What Are We Currently Reading?

[Mindthinkr]

I just finished The Resurrection Walk by Michael Connelly. It brought together two of his characters (Bosch and the Lincoln Lawyer) into the same plot. A few parts of the beginning surprised me. Between the ending (It was a good story) and what was written in the afterward I’m a bit scared this may be his last (or darn near it) book. 

[sugarbaker design]

7 hours ago, Mindthinkr said:

I just finished The Resurrection Walk by Michael Connelly. It brought together two of his characters (Bosch and the Lincoln Lawyer) into the same plot. A few parts of the beginning surprised me. Between the ending (It was a good story) and what was written in the afterward I’m a bit scared this may be his last (or darn near it) book. 

All good things must come to an end, alas.

All three of my favorite crime fiction writers from the 90s are gone (PD James, Ruth Rendell, Reginald Hill).  They have moved on to greener pastures so I do empathize.

I came to Connelly's work late, I've read them in order, including the novels featuring Haller, Jack McEvoy and Terry McCaleb.  Harry's my favorite by far, a decent, noble hero for the 20th and 21st centuries.  FWIW, I feel Connelly's the single most consistently fine American crime fiction writer there is.  Next one on my TBR is The Late Show featuring Renee Ballard.  I realize there's only 8 more after that. but what a body of work to leave behind!

Edited November 15, 2023 by sugarbaker design

[EtheltoTillie]

19 hours ago, Mindthinkr said:

I just finished The Resurrection Walk by Michael Connelly. It brought together two of his characters (Bosch and the Lincoln Lawyer) into the same plot. A few parts of the beginning surprised me. Between the ending (It was a good story) and what was written in the afterward I’m a bit scared this may be his last (or darn near it) book. 

Uh oh. Hope that isn’t so. But we’ve been wondering. I haven’t started it yet. We will be listening to the audiobook in the car. We thought in the last book he was getting ready to have Bosch hand over to Ballard. Not that he’d stop writing. @sugarbaker design, you’re lucky you still have a bunch left. We didn’t like the last McEvoy book, unfortunately. So we stopped listening shortly into it. 

We enjoy the Bosch TV version on Prime. And Lincoln Lawyer on Netflix. We just finished the latest season of Bosch. He works off the existing books, but he changes them enough to make them into completely different stories. 

Edited November 16, 2023 by EtheltoTillie

[Mindthinkr]

I reached out to Michael Connelly on Twitter (X).  He has plans for another book to come out around this time next year. Whew 

[sugarbaker design]

5 hours ago, EtheltoTillie said:

And Lincoln Lawyer on Netflix.

While I do read them, I am not a huge fan of the Mickey Haller novels.  I mainly read them for the odd sighting of Harry.

5 hours ago, EtheltoTillie said:

We just finished the latest season of Bosch. He works off the existing books, but he changes them enough to make them into completely different stories. 

I have a huge problem with TV adaptations changing their source material.  I've been burned by Sarah Phelps and her 'versions' of Christie classics.

Spoiler

The biggest trespasser was Richard Price adapting Stephen King's The Outsider.  In SK's original novel, Holly Gibney was the character who vanquished the monster.  Not in Price's version, he switched it to one of the dudes.  Just bros sticking with bros.

 

1 hour ago, Mindthinkr said:

I reached out to Michael Connelly on Twitter (X).  He has plans for another book to come out around this time next year. Whew 

Thank goodness for MC's work ethic!

[EtheltoTillie]

56 minutes ago, sugarbaker design said:

I have a huge problem with TV adaptations changing their source material.  I've been burned by Sarah Phelps and her 'versions' of Christie classics.

  Reveal spoiler

The biggest trespasser was Richard Price adapting Stephen King's The Outsider.  In SK's original novel, Holly Gibney was the character who vanquished the monster.  Not in Price's version, he switched it to one of the dudes.  Just bros sticking with bros.

!

I don’t mind this, in fact I like it. First of all it’s Connelly’s own product. And then it’s getting a whole new set of stories.  So more fun. 

[sugarbaker design]

On 10/12/2023 at 1:11 PM, BlackberryJam said:

Finished Scorched Grace by Margot Douaihy. I recommend. It’s a Sister Holiday mystery, so looks like the start of a series. A tattoo-ed, smoking, gay nun in New Orleans.

No one in the book is particularly likable, but I still enjoyed it. 

You weren't joking, this author doesn't seem to like likable characters.

I'm a huge fan of crime fiction, but I generally stay away first person narratives of twenty-somethings, the Catholic Church and cats, but somehow, someway Douaihy makes it work.

I think the novel would've been better written told from the third person. The interior life of Holliday was served with a ladle, not a teaspoon. The mystery was easy to figure out, but I will read the next one just the same.  Holiday does have a unique voice.

[BlackberryJam]

5 minutes ago, sugarbaker design said:

You weren't joking, this author doesn't seem to like likable characters.

I'm a huge fan of crime fiction, but I generally stay away first person narratives of twenty-somethings, the Catholic Church and cats, but somehow, someway Douaihy makes it work.

I think the novel would've been better written told from the third person. The interior life of Holliday was served with a ladle, not a teaspoon. The mystery was easy to figure out, but I will read the next one just the same.  Holiday does have a unique voice.

 I agree about third person POV. Despite the likability issues and easy mystery, I was still drawn in. I hope that the author settles in a bit and plots stronger mysteries now that she’s established the character, setting and backstory.

[laughs]

Just finished The Mezzanine by Nicholson Baker. A thoroughly enjoyable novel. Quite popular given that it eschews common ideas about "plot." The "action" in this novel is not grand. It is a meditative novel, a slim one, and a quick read. Yet, it stays with the reader, asks us to see old things anew. Rewards re-reading. In many ways, it is a critique of capitalist modes of production, and capitalist cultural products. Hence, the "lack of action" in this novel is to be seen in this context, but should not be reduced to it. It sort of critiques the enterprise that valorizes capital and the market with such terms as "market revolution." The novel is a good counterpoint to calls for instant gratification and instant access. Yet, very enjoyable despite its political stance.

[EtheltoTillie]

16 hours ago, laughs said:

Just finished The Mezzanine by Nicholson Baker. A thoroughly enjoyable novel. Quite popular given that it eschews common ideas about "plot." The "action" in this novel is not grand. It is a meditative novel, a slim one, and a quick read. Yet, it stays with the reader, asks us to see old things anew. Rewards re-reading. In many ways, it is a critique of capitalist modes of production, and capitalist cultural products. Hence, the "lack of action" in this novel is to be seen in this context, but should not be reduced to it. It sort of critiques the enterprise that valorizes capital and the market with such terms as "market revolution." The novel is a good counterpoint to calls for instant gratification and instant access. Yet, very enjoyable despite its political stance.

I just loved that book. Read it when it came out a million years ago. 

[laughs]

On 11/25/2023 at 11:38 AM, EtheltoTillie said:

I just loved that book. Read it when it came out a million years ago. 

Have you read Baker's The Anthologist as well? I also recently got his Baseless (his work on what he calls the ruins of the freedom of information act); yet to begin the latter, but looking forward; got other books to finish first.

[proserpina65]

Currently reading Roger Zelazny's Chronicles of Amber.  (And by currently, I mean I'd used up all the online renewals of a ten book compilation and am waiting for my best friend to get it back out of the library for me.)  They came highly recommended, and as someone who used to read fantasy novels a lot, I'm kinda surprised I'd never read them before.  I really wish I had, because I was missing out on some fantastic novels.  Zelazny was an extremely talented writer who created complex characters and the many worlds they inhabit without having to write thousand page tomes which waste pages of description on what everyone's wearing and eating.  (Listen up, GRRM - that's probably why he was able to finish 10 books in only slightly more pages than you used for one damned book.)

I'd heartily recommend the series to anyone who's even a casual reader of fantasy novels.

[Anduin]

1 hour ago, proserpina65 said:

Currently reading Roger Zelazny's Chronicles of Amber.  (And by currently, I mean I'd used up all the online renewals of a ten book compilation and am waiting for my best friend to get it back out of the library for me.)  They came highly recommended, and as someone who used to read fantasy novels a lot, I'm kinda surprised I'd never read them before.  I really wish I had, because I was missing out on some fantastic novels.  Zelazny was an extremely talented writer who created complex characters and the many worlds they inhabit without having to write thousand page tomes which waste pages of description on what everyone's wearing and eating.  (Listen up, GRRM - that's probably why he was able to finish 10 books in only slightly more pages than you used for one damned book.)

I'd heartily recommend the series to anyone who's even a casual reader of fantasy novels.

I read it last year. At the start it really snapped along. By the end, though, it somewhat dragged. I only finished it because I felt I should. Still, if you enjoy the whole thing, that's good!

[proserpina65]

19 hours ago, Anduin said:

I read it last year. At the start it really snapped along. By the end, though, it somewhat dragged. I only finished it because I felt I should. Still, if you enjoy the whole thing, that's good!

I really enjoyed the first 5 books but did find the 6th book a bit draggy in sections.  I think the switch in protagonists between Corwin and his son pulled it down somewhat.  The change resulted in less interaction with the other family members and that, to me, was one of the best elements of the other books.  And, to be honest, I actually liked some of the other siblings better.  But I'm still looking forward to the last 4 books.

Thanks for the head's up, though, because it will help me keep my expectations more reasonable. 🙂

Edited November 29, 2023 by proserpina65

[Anduin]

4 hours ago, proserpina65 said:

I really enjoyed the first 5 books but did find the 6th book a bit draggy in sections.  I think the switch in protagonists between Corwin and his son pulled it down somewhat.  The change resulted in less interaction with the other family members and that, to me, was one of the best elements of the other books.  And, to be honest, I actually liked some of the other siblings better.  But I'm still looking forward to the last 4 books.

Thanks for the head's up, though, because it will help me keep my expectations more reasonable. 🙂

By the end, I'd long lost track of the actual plot. Who knew what, who was allied with whom, all that. Just sort of plodding away and not taking much in. I hope you enjoy it more than I did.

[proserpina65]

18 hours ago, Anduin said:

By the end, I'd long lost track of the actual plot. Who knew what, who was allied with whom, all that. Just sort of plodding away and not taking much in. I hope you enjoy it more than I did.

I can see that happening.

[LindaHarris]

On 10/4/2023 at 11:24 PM, blackwing said:

I finished Act of Oblivion by Robert Harris.  Robert Harris writes historical fiction and he is a hit or miss with me.  This book is a fictional version of the hunt for two of the signers of the death warrant for King Charles I in the 1600s.  The two are real people, one is the cousin of Oliver Cromwell and the other is his son-in-law.  They had fled to New England and one (fictional) man is determined to capture them.

I thought this book was incredibly boring.  There's very little action.  I thought it was going to be an exciting cat and mouse game, but when it takes months to travel across the ocean, there's not a whole lot of suspense involved.  Instead, it's about them trudging from one hiding place to another, catching food, and generally doing nothing.  It was incredibly depressing to think that these two men couldn't even be seen in public and their lives were essentially over, unable to ever see their family.

The book was also told from the perspectives of both the hunter and the hunted.  This conceit seems to be used effectively sometimes, but for this book, I found it a poor choice because I never really could figure out who I was supposed to root for.

This book reminded me of another book of Harris' that I found endlessly boring, An Officer and a Spy.  I truly don't understand how either of these books got so many glowing reviews.                                                                Now I also read Why Smart People Hurt: A Guide for the Bright, the Sensitive, and the Creative by Eric Maisel. It's a psychological book, which is not my favorite genre, but I need it for my uni course. And I still haven't decide which will be the main topic of my paper, but I've already found some useful information online. I also found this page https://papersowl.com/blog/psychology-research-paper-topics which provided me some additional info on writing, and there are also different psychology topics for undergraduate which I find interesting and I think will be able to connect to my main topic.

I finished Act of Oblivion by Robert Harris and can't say I liked it. It has a pretty good rating, and some of my friends also recommended that book, but honestly, I finished it just because I can't leave the book without finishing it. I also have Fatherland but I've not started it yet. Maybe, someone has read it already?
Now I read Devil in a Blue Dress by Walter Mosley and after reading half of it I can say that the book is great. The plot is interesting, and there is intrigue, which I love.

[blackwing]

I finished Ken Follett's The Armor of Light, the latest entry in the Kingsbridge series that began with "The Pillars of the Earth".  This book takes place in the late 18th and early 19th centuries.  It's a typical Follett cast of characters, done in his usual style.  The bad guys are cunning and crafty and vicious.  The good guys are trying to survive and promote order and justice.

As is typical, the amount of attention to historical detail is fantastic.  My only complaint is that I have kind of lost track of the characters from the previous books and who are the ancestors of the characters in this book.  We get a passing reference to "red hair" and another to "striking green eyes", but that's the only clues we get as to who is descended from whom.  Some of the characters might even have no relation to prior characters.

At close to 800 pages, this book is a tome, but it is a fairly fast read, I took it with me on an overseas trip and finished it in a week.

I read Blood Lines by Nelson DeMille and Alex DeMille.  This is the second book co-authored by this father/son team and features the two lead characters from their first book together, "The Deserter".  Scott Brodie and Maggie Taylor are Army Criminal Investigation Department agents who are assigned to investigate the murder of a colleague in Berlin.  I thought this book was a bit boring.  At close to 500 pages it's too long.  The mystery was simple, predicatable, and uninteresting to me.  I felt relieved when I finished.

It seems common these days for children to continue their father's legacy.  Felix Francis taking over for Dick Francis has worked well.  Dirk Cussler is a pale imitation of Clive Cussler, who I never thought was that great of a writer to begin with.

Now we have Alex DeMille, who seems poised to take over for his father, although Nelson had a solo book just last year ("The Maze", the latest John Corey book).  It seems to me that this book was almost entirely written by Alex.  I didn't see much of the Nelson DeMille plotting.  There were a few zingers in there that I knew were contributed by Nelson.  However, the acknowledgements at the end of the book seem to suggest that Alex wrote it... he thanks his in-laws for letting him stay in their fancy retreat house where he could write the book.

[Anela]

I’m reading “The Guest”. I don’t know if I’ll finish it, because it’s making me uncomfortable, and I need something cheerier.  I’m in a grinch mood. 

I had set myself a goal to read the Discworld series, this year, after a lot of depressing things happened, but my library seems to have cleared out most books by Terry Pratchett, and I can’t afford to buy them all. My local-ish books-a-million has a shelf dedicated to his books. 

I was going to ask if anyone here does the reading challenges from book riot, and pop sugar, but I don’t know if I’ll try again.  I never get very far. I do like to get ideas for things to read, from their lists though.  

Edited December 2, 2023 by Anela

[Haleth]

12 hours ago, Anela said:

I was going to ask if anyone here does the reading challenges from book riot, and pop sugar, 

Too much pressure.  😄

[EtheltoTillie]

14 hours ago, Anela said:

I’m reading “The Guest”. I don’t know if I’ll finish it, because it’s making me uncomfortable, and I need something cheerier.  I’m in a grinch mood. 

I had set myself a goal to read the Discworld series, this year, after a lot of depressing things happened, but my library seems to have cleared out most books by Terry Pratchett, and I can’t afford to buy them all. My local-ish books-a-million has a shelf dedicated to his books. 

I was going to ask if anyone here does the reading challenges from book riot, and pop sugar, but I don’t know if I’ll try again.  I never get very far. I do like to get ideas for things to read, from their lists though.  

I read The Guest last summer.  It is disturbing but worth reading. 

[sugarbaker design]

On 12/1/2023 at 4:34 AM, LindaHarris said:

Now I read Devil in a Blue Dress by Walter Mosley and after reading half of it I can say that the book is great. The plot is interesting, and there is intrigue, which I love.

The Easy Rawlins novels make an excellent series.  I particularly like the first four.

[BlackberryJam]

Is anyone reading or has anyone read Strange Sally Diamond by Liz Nugent?

I'm partway through and having some feelings. 

[grommit2]

Challenging:
I read the book on the 1619 Project, developed by Hannah-Jones and the NY Times, followed by two books that challenge much of 1619:  Peter Wood's 1620 and Mary Grabar's Debunking the 1619 Project. In short, this is the argument over whether America is a historically racist society, warranting reparations.
It would really be of value to have real historians debate the issues, before the revised history is installed in America's classrooms.

[isalicat]

On 12/4/2023 at 3:46 PM, grommit2 said:

Challenging:
I read the book on the 1619 Project, developed by Hannah-Jones and the NY Times, followed by two books that challenge much of 1619:  Peter Wood's 1620 and Mary Grabar's Debunking the 1619 Project. In short, this is the argument over whether America is a historically racist society, warranting reparations.
It would really be of value to have real historians debate the issues, before the revised history is installed in America's classrooms.

As a "real historian", I can tell you that all history is political, so I'm not sure you are going to get any consensus. All historians have their own biases, its unavoidable or you would not have these three books at all. As to what America's classrooms get....that changes with the political winds as well, from state to state, so it is really up to parents (at first), and eventually students themselves, to seek out as much original source material as they can and also alternative points of view, on every major historical issue if they really want to consider themselves educated historically speaking.

[blackwing]

I finished the audiobook version of Everyone In My Family Has Killed Someone by Benjamin Stevenson.  The Cunningham family is having a family reunion at a ski resort in Australia.  A body is found.  As we learn more and more about the family, it is slowly revealed that everyone in the family has, in fact, killed someone.

This book was billed as "Knives Out" meets "Clue" and perfect for fans of the "Thursday Murder Club" series.  It's told from the point of view of a first person narrator who often breaks the fourth wall and talks directly to the reader.  The narrator is one of the sons in the family and he is a writer of some sort.  The book you are reading/listening to is supposed to be the book he wrote detailing the events of the family reunion.  At the start of the book, he lays out 10 rules for Golden Age mysteries and occasionally throughout the book goes back and refers to those rules (example, the killer cannot be someone who is introduced in the last half of the book).

This book was a lot of fun.  As it progresses, more and more layers of the onion are peeled back and revealed.  The new pieces of information will relate to something that happened earlier in the book, and the narrator sometimes will remind you of that fact.

I listened to the audiobook version and I highly recommend it.  Whoever was doing the audio narration does a great job, he is very engaging.  I did go and check out the hardcover version from the library so I could flip back and forth between the pages to connect some of the clues that were revealed.  I liked that the audiobook also made some slight changes tailored to the audio version.  He says things like "I know you're listening to this on audiobook".  Where the print version refers to "reading" or "reader", it changes to "listening" or "listener".  Where the print versions said something like "it's enough to make you want to throw this book across the room", the audio version said something like "it's enough to make you want to rip out your earbuds and stop listening".

I highly recommend this book.  It's definitely an unusual mystery, one that probably requires a re-read to pick up on things missed the first time.

[akiss]

Yes, I've read this one recently and it got better as the story progressed and more clues were revealed. Not the best mystery, but a different kind of narrative and quite funny.  Recommend.

[blackwing]

6 hours ago, akiss said:

Yes, I've read this one recently and it got better as the story progressed and more clues were revealed. Not the best mystery, but a different kind of narrative and quite funny.  Recommend.

Yep.  I loved the "breaking the fourth wall" bits.  He lists out all the pages (chapters for the audiobook) where a death occurs or a death that happened in the past is referenced.  I found myself flipping back and forth after I was done with the book to see that he, in fact, was right.

When he meets the owner of the resort, he says something like "the next time you see her, she will be kissing me.  And I'll be naked."  Then some chapters later, a chapter begins with "When I woke up, I was naked" and then he says something like "remember?  I told you back in Chapter __ that I would be naked and she would be kissing me!"  Too funny.

There is a second book coming out in January called "Everyone On This Train is a Suspect".  The plot summary says that the narrator is on a train along with a number of other mystery writers and then a murder happens.  I'm looking forward to it!

Edited December 7, 2023 by blackwing

[akiss]

5 hours ago, blackwing said:

Yep.  I loved the "breaking the fourth wall" bits.  He lists out all the pages (chapters for the audiobook) where a death occurs or a death that happened in the past is referenced.  I found myself flipping back and forth after I was done with the book to see that he, in fact, was right.

When he meets the owner of the resort, he says something like "the next time you see her, she will be kissing me.  And I'll be naked."  Then some chapters later, a chapter begins with "When I woke up, I was naked" and then he says something like "remember?  I told you back in Chapter __ that I would be naked and she would be kissing me!"  Too funny.

There is a second book coming out in January called "Everyone On This Train is a Suspect".  The plot summary says that the narrator is on a train along with a number of other mystery writers and then a murder happens.  I'm looking forward to it!

My favorite bit was when he started a chapter about 

Spoiler

his wife

and the whole chapter was "I don't want to talk about it."

[bmasters9]

Right now, reading the second of Jon Land's solo efforts w/Jessica Fletcher, Murder in Red (I say "solo efforts" because on A Date With Murder, which I haven't read yet, Jon was credited alongside Donald Bain and Fletcher; he then started to be co-author with Fletcher w/Manuscript for Murder). What is making this one enjoyable is because I am imagining the great actor Robert Fuller (who was Dr. Kelly Brackett on Emergency!) to be Dr. Charles Clifton, main doctor of Clifton Care Partners, the fictional clinic depicted herein; if this was an episode of Murder, She Wrote, I think Fuller would have been the perfect Dr. Charles Clifton.

[turbogirlnyc]

Finished Armor of Light by Ken Follett a few weeks ago. Big meh. Loved the whole original Kingsbridge Series. Then came the prequels. The Morning and the Evening was not bad. Armor of Light was a slog to get through. The beginning chapters were the best part.

[Spartan Girl]

Read Maybe Next Time by Cesca Major, where a woman is stuck in a time loop where her husband keeps dying. I know it sounds cliche but I couldn’t put it down. And the ending is quite unique 

Spoiler

It’s left ambiguous whether she manages to break the time loop, but it pretty much implies that the husband was always meant to die, she was just given the chance to make her last day count.

 

[Haleth]

I stayed up late to finish William Kent Krueger's latest, The River We Remember.  Once again he turned out a beautifully written ode to a small town in a simpler time.  It does get gritty and it does get suspenseful, but when he's just writing about the town and it's inhabitants it's like being wrapped in a warm blanket... that is, until the secrets start revealing themselves.  Really good book.

[Zella]

1 hour ago, Haleth said:

I stayed up late to finish William Kent Krueger's latest, The River We Remember.  Once again he turned out a beautifully written ode to a small town in a simpler time.  It does get gritty and it does get suspenseful, but when he's just writing about the town and it's inhabitants it's like being wrapped in a warm blanket... that is, until the secrets start revealing themselves.  Really good book.

Oh that's been on my to-read list! Glad to hear it's really good.

[Spartan Girl]

Just read Tandem by Andy Molina and it’s a good thing I read it on Hoopla instead of getting it at the library because I really think I would have thrown it out the window:

Spoiler

The guy kills his neighbor’s daughter in a drunk hit and run, covers it up, and then begins a relationship with the victim’s mother, effectively breaking up her marriage…and it ends with the two of them getting married without the mother ever figuring out he was the one that killed her daughter?! WHAT THE FUCK?! 

 

Edited December 17, 2023 by Spartan Girl

[EtheltoTillie]

Tracey Lange is a new-ish author specializing in Irish families with troubled pasts.  I just finished her most recent volume, The Connellys of County Down (actually Westchester, New York).  Short read and satisfying.

[LindaHarris]

14 hours ago, EtheltoTillie said:

Tracey Lange is a new-ish author specializing in Irish families with troubled pasts.  I just finished her most recent volume, The Connellys of County Down (actually Westchester, New York).  Short read and satisfying.

I read The Connellys of County Down and I really liked it

[GHScorpiosRule]

I’m weird. Just watched The Godfather and Godfather II (the third is an abomination I refuse to ever watch again), and while the site was down, found all sorts of interviews, so now I am rereading Puzo’s book the movie was based on.

UGH. He made EVERY.SINGLE.CHARACTER so FUGLY. I’m just replacing the actors who played everyone in my head as I’m reading.

[Spartan Girl]

28 minutes ago, GHScorpiosRule said:

I’m weird. Just watched The Godfather and Godfather II (the third is an abomination I refuse to ever watch again), and while the site was down, found all sorts of interviews, so now I am rereading Puzo’s book the movie was based on.

UGH. He made EVERY.SINGLE.CHARACTER so FUGLY. I’m just replacing the actors who played everyone in my head as I’m reading.

I did NOT need the details about Sonny’s…body. TMI, Puzo!

[EtheltoTillie]

27 minutes ago, Spartan Girl said:

I did NOT need the details about Sonny’s…body. TMI, Puzo!

Yup.  That was the signature feature of the book, which I read once only, when it came out.  He had to find other girls to fit his, er, body.  Such a  nonsensical detail but typical of best sellers to have that kind of hyperbole. The movies really elevated the original material. 

Edited December 24, 2023 by EtheltoTillie

[Zella]

52 minutes ago, EtheltoTillie said:

The movies really elevated the original material. 

Agreed. The first 2 movies are some of my all-time favorite films. That book is one of the most singularly ridiculous (and not in a fun way) novels I've ever read. 

[GHScorpiosRule]

50 minutes ago, EtheltoTillie said:

The movies really elevated the original material. 

It really did.

1 minute ago, Zella said:

Agreed. The first 2 movies are some of my all-time favorite films. That book is one of the most singularly ridiculous (and not in a fun way) novels I've ever read. 

Ironically, Puzo also worked on the screenplay with Coppola.

[Zella]

8 hours ago, GHScorpiosRule said:

Ironically, Puzo also worked on the screenplay with Coppola.

Coppola must have really reined him in!

[rickjonnes]

On 12/6/2023 at 10:11 PM, blackwing said:

I finished the audiobook version of Everyone In My Family Has Killed Someone by Benjamin Stevenson.  The Cunningham family is having a family reunion at a ski resort in Australia.  A body is found.  As we learn more and more about the family, it is slowly revealed that everyone in the family has, in fact, killed someone.

This book was billed as "Knives Out" meets "Clue" and perfect for fans of the "Thursday Murder Club" series.  It's told from the point of view of a first person narrator who often breaks the fourth wall and talks directly to the reader.  The narrator is one of the sons in the family and he is a writer of some sort.  The book you are reading/listening to is supposed to be the book he wrote detailing the events of the family reunion.  At the start of the book, he lays out 10 rules for Golden Age mysteries and occasionally throughout the book goes back and refers to those rules (example, the killer cannot be someone who is introduced in the last half of the book).

This book was a lot of fun.  As it progresses, more and more layers of the onion are peeled back and revealed.  The new pieces of information will relate to something that happened earlier in the book, and the narrator sometimes will remind you of that fact.

I listened to the audiobook version and I highly recommend it.  Whoever was doing the audio narration does a great job, he is very engaging.  I did go and check out the hardcover version from the library so I could flip back and forth between the pages to connect some of the clues that were revealed.  I liked that the audiobook also made some slight changes tailored to the audio version.  He says things like "I know you're listening to this on audiobook".  Where the print version refers to "reading" or "reader", it changes to "listening" or "listener".  Where the print versions said something like "it's enough to make you want to throw this book across the room", the audio version said something like "it's enough to make you want to rip out your earbuds and stop listening".

I highly recommend this book.  It's definitely an unusual mystery, one that probably requires a re-read to pick up on things missed the first time. And I was happy when I needed to read this book again for my literature course because I managed to notice some details for the first time. And after it, I also had to write a paper on that book, and that was a little bit harder than I expected. But thanks to the paper writing service EduBirdie I managed to finish it before the deadline. I use such service from time to time when I need some writing help, and it's the best option for me. But the book is for sure worth reading.

I read the book and I really liked it. And I've tried listening to audiobooks a few times, but for now, it's not for me.

I can't be fully focused on a plot, and I am just distracted too often.

And now I read A Killer's Mind by Mike Omer - a very interesting detective book.

Edited December 29, 2023 by rickjonnes

[kathyk2]

On 7/31/2023 at 1:55 PM, blackwing said:

David Baldacci has a new book out that is possibly going to be an ongoing series called Simply Lies.  The protagonist is an ex-cop single mom who works as an investigator for a PI firm.  She works from home and is tasked with uncovering financial assets, mostly through the means of her computer.  One day she gets a call from someone from another office in the firm who asks her to go to some mansion owned by a guy that they are investigating and see the assets in person.  She goes because she is local.  There she discovers a dead body and finds herself as a possible suspect.  Soon, a woman contacts her and asks her to investigate the murder.  Turns out, this woman is the one who sent her to the house in the first place.  For some reason, the PI starts working with her.

This is a mess of a book.  The biggest issue is that the story is told from two points of view... that of the ex-cop single mom protagonist as well as the con woman antagonist.  Or at least ostensibly the antagonist.  This was a strange device, and while I can see situations in which it might work, it didn't work for me here.

I think we are supposed to see both women's thoughts and motivations and wind up viewing both of them as the protagonists and like both.  But it didn't work that way for me.  I ended up disliking both characters.  The PI because it's never fully explained why she agrees to work with this con woman who clearly tried to frame her for murder, and the con woman because she's just not sympathetic.

The plot itself... too many unanswered questions and the book just took way too long getting to any explanations.  Which seems ludicrous considering we are privy to the con woman's thoughts.

I used to really like Baldacci, but of his current series, the only one I really like is the new 6:20 Man one.  I'm lukewarm on Amos Decker and Aloysius Archer, dislike Atlee Pine, and now won't read this new Mickey Gibson one anymore if it becomes a series.

 

On a more enjoyable note, I finished the fifth Matthew Shardlake book, Heartstone.  Like all of the other entries in this series, it was excellent.  Well plotted and very satisfying.  I'm sad that I only have two books left in the series until Sansom writes another.

I liked the 620 man and another stand alone book called True Blue. True Blue is the story of a former cop trying to clear her name. 

[EtheltoTillie]

On 12/25/2023 at 3:50 PM, rickjonnes said:

I read the book and I really liked it. And I've tried listening to audiobooks a few times, but for now, it's not for me.

I can't be fully focused on a plot, and I am just distracted too often.

And now I read A Killer's Mind by Mike Omer - a very interesting detective book.

I know what you mean, but I listen to audiobooks in the car and I love it.   I have for decades!  Yet I don't do it elsewhere.  I mostly save the books I'm in the middle of for car listening. 

Driving takes focus but it's just the right amount of focus that is needed to concentrate on the book.  I save this for mysteries/crime novels.  If I get into a difficult bit of traffic or have to follow directions in a  new place, I turn off the book. 

Edited December 27, 2023 by EtheltoTillie

[blackwing]

On 10/13/2023 at 9:27 AM, Mindthinkr said:

I just finished Murder in the Family 

I wasn’t a fan a first about the writing style (done as interviewing people as they tried to solve the case), but once I got used to it it flew by. Lots of twists and turns. 

On 10/13/2023 at 11:11 AM, Irlandesa said:

I have this book from the library.   I almost returned it when other books I want to read came in because of the style but I'll keep trying. 

I just finished this book, Murder in the Family by Cara Hunter.  This is the first book of hers I read, apparently she has some bestselling books in the UK market.

A noted filmmaker who produces true crime documentaries decides to take on his family's 20 year old unsolved murder.  When he was 10, his 26 year old stepfather was murdered.  The crime was never solved.  He gathers 6 experts and films a documentary style series which explores them trying to solve the crime.

The format was interesting.  At first I thought it was a very lazy way to write a book, it was mostly just dialogue and a transcript of interviews.  But in the end, I decided it was a creative approach to telling the story.

I enjoyed the various twists.

Question about the ending (warning, major spoiler): 

Spoiler

After it is revealed that Guy himself was in fact the killer, we get told that he is found dead.  The article seems to suggest that he killed himself out of guilt.  But another article states that a woman with red hair and glasses was seen leaving his house, implying that she caused his death by overdose.  So are we to assume that this mystery woman is the long lost missing sister of "Luke" from Canada?  She kills Guy out of revenge?  Even though she thought her brother had died long ago and didn't know that he had changed his identity multiple times?

 

[blackwing]

I also finished The Corsican Shadow by Dirk Cussler.  Dirk has taken over the Dirk Pitt series after his father Clive died.  Although he has improved since his initial efforts, it's quite evident to me that he's a fairly bad writer with none of the creative imagination and genius that his father had.

A Dirk Pitt novel used to be full of adventure and fantastic plots.  With Dirk, the plots have become rather pedestrian and predictable.  So disappointing.  There's no magic in any of books anymore.

I also finished The Edge by David Baldacci.  This is the second book in the 6:20 Man series.  Travis Devine is now working for the U.S. government and is sent to investigate the murder of a CIA agent in Maine.

There is almost no continuity from the first book apart from Travis and his handler boss, but I enjoyed this book a lot.  The mystery was well crafted and Devine is an enjoyable character.

On 12/27/2023 at 5:58 AM, EtheltoTillie said:

I know what you mean, but I listen to audiobooks in the car and I love it.   I have for decades!  Yet I don't do it elsewhere.  I mostly save the books I'm in the middle of for car listening. 

Driving takes focus but it's just the right amount of focus that is needed to concentrate on the book.  I save this for mysteries/crime novels.  If I get into a difficult bit of traffic or have to follow directions in a  new place, I turn off the book. 

I too listen to audiobooks in the car.  I have a 40 minute commute each way to work, and if I didn't have audiobooks, I'd just be constantly changing the station on the radio.  Occasionally I will space out and have to rewind the book when I get to a stoplight or stop sign.  

I used to get CDs from the library, but ever since discovering that audiobooks from Libby or Hoopla can be downloaded onto my phone, I've taken to listening to them at the store and sometimes even the gym.  Great way to pass the time, especially when stuck in a long return line at a store!

Edited December 28, 2023 by blackwing

[EtheltoTillie]

27 minutes ago, blackwing said:

I used to get CDs from the library, but ever since discovering that audiobooks from Libby or Hoopla can be downloaded onto my phone, I've taken to listening to them at the store and sometimes even the gym.  Great way to pass the time, especially when stuck in a long return line at a store!

Yes we used to get CDs as well, but now we get the Libby downloads or Audible from Amazon.  Sometimes I do listen while walking the dog or going to the gym or doing a jigsaw puzzle.  But usually only in the car. 

[kathyk2]

My favorite book that I read this year was Confessions of a Prairie Bitch by Allison Arngrim. I loved the behind the scenes gossip about Little House on the Prairie. I felt bad for Melissa Gilbert her mother seemed abusive and she was too young to film love scenes.