What Are We Currently Reading?

[Zella]

1 hour ago, blackwing said:

Hmm, I don't see a release date either, just that it will be released in 2023 and is set during 1552, just before Edward dies.

I also found some tidbit saying the books are going to be adapted as a series by Disney.  Not sure how true that is or not.  But it did mention Ratcliff.  It also mentions that Sansom says that he wants to do more books post-1558 set during Elizabeth's reign.  Which kind of pisses me off.  Mary always gets the shaft when it comes to TV shows, movies and books.  (Which is why I was so happy to have discovered Michael Jecks' Bloody Mary series which is set during her reign.)

Why can't Sansom at least have one book set during Mary's reign?

My understanding is the Disney adaptation news is at least legitimate. There's been casting and even at least 1 pic of the lead in character released. I must admit I don't know who he is. 

https://variety.com/2023/global/news/cj-sansom-shardlake-disney-1235570006/

Sean Bean as Cromwell alternately intrigues me and makes me go hmm. LOL 

2 hours ago, Ohiopirate02 said:

I got excited when I read your post and immediately switched tabs to Baker and Taylor to get the deets.  I've had experiences before when I've searched B&T for a book and cannot find it only to find it the next day.  And the record for the book in B&T states it was created 3 months ago.  

I'm so sorry for the false hope! I wish I could remember now what made me so convinced it was legitimate. When I start series, I always investigate them because I want to make sure we have all of them, and what I saw made me note down I needed to make sure someone in our library system ordered it! I'm glad now I didn't get around to telling anyone that. LOLOL 

[blackwing]

49 minutes ago, Zella said:

My understanding is the Disney adaptation news is at least legitimate. There's been casting and even at least 1 pic of the lead in character released. I must admit I don't know who he is. 

https://variety.com/2023/global/news/cj-sansom-shardlake-disney-1235570006/

Sean Bean as Cromwell alternately intrigues me and makes me go hmm. LOL 

I'm so sorry for the false hope! I wish I could remember now what made me so convinced it was legitimate. When I start series, I always investigate them because I want to make sure we have all of them, and what I saw made me note down I needed to make sure someone in our library system ordered it! I'm glad now I didn't get around to telling anyone that. LOLOL 

Thank you for this, I'm excited!  Eager to see what more news gets released soon.  I'm curious if the 4 part series is going to only adapt "Dissolution", or if there will be more books adapted.  Hopefully they do a better job than Amazon Prime did with Louise Penny and "Three Pines".

I'm also curious as how they are going to portray the scoliosis / crookback.  I would think it needs to be included, it's mentioned in the article and his condition is also a large part of who he is.

The actor seems a bit more TV handsome than I always pictured Shardlake.  I'm not really sure how I've been picturing him in my mind, but I don't think it's that actor.  I always got the impression that he was quite plain.  At the end of the fifth book I think he's in his early 40s, had been badly rejected by his friend's widow, and seems resigned to the fact that he's never going to get married or have children because no one (except for the woman in the mental asylum) will look twice at him (and I think a lot of that has to do with the scoliosis).

[Zella]

4 minutes ago, blackwing said:

I'm curious if the 4 part series is going to only adapt "Dissolution", or if there will be more books adapted.  Hopefully they do a better job than Amazon Prime did with Louise Penny and "Three Pines".

I was wondering the same thing too. I think a one-book per season adaptation would have been a better decision for Three Pines and would work better for this than trying to do multiple books. Granted, I've only read one book so far for this one but still

 

5 minutes ago, blackwing said:

I'm also curious as how they are going to portray the scoliosis / crookback.  I would think it needs to be included, it's mentioned in the article and his condition is also a large part of who he is.

The actor seems a bit more TV handsome than I always pictured Shardlake.  I'm not really sure how I've been picturing him in my mind, but I don't think it's that actor.  I always got the impression that he was quite plain.  At the end of the fifth book I think he's in his early 40s, had been badly rejected by his friend's widow, and seems resigned to the fact that he's never going to get married or have children because no one (except for the woman in the mental asylum) will look twice at him (and I think a lot of that has to do with the scoliosis).

I am also interested in seeing what route they go with his disability. I looked him up and the actor has dysplasia in his arm. I don't know if they'll add that to the scoliosis or substitute it. 

I've only read the first book, but in it, a woman does tell him that he's handsomer than he acts like he is. But she also isn't attracted to him at all. I don't really picture characters as I read, but I assumed that meant he wasn't bad-looking on his own merits but was not leading man levels of handsome. 

[EtheltoTillie]

My Darkest Prayer by S.A. Cosby.  This is a new writer for me.  A friend raved about him, and it's really good.  He's supposedly the cross between Lee Child and Walter Mosley, or, in other words, the Black Jack Reacher.  The writing is really smart, is the best I can say.  He reveals a lot about the characters with little asides.  I'm listening to the audiobook, and the reader does a great job with the many different voices. 

Cosby has written four books, this is the first.

Edited August 1, 2023 by EtheltoTillie

[isalicat]

Finished reading all five of Cara Hunter's murder mystery series set in Oxford and featuring DI Fawley which I absolutely loved! Definitely great absorbing page turners! But now apparently her new book is a stand alone and I see nothing about any more in this series...does anyone here know anything more? I found this author due to a great recommendation from this forum and have also discovered a lot of other authors I really like here so thank you everyone! Keep the recommendations coming!

[sugarbaker design]

16 hours ago, EtheltoTillie said:

My Darkest Prayer by S.A. Cosby.  This is a new writer for me.  A friend raved about him, and it's really good.  He's supposedly the cross between Lee Child and Walter Mosley, or, in other words, the Black Jack Reacher.  The writing is really smart, is the best I can say.  He reveals a lot about the characters with little asides.  I'm listening to the audiobook, and the reader does a great job with the many different voices. 

Cosby has written four books, this is the first.

Cosby's Razorblade Tears is a must-read. It was my favorite crime fiction of last year.  Violent, cathartic, redemptive, I can shower this one with so many adjectives.  I'm looking forward to My Darkest Prayer.

Edited August 2, 2023 by sugarbaker design

[sugarbaker design]

On 7/31/2023 at 6:47 PM, blackwing said:

I'm also curious as how they are going to portray the scoliosis / crookback.  I would think it needs to be included, it's mentioned in the article and his condition is also a large part of who he is.

It's a huge part of who he is.  Because of his disability and the abuse and stigma that comes with it in the 1500's, Matthew knows what it's like to be a pariah, he's gained an immense pool of empathy because of it.

[EtheltoTillie]

14 hours ago, isalicat said:

Finished reading all five of Cara Hunter's murder mystery series set in Oxford and featuring DI Fawley which I absolutely loved! Definitely great absorbing page turners! But now apparently her new book is a stand alone and I see nothing about any more in this series...does anyone here know anything more? I found this author due to a great recommendation from this forum and have also discovered a lot of other authors I really like here so thank you everyone! Keep the recommendations coming!

  The first two Cara Hunters were great.  I also discovered her through this forum.  We will be moving to the next three, and I am going to get the standalone.  I  hope she will keep up the series, but it's smart of her to take a break and create other content so she doesn't flame out. 

My husband and I reserve Cara Hunter for our joint car listening for driving to our weekend house.  (We don't drive otherwise while in the city all week.  We have a rule of no Audible Adultery.  It really keeps us in suspense. Sometimes it takes weeks to listen to a book.  That's our fun.) 

Now we are trying the first SA Cosby for car listening, and it's excellent.  Then we'll have a new John Grisham and a new Michael Connelly coming, and three more SA Cosby (new to us), so I guess we'll have enough books for a while.  Over the years we always have a problem finding new suspense/mystery authors when the old favorites die or retire.  We've been doing this a long time--since they had books on tape--actual tape.  Then we moved to CDs and now we use the phone for Audible or library books on Libby.

Our old gone but not forgotten favorites have been Sue Grafton, Joseph Wambaugh, Evan Hunter, Lee Child, Mary Higgins Clark and Sidney Sheldon.  We like Steve Hamilton's Alex McKnight series.  I hope he writes more.  Dean Koontz has had some good books.  Our theme for car listening is mystery/suspense.  We don't like cozy mysteries.  We've tried and rejected others and I can't even remember them.  It's so great to have series to follow. 

I listen to other books and genres on my own, while exercising or cooking or doing  jigsaw puzzles.  I'm going to start the new Ann Patchett later.  That will be for my book club.

Edited August 2, 2023 by EtheltoTillie

[EtheltoTillie]

@isalicat how have you read the three later Cara Hunter books?  They are not available on Amazon in the US yet.  Are you in the UK?  I thought you were in the US. 

[isalicat]

On 8/2/2023 at 8:33 AM, EtheltoTillie said:

@isalicat how have you read the three later Cara Hunter books?  They are not available on Amazon in the US yet.  Are you in the UK?  I thought you were in the US. 

I am in the U.S. - on the left coast to be exact. I buy all my books second hand on eBay. I used to go to the library once a week but my local library's hours have shrunk so that they are never open when I could go any more 😿

[EtheltoTillie]

@isalicat , thanks.  I see there are some used paperback copies available of the Cara Hunter books but no kindle or audible yet.  I’m waiting for the audio. So sorry about your library. Do you not get any library downloads?  I got the first two Cara Hunter audiobooks that way.  Now I see why they were not available at the library yet.  Some rights issue obviously. 

[Laura Holt]

2 hours ago, isalicat said:

I used to go to the library once a week but my local library's hours have shrunk so that they are never open when I could go any more

This happened with the library in my town.  They closed during the pandemic and when they reopened it was with no evening hours and Saturday is something like 10-2.  Anyone who works in the city and commutes is limited to those few Saturday hours.  My solution was to pay the out-of-towner fee and join the city library.  

[Haleth]

The city where we used to live cut back on their hours too.  They were only open for a few hours on the weekends which I thought didn't really benefit the community.  I was fortunate in being able to go anytime.  We moved to a new city where they are building a huge new library.  Can't wait!

I finished David Grann's The Wager in about 3 days.  It was excellent.  Very harrowing story of a real shipwreck and the measures the crew used to survive on a frigid, barren island.  It's a remarkable story.

[sugarbaker design]

6 hours ago, Haleth said:

I finished David Grann's The Wager in about 3 days.  It was excellent.  Very harrowing story of a real shipwreck and the measures the crew used to survive on a frigid, barren island.  It's a remarkable story.

I cannot wait to read this book!

 

[proserpina65]

6 hours ago, Haleth said:

I finished David Grann's The Wager in about 3 days.  It was excellent.  Very harrowing story of a real shipwreck and the measures the crew used to survive on a frigid, barren island.  It's a remarkable story.

I just got it from the library based on your comment.  Shipwrecks and mutinies are right up my alley, and I really liked Grann's writing style in Flowers of the Killer Moon.  Looking forward to starting it this weekend.

Edited August 4, 2023 by proserpina65

[Zella]

I read it earlier this year and my library where I work had us do a reading bracket for favorite book of the summer. It won my bracket, and I made the following supplementary meme for my bracket to amuse my coworkers. But I feel like it serves as a pretty good summary of the book too. :)

[Haleth]

I read another book that is pretty similar a few months ago.  Jess Kidd wrote a novel (The Night Ship) about the real wreck of a 17th c Dutch merchant ship in the Pacific.  We see the events through the eyes of a young girl who was a passenger.  It contains all the horrors the folks on The Wager went through, but it was even worse since there was no military order holding things together.  Civility broke down quickly and the strong preyed on the weak mercilessly.  It was hard to read.

[Zella]

2 hours ago, Haleth said:

I read another book that is pretty similar a few months ago.  Jess Kidd wrote a novel (The Night Ship) about the real wreck of a 17th c Dutch merchant ship in the Pacific.  We see the events through the eyes of a young girl who was a passenger.  It contains all the horrors the folks on The Wager went through, but it was even worse since there was no military order holding things together.  Civility broke down quickly and the strong preyed on the weak mercilessly.  It was hard to read.

I'd not heard of this one, but it sounds right up my alley when I'm in the right mood for it.

Truthfully, my summer of literary maritime disaster has continued because my childhood fascination with all things Titanic reemerged after the Titan submersible disaster. Currently rereading Walter Lord's classic A Night to Remember. 

Edited August 5, 2023 by Zella

[Crs97]

I finished No Two Persons: A Novel by Erica Bauermeister and loved it.  Not much happens, but it’s just a series of glimpses into the lives of characters who either read or were involved in the publication of a novel and how that novel changed them.  I thought it was clever and fell in love with many of the characters she created.

I loved the first novel in the Good Girl, Bad Blood series; I just read the second and now am pretty sure I’ll skip the third.  

[Leeds]

On 7/24/2023 at 3:44 PM, Irlandesa said:

I watched Karen Pirie on Britbox this year and ever since then, I've gotten into reading the books.  Hopefully, by the time they're made into a series, I will have forgotten who did it but I do like Val McDermid's writing style.  I like the mix of two mysteries and they move at a good pace.  So far I've read A Darker Domain, Still Life and I'm just about to start Broken Ground. This is a little unusual for me because I don't normally stick with mystery series. 

I don't read many mysteries/suspense novels but I also like Val McDermid.

I just finished In a Dark, Dark Wood by Ruth Ware - less gritty and dark (despite the title!) than McDermid, but quite clever and evocative, and well-written.  One of those "protagonist wakes up covered in blood and gradually gets to the bottom of it" mysteries.  A quick read that I enjoyed, and I'll probably put something else by her on my library list.

[Angeltoes]

For anybody who might have an interest in the JonBenet Ramsey case, this comes from a Facebook page about the book:

In memory of homicide victim JonBenet Ramsey, Ventus Publishing will be offering free downloads of the Kindle e-book version of FOREIGN FACTION starting on her birthday, August 6, 2023 and continuing for three days through August 8, 2023.

[Rushmoras]

During holidays, had the time to catch up on my reading and almost read 300 pages of C. Paolini's 'To Sleep in the Sea of Stars'. It's a science-fiction novel about a xenobiologist (biologist examining non-human lifeforms in other planets), who accidentally discovered a relic of a forgotten civilisation, and this event brought down a bunch of things to happen to her.  Currently, read 3 parts of the book (560 pages in total), another 400 give or take still remains. It's quite better than Dune. At least the descriptions and the dialogue is not dry.

[EtheltoTillie]

I read On Fire Island over the weekend.  By Jane L. Rosen. What a great page turner. She has a great way of making you like almost all the characters. I was dubious when I heard that the plot was

Spoiler

the narrator’s being dead

but in the end it really worked. 

[grommit2]

Ok...I need some guidance.
I started Sea of Tranquility by Emily St. John Mandel. 
I did this because I liked her Station Eleven.
First few chapters and the story is going nowhere. Lots of Brits moving to Canada, living off stipends, doing nothing significant.
Does this story get better?

[Ohiopirate02]

53 minutes ago, grommit2 said:

Ok...I need some guidance.
I started Sea of Tranquility by Emily St. John Mandel. 
I did this because I liked her Station Eleven.
First few chapters and the story is going nowhere. Lots of Brits moving to Canada, living off stipends, doing nothing significant.
Does this story get better?

I enjoyed Sea of Tranquility.  The story goes places other than Vancouver Island in the 19th century.  It lives in the same world as Station Eleven and The Glass Hotel.  I love all three books and how they play off of each other, but Station Eleven is the one with the most linear plot and most propulsive plot.  Sea of Tranquility does go places at its own pace and with its own agenda, but it does so quietly.  

[proserpina65]

On 8/5/2023 at 8:32 AM, Haleth said:

I read another book that is pretty similar a few months ago.  Jess Kidd wrote a novel (The Night Ship) about the real wreck of a 17th c Dutch merchant ship in the Pacific.  We see the events through the eyes of a young girl who was a passenger.  It contains all the horrors the folks on The Wager went through, but it was even worse since there was no military order holding things together.  Civility broke down quickly and the strong preyed on the weak mercilessly.  It was hard to read.

I suspect this is the wreck:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Batavia_(1628_ship)

It was pretty horrible.  I read about shipwrecks and similar stuff a lot, and this one is still almost impossible to wrap my head around.

[Haleth]

Yes, that’s it. 

[BlackberryJam]

The Last Mrs. Parrish sucks. Fuck that book and its hatred of women. 

[Zella]

I started reading Yellowface after it was recommended on here. The first chapter made me laugh and cringe so hard, and I am looking forward to reading more.

Also recently finished Max Miller's Tasting History cookbook, which was a birthday present. Usually don't really watch YouTube channels and am often deeply suspicious of books from internet personalities, but I love his stuff and trusted his book to be good. And it was! 

Also working my way through Walter Lord's follow-up to A Night to Remember, The Night Lives On. It's not bad, but I find it rather meandering in comparison to ANTR, which I did really enjoy revisiting after about 20 years. I am also pretty sure there's a lot of overlapping content, down to similar passages. I think the publisher smelled money when Ballard found the wreck, and they cobbled together something to cash in. 

[proserpina65]

On 8/13/2023 at 1:58 AM, Zella said:

I think the publisher smelled money when Ballard found the wreck, and they cobbled together something to cash in. 

The Night Lives On was published in 1976 so that wasn't the impetus to publish it.  I think it was more just because Titanic stuff was always popular.

[Zella]

7 hours ago, proserpina65 said:

The Night Lives On was published in 1976 so that wasn't the impetus to publish it.  I think it was more just because Titanic stuff was always popular.

Every publication date I've ever seen for it was 1986, including in the copy I am reading. The first editions listed in Worldcat are 1986. The Acknowledgements page also references the previous book being published 30ish years earlier, which would be true for 1986, not 1976, and talks about Ballard's discovery in 1985.

Just out of curiosity, but where are you seeing it was first published in the 70s?

Edited August 14, 2023 by Zella

[proserpina65]

59 minutes ago, Zella said:

Every publication date I've ever seen for it was 1986, including in the copy I am reading. The first editions listed in Worldcat are 1986. The Acknowledgements page also references the previous book being published 30ish years earlier, which would be true for 1986, not 1976, and talks about Ballard's discovery in 1985.

Just out of curiosity, but where are you seeing it was first published in the 70s?

I googled it. The result screen is a little confusing but I think it's Google Books, and it says "first published in 1976".

[WendyCR72]

1 hour ago, Zella said:

Just out of curiosity, but where are you seeing it was first published in the 70s?

Not @proserpina65, obviously, but I asked Google and 1976 came up. Yet all other info does reference 1986, so maybe Google is wrong.

[Zella]

Yeah I think Google is wrong. 

[proserpina65]

3 minutes ago, WendyCR72 said:

Not @proserpina65, obviously, but I asked Google and 1976 came up. Yet all other info does reference 1986, so maybe Google is wrong.

I just looked again and am getting conflicting info so yeah, maybe it's Google. I remember reading it in my mom's Reader's Digest Condensed Books but I have no idea when that was.

[Spartan Girl]

Just finished Medusa’s Sisters by Lauren Bear, and praise the gods, we finally get a retelling that is sympathetic to Medusa without portraying Perseus as a monster. If only because he’s not a huge part of the story, since it’s mostly about the sisters before and after her death, but still, I’ll take it.

Anyway, it starts slow but it really picks up.

[blackwing]

I finished a book called Hide by Kiersten White.  She is apparently a prolific YA writer and this is her first adult book.  I think I found this book through a "books like And Then There Were None" list, and I am a sucker for all sorts of good and bad books similar to ATTWN.  The premise sounded fascinating.

From Goodreads:

Quote

The challenge: spend a week hiding in an abandoned amusement park and don't get caught.

The prize: enough money to change everything.

Even though everyone is desperate to win--to seize their dream futures or escape their haunting pasts--Mack feels sure that she can beat her competitors. All she has to do is hide, and she's an expert at that.

It's the reason she's alive, and her family isn't.

But as the people around her begin disappearing one by one, Mack realizes this competition is more sinister than even she imagined, and that together might be the only way to survive.

Fourteen competitors. Seven days. Everywhere to hide, but nowhere to run.

Come out, come out, wherever you are.

A high-stakes hide-and-seek competition turns deadly in this dark supernatural thriller from New York Times bestselling author Kiersten White.

I wanted to like this book so badly.  What's not to like?  A game of adult hide-and-seek where people get picked off and possibly die one-by-one?  It sounded like "The Hunger Games" meets "The Running Man" meets "ATTWN"!

Unfortunately, the execution of this book was poor.  There were too many characters and the POV keeps shifting amongst these various characters, the world building is poor, too much "psychological" and not enough "thriller".

The book is set in a creepy abandoned amusement park.  The endpages of the book depict this amazing park with cool rides.  But the book doesn't use the environment well at all, just references to the rides without really describing or using them.

Most of the deaths/disappearances happen offscreen, which I found wildly unsatisfying.  This was supposed to be about a game and we hardly see any of the game.

The book started out promising but then quickly devolved into a bad supernatural horror book that wasn't even scary.  The ending was also completely unsatisfying.

On 8/13/2023 at 12:58 AM, Zella said:

Also recently finished Max Miller's Tasting History cookbook, which was a birthday present. Usually don't really watch YouTube channels and am often deeply suspicious of books from internet personalities, but I love his stuff and trusted his book to be good. And it was! 

I've never heard of this guy, but I love all things historical and I find myself particularly fascinated with cookbooks featuring historical food.  I have Walter Staib's City Tavern and A Taste of History cookbooks and love reading about the dishes even if I can't make some of them.

Will check out Max Miller and his YouTube, I particularly have had a long-standing fascination with garum and want to make my own.

Edited to add that I just found out that this cookbook is on sale at Amazon for an amazing $7.99, normally $30.  Great deal!

Edited August 21, 2023 by blackwing

[Zella]

9 hours ago, blackwing said:

I've never heard of this guy, but I love all things historical and I find myself particularly fascinated with cookbooks featuring historical food.  I have Walter Staib's City Tavern and A Taste of History cookbooks and love reading about the dishes even if I can't make some of them.

Will check out Max Miller and his YouTube, I particularly have had a long-standing fascination with garum and want to make my own.

Edited to add that I just found out that this cookbook is on sale at Amazon for an amazing $7.99, normally $30.  Great deal!

Yes! Definitely give Max a try! A friend suggested him to me back in 2020 when his channel was new-ish and just starting to get some traction. I am really glad I started following his channel. He's the right blend of geeky enthusiast nerd and snarky commenter. 

[Bookish Jen]

I'm currently about half way through the novel "Typecast" by Andrea J. Stein. Ms. Stein found my blog and sent me a copy to read and review. I really like it so far, so I will definitely give it a positive review.

Edited August 31, 2023 by Bookish Jen
Got the middle initial wrong.

[stewedsquash]

@EtheltoTillie Have you read Eliza Starts A Rumour by Rosen? I just put a tag on it if it gets renewed for circulation again, Kindle version. The one you posted above isn’t even listed. 
Same thing with Typecast @Bookish Jen, tagged it if it becomes available. The good news about tagging unavailable ones is you are first in line mostly and then you get a little surprise when you forget about it. 
 

The Address/Fiona Davis

Vera Wong’s Unsolicited Advice For Murderers/ Jesse Q Sutanto

The Idiot/Elif Batuman

Beach Read /Emily Henry

The Golden Spoon/Jessa Maxwell

Marrying The Ketchups/Jennifer Close

All of the above are shuffled on hold or downloaded.  Concentrating on Beach Read right now.

 

[EtheltoTillie]

6 minutes ago, stewedsquash said:

@EtheltoTillie Have you read Eliza Starts A Rumour by Rosen? I just put a tag on it if it gets renewed for circulation again, Kindle version. The one you posted above isn’t even listed. 
Same thing with Typecast @Bookish Jen, tagged it if it becomes available. The good news about tagging unavailable ones is you are first in line mostly and then you get a little surprise when you forget about it. 
 

The Address/Fiona Davis

Vera Wong’s Unsolicited Advice For Murderers/ Jesse Q Sutanto

The Idiot/Elif Batuman

Beach Read /Emily Henry

The Golden Spoon/Jessa Maxwell

Marrying The Ketchups/Jennifer Close

All of the above are shuffled on hold or downloaded.  Concentrating on Beach Read right now.

 

I have the hardcover Eliza Starts a Rumor from the library. Have not started it yet. 

I don’t think I posted about Ann Patchett’s new book yet. Tom Lake. I loved it. So many interesting literary references but also a good story!

Edited August 29, 2023 by EtheltoTillie

[blackwing]

21 minutes ago, stewedsquash said:

The Golden Spoon/Jessa Maxwell

I read The Golden Spoon some time ago, I forget if I posted about it here or in the Cozy Mysteries thread.  I thought it read like bad fan fiction.  The author clearly wanted to write a story about The Great British Baking Show and had to make a mystery out of it.  The characters were stereotypes and everything is very predictable.

 

I read The Collector, the latest in the long running Gabriel Allon series by Daniel Silva.  Allon is retired from his position as chief of Israeli intelligence, currently working as an art restorer in Venice.  He is asked by Italian authorities to help recover the most famous and valuable missing painting in the world, The Concert by Johannes Vermeer.  Sources say it is in the hands of someone known as "The Collector", a man who has ties to Russian oligarchy.

This book was a lot of fun, I like books with heists and Silva is great at depicting spy operations.  There's a little bit of political commentary about Russia and Ukraine, but it didn't take over the plot unlike one of his recent politically charged books.

I read Murder in Old Bombay, the first in a series by Nev March.  I wasn't sure if this book was a cozy mystery or not, and decided that it wasn't.  In 1892 Bombay, a half English / half Indian soldier is recovering from injuries.  He likes Sherlock Holmes.  He sees an article in a newspaper about a man who says his wife and sister fell from a clock tower.  The authorities say it was suicide, but he thinks it was not.  So of course the solder turned reporter turned private investigator contacts the man and decides to solve the mystery.

Unfortunately, the mystery is fairly weak.  A good third to seemingly half of the book is spent on the romance between the narrator and his client's other sister.  They are star crossed lovers because they are of different religious sects, and therefore the father and society has decreed they can't be together.

So much angst, and so many needless words.  This book could have been a lot shorter and better if it was a pure mystery.  After the crime is solved, it just keeps going on and on about the forbidden romance.  So annoying.

The only reason why I read this book is because I got a Facebook ad about book 3 in this series.  Book 2 is set at the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago.  Book 3 is set on an ocean liner and was billed as "Murder on the Orient Express" meets "Death on the Nile".  The premises of books 2 and 3 greatly appeal to me, I just feel annoyed I had to slog through this bore of Book 1 in order to get there.  Has anyone read this series?  I really hope books 2 and 3 are better.

[isalicat]

2 hours ago, blackwing said:

I read The Golden Spoon some time ago, I forget if I posted about it here or in the Cozy Mysteries thread.  I thought it read like bad fan fiction.  The author clearly wanted to write a story about The Great British Baking Show and had to make a mystery out of it.  The characters were stereotypes and everything is very predictable.

 

I read The Collector, the latest in the long running Gabriel Allon series by Daniel Silva.  Allon is retired from his position as chief of Israeli intelligence, currently working as an art restorer in Venice.  He is asked by Italian authorities to help recover the most famous and valuable missing painting in the world, The Concert by Johannes Vermeer.  Sources say it is in the hands of someone known as "The Collector", a man who has ties to Russian oligarchy.

This book was a lot of fun, I like books with heists and Silva is great at depicting spy operations.  There's a little bit of political commentary about Russia and Ukraine, but it didn't take over the plot unlike one of his recent politically charged books.

I read Murder in Old Bombay, the first in a series by Nev March.  I wasn't sure if this book was a cozy mystery or not, and decided that it wasn't.  In 1892 Bombay, a half English / half Indian soldier is recovering from injuries.  He likes Sherlock Holmes.  He sees an article in a newspaper about a man who says his wife and sister fell from a clock tower.  The authorities say it was suicide, but he thinks it was not.  So of course the solder turned reporter turned private investigator contacts the man and decides to solve the mystery.

Unfortunately, the mystery is fairly weak.  A good third to seemingly half of the book is spent on the romance between the narrator and his client's other sister.  They are star crossed lovers because they are of different religious sects, and therefore the father and society has decreed they can't be together.

So much angst, and so many needless words.  This book could have been a lot shorter and better if it was a pure mystery.  After the crime is solved, it just keeps going on and on about the forbidden romance.  So annoying.

The only reason why I read this book is because I got a Facebook ad about book 3 in this series.  Book 2 is set at the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago.  Book 3 is set on an ocean liner and was billed as "Murder on the Orient Express" meets "Death on the Nile".  The premises of books 2 and 3 greatly appeal to me, I just feel annoyed I had to slog through this bore of Book 1 in order to get there.  Has anyone read this series?  I really hope books 2 and 3 are better.

I read "Murder in Old Bombay" and really agree with your review - the mystery aspect is really thin and mostly unbelievable. If you like mysteries set in exotic locations in the past with more memorable characters, I would recommend Erica Ruth Neubauer's Jane Wunderley series, which are really good! (I'm on the third one now.)

[stewedsquash]

@blackwing Yes! Now I remember that I started The Golden Spoon and stopped because it was just too on the nose for the British Baking Show (I can't ever remember the exact title for it). I got maybe two chapters in and it was like they were watching an episode and transcribing it, with descriptions. And if I recall correctly, isn't this a Reese Bookclub book? I think I didn't know that until I downloaded it. I despise her recommendations and should not have been surprised that it was terrible. Every book I have tried from her club has been dreck and I have given up on her. 

[Haleth]

I finally got my hands on Lessons in Chemistry.  It was cute, a nice summertime read, but oh my, Elizabeth was annoyingly naive and Mad was overly precocious.  I do look forward to the series though.

[sugarbaker design]

16 hours ago, blackwing said:

I read Murder in Old Bombay, the first in a series by Nev March.

 

14 hours ago, isalicat said:

I read "Murder in Old Bombay" and really agree with your review - the mystery aspect is really thin and mostly unbelievable.

I'm familiar with this series but I took a pass because I'm reading the Perveen Mistry series by Sujata Massey.  (The fourth one is coming out soon, if it hasn't already) When it comes to historical mysteries set in India I can only do one at a time.

[blackwing]

14 hours ago, isalicat said:

I read "Murder in Old Bombay" and really agree with your review - the mystery aspect is really thin and mostly unbelievable. If you like mysteries set in exotic locations in the past with more memorable characters, I would recommend Erica Ruth Neubauer's Jane Wunderley series, which are really good! (I'm on the third one now.)

I've read all four Jane Wunderleys, and I agree, they are excellent.  The characters are richly drawn and the author uses the exotic locales very well.

12 hours ago, stewedsquash said:

@blackwing Yes! Now I remember that I started The Golden Spoon and stopped because it was just too on the nose for the British Baking Show (I can't ever remember the exact title for it). I got maybe two chapters in and it was like they were watching an episode and transcribing it, with descriptions. And if I recall correctly, isn't this a Reese Bookclub book? I think I didn't know that until I downloaded it. I despise her recommendations and should not have been surprised that it was terrible. Every book I have tried from her club has been dreck and I have given up on her. 

That was the most annoying part.  I love TGBBS, but this woman was writing a play by play script about the descriptions of the baking.  It's supposed to be a mystery, I was expecting contestants to be killed off one by one, but nothing really happens until well into about 75% of the book.

I heard that this book is being adapted into a miniseries.  It seems like they are billing it as a comedic mystery, sort of like Only Murders in the Building.  Maybe it will work better onscreen than it did on paper.

[stewedsquash]

1 hour ago, blackwing said:

I've read all four Jane Wunderleys, and I agree, they are excellent.  The characters are richly drawn and the author uses the exotic locales very well.

That was the most annoying part.  I love TGBBS, but this woman was writing a play by play script about the descriptions of the baking.  It's supposed to be a mystery, I was expecting contestants to be killed off one by one, but nothing really happens until well into about 75% of the book.

I heard that this book is being adapted into a miniseries.  It seems like they are billing it as a comedic mystery, sort of like Only Murders in the Building.  Maybe it will work better onscreen than it did on paper.

Miniseries makes sense. Not in a sense of me watching it but that is the purpose of Reese’s books. She is a producer, right? Between her and Amazon, along with fanfic and self publishing with no editors involved, books really just suck now. 
I find myself trying to not venture beyond 2010 releases. Mostly when I go beyond I am disappointed

eta case in point, I am about to give up on Beach Read.

Edited August 30, 2023 by stewedsquash

[MerBearHou]

On 8/29/2023 at 2:41 PM, EtheltoTillie said:

I don’t think I posted about Ann Patchett’s new book yet. Tom Lake. I loved it. So many interesting literary references but also a good story!

Oh good!  I just started Tom Lake.  

[Bookish Jen]

Finished "Typecast," and I really loved it. I'm now working on the book review.

And I just picked up two books from the library. One is "What's Eating Us: Women, Food, and the Epidemic of Body Anxiety" by Cole Kazdin. I just started reading it. I like it so far. It's not written in a dry, academic style. And the other is really snarky.

The other book I picked up is called "Celebrity Nation: How America Evolved Into a Culture of Fans and Followers" by Landon Y. Jones. Mr. Jones was an editor at People magazine, so I'm sure he knows his stuff.