What Fiction are you reading this week, June 6, 2021?

[hermetic]

Reading gives us someplace to go when we have to stay where we are.


Still reading Greenwood. This book is about everything. Relationships and romance: family, gay, straight. Crime, Drug abuse. Ecology. History. Pandemics. Travel. Which is all pretty awesome. A great tale.

Still listening to The Thursday Murder Club by Richard Osman. This is a long one. But I absolutely love it. It should make for a really enjoyable TV series.

Hope you all are getting back into the swing of things. I'm still lying low. Home has always been my favorite place to be anyway. With my books. Although a beach would be nice, too.

[bif]

1. "The Secrets She Keeps" by Deb Caletti

Just started it. Interesting so far. Just finished "Tell the Wolves I'm Home". Really excellent page turner. Great story and story-telling. Brilliant debut novel.

[hermetic]

3. Sounds good

Thanks for sharing your recent finds.

[SheltieLover]

2. Night's Tail, a Sofie Kelly Magical Cats release

Not sure how I'd missed this release from 2019, but delighted to have found it.

Still hunting for a new cozy series if anyone has recs.

[hermetic]

4. Oh boy

A missed cat tale! Hope I can find it now.

[SheltieLover]

5. Lol

Just started this one, but I've inhaled all the others & they have all been cute stories. Love Herc & Owen.

[hermetic]

6. I see she uses

a lot of plays on cat terms like: her two cats pounce on clues, and this librarian wants more than a whisker's chance of solving the case. And then there's the band, The Flaming Gerbils.

[SheltieLover]

10. And they each have a superpower

No spoilers.

I've tried several other authors over the past couple of weeks, but they failed to hold my attention. 😏

Some cute stories, but lacking quirky, dynamic characters & intriguing subplots.

[murielm99]

7. I am reading

Still Me, by Jojo Moyes.

It is the final book in the trilogy about Louisa Clark, who cares for and falls in love with a paraplegic. The trilogy lays out how her life is changed after she finishes caring for him.

I am glad that to be nearly finished with this. It is hitting a bit close to home. My brother was significantly disabled by a drunk driver when he was eighteen. He is sixty-nine now. He has spent a lifetime with his physical disabilities. He went to college, married, had four kids, and retired from a good midlevel management job on the railroad.

He walks with a quad cane and has a built-up shoe. He is in pain every day.

He fell twice last week. Twice! He never falls. I have been with him on days he has nearly fallen, but I know how careful he is.

He has four stitches in his forehead, and three broken toes.

I have alerted other family members, in case he needs anything. I will see him later in the week. He lives ninety miles from me. My son and his daughter are closer. I think he will be angry with us for trying to help.

I am sorry to bring this here, but the book is making this all the more emotional for me.

[hermetic]

9. Oh, I am so sorry

Your poor, dear brother. To have to live your life like that due to someone else's stupidity. I hope he can get better. CBD oil?
Don't be sorry. We are here for you.

[SheltieLover]

11. So sorry to hear of your brother's struggle

And from a drunk driver. Infuriating!

Yes, sometimes fiction hits close to home. Another chance to prosess an additional layer of emotion... (How I perceive similar triggers.)

[ShazamIam]

8. I am trying to read some of the noted U.S. 20th Century writers I am not familiar with, currently

John Fante's Ask The Dust, and who I have decided is like William Burroughs, Mailer and Bukowski, an angry asshole.

and Raymond Carver's collected stories, who presented the pathos of working and middle class Americans in the mid century, they are very perceptive and I am enjoying them.



*edit: John Fante (how will you find him if I mistype his name?)

[hermetic]

12. Looks to be some interesting reading.

I never heard of Carver but he sounds worth looking into

Raymond Carver's spare dramas of loneliness, despair, and troubled relationships breathed new life into the American short story of the 1970s and '80s. In collections such as Will You Please Be Quiet, Please? and What We Talk About When We Talk About Love, Carver wrote with unflinching exactness about men and women enduring lives on the knife-edge of poverty and other deprivations. Beneath his pared-down surfaces run disturbing, violent undercurrents. Suggestive rather than explicit, and seeming all the more powerful for what is left unsaid,

Thanks for sharing.

[ShazamIam]

14. I am really enjoying Carver, and on, I am reading from the Library of America collection, 2000 pub.

Critics seem to want to include him with the angry guys, but he is much more than that.

[bif]

26. read Bukowski back when I was in college and really enjoyed him

Not sure if I'd still get a kick out of him these days.

[ShazamIam]

35. Yes, when I was young I understood all the anger, but that is all he had, his abilit to express his

anger and misogyny, ditto Burroughs, Fante, Mailer, Bukowski they produced literary versions of men blinded by their own anger, and it was a reflection of their lives, but literate.

Sorry, what I mean is none of those angry men writers seem to have found any redemption for themselves or humanity. I don't think any of them breached their own canyons of self loathing.
I can recognize the value of hearing that anger, they describe the violence of our system, my fault is they do not even acknowledge the existence of another possibility for life.

I am probably too harsh.
Carver is covering similar territory as far as the demographics of the people being written about but the empathy is present he reflects a connection to humanity and reported on the effects of our culture for those without enough financial resources to cushion and ease the process of finding a place in the oppressive hierarchy.


*edit: several typos.

[bif]

37. Reminds me of a funny quote about Lenny Bruce...

"Nat Henthoff loved him. Ralph Gleason loved him. We all loved him for what he was...a funny drunk." That's sort of the way I feel about Bukowski these days.

[ShazamIam]

38. I haven't heard or seen Lenny Bruce mentioned or written about for a while, but I have gathered that

the view you are presenting is where and when he left the conversation. More of an accident than a deliberate and planned take down of social expectations and demands like Richard Pryor and George Carlin had going and later of course Dave Chappelle.
By the time I knew of Lenny he had been eclipsed. I think his recognition was about making his remarks to an audience in public, using the forbidden language of the day. Ginsberg has also been dropped from the conversation.

[hedda_foil]

13. I finally read Parable of the Sower yesterday.

[hermetic]

15. The original writing

by Octavia E. Butler is from 1993 and is a SciFi classic. A graphic novel adaptation of the dystopian tale was published in 2020. I'd like to see that. It looks awesome.

[murielm99]

16. Please read The Parable of the Talents,

the sequel. Butler died too young.

The first thing I ever read by her was, "Speech Sounds," a longish short story that appeared in Asimov's Science Fiction magazine.

It blew me away.

[hedda_foil]

23. I'm starting Parable of the Talents today!

Butler was an amazing talent. Her invention of the Earthseed "religion" was brilliant and conveys a great truth.

[IrishAfricanAmerican]

17. On the Road by Jack Kerouac

I had never read it.

He sure had a way with words.

[hermetic]

22. Yes, indeed

The poetry of motion.

[The King of Prussia]

18. "Beautiful Mystery" by Louise Penny

I love the Gamache series, but I gave up on this one last year. Struggling again.

Less reading this week as we are beginning to do normal things again. Had family to stay earlier in the week, and actually went to the pub last night.

Had my second jab this lunchtime, so normality is really beckoning. Going to the seaside for a couple of days soon.

Stay safe.

[hermetic]

20. I agree

That one would not suffer from a bit of trimming. It was worth it in the end, though, for me. I still remember what happens and it's been years since I read it. I think it also helped that I went on You Tube and listened to some Gregorian chants.

Have fun out there.

[lkinwi]

19. Squeeze Me

By Carl Hiaasen. His depiction of Trump, Melania and Palm Beach society is a hoot!

[hermetic]

21. Isn't it?

I started to read it back when he was still enthroned and I just couldn't tolerate reading about him any more at the time. Someday I'll pick it up again and have myself a good laugh.

Meanwhile, i have Naked Came the Manatee on my bookshelf for when I need a spot of Hiaasen.

[SheltieLover]

32. One of my favs!

[lkinwi]

33. I just finished an hour ago and it has become one of my favs too. 😂

[SheltieLover]

34. I've read if twice in as many months

[Midnight Writer]

24. The Wolf's Hour by Robert McCammon

I bought this book when it first came out in 1989 from a paperback rack. I am a fan of McCammon's so I picked it up as soon as I saw his name on it.

Then I got it home and read the back cover synopsis.

Uh oh.

The novel is about a werewolf during WWII working as a spy for the Allies.

Are you kidding me? What kind of ridiculous tripe is this?

So I pitched the book into my pile of unread books and it sat there for years, always passed over for other books that looked more...viable.

Finally, I picked it up and started it, and it was amazing. How you can take such a ludicrous plot and turn it into a stupendous, heart wrenching book is beyond me, but McCammon pulls it off and makes it seem effortless. I actually shed a tear during one part, rare for me.

Recently, I saw it included in a threefer package for Amazon Kindle for $2.99, so I bought it and am now re-reading it. It truly is a tremendous book, and the other two books in the package are very good, too.

[hermetic]

25. What a nice review

I would have totally done the same, passed it by for the subject matter. Just goes to show, you never really know unless you give it a try yourself. Hidden gems are always there for the finding.

[ShazamIam]

36. I have had that kind of experience, setting aside a book that looks untenable to me, then later when

such book was the only available and unread choice, enjoyed a wonderful surprise.

[pscot]

27. Just finished Finlay Donovan is killing it

by Elle Cosimano. Inventive, entertaining cozy.

I'm now reading The 100-year-old Man Who Climbed Out the Window and Disappeared by Jonas Jonasson. The roster of Swedish humor writers is brief. According to Wikipedia the last one died in 2007. Jonasson is out to revive the breed. One hundred-year-old Allan Karlsson, a retired explosives experts, climbs out the window of his nursing home in his pee slippers. They're called pee slippers because 100 year old men can't pee beyond the end of their slippers. Allen has had enough of being cooped up and his birthday flight triggers a slow motion man-hunt that involves him with drug dealers, an arch-criminal and a suitcase full of cash. Allen's fascinating back story emerges and the tabloids ensure that all of Sweden becomes focused on his mysterious disappearance. There's a large cast of characters including Generalisimo Francisco Franco, Robert Oppenheimer and Harry Truman. This one was a real surprise.

Greenwood sounds interesting. I put it on my for later shelf in my library list. The library is open again. Yipee!

Cheers, Hermetic

[hermetic]

29. The 100-year-old Man

is so funny. It was also made into a movie which is absolutely delightful.

Finlay sounds quite good. "One of The Most Anticipated Books of 2021" and "One of The Most Anticipated Debuts of 2021." Hope our SheltieLover see this.

[japple]

28. I finished reading Brit Bennett's book, The Vanishing Half, which will stay with me for a long time.

I loved it.

I'm now re-reading Paulette Jiles' book, Lighthouse Island, which I read several years ago. It is just as good as I remembered. If you've read other books Ms. Jiles has written, this one--a dystopian story, is unlike any of the others. It hooked me from the start.

Thanks for the weekly thread, hermetic. Happy to read that you're still enjoying Greenwood. I think it is brilliant!

[hermetic]

30. Sounds like a good one

I like Jiles' books and that one is quite memorable. I've always wanted to live in a lighthouse.

Saw your sweet little kitty. Hope the best for her. I have a yard full of cute little kitties right now. The trap is being laid, though, so with luck some will be in there tomorrow morning to be transferred to the rescue shelter. As much as I enjoy watching them, they do need to have happy homes and mine is just too full now for any more.

[japple]

31. Good luck with the trapping. I can't take any more kitties into my household, but I will foster

this little bitty kitty until she is healthy to go to rescue.

[PennyC]

39. Pendergast!

Thanks to a tip I found here, I'm currently about halfway through the series. Fun!!!! I even read Dinosaurs in the Attic, Preston's book about the Museum of Natural History. My sister is NOT a reader, and she is having fun with these books, too.

[Demsrule86]

42. I love Pendergast. Cabinet of Curiousities was won of the best books I have ever read.

They Lincoln Child and Douglas Preston have a new series too so far there are two books in it featuring Corrie Swanson and Nora Kelly from previous books...Old Bones and the Scorpion's tail. Also, both Preston and Child have written their own books which were also excellent.

[PoindexterOglethorpe]

40. Just finished Days Without Number

by Robert Goddard.

He's an amazing writer, English, and has written lots of books. I've read a bunch of them and need to read a few more.

Each of his books starts out with some essential mystery or puzzle, even though they are not considered genre mysteries. Then half way or two thirds of the way through the beginning mystery is apparently solved. I always then wonder What next? This is not a writer who then writes another hundred pages of blather. Nope. Some kind of complication ensues. They are all very carefully plotted, and excellent reads.

[hermetic]

43. Those sound really good

Thanks, as ever, my dear PO, for sharing all that good stuff.

[PoindexterOglethorpe]

45. With one or two exceptions, all of his books are excellent.

He should be better known, but I never come across references to him, not even here. Sigh.

Of course there really are many, many excellent authors, and no matter how voraciously any of us read, we cannot begin to keep up with them.

[Demsrule86]

41. I am reading the Jana Deleon Miss Fortune series...such a funny series.

and there are I believe 20 books in the series.

[hermetic]

44. I would really like to read these

I've put 'em on my list but my library hasn't any. I will find them someday, though.

[PoindexterOglethorpe]

46. You might want to see if your library can do

inter library loan for them. I know that different libraries do it differently. I have the good fortune to have a local library (Santa Fe, NM) that is very good about inter library loan. I have gotten many wonderful books that way. I believe some libraries charge a fee for ILL, which is a genuine shame. The money for ILL really should be absorbed in the local library budget. But I do understand that many libraries have very restricted budgets.

[hermetic]

49. They used to

But they suspended that due to the pandemic. Now that the library has reopened I was hoping they were doing that again. But when I clicked on a book I wanted I got a message bar saying 'not available at this time.' So, guess I'll just have to wait.

[PoindexterOglethorpe]

50. Well that sucks.

The libraries here in Santa Fe have been closed to walk-in traffic since last March, but have continued to do interlibrary loan, lucky me.

The are FINALLY reopening to people July 7. It will be lovely to be able to browse the stacks again.

[NQAS]

47. I haven't posted for while, so here's catching up.

Some books I've read the past few weeks and am reading now.

Listening to Bill Pronizini/Marcia Muller, The Bughouse Affair. Private eyes at work in San Francisco in 1894. Entertaining, well written. Pronzini is beyond prolific, and I think undertaking to read everything he's written would extend beyond my lifetime. Very impressive. No reason for starting here other than that they are available from the library on audio. Fun listen. I think I may start in on The Nameless Detective; that should take a while as there are about 40 of them since 1971.

Reading Prodigal Son, the latest entry in Gregg Hurwitz's Orphan X series. These are super thrillers. The Orphan program was a US government program to train assassins from a young age. Orphan X was particularly good, and prolific, but he wants out. He's become the Nowhere Man, who helps people. Still kills, but only those who need killing. Rooting for the ex-assassin.
Page turners.

Peter Grainger's DC Smith Series. Listened to the first three. Forgot to download the 4th so waiting on that one before moving on. A nice twist on the usual British police procedural. DS Dave Smith used to be DCI Smith but was demoted and is now working for a woman who he used to supervise. Only allusions to why he was demoted, nothing firm yet. He's a great cop and has fun doing what he's doing. In his 50s and considering retirement. Lots of fun with the age issues and crime solving in the era of increasingly high tech and supremely bureaucratic systems. Good reads. Looking forward to resuming when the 4th book becomes available.

John Sandford, Ocean Prey. Number gazillion in the Lucas Davenport series. This guy can write. This could be his best. It went on a bit long, but for good reason as it turns out, so although there's a point where you just wish he would just wrap it up, it gets a second wind. He did kill off one of his characters (won't say who since there are probably some fans readying this), which was upsetting. With books like this I volunteer to my wife to take long drives for minor errands just to keep listening.

[hermetic]

48. Hi. Good to see you here

You have certainly given us a lot to consider.

I plugged Bill Pronzini into my library's search bar and got almost 200 hits so, yeah, prolific. He also writes Westerns.
There are a few Nameless Detective books on disk here so I want to give them a listen. A lot of Hurwitz, too.

No Graingers, though. Odd.

I thought I had read my fill of Prey books but if this is the best one, I guess I'd better check it out.

Do stop by again soon.