What Fiction are you reading this week, September 23, 2018?

[hermetic]

So much to read, so little zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz...

Still reading Lamb by Christopher Moore and listening to The Girl on the Train by Paula Hawkins.

Almost done with both, though, so next up will be the audio version of Nobody's Fool by Richard Russo. A slyly funny, moving novel about a blue-collar town in upstate New York, and the life of Sully, of one of its unluckiest citizens, who has been doing the wrong thing triumphantly for fifty years.

I will also, finally, read Ready Player One by Ernest Cline. Part quest novel, part love story, and part virtual space opera set in a universe where spell-slinging mages battle giant Japanese robots, entire planets are inspired by Blade Runner, and flying DeLoreans achieve light speed. At just over 500 pages, that should keep me entertained for a few months.

What's up next for you?

[Sneederbunk]

1. NYT

[Ohiogal]

2. Aw, poor tired kitty!

Yesterday I started "The Bone Clocks" by David Mitchell. So far, so good. This is my first book by this author.

And I just finished my Richard Russo collection of short stories.

[hermetic]

6. Thanks. Hibernating sounds

great right now. I hiked and canoed for hours yesterday and today it's all cold and windy.

I'll stay awake for a while, though.

The Bone Clocks sounds quite good. Holly is a lightning rod for psychic phenomena. As she wanders the English countryside, visions and coincidences reorder her reality until they assume the aura of a nightmare brought to life. She has caught the attention of a cabal of dangerous mystics -- and their enemies.

[iamateacher]

8. Sounds good, I may check that one out.

Thanks

[violetpastille]

3. Lord of the Flies

It has not aged well.

[hermetic]

7. Yeah,

I can see how it might not. I read it so long ago, yet it's still rather memorable to me.

Welcome to DU!

[violetpastille]

17. Thank you!

[murielm99]

4. Nonfiction this week.

I am reading "The True Believer," by Eric Hoffer.

It explains his thoughts on the nature of mass movements. It is a useful book in these times, with the red hats, the misogyny, the hate.

IMHO, it explains all sorts of cult like behavior. It is useful in understanding the Trumpers, the Bernie Sanders followers and the populist movements taking place in Europe's Western democracies. Of course there are other factors influencing these true believers. But people who understand mass movements know how to exploit these types of followers.

This is a little book, only 169 pages. I would recommend it.

[hermetic]

5. Interesting

Thanks!

[Squinch]

9. You're going to love Richard Russo. I'm reading The Dry by Jane Harper.

Nice debut novel. Murder mystery set in a dying Australian town. Kind of an inverse of A Town Called Alice.

[hermetic]

10. Yeah, I think so

The Dry sounds good. Got lots of 5-star reviews. "A small town hides big secrets in this atmospheric, page-turning debut mystery."

[hostalover]

18. Also read The Dry and it was quite good.

[iamateacher]

11. The Richmond Thief

And the sequel "The Ranleigh Question" by Lisa Boero.
Regency era widow is a forensic scientist. Great writing.

[hermetic]

13. Sounds like enjoyable reading

A brilliant lady detective in 1800s England must unmask Napoleonic spies, dig up long buried secrets, and forge new breakthroughs in forensic science. Nice. Thanks for sharing.

[iamateacher]

23. While fighting off

The limited expectations for women at that time!

[Bradshaw3]

12. London

It's a historical novel by Edward Rutherfurd. It's about 20 years old but very well told story of the city though the eyes of families from working class to merchant class, starting with the time of the Roman invasion and up past WWII it looks like. I'm about 700 pages in of the 1165.

[hermetic]

14. Wow

Sounds awesome. Thanks for sharing.

[Bradshaw3]

15. I highly recommend it

He follows generations gentically, not from a dynasty point of view, and really gets into how the city came to be through those people through the generations. I have learned so much from this book. And each chapter is like a little novella with new characters. He also wrote a book about Paris I now want to read.

[japple]

16. Still reading Charles Frazier's book, Varina. There is so much going on with the mid-terms

in my County and that's a great thing. There is now an active, viable presence in this state and in my own community. I am doing my bit to try and help things along. And...there are still lots of cats and kittens to get rescued.

Hope you are enjoying Nobody's Fool. I adore Richard Russo and have several of his books/movies on my wishlist. Straight Man is a particular favorite of mine.

Thanks for the thread, hermetic, and for the pic of the little white kitty passed out on a bookshelf. It's a keeper.

[hermetic]

20. I know, right

Isn't that just the cutest picture ever?

Same here about being kept busy rescuing kitties. Sometimes they just seem to come out of nowhere....

"Straight Man is classic Russo--side-splitting and true-to-life, witty, compassionate, and impossible to put down." Sounds great and I will look for it.

Hope you see good results in your community.

[hostalover]

19. I just finished Splinter in the Blood by Ashley Dyer.

"Ashley Dyer is a writing duo based in the United Kingdom." This is their first book together and it was a very good mystery. Kept me guessing until the end, but then I'm not the best at figuring out "whodunnit" in advance!

Just starting Barracoon, The Story of the Last "Black Cargo," by Zora Neale Hurston. It features an interview in 1927 with the last known slaver to have made the transatlantic journey. Illegally brought to the US, Cudjo was enslaved 50 years after the slave trade was outlawed. (from the bookjacket)

[hermetic]

21. I love how people here

are always finding different, interesting and important books. Thanks for your contributions.

[hostalover]

22. I agree! I've gotten many excellent recommendations from our group here.

[The King of Prussia]

24. "Still Life" by Louise Penny

The first of the "Inspector Gamache" series of mysteries - set in the small Canadian village of Three Pines. I'm loving it so much I've already bought 3 more in the series.

[hermetic]

25. Louise Penny's

Inspector Gamache series are some of my most favorite stories ever. I love that village and its people so much and really wish I could live there.

[rzemanfl]

26. Chrisopher Moore-

The Island of the Sequined Love Nun. Perfect escapist humorous fiction for these shit show times.