

28. Current novel is The Wrong Stars by Tim Pratt.

When a salvage ship at the outer edge of our solar system comes across a 500 year old vessel and find only one survivor of the original crew of 6, it raises lots of questions. When they revive the survivor (whose been in cold sleep most of the time) she tells them they've made First Contact. Yawn. Old news. Not so long after that ship went off on its journey to colonize some distant planet, aliens showed up in our solar system and we've been dealing with them ever since. They have incredible technology which they've shared with us, although they're known as Liars as most of what they say cannot be trusted.

Complications ensue.

It's the first of a trilogy, and the next one, The Dreaming Stars will be out in September. I'll probably read it.

What I find most amazing is that there's a lot of back story that's incredibly well handled. It's almost as if there had been several previous novels about the salvage ship and its crew, but so far as I can tell this is his first main stream science fiction. Everything else seems to have been fantasy, and I'm simply not a fantasy person.

[hermetic]

34. Sounds like a winner

It is a finalist for the 2018 Philip K. Dick Award

"A ragtag crew of humans and posthumans discover alien technology that could change the fate of humanity… or awaken an ancient evil and destroy all life in the galaxy."

[PoindexterOglethorpe]

35. So far I'm really liking it.

I normally avoid trilogies and such, but this one will have me breaking my "no series" rule. Which is actually a pretty loose rule anyway.

[japple]

30. Thank you for the thread, hermetic. I've been reading

Less by Andrew Sean Greer, which I downloaded from the library. I can't decide whether or not I like it. The writing is wonderful, but the first part is a bit confusing. I guess I'm not giving it my full attention as I've been distracted by so many things including cat rescue and other things. "A scintillating satire of the American abroad, a rumination on time and the human heart, a bittersweet romance of chances lost, by an author The New York Times has hailed as "inspired, lyrical," "elegiac," "ingenious," as well as "too sappy by half," Less shows a writer at the peak of his talents raising the curtain on our shared human comedy."

At any rate, I'll be house sitting/pet sitting for a friend in NC for 10 days and will spend much time reading, visiting with old friends and, hopefully, getting a break from everyday worries.

Have a great week.

[hermetic]

32. That sounds lovely

Have a wonderful visit.

[Number9Dream]

31. Finished "Inca Gold" by Clive Cussler

Thanks for the thread, hermetic.

A good action, page-turner by Clive Cussler. The climactic journey through an underground river in a small hovercraft was cool and original.

[hermetic]

33. One of his older ones

'94. Sounds really good. Classic, thrilling adventure. I plan to get his Medusa on CD from the library this week.

[PoorMonger]

36. Dunbar by Edward St. Aubyn (Hogarth Shakespeare)

A reimagining of one of Shakespeare's most well-read tragedies, by the contemporary, critically acclaimed master of domestic drama

Henry Dunbar, the once all-powerful head of a global media corporation, is not having a good day. In his dotage he hands over care of the corporation to his two eldest daughters, Abby and Megan, but as relations sour he starts to doubt the wisdom of past decisions.

Now imprisoned in Meadowmeade, an upscale sanatorium in rural England, with only a demented alcoholic comedian as company, Dunbar starts planning his escape. As he flees into the hills, his family is hot on his heels. But who will find him first, his beloved youngest daughter, Florence, or the tigresses Abby and Megan, so keen to divest him of his estate?

Edward St Aubyn is renowned for his masterwork, the five Melrose novels, which dissect with savage and beautiful precision the agonies of family life. His take on King Lear, Shakespeare’s most devastating family story, is an excoriating novel for and of our times – an examination of power, money and the value of forgiveness.

[PoindexterOglethorpe]

37. Unraveling Oliver

by Liz Nugent.

Here's the opening sentence:
"I expected more of a reaction the first time I hit her."

OMG!!! It gets better and better.

This is Nugent's first novel, and her second, Lying in Wait starts like this:
"My husband did not mean to kill Annie Doyle, but the lying tramp deserved it."

I am most of the way done with Unraveling Oliver, and have Lying in Wait on hold at my library when it is published in this country. Next month. On my birthday, as it happens. I can hardly wait.

I can assure you that the first novel is phenomenal and all of you should read it. I'm expecting the second is equally good.

[hermetic]

45. Okay

I'm there. Or will be, someday.

[PoorMonger]

40. Come West And See by Maxim Loskutoff

This searing debut reimagines the American West through linked stories describing a violent rural separatist movement.

In an isolated region of Idaho, Montana, and eastern Oregon known as the Redoubt, an armed occupation of a wildlife refuge is escalating into civil war. Against this backdrop, twelve stories of ordinary lives explore the loneliness, fragility, and heartbreak inherent to love. Families feel the far-reaching shockwaves of displacement and division. A mother makes a hard choice for her sons when their father goes to lead a standoff with the federal government. An unemployed carpenter joins a militia after his wife leaves him and the first airstrikes raze the streets of his hometown. A former soldier raises the daughter of a dead comrade in a bunker beneath an abandoned farm.

Ranging from the cities to the small towns of the West, and imbued with its own brand of radical empathy, Loskutoff's fiction is both timely and timeless. Come West and See surges with rage, longing, and fear, and offers startling insights into the wounds of the American people.

[hermetic]

44. Wow

Not sure I could read that one. Not that it matters; I'm glad you read it and told us about it. But, back when the Bundy gang took over that bird sanctuary in Oregon, I was very involved with an online group that tracked their daily misdeeds and I have major contempt for them and their ilk. Plus, I live in that general vicinity so it was somewhat personal. Sure, they all have their personal reasons for behaving like that, as these stories point out, but I am no longer capable of anything but disgust for the whole lot of them. This is perhaps a very important book, though, times being what they are. So, thanks.

[PoorMonger]

46. The Blurb

The jacket blurb is a little misleading actually; it makes it sound as if all the stories deal with the ‘rebels’ but really they are mostly just on the periphery of things in all but one story. There’s a story about the wife of one of the guys and her just waiting around and then another one about a friend of one of men who is allegedly killed, but mainly it’s just sad little stories about rural people.

In the vein of Ron Rash or Daniel Woodrell ( only not quite as polished as yet ).

[PoorMonger]

47. Under The Banner Of Heaven by Jon Krakauer

This extraordinary work of investigative journalism takes readers inside America’s isolated Mormon Fundamentalist communities, where some 40,000 people still practice polygamy. Defying both civil authorities and the Mormon establishment in Salt Lake City, the renegade leaders of these Taliban-like theocracies are zealots who answer only to God.

At the core of Krakauer’s book are brothers Ron and Dan Lafferty, who insist they received a commandment from God to kill a blameless woman and her baby girl. Beginning with a meticulously researched account of this appalling double murder, Krakauer constructs a multi-layered, bone-chilling narrative of messianic delusion, polygamy, savage violence, and unyielding faith. Along the way he uncovers a shadowy offshoot of America’s fastest growing religion, and raises provocative questions about the nature of religious belief.