What Fiction are you reading this week, August 12, 2018?

[hermetic]

Let books take you away to different worlds

Goodness knows many of us are longing to get away from this one.

I'm still visiting Scotland in When the Music's Over by Peter Robinson. A real police procedural wherein the police are good people who enjoy good music and food and the occasional bit of humour. All while dealing with horrendous crimes.

Still listening to Dan Brown's Origin. I can see that reading this one could be tedious but having it read to you is enjoyable enough.

What's your book world this week?

[gopiscrap]

1. "The Unoriginal Sinner and the Icecream God" by John Powers 1977

[hermetic]

9. Interesting

I see Dr. Powers wrote 4 novels that relate his experience of growing up in 1950's Chicago. Very popular.

[gopiscrap]

10. I am surprised not many know that

I have three of his novels. As a child who was Catholic School educated, it struck a chord with me. I have:


"The Last Catholic in America"
"Do Black Patend Leather Shoes Really Reflect Up" and
"The Onoriginal Sinner and the Ice Cream God"

don't know about the 4th novel though

[TexasProgresive]

2. I finished the finale of the Wheel of Time series.

It was worth it. The last book still had the switching back and forth but the events and characters were moving closer together. It was happening so much faster. It was very good and hard to put down. I may read the whole Wheel of Time again. Part of my problem with these last 3 books was remembering what had gone on before.

I am currently reading a Lincoln Lawyer book The Gods of Guilt by that ole standup standby Michael Connelly. I have another of his waiting that has both Mickey Haller and his half brother Harry Bosch. That ought to be fun. I seem to remember they aren't fond of one another.

[hermetic]

7. Good for you

Yeah, I get that, too. Remembering exactly what went on before when there are huge plots involved.

I think we can always count on Michael to come through, though.

[dameatball]

3. "Primordia II, Return To The Lost World" by Greig Beck.

A very entertaining sequel.

[hermetic]

6. Cool

Glad to hear that.

[Ohiogal]

4. Well, I was going to start "Origin"

But do you think it may be tedious reading? Should I try the audio book instead?

[hermetic]

5. Yes, I think you might want to do that

Someone last week mentioned they "Found it too long and rambling" as a read. Of course, YMMV, but I think this one might be worth it. Audibly.

[Number9Dream]

13. For me, at least, I didn't find it tedious at all

We're all different, and it might depend if you like Dan Brown to start with. For me, it was an action, page-turner. I couldn't wait to get to what the society changing reveal was.

[hermetic]

15. Hi!

Thanks for your input. Appreciate it. So, here's what happened with me and Origin. I had it on request for months from the digital audio library and it finally became available. As you know, it's very LOONG. And I got up to chapter 68 and my 2 weeks ran out and I couldn't renew it because someone else wanted it.

So, tomorrow I'm going to the library to get the actual book and finish it because, like you, I can't wait to hear what it's all about.

[Butterflies]

8. The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn

I hadn't read it since middle school in the 1970s, and I hardly remembered any of it. I'm a quarter of the way through it, and it is a good story though the racist stuff is hard to read. It was first published in 1884 and it is set in Missouri mostly, so society is very different. Harsh.

[hermetic]

11. Truly

A whole different world back then. Then again, some things sadly haven't changed all that much after all. Like certain peoples' attitudes.

[shenmue]

12. The Dreaming Hunt, by Cindy Dees and Bill Flippin

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/28220870-the-dreaming-hunt

[hermetic]

16. Hi!

Good to see you again. Glad you are finding new things to enjoy and thanks for sharing.

[PoindexterOglethorpe]

14. Several, as always.

Thunderhead by Neal Shusterman. It's a sequel to Scythe, which was excellent. Several hundred years from now immortality is real, people continue to reproduce and even though the all-knowing and all-present computer system (known as the Thunderhead because it's a direct descendant of the Cloud) can manage things very well, there still needs to be a certain balance of deaths. That's laid out in Scythe. This follows, with the Thunderhead itself as a sort of narrator.

I'm also reading Who We Are and How We Got Here by David Reich, about human DNA. Absolutely fascinating. Modern technology and genomic research is utterly transforming what we know about our ancestry. If this doesn't hook you, nothing will: "A great surprise that emerges from the genome revolution is that in the relatively recent past, human populations were just as different from each other as they are today, but that the fault lines across populations were almost recognizably different from today."

I also just finished The Rise and Fall of Dinosaurs by Steve Brusatte. Another field in which modern technology has utterly transformed what we know.

[hermetic]

17. Busy busy!

You always find the most interesting things.

[PoindexterOglethorpe]

19. Thank you.

I love to read and I'm no longer working, so I get a lot of reading time.

I also long ago realized that I am interested in a much wider range of books, both fiction and non fiction than a lot of people. I've also gotten VERY fussy about what I'm willing to stick with, and don't hesitate to stop reading something if it isn't working for me. I don't give any book a set number of pages, although if I make it half way I'm likely to finish. Recently I gave up on a book (The Child in Time by Ian McEwan) at or slightly after the halfway point because it just wasn't very interesting to me. I have a feeling there may have been some surprise at the very end, but by the time I put it down, I simply didn't care enough about the characters to be bothered.

I'm almost 70, and I will be dragged from this life kicking and screaming because there will still be a bunch of books I want to read.

Plus, the reason I stay away from this part of DU more than I should is that I see too many good book suggestions. Sigh.

[PoorMonger]

18. Broken Ice by Matt Goldman (Nils Shapiro #2)

In the words of Lee Child on Gone to Dust, “I want more of Nils Shapiro.” Emmy-award winning and New York Times bestselling author Matt Goldman happily obliges by bringing the Minneapolis private detective back for another thrilling, standalone adventure in Broken Ice.

Nils Shapiro has been hired to find missing Linnea Engstrom, a teenager from the small northern hockey town of Warroad, MN. Most of Warroad is in Minneapolis for the state high school hockey tournament, and Linnea never returned from last night’s game. Linnea’s friend Haley Housch is also missing―and soon found dead.

Shot through the arm with an arrow at the Haley Housch crime scene, only the quick work of medical examiner Char Northagen saves Nil’s life.

Nils should be in the hospital recovering from his near fatal injury, but he knows that the clock is ticking. Linnea could be anywhere, and someone doesn’t want her found. Is Linnea a victim, or is she playing a dangerous game? As bodies start piling up, the clues lead Nils and Ellegaard north to Warroad, a small, quiet town with many secrets to hide.

[PoindexterOglethorpe]

20. Dammit!

That looks good and sure enough, my library has both of Goldman's books, so I guess there's nothing to do but go to the library tomorrow and check out the first one.

THIS is why I almost hate coming here. So many DUers who read and post about books I then want to read.

[PoorMonger]

21. Cheers

#1 was very good. I read it back at the end of January, so he’s moving pretty damn fast. I liked that it was set in MN - that alone made it interesting for me. I read a ton of noir and procedurals but i’d say at least 75% are set in New York , L.A. or London

[PoindexterOglethorpe]

22. Minnesota is one of the states I've lived in,

Minneapolis, although only about two years.

I really love reading books that are set somewhere that I know. I once picked up a book in a bookstore, and the very first page mentions something called the Nine Mile Woods. The next page mentions the Nine Mile Creek, which I knew, and so I bought the book. It's Shadow Baby by Alison McGhee, and takes place mostly in the very small town in Upstate New York where I lived as a child. She fictionalizes the town, but I had an email exchange with her and yes, she was using that town, just made a few changes, including the name. Characters keep on driving to Utica on Glass Factory Road, the very road I lived on. Wow.

[PennyK]

23. I'm still into the Gaslight Mysteries by Victoria Thompson

I really like these. The relationships evolve slowly and the stories are varied. All classes of folk in Olde New York are represented.
I also read and enjoyed Four Funerals and Maybe a Wedding by Rhys Bowen. Adorable and fun!

My eyelid surgery went very well. I didn't have to use a greasy ointment so my vision was unimpaired. Some redness, swelling, and itchiness were the worst of it. As of tonight, I don't need to sleep on my back any more -- joy!

[hermetic]

24. That's great!

So glad to hear you are doing well. Read on!!