MR Round

Finished Murakami's After Dark, absolutely loved it. Then I moved onto Mrs Frisby And The Rats Of Nimh still a fun book and enjoy it like i used too.
then I read Blood Meridian by Mccarthy and, that was a challenge. I probably should have picked a different book of his as my first foray into his work. I loved the story but the wording and way its written was vexing at times. I'll check out other work of his eventually.

now onto Clive Barkers Hellbound Heart

Kurt D

Nicely wide-ranging! The McCarthy is on my To Be Read shelf, and my kid read a Murakami recently so that's been on my mind too.

Nick Danger

Death Masks by Jim Butcher: Dresden Files #5. Review sites said that this is an excellent book, and it was. Butcher is able to write non-stop action without it ever becoming boring, which is a rare skill. Hard-boiled detective / wizard Harry Dresden is hired to recover the Shroud of Turin, which is also being sought by major demons. The story works because it's filled with entertaining characters. One is a Knight of the Cross who says he's an atheist. This man had personally been given a glowing holy sword by an archangel. The cognitive dissonance makes Harry laugh despite his trying to be polite. That idea delighted me.

PileOfFudge

This has been on my TBR pile for years and I finally got around to it last week. It was well worth the wait and I can already tell I'm going to feel sad when it's over.

MR Round

Finished The Hellbound Heart, it was good but over too fast
moved onto Perfume The Story Of A Murder, I liked the expanded story to what was in the film, but I believe I liked the film more
Now Im Reading Wicked the Life and Times Of The Wicked Witch, my wifes been telling me to read this for ages so i figured now was a good time.

Bronkster

I've arrived at "Volume II" of War and Peace. After a slightly slow start I've settled into it nicely enough. Still stumbling over names when they're introduced (and a few of the recurring characters, too), but finding it to be a more pleasant read than I had anticipated - although I'm not really sure what I expected other than its daunting length.

I am glad of the translation I arbitrarily picked up. I think if I had to struggle with endless footnotes of French translations as Kurt D, I might've given up.

Kurt D

You're cruising! I'm about 40 pages away from Book II - in other words at page 265 right now.

I have gotten into the flow (though the translated footnotes do still appear, but I understand why they exist) and wish I could devote an hour or two a day to just sit at my desk and read.

The names are very difficult as characters are so frequently referred to by multiple permutations of first and last names, pet names, titles etc.

it's funny you posted this because I was going to update today as well.

Nick Danger

Playmates by Robert Parker. Spenser takes on a case of a college basketball star who's suspected of shaving points. He's a brilliant ball player and will probably be a star in the NBA. He's a college senior. Spenser figures out that he can't read. In his whole life, nobody ever cared enough about him as a person to help him. I read the book thirty years ago, and it's always stuck with me. I still like it.

When I read it this time, everyone spoke in the voice of Joe Mantegna, who read the Spenser audio books.

I read the book as a break from Dresden Files. Parker writes in a fast, simple style. I flew through the book in two days. Now I'm going back to the more ponderous writing of Jim Butcher.

Nick Danger

Blood Rites by Jim Butcher, Dresden Files #6. It didn't captivate me like the last book did. Dresden learns about his mother and gains some allies. He also fights vampires. The book seemed to be more about developing the cast of characters as it was about telling a story. Or maybe I need to take a break from Dresden.

brainee

I'm still working my way through a reread of Tad Williams' Memory, Sorrow, and Thorn trilogy. I'm 1000 (paperback) pages into To Green Angel Tower:


Still have 600 pages to go, so it'll be another couple weeks for me (I average 40-50 pages a day).

Even though I'm older and grew up with physical books, it's weird how used to e-books I've gotten. To the point when reading physical books (especially doorstopper paperbacks like these) feels awkward. Not helping things is that I've always been anal about how I handle books, taking care not to crease pages or spine.

GoldenJCJ

One of my goals this year is to read more classics. Your post inspired me to go ahead and read Grapes of Wrath. I just finished it. You’re right, it’s going to stay with me for a while. The book was written almost 100 years ago and it still resonates today.

I read Of Mice and Men in high school so this is the first time reading Grapes of Wrath. I’m glad I didn’t read it until I was older. I wouldn’t have appreciated it nearly as much if I had ready it at 12 or 13.

GoldenJCJ

I read this one a couple years ago. It’s not your typical SK book but I enjoyed the hell out of it. Such a great coming of age story.

IBJoel

My best friend got me The Dead Take the A-Train for Christmas, but I found it a slog with a fairly grating main character, so I cut it short.

I just finished the Bhagavad Gita (quite interesting in terms of some of the philosophy it brings up in regards to connecting with God) and The Analects (for every good point, there seems to be an instruction that's hilariously naive). Next up is The Only Good Indians.

Nick Danger

I bought the Bhagavad Gita when I was about twenty. I think I got about ten pages into it. If you finished it, you have my admiration.

The Case of the Horrified Heirs by Erle Stanley Gardner. I hadn't realized just how unethical the book version of Perry Mason could be. Dang! It was an entertaining book which ends with the sudden appearance of a bad guy who confesses the entire murder plot.

DVD Polizei

Currently reading Not In His Image by John Lamb Lash.

thematahara

Finished

Nick Danger

Pale Kings and Princes by Robert Parker. Spenser goes to a small town which is completely corrupted by a large illegal business: wholesale distribution of cocaine. The police department is dirty, and a social worker is the only person in town will talk to him. The story ends with the bad guys getting shot.

At the same time I watched the first season of Reacher on Amazon Prime. Reacher goes to a small town which is completely corrupted by a large illegal business: handling pallet-loads of counterfeit US currency. The police department is dirty, and the barber is the only person in town will talk to him. The story ends with the bad guys getting shot.

But the approach is completely different. Parker creates characters for even the minor players. The bartender at Spenser's restaurant seems real, while the waitress serving pie to Reacher could be replaced with a vending machine. When an innocent person gets killed, Spenser goes home to recuperate emotionally. He comes back with an unproductive attitude. When an innocent person gets killed around Reacher, he frowns a bit. The most frightening person facing Spenser never says a line, or does anything. We know he's bad because of how everyone in the story reacts to his menace. Reacher's enemies need to say or do something unpleasant so we know they're bad. Every aspect of the Spenser novel has more depth.

Geofferson

It's tough to top Parker/Spenser - love that series

Just started:

Kurt D

I've picked up some speed and have just finished Book II - page 645.

This certainly deserves its place among the greatest novels ever written.

Bronkster

Wow, you've radically outpaced me! I'm over 100 pages behind you now. At least I know I'll be sticking with it, regardless of how long it takes me. I'm enjoying this, unlike the struggle Moby Dick was for me.

Kurt D

Work has been kinda slow, and I have made it my mission. It's so good, though, and gets to parts where say 30 pages go by regarding just one incident or idea, so it's easier to digest.

Nick Danger

Ride a Pale Horse by Helen MacInnes. 1984. An espionage thriller. A KGB colonel tells a journalist that he wants to defect. Author MacInnes starts with her standby plot of a competent civilian getting enmeshed in spy activities, but about a third of the way through the book she gives it up and switches protagonists to a man from the CIA. There are terrorists, moles, and a high body count. I liked the book.

The online reviews on Good Reads are funny. People keep complaining that the book is dated because no one has a cell phone or uses the internet. It takes place in 1984, and there wasn't much of that around. I doubt that they have the same complaint about Victorian thrillers.

Kurt D

Goodreads has an abnormally large percentage of garbage reviews. My favorites boil down to "this book wasn't what I wanted it to be, so it's bad."

thematahara

Finished

brainee

I recently discovered a Reddit group called badreads that compiles (and mocks) some of the worst Goodreads reviews. Gems like trashing Orwell's 1984 because the story was a downer. Or trashing Maya Angelou's autobiography because the author made it all about themselves.

I like using Goodreads for keeping track of my reading, and letting me see what books a lot of other people are reading. But the reader reviews are pretty bad. Though it can be helpful if you find a review of a book you finished that you 100% agreed with ... and then look up other reviews by that user.