What Fiction are you reading this week, May 5, 2024?

[hermetic]

Happy Cinco de Mayo. I'm making enchiladas.


Thanks, everyone, for doing a great job last week. I got overwhelmed by cat chores and couldn't chat but you all just kept on posting about really good books and their authors.

Still reading Fourteen Days. Day Twelve now. Not all of the stories have impressed me but I do love books that teach me new things. Like the song, The Peacocks. Had never heard of it but Wurly played it so I looked it up on YouTube. Stan Getz, lovely piece. Then there was San Miguel. Looked up photos. Gorgeous. Looks like a great place to visit, and hang out on rooftops. So, this book has a lot going for it. And it seems to be turning into a ghost story.

Listening to Simple Genius by David Baldacci. A physicist's body is found at a secret CIA Training Camp. Was it suicide or murder? A political thriller from 2007.

So, what's new 4U this week?

[brer cat]

1. I'm reading Preston & Child, White Fire.

This is a Pendergast novel involving a 150-year-old account of miners in Colorado supposedly killed and eaten by a bear. His protegee, Corrie Swanson, examines the bones of the men and discovered it may have been a two-legged animal. In the present time, someone is burning down mansions in the ski resort where the miners once worked. Lots and twists and turns.

[hermetic]

2. Hmmm

Don't think I ever read that one. Sure sounds good though. Thanks!

[Number9Dream]

17. Read "White Fire" a couple years ago... good ending.

If you like that one, try Corrie Swanson, "Old Bones". Its about the Donner Party, and very creepy.

[brer cat]

20. I'm not real easy with cannibalism, but I may try

Old Bones and see what I think.

[mentalsolstice]

3. Almost finished with "The Book of Essie" by Meghan MacLean Weir

It’s kind of like reading about the Duggar family. Earlier this week I finished The Vanishing Half by Brit Bennett, I really enjoyed it.

Next up I’m eyeing The Winter Orphans by Kristen Beck, about moving children out of France during WWII. Thank you for the thread, I know how cat (and dog) chores can keep you busy!

[hermetic]

5. Looks like a good one

"..a novel of family, fame, and religion that tells the emotionally stirring, wildly captivating story of the seventeen-year-old daughter of an evangelical preacher, star of the family's hit reality show, and the secret pregnancy that threatens to blow their entire world apart."

Of course that was written several years ago before this RvW disaster we're facing now. Kind of puts a whole new spin on it. Wonder if that book will soon be banned. What a screwy country this has turned into...

[Astraea]

4. The Thief of Always, by Clive Barker

I remember listening to the audiobook as a child, and thought I would try reading it. It's been so long, I forgot how it ends! LOL

[hermetic]

6. I can well imagine

Written over 30 years ago. I never heard of it before but it sounds quite intriguing. A dark fantasy/horror story. Will have to see if it's still available in audio.

[Bayard]

23. I haven't seen anything from him in so long,

I didn't think he was still writing. I have several of his books, and will look this one up. Thanks!

[txwhitedove]

7. Read very moving Southern historical novel set during Civil War of one woman committed to her

principles and family survival. When the Jessamine Grows by Donna Everhart is memorable.

Reading Andy Borowitz, Profiles in Ignorance, which is both topical and very funny, but I'm resisting the educational side.

Of course, in big middle of #6 with Chet, The Sound and the Furry, Spencer Quinn. You really need an ADHD brain to read Chet's narrative, while listening to Lucinda Williams cause Chet mentioned a song... New setting in Louisiana this time for lots of sights and smells, including gators.

[hermetic]

9. Good stuff

Or, rrrruufff!

[Picaro]

8. Reading the final book in the 3 Body Problem trilogy

Death’s End

[NanaCat]

10. Eying the TBR tower...

Angeline Boulley – Firekeeper’s Daughter

YA thriller about a super-bright Native American teenager who witnesses a murder connected to a lethal new drug, and must call upon her smarts and her heritage to help the FBI solve it. The Obamas are producing the forthcoming Netflix series based on the book.

William Boyd – Restless

This 2006 UK spy thriller is one of the origins of the current WWII fad, down to the dual timelines so many of them employ: Woman recruited as spy, then her exploits during the war. 30 years later, she's a quaint British grandma, but the past proves not quite done with her. BBC did a 2-part series based on Boyd's bestseller in 2012.

Saga, Vol I by Brian Vaughan

Manga that won't take but a mo to tick the box: . Romantasy about some kind of epic war, and a Romeo & Romeo enemies-to-lovers plot twist. Not my usual thing, but I had a manga challenge + an enemies-to-lovers challenge. Thought combining them with a twist of LGBT would be a refreshing change.

[hermetic]

11. Oh interesting...

about the Netflix series. Hope you, or someone, will watch that and tell us all about it. I don't do Netflix so...

Other good stuff, too. Thanks for sharing.

[The Blue Flower]

12. The Gilded Age by Sam. L. Clemens

only because I've read nearly everything else of his. I've decided the title is brilliant. he's not describing a golden age, but an age of cheapness and false glitter.

[cbabe]

13. Toxic Prey. Brand new Sandford.

Letty and Lucas track scientists unleashing deadly virus.

[hermetic]

14. Ooooh, people are loving this one

Society as it exists is untenable, and the direct link to Earth's death spiral, population levels, are out of control and people have allowed disarray and disorder to run rampant. Yeah, true that. While most are concerned about deadly disease, Dr. Scott knows that it is truly humanity itself that will destroy the planet. It's only by removing the threat that it can continue to prosper, and luckily, Scott is just the right man for the job. And then, he disappears.

[rsdsharp]

15. Still reading Bernard Cornwell's Arthurian trilogy.

I’m now about halfway through the third book: Excalibur. Like the two previous books, this is being told by Lord Derfel Cadran (Derfel the Mighty) writing the story as an aged Christian monk looking back on his time as a warrior and Arthur’s friend.

[hermetic]

18. Those books are great

I enjoyed them

[japple]

16. Reading another one of Terry Kay's books,

The Valley of Light. I hadn't read a number of his books because I need large print, but they are now available as e-books so I'm cathching up. I love his writing.

I tried reading Tommy Orange's book, There, There and just couldn't hang in there. Maybe I will try it again another time.

Hope your kitty chores aren't too overwhelming. Happy Cinco de Mayo! We're having spaghetti!

[hermetic]

19. My Enger novel

I Cheerfully Refuse is at the library for me to pick up tomorrow. Excited about that.

Kitties: a new little cutie started showing up at the feeder. Real friendly but sneezy so he got trapped and went to the vet. He got a shot and they figured he was about 10 yrs old and NOT neutered. Tomorrow he goes back for that surgery but meanwhile he's been living in the house. He knows how to do that but my other cats do not like him at all. Lots of fighting and screaming. He spends a bunch of time on the catio but still... I'll be so glad when he can run free again and maybe he'll go back to where he came from and will get along better there. Hoping for the best.

[yellowdogintexas]

21. I started Poseidon's Fury by Ernest Dempsey

Another of his archaeology thriller books with Sean Wyatt, his wife Adrianna and best friendsTommy Schulz. #22 of 23
A FORGOTTEN PAST, A NEW DANGER
Sean Wyatt of the International Archaeological Agency receives a desperate message from an old friend. It's a riddle from a five hundred year old text, a riddle only Sean and his team can solve.

Sean, his wife Adriana Villa, and best friend Tommy Schultz (the IAA Founder), the team travel to Istanbul, site of a grand theft at an auction in the affluent neighborhood of Besitkas. There, they uncover a mystery they never saw coming, and the rabbit hole opens wide.

I have been diving into this series for quite a while and still find them fresh and intriguing. Do start from the beginning though, with The Secret of the Stones.

Since I worked the election Saturday, I had to take an actual book because we can't use our electronic reading devices. I picked up a Tess Gerritsen Rizzoli and Isles book: The Keepsake. I think it I am going to like it; however the print is quite fine. Kindles have spoiled me what with adjustable fonts and all.

For untold years, the perfectly preserved mummy had lain forgotten in the dusty basement of Boston’s Crispin Museum. Dubbed “Madam X,” the recently rediscovered mummy is, to all appearances, an ancient Egyptian artifact. But medical examiner Maura Isles discovers a macabre message hidden within the corpse–horrifying proof that this “centuries-old” relic is instead a modern-day murder victim. When the grisly remains of two other women are found, it becomes clear to Maura and Boston homicide detective Jane Rizzoli that a maniac is at large. Now Maura and Jane must unravel a murderer’s twisted endgame before the Archaeology Killer adds another chilling artifact to his monstrous collection.

[Jeebo]

22. "The Songs of Distant Earth" by Arthur C. Clarke

I love this novel, mainly because of the fascinating premise. I am reading it for the fifth time. The premise is that we here on Earth responded to a global crisis that threatened the existence of our species and civilization by sending out seed ships to nearby stars. The seed ships contained not living persons but frozen embryos. Robots, artificial intelligences, on the ships decided on arriving at nearby star systems whether a world in that system was capable of supporting humans, and when arriving at a suitable world, unfroze the embryos, gestated them and raised the children who resulted. All of this happens centuries in our future, and the novel begins 10 or 12 generations in the future of one of the settled worlds. It is called Thalassa, a mostly water world with only one small continent-sized land mass that humans can live on. As I said, it's a fascinating premise. I think that interstellar distances are so imposing that if we humans ever do start colonizing other star systems, it'll probably be something like this.

-- Ron

[Bayard]

24. I've been in Baldacci mode lately too

"Simple Genius," was good. I finished, "King and Maxwell," a few days ago, and now about to finish, "Split Second." Enjoying all.

Happy reading!

[mnhtnbb]

25. My name finally came up for The Women

by Kristin Hannah at the library. There are over 200 in line for the book after me.
I couldn't put it down . It's the story of an Army nurse in Vietnam during the war and her life once she returns from two tours.
Incredibly well written. The story rings so true for those of us who lived through that era.

[hermetic]

29. Hi! Thanks for wieghing in

People are really loving this book. Not too many have been written about Vietnam, and especially not about the women who served there.

[beveeheart]

31. Last week a classmate of mine received

full military honors for her Vietnam tour as an Army nurse.
I will put this book on my Absolutely Must Read list.

[sinkingfeeling]

26. "Where the Dead Sleep" by Joshua Moehling. It was a Target Book Club selection.

[hermetic]

30. A Minnesota mystery

"One of the best new voices in the mystery genre," says William Kent Krueger.

“Observant and authentic (and funny, too)...the literary descendant of Fargo and Mare of Easttown.” -- Adam White

Guess I'll have to check that out. Loved Fargo.

[Jilly_in_VA]

27. Smack dab in the middle of

Octavia Butler's Patternist series. I've had it in my Kindle pile for months and just now getting to it. It's fascinating.

[hermetic]

32. I agree

She writes fascinating stories.

[murielm99]

28. Luncheon of the Boating Party,

by Susan Vreeland. I don't like it very much, so it is going slowly.

I have been reading a lot of nonfiction lately.

[hermetic]

33. It's a long one

Just under 500 pages. An exploration of Renoir's masterpiece, depicting a gathering of his real friends enjoying a summer Sunday on a cafe terrace along the Seine.

Thanks for sharing your thoughts about it.