What are you reading the week of October 21, 2017?

Work is still dominating my time, but I managed to slip in enough reading time to finish Annihilation by Jeff VanderMeer. It's the first volume of the "Southern Reach" trilogy. I am unlikely to read the other books in the series. Some people have classified it as part of the "new weird" fiction. It's all mood and tone with little or no substance. It's about as satisfying as eating some giant frothy confection which collapses into nothingness as soon as you take a bite.

Still reading Fortress in the Eye of Time, The Snowman, and The Wind in His Heart.

Enjoying Akata Witch and Murder in Grub Street.

I have started back into Family Matters by Rohinton Mistry and I am finding it be be an enjoyable read, a simple story written magnificently by a master writer.

I'm reading Seven stones to stand or fall: a collection of Outlander fiction by Diana Gabaldon.

At work I am re-reading Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. I work in a call centre and today I had ten calls in eight hours, so there was lots of time to read.

At home I have just begun reading Darkly Dreaming Dexter by Jeff Lindsay. So far I'm enjoying it very much.

I'm reading Every Man Dies Alone by Hans Fallada, about ordinary German resistance in Berlin during WWII, and Katy Tur's Unbelievable: My Front-Row Seat to the Craziest Campaign in American History.

> #7 copper, I thpught Fallada's book was fantastic! Enjoy!

Just finished The Bear and The Nightingale by Katherine Arden.

Now to finish listening to The Preacher by Camilla Lackberg.

Finished The Snowman by Jo Nesbø. Really enjoyed it.

Next into the rotation is Vallista by Steven Brust.

Listening to Tom Jones by Henry Fielding while trying to unvarnish a floor - sixteen hours of the audiobook to go and it'll be interesting to see which task is finished first...

Currently I am reading The Train to Crystal City about WWII family internment camps.

I finished Jesmyn Ward's Salvage the Bones and now I'm reading Decca Aitkenhead's memoir, All at Sea.

Reading Robert Caro's The Power Broker: Robert Moses and the Fall of New York. Fascinating stuff and +1200 pages long. I'm picking and choosing chapters but it's so compelling, I might end up reading the whole thing!

Currently reading The Address by Fiona Davis and Salvage The Bones by Jesmyn Ward

I'm nearly done with the excellent Whistling Vivaldi, and also reading a Poldark, The Loving Cup, The Punch Escrow, and A Murder in Grub Street.

I finished Good Booty: Love and Sex, Black and White, Body and Soul in American Music. The title describes the book accurately. I might not always agree or understand the choices of what to include and the interpretations, I did agree with most and found it a very interesting sociological analysis of American sex and race.

Murder in the Paperback Parlor – Ellery Adams
Digital audiobook read by Johanna Parker
2**

Number two in the “Book Retreat Mysteries” series set in Storyton Hall, “the perfect getaway for literature lovers.” Well, it’s perfect except when there’s a murder during the romance readers event being held on this weekend. Some Valentine’s Day adventure!

This has all the elements of a typical cozy mystery: an amateur sleuth, a “cute” occupation / back story, a little romantic tension, and more suspects than you can shake a stick at. In this case the victim is a world-renowned romance writer, with as many enemies as she has admirers. Among the suspects are fellow writers (jealous of her success), a former lover, and several angry fans.

The premise of Storyton Hall, however, lost me a little – most likely because I had not read the first book in the series. In addition to public rooms, there’s a secret library of rare first editions, that only a select few people have access to, and which they are sworn to protect – a sort of secret society of knights / crusaders / protectors. Once I caught on, some aspects made a little more sense, but in general I thought the book was just ‘meh.’

I did love all the references to books, however. I think I’ll go back and read book # 1 before I give final judgment on the series.

Johanna Parker does a good job of voicing the audio book, but her performance couldn’t overcome the book’s flaws.

>4 aussieh: I loved A Fine Balance ... I should read more of Mistry's work.

Norwegian By Night – Derek B Miller
4****

Eighty-two-year-old Sheldon Horowitz is widowed and grudgingly agrees to leave his New York apartment to move with his granddaughter, Rhea, and her husband, Lars, to Oslo, Norway. Alone in their shared apartment he witnesses an argument between the woman upstairs and an aggressive man. On an impulse Sheldon grabs the woman’s young son, and flees with him form this violent scene. Neither of them speak Norwegian, nor do they speak a common language, but somehow Sheldon communicates that he will keep this boy, whom he calls Paul, safe.

What an unlikely hero! Though it is never named or specifically diagnosed, Sheldon clearly suffers PTSD from his service in Korea, as a Marine sharp-shooter – a military history he has kept from his family. He also carries a heavy burden of guilt for the death of his only son, Saul, who died in serving in Vietnam, presumably to gain his father’s admiration as a warrior. Now, Sheldon is a frail, shadow of his former self; isolated by language and by dreams / fugue states that are every bit as real to Sheldon as reality.

I marveled at his inventiveness and boldness in finding his way, eluding both the bad guys and the police. My heart about stopped several times, when Sheldon, Paul and/or Rhea faced dangerous situations.

The book is also full of many humorous scenes that serve to lessen the tension. Even the bad guys fall into comic situations. (Hasn’t a love of cinnamon buns been everyone’s downfall at some point?)

Miller also gives us wonderful supporting characters. Police Chief Inspector Sigrid Odegard has few scenes, but she makes an impact – strong, resourceful, a born leader, and courageous. Her colleague Petter Hansen is the quintessential quiet detective; he pays attention to small oddities and ferrets out information that others might disregard as unimportant.

And Paul. He is a completely silent character, never saying a word, and yet Miller gives us such a clear picture of him. Frightened, isolated by language and culture, unaware of who this giant American grandfather is or why he’s doing so, Paul goes along with Sheldon. He doesn’t complain, he doesn’t balk as what he’s asked to do, he simply trusts that Sheldon knows what should be done. And he clearly feels safe with the old man.

This is a wonderful debut, and I’m eager to read more by Miller.

The Pride of the Yankees: Lou Gehrig, Gary Cooper, and the Making of a Classic
Richard Sandomir
3.5/5 stars
When I was young, I fell in love with black and white films, mostly James Cagney films and The Thin Man series which led me into other films from the 30's and 40's including The Pride of the Yankees. When I found this book, I was excited to read about the making of the film. Who didn't cry at the end of this film when Gehrig/Cooper says his memorable line - "I consider myself the luckiest man on the face of the earth." Sandomir does a nice job relating what is known about Gehrig and his death- unfortunately there is a lot of gaps in the story. No complete footage of the famous line was ever found if even recorded. There are even gaps in the story of the making of the film but still it was an interesting book about Gehrig, his relationships with his wife and mother and the making of the film and Sam Goldwyn’s involvement in getting the film produced. Definitely a book for film fans. I have ordered the film from the library since I haven't seen it in years and I think that it needs to be seen if you read the book or are contemplating reading the book.

I have finished Harry Potter #5 on my fourth or fifth re-read of the series, and am now engrossed in Harry Potter #6, The Half-Blood Prince.

I'm reading The Spy: A Novel of Mata Hari by Paulo Coelho for my book club. The writing seems bland but I'm trying to keep in mind that it's translated.

>19 BookConcierge:, I read Norwegian by Night awhile back and really enjoyed it. I love when I get a book which completely surprises me, in a good way, and makes me want more.

Almost finishing The Wheel of Time series, already half way through Towers of Midnight. So far, loving it! Robert Jordan and Brandon Sanderson are just ... awesome!!!

>25 flaviaar:. Way to go! I loved that series, too, and Sanderson wraps it up really well. It’s no shortie!

Finished Tom Jones and still unvarnishing the floor - excellent audiobook for an interminable mindless task. Bill Homewood was a very good narrator. Just started Metroland by Julian Barnes on audiobook and so far so good - this five hour listen might see the floor out.

Also started reading George Orwell's Keep the Aspidistra Flying - it's surprisingly readable and even a bit amusing. Haven't opened my non-fiction read The Highland Clearances by John Prebble because RL has been testing enough this month without getting agitated over historic injustice.

I am reading the excellent Harper Collins Olive Edition of Devil in the Grove by Gilbert King.

Finished Vallista by Steven Brust. Easy, enjoyable read.

Next into the rotation is Norwegian by Night by Derek B. Miller.

Have started reading Marcel Proust's "Swann's way: Volume 1 of Remembrance of Things Past" - mainly because it's listed everywhere as one of the classics you have to read some time in your life. Found it slow going at first - due to Proust's writing style, where every sentence seems to be half a page in length. It does take some concentration and patience but I'm now finding it much more rewarding. His descriptions and musing on life in a provincial French town are beautiful, incredibly detailed and often amusing.

>12 mollygrace: I also liked Salvage the Bones and also her memoir Men We Reaped. I am waiting for her latest novel Sing, Unburied, Sing to come off hold at the library.

I finished Decca Aitkenhead's memoir, All at Sea, and now I'm reading Lincoln in the Bardo by George Saunders.

Finished Metroland audiobook though the DIY goes on. Starting a new audiobook - Wild Swans by Jung Chang.

Just finished Northwest Angle by William Kent Krueger and am starting the next in the series Trickster's Point

I just finished reading African-American Inventions That Changed The World: Influential Inventors and Their Revolutionary Creations by Michael A. Carson. Great fact based read, enjoyable yet informative.

The new thread is up over here.