What Fiction are you reading this week, October 22, 2023?

[hermetic]

Good morning


Reading Mystic River by Dennis Lehane. This is my first Lehane and it most assuredly won't be my last. What a great writer! This book is one of those "I'll just read one more chapter," and hours later I'm still at it. Such incredible detail and and in depth characterization.

Listening to Hiss Me Deadly by Miranda James, 15th in A Cat in the Stacks Mystery. Charlie and Diesel must catch a killer before he strikes another deadly note. A fun, light, suspenseful story.

Off topic but wanted to share: Yesterday James Patterson, "the best-selling author in the world," was on Wait, Wait, Don't Tell Me, the PBS radio show. He is REALLY funny. You can find reruns on line.

What's fun on your reading list this week?

[Mz Pip]

1. Remarkably Bright Creatures

By Shelby Van Pelt. It’s about a woman who develops a relationship with an octopus in the local aquarium. It’s a lovely book.

I read Mystic River years ago and thought it was one of the best novels I’d read. Don’t remember much of the plot but do remember how much I enjoyed it.

[hermetic]

7. I'll have to read that one.

I think octopi are amazing.

Here's a little memory nudge. Three young boys play together and one gets snatched away by some guys pretending to be cops. He gets away and many years later the daughter of one of the other boys is found brutally murdered. Evidently we don't find out whodunit until the very end. I'm almost there and I still don't know.

[Native]

33. I finished that a while ago and enjoyed it. I never read Mystic River though. Did you like it as much or better than

this current novel?

[Mz Pip]

39. These are two very different novels

Remarkably Bright Creatures is a much lighter uplifting novel. Mystic River is complex, definitely one of my top five in crime novels.

[mentalsolstice]

2. Anxious People by Fredrick Backman

It’s wicked funny, especially if you’re into observational humor.

I finished Lady Tan’s Circle of Women by Lisa See. It was pretty good 👍🏼.

[hermetic]

8. Yeah, I read that one

Not too long ago. I like Backman's stories.

[berniesandersmittens]

3. Death Benefit by Robin Cook nt

[hermetic]

9. Ah, a medical thriller

"Is someone attempting to manipulate private insurance information to allow investors to benefit from the deaths of others?" Sounds really interesting.

[people]

4. Reading . . .

The Weight of Ink by Rachel Kadish. Very unusual story about 2 academics of Jewish history who in about 2005 are called in to translate and study documents from the 1660's that are buried in a wall of a very old London mansion. The story alternates between the academics studying the papers and the characters revealed in them. Very unusual. Interesting.

[hermetic]

10. Sounds that way..

Interesting and unusual. Thanks for joining in here.

[cbabe]

5. Sixteen Horses

Almost a mistake. Randomly pulled off library shelf. Very dark. Almost post apocalypse. Seas rising. Town falling into decay. Reminds a bit of Cormac McCarthy ‘The Road’.

https://www.goodreads.com › book › show › 54860580-sixteen-horses
Sixteen Horses (Dr. Cooper Allen, #1) by Greg Buchanan | Goodreads
2,509 ratings528 reviews. A literary thriller from stunning new talent Greg Buchanan, Sixteen Horses is a story of enduring guilt, trauma, and punishment, set in a small seaside community the rest of the world has left behind. In Ilmarsh, England, local police detective Alec Nichols discovers sixteen horses' heads on a farm, each buried with a …

…

Also The Violin Conspiracy by Brendan Slocumb. As seen on this forum last week. Thanks.

Also very dark sections. Generational trauma in the black family. Compelling characters and plot.

Black man trying to stay alive, and succeed, in white america.

Reminds me of nonfiction ‘Better living through birding’ by Christian Cooper (the black man tormented by the white woman in nyc Central Park).

…

And then back to relaxing basics: Standford prey titles.

(And adjusting to the new du. Cheers.)

[hermetic]

11. Right?

I didn't realize all you folks had replied. I appreciate that change is always necessary but dang, my library website just changed their whole format, too.

Thanks for the reviews.

[txwhitedove]

6. Lazy Sunday after granddaughter's adult

Halloween party in backyard. Now reading Q is for Quarry by Sue Grafton. A happy thrift store find since I've read several of her earlier books.

Earlier finished Run by Ann Patchett. At first wondered why she was considered so great. By end, won me over with issues of family, race, religion, and I wanted to keep reading about the family. Yesterday devoured Cat Sitter on a Hot Tin Roof by Blaize Clement, very funny, more of her usual characters, learning about service and therapy dogs this time, and a Havana Brown breed of cat who helped with the mystery.

[hermetic]

12. Some of my favorite authors there

Blaize is a hoot. Haven't read Grafton for a while but that one sounds intriguing. And Patchett, as you said, is quite a winner. Thanks for weighing in.

[Basic LA]

13. Ian Fleming's James Bond series.

I started rereading (audio) them slightly out of order, beginning with the 2nd book, Live and Let Die, now just finished Casino Royal (the 1st,1953), and I'm about to start Moonraker, which many say is the best. Then maybe I'll continue with the whole series.
I'm of an age that I can't help picturing Sean Connery as Bond.

[hermetic]

15. That should be fun.

I also picture Connery.

[rsdsharp]

14. I just finished Wrath of Poseidon by Clive Cussler "with" Robin Burcell.

This is the twelfth of the Sam and Remi Fargo series, and is largely a flashback to when they met, and their first treasure hunt. It was published in 2020, the year Cussler died.

I suspect most, if not all, of the series was written by Burcell, despite not receiving co-writer status. I think many of James Patterson’s books are similarly authored, as were some of Tom Clancy’s later books. I still buy ‘em, though.

I’ve never read any Dickens, with the exception of A Christmas Carol. To remedy that, I purchased The Complete Novels of Charles Dickens on Kindle.

I’ve started The Pickwick Papers, and I’m struggling a bit with the writing style. The opening sentence ran 1 1/4 screens on my phone. We’ll see. I know I’ll abandon it temporarily because the new Reacher novel is out Tuesday. I should finish that by next Sunday.

[hermetic]

16. Personally, I'd rather read

Reacher than Dickens. But, trying to get through all Dickens' novels is admirable.

Patterson holds The New York Times record for most #1 New York Times bestsellers by a single author – 67 – which is also a Guinness World Record. It's no secret, though, that many of his books are co-authored by such as J.D. Barker, Candice Fox, Maxine Paetro, Andrew Gross, Mark Sullivan, Ashwin Sanghi, Michael Ledwidge, and Peter de Jong. And, of course, Bill Clinton.

[rsdsharp]

17. I don't know if I'll get through all of the Dickens novels.

Frankly, I’m not sure I’ll get through The Pickwick Papers, but at least I’ve got them when (and if) the urge strikes.

I am looking forward to the new Reacher novel, and to the second in the Reacher mini series in December.

[bahboo]

18. just finished "The Deluge" by Stephan Markley....

holy hell, what a read. Long, involved and extremely disturbing. It's a dystopian novel, that reads all too realistically. Great writing and characters, and it seems all too real at times...

[hermetic]

19. Super brand new

"A singular achievement, The Deluge is a once-in-a-generation novel that meets the moment as few works of art ever have." 900 pages!

"The large cast of characters introduced here includes climate scientists, domestic terrorists, political leaders of various stripes, and a gaggle of regular citizens caught up in the apocalyptic maelstrom. Shifting points of view are set against newspaper articles and government reports as the intricacies of the plot unfold and the dramatic intersection of the central characters’ lives is gradually revealed." (From Kirkus Reviewx)

Wow, thanks for telling us about this!

[willamette]

24. "The Deluge"

I'm a little way into this book - I think I got the heads-up about it from this (or another?) online forum. The writer seems to be a woke feminist (human rights advocate) man. His character portrayals feel eerily accurate. So far, it is a description of the current world we are trying to survive in, which is pretty anxiety inducing all by itself.

[Native]

34. I love it when a good book is really long! Thanks for recommending this!!!!

[WestMichRad]

20. Demon Copperhead by Barbara Kingsolver

Both entertaining and grim. Kingsolver does a masterful job of writing in a southern Appalachia vernacular.

[hermetic]

21. Oh yeah

Myself, and a few others here, are on library waiting lists to get this one.

[Native]

35. I listened to the book and enjoyed it so much that I purchased the hardback. It really was masterful.

Hard to get through some of the more depressing/disturbing sections. I had to take a day break here and there so as not to get too overwhelmed, but it was definitely one of the better books I've read over my lifetime. This was our new book club's inaugural selection, and one of the members posted a link to a YouTube documentarian who has done several films on life in the Appalachians. I watched several, and they were very informative. If you are interested, check out Peter Santenello. Here's one of the first ones he did on West Virginia:

[brer cat]

22. Last Car to Elysian Fields by James Lee Burke.

It's an older one, but I had missed it my earlier readings of his titles.

[japple]

23. Many thanks for the weekly thread, hermetic. Love the picture in your OP. It is so cozy.

I didn't start the book that was next on my list because I was in the mood for something lighter, so I chose one of the free downloads I had from amazon. Laura Spence-Ash, Beyond That, the Sea, is the story of a young girl who lives in London at the beginning of WWII whose parents send her to live with a family in the US. Each chapter is narrated in rotation by the different main characters in the story. I haven't found it hard to follow at all, but apparently some of the reviewers had issues with finding the groove. Good writing, well-developed characters, interesting story = enjoyable reading.

[theophilus]

25. The King of Elfland's Daughter

by Lord Dunsany. It came out in 1924 and is considered a major influence on the genre of Fantasy and related efforts. I can see how Tolkien and Lewis could have enjoyed it and been influenced. Light read but enjoyable.

[LisaM]

26. I just finished "Tom Lake" by Ann Patchett.

It was an easy enough read, but something was missing. I can't put my finger on what's wrong, other than that there is an air of unreality about the worlds the characters live in.

[Native]

36. I love Ann Patchett and have read most all of her books. How did this stack up in comparison to her others?

I have this in my library but haven't started it yet. I purchased the audio version because Meryl Streep narrates it.

[LisaM]

38. I can't bear books on tape.

I have never liked being read to (especially if they put in expression!) I guess it's a personal quirk, but it probably goes back to when they had us each read a paragraph of a book or story out loud during elementary school and the other people read so slowly and mispronounced so many words I couldn't stand it.

[Native]

40. I get you. I started books on tape out of necessity when I had a 3 hour work commute.

No such thing as podcasts back then.

I was raised in a family that checked out books by the crate at the local library and took pride in having library cards for multiple libraries. One of my mother's saddest days was when she had finally read every book in our nearest library and would now have to drive further out for her books. Lol.

I have to stay active, and so listening to books while I do basic chores or I'm on the elliptical at the gym or just driving in my car helps to feed my habit.

Occasionally I'll encounter a book where the narration is so spectacular that it serves to elevate the work. Middlesex was one of those books.

The downside is that I now typically have several books going at once - audio books, ebooks, and the real deal.

[Cartoonist]

27. Cave 13 by Jonathan Maberry

I picked it up thinking it would be about ancient magic being used by terrorists. Instead it's beginning to look like a Tom Clancy novel about gung-ho CIA like yahoos. I'm only on page 17, so I'll give it a few more before returning it to the library.

[Jilly_in_VA]

28. Just finished

Say Something by N Gemini Sasson, which was way different from the other book by her I read (Ysabeau, a historical novel) but was excellent, and apparently is more like what she usually writes, stories featuring dogs and people. It was kind of a tearjerker, but lovely.

Also The Night Burns Bright by Ross Barkan, which was extremely different from that, a story of a young boy growing up in a commune which at first seems benign, teaching respect for nature and the environment, but eventually becomes a cult gone crazy. It was pretty good too, although the ending was kind of weird. I had trouble putting it down.

And now, for a change, The Memory of You, by Samantha Tonge, about a down on her luck novelist who's reeling from a series of bad reviews of her last book. She meets a server from a cafe and, on a whim, she agrees to take her job for five weeks so the server can go on a tour of Southeast Asia with her daughter. It doesn't turn out to be what she expected, but it ends up being something much better!

[Hela]

29. Ooooh, happy to find this forum!

I've been reading a lot lately as my mom's been in the hospital for the last couple of weeks and I sneak in a couple of chapters when she's sleeping.

* I read the new John Sandford, Judgment Prey. Lucas is getting a little creaky; it's kind of like watching Clint Eastwood in some of his later movies: you still enjoy them, but you wonder how long can it last? (I really enjoyed the last book featuring his daughter, Letty - Dark Angel. I hope Sandford writes more of those.)

* I read my second John Scalzi book which is also his latest, Starter Villain. I really enjoy his style of writing - there are a lot of pop culture references and humor. This one's hard to explain without giving away some plot twists, so let's just say it was a fun ride finding out exactly what Charlie Fitzer and his cat Hera inherited from his rich uncle Jake.

* I finished Daisy Jones and the Six; I'm a sucker for non-traditional narrative styles and this one is written like you're watching a documentary. It's the story of a (mostly fictitious) rock band's rise and fall through the 70's.

* I'm about to start Book #7 in the Veronica Speedwell series, An Impossible Imposter, by Deanna Raybourn. The series is about a female Victorian lepidopterist who also investigates and solves crimes with her friend and partner, the very male Revelstoke Templeton-Vane, also known as Stoker. These are total fluff and tons of fun. Exactly what I've needed for the past few weeks.

Next in the lineup are No Time Like the Future by Michael J. Fox, The Splendid and the Vile by Erik Larson (I really loved Devil in the White City), and The Midnight Library by Matt Haig. I think I've got a few books on hold in Libby too, but they're all at least 2+ weeks out. Planning ahead!

[hermetic]

30. I'm glad you found us

Looks like you will have a lot to add to many to-be-read lists. We like that.

[ExWhoDoesntCare]

31. Just finished

Lincoln in the Bardo by George Saunders and Felix Ever After by Kacen Callender.

I have some non-fic next on ye olde TBR pile, but I'm hoping to read Silvia Moreno-Garcia's Mexican Gothic and then The Woman in the Attic by Emily Hepditch before the week runs out. I thought both would be good "Halloween" fare.

[Bluebelle76]

32. Up on the Woof Top

It's the new Chet and Bernie offering by Spencer Quinn. I love how Quinn writes the narrator, Chet. Chet is a failed police dog candidate who works with his human partner at their private detective agency.

[Native]

37. I just started Harlan Coben's new book, I Will Find You, but only because it is my club's selection.

So many people I know are diehard fans of his, but this is my first experience with him. I'm not too into this genre because I typically know how it ends or who the killer is way too early on, and I also notice inconsistencies or just sloppy writing that starts to piss me off when it piles up. That said, it looks like it will be an easy, quick read, so at least there's that. Still hoping I'll be pleasantly surprised.

On edit: Super pumped to find this forum!