What Are You Reading the Week of 13 July 2013?

Joseph Hansen (19 July 1923 – 24 November 2004) was born in Aberdeen, South Dakota, and grew up in Minneapolis, Minnesota, and Altadena, California.

Although he published almost forty books in a wide variety of genres, Hansen is best remembered for his ground breaking series of crime novels starring his most iconic creation, Dave Brandstetter, an openly gay insurance investigator who still embodied the tough, no-nonsense personality of the classic hardboiled private investigator type of protagonist. His first adventure, Fadeout, was published in 1970, and over the next twenty-one years eleven more entries in the series were written: Death Claims (1973), Troublemaker (1975), The Man Everybody Was Afraid Of (1978), Skinflick (1979), Gravedigger (1982), Nightwork (1984), The Little Dog Laughed (1986), Early Graves (1987), Obedience (1988), The Boy Who Was Buried This Morning (1990), and A Country of Old Men (1991).

Hansen also created a second private investigator, Hack Bohannon, a former deputy sheriff who quits the force after fourteen years because of his disapproval of a whitewashed homicide inquiry and now runs a horse farm. He collected five novellas in his 1988 book Bohannon's Book. A sequel, also collecting five novellas, appeared in 1993 as Bohannon's Country.

Hansen published his first work, a poem, in The New Yorker, in 1952. He also published poetry in other magazines, briefly sang with a folk-music group on a California radio-station, and had several part-time jobs in bookstores and magazines.

At the beginning of his career as a novelist, Hansen wrote under the pseudonym James Colton or James Coulton, producing novels such as Strange Marriage and Known Homosexual. He also wrote two gothic novels under the pseudonym Rose Brock.

Hansen was also noted for teaching workshops, and hosting a 1960s radio-show called Homosexuality Today. In 1970, he helped to found the first Gay Pride Parade in Hollywood. Hansen disliked the term "gay" and always described himself as "homosexual."

Hansen won the 1992 Lifetime Achievement Award from the Private Eye Writers of America, as well as a Lambda Literary Award for Gay Men's Mystery from the Lambda Literary Foundation for A Country of Old Men: The Last Dave Brandstetter Mystery (1991).

Hansen was married to artist Jane Bancroft, a lesbian, from 1943 to her death in 1994. He said their relationship was that of "a gay man and a woman who happened to love each other." The couple had one daughter, who later had a sex-change operation. According to a friend quoted in an obituary, Hansen also had two long-term male lovers.

Hansen died from heart failure in 2004 at his home in Laguna Beach, California.

Interesting author. Thanks, Richard!

Happy to oblige! Try a Brandstetter novel...they are very good noir fiction.

I heartily concur, Richard -- I thoroughly enjoyed the Brandstetter series.

I'm reading Eight Girls Taking Pictures by Whitney Otto -- life keeps interrupting my reading but I hope to make some serious progress on this book over the weekend.

Getting ready to read Crescendo by Deborah Ledford and just finished The Rockin' Chair by Steven Manchester.

Thank you for the beatific kick-off to the reading week, Sir Richard ... interesting author!

I just finished the yawn producing and put up a micro review of This Close: Stories by Jessica Francis Kane. Maybe I just find stories about the upper middle class kind of meh or something. Not every person, or their lives, are short story worthy! Just because you can ... should you? This has got me thinking quite a bit about my own writing, and I want to work harder to ferret out interesting stories and humans.

So on to a selection off Mount TBR Carry Me Across the Water by Ethan Canin ... now there is a fellow who can write the heck out of a story. I don't even care what I'm reading about usually, his prose is so awesome.

>6 CarolynSchroeder: Glad you're pleased, Carolyn! I'm very not interested in This Close: Stories after that review. Too many things that sound great for me to waste time on stuff like that.

I finished the "delightful" recorded version of The Garden Intrigue by Lauren Willig. How does she keep producing these fun books. This is number 9 in the series and the author shows no signs of running out of steam with fun plots and very interesting characters. I won't bore you with the details but like her previous novels this one was a pleasure to read. I didn't change my world or make me think deeply, but it did make me smile. These are great books to listen to as the reader does a wonderful job that, in my opinion, enhances the story. This entire series has been a wonderful way to commute to work. Even though I like my car and find it comfortable, these books make the journey so much shorter.

The Brandstetter novels are hard to find, but I'll pick them up if I ever see one. Reading Two under the Indian sun by Jon and Rumer Godden.

I'm currently reading The Yonahlossee Riding Camp for Girls and I will likely start A Tree Grows in Brooklyn in a few days.

I haven't been on LT for a few weeks but looks like everyone has been busy with a good variety of reading. I haven't read much at all, struggling a bit with life at the moment, but an old friend surprised me with airfares to stay with her for a 3 day weekend recently. I really needed the break, and do feel revitalised. I took plenty of reading with me but we just talked too much!!!

I have started an E-Book, the name of which escapes me, but it is the diary of a slave girl, I brought home, and finished in a few days, The Treatment by Mo Hayder and am currently reading Sewing Circles of Herat

Thanks for another terrific start to the week, Richard! Never a dull week, thanks to you!

I'm still reading River of Smoke by Amitav Ghosh, and loving it, as I did Sea of Poppies.

I am reading Beat the Reaper: A Novel by Josh Bazell on a friend's recommendation. So far I like it.

I'm in the middle of Italian Ways by Tim Parks, a perceptive look at the Italian mindset through an analysis of the country's railroad system.

Richard, you must stop this. I don't need any more authors tantalizing me away from all the mundane things I have to get through in life. My library had Bohannon's country, so, because of you, I had to request it. Really, stop now.
I just finished and reviewed The Burgess Boys and am ready to nominate Elizabeth Strout for the Nobel Prize. Where are the papers for that? I also finished the delightful A Tree Grows in Brooklyn. I wonder if Jodi Picoult ever read either of these authors. She must not have, or her characters wouldn't be so one dimensional. Of course, recognizing a multi-dimensional character and being able to write one are two different things.
I'm still reading I Wasn't Strong Like This When I Started Out and it brings back all the exhilaration and joy I felt from nursing before the great burn out. Those were the days.
I'm just about to start Me Before You, will I need a large box of tissues?
ETA: I also just started Mudbound and have to say, Hillary Mantel certainly is not a formulaic writer. Wow, this is completely different from what I've expected of her - set in Mississippi not Britain and discussing race rather than royal transition.

Still reading Reaper's Gale but I have a feeling that tonight is going to be a late night, only 1.5 more chapters to go...

I finished Carry Me Across the Water by Ethan Canin and really enjoyed it. I am now reading The Song of Achilles with some friends and so far, it's a good time (kind of soap opera-y, but in good way).

I'm just now starting Baking Cakes in Kigali by Gaile Parkin. I'm still on the first page, so we'll see how it goes!

Correct touchstone for, 14, Italian Ways

Robert

#15---You have your authors mixed up. Hilary Mantel and Hilary Jordan. But Mudbound is still a good read.

>20 corgiiman: Oh for heaven's sake! I guess my brain went on vacation. No wonder I didn't see any similarities.

I'd say I'm sorry, but I'm not.

I've now started Baking Cakes in Kigali by Gaile Parkin, and am loving it! It is quite reminiscent of The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency by Alexander McCall Smith.

Too much, Richard!! Still giggling.......

Just finished Day After Night, an excellent read by Anita Diamant. It is the July selection for my RL book club.

Now back to finishing up Miss MacIntosh, My Darling, and listening to And The Mountains Echoed by Khaled Hosseini.

Finished Once Upon a Curse edited by Anna Kashina and about to start First Time Killer by Alan Orloff.

>19 Mr.Durick:: Thanks, Robert. Somehow, when I typed Italian Ways the touchstone came back with Madame Bovary! I can't imagine what the connection is between those two books, but I've corrected the entry now.

Finally finished The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest. What a let-down after the first two in the series.

Still working on TransAtlantic and Jana Bibi's Excellent Fortunes and Fall of Giants and have started Freuds Mistress by Karen Mack and Jennifer Kaufman

Great job on the Joseph Hansen profile, Richard. I'll have to return to the Brandsetter series, one of these days.
I finished an ARC of Snow Hunters and have been listening to Scarlet. I also dipped into A Fine Balance for the Group Read. If anyone else would like to read this modern classic, in a group setiing, here's the link:

http://www.librarything.com/topic/156267

Thanks for the kick-off, Richard: those mysteries sound interesting (*thunk* more books landing on the to-read pile). Finished Unbroken, and thought it was absolutely fabulous. Currently reading Swimming Home, and am well on my way to declaring it the dullest thing I've been subjected to this year. Would like to join in on the group read, but highly doubt that I'll be able to keep up, sigh.

Finished and loved Reaper's Gale and read Professor Munakata's British Museum Adventure which was lovely, especially since I was just at most of the locations in the book. Next up is Equal Rites (I'm reading all of Discworld in publication order).

Just finished Choke Point by Ridely Pearson.

Started reading Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet by Jamie Ford. I received his newest book as an ER win and decided to read his debut novel first. Good so far.

Just finished Gentian Hill and am still reading The Neverending Story. Both have been great distractions from RL.

I finished and REVIEWED Frans Bengtsson's wild adventure story The Long Ships. Absolutely wonderful!

Now I'm reading Julia Spencer-Fleming's One Was a Soldier.

First time posting and hopefully not the last... I am reading Flood by Andrew Vachss. The first book in his Burke series.

Welcome, Keishon!

>33 framboise: Ooh, he's got a new one out? (#shiny) Hope you're enjoying Bitter and Sweet.

Finished and loved the inside jokes in Equal Rites, and started in Autumn (yay zombies!)

Finally found a few spare minutes to disappear into the library ON MY OWN yipee.
Came out with 3 off my TBR list and 1 recommended by a friend, very proud of myself it's usually the other way around.
In the meantime I quickly read Still Summer by Jacquelyn Mitchard before having to return to another friend before her holiday.

Tonight I am going to start on Just What Kind of Mother Are You? by Paula Daly (the recommended book), apparently a "can't put down" book.

Reading Standing in another man's grave by Ian Rankin. It's good to have Rebus back.

brenzi ~ great review of The Long Ships! I too adored that book - just different, interesting and as you say, a wild ride!

I finished The Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller (a year behind in Orange UK-land) and while I really enjoyed it, I found it almost YA-ish in some ways and am not quite sure why it won the top honor of the Orange prize. But it was easy to read, soap opera-y Greek history fun and overall, an interesting take on the relationship between Achilles and Patroclus (although maybe a little bit too starry-eyed to be believable - but who knows).

Trying hard to whittle down Mount TBR from my shelves and then donate/give away/re-sell most of my books. So found The Dream of Water by Kyoko Mori in there ... and while I left most memoirs behind long ago (one too many, I think), I decided to not be so jaded and start this one. It is very good so far. She is a beautiful, honest, poetic writer - it is a bit like floating, or something. But so far, I like it!

#35 & 41
I am also reading The Long Ships and enjoying every minute of it. I love the style of writing. It has very little dialogue and yet you can picture the screaming yelling berserk feasts and other scenes. What a great adventure story. I am also surprised at the detail about the culture contained in this book. Great summer reading. This would be a good book to give as a gift. It makes me want to go out and buy Hawk Quest instead of waiting on the waiting list at the library.

>41 CarolynSchroeder: and 42 Thanks Carolyn. I found the writing to be absolutely engaging. I'm not sure if it was old fashioned but there was something that set it apart from the writing we find in modern novels. Must check out Hawk Quest which I've never heard of.

#43
Hawk Quest is one hot work of historical fiction right now. It has been the subject of several on-line booktalks of different sorts. I have it on my list of titles that would make good gifts for guys.

Finished First Time Killer by Alan Orloff and about to start Dead Before Morning by Geraldine Evans.

I've just started The End of Your Life Book Club by Will Schwalbe and am loving it, even though the subject may be difficult.

I feel a real connection with the author, and his mother, who passed away from pancreatic cancer, not to mention a gazillion more books are now coming to my attention. (O.k., I need a gazillion more books like I need a hole in the head, but who, among us here, doesn't have that same weakness?)

Finished This Is How You Lose Her which I enjoyed although perhaps not quite as much as previous books by him. I'm now engaged in reading an LTER biography Benjamin Britten. My experience with Britten's music is minimal so the many references to his music don't mean as much to me as they might to others. I'm enjoying the biography, nonetheless.

Hello there everyone! I hope everyone is having a wonderful week. I certainly am! :) So, after I set aside Call Home the Heart by Jessica Stirling on Friday, July 12th, I finished reading McNally's Puzzle by Lawrence Sanders on Saturday, July 13th. It took me two days to read and really was quite good, even though that was the first book from the Archy McNally series that I've actually read.

Up next, I started reading The Magdalena Curse by F. G. Cottam which was absolutely excellent, except that the ending was a slight let down for me. I just finished that last night - Tuesday, July 16th. I immediately started reading Best Friends Forever by Jennifer Weiner, who is a new author for me. I'm really enjoying this book so far. :)

I finished the last book in the Clare Fergusson/Russ Van Alstyne series One Was a Soldier by Julia Spencer-Fleming. Now I'll be waiting for the next one which is supposed to come out this fall.

Now I'm reading Anthony Powell's The Valley of Bones as I make my way through the 12 volume A Dance to the Music of Time.

Finished Swimming Home, and... say something nice... it was... short. (I recall people here recommending it - can anyone explain what they saw in it? 'Cause I missed it completely.)

In order to pick it up, I went to a branch library and, while I plan to continue being a Central snob (four floors of books, books, books!), this exile to the provinces may not be so bad. I couldn't resist picking up Last Night I Dreamed of Peace while I was there (and hopefully, it also goes quickly, as quite a few more holds have streamed in - yikes!). The Long Ships looks intriguing, too.

I finished the wonderfully horrific and chilling Autumn (yay, zombies!) and started The Mad Scientist's Daughter which I am already charmed by.

I finished and reviewed an audiobook of Michael Chabon's Gentlemen of the Road, and it was literally quite a snooze fest. I've loved his other books but this one didn't work for me -except as a relaxation aid. Then I immediately started 2 other audiobooks: outside The Bookseller of Kabul, wonderful and infuriating. Inside at last, after many years, a re read of The Mists of Avalon. I hope I love it as much this time around.

#52 Citizenjoyce

I have The Mists of Avalon on MTB, but got a bit scared off by the mixed reviews it got. I think I might just have to move it up anyway.

I agree that The Long Ships was "old-fashioned story-telling" at its best. I recently read Galore and it had some elements of that (from a far more recent writer), so if you folks have not checked it out, you might like it. There are more elements of folklore and such, but it was a multi-generational saga set in Newfoundland that I really loved. Michael Crummey is a modern author who writes a bit like from the turn of the century (i.e., 1800s to 1900s).

I am a bit more than half-way through The Dream of Water by Kyoko Mori and it is making me glad I lifted my self-imposed memoir ban. I do find it a little bit repetitive, but I think it is a very honest look on familial foregiveness (or lack thereof). She is amazingly straightforward about things. Anyway, I love her writing, although it is simple. A very touching story of a life lived thus far.

I also picked up, for my continuation of short story reading, a mouse-nibbled copy of Easy in the Islands by Bob Shacochis that I picked up for .50 at a recent library used book sale. I am finding that used book sales are a rich place to find short story collections and MANY are out of print and were never Kindle-ized. Maybe with the rise in interest in short stories, some will be unearthed, which would be great, as I find short stories give more information about times in history (from the recent to not so recent), people, places and events that simply does not happen in longer fiction.

I'm still attempting to finish The Passage by the end of the month, but I don't know if that will actually happen. I am, however, almost finished with Gulp: Adventures on the Alimentary Canal by Mary Roach, which is as delightfully fascinating, bizarre, and slightly disgusting as Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers.

I also picked up Lean In by Sheryl Sandberg, almost on a whim, and it's definitely an interesting read. I can't say that this book has changed my life, but it has a good message about female participation and empowerment in the workplace, and it's also somewhat of a timely read for me, in terms of what I want to do at work.

Also listening to 11/22/63 on audio, and it's an absolute delight! I read it when it first came out, so it's fantastic to be rediscovering it again.

I'm not sure what I'll be reading next, but it'll probably be either Breed by Chase Novak or Offspring by Jack Ketchum, because those were the two "unread" books that my boyfriend pulled off of my bookshelf for me to read. I'm supposed to have those finished by the end of the month too, but I'm not sure if that will happen.

I've now finished The End of Your Life Book Club and added it to my favorites shelf. Irregret that I only have a library copy and intend to search out my own copy so I can re-read it. I feel this is a book I would re-read many times.

Now I'm 70 pages into The Butterfly Mosque: A Young American Woman's Journey to Love and Islam by Willow Wilson, and enjoying it, although it leaves me a bit confused, at times.

I started my ER book The 50 greatest Players in NY Yankees history a d Freud's Mistress and enjoying both very much

Add me to the list of people who enjoyed The Long Ships. I wasn't really expecting to, but it was simply a very good story, well told.
I'm still listening to Beautiful Ruins and working my way through Don't Look Now, which is a collection of short stories by Daphne du Maurier. It turns out that she wrote the story the movie "The Birds" was based on--who knew??-- and it's included in this collection. It's not a spoiler to say that the story is better than the movie. One thing she was very skilled at was creating atmosphere, even if you didn't really like where the story went.
And I just came home from the library with The City and the City by China Mieville. Been wanting to read that puppy for awhile now...

Today I've been reading this article about Eudora Welty and the story she wrote in the summer of 1963:

http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/books/2013/07/a-murder-in-deep-summer.html

The article led me back to that powerful story and to her beautiful memoir, One Writer's Beginnings.

I finished the audio of the Last Policeman, which was a lot of fun and just started the audio of NOS4A2, which I've been meaning to get to for awhile. This is my 3rd book by Hill and he never disappoints.
I am also LOVING A Fine Balance, which is part of a one-man Group Read I am hosting. The discussion has been riveting. LOL.

# 59; thanks for the link to the newyorker article that Eudora Welty wrote in the summer of 1963. I also have One Writer's Beginnings and intend to go back and reread this little book. As to what I am reading now; I am on book 3 of the Cedar Cove Series by Debbie Macomber in anticipation of the new Cedar Cove Series on the Hallmark Channel tomorrow night. This series is a nice cozy summer time read. In turbulent times such as these, I find good cozy reading to be a nice escape from the terrible downward spiral of our nation.

I finished The Dream of Water by Kyoko Mori and I liked it overall, but it dragged a lot in the last quarter or so. It was very repetitive on the issues she had with her father (his wife) and her paternal grandfather - which were, well a mountain of issues (warranted, but talked about for most of the book).

I am not sure what is up next, I think The Unknowns by Gabriel Roth ... which looked interesting on that link from The Millions about the second half of 2013 fiction/literature. It's not my normal cup o' tea (but then, I'm not sure what IS either!), but hey, life is short, I will give it a try!

The Long Ships is now on my tbr list. I'm reading The Spark, which is the story of a boy diagnosed with autism, but also a genius. I love reading about how we can help children achieve their potential. Hoping to learn a lot.