What Are We Currently Reading?

[dubbel zout]

I finished The Border, the final book in Don Winslow's Power of the Dog trilogy. It has a rather ambivalent ending, which I think is appropriate for a series about the war on drugs. I've started the latest Temperance Brennan book by Kathy Reichs, with which I'm having the usual issues. I think I've read too many of them to enjoy them much anymore. But it was a freebie, so what the hell.

[Browncoat]

16 hours ago, Black Knight said:

I've just started Erin Morgenstern's The Starless Sea. I believe it's been recommended by a couple of people here.

It's next on my list.  It was the last book I picked up from my library, a few hours before they closed for two weeks.

[OtterMommy]

21 hours ago, Black Knight said:

I've just started Erin Morgenstern's The Starless Sea. I believe it's been recommended by a couple of people here.

I really loved it, although it is a more complex book than The Night Circus.  

Right now, I'm reading Red Letter Days by Sarah-Jane Stratford and am enjoying it.  I haven't been searching out this subject, but it is one of several books about the Red Scare I've read lately.

[Ohiopirate02]

On 3/18/2020 at 10:29 PM, Black Knight said:

I'm troubled by My Dark Vanessa because the author has admitted that she read a memoir that covered this territory. But the writer of that memoir, Wendy C. Ortiz, had a lot of trouble getting a publisher, and when she did, well, it was a small press and the memoir didn't become a blockbuster. Now a white woman who read that memoir turns it into a fictional story and reaps a 7-figure deal from a major publisher. If I ever feel like reading this story, I'm going to go get Ortiz's memoir.

At least when EL James ripped off Stephenie Meyer, she was ripping off someone who had gotten rich herself off her story. James got even richer, but I understood there why Meyer just laughed it off.

I've just started Erin Morgenstern's The Starless Sea. I believe it's been recommended by a couple of people here.

Kate Elizabeth Russell the writer of My Dark Vanessa did not rip off Wendy Ortiz.  She was drawing on her own experiences for the book.  She has been working on and off on the manuscript for years.  Here's one link about it.  

https://www.theguardian.com/books/2020/mar/02/are-novelists-obliged-to-tell-the-story-of-their-private-life

[proserpina65]

On ‎03‎/‎18‎/‎2020 at 10:29 PM, Black Knight said:

I'm troubled by My Dark Vanessa because the author has admitted that she read a memoir that covered this territory. But the writer of that memoir, Wendy C. Ortiz, had a lot of trouble getting a publisher, and when she did, well, it was a small press and the memoir didn't become a blockbuster. Now a white woman who read that memoir turns it into a fictional story and reaps a 7-figure deal from a major publisher. If I ever feel like reading this story, I'm going to go get Ortiz's memoir.

Because only one teenage girl ever had a relationship with her high school teacher?  Seriously, there are plenty of memoirs and novels out there covering that same territory.  It's not a unique story.

The author of My Dark Vanessa based it on her own life, not Ortiz' memoir.  Now, you could argue that it's not fair that Ortiz couldn't find a publisher, and that publishing has a serious diversity problem, and I wouldn't argue with you on either point.  But Kate Russell did not rip off Wendy Ortiz.  She may (probably did) benefit from bias/racism in the publishing industry, but she didn't steal from another author.

[DearEvette]

Just finished Smoke Bitten by Patricia Briggs, the 12th in the Mercy Thompson series.  A lot going on but I thought the story was exciting and clever.  A good installment in the series.

[GaT]

1 hour ago, DearEvette said:

Just finished Smoke Bitten by Patricia Briggs, the 12th in the Mercy Thompson series.  A lot going on but I thought the story was exciting and clever.  A good installment in the series.

Glad to hear you enjoyed it. Mine is sitting in an Amazon box waiting for it to be long enough time for any coronavirus on the box & book to be dead. Such is our life now. 😟

[dubbel zout]

I started Bad Blood, about Elizabeth Holmes and Theranos. Man, she is a piece of work, though I find it somewhat amusing that a young, attractive white woman was able to bamboozle so many middle-aged white men. Plus ça change, and all that.

[Spartan Girl]

On March 20, 2020 at 4:46 PM, proserpina65 said:

Because only one teenage girl ever had a relationship with her high school teacher?  Seriously, there are plenty of memoirs and novels out there covering that same territory.  It's not a unique story.

The author of My Dark Vanessa based it on her own life, not Ortiz' memoir.  Now, you could argue that it's not fair that Ortiz couldn't find a publisher, and that publishing has a serious diversity problem, and I wouldn't argue with you on either point.  But Kate Russell did not rip off Wendy Ortiz.  She may (probably did) benefit from bias/racism in the publishing industry, but she didn't steal from another author.

Yeah, I don't think it was far that KER got so much crap over that. The publishing industry is biased, definitely, but it's not her fault. 

And as if I wasn't clear, the book is great. 

[truthaboutluv]

On 3/11/2020 at 5:24 PM, OtterMommy said:

Currently pushing through Little Fires Everywhere so that I have it finished before the TV series starts next week. I wish I had read it before the series was announced, because I keep trying to see Reese Witherspoon as Elena and it just doesn't work for me.  Oh well...

Read this sometime last year and hated it with the fire of a thousand suns. So I have zero interest in watching the series. No matter how much I always enjoy seeing Joshua Jackson on my screen.

Just completed Where The Crawdads Sing. It was one of those very hyped books from last year that while it sounded interesting, I was mostly "meh" about reading. I really, really loved it. It was a very easy read that just flew by, even if the book was a little over 500 pages. 

Spoiler

I also called the twist that Kya did in fact murder Chase. Taking the shell necklace was the dead giveaway. I also thought it was obvious after he attacked her and she spent a few days in fear of his coming back and she talked about realizing that's how her mother lived until she left her father. And she stressed she couldn't live like that and essentially not be free.

I also thought it was rather poetic justice that the town's bias worked against it so that every theory the Sheriff had as to how she committed the crime, which turned out to be completely true, was dismissed as their being biased and prejudiced. 

 

Edited March 23, 2020 by truthaboutluv

[Vanderboom]

9 hours ago, dubbel zout said:

I started Bad Blood, about Elizabeth Holmes and Theranos. Man, she is a piece of work, though I find it somewhat amusing that a young, attractive white woman was able to bamboozle so many middle-aged white men. Plus ça change, and all that.

I loved that book! I read it, got my sister to read it, and then we talked about how crazy it was.

[Crs97]

5 hours ago, truthaboutluv said:

On 3/11/2020 at 5:24 PM, OtterMommy said:

Currently pushing through Little Fires Everywhere so that I have it finished before the TV series starts next week. I wish I had read it before the series was announced, because I keep trying to see Reese Witherspoon as Elena and it just doesn't work for me.  Oh well...

Read this sometimes last year and hated it with the fire of a thousand suns. So I have zero interest in watching the series. No matter how much I always enjoy seeing Joshua Jackson on my screen.

I didn’t know I had a twin!!  Awful, awful book that I read over a year ago, and I still get just as enraged about it today as I did then.

[DearEvette]

2 hours ago, Xianders said:

Bram Stoker - Dracula

One of my favorites.

[OtterMommy]

5 hours ago, Xianders said:

Bram Stoker - Dracula

I was going through my hundreds of (unread) ebooks and found this.  I've seen movies, but have never read the book...I may be remedying that soon.

[proserpina65]

I'm planning on starting a re-read of Moreta, Dragonlady of Pern by Anne McCaffrey this weekend.  It seemed rather timely, given that it deals with a worldwide pandemic (maybe that's redundant), and I'll be home all next week due to my essential job's week-on/week-off schedule to prevent my coworkers and me from potentially infecting each other with coronavirus.

[Browncoat]

Anne McCaffrey's Pern is always good for a re-visit.

[OtterMommy]

I finished Andrew Shaffer's 2nd Obama-Biden mystery Hope Rides Again, which was frothy silliness--exactly what I needed at the moment.

Last night I started Simon the Fiddler by Paulette Jiles, which I won through a Goodreads Giveaway.  I have yet to read News of the World, although it has been sitting on my kindle for a while, so this is my first Jiles book.  (I do plan to read that before the movie comes out, at least!)

 

[BlackberryJam]

Just finished Excavation by Wendy Ortiz. I struggled because it was so well done and the it just...ended. All the facts were laid out but there was nothing said about the experience.

[Spartan Girl]

On 3/22/2020 at 11:49 PM, Crs97 said:

I didn’t know I had a twin!!  Awful, awful book that I read over a year ago, and I still get just as enraged about it today as I did then.

I feel the same way about Defending Jacob.

[DearEvette]

On 3/27/2020 at 12:13 PM, Browncoat said:

Anne McCaffrey's Pern is always good for a re-visit.

Yeah, I love the series so hard.  The last time I did a revisit, I decided to just read   Dragonflight (1st book) and Dragonsdawn (9th book) and then back to back with no intervening books just to see the contrast.

It was an interesting exercise to read them back to back.  Dragonsdawn, altho coming later in the series is the origin story.  But it so fun to read Dragonflight first which takes place so many generations removed from the origin story and see how much time has passed.

I'll put the rest under spoiler just in case...
 

Spoiler

 

To see how much knowledge was ost and how a far a previously tech advanced society had progressed (regressed?) back into an agragrian pre-tech society so much so that even the thought of space-aged tech is as alien to them as it is to a person who lived in the 1500s. 

Then to go on and read Dragonsdawn to see how sophisticated, space faring their ancestors were but who had to adapt to a planet that was hostile to them so we see how many of the 'current' customs we read about in Dragonflight were just expedient things put in place just to survive by day to day with no more meaning than that.

 

 

[Browncoat]

1 hour ago, DearEvette said:

Yeah, I love the series so hard.  The last time I did a revisit, I decided to just read   Dragonflight (1st book) and Dragonsdawn (9th book) and then back to back with no intervening books just to see the contrast.

It was an interesting exercise to read them back to back.  Dragonsdawn, altho coming later in the series is the origin story.  But it so fun to read Dragonflight first which takes place so many generations removed from the origin story and see how much time has passed.

I'll put the rest under spoiler just in case...
 

  Reveal spoiler

 

To see how much knowledge was ost and how a far a previously tech advanced society had progressed (regressed?) back into an agragrian pre-tech society so much so that even the thought of space-aged tech is as alien to them as it is to a person who lived in the 1500s. 

Then to go on and read Dragonsdawn to see how sophisticated, space faring their ancestors were but who had to adapt to a planet that was hostile to them so we see how many of the 'current' customs we read about in Dragonflight were just expedient things put in place just to survive by day to day with no more meaning than that.

 

 

That does sound like an interesting exercise.  One of my favorites is MasterHarper of Pern, but All The Weyrs Of Pern

makes me cry every time.

[GaT]

Just started Smoke Bitten by Patricia Briggs, the 12th book in the Mercy Thompson series. So far, so good.

[Crs97]

Splitting my time between American Dirt and The Splendid and the Vile.  Enjoying both of them very much so far.

[Black Knight]

It took me a little longer than ordinarily to finish The Starless Sea - I was in the wrong mood for a couple of days, which was unusual because this book with its stories and mythology is exactly my jam - but then I ripped through the remaining two-thirds quickly.

I'm now about a third of the way through Patrick Radden Keefe's Say Nothing: A True Story of Murder and Memory in Northern Ireland. It's an uplifting read of a country coming together...no, of course not, it's people killing their neighbors for religious and sectarian reasons. It's well-written and interesting, and I'm learning a lot about The Troubles that I hadn't known, but I'm going to need a palate cleanser after this.

[proserpina65]

On 3/28/2020 at 6:07 PM, Browncoat said:

That does sound like an interesting exercise.  One of my favorites is MasterHarper of Pern, but All The Weyrs Of Pern

  Reveal spoiler

makes me cry every time.

 

I'm not a big fan of Masterharper of Pern.  Maybe because I found I liked the character of Robinton less the more I knew about his life.  And also because there's what I view as a huge retcon near the end which outright offends me.

All the Weyrs of Pern I like a lot better, and I do find the ending quite moving.  But it still annoys me that

Spoiler

she puts my favorite character, T'Gellan, with one of my absolute least favorites, Mirrim.  Why, Anne McCaffrey, why?!?!?

 

[Lovecat]

On 3/27/2020 at 12:57 PM, OtterMommy said:

I finished Andrew Shaffer's 2nd Obama-Biden mystery Hope Rides Again, which was frothy silliness--exactly what I needed at the moment.

Oooooh, there's a second one?!??  The first one was a LOT of fun; thanks for the heads up!  [ETA:  The Kindle edition is $1.99 today, so good timing on the rec!  ETA2:  $2.99, actually...I had a $1 credit 🙂 But still real cheap!]

I'm currently closing in on the end of The Wives by Tarryn Fisher.  Thursday is in a polygamist marriage with Seth and two other women she only knows as Monday and Wednesday.  Twists and turns and craziness ensue.  I needed a break from my podcast rota, and this has been a fun "read."

Edited April 2, 2020 by Lovecat

[isalicat]

I am on the 22nd book in Peter Robinson's Inspector Banks series (Children of the Revolution) with I think four or so more to go...yes, I have been binge-reading these in order, why do you ask? 🙂

So, soon enough I will need to find a new series in this style/mode and am open to all recommendations. I have already read all the Martha Grimes, Donna Leon, Elizabeth George, P.D. James, Dorothy Sayers, available to date so I am probably missing some great male British writers like Peter Robinson. (I have read all the original and ersatz Robert Parker novels and adore the Robicheaux series over here stateside.) Thanks in advance!

[GaT]

2 hours ago, isalicat said:

I am on the 22nd book in Peter Robinson's Inspector Banks series (Children of the Revolution) with I think four or so more to go...yes, I have been binge-reading these in order, why do you ask? 🙂

So, soon enough I will need to find a new series in this style/mode and am open to all recommendations. I have already read all the Martha Grimes, Donna Leon, Elizabeth George, P.D. James, Dorothy Sayers, available to date so I am probably missing some great male British writers like Peter Robinson. (I have read all the original and ersatz Robert Parker novels and adore the Robicheaux series over here stateside.) Thanks in advance!

Catherine Aird, Deborah Crombie, Reginald Hill, Jill McGown, Ruth Rendell (Inspector Wexford). & Sarah Ward

Edited April 6, 2020 by GaT

[Bunty]

Val Mcdermid

A great standalone is A Place of Execution.

Quote

 

On a freezing day in December 1963, Alison Carter vanishes from her rural village, an insular community that distrusts the outside world. For the young George Bennett, a newly promoted inspector, it is the beginning of his most difficult and harrowing case—a suspected murder with no body, an investigation with more dead ends and closed faces than he'd have found in the anonymity of the inner city, and an outcome that reverberates through the years.

Decades later Bennett finally tells his story to journalist Catherine Heathcote, but just when the book is poised for publication, he unaccountably tries to pull the plug. He has new information that he refuses to divulge, new information which threatens the very foundations of his existence. Catherine is forced to re-investigate the past, with results that turn the world upside down.

A Greek tragedy in modern England,

 

She also has a series that was made into a great British TV series-- Wire in the Blood with Robson Green

Tony Hill/Carol Jordan Books

The Mermaids Singing(1995)

The Wire in the Blood(1997)

The Last Temptation(2002)

The Torment of Others(2004)

Beneath the Bleeding(2007)

Fever of the Bone(2009)

The Retribution(2011)

Cross and Burn(2013)

Splinter the Silence(2015)

Insidious Intent(2017)

How the Dead Speak(2019)

[BlackberryJam]

Just finished My Sister, the Serial Killer by Oyinkan Braithwaite. I loved it, and it's not in my usual wheelhouse at all. 

 

[ursula]

@BlackberryJam That was an amazing book. I was so sad

Spoiler

that Korede and the coma patient weren’t endgame, and that that idiotic doctor didn’t die. 

 Although there’s room for a sequel, I don’t see it happening. 

[BlackberryJam]

48 minutes ago, ursula said:

@BlackberryJam That was an amazing book. I was so sad

  Hide contents

that Korede and the coma patient weren’t endgame, and that that idiotic doctor didn’t die. 

 Although there’s room for a sequel, I don’t see it happening. 

Spoiler

I thought I was reading a book about either redemption and justice or how beautiful people get away with everything, but I was really reading a book about how sisters stick together.

I would have liked your ending as well. I don't want a sequel. I liked how it ended.

[MaggieG]

Just finished The Arrangement by Robyn Harding. It was about a young woman who needs money and becomes a sugar baby. There is also a murder. It was a pretty quick read and the ending was predictable, but it kept me busy. Up next, The Red Lotus by Chris Bohjalian.

[Black Knight]

On 4/6/2020 at 5:13 AM, Bunty said:

A great standalone is A Place of Execution.

Co-sign. I found that book so memorable. And the adaptation (BBC, I think) was quite good too.

I'll suggest Caroline Graham as well; her books served for the beginning of the long-running Midsomer Murders. Coincidentally, I just saw this yesterday, and it's hilarious: Your Guide to Not Getting Murdered in a Quaint English Village (the comments are quite excellent too!)

I finished Say Nothing, the non-fiction look at the IRA in Northern Ireland during the Troubles, and, damn, there were a couple of real shockers in there. One made my jaw drop, and the other made me think, "It was X all along. I'm an idiot for not figuring it out."

Now I'm reading Ellen Klages's Wicked Wonders, a short-story collection of fantasy/SF stories. They run the gamut from whimsical to horrifying, and she's very creative with some of her concepts. I'm halfway through and eager to see the remaining stories.

[MeloraH]

On 4/6/2020 at 9:48 PM, ursula said:

@BlackberryJam That was an amazing book. I was so sad

  Reveal spoiler

that Korede and the coma patient weren’t endgame, and that that idiotic doctor didn’t die. 

 

Yet.

Currently reading The Glass Hotel, only about 20% in but liking it so far.

[Calvada]

On 4/5/2020 at 10:29 PM, isalicat said:

I am on the 22nd book in Peter Robinson's Inspector Banks series (Children of the Revolution) with I think four or so more to go...yes, I have been binge-reading these in order, why do you ask? 🙂

So, soon enough I will need to find a new series in this style/mode and am open to all recommendations. I have already read all the Martha Grimes, Donna Leon, Elizabeth George, P.D. James, Dorothy Sayers, available to date so I am probably missing some great male British writers like Peter Robinson. (I have read all the original and ersatz Robert Parker novels and adore the Robicheaux series over here stateside.) Thanks in advance!

I join in the recommendations of Deborah Crombie, Reginald Hill, Val Dermid, and Caroline Graham.

I would also recommend Jane Casey's Maeve Kerrigan series, Cynthia Harrod-Eagles' Bill Slider series, Jacqueline Winspear's Maisie Dobbs series, and John Harvey's Charlie Resnick series.  

[helenamonster]

Just finished: Jessica Simpson's memoir Open Book. I thought it was pretty raw and honest in an endearing way. I found her commitment to her faith (which is a consistent through-line in the book) to be genuine without being preachy, and she's pretty funny when she's rolling her eyes at her younger self for some of the dumb things she did (like putting makeup on her tummy to make it look like she had abs during her concerts). I've always been fascinated by the early 2000s pop scene, and since we're probably never gonna get this kind of book from Britney Spears, I took what I could get here. 

Also, John Mayer is a pretentious little shit.

Next up: A Good Neighborhood by Therese Anne Fowler.

[isalicat]

Thank you all so much for the great book recommendations (I'm the Peter Robinson fan who asked for more in this style). I have definitely read all the Deborah Crombie books to date and have the Val Dermid book that was recommended now on its way! Now researching all the others you mentioned and this is so appreciated. Silver lining to the current situation: yet more time to brew up a cuppa tea and sit down with a good British mystery 🙂

[Bunty]

12 hours ago, isalicat said:

Thank you all so much for the great book recommendations (I'm the Peter Robinson fan who asked for more in this style). I have definitely read all the Deborah Crombie books to date and have the Val Dermid book that was recommended now on its way! Now researching all the others you mentioned and this is so appreciated. Silver lining to the current situation: yet more time to brew up a cuppa tea and sit down with a good British mystery 🙂

Hope you like it. Thought of another British author you might like-- Jo Bannister. She has been writing a long time and has several series. My favorite is her Castlemere series :

A Bleeding of Innocents(1993)

Quote

A double murder and two coppers with scores to settle and divergent methods keep Bannister's ( Striving with Gods ) series launch moving at a brisk clip. Sgt. Cal Donovan of the Castlemere CID is assigned to the shooting murder of a young nurse from an old folks' home. Normally an intuitive bobby, Cal is recovering from the death of his former partner and superior officer in a suspicious hit and run that nearly killed Cal too, and for which he blames Jack Carney, a local crime kingpin. Then the shotgun murder of a surgeon suggests the possibility of a serial killer with a medical fixation. As Cal and his new superior Liz Graham pursue leads--resulting in several serious beatings for Cal-- Bannister keeps the suspense tight as a drum. Toward the end, a killer is revealed with surprising sympathy, and Cal, with Liz's help, fools the bad guys (and all but the most attentive readers) with a crafty sleight-of-hand.

Charisma(1994)

A Taste for Burning(1995)

No Birds Sing(1996)

Broken Lines(1998)

The Hireling's Tale(1999)

Changelings(2000)

[GHScorpiosRule]

For me? I'm re-re-re-reading JD Robb's (aka Nora Roberts) In Deaths. Because I just need to not think about what's going on in the world right now when I "clock off" work. Any and all mentions of 💘🥰💘Roarke💘🥰💘 hits the spot for me, as does Eve's crankiness and 0 bullshit meter. I don't even mind Peabody's annoying as fuck whining. And that's saying something.

I'm up to...Divided in Death.

[OtterMommy]

I think I'm in a bit of a reading slump because it just doesn't seem to have the appeal it normally has (sitting on my ass in front of Netflix shows about Hasidic Jews, on the other hand...)

Anyway, I DNF'd The Home for Erring and Outcast Girls.  There were some big similarities between that and the book I had read previously (Simon the Fiddler) and THFEAOC paled in comparison.  I am now slowly reading Other People's Houses by Abbi Waxman.  It's light and easy to pick up and put down, which is what I need right now.  It is not, however, anything spectacular.

[BlackberryJam]

I just started listening to The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo. I’m two hours in (around 12 total.) So far, so good. 

 

[krankydoodle]

I read CJ Tudor's The Chalk Man last year but didn't like it much. Despite that, I've started listening to The Hiding Place and am enjoying it so far but I'm not sure if that's because it's a better book or if it's down to Richard Armitage being the narrator. He's excellent and I'm hoping to get to his reading of David Copperfield this year.

[OtterMommy]

I recently finished Other People's Houses by Abbi Waxman, which was a complete brain break.  That was good, because...

I'm currently working on two different books for two different book clubs: Maus II by Art Spiegelman and The Tattooist of Auschwitz by Heather Morris.  Really?  As if a pandemic wasn't enough, I also needed a double dose of the Holocaust?

I'm planning quite the palate cleanser once I'm done with these!

[Haleth]

Right before the library closed I picked up Wolf Hall (Hillary Mantel).  I'd always heard it was fantastic and I love historical dramas, but I was hesitant because I don't like writers putting words into the mouths of real historical figures.  However, it really is fantastic.  The writing is so clever, a wry sense of humor throughout.  It is interesting that she writes in the present tense, so even though Cromwell isn't the narrator, we get a clear sense of what's in his head at the time.  I've enjoyed it so much I did something I normally don't do- I bought the second book since it may be a while before the library opens again.  (And I can't find a free copy to download.)  

[dubbel zout]

1 hour ago, Haleth said:

Cromwell isn't the narrator

Not in the first-person sense (e.g., "Today I tell the king I have found him a new wife"), but we see everything through Cromwell's eyes.

[MaggieG]

On 4/13/2020 at 12:45 PM, BlackberryJam said:

I just started listening to The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo. I’m two hours in (around 12 total.) So far, so good. 

 

I loved this book. 

[nodorothyparker]

5 hours ago, Haleth said:

Right before the library closed I picked up Wolf Hall (Hillary Mantel).  I'd always heard it was fantastic and I love historical dramas, but I was hesitant because I don't like writers putting words into the mouths of real historical figures.  However, it really is fantastic.  The writing is so clever, a wry sense of humor throughout.  It is interesting that she writes in the present tense, so even though Cromwell isn't the narrator, we get a clear sense of what's in his head at the time.  I've enjoyed it so much I did something I normally don't do- I bought the second book since it may be a while before the library opens again.  (And I can't find a free copy to download.)  

I really liked Bring Up the Bodies, at least in part because it was a fairly sympathetic portrayal of just how truly fucked the Boleyn kids were by everybody, including their own father and other relatives, when things started to go south for them.  Still trying to will myself to get around to starting the new third book in that series because as much as I generally admire the writing, they're not light reads.

Because my brain is a weird place, I'm reading both John  Barry's The Great Influenza, a nonfictional account of the 1918 epidemic which provides a lot of uncomfortable parallels of where we are now, and more for brain candy Minette Walters' The Last Hours, a fictionalized Black Plague story complete with a downtrodden yet secretly plucky heroine who may just save everybody with her highfalutin ideas.

[Ohiopirate02]

4 hours ago, Haleth said:

Right before the library closed I picked up Wolf Hall (Hillary Mantel).  I'd always heard it was fantastic and I love historical dramas, but I was hesitant because I don't like writers putting words into the mouths of real historical figures.  However, it really is fantastic.  The writing is so clever, a wry sense of humor throughout.  It is interesting that she writes in the present tense, so even though Cromwell isn't the narrator, we get a clear sense of what's in his head at the time.  I've enjoyed it so much I did something I normally don't do- I bought the second book since it may be a while before the library opens again.  (And I can't find a free copy to download.)  

I just finished the third book last week.  The Mirror and the Light is just as fantastic as the first two.  I do have a few minor quibbles about how some of the secondary characters were portrayed based on the historical evidence, but overall really liked it.  

[Haleth]

35 minutes ago, nodorothyparker said:

and more for brain candy Minette Walters' The Last Hours, a fictionalized Black Plague story complete with a downtrodden yet secretly plucky heroine who may just save everybody with her highfalutin ideas.

I read that and the sequel not long ago. They are entertaining, along the lines of Pillars of the Earth.