What are you reading?

And the Flavia book is put to rest, another solid entry into the series, and one that I'd not read before. This one sees Flavia return from her exile to Canada, now the owner of the ancestral home that she, her two sisters, a cousin and her father share, plus Dogger, of course. Now that Flavia actually owns the home, things are a bit different, though since they're English, of course they don't actually discuss such things! By the time this book is done there's another case for our detective to work on, and a heart-breaking conclusion to the novel at the end.

Next up for me is a re-read of No Country for Old Men, one of those few instances where the film version is nearly as good as the novel.
 
Joined
Oct 18, 2011
Messages
18,795
Location
Holly Hill, FL.
No Country for Old Men was a smooth read, lost hours in time with this fine book. Want to know how Anton wound up in police custody at the beginning of the film? That answer is within these pages. This novel is a masterpiece, I rank it up there with the very best, and I need to read more of this author's works. That's solidly on my to-do list.


Next up for me is a visit back to the Wild Card world, with Dealer's Choice. I believe this is the finale of the Triad story, I'm about thirty pages in, Billy Ray (Carnifex) is featured in this book so you know it`s one I am digging!
 
Joined
Oct 18, 2011
Messages
18,795
Location
Holly Hill, FL.
Dealer's Choice is done, and that puts to bed the Triad trilogy, and the finale of the Rox/Joker sanctuary forever. This is a return to the mosaic style novel, after the brief detour last book with just a single author. I'll miss Bloat and all his hopes for his people and their collective futures, in the end he was simply too good for the world.

Next up is a return to the Longmire series, with Hell is Empty. I'm about twenty percent in so far, we've a jail-break, lots of dead/injured police, and Walt by himself in pursuit!
 
Joined
Oct 18, 2011
Messages
18,795
Location
Holly Hill, FL.
The Expanse: Leviathan Wakes

Having finished watching "The Expanse" on Prime I thought I would try the books or at least the first one. It is really about two different points of view which are both trying to solve the same problem. Holden is the idealist while Miller is the pragmatist. The book shows how they move towards each other and the repercussions that happen. (I suppose it is not luck that Miller is old and world weary while Holden is still young (-ish) ).

There is interaction with the Roci crew members and Fred but they play a supporting role. Each chapter is from a single viewpoint, either Miller's or Holden's.

You certainly get into their heads and you can understand why they do what they do. The book seems to cover Season1 and a chunk of season 2.

I would recommend the book and I will read again some time in the next few years.
 
Joined
Dec 2, 2006
Messages
241
Location
UK
Oh hells yes, the Expanse books are far superior to the show. You're in for a real treat!

I finished Hell is Empty this afternoon, this novel finds Walt pitted against an apex predator, someone that killed four peace officers to get free and took another two hostage. Alone on a mountain, with backup on the way, a meeting will take place, a current model .223 vs. a hundred years plus .45-70. Who will be the victor? Or maybe it will come down to wits and spears!

Next up for me, since I got a taste for this author earlier in the week is a re-reading of the Road.
 
Joined
Oct 18, 2011
Messages
18,795
Location
Holly Hill, FL.
I finished Heretics of Dune. I don't know why I don't remember the book. I did read it in the previous century and it is actually a very well written book. Maybe I just appreciate it more now I am older.
The book is written in the same style as the previous books. The first 25% is about introducing the characters and setting up the story. The middle 50% about deepening the story and the last 25% the action happens. Although Dune does it slightly different. He has a way of writing that might not excite everyone anymore these days. His style is very slow and a lot of it takes place in the heads of people, where they think about what happened recently, how that connects to something in their past and what it means for what they should do now. Even if they are talking to someone else they regularly wander off in their minds for a page or two.
It might not be for everyone, but I like it.
 
Joined
Aug 30, 2006
Messages
11,223
I finished Heretics of Dune.
The original Dune was my favourite book for years. I've read the sequels and prequels but it was all 20 years ago, now, so I don't remember them very well. But my vague recolections would be 1 was awesome, 2 and 3 readable and anything beyond that kinda completely forgetable. :)
 
Joined
Jul 10, 2007
Messages
2,974
Location
Australia
That's fine, but I disagree with that assessment :)
 
Joined
Aug 30, 2006
Messages
11,223
I find myself agreeing , in part, with SirJames. I bought the original series way back when they were first published and I recalled that I thought each book was very readable but each release was not as good as the previous book. [ In fact I still have the first three novels - seemed to have lost "Heretics of Dune"]. I have a vague recollection of trying one of the later books and giving up.

I think that the best ideas are usually found in the first couple of novels. After that the suspension of disbelief requires a Master Novelist. Not too many of those around.
 
Joined
Dec 2, 2006
Messages
241
Location
UK
To me Dune is a very different book from the rest of the books. It is an adventure, where the hero grows and overcomes despite setbacks. In that sense a typical hero story as there were so many and many people also like. However Herbert writes this hero story and gives it a different twist, mixing it with a mish-mash of religions, zen and percipience, resulting in a very good book.
In Messiah, he then shows that heroes reaching a god-like status can only fall and that the people following them do horrible things in their name. As a result that book takes a very different direction. I get the impression that after Messiah, Herbert changes the story, with The Golden Way of Leto II. There was no indication of it in the prior novels, but in Children of Dune, Paul admits to Leto II that he was afraid to choose that path, which makes it strange that there was no indication of it in Messiah. Anyway, that enables Herbert to write the other books and paint the picture of the 5000 years after the events in Children of Dune, which he does in the next three books.
I very much like what he is doing in those books and what he is trying to accomplish. They are however very different from Dune.
 
Joined
Aug 30, 2006
Messages
11,223
I'm reading The Storyteller by Dave Grohl.
Bit of a coincidence, half way through and hearing that Taylor Hawkins just died at the age of 50, and I got the book a few weeks ago for my 50th birthday. Too young.
 
Joined
Oct 18, 2006
Messages
2,245
Location
New Zealand
I finished the Road earlier today, just as good now as it was years ago. So many layers, with such an intrinsic narrator, at times it's difficult to understand where his thoughts really are.

Die Trying is my next conquest, I'm twenty percent in and digging it so far. Might have to go all the way with these Reacher books.
 
Joined
Oct 18, 2011
Messages
18,795
Location
Holly Hill, FL.
I completed Die Trying yesterday afternoon, a good read and quite different from the first novel. In this book, Reacher spends most of the first half as a captive, and you get introduced to a lot of new villains, and a couple of new police as well. This has much to do with militia in the United States, and what some of their respective agendas might have looked like twenty years ago. This was another re-read for me, yet I never went any further in this series before, maybe at the time only two books existed. In any case I'm going further this time.

Up next for me is Turn of the Cards, book twelve in the Wild Card series. This is the second actual solo novel, this time written by Victor Milan. I'm almost halfway through and likely will finish later today.
 
Joined
Oct 18, 2011
Messages
18,795
Location
Holly Hill, FL.
Last night I finished Turn of the Cards in the Wild Card novels. A great read that sees Meadows after he returns to Earth from Takis, minus one of his personas yet richer for all he learned while off-planet. He has to deal with law enforcement still wanting to pick his brain about things, and also to find a way to bring his young daughter back into his life. And that's the final book I own, the next three are out of print, not available through the library so I'll watch ebay and some other sites to see if I can ever acquire the next books for a reasonable price.

Now I'm on to All the Pretty Horses, another book by Cormac McCarthy. I've always wanted to read this trilogy so now I'm giving it a whirl.
 
Joined
Oct 18, 2011
Messages
18,795
Location
Holly Hill, FL.
Now I'm on to All the Pretty Horses, another book by Cormac McCarthy. I've always wanted to read this trilogy so now I'm giving it a whirl.
The only McCarthy I've read is The Road (which I liked a lot), but I have Blood Meridian and No Country For Old Men on the to-read pile. I've heard of All the Pretty Horses, but had no idea it was part of a trilogy.
 
Joined
Oct 18, 2006
Messages
2,245
Location
New Zealand
Yeah I'm about seventy percent through the book now, it's shown me a side of Texas and Mexico shortly after the second world war that I've not been exposed to very much before. Different from his other works yet a great story so far with compelling characters.

I've not read Blood Meridian, though it's on my list. You're in for a real treat with No Country For Old Men, the only thing better than the film version is the outstanding novel!!
 
Joined
Oct 18, 2011
Messages
18,795
Location
Holly Hill, FL.
This morning I finished All the Pretty Horses and man, what a ride! McCarthy has an impressive economy with exposition, and then when he describes settings it literally feels like you are right there. I really enjoyed this book and I'll be checking out the next in the series for sure.

Up next for me is Turn Coat, book eleven in the Dresden Chronicles. Morgan has shown up seriously injured, we get a visit with the Mighty Butters, so this book is off with a snap crackle and pop!
 
Joined
Oct 18, 2011
Messages
18,795
Location
Holly Hill, FL.
I just wrapped up Turn Coat, my latest read in the Dresden series and what a slobberknocker this one is. It starts off with a visit from a wounded Morgan, and ends up with the wizard council ferreting out a spy that's functioned from within for quite some time. Once it's all over things are going to be rather different. A recent interest with a lady rises and falls within this volume for Harry, Karrin is around and up to her usual chipper self, Molly is working on her apprenticeship and making serious strides.

Now I'm onto the third Reacher book, Tripwire.
 
Joined
Oct 18, 2011
Messages
18,795
Location
Holly Hill, FL.
This morning I completed Tripwire, my more recent foray into the Reacher series. It starts out with someone looking for Jack, he denies his identity which leads to this investigator getting killed, and hi-jinks ensue! You actually get to see Reacher interact with even more folks from his past, including a new love interest, and having to deal with a former CO passing as well. This was an excellent read, I could barely put it down at times!

Now I'm back with Longmire, the current books I'm reading has a small novella at the beginning called the Divorce Horse (which was read in under thirty minutes) and then a full-size novel entitled As the Crow Flies.
 
Joined
Oct 18, 2011
Messages
18,795
Location
Holly Hill, FL.
Divorce Horse was an excellent short story. Not much really took place, yet it set up the next entry rather nicely, As the Crow Flies.

Standing Bear, Dog and Walt are scouting a location when a woman plummets from a cliff nearby. The men rush to render aid, and while she does survive the initial fall, death takes her mere moments later. And nearby, Dog discovers a baby, tightly wrapped and protected, which survived the fall with only bumps and scratches.

I won't spoil the rest, yet boy howdy, this book has it all! And there's even a wedding!
 
Joined
Oct 18, 2011
Messages
18,795
Location
Holly Hill, FL.
Back
Top Bottom