What Fiction are you reading this week, April 12, 2020?

[hermetic]

Annnnnddd.....we're back!!

Many thanks to those who set aside their baskets and whatnot to get us up and running. Much appreciated!

Hoppy Easter!


Magpie Murders by Anthony Horowitz, “a masterful, clever, and relentlessly suspenseful take on vintage English crime fiction in which the reader becomes the detective.” I love this. Absolute genius!

Just started listening to an oldie, An Unkindness of Ravens by Ruth Rendell from 1985. I seem to have a thing for corvids right now, the coincidence of which has just occurred to me. (corvid, covid )

Find any fun coincidences in your reading this week?

[padah513]

1. Just finished an audiobook of Agatha Christie's

And Then There Were None, yesterday. I never read/listened to any of her work before but I really enjoyed it. All 8 hours of it.

[hermetic]

3. That is one

of my favorite mysteries ever. Glad you found it.

[PoindexterOglethorpe]

2. The Forbidden Stars

by Tim Pratt. It's the third in the Axiom series. I am really enjoying them.

the first two are The Wrong Stars and The Dreaming Stars.

Several centuries from now humans have come in contact with an alien species, called the Liars because frankly, they never tell the truth if they can possibly help it. Plus, there are many, many different varieties of Liars, some of whom happily work with humans, others of whom do not. Then another alien race is discovered, the Axiom, and they're bent of conquering the galaxy, possibly the entire Universe and appear to have the technology to do so. Lots of adventures ensue.

[hermetic]

5. Oh, that does sound

most entertaining.

[PoindexterOglethorpe]

6. It is. The series is.

I'm not sure I've read anything else by Pratt, although he's certainly got a decent number out there.

[dameatball]

4. "Under Cover of Daylight" by James W. Hall

Going back to a 1987 novel to try a new author. South Florida, crime, etc

[hermetic]

7. Seems a lot of us

are going back to older stuff now. Maybe because it's just easier to find and acquire.

[dameatball]

10. Yeah, I think so. Some of the authors I enjoy have series of books featuring recurring

characters. When that is the case I prefer to start more toward the beginning of the series and read in chronological order. With stand alone novels, it doesn't matter where one starts.

[snowybirdie]

8. Grishams new book

The Guardians. He finally has written another good one after several years of drought.

[hermetic]

9. Ah

Glad to hear that.

[SheltieLover]

29. 😱

TY for sharing! Didn't realize he had published another. I love his work.

[PennyK]

11. Anthony Horowitz is great

I wish he would stick to mysteries, because he has so much fun bending the genre.
I just got Company of Liars by Karen Maitland, a mystery retelling of a Canterbury Tales-type group of people, staying together to wait out the Plague.
Also discovered Georgette Heyer, who apparently "invented' the historical fiction genre, but also wrote some very amusing (and Christie-ish) murder mysteries back in the '30s.

[hermetic]

12. Yeah, I love his

Sherlock works.

Ms Heyer certainly has written a lot of books. Seems like a good choice for trying out librevox.

And Company of Liars. Wow! Sounds like one we should all read now. "The year is 1348. The Black Plague grips the country. In a world ruled by faith and fear, nine desperate strangers, brought together by chance, attempt to outrun the certain death that is running inexorably toward them."

[The King of Prussia]

13. An Air That Kills by Andrew Taylor

A thriller set in the West of England in the immediate post-war period. It's OK, but I'm 138 pages in and nothing much has happened. Bit like real life - we've essentially done nothing again for a week.
Distracting myself by putting our book collection on "Librarything".

[hermetic]

15. Nothing much happening here, either

Although some of my neighbors now think it's okay to have big parties. I expect to see hearses outside their houses someday soon.

[The King of Prussia]

18. We have a few like that round here too

Selfish idiots. There's one in particular that I'd happily see dead.

[LizBeth]

14. The Corrections by Jonathan Franzen

[hermetic]

16. This book

won the National Book Award for fiction for 2001 and was a finalist for a Pulitzer Prize a year later.

[LizBeth]

17. My adult son living in another state bought me three books and had them delivered

for me to read during isolation. This is the first. The only one he has read, but said it was awesome good. But, spent the time researching to find two other books the thought I would really enjoy. Such a good son, Lol. I am only at the beginning, but going to get into it today. The writing is very good.

[hermetic]

19. Aww,

what a nice boy you have.

[LizBeth]

21. Ya. ;)

[SheltieLover]

28. What a thoughtful son!

Very sweet!

[lkinwi]

20. Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens

My friend just left it on my porch. I’ll be starting it this week.

[hermetic]

22. Well, that's a good friend!

That's a really popular book. Enjoy.

[Bayard]

23. Just started, "Lightening"

Dean Koontz. I've read a number of his other books and always enjoy them, but had missed this one.

[hermetic]

24. I have always loved his books

Somehow missed this one, too. From 1988, "a brilliantly thrilling novel of suspense. A thundering masterpiece of the imagination."

[japple]

25. Reading the last of this book: A Woman of No Importance by Sonia Purnell

This woman's accomplishments are remarkable. It's impossible to describe her contributions to the efforts of liberating France from the Nazi stronghold. If you need inspiration, just read this book.

Many thanks, hermetic, for bringing this group together every week. Happy Easter Bunny to you and yours.

I see where Paulette Jiles has a new book, James McBride has a new book, lotsa new books in bookland.Happy Reading DUers.

If you need a good joke,

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[hermetic]

33. LOL And so cute!

Looks like my kind of rabbit. Cheers!

Did I tell you I have feral rabbits living among the local kitties? They really like cat food. Plus I put out carrot and cabbage bits for them. They don't seem terribly afraid of me.





Hope you are doing well.

[japple]

34. Those bunnies are probably discarded Easter pets. Check around and see if your state has a

House Rabbit Society or rescue group that might be willing to help with them. There is a Georgia House Rabbit Society that has offered to take pet buns that were surrendered to our county animal control shelter. They are a wonderful group, with helpful information and assistance with foster home placements.

I am doing well, thank you very much. Had surgery on Friday, having no pain, should start radiation in 2 weeks. Glad to have that behind me.

[hermetic]

35. Oh, yay!

Over and done. Hang in there now. We're all pulling for you! (Someone needs to make emojis wearing masks)

[Ferrets are Cool]

26. America, the Land of the Free and the Brave. nt

[SheltieLover]

27. Probable Claws

Cozy mystery series by Rita Mae Brown. Really funny because protagonist has 2 cats & a Corgi who talk to each other & help her solve mysteries. Great characters & a lot of hostorical info about Virginia.

Great thread - thank you for starting it!

[hermetic]

32. I love her stories!

I've read a good many of her Mrs. Murphy mysteries. Always entertaining.

Thank you! And you are most welcome.

[SheltieLover]

36. Me too!

I think I've read them all, now I'm picking out my favs to reread.

Have you read "The Cat Who" series yet? The 2 cats don't talk to each other, but it's another delightful cozy series in which the cats are central to the story.

1st in series is:

"The cat who could Read Backwards."

Quite entertaining with great characters!

[TexasProgresive]

30. 2/3 the way through "Wizard's First Rule"

The plot is good, but I find the characters are not quite complete. I received a new book yesterday that is non fiction but the author is a great story teller, Habib Fanny. A Gazelle Ate My Homework.

[hermetic]

31. What a great title!

Literally hot off the press (last week). Sounds most excellent.

Sick of living in the shadows of a corrupt post-colonial Ivory Coast, intrepid gazelle hunter Habib Fanny schemes to see the opulence of America for himself, with naught but rudimentary raft-making skills and his trusty spear to aid him. Well...that’s one version of the story, at least. In truth, Fanny’s story takes him on an adventure across continents, around dangerous political intrigue, into the depths of poverty, and through the complicated systems that provide him with a medical education.

[PA Democrat]

37. I just finished The Ragged Edge of Night by Olivia Hawker

Set in a small town in Germany during World War II, the book's main character is a former friar who is struggling to atone for a past failing which is revealed gradually through the course of the book. He enters into an arranged marriage with desperate widow to help her raise her children. As part of his search for redemption, he joins a resistance movement called the Red Orchestra and acts as a messenger.

At the end of the book the author explains that the main character was based upon her husband's grandfather who was indeed part of a resistance movement within Nazi Germany. She then goes on to state that the book is a cautionary tale about how there are very dangerous parallels between events in the US today and the spread of the poison that enabled the Nazi atrocities. Her remarks had me in tears because it feels as though we are very much poised right now on the ragged edge of night. She wrote:

"We are fools to think that the past remains in the past. History is our guilty conscience; it will not let us rest. Perhaps we will never learn the origin of this sickness, but we understand its cure. We are the White Rose, and the Edelweiss Pirates. We are Widerstand- resistance- you and I. No force can silence us, unless we permit silence. I prefer to roar.

[hermetic]

38. Sounds like a great book!

And an important read. I agree that we are perched on a ragged edge and the actions of many of my fellow humans aren't giving me much hope right now. But I shall continue to roar as best I can. Thanks for sharing this.