What are you reading the week of November 6, 2021?

My Kindle says that I'm 80% of the way through Connie Willis' Doomsday Book. Willis has an incredible gift for writing children. Agnes and Rosemund in this book and Alf and Binnie in Blackout and All Clear are the most compelling characters in the books. I stopped reading last night about 1am because I knew that I would be up all night if I didn't.

Enjoying this OverDrive audio ~

Daughters of Sparta: A Novel
by Claire Heywood

Just finished listening to the fantastic novel, The Lincoln Highway.

Next up for listening is Burden of Truth by Robin James.

I finished the book The Almost Legendary Morris Sisters. It's the story of the investigation into the lives of 4 strong willed sisters during which numerous family legends were debunked and although some of the truth was found, most remained unearthed.

Couldn't stop myself,after reading Killing Moon I went right out and got the sequel The Shadowed Sunand stayed up way to late reading it. Just about done, I have a long list of fav fantasy writers.I thik Jemisin is on top at this point.She has a way of building worlds containint human beings to make the story work. Takes place in Canyon de Chella in the navajo country a place I knot well, and uses that location well. Her characters are well fleshed out,dialgoue sharp, plot moves along. Only caveat to this last one: there are scenes of sexual assault, child abuse and incest. Nothing graphic which doesn't stop these scenes from being horrific. But its her exploration of how the characters can ultimately bring compassion, justice and heali g to one another

Finishing up Revolt: The worldwide Uprising Against Globalization and will be setting aside some other books to work on Shutdown: How COVID Shook the World's Economy; I know I'm not going to get a renewal. Will probably start Hawk after that.

I'm reading Strange Fascination: An Essex Witch Museum Mystery by Syd Moore. I love this series and shouldn't wait so long between books next time!

Very much enjoying The Reading List by Sara Nisha Adams. Ah, the power of books.

>1 fredbacon: Doomsday Book is one of my favourites. Glad to see that you're enjoying as well.

I've just finished Frying Plantain by Zalika Reid-Benta. It was a series of linked stories about Kara, a young Jamaican-Canadian growing up in a strict family in Toronto. The book was okay - I wasn't thrilled with it, although I did like mentally touring Toronto, a city that I love and where I lived for several years in the 1990s.

I'm going to read the Booker Prize winner The Promise by Damon Galgut next. I try to read all of the Booker winners but am failing miserably - this gives me the chance to redeem myself in my own eyes.

Still reading Fan Fiction, Touch, and Gideon the Ninth.

Well into Run by Ann Patchett

Miss Benson’s Beetle – Rachel Joyce
Digital audiobook performed by Juliet Stevenson.
4****

Two women no one would ever consider as compatible form an unlikely team as they travel to the other side of the world in search of an elusive beetle. What they find is a strong vocation, and an ever-lasting bond of friendship and love.

Margery Benson is a staid, drab, domestic science teacher whose life is stuck on “pause.” And then one day a student’s cruel cartoon caricature awakens something in Miss Benson. She sets about organizing an expedition to New Caledonia. In desperation she takes as her assistant Enid Pretty, a young, flashy, feisty, firecracker of a woman who doesn’t have a clue. But she has optimism, courage and grit. Together they are a formidable team.

I absolutely loved these characters! There were times when I had to laugh at their foibles. There were times when I feared for their safety. And quite a few tears were shed as well. Ultimately, they teach us a lesson about courage and perseverance, about not being afraid to fail … or to succeed. And they show us the beauty of a friendship based on respect and loyalty, on disagreement and compromise, on understanding and compassion.

Juliet Stevenson does a fabulous job of performing the audiobook. The voices she uses for Margery and Enid really differentiates them and perfectly portrays their characters. I cannot recommend her narration enough. 5***** for her performance.

The Extraordinary Life of Sam Hell
Robert Dugoni
5/5 stars
Sam Hill was born with red eyes which shocked his parents and caused no end of grief for him in school and life. But with his parents, best friend Ernie Cantwell who was also shunned as an African American at their school and his girl friend Micki, they helped him get through school and the bullying he received. This was one of my best reads this year.

Just finished Hello, Summer, by Mary Kay Andrews, which was an okay novel about families and small-town newspapers and how old secrets have a way of popping up at inconvenient times. (I still like her funny stuff better -- Hissy Fit remains one of the funniest things I've ever read.)

Am just starting Heiroglyphics, by Jill McCorkle for my F2F group that meets on Tuesday.

Finished Fan Fiction by Brent Spiner. Meh. Added Thin Air by Richard K. Morgan to my rotation.

Rereading Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follett. Read this several years ago but never finished the series. He wrote a 4th book that was a prequel to the first three. So, I just finished The Evening and the Morning (the prequel) and will work my way through all of them. At almost 1000 pages each, it should keep me busy until time to start a few Christmas books that I have.

The Cobra Event – Richard Preston
4****

It begins when a New York City teenager has a seizure in class and dies shortly after. CDC scientist Alice Austen is dispatched to observe the autopsy and try to determine if this is an infectious agent. She quickly determines that this is not an accident but an act of terrorism. A deranged, disgraced biotechnician is intent on releasing the deadly Cobra virus in New York, to kill as many “useless humans” as possible.

This is a great thriller, that kept me enthralled and turning pages as quickly as I could. I’d read Preston’s nonfiction bestsellers: The Hot Zone and The Demon In the Freezer, so I knew he had the research background to make this a very plausible scenario. Reading it in the era of COVID19 just makes it that much more frightening, and interesting. I loved the details on how the teams of scientists, public health officials and FBI agents worked to decipher the clues.

If you’re at all squeamish you might want to skip some of the autopsy scenes.

Enjoying this OverDrive audio ~

The Guide
by Peter Heller

The Vanishing Act of Esme Lennox – Maggie O’Farrell
Digital audiobook performed by Anne Flosnik
2.5**

From the book jacket: In the middle of tending to the everyday business at her vintage-clothing shop and sidestepping her married boyfriend’s attempts at commitment, Iris Lockhart receives a stunning phone call: Her great-aunt Esme, whom she never knew existed, is being released from Cauldstone Hospital – where she has been locked away for more than sixty-one years. Iris’s grandmother Kitty had always claimed to be an only child. But Esme’s papers prove she is Kitty’s sister, and Iris can see the shadow of her dead father in Esme’s face.

My reactions
There’s so much going on here I hardly know where to start. There’s the mystery of Esme’s commitment to the mental hospital and Kitty’s having kept her sister’s existence a secret all these years. There’s Iris’s mess of a love life (which really is superfluous to the main story). There’s the additional intrigue of Iris’s “brother, who is really no blood relation” Alex.

I thought it was rather melodramatic as well as being disjointed, but that ending – that wonderfully ambiguous and ethereal ending! Well, she got an extra half-star (and I’ll round up to 3) for that final scene.

Annie Flosnik does a reasonably good job of narrating the audio. Her diction is clear, and she sets a good pace. But the style of the book really does not lend itself to an audio performance. O’Farrell writes this in snippets and vignettes, moving back and forth between present-day and the past. In the text, different fonts are used, which might help the reader recognize the jumps in time / narrator. But on audio no such clues are present, which makes it doubly confusing.

Just finished Heiroglyphics, by Jill McCorkle, about an hour before the discussion with my F2F group. It was character-driven rather than plot-driven, and difficult to follow at times, though McCorkle does a good job with the notion of leaving messages for future generations to find (or going back to find messages left in the past). This is another one of those books with multiple POV narrators -- a technique which used to be extremely rare and now seems to be utilized in every other book I pick up. Fashions come and go, I suppose.

>3 hemlokgang: I'm looking forward to reading The Lincoln Highway.

I'm currently very much wrapped up in Maggie Shipstead's Great Circle.

Finished from the library: Kristin Lavransdattar by Sigrid Undset, translated by Tiina Nunnally
I read the Penguin Classics Deluxe Edition--it's the complete trilogy in one volume. Ms. Nunnally won an award for her translation of this Norwegian masterpiece.

Now: Seasons at Highclere by Lady Carnarvon
I brought the autographed copy of the book from PBS Shop thanks to a sales promo! A fascinating in depth look about Highclere Castle during the year.

Ava Gardner: The Secret Conversations
Peter Evans
4/5 stars
Peter Evans interviews Ava Gardener about her life before Hollywood, her movie career and the famous men she loved including Frank Sinatra, Mickey Rooney, Artie Shaw and Howard Hughes. Ava wasn't sure she wanted the book published and stopped the interviews but it was eventually published after her death.

The Whole Cat and Caboodle – Sofie Ryan
3***

Book # 1 in the Second Chance Cat Mystery series, featuring Sarah Grayson, proprietor of Second Chance, a consignment shop in North Harbor, Maine, and her rescue cat, Elvis. When Sarah’s elderly friend, Maddie, is accused of murdering her special friend (who was NOT a nice man), Sarah and her “crew” of elderly detectives are convinced they can solve the crime and exonerate their friend!

This is a cute cozy mystery with a decent premise and a wonderful cast of colorful supporting characters. I love that the crew of senior sleuths is christened “Charlie’s Angels” … with a nod to the movie, NOT the original TV series! There are plenty of suspects, a sprinkling of red herrings, and some creative scenes of sleuthing. The final reveal is satisfying and somewhat surprising. I’ll keep reading this series.

Finished listening to the enjoyable legal thriller, Burden of Truth.

Next up for listening is a debut novel, Things We Lost To Water by Eric Nguyen.

>22 princessgarnet: Kristin Lavrandatter is one of my favorite books. One of very few that I've read twice.

Enjoying this OverDrive audio legal thriller ~

The Judge's List: A Novel
by John Grisham

Greetings! I haven’t posted to this thread lately. A few of you may know that my wife and I recently completed a cross-country drive and are now visiting the New York/New Jersey area for a month. We are having a very fun and interesting time of it. At any rate, I don’t have that much to catch up on, reading-wise, but here goes:

I had to set aside the excellent biography Ella Baker and the Black Freedom Movement: A Radical Democratic Vision by Barbara Ransby about 50 pages from its finish, only because it is a large volume and I didn’t want to haul it along on our trip. I will finish it up upon our return to California, though I will go ahead and post a review on my thread as soon as I get a chance.

I thought I needed some light vacation material, so of course, what came off the shelf and into my hand was . . . Swann’s Way. Since we left home, which is now 2 1/2 weeks ago, I have made it just a bit past halfway. My pace has to do with the nature of Proust’s writing (in Moncrieff’s translation, as I’m reading a beautiful, old Modern Library edition from 1948) and my so far limited reading time, other than relatively late in the evenings when the prose and small print have to battle the sleepies. I am enjoying the reading experience all in all, and I’m not worried about rushing through it. It’s kind of like walking through a field of chest-high grass and summertime meadow flowers. It’s a great way to spend the day, but you’re not likely to get anywhere anytime soon.

Stopped reading Gideon the Ninth by Tamsyn Muir. Bored me silly. Started At First Light by Barbara Nickless.

The new thread is up over here.