What Fiction are you reading this week, August 18, 2024?

[hermetic]

Kibbitznest Books, Brews & Blarney: Chicago

Reading Eruption by Michael Crichton; James Patterson. "The biggest thriller of the year: A history-making eruption is about to destroy the Big Island of Hawaii. But a secret held for decades by the US military is far more terrifying than any volcano."
Originally started by Crichton, his wife Sherri held back his notes and the partial manuscript until she found the right author to complete it: James Patterson. This is a terrific book. It feels so real and I'm amazed how lucky I was to get a hold of it already.

Listening to 12 Months to Live by James Patterson. The first of a Jane Effing Smith series; there's only two so far. Murder, courtroom drama, and a cancer diagnosis. Jane has a lot to deal with.

What books were you lucky to find this week?

[terip64]

1. Covenant of Water

Really loving it. Just listened to Remarkable Bright Creatures. I loved that too!

[hermetic]

6. Author Abraham Verghese

"...a stunning and magisterial epic of love, faith, and medicine, set in South India, following three generations of a family seeking the answers to a strange secret."

Remarkably Bright Creatures by Shelby Van Pelt is a story I loved, too. A widow's unlikely friendship with a giant Pacific octopus.

[terip64]

22. Thank you!

I didn’t have a chance to add this info! 😀

[cbabe]

2. Greg Iles

Tried some of his Natchez county titles.

Page turners dense in family histories and southern landscape.

But extremely dark. The klan still rides with impunity. Vicious and violent.

Way too close to what we know about three percenters, proud boys, and all.

Had to quit after a hundred pages testing the waters.

[biophile]

5. That would be too dark for me!

But there is that old saying -“Know thine enemies!” When it comes to those kind of people, it’s best to be aware and not put our heads in the sand to their existence and potential dangers they pose.

[cbabe]

8. True. To an extent. I used to listen to

right wing hate radio for that reason until I realized it was making me sick.

Iles is a great writer. Too bad about his choice of subject.

[hermetic]

7. Not my cup of tea, either

Got too much of that crap IRL these days. Glad you told us about it, though.

[FalloutShelter]

3. Recursion by Blake Crouch

Sci-Fi- with echoes of Phillip K. Dick and Total Recall, but scarier and more near-future bio space.

[hermetic]

9. That sounds good...

"a relentless thriller about time, identity, and memory. Reality is broken. At first, it looks like a disease. An epidemic that spreads through no known means, driving its victims mad with memories of a life they never lived..."

[Polly Hennessey]

23. Read Recursion also. Interesting subject.

[biophile]

4. Still reading Bruno Chief of Police series

On the next book in the series since the last time you asked! I’ll be sad when I’m done but might go back and re-read them to better follow the involved histories and the food recipes! 🤔

[hermetic]

10. Sounds lovely

Until militants from the anti-immigrant National Front show up.

Love books with recipes.

[Zoomie1986]

11. I've almost finished Horse by Geraldine Brooks

What's not to love in a book about horses and science and art (Oh my!)? Very much enjoying it so far, so well-written and yet so easy to read as well.

After I'm done, I have a door stop book, The Love Songs of WEB DuBois by Honore (sp?) Jeffers. 800 pages. Good thing it's on Kindle, or my neck and arms would be aching for days from hefting that one.

[The Roux Comes First]

29. We Both Loved "Horse,"

And it led me to author's husband Tony Horwitz's final book, "Spying on the South," which is also terrific and highly recommended.

Right now it is Alsup's "The Trial of Lee Harvey Oswald" that is scratching my fiction itch.

[mentalsolstice]

12. Thanks for sharing. Finished 2 good ones this week.

The Vanishing Act of Esme Lennox by Maggie O’Farrell, no chapters with changing POVS. Challenging but good.

Tom Lake by Ann Patchett.

Now I’m reading The Great Santini by Pat Conroy. I dated a Marine helicopter pilot for 3-4 years, so I wanted to see what I may have missed out on. As they say “There goes I but for the grace of God.”

Have a wonderful week everyone!

[Zoomie1986]

26. I read Tom Lake earlier in the year

It's the kind of book my mother would enjoy. Thought the daughters were annoying and rude in wanting to know every single detail of only one part of their mother's life, as if nothing else she'd ever done mattered.

[japple]

34. I got so bored with it that I gave up about 1/2 through.

I have really enjoyed a number of her previous works, esp. Bel Canto.

[Bayard]

13. "Eruption" sounds good.

By two of my favorites. Just ordered the hardback for $13. Thanks, Hermetic!

I finished, "Zero Hour," by Clive Cussler, and, "The Survivor's Club," by Lisa Gardener. Both suspenseful thrillers that I enjoyed.

[Jeebo]

14. "Hyperion" by Dan Simmons

The Easton Press sent it to me as part of their Masterpieces of Science Fiction series, so I'm giving it a chance. It's supposed to be a classic of that genre. I've just barely started it, though, so I can't comment on it yet.

-- Ron

[hermetic]

15. Well...

with over 1,000 5-star reviews, I'll bet it's going to be pretty good. And, "A stunning tour de force filled with transcendent awe and wonder, Hyperion is a masterwork of science fiction that resonates with excitement and invention." Enjoy!

[Zoomie1986]

25. Read that one last year

Same reason. I hope you enjoy it more than I did, because I found it a slog. I'll let you finish before saying more.

[japple]

16. I am re-reading a book that I first read about 60 years ago in high school.

Betty Smith's A Tree Grows in Brooklyn. I don't remember much of it, so it's almost like reading a new book. I am thoroughly enjoying it now, though I'll bet I thought it was kind of boring back in 1965.

Thanks for the weekly thread, hermetic.

[hermetic]

17. I loved that story

Read it when I was 30 something, expecting to be bored. Instead I found it absolutely delightful.

[Jilly_in_VA]

31. Still one of my favorites

It should be required reading in about 9th grade, I think. Forget Holden Caulfield. You can learn more from Francie Nolan.

[yellowdogintexas]

33. I read that in high school also (which was also 60 years ago, roughly)

It is a wonderful book

[Jeebo]

21. They made it into a WONDERFUL movie in 1945.

One of my favorite movies ever. The scene at the little girl's graduation just chokes me up every time I watch it. I've never read the book, but wow, what a beautiful movie. You can watch it on YouTube.

&t=119s

-- Ron

[Zoomie1986]

27. There's a time warp

I read that back in the 80s, I think. Sort of hazy about it now, so I might re-read it when I get the time.

[Number9Dream]

18. Just finished "Arkangel" by James Rollins... excellent

Thanks for the thread, hermetic.

This is the newest book in the Sigma series. The amazingly prolific Mr. Rollins hits another homerun. This is another excellent blend of science, zoology, history, archaeology, cartography, & geo-politics with plenty of action sequences. Another couldn't put it down book. One of the members of the Sigma team works with two highly trained Belgian Malinois dogs. There are a few passages in this book which are from the perspective of the dogs... very unique and interesting.

[hermetic]

19. Cool

Look forward to reading that one. Thanks!

[The King of Prussia]

20. Only partly fiction

"Letting in Air and Light" by Teresa Tumminello Brader. It's splendid.

[hermetic]

24. Interesting story

I was out of the country when it all happened so it's all new to me. Thanks for sharing.

[ravjav]

28. The Extinction Cycle - Boxed Set

By Nicholas Stansbury Smith.

I love apocalyptic and post-apocalyptic fiction and science fiction. Listen to audio books most of the time.

[hermetic]

30. Hi! Welcome to DU

And to the Fiction Group. Glad to have you onboard. We start a new discussion here every Sunday and learn about all sorts of fiction members are reading, and listening to, old and new.

[Jilly_in_VA]

32. I'm actually not, for once

I'm reading Age of Secrets, by Gerald Bellett. It's non-fiction, it's long, and it's taking me forever, but it's pretty fascinating. It's about, basically, a guy named John Meier, who was tangled up with both Howard Hughes and Richard Nixon, and it gets into Watergate and all sorts of things. Hard going but interesting. I'm only halfway through, so it's going to be a long slog. Nixon hasn't resigned yet.

Before I started that, I finished Learning to Fly Alien Spacecraft, by Fay Abernethy. It's the second in the Shantivira series, and the author promises a third in the works (The first was The Cleaner, The Cat, and The Space Station). These are delightful sci-fi, a notch above YA but not hard sci-fi. One of the main characters is a shape-shifting space demon, another is a Sudanese refugee who was trafficked to the UK and was working as a cleaner when whe ended up on the space station (don't ask). I'm going to need something like that when I finish what I'm reading now.

To the guy who was reading Greg Iles and just couldn't hack it---you should really hang on, because, like with Grisham, the good guys win in the end.