Better late than never: Jim53's 2016 reading

The first quarter of this year was pretty challenging, with several health-related things going on. They're mostly in the rear-view mirror now; I hope the light at the end of the tunnel isn't the front of another oncoming train. This seems like a good time to reflect on my 1Q16 reading and get started with a reading journal for the year.

I'm not sure what I would have done with myself recently were I not an avid reader. I read 26 books during the first quarter, which is two a week, a good bit more than I usually read. And that doesn't even include a few re-reads that were all I could manage for a while. I gave twenty of the 26 3.5 stars or better, meaning that they were books that I wouldn't dissuade someone from reading, and might recommend to the right person. Several were much better than that. These were the best:

Americanah: a wonderful story of a young woman from Nigeria who emigrates to the US in search of something or other. She publishes a blog that gains attention, has some relationships, reflects with some insight on race and gender and differences between America and Africa. I'm looking forward to discussing it with my club next week.

The Ex: the first book I've read by Alafair Burke, whom I enjoyed on a panel or two at Bouchercon. The best mystery I've read so far this year. I'll definitely look for more.

The Orphan Train: another book club book, one I might never have chosen on my own. I had heard a bit about the program of sending orphans from northeastern US cities to be adopted by farm families in the midwest, but this book paints a detailed (fictional) picture of the experiences of some of these orphans.

Notorious RBG: a delightful appreciation of Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, including
a biography and accounts of some of her court experiences.

Brooklyn on Fire: an Early Reviewer book, a historical mystery set in 1890s New York. I read a few similar works by Anne Perry and Victoria Thompson recently, and liked this better than Perry and about as much as Thompson. It's the second of a series; I went back and read the first and was less impressed. Historicals are not really my thing, but i really like the protagonist.

Stitches: reflections on pain and healing by Anne Lamott. She makes the important point that we don't have to understand someting for it to have meaning.

Possibilities: Herbie Hancock's memoir is highly readable, with interesting anecdotes about many of the musicians with whom he played, and reflections on his Buddism.

I've just started The Three-Body Problem, a Chinese science fiction novel in which something seems to be messing with the laws of physics. Liu averages about one simile per paragraph, but the premise is interesting enough to keep me going. I was dismayed to see that it's the first of a trilogy; I hope it provides an ending and not just a TBC.

Sorry to hear about your health issues. I do hope they are all behind you. I'm happy to see you starting your journal. (I was poking around looking for it, but all I could find was last year's.)

>1 Jim53: "I hope the light at the end of the tunnel isn't the front of another oncoming train."

That's a feeling I know so well. Sometimes it's just good to know you're not alone with it. I hope your recovery is going smoothly now. When I was recovering from surgery a few years back, I didn't have the strength to read. That was disappointing. You did well, and I'm glad to see this update.

It may please you to know that you've scored a book bullet on me with The Ex (how funny that the touchstone first went to Homer's Odyssey--there's an ex for you). I've put it on request at my library.

I'm glad to hear your health is improving, I hope your wife is feeling better, too.

The orphan trains and similar projects, like the Barnardo children have always interested me. Good intentions that so often went appallingly wrong. I have Orphan Train on my Kindle, waiting to be read. Someday.

I'll update your thread on the GD reading journal page.

It's good to see your thread again! I'm glad that reading helped get you through the tough times, and hope the good books continue to come your way. Keeping my fingers crossed that your health woes are indeed a thing of the past.

I will look forward to your thoughts on The three body problem as I have it on my kindle waiting to be read.

Happy to see you back!

#2 #3 #4 #5 #6 Thanks all for stopping by and for your kind words. I've missed chatting with everyone here, not to mention trading bullets. It will take me a while to catch up on your journals, but I'm getting started.

Still recovering from last night's basketball game. Wonderful game, disappointing ending for this Tar Heel fan. I'm kind of bogged down in the middle of The Three-Body Problem but will try to resume this evening.

Finally finished The Three-Body Problem and posted a review. The final quarter of the book provides an explanation for the disjointed and confusing pieces that have come before, and sets the stage for the next volume. I won't run out for it immediately, but I'm sure I'll read it eventually. I found the style and characterizations lacking, but the ideas kept me going. Next up is a review copy of Redemption Road, John Hart's first novel in five years. At night I'll fall asleep to Now We Are Sixty, a bullet that I took from @SylviaC.

hola

Hi, Jim. Good to find your thread. Keep well!

>10 jimev: >11 pgmcc: Thanks for stopping by, guys. Peter, I looked at your thread and it already looks like a 600-page book. I'll have to find a way to take it in chunks ;-)

I started Redemption Road last night and read the first 90 pages or so. It features Hart's first female protagonist (this is his fifth book), a cop who is in trouble for excessive violence. She seems prone to developing healthy-looking but suspicious relationships with children who are crime victims. Can't wait to find out what her formative childhood experiences were.

Wow. I finished Redemption Road last night and wrote a review. Hart has topped his last couple of books, which were pretty wonderful. Fabulous job of progressive disclosure of key facts. 5 stars.

I picked up six paperback mysteries (sort of) after my shift at the library book sale today:

Duck the Halls
Play Dirty
Up Jumps the Devil
Fractured
Blindsighted
Polar Star - after seeing @pgmcc recommend Renko for some light reading ;-)

Right now I'm reading The Bible Salesman, which has Clyde's usual understated humor, and next up will be my ER copy of Dimestore, which just arrived. Three straight Tar Heel authors!

>14 Jim53: I enjoyed Polar Star.

>14 Jim53: Duck the Halls is a really fun cozy mystery. I enjoy that series.

I finished and reviewed The Bible Salesman, which was kinda fun but not as good as some of Clyde's others. Also Chasing the Dime, which is a Connelly standalone, featuring neither Bosch nor Haller. It was pretty odd, but interesting because of the high-tech aspects. And I read the second of old friend Ellen Crosby's wine country mysteries, The Chardonnay Charade, and liked it a little better than the first. A lot of what I liked had to do with the ending and the solution, so I won't spell it out. I still prefer her Sophie Medina series, but I understand she's working on more wine country novels, so I have more catching up to do.

>16 tottman: Thanks for stopping by, Tad. I think that is likely the first of this new batch that I'll start. I've read a couple of them, and enjoyed meeting Donna at Malice last year.

I'm enjoying the essays in Dimestore--it really is kinda like sitting on the porch and listening to her tell stories. I decided that I didn't want to just plow through all the essays at once, so I picked up The Oxford Inheritance at the library yesterday. I thought I had taken a bullet on this one from one of you sharp-shooters, but I don't see it in Talk, so maybe I was wounded elsewhere.

Polar Star is great. I love Arkady. Enjoy!

>19 Bookmarque: Thanks, Bookmarque!

I just saw a post on facebook from Sara Paretsky about this story:
http://www.wsj.com/articles/the-librarian-who-saved-timbuktus-cultural-treasures....
Looks really interesting, and I'm delighted to see that my library has some copies of The Bad-Ass Librarians of Timbuktu, so I've joined the hold list.

I finished Dimestore and liked it a lot. Actually took a couple of bullets from inside it. Lots of work lately, including last night, so I haven't completed my review yet. I thought something light would be good next so I've started Duck the Halls, which looks like a typical Meg Lanslowe adventure, light and entertaining.

Duck the Halls was fun, a good prescription for recent stress. I managed to concoct a review for Dimestore, which was quite good (the book, not the review). I ended up reading several essays in a row more times than I expected.

I ended up spending much of the weekend reading The Oxford Inheritance (whose first touchstone is Tess of the d'Urbervilles). It begins as a fairly straightforward mystery in which a young American woman travels to Oxford for her junior year in search of information about her parents. Things get weird pretty quickly and end up being quite gothic. I enjoyed it pretty well and wrote a review.

Last night I started Michael Gruber's third (and apparently last--bummer) Jimmy Paz novel, Night of the Jaguar. I liked the first two of this series quite a bit, and this one is off to a good start.

I've only read one book by Michael Gruber but I really enjoyed it and have a couple more sitting on the shelf staring at me. Glad you liked Duck the Halls. That was my introduction to Donna Andrews and although she is quite prolific, I try to at least read one of hers every xmas (especially if she has a xmas themed one out) because they are such mood brighteners.

Got my home laptop upgraded to Windows 10. Most things still seem to work, although I had to do some searching for a fix for the sound not working. Might be time for a dummies book to learn my way around better.

Finished Night of the Jaguar last night. It had a lot of good moments, and I really like Jimmy's wife and daughter, but overall it grabbed me less than its two predecessors.

Started one of my library-sale books, Blindsighted. I was not overwhelmed by my ER copy of Cop Town a couple of years ago, but Slaughter seems to be hot stuff these days. The beginning is quite vivid.

Last night I started Lee Smith's Guests on Earth, which is told by a young teenager who has been sent to a mental hospital in Asheville, NC, in the nineteen-thirties. She's a very vivid character, with a remarkably positive approach to things for someone with her early experiences.

I've been reading a few chapters of Jane Bryant Quinn's How to Make Your Money Last: the Indispensable Retirement Guide. Just trying to get a bit smarter about options as I near the end of my full-time career. Not sure yet whether to classify this as fantasy or mystery. She has some good (I think) pointers to other authors and websites for things such as evaluating annuities and other offerings.

I've been reading LOTR at bedtime lately, 'cause my other reads just aren't bedtime material. I'm reading it all, including sections that I sometimes skip. It's been about 50 years since i first read it, and it's still wonderful.

>30 Jim53: Did you see the note from Janny Wurts in another thread? She read that Tolkien avoided using any words derived from Latin in the LotR. I want to read it again soon with that in mind.

>31 MrsLee: I suppose we're talking about names, right? I'm sure there are many words in the book that are derived from Latin. Most of the names sound Germanic or Norse.

I don't have time to run down the original assertions, but here is one link which sounds as if it is most of the body of the text, not just names. I have neither the language skills, nor the time to know if it is true. :)

http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=615309

Thanks for the link, MrsLee. I'll check it out after i come up for air at work.

I just returned from a family trip, on which I finished off two of my acquisitions from a recent library sale, Up Jumps the Devil and Play Dirty.

I've been reading The Bad-Ass Librarians of Timbuktu, which is fascinating stuff.

Had to take the bad-ass librarians back to the bad-ass library. I'll have to get back on the list so I can finish it. My ER title arrived, Security by Gina Wohlsdorf, so I read that in the last couple of days. She does some interesting things with point-of-view, but I didn't care about any of the characters. 2.5 stars.

Further reflection on Security: a novel: this was the sort of thing that my PoMo buddies would have gotten very excited about, thirty or forty years ago. I hope we're not going to rediscover all the techniques of self-reference and so on and think they're something new.

I read Dead Connection over the last couple of days. I enjoyed meeting Ms. Burke after seeing her on a panel at Bouchercon last year, and earlier this year I enjoyed her new one, The Ex, so I decided to try starting one of her series. This is a promising beginning to a series: I like the protagonist and some of the secondary characters, and there are plenty of twists, some of which I anticipated. She faces a major decision at the end, and I'm interested enough to pick up the next book.

A couple of people in the Crime, Thriller, Mystery group recommended Greg Iles, and @AnnieMod suggested that I start with The Quiet Game. Last night I stayed up a little bit late to watch the LeBron show, then stayed up much later to read TQG. It's an interesting combination of legal thriller, a man going home to his native Mississippi after the death of his wife, racial history, old flames and enemies, corruption in high places, and more. Quite enjoyable; I'll be looking for the next one.

Well, of what you've discussed here, I'm most interested in The Oxford Inheritance and in The Quiet Game. Two notches to your credit!

>40 jillmwo: Thanks for letting me know, Jill. Always nice to see that I'm not just talking to myself.

>41 Jim53:

You are never alone on LT. There are lurkers behind every curtain.

*checks to see if my toes are sticking out under the curtain*

*passes snacks around behind curtains*

*chews stealthily*

Sssshhhhhh!

*psst, pass the wine, would you?*

I zipped through Angel's Tip, the second of Alafair Burke's Ellie Hatcher series. Ellie, a newbie homicide cop in NYC, is a pretty interesting character; these are slightly better than average police procedurals, both 3.5 stars.

BTW, no need for all y'all to be all that quiet; just please don't get cracker crumbs on the floor.

*unleashes a Roomba*

>50 clamairy: Woehahaha!

Oops, I'll be quiet now...

I finished and wrote the first review of The Secret Game, which describes a game of basketball played in a locked gym between black and white teams here in Durham, NC, in 1944. It's mostly a history of the colleges and the young men who played for them, along with some hoops history and the racial tension of the Jim Crow era in the South. Pretty interesting and mostly well told--four stars.

I just realized that I completely forgot to mention one of the very best books that I've read this year--a couple of weeks ago I read All the Light We Cannot See, a story of the separate lives of a German boy and a French girl during WWII. The characters are wonderful and the story progresses very nicely in very small chapters. It's told in present tense, which somehow fits this particular story quite well. There are already lots of reviews, so I won't add one. Five stars.

Right now I'm taking a bit of a break and reading The Blue Sword, which I've seen mentioned a few times.

I've been thinking I should read All the Light We Cannot See. I'm not fussy about present tense narration, but it does seem like a story I would like. And I love, love, love The Blue Sword.

>52 Jim53: & >53 SylviaC: Dagnabbit! I think I just took a book bullet.
:o(
Well, I'll look for The Blue Sword. Doesn't mean it's going to make it to the top of the TBR pile soon.

The Blue Sword was fun, a pretty standard "surprise! you're specially gifted and chosen!" story with some twists. I was surprised by the pace, which was pretty leisurely for a juvenile title. But I settled in quite comfortably and enjoyed the ride. Harry is a good character; her real name reminded me of Lloyd Alexander (Eilonwy's mom) and comes, I think, from the Mabinogion. And I enjoyed the relationship of the riders with their horses.

Comfort is not what I got from The Sense of an Ending. It's a short but brilliant reflection on time, aging, and memory, triggered by the narrator's receipt of a reminder of incidents from his past. I understood the surprise at the end, but I'm not sure I got its significance. As others have mentioned, a re-read might clarify some things, but for now I'm on to other things.

I started White Jazz last night and gave up after a while. I see why people like its shorthand approach to noir, and the situations seem pretty complex and interesting, but I couldn't get past the first-person narrator's continual racist language. I realize it's accurate for 1958, and i certainly won't say that nobody should read it, but I find it too painful right now. I might pick it back up at some point, but I don't see a good reason to right now.

So instead I'm partway through The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie, which i grabbed on a whim. I don't yet understand the reason for her iconoclasm, and I realize we might not get there, but it's an easy and somewhat fun read.

I finished up Miss Jean Brodie. I think there may have been things going on that I just plain missed.

>57 Jim53: Shenanigans?

>58 clamairy: maybe so. probably authorial.

Last night I finished Louise's Gamble, the second of local writer Sarah Shaber's series about a young widow working at the OSS during WW II. I can't decide whether the series has a slightly "younger" tone to it; it feels that way, but not for sure. 3.5 stars.

Over the weekend I read The Second Girl, having seen it praised on Facebook. It has some very interesting elements: the narrator/protagonist is a former narcotics cop who was forced to retire after he took to sampling the evidence. Now he gets along as a PI and also stakes out drug dealers and steals their stash to feed his serious cocaine habit. While breaking into one such place, he finds a teenage girl tied up and handcuffed in the bathroom. He's a well drawn character, as are a couple of others. Definitely a noirish feel. Four stars.

Just started Wilde Lake, which I also saw reviewed very positively. I've enjoyed several of Lippman's in the past. She alternates chapters between the past and present, which I'm not crazy about, but I'm liking the book overall.

Hmmm. An observant young girl as narrator, with an older brother, a single father who is an attorney, and a black housekeeper. A poor white girl who accuses a young black man of raping her, and is beaten by her left-handed father. The young black man pays a terrible price, and the man who attacked him ends up having fallen on his knife.

The homage, imitation, or whatever it is is actually fairly well concealed for a little while. The chapters narrated by the young Lu Brant alternate with chapters, told in third person, describing her life as an adult. The story is set in Columbia, Maryland, whose creation I remember from my high school years. There are several twists: part of the story of adult Lu is her prosecution of a man for murder, a man who is reclusive and mildly deranged. But just what the heck is Laura Lippman up to here?

I haven't decided. The confluence of past and present is clearly an important theme of Wilde Lake. Maybe she's a huge fan, and Harper Lee has been in the news a lot in the last couple of years. I guess I can do some reading about Lippman and the writing of this book. But so far I'm mystified as to why she would choose to structure her new standalone novel around all these details from To Kill a Mockingbird.

>61 Jim53: Let us know if you find out. I recently read a book which was similar in its effect of using many of the details from Rex Stout books, but with small twists. I didn't enjoy it. Kept thinking that if I wanted to revisit Wolfe and Archie, I would rather do so in the original.

I finished my Early Review book, I Am No One, and am still thinking about it before concocting a review. Also working a lot this weekend because I missed so much time during the week. At a friend's recommendation, I read March Violets, the first if Philip Kerr's historical mysteries featuring PI Bernie Gunther. It's set in Germany in 1936. Had I felt like compiling a glossary, I could have listed a lot of slang terms from the period. Neither a great read nor a bad one, three and a half stars I think. I's part of a volume called Berlin Noir, which collects three of Kerr's Bernie novels; I'll probably read the others eventually. But right now I'm taking a break with Dealing with Dragons.

>63 Jim53: I have the Berlin Noir volume but have so far only read a later book in the series, Field Grey, which was very good and has prompted me to push Berlin Noir furhter up the TBR pile.

When my youngest son was three weeks old (he is now 19 years old) my wife and I attended a Writers' Conference at which Philip Kerr was speaking. (I mention my son's age to put a temporal dimension to this story and also to point out that we brought my son to the conference. That is why I can remember so precisely when this took place.) He spoke about the research he did with the Moscow police. He was very entertaining. He described how he went out with the police on patrol and they gave him a Russian bullet-proof vest to wear. The next day another policeman joined them as they were about to go out on patrol. This policeman gave out to his colleagues for giving Kerr a Russian bullet-proof vest rather than an American one because the Russian ones were ineffective. It was only at this point Kerr realised all the other policemen were wearing American bullet-proof vests. They all thought it was a great joke.

>64 pgmcc: great story. We have a few that are similarly marked, e.g., I remember holding our suddenly squirmy four-month-old first son while reading the prayers of the faithful at his godparents' wedding. Glad to hear that you enjoyed a later Bernie story. For a moment I thought you had said that you pushed it "fuhrer up the list" ;-)

I finished Dealing with Dragons, which was fun in a juvenile sort of way. Yesterday I went to my office for the first time in a month, which enabled me to retrieve and resume Polar Star.

>65 Jim53: I enjoyed Polar Star. I recently read and enjoyed Three Stations and Tatiana. I read and enjoyed Red Square some years ago.

>65 Jim53: >66 pgmcc: I have Gorky Park and Polar Star on my TBR pile - something to look forward to I hope then.

>67 Peace2: Gorky Park is entertaining.

>67 Peace2: I enjoyed Gorky Park. I'm finding Polar Star a little slow but interesting.

I finally managed to concoct a review of I Am No One. It was one of those books that has a somewhat interesting premise but doesn't do enough with it.

I've put Arkasha aside for a few days to read a couple by J. D. Rhoades. Breaking Cover was a very well done thriller, with a credible plot and interesting characters. He does a nice job of introducing the quiet stranger who doesn't want to be noticed but can't resist intervening when he spots two kidnapped kids. A little more violent than I would prefer, but quite readable. I've just started Ice Chest, which seems like more of a humorous caper story.

Ice Chest was quite fun, with a few actual characters among the stereotypes giving it some life, and some twists that kept it from becoming predictable. 3.78 stars.

>72 Jim53: I'm just curious...how do you calculate your stars with such precision? What is the difference between a 3.78 star book and a 3.77 star book?

>73 SylviaC: That was humor. And in fact, on further consideration, I liked the book a good bit better than that--probably 4.27 or even 29!

>74 Jim53: Please ignore what that clown wrote above about humor! This is another of the Jims--the 3.78 was reached after extensive discussion among ourselves and a compilation and averaging of at least seven different votes.

I started The Curse of Chalion and the beginning didn't immediately grab me, so I switched to another book bullet, Planetfall. I like the imagined world and some of the characters. There's a sense of desperate seriousness that I'm not so sure about, but definitely sticking with this one.

Ren's, um, home issue seems to serve primarily as a detour from the "main" story about the seed, etc. I'm hoping that the two threads will end up coming together or affecting each other in some way.

Go back and pick up Polar Star, young man! It's pretty fab and startling in a couple ways.

>77 Bookmarque: actually I finished Polar Star before I picked up Planetfall, just forgot to mention it. It seemed to me that Arkady should have died several times, and the fact that he didn't was not because of anything he did. I like the way Smith hints at pieces of solutions and doesn't spend a chapter laying it all out for the reader. But I'm not sure I'm as enthusiastic about the book overall as some. I'd be interested to hear about what folks particuarly like.

Hmmm...I see what you mean about Arkady getting himself into situations that he can't undo alone. I guess I'm nostalgic about the books since it's been ages since I first started reading them. Arkady is just so damned dogged. He always has to do things the hard way and I think that appeals to me because I'm so damn lazy myself.

One scene I'll probably never forget is when the bad guy, the one with all the tattoos swam down into the ocean through the hole in the ice. That imagery is amazing.

>79 Bookmarque: I definitely agree about that scene you mentioned. One other interesting thing is trying to think along with Arkady, because he mostly keeps his thoughts to himself. Figuring out why he keeps pushing on a particular thing can be both fun and frustrating.

I was pretty disappointed in Planetfall. It started off appearing to be about some mysterious events that happened on arrival, then morphed into the story of one character's disorder. Are we supposed to see a connection? It's an awfully long time before we see the extent of Ren's illness, or have any real hint at it. I was also disappointed in the ending: while some chickens certainly came home to roost, I thought Mack's death and the "invasion" dodged any need to look at how the colony would have to deal with learning the truth. I did like the network and the ways in which people communicated. Ren's use of the word "fabrication" to describe her lies was interesting because fabricating things seemed to be her primary contribution to the group. Overall, the story seemed kinda aimless, as if she got into something that she didn't know what to do with. I'm curious about others' reactions, including what you thought about Ren's choice at the end: was it a reflection of illness or of genuine insight?

Here are my stats from the first half of the year. I read 56 books, a little over two a week, in addition to a bunch of re-reads, which I didn't count. That's a very large number for me, due primarily to the fact that I haven't been physically able to do much else. Anyway, for those who are curious:

nonfiction: 10
mystery: 29
SF: 2
YA fantasy: 2
other fiction: 13

35 by female authors, 21 male
28 by authors new to me, exactly half
47 written in the 21st century

The takeaway: much less SF than I used to read, and more of an emphasis on new books than in prior years. A slightly lower percentage of nonfiction than usual.

I think I'm in love. Cassie Maddox is the coolest young woman I've met in a long time. Too bad she's fictional and lives in Dublin.

Dublin's not a problem.

Who in the heck is Cassie Maddox? Or might that question be tantamount to admitting that one lives under a rock?

Cassie is a major character in Tana French's In the Woods, the first book I've completed in 2H16. I've had the book for quite a while but hadn't started it because the cover is rather creepy. But I saw another mention of Ms. French somewhere and decided to dive in. The book is narrated by her partner in the Dublin Murder Squad, Rob Ryan, and is largely his story. But Cassie is the character to whom I related, and the one I'll remember. I hope she will be in subsequent volumes in the series. I'll say more about her later; it's time to go dry some dishes.

Cassie Maddox is the main character in The Likeness but does not show up in the third volume, Faithful Place. I have not yet read the series beyond the first three titles. In my opinion, The Likeness was the weakest of the three while Faithful Place was my favorite. Each book (at least so far) seems to feature a main character that was a side character in an earlier volume.

Thanks, ScoLgo. Glad to hear I'll see Cassie again, although I'm sure she'll be a bit different.

My copy of Ready Player One came from the library and I've read the first section. I think Scalzi's comment describes it best: nerdgasm!

I just finished Ready Player One, which was a gas gas gas. And I didn't even experience the eighties as some folks did: our kids were born then, so we were more into Inspector Gadget than the brat pack. And I never had an Atari. But I remembered enough to enjoy it quite a bit. Although it's definitely time for some folks to get a (real) life!

>89 Jim53: I'm glad you enjoyed it. Even at its most ridiculous it was hilarious. :o)

My son has been encouraging me to read Ready Player One. I was right in that eighties zone, so I'm really curious about it. It's on the oh, so long tbr list.

>89 Jim53: I would be in the same category as yourself Jim, but I am intrigued about Ready Player One. I have it on my shelf having been the victim of one of the book bullet snipers heresabout.

>90 clamairy: I was thinking it would be fun to add up all the hours that he spent on various activities, mastering games, memorizing shows and movies, etc. I suspect he'd be a couple of hundred years old. But it's all part of the over-the-top fun.

>91 SylviaC: >92 pgmcc: It's very entertaining. You might enjoy it even more if you have some recollection of early computers and games, but it's definitely not necessary IMHO. You might want to bump it up the list a bit.

>93 Jim53: Gamewise I go back to The Hobbit on the ZXcan't remember the number. I then graduated to Space Invaders.

I loved Ready Player One! I read it once and then listened to the audio narrated by Wil Wheaton which was like a blast squared. So much fun. I'll have to read it again before the movie, whenever that comes out.

I didn't have as much fun with Ready Player One as others. Don't get me wrong - I liked the book well enough but there were things about it that reduced my rating and prevented me from marking it as a favorite. On the other hand, I keep hearing about the awesom-ey goodness of Wil Wheaton's narration so, when the movie comes out, I may have to refresh via the audio version before seeing the film.

I just zipped through Never Tell, the fourth of Alafair Burke's Ellie Hatcher police procedurals. I enjoyed it a little less than its predecessors, mostly because there was a lot less byplay between Ellie and her colleagues, especially her partner, and her colorful brother made only a taken appearance.

Over the weekend I am sampling a few collections of short stories, in order to select one to recommend to my book club. Does anyone have any thoughts about any of these?

Charlie Martz and Other Stories
One More Thing
Tenth of December

My ER copy of Vinegar Girl has arrived. I've never seen The Taming of the Shrew, so I'm grabbing it from the library to watch before I read the book.

>98 Jim53:, well, that one sounds fun! I shall look forward to hearing your feedback on it.

I've started Lone Wolf, having heard many raves about Barclay, but it's not grabbing my attention. I've also been reading through Plato and a Platypus Walk into a Bar, a book bullet courtesy of sharp-shooting @Meredy, but the philosophy is too high-level and I'm not finding many jokes that I haven't heard. Guess it's a grump reading day ;-)

Back to spending a lot of time in bed. Yesterday I finished The Bordeaux Betrayal, the third of Ellen Crosby's Virginia wine-country mysteries. It was a little better than the first of the series, about even with the second, and some developments that I've been expecting are finally hinted at.

I've also been looking through Upstairs at the Strand, a collection of interviews held at the famous NYC bookstore. Some are better than others, but even those whose participants I don't recognize have some interesting nuggets.

We chose Tenth of December for our book club's next assignment, so I've read a few of the stories in it. Some are quite good and a few are quite weird.

Sorry to hear you're back in bed. Hope it doesn't last long.

>102 SylviaC: Thanks, Sylvia!

I watched the Liz-and-Dick version of The Taming of the Shrew last night in preparation for starting Vinegar Girl. I don't think I had read or seen the play since high school, and I was surprised and ultimately angered by Petrucchio's casual cruelty and by the ending, even though I knew what was coming. Seen now, it feels more like a depiction of the powerless position of women in that society than anything else. Anyone have a more positive view of the story?

I found Forster's Aspects of the Novel interesting. It's more literary theory than a writing guide, although it goes into things like characters, plot, point of view, and so on. His comments about how these things interact are useful. It's interesting to see that he assumes that the reader is familiar with Defoe and Richardson--he uses Moll Flanders a lot in his discussion of types of characters--neither of whom I've read. Poor man, not to have Katniss and Lisbeth to use as examples!

I finished my ER book, Vinegar Girl, and wrote a brief review. Anne Tyler updates the story of The Taming of the Shrew, setting it in contemporary Baltimore (although except for street names, you would never recognize the locale). It's a fun retelling, with some clever reworkings of details from the original, but it's not in the same league as her better works. 3.5 stars.

>105 Jim53: That's too bad. I have to admit I haven't read anything of hers for decades. Are you feeling any better?

>106 clamairy: I read a lot of Anne's books a good while back; I think the last ones were in 2008 or 9. We knew her parents when we lived in Raleigh. I hadn't realized, till I saw it on the back of Vinegar Girl, that she was short-listed for the Man Booker prize for A Spool of Blue Thread. I'm gonna check that one out.

Good of you to ask if I'm feeling better. My back woes seem to be resolved, but I'm still having trouble sitting, so I'm going to see my joint guy (ortho, not, um, anyway...) this week to see if we need to do anything about my hip before my scheduled knee replacement next month.

I read Harold Bloom's take on Shrew, which eased my mind a bit. He suggests that Kate's long speech at the end is in fact a master class in manipulation through submission, conducted for the benefit of her sister and the widow (as well as the audience). That makes some sense, and it certainly gives the work a bit more balance and subtlety.

>107 Jim53: Goodness, what a year for you. Once you get everything fixed up you'll be better than new. I hope all goes well.

>108 Jim53: That was how we were taught to interpret that scene when I studied the play in highschool, and I've clung to it, since a straight reading of it would just make me angry.

The House of Secrets was an interesting read. The daughter of a former TV show host awakens from an accident with limited memories and needs to track down what her father was actually doing on many trips out of the country. He was doing more than just going to exotic places to film stories about odd happenings. And what about her brother, who was involved with the show, as she wasn't? And why is everyone so interested in Benedict Arnold's bible? Four stars.

>107 Jim53: I read a few of hers back in the 80s I think. They are blended together in my head, at this point.

Again, I hope you are feeling as well as possible. :o)

I'm back in Ireland again, reading the second of Tana French's Dublin Murder Squad series, The Likeness. It's very character-focused and would probably be slow for some readers, but I'm loving being back with Cassie.

It's a ridiculous premise, but once you swallow the whole doppelganger thing it's a terrific book. Sets up Mackey well for his book which comes next. If you like the whole shared house idyll, check out A Fatal Inversion by Barbara Vine. It's wonderful.

>113 Bookmarque: I've read a few of Rendell's but never any of the Vines. I'll take a look. Thanks for the tip!

>113 Bookmarque: This was exactly my take on The Likeness as well. I have only read three of The Dublin Murder Squad books so far but Faithful Place was the best volume in my opinion.

>115 ScoLgo: I haven't read them all either but my favorite is Faithful Place as well. The audio version is amazing.

Interesting. So far I can't say I like Frank very much. I thought Sam might narrate the next one. But I'm not sure there is enough to him.

>117 Jim53: "So far I can't say I like Frank very much."

It was the same for me. This is actually one of the elements that made me enjoy the next book so much more.

I expect French will take a similar approach with 'Scorcher' Kennedy as he is the MC in the next installment, Broken Harbor

Right ScoLgo, that seems to be an emerging theme. She seems to be taking a negative character and expanding that character so you have some empathy/sympathy.

The Likeness has Mackey as the bad guy, the follow up Faithful Place puts flesh on those bones.

Faithful Place has Scorcher as the bad guy and Broken Harbor shows a different side of him. O'Neill was the bad guy here, but he's pretty repulsive and I can see why French may have skipped him.

The Secret Place has no bad guy to redeem, but sets up an abrasive character who will get her spotlight in The Trespasser. It's an interesting nuance to an already distinctive formula.

You guys are making me want to forget the rest of Mount Tooby and just plow through all of these!

>119 Bookmarque: "...puts flesh on those bones" -- that's a great way to state it.

>120 Jim53: Peer pressure!! It's not just for kids! ;)

I may have to spend 2017 catching up on all the Tana French titles.

I finished The Likeness and liked it a lot. The story isn't fabulous, and my throat was nearly too narrow for the beginning, but I love Cassie's narration. I picked up Faithful Place at the library today, so it's in the queue, although right now I'm reading the fifth Ellie Hatcher, All Day and a Night. I've also been reading some nonfiction, including books on retirement planning and mindfulness. I picked up Deep Work today to see if it will help me fight off what I think is a long-undiagnosed case of ADD.

I had an odd experience with Dancing at the Rascal Fair: I brought it home from the library, a nice-looking trade paperback with an attractive picture on the cover, and when I started reading it I found that the font was odd and the letters so close together that I had trouble reading it. I kept having to go back over things I had just read. So I gave up on it for now and will have to look for another edition, or maybe just try it again when I'm less stressed. I don't think I've ever had this experience before with a book by a major publisher.

>123 Jim53: I think that Doig book does take some thoughtful reading, or intense? Not sure I remember, but I know the first time I tried it, it was on audio and the man reading had such a strong Scottish accent I could barely understand the words. I did get through the print version on Kindle. You can make the font bigger, so it helps.

>124 MrsLee: that might be the sort of thing that gets me to take the electronic plunge. I love paper books, but space is an issue, plus I keep seeing notices for all sorts of interesting-looking things for $1.99 on Kindle.

I zipped through All Day and a Night, the fifth of Alafair Burke's Ellie Hatcher NYC police procedurals. I was glad to see more of the interplay between Ellie and her partner than in the previous entry. Not sure yet what's next.

>124 MrsLee: "You can make the font bigger..."

>125 Jim53: "that might be the sort of thing that gets me to take the electronic plunge."

The other really nice thing about e-readers: Regardless of content, every book is physically the same size, shape, and weight.

The Riesling Retribution is my favorite so far in Ellen Crosby's Wine Country mystery series. The book begins with a tornado ripping through Lucie's vineyards; not only does it damage the vines, but it also unearths a shallow grave. Lucie must defend her dead father's innocence while recovering from the weather and dealing with a Civil War reenactment that she is hosting. Her Caskett-like relationship with her winemaker ebbs and flows, her brother is in trouble, and she isn't getting along with her best friend because of the murder. Crosby really pours the trouble onto Lucie in this one. Four stars.

Cal Newport's Deep Work is a fascinating call to get away from constant connection and distractions, to find a private space in which to exercise the sort of extreme focus that enables one to create something memorable. My review is here. I have struggled over the years with the need to resist distractions, especially when I'm expected to be responsive to those who need my input. Occasionally I'll set my IM status at work to DND so I can focus on a piece of work for half a day; after reading this book, I might do it more often.

I've got some catching up to do. Just returned from a trip to NY for my granddaughter's fifth birthday, which was lots of fun. Also saw her almost-one-year-old brother take a bunch of steps. Exciting stuff! On the way home we saw my parents in Maryland and also had brunch with college bud and mystery author Ellen Crosby.

Just before the trip I read George Saunders's Tenth of December, a collection of short stories. Our book club wanted to read some shorts and I recommended this book. What an impressive collection! The title story is a masterpiece, and several others are very creative. People have compared him to Vonnegut, but I was reminded more of Donald Barthelme, with the careful selection of words, although Saunders's stories tend to be longer than Barthelme's. It was also clear that Saunders has real affection and empathy for his characters. He does a great job of presenting internal monologues that give us immediate insights into how their minds work. Highly recommended for those interested in modern short stories. I gave it "only" 4.5 stars because a couple of the stories didn't work for me.

I've read two other books recently that fit into the crime category but are not whodunnits. Ivy Pochoda's Visitation Street is a couple of years old, but I saw a mention of her that included some high praise from Dennis Lehane, who's one of my favorites. The book describes an incident in which a couple of teenage girls in Brooklyn go out on a raft, and only one comes back. We see the incident's effects on the two girls' families, a teacher, and several other teens and adults in the neighborhood. Somewhere between 3.5 and four stars.

My ER book, The Glorious Heresies, is set in Cork, Ireland. It depicts the interactions of a local crime boss, the mother who gave him up as an infant, a couple of his sidekicks, and a few members of the next generation. The web of entanglements is very well constructed, and several of the characters seem realistic and nicely drawn. Let's see, is that 25 words? I haven't reviewed it yet ;-)

I still have three ancient Science Fiction Book Club volumes from many years ago: The Foundation Trilogy, Dune, and Ender's War, which includes Ender's Game and the first sequel, Speaker for the Dead. I recently tried rereading Foundation, and I found the writing so distractingly bad that I didn't stick with it. This week I re-read the Card duo, which I had not opened in many years. It still has the same problems it always had, primarily that while a six-year-old boy can have off-the-charts smarts, it's still not credible for him to be so emotionally mature and psychologically insightful. This week I was able to put aside both that and my antipathy toward Card's virulent bigotry and reread the two novels. They're still pretty good. I still like Speaker better. I'm mildly curious about the recent additions to the Ender canon, but I certainly won't be buying them.

>130 Jim53: I also re-read one of the Foundation stories recently. The first time round, I recall being enchanted by Asimov's writing, but this time I was amazed at how quickly and thoroughly the suck fairy worked. Indeed he's hardly even mentioned these days, from having been one of the sf greats not all that long ago.

>130 Jim53: & >131 hfglen: I only read the first of the Foundation books back in the 1980s enjoyed it a bit, but never made it very far into the 2nd. I'm sure it would kill me to try them now. My one recent(ish) foray into Azimov territory was in The Dragon's group read of The Caves of Steel*. I wasn't terrible, but I didn't love it enough to want more of the same.

* http://www.librarything.com/wiki/index.php/Groups:The_Green_Dragon/Group_book_di...

Jim, are you saying you don't have a Kindle yet?

I think I have the Foundation trilogy upstairs. I believe it came out as a hardcover in the Everyman's Library? Or perhaps it was Library of America? I thought I ought to give it a try. Still I haven't got 'round to it just yet. (I seem to recall that my husband -- like you -- felt there was a visitation by the "suck fairy" the last time he tried it. That probably put me off a bit.)

>131 hfglen: I think Asimov deserves credit for some interesting ideas. I think he was writing at a time when ideas were emphasized over style or well developed characters. He also seems to have published an amazing number of titles on a very wide number of topics. I wonder how many of them ever saw a third draft.

>132 clamairy: No, Clam, I'm still a dead-tree kinda guy. But as I see all these books being announced as on special for $1.99 and $2.99, and as we contemplate downsizing our home in the not-too-distant future, I'm finding myself thinking about it. Some of our book-club friends really like their electronic gizmos, and I'm sure they've improved (the gizmos, not the friends, although maybe them too) since the early models that I looked at. At some point I'll probably want some input from y'all about features and models that you do and don't like--I haven't kept up at all.

>130 Jim53: Now you're really making me feel old. I remember buying Ender's Game new when it came out or shortly after. I still have several of my old science fiction book club selections. I remember agonizing over my free books when I signed up to get the maximum value. I still have The Foundation Trilogy and The Dragonriders of Pern trilogy, but I had to get a replacement copy of The Riddlemaster of Hed trilogy.

I read a lot of Asimov's books back in the 80s and 90s. I enjoyed them, especially the Robot books, and I liked the way he tied them together, but I wouldn't want to read the Foundation books again, I think.

Back then, those ideas were new to me and I happily soaked it all up. I still like to have them on my shelves :)

>134 Jim53: "I think he was writing at a time when ideas were emphasized over style or well developed characters." I think that was especially true of SciFi at that time. The bar was lower for writing style.

Ah, well if/when you get one I will send you links to all of those sites that send you emails with the best deals of the day. (Places like Book Bub, Book Riot, Early Bird Books, Book Perk... Amazon will send an daily email if you want, too.)

One of the best things about the Kindle for me (besides the adjustable font, of course) was that my virtual TBR stack did not need to be hidden.

>137 clamairy: "One of the best things about the Kindle for me (besides the adjustable font, of course) was that my virtual TBR stack did not need to be hidden."

LOL, oh yes. Or dusted. My secret hoard.

Tomorrow's the day: I'm finally replacing the knee that has been giving me trouble on and off for many years. Please hold me in the light, say a prayer, have a good thought for me, or whatever you do. I'll be sending it back at you.

>139 Jim53: I'll be thinking of you, Jim. All the best for the knee.

>139 Jim53: One way or another, we will be with you in advance of the surgery and during as well. And yes, #137, Isaac Asimov wrote the science fiction that emphasized "what if" possibilities.

>139 Jim53: Best of luck! Will be sending positive thoughts your way.

>139 Jim53: Strength to you! With a bit of luck you'll be spared corny friends commenting on your loss of weight when you come out.

>139 Jim53: Hope things go/are going/have gone* well with the operation. It's a common enough procedure these days so I'm sure all will go swimmingly.

*delete as applicable depending on time of reading (though I doubt the middle option is viable I thought I'd put it in there for completeness sake).

May you have many years of pain-free walking ahead of you!

Hope all went well with the knee and that the subsequent recovery proceeds according to plan. Good wishes to you.

I hope the surgery went well, and you have a speedy, uncomplicated recovery.

>140 pgmcc:, >141 jillmwo:, >142 clamairy:, >143 hfglen:, >144 AHS-Wolfy:, >145 MrsLee: >146 Peace2:, >147 SylviaC: Many thanks to you all! I came home yesterday and have my initial PT visit tomorrow. I will be nice to see that the world is still out there.

>148 Jim53: How are you feeling? Do you have your wits abut you enough to read? Sending healing thoughts in your direction, Jim.

>149 clamairy: Thank you, Clare! Unfortunately this surgery requires more thorough sedation than my previous ones. I have not been able to follow either a novel The Viognier Vendetta or a biograqphy Pops. However the creatures in my old Calvin and Hobbes collection are particularly vivid this morning. I have my first torture PT session this afternoon, so I won't be lessening my dosage till tomorrow at least. Maybe then I'll be able to read. I hope so; being able to read was a great pleasure after the two back surgeries. At least today I will get to go downstairs, so I can try out some of the movies I git at the library.

>150 Jim53: Being pain-free is much more critical to your well-being and to the healing process than reading is. Hope the PT went well, Jim!

I'm finally getting used to the drugs enough that I can read a bit. The first book that I completed after surgery was The Viognier Vendetta. This is the fifth of Ellen Crosby's Wine Country mysteries, and she does a very nice job of weaving a web of people who are connected in various ways; there are several paths through the web that could be the cause for the murder of Lucie Montgomery's old college friend, and Lucie's personal life is going through some gyrations at the same time.

Today I finished Pops, which is not Oh the Places You'll Go. It's a biography and critical appreciation--at times, it feels like a defense--of one of the seminal figures in jazz, Louis Armstrong. Teachout seems to feel called to explain Armstrong's underappreciated role in social justice issues, for example, giving him credit for kicking Ike's butt and forcing him to act on Brown V. Board. Teachout seems to think that he's telling us great secrets by revealing Louis's melancholy side and his long-time love of marijuana, but these are hardly news to any halfway-serious fan. There is a wonderful collection of citations and sources, so this would be a good reference for someone wanting to do scholarly research on Armstrong or on the history and development of jazz.

Next up, now that I'm at least somewhat coherent, is O! Pioneers for my reading group.

>152 Jim53: Glad to hear that you've gotten back into your reading groove. I think you'll enjoy the Cather.
How's the PT going?

>153 clamairy: the Cather is off to a good start. I was afraid (not sure why) that there would be a lot of moralizing, but so far that's not an issue. Nice, simple, clear descriptions of people and locale.

My physical terrorist is quite pleased with me. Everyone with whom I've spoken about the situation says that doing the exercises conscientiously and enthusiastically makes a big difference in the length and pain level of the recovery period, so I've been making myself do them.

>152 Jim53: Well, it appears (after admittedly only a shallow search attempt) that your The Viognier Vendetta was published in at least one edition as The Vintage Vendetta. I love mysteries set in Washington DC but I don't like it when publishers confuse me with multiple titles. Harrumph.

Hope the healing moves quickly!

>155 jillmwo: Harrumph indeed! I was lucky enough not to run into that particular bit of confusion.

Ellen's Wine Country stories are set in Loudoun County, a bit outside Washington. Her Sophie Medina series, which I prefer, takes place largely within the city. The first of those is Multiple Exposure. Have you read any of Sarah Shaber's Louise Pearlie series? They're set in DC during WW II. I've read just the first two, and I wouldn't say they're fabulous, but they're short and fun.

O! Pioneers was a good tale, told well, with at least a few interesting characters (as well as a few duds). I wasn't sure what I thought about the ending. Do others have thoughts about that?

I noticed that my library had Cold Case, from a series that was once a favorite, Kate Wilhelm's Bobby Holloway legal mysteries. It wasn't as good as I remembered some of the others being. It was fun to revisit some of the characters--I always enjoyed her father--but they seem to have been toned down bit. I guessed the perp pretty early. A competent story, but not as good as several others of hers.

Last year I enjoyed Invisible City after meeting Julia Dahl at Malice Domestic. I'm reading the follow-up, Run You Down, which so far is a bit muddled. I'm hoping it will become less so as things move along.

Invisible City remained muddled, or perhaps it is I who am muddled. I'm taking a break from reading and (sort of) binge-watching Miss Fisher's Murder Mysteries, which are based on the series by Kerry Greenwood.

>158 Jim53: Enjoy the binging! I did that last month when I was under the weather. It definitely requires less clarity of thought than reading. :o)

You're still working with your PT, yes?

>159 clamairy: Oh yes, still going to PT twice a week. I also managed to get out for a couple of outings over the weekend--a library program and an outdoor party--both of which exhausted me.

The library program was by our Piedmont Laureate, Katy Munger, whom I've known for a while. She read from three works in progress and asked for input on which to focus on. I was delighted that one was a new Casey Jones mystery; when I read the last one of those a couple of years ago, it sounded as if it was wrapping up the series. "Well," she said, "maybe at that point it was." She had a silly little quiz in which I won a copy of Beat Slay Love, a collaborative effort between Katy and several other mystery writers. Parts of it are hilarious, parts terrible. Had I not had a connection, I doubt I would have finished it. But I got through it and have a collection of other treats from which to choose a next read. My ability to focus has improved a good bit, which is a welcome relief.

I just started A Borrowed Man. I haven't read a new Wolfe in quite a while. This one begins with an intriguing concept: a hundred years from now, some minor authors have been cloned, and live in public libraries, where they can be consulted or checked out like a book. So the title refers to a cloned author who has been checked out of the library by a damsel in distress. The style is more easy-going than Wolfe sometimes is, but that suggests that there are subtleties in the story itself that will need to be unwound.

I finished and reviewed A Borrowed Man. Ultimately I was a bit disappointed; it seemed that Wolfe had a couple of very creative ideas and could have done more. OTOH, if I can create something like this when I'm 85, I'll be ecstatic.

The library has come through with a copy of Neil Gaiman's The View from the Cheap Seats, a collection of his nonfiction articles, so I'll be dipping into that while deciding what else to read next. Our book club decided to read Cat's Cradle for next month, so I'll be revisiting the world of Bokonon and Ice-Nine before too long.

>162 Jim53:

Your review convinced me to get a copy of A Borrowed Man when it comes out in paperback. Is that a ricochet?

The view from he cheap seats is on my tbr pile too. I know I've read a few of the pieces before but am really looking forward to delving into more of Gaiman's thoughts and opinions.

>164 Sakerfalcon: I read a few pieces and decided to take it back, because there's a long line still at the library. I'll grab it again when I'm more coherent. The pieces that I read were enjoyable but nothing special. I suspect there's a bit of winnowing needed to find the really good stuff.

I saw some raves for The Shining Girls so I gave it a try. I found it a little too confusing for my current medicated state. So I picked up something comfortable: The Sauvignon Secret, the fifth in Ellen Crosby's wine country mystery series. She sends Lucie out to the west coast for a few days to investigate some mysterious goings-on. I'm almost done and it's fun as usual.

I finished The Sauvignon Secret, which was a nice easy read, not quite as good as the last couple in the series. Gonna try American Gods next--I read it many years ago and have basically no recollection of it. It might be too subtle for my current state of mind, though.

>166 Jim53: - Ahh, brain fog. :o( Sometimes even a couple of small glasses of wine will render the written word less than comprehensible to me. :o( And other times all it takes is some added stress to cause that problem.

Hope you're mending quickly enough to move towards a clearer mind. :o)

I finished American Gods and was both impressed and disappointed. Gaiman does a wonderful job of weaving lots of characters from different mythologies into his story; my favorite was Mr. Nancy, who reminded me of a Raffi song that we used to sing with the kids when they were little. On the other hand, the book is a long exercise in searching for meaning and figuring out what the key characters are up to and why, and the answer seems inadequate to the effort. Did anyone have a different reaction to it?

I started Death at the President's Lodging, which has been on my list for a long time. After three chapters, I had met the local constable, who explained to the investigator from London that the physical layout had tightly controlled access, "like a story in a submarine." Very little sense of either man, no introduction to the murdered man, no sense of what was going on in the college as a whole... I gave up on this one.

Try the forebearer to Innes in that context -- specifically, An Oxford Tragedy. It might better suit your mood.

>169 Jim53: Of the Appleby books that I've read, I prefer the later to the earlier ones. I have a few in my backlog of books I need to get around to.

>168 Jim53: I think I had about the same reaction as you did to it. Interesting, but it never quite became whatever story I hoped it was becoming.

>172 MrsLee: Yeah, me too. I wanted to like it more than I did.

I just finished Dark Matter and was very impressed. Crouch does a great job of explaining the multiverse concept without going down lots of rabbit holes. He assumes that the reader is familiar with some basic concepts, such as Schrodinger's cat, and then describes the creation of an infinite number of universes that split off with each choice a person makes. Jason Dessen, a physics professor, is kidnapped, drugged, and forced into a parallel universe in which he became an academic star rather than having a family. He must figure out who did this to him (the answer is clear before too long) and how to return to his own world. His devotion to his wife and son are touching; a little more could have been done with the characters beyond that. But the development is reasonable, the underlying premises are nicely explained, the way Jason figures things out seems plausible, and we care what happens. I was a little disappointed to see one key character just disappear, but that's a pretty minor complaint compared to the strengths of the book. Right up there with Ready Player One for my favorite read of 3Q16. Four and a half stars.

Further thoughts on Dark Matter: when switching universes, the characters can walk down a long (in fact, infinite) corridor, with doors every few feet that give access to other universes. This corridor reminded me of the wood between the worlds in The Magician's Nephew. Eventually Jason figures out that his state of mind before he opens the door has a great impact on the nature of the universe that he enters. It occurred to me that this could represent a thought about how our mental/emotional state affects our experience of new books, but beyond that, how it affects our experience of each new situation that we enter. It reminded me of the Anais Nin quote about life shrinking or expanding in proportion to one's courage.

Last night I started a re-read of Cat's Cradle, which my meetup group picked for our next book. I'm afraid the suck fairy may have gotten to his one.

I really enjoyed Dark Matter. I thought it was his most well-rounded book to date. I think what really helped was that he drew such strong characters. Combine that with "the big idea" SF concept and it really makes a good book.

I tried The Killing Kind because it won the Anthony award for best novel. The writing wasn't bad, and some characters were pretty intriguing, but my goodness it was brutally violent. The protagonist is a former black-ops vet who escaped a wartime slaughter and is thought dead; his only friend is the only other survivor. They have broken a code by which mob families call for hits on enemies; our "hero" contacts the intended victims and offers to kill the hitman instead for a price. He's drawn the attention of an FBI agent and also of the mob, who engage another expert to kill him. It all comes together in a predictably bloody denouement.

While picking up something else at the library, I grabbed It's Not Funny If I Have to Explain It, one of Scott Adams's Dilbert collections. It's one of those in which he adds his own comments after each strip, explaining why he likes it or thinks it works. He doesn't comment on the irony of juxtaposing these comments with the title, but he's so into irony that I have to assume that it's intentional. I had already seen about the first third of the strips, but after that there are ones that were new to me, and a few of them are pretty funny, if you like that absurdist workplace humor.

I finished my re-read of Cat's Cradle last night. It picked up a bit, but all the authors and books that have built on early Vonnegut since then have dulled its impact. I love Bokonon, and I guess ice-nine is a clever analog for nuclear weapons. The free-will theme is nicely handled. I'll be interested to see how the rest of my meetup group likes it.

>180 Jim53: I'm glad to hear that as you had me worried! I'd like to reread some of my favorites of KV's without fear at some distant point in the future.

Abby Wambach has long been one of my favorite soccer players. Her memoir, Forward, is a rather slight book but provides lots of detail about her history in sports, her coming out as a lesbian, and her struggles with discipline. She's quite frank about her problems with alcohol and pills and the problems that they caused her. Apparently she managed to switch back and forth between a very focused in-season persona and a very relaxed one, but is still working to find an identity that has the necessary restraint without overwhelming tension. A very public DUI arrest gave her the wake-up call that she needed to accept the need for serious change. She is turning the strong focus that she gave athletics to being a spokesperson for various causes, especially the empowerment of young women. For fans, it's an interesting look at how one star athlete dealt with her demons and also with the challenge of doing meaningful things after retiring.

I've been reading As You Wish, a bullet I took from @SylviaC. It's a memoir by Cary Elwes about the making of the movie The Princess Bride. A fun read!

>183 Jim53: I've been enjoying that, too!

>184 SylviaC: I realized that it was the list in your third thread where I saw As You Wish. I corrected the sharpshooter name above ;-) The Bullet from Marissa was for the vulgar Brontes.

I loved As You Wish. Read it early this year or maybe last year. Well, I listened to it. Fabulous. I wish Andre and Peter were alive to do their parts and dammit why couldn't they get Mandy on the phone?!!

I worked at the library book sale this morning; it went on despite the weather, and we had a very respectable turnout. And of course I rewarded myself with a few purchases:

Better Off Dead - I read it a while back but didn't have a copy. Pacifying my completist self.
Faithless - I bought one of hers at the previous sale and liked it pretty well.
The Neon Rain
Sleep No More
The Underground Man
Voodoo River

I also returned to the library several (borrowed) recent award winners that had been sitting on the shelf asking why I wasn't reading them. I just received my ER book Soulmates, plus a review copy of Moscow Nights, and the library books were just stressing me out. I've just started Moscow Nights} and am enjoying the sense of bleakness that she creates.

doing my best to keep in touch on days i mostly sleer

>188 Esta1923: wonderful to hear from you, Esta!

I tried, I really did. I wanted to like Girl Waits with Gun, which is the November read for my library's mystery group. But after eight chapters it was still speeding along like molasses, so I gave up. Maybe I can rejoin them in December.

Oh well, I'm looking forward to the discussion of Cat's Cradle at tonight's meetup group.

>190 Jim53: Girl Waits With Gun was sort of clunky. I think what got me through it was knowing that these were real people and events happening.

>191 MrsLee: yeah, I was thinking about that as I read, but in my case it didn't help. I think I might be becoming a less patient reader. I am having to adjust to spending a lot less time reading now that I've returned to work.

It's also taken me a long time to review my copy of Ellen Crosby's Moscow Nights. I finally went back and looked at some sections again to refresh my memory. The book is wonderfully atmospheric and I enjoyed several of the characters. Good bits of the story are based on Ellen's journal from time that she spent working in Moscow for ABC News in the early 90s.

I'm about halfway through my ER book, Soulmates. Unfortunately it's hard to tell when she's being satirical and when she's being earnest. But the story is interesting and I'm not having any trouble sticking with it.

I finished Soulmates and concocted a review. It's an interesting book, in that I'm not entirely sure what she's up to. The ending doesn't match the expectations that I had as I read the book. I would say that it raises some interesting questions, but I'm not sure that's true, other than why she wrote this particular story. If anyone else reads it I'll be interested in your comments.

Having failed to connect with Girl Waits with Gun, I jumped ahead to my mystery club's December book, Ten Lords a-Leaping. I had not previously encountered Reverend Tom Christmas, and I find him rather enjoyable.

>196 Jim53: Is this Reverend Tom Christmas someone I need to be aware of? I love his name.

>197 MrsLee: I'll let you know when I've read further. So far I like him. There's one point where he's introducing himself and the other person says, "You're Father--" and Tom insists, "Mr. Christmas. Or Tom. Or just Vicar. Not..."

:D

>198 Jim53: *snork*

Finally finished page 484 of Ten Lords a-Leaping. I wonder what the book would have lost by cutting 100 pages. The story is sound, and the writing isn't bad, but I had trouble distinguishing the male peers from one another. Tom Christmas is a fun amateur sleuth, but his collaboration with Jane doesn't go much of anywhere. I don't know if i would have liked it better if I had read the first two in the series. 3.5 stars.

I'm in the middle of The Trespasser, Tana French's sixth Dublin Murder Squad mystery. It's a solid entry, with a conflicted narrator and a case that looks as if it should be straightforward but has troubling elements. Once again I'm enjoying the Irish slang and the byplay between the partners.

Funny. I just started the audio for The Trespasser this morning.

>203 Bookmarque: how do they differentiate (if you can tell) between "shite" and "shit"? I assume from context that "shite" is considered less vulgar, but I have no idea how it's pronounced.

In all the books it's shite. Long I not a short I. Same meaning and just as vulgar though, I suspect.

>204 Jim53: The first rhymes with "white", the second with "hit".

>205 Bookmarque: >206 hfglen: thanks!

>207 Jim53: Now you know your shit.

>208 pgmcc: LOL. Now I can cross that off my bucket list.

>209 Jim53: What's in the bucket?

>210 pgmcc: a hole.

More seriously, one of the items is to visit your fair country, from which my father's parents emigrated to this one.

>211 Jim53: I hope that when you make that trip we will have the opportunity of meeting and that we can imbibe a liquid beverage of your choosing in an establishment that we can pretend is The Green Dragon Pub.

>212 pgmcc: I hope so too. And if we're both there we won't even have to pretend, right?

Last night I started Just Mercy, which is the book chosen for "Meeting reads," an annual process at our Friends meeting. It's in the form of a memoir, describing Stevenson's experiences as a legal intern and later a lawyer, working for justice for death-row prisoners in the South. So far it's pretty compelling reading.

I've been re-reading Neon Rain a bit at a time and finished it off. I read it eight years ago with a book club, but I didn't remember it at all, except that the protagonist was an alcoholic cop. I also wanted to see why Burke is so well regarded as a writer. His portrait of Dave Robicheaux is sorta Elmore Leonard-ish, with minimal explanation as to his motives. Dave seems to get away with more extracurricular activity than I would expect a policeman to be allowed. I kinda liked Burke's recounting of the smells of various places, but I haven't upgraded my original assessment of the book, which is three stars.

Just Mercy is quite wonderful. I need to formulate my thoughts before posting more of a reaction. This was a very good week to be reading it.

After finishing Just mercy I started the new Guy Kay, Children of Earth and Sky. It's got a lot of his usual tropes, strengths, and weaknesses; the biggest thing I've noticed so far is that there isn't a primary character who grabs your attention. It's more like a book version of Hill Street Blues (I meant that only in the sense of being more of an ensemble piece, but several characters need to heed Sgt. Esterhaus's iconic advice).

>217 Jim53: Is Children of Earth and Sky a stand-alone or is it part of a series? I can't commit to anything running to 3 volumes....

>218 jillmwo: especially not three Kay doorstoppers, right? It appears to be a standalone; there are no indications that it's part of a planned series. It's set in the same world as many of his novels, particularly the two Sarantium books; it appears to be hundreds of years after the time of Crispin, Petrus, Alixana, et al.

>219 Jim53:, well, I've added it to the TBR then. I do enjoy Kay's stuff. I just know that my brain isn't up to any real challenges consisting as you say of three volumes....

>220 jillmwo: I ended up being a bit disappointed in this one. He seems to rely on references to his previous novels to give the "real" fans little frissons of excitement. There isn't really a primary character, and there aren't the sort of moving scenes that you see in many of his books. It moves along pretty smoothly, and I like a couple of the characters pretty well, but it's nowhere near his best.

Hoping that all who celebrate Thanksgiving have had a wonderful holiday, and that others have had a wonderful ordinary day. We had twelve of us together, four generations, and a wonderful visit.

I just added the last couple of books that I finished, and I see that I'm at 95 for the year. My current read, The Boys in the Boat, is pretty long, but I still might be able to finish it and four more this year. That would be far and away the most I've read since I started keeping track.

>201 Jim53: I found this on sale yesterday at Amazon, .99 seemed like a good price to take a chance on it. Apparently my mother is enjoying it, she was 25% into it when I told her I had added it to her Kindle!

>224 MrsLee: I hope she enjoys it. It will certainly keep her going for a while.

Finally finished The Boys in the Boat. It's an interesting story of the U of Washington rowing team in the 1930s, their rivalry with the team at U of California, national championships, 1936 Berlin Olympics, etc. Lots of background about the coaches and team members, and also about what was happening in Germany. Parts of it read like a novel; in an author's note, Brown (who is an LT author) explains that he had extended access to Joe Rantz, the primary viewpoint character, as well as the children of Rantz and other members of the team, enabling him to describe scenes and emotions that could be known only by the participants or their confidants. In describing the histories of many of the key characters, and their lives after graduation, the book reminded me of another that I read earlier this this year, The Secret Game, which was set a few years later. Four stars.

>226 Jim53: Both of those sound like possible Christmas gifts for my son! Thanks for the recommendations. (He's somewhat difficult to satisfy at times.)

>227 jillmwo: I'll be delighted if he likes one of these. I found The Secret Game somewhat easier to get into, since it's set here in town and I have extensive experience with basketball. On the other hand, The Boys in the Boat introduced me to a world into which I had never looked, and it was interesting to learn about how it works, what excellence demands, etc.

I keep forgetting to ask how you're feeling. Are you back to normal yet? Your normal, that is. ;o)

229> Thanks for asking, and for recognizing that my normal isn't necessarily anyone else's ;-)

My knee is progressing quite well; the primary remaining issue is that I still run out of gas by late afternoon almost every day. My ortho says that's to be expected for a couple more months, "because of the extreme violence that I did to your body," so while I'm not enjoying it, it's not making me worry.

How about you, my dear? I've been glad to see you back posting after a bit of an absence. Hope all is as well as possible.

>230 Jim53: Glad to hear you're making progress! Have you tried a nice cup of tea around 2:00?

I'm okay. Thank you for asking. Taking much longer to readjust to my life as it is now than I had expected it to. Baby steps, right? :o) I am glad to be back on here more often.

Just finished my most recent Early Review book, Clownfish Blues, and found it pretty uninspiring. Casual cruelty is not a good basis for humor, for me. The idea of riffing on the old TV show Route 66 sounded promising, but no dice. It may have suffered because I read it right after the latest installments in two of my favorite series, The Champagne Conspiracy and A Great Reckoning. I haven't yet found (or made) the time to give them the reviews they deserve, but both were among my favorite books of this year.

Clownfish Blues was my 99th book of the year. I've been looking at my shelves to see what to read next, but the best candidates are very long. I need to re-read Bruno, Chief of Police, which I read just a couple of years ago but don't remember at all. It's the January book for my library's mystery book club and I want to return it soon so someone else can read it. I've been picking up lots of ideas from various best-of-2016 lists, so even more than usual, I won't run out of stuff that I'm eager to read. Any votes for any of these?

Stephen King, 11/22/63
Barbara Kingsolver, The Poisonwood Bible
Michael Chabon, The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay
Matthew Desmond, Evicted
Jandy Nelson, The Sky Is Everywhere
Megan Abbott, You Will Know Me
Peter May, The Blackhouse

If my request for The Polar Bear comes in in time, that might be my last book of the year.

Oh The Blackhouse is fab. And so is 11/23/63, but for different reasons. It's more romantic, the former, more bleak.

>232 Jim53: I can give a hearty thumbs up to the first three on your list. None of them are short, though!

I haven't read Megan Abbott's newest title -- You Will Know Me -- but what I have read of hers has usually been pretty good.

>234 clamairy: That's why they're still on the list! Maybe over the holidays...

>235 jillmwo: Looked for it at the library today, no luck. Trying a different branch tomorrow. I did pick up Hank's new one today, so that might be next.

>233 Bookmarque: Thanks! I got into the queue for it.

I enjoyed Bruno, Chief of Police more than I remembered from reading it a few years ago. The title is ironic, since he's the only policeman in his small town. He's quite the Renaissance man, too, including teaching tennis to local children and apparently being a gourmet chef. Or are all Frenchmen like that? Bruno does a great job of using his judgment and intimate knowledge of the locals to keep things on an even keel, and pursues odd angles to solve a disturbing murder. Walker keeps the tone pretty light, and the story moves along quickly. Upgrading to four stars.

The more I see about Bruno, Chief of Police, the more tempting it seems. I've been avoiding starting new mystery series, but it does sound good.

>238 SylviaC: I haven't read any more of this series yet, and Mt. Tooby is already so high that I don't know when I would get to them. But this re-read has raised my interest a bit.

>237 Jim53: I'm glad you enjoyed it more. This is a series I am collecting, I love them that much (I don't collect Christie or Hillerman, even though I enjoy them).

>240 MrsLee: hmmm. That's raising my interest too. Maybe I'll get back to Walker sooner than I thought ;-)

>237 Jim53: I know that I reviewed the first Bruno book on one of my reading threads here in the Pub (and enjoyed it) but I haven't had time to go back and read all the titles in the series.

I've been reading Peace Is Every Step a few pages at a time. It would feel odd to hurry through it. I'm working on using some of his recommended techniques to slow myself down and stay in the present. It might even be working a little.

Finished another one that I had started at work, The Underground Man. This is my first Lew Archer in forty years, and I can't say I remember the previous one or two well. The characters aren't much in comparison with more recent fiction, but the first-person narration has a few nice touches.

Based on several enthusiastic comments, I picked up the YA novel The Sky Is Everywhere. I really like Len's voice and her thoughts about literary characters. I think I'll stick with if, at least for a bit.

I'm enjoying The Sky Is Everywhere quite a bit. Thinking back to when I was seventeen, I didn't have her language for seeing and expressing her experience of the world, but I hadn't had her experiences either. And you gotta love (or at least I do) a book that contains the sentence, "Heathcliff must be a total freaking boner boy."

The Sky Is Everywhere is a wonderful read. Great fun.

So is the new Jane-and-Jake novel, Say No More. Ryan does a great job of juggling several intersecting stories with numerous characters. One way she handles this is by identifying the viewpoint character at the beginning of each chapter or section, which works pretty well.

Still travelling but will work on reviews Real Soon Now. Looking forward to reading a couple of new books that we just acquired.

Back home for Maryland and glad to be here. It was wonderful to see the whole family, including the Texas branch, whom we see less frequently than the others. Exhausting, though!

We discovered a lovely bookstore in Frederick called The Curious Iguana. It's small but has a great layout and lots of interesting-looking books. We picked up a copy of Being Mortal, which we've both been wanting to read.

Then my particularly perspicacious sister gave me a copy of In Sunlight or in Shadow, which is a collection of short stories inspired by the paintings of Edward Hopper. Each story is preceded by a color image of the relevant painting. The collection is edited by Lawrence Block and includes stories by Michael Connelly, Joyce Carol Oates, Stephen King, and many more. I'm looking forward to savoring these in the new year.

Having been alerted by @jillmwo, I added my five best reads of 2016 to the list:

https://www.librarything.com/list/11172/Jim53/

My next five were probably just as good ;-)

Have you added yours?

Looks as if my last book of the year is Murder 101. I don't expect to finish any others, so the ones I have in progress will go on next year's list. Which I hope will be a lot shorter than this year's list. I read 104 books this year, largely because of medical issues that gave me a lot of time to fill. I suspect next year I'll get back into my usual 50-75 range.

Murder 101 used one technique that I appreciated: one of the "bad guys" made a mistake, which led him to ransack a professor's office, kidnap her briefly, and throw a murder investigation into confusion, causing the police to focus on the wrong thing. I'm sure this has been done many times, but I was particularly impressed with Barbieri's use of it.

More annual statistics tomorrow, then it's on to next year. Hope everyone has a fun and safe New Year's Eve.

Not gonna bother with statistics. Looking forward rather than backward.

>251 Jim53: Good moto!

Happy New Year!