I’m so excited about the book I’m reading that I just started blurting it out before welcoming all of
you to Thursday’s post. Sorry about that! I hope you all stopped by to share your current book or books you’ve been reading this past week. Despite my excitement, I really do want to know what you’re reading.
I’m halfway through a book of essays. The late Bryan Doyle is the author of Reading in Bed: Brief headlong essays about books & writers & reading & readers. I’m loving the essays. It’s like a one-way conversation with all of you as Doyle talks about reading items on refrigerators, reading other people’s bookshelves, and so much more. I’m just enchanted by this book. The cover is fun as well.
What are you reading this week? We’d like to know, please.
This week I read SOMETHING READ SOMETHING Dead by Eva Gates. I like the Bodie Island Lighthouse Mysteries and this one was no exception.
Now I am reading THE LIBRARY OF LOST AND FOUND by Phaedra Patrick. How can you not love a book when asked about her job the main character says: "I'm a guardian of books."
Happy Reading!
READING IN BED sounds good to me. (Not that I actually read in bed – I don't.)
I read ALL THE BIRDS IN THE SKY, a sort of fantasy (one of the two protagonists is a witch who can converse with birds and cats) by Charlie Jane Anders, which won the Hugo and Locus Awards. I liked it quite a bit. I read it after reading her very good short story collection.
Currently halfway through the last (first after a dozen years) Frank Elder book by John Harvey, BODY & SOUL. Harvey's Charlie Resnick series was one of my favorite British police series. Elder is a former cop now living in Cornwall who is trying to help his troubled daughter Katharine after an artist she was posing for is murdered. It's a pretty fast read. I miss Charlie Resnick.
Just got in Dave Barry's new book, LESSONS FROM LUCY: The Simple Joys of an Old, Happy Dog, which I will undoubtedly be reading at the same time as the other. (Also reading O. Henry stories daily.)
PS – Thanks again for the book, Lesa!
Sharon, I agree with you on both points! I have a copy of The Library of Lost and Found, but I don't know how soon I'll get to it.
I don't read in bed, either, Jeff. But, it is good! I need to read Harvey's Charlie Resnick series, but I think I can only handle a couple British police procedurals at a time, and I'm deep into Bill Slider with Peter Robinson's series in the wings.
I read two cozy mysteries that were set in New England.
DRAWN AND BUTTERED by Shari Randall features a giant lobster and FINAL EXAM by Carrol J. Perry which is set in Salem, MA.
I also read a novella about a man who stumbled into a repository for lost books – I MET A TRAVELLER IN AN ANTIQUE LAND by Connie Willis. It was a quick read but not my favorite of hers.
Right now I’m partway through NO GOOD TEA GOES UNPUNISHED by Bree Baker.
I was excited about the Connie Willis novella, Sandy, until you said it wasn't a favorite. Oh, well.
All the books everyone read this past week sound interesting.
Can’t beat a good book. One of life’s pleasures.
With warmer weather here it might cut into some people’s reading time. Another reason I like fall and winter. Stay in and be cozy with a book.
May the coming week be a enjoyable one.
Thank you, Charlotte. I'm so glad you stop in, read the posts, and share your love of books even when you don't have a book to discuss. Thank you! It's always good to see you your name come up in the post.
One thing: even more than most, the Resnick books NEED to be read in order. Stuff happens in some of the books that you do not want to know in advance.
Vicki Delany's A SCANDAL IN SCARLET is my favorite so far in her Sherlock Holmes Bookshop Mystery series. Lesa has already reviewed it, so I'll just say that shortly after Scarlet House, the West London (MA) museum, is set on fire, its new director is found murdered at the auction and tea that was to raise funds for rebuilding. Another murder follows, and bookshop owner Gemma finds a plethora of suspects.
In THE LAST ACT, a far-fetched but entertaining standalone by Brad Parks, Tommy Jump's acting career seems to be stalling, so he agrees to assume the real-life 6-month role of a prison inmate to help a childhood friend/FBI agent with a drug cartel case and the promise of a big payoff. In the meantime, his pregnant fiancee and his mother wait for him at home. A quick read with a nail-biter of an ending.
Even better than 400 Things Cops Know, San Francisco PD Sergeant Adam Plantinga gets into more detail about what it's really like to be a cop. Some of my favorite chapters are about Special Operations (SWAT, police dogs, explosives) and interrogation, but on the top of my list is the heartbreakingly poignant–even poetic–chapter about life on city corners. Plantinga sprinkles his wry humor throughout, thank goodness, and he writes with an assurance that can only come from experience, sensitivity, and a deep intelligence (degrees in English and criminology, magna cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa). He is an excellent speaker as well and will be reading from the book at the Sisters in Crime NorCal's author showcase on Saturday. Even if this is not your normal read, give it a try. I found it wildly entertaining.
I forgot to mention that Adam Plantinga's book is titled POLICE CRAFT: WHAT COPS KNOW ABOUT CRIME, COMMUNITY AND VIOLENCE.
Margie, That sounds like such a valuable book for anyone writing crime fiction. I wish I could hear him speak.
Yesterday, I finished up A DREAM IF DEATH by Connie Berry, which I really enjoyed.
After discovering an issue with the ARC I intended to start next, I’m moving on to DYEING SEASON by Karen MacInerney, an Easter set mystery.
Just finished Wolf Pack by C J Box, too much violence. Had not read one of his in a good while for that reason and may not read one again for a while. Am about halfway thru the newest Bree Baker book No Good Tea Goes Unpunished. A delightful cozy.
The book Margie Bunting referenced by Adam Plantinga sounds very interesting, will check it out. Thank you.
Me, too, Mark. I'm reviewing A Dream of Death here next week, and I have an interview with the author scheduled for Tuesday.
I get it, Netteannae. Good reason to move on to something a little lighter.
I read:
I read Kathy Martin: Sierra Adventure by Josephine James; There's a lot of talk about nurse fiction on the blogosphere, so when I got this in a bag of trades, I gave it a shot. You can see why nurse fiction used to be so popular, but also why it didn't survive the post-1968 world. Still, much more human than most current fiction.
Poppy done for Death by Charlaine Harris; An okay cozy. Maybe it's because I'm a west coast guy, but the Southern Lady Martyr routine gets old with me real fast.
A Tale of Meegles and Teegles by Papa Fish; Eye rolling children's book.
The US Camel Corps; a history of the experiment using camels as cavalry. I've been interested in this since I saw a movie about it.
Celtic Empire by Clive Cussler; It's the usual stuff, but doesn't seem like it should be an entry in the the Dirk Pitt series, more like a Kurt Austin, or even a Fargo story.
A Thief of Time by Tony HIllerman; Leaphorn is about to retire, and Chee is on his way up, investigating a missing archaeologist. Leaphorn is tired, and so is the book.
I admire your eclectic taste, Glen – everything from a children's book to nonfiction about camels in the cavalry. It's always interesting to see your latest list.
This week I read:
The Book Artist by Mark Pryor, it was my first Hugo Marston novel. I look forward to more of them.
A Different Kind of Evil by Andrew Wilson, this was the second in the series where Agatha Christie is the amateur sleuth.
Departures by A. G. Riddle a fun sci-fi novel with a plane crash and time travel.
Murder at Langley Woods by Betty Rowlands, this is number 8 of a British cosy series set in the Cotswolds.
Currently I'm reading The Stranger Diaries by Elly Griffiths.
Oh, Ruth! It sounds as if you had a good reading week. Mark Pryor's series is another one I have to get to.
I love the cover of the book and the title. I like to read in bed-short & funny stuff-never a mystery!
Reading two books now:
How High the Moon by Karyn Parson in a relaxing text size! I love it. The writing is good that I imagine it as a movie. It is a book to treasure!!
Also in very tiny print-have to use a magnifying glass on an off and cannot read many pages at a time but I have learned so much! The Woman's Hour by Elaine Weiss. It covers the fight for women's suffrage from when Carrie Chapman Catt took the leadership from Susan B. Anthony, the opposition up to the day that women could first vote.