What Fiction are you reading this week, December 29, 2019?

[hermetic]

Buh bye 2019!


To my fellow readers and Democrats, may 2020 allow us to see good health, good fortune and government that cares about our future. Cheers!

I’m reading Craig Johnson’s Wait For Signs, a small book of short stories about Sheriff Longmire. I had listened to this previously and found many of the stories were about Christmas so decided I would read the book this month. It’s quite good.

I also have Kingdom of the Blind by Louise Penny. I somehow missed this one when it came out a year ago and am quite pleased to have it now. I do love Inspector Gamache stories. In this one he and two other people learn they have just become executors of an estate for someone they had never met or even heard of.

What books will help you ring in the new year?

[yellowdogintexas]

1. Last night I finished "Blackbird Fly" by Lisa McClendon

First in a series (my favorite kind)

This was a really good read.
An attorney is suddenly widowed and finds out that her husband had wiped out their reserves through a short sell on the market.
Then she finds out there is property in France that he inherited from his parents, who died when he was a small child.
Then she finds out a few other things about him that she did not know...

So she goes to France to figure out what to do about the house and falls into an entangled plot involveing pretty much the whole village to keep any of the history surrounding the house from being revealed.

I really liked Merle and her four sisters (all attorneys), her son, and the people who befriend her in France.
There are four more of these and I'll be watching for them on Book Bub, etc.

[hermetic]

3. Oooh yeah,

that does sound good.

Wish someone would leave ME property in France.

[pscot]

17. God! Don't we all.

[yellowdogintexas]

2. My next book will be "The Same Sky" by Amanda Eyre Ward

My UMW circle has a book read every January and this is the chosen book.

I have a conflict with the meeting,but at least I can read the book. I picked it up from one of my cheap Kindle book sources back in 2018 and never got around to reading it.

When one of these bargain books looks interesting, I go into Amazon and read the sample; if I like it then I pick it up. I mostly stick to Free and 99 cent books, unless I luck out with a collection of books in a series or it is a single book in a favorite series. When that happens I will spend a bit more money.

[PETRUS]

4. The City We Became, by N.K. Jemisin

It doesn't come out until March, but my wife knows I'm a big fan so she entered a drawing to get an advance copy and gave it to me as a Christmas present.

[hermetic]

5. Sweet!

Jemisin writes some great stuff.

[PETRUS]

6. Yeah, she's awesome.

My wife was kind of startled by my exuberant reaction - "you know I just threw my name in a hat and got lucky, right?"

[PoindexterOglethorpe]

7. Sunburn by Laura Lippman.

About a third of the way in. So far it's really good.

[hermetic]

10. Sounds like a good one...

"a tantalizing modern noir," and "a superb novel of psychological suspense."

[The King of Prussia]

8. I've gone all non-fiction

Currently reading "A Wisden Collection" (cricket), and going to follow up with "Gone Fishing" by Mortimer & Whitehouse. Next fiction? Hmmm... now you've put her in my head I might go for "A Beautiful Mystery" by Louise Penny.

Had the results of my echo-cardiogram. No impairment to heart function, and no sign of any damage. This has made me very happy & relieved. On a political note: I have received - immediate treatment, ambulance to hospital, hospital stay with further treatment, ambulance transfer to another hospital, an angiogram & angioplasty, home visits from cardiac care nurse, support from GP surgery and the diabetes team. I will be attending an 8 week cardiac rehabilitation exercise programme, courses on cardiac care. I'll be back to the hospital in 6 weeks for a post-op follow up.I'm am taking 7 different prescription drugs.

Total cost to me of all this: £0. And yet the people of the US seem not to want "socialist" medicine. Well it's your funeral (literally).

[hermetic]

12. Good good

Glad to hear you'll be okay.

You don't have to convince me. I lived in Canada for a while and had a friend who had kidney failure, spent a year in hospital and then years more on dialysis and it never cost her a cent. Meanwhile, I fell and hurt my knee this year. Saw 2 doctors and had a bunch of x-rays. Nothing was done to me other than a simple wrap put on and it cost me $200! And I'm on Medicare.

Hopefully enough people will have the good sense to do something smart about this in 2020. But I won't hold my breath.

[murielm99]

9. I just finished reading

The English Patient, which is beautifully written. Did you know it is a sequel of sorts to a book called, "In the Skin of a Lion?"

My next read will be, "Up in the Old Hotel," by Joseph Mitchell. It is a collection of his columns from The New Yorker, some fiction, some non-fiction.

The Mitchell book is the last book recommended to me by the proprietor of our local independent bookstore. He died recently, much too young. His wife is continuing to run the store.

[hermetic]

13. No,

I didn't know that. And I read The English Patient many years ago.

Very sad to hear about your bookstore guy.

[bif]

23. "Up in the Old Hotel" is marvelous!

Sounded like the owner had fantastic taste in books. Sorry for your loss.

[dameatball]

11. "The Coyote" by Michael McBride

[hermetic]

14. Oh my

Guess I'll have to read this one...

"..suspense, action, intrigue, unexpected twists, and a villain who makes Hannibal Lector look like a Boy Scout. Toss in a sweltering Arizona desert and a cast of characters who each have a secret agenda, and you've got The Coyote - one of the best books you'll read this year."

Thanks!

[TexasProgresive]

15. Will be reading "Harvest of Stars" for a while.

When I was younger I read quite a bit of Poul Anderson's books. I was working for NASA at the time and just loved the kind of Science Fiction that emphasized the individual, Anderson and Heinlein in particular. You can see where this is going, Poul Anderson is not really our kind of guy- he was definitely leaning to libertarian. The odd thing is his individuals excelled because of others.

Anyway some here may not want to read Anderson because they might get pissed. Personally I think there is a need for a coalition between the strong individual and a social foundation. When either becomes to powerful it is not good.

For myself I never really accepted the philosophy of libertarianism or an uber central controlled government- I always had progressive ideals that are tempered by a pragmatism. I want progress and I want it to function.

[hermetic]

19. Well said, my friend

I liked Anderson's books. Mostly I've never much cared about authors' personal lives so much as how well written their books were. It seems like only in the past couple of years that that has become an issue. Sad, eh.

Here's to functional progress.

[TexasProgresive]

24. I just read a chapter that I could've skipped.

It was a well written rant about Eco-fascism. I can see where he is coming from as I have been exasperated with people who don't take the whole of the situation we are in - focusing on pieces of the problems. Anyway I am tempted to skip over some of these chapters - something I never do in novels. I just don't like overt preaching.

There are 3 novels I attempted and failed to finish, Moby Dick, Don Quixote and Dune I don't want this one to make it 4.

I do have a couple of books waiting - The Color of Magic by Terry Pratchett and Tooth and Nail an Ian Rankin. Maybe I will give Anderson a rest and enter the "wild and wonderful universe of Discworld- discover where all the madness begins!" - blurb on the cover of the Pratchett book.

[hermetic]

29. I call that selective reading

Been known to do it a time or two. Kinda let your eyes scan over a few words in each paragraph. That way you can be sure you didn't miss anything important.

Had to read Moby Dick in school and discuss it AT LENGTH. Never read DQ and I loved Dune in spite of it dragging on a bit.

Terry Pratchett is an absolute gem and so enjoyable to read. I don't recall reading Tooth and Nail but it sounds pretty creepy and I'll be sure to grab it from the library soon.

[TexasProgresive]

35. You like your creepy stuff, don't you? It's supposed to be the 1st Discworld - ground level for me.

[hermetic]

36. Yeah, I sure do...

And a great thing happened. I needed a new audio book and I found Tooth and Nail! My library has very little to offer in audible Rankins so this was a great surprise. Rebus vs. Wolfman! Loving it.

Happy put stuff away day!

[TexasProgresive]

37. Listen on a night when the wind is causing creaky noises.

[pscot]

16. I've been laid up with a sore foot

since Christmas. I've read 2 Elvis Coles, 3 of the Irish viking series by James Nelson and My Italian Bulldozer by Alexander McCall Smith. This looks like being a long siege so i'm going to have to intersperse some non-fiction into the mix. Man liveth not by popcorn alone. I was gifted The British are Coming by Rick Atkinson for Christmas and I have another Elvis Cole and McCall Smith on hand. Props to you, Hermetic, and the happy little band of posters who follow you. I always find valuable nuggets here.

[hermetic]

20. Thanks. Me, too.

Hope your foot gets better soon.

[bif]

18. "Rembrandt's Shadow" by Janet Tree Berg

[hermetic]

21. Based on a true story

"Rembrandt's Shadow is the story of two women from different generations each with their own distinct horrific memories who find themselves at odds when forced to confront the here and now."

[bif]

22. Avoid it at all cost

What a waste of good paper. Poorly written, somewhat directionless book. And it has some bizarre things at the the end of it. Wow, even with a good editor, it would still be a lousy book.

[hermetic]

30. Thanks

I am really happy when folks here point out books we might want to avoid.

[Laura PourMeADrink]

25. Muddling through Grisham's "The Guardians". Is it just

me or has JG lost his touch? I could not put earlier novels down. Now I struggle to pick them up. Carried this book around for a nine day holiday trip and never opened it once.

[hermetic]

31. Well, he has written so many...

Since he always seem to stick with the same themes it would make sense that after a while the books seem repetitive. It's also true that as we get older and are witness to so much strange reality, some fiction might start to pale by comparison.

Or, you know...whatever.

Good to see you. Happy new year!

[ECSkeptic]

26. "Cibola Burn" (book four of "The Expanse" by James S. A. Corey.)

...after binging season 4 of the TV show over Christmas break. I usually read the book after watching the TV show based on it, which is reverse of the way I watched/read Game of Thrones/Song of Ice and Fire.

[hermetic]

32. Welcome to DU!

Thanks for stopping in. Many of us here are big Sci Fi fans. This sounds good:

"An empty apartment, a missing family, that's creepy. But this is like finding a military base with no one on it. Fighters and tanks idling on the runway with no drivers. This is bad juju. Something wrong happened here. What you should do is tell everyone to leave."

[Blue_playwright]

27. Rereading Little Women before taking the girls

[hermetic]

33. How nice

You should stop back in sometime later and let us know how you thought the movie compared to the book. We like that kind of stuff.

[CrispyQ]

28. "Gwendy's Magic Feather" by Richard Chizmar

The cover was interesting so I grabbed it off my library's shelf. Stephen King wrote the foreword. Turns out King & Chizmar co-wrote a book about the same character, Gwendy a few years ago. It's written third person, present tense & the writing style is a little different, but I'll give it a few more pages. The publisher must think it will be a money maker, because it has illustrations & decorative pages.

One of my New Year's resolutions is to read more fiction! You guys will know if I do it or not.

[hermetic]

34. Interesting...

"..a breathtaking novel that asks whether our lives are controlled by fate or the choices we make and what price we might have to pay for those choices.."

Seems like it might be geared to a younger audience although it's classified as Horror. You've got me curious about the illustrations & decorative pages, though, so I will keep an eye out for it at my library.

And, I shall keep an eye out for you, here.

[dooner]

38. Good Girl, Bad Girl by Michael Robotham

Just finished... This is first book a new mystery series by an Australian author (with many other books) It was recommended by Steven King.

Reminds me a little of Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. Good characters and writing.. I was a little disappointed by the ending but it definitely keeps you reading and I can't wait for next book in the series.

[hermetic]

39. Love the DRAGON TATTOO books

So will definitely want to look into these. Thanks!