September 2010 What Are We Reading

Thought I would start a thread for a new month.

Reading Indian Bride by Karin Fossum and loving it.

The Language of Bees by Laurie R. King.

Find it later post.

Currently reading the Victorian murder mystery Tom Wasp and the Murdered Stunner by Amy Myers.

Tackling Blasphemy this month...so far, so good...but there's quite a lot of it.

Damsels in Distress by Joan Hess.

Just finished Roast Mortem

My first Hamish Macbeth, Death of a Poison Pen. Sweet.

BeckyJG. I finished Death of a Maid by M.C. Beaton. It was also good. Couple extra twists in it.

Just about to start Breaking Faith by Jo Bannister - I've read a couple of hers so far and they're excellent!

Because it will fit for two of my LT challenges I'm now reading The Vesuvius Club by Mark Gatiss.

Currently Reading: The Case of the Gilded Fly - Edmund Crispin

I picked up Stray Dogs by John Ridley at the library the other day, I started reading and then recognized that it had been made into a movie called "U Turn" a few years ago.

In the Woods by Tana French

Just finished Death is now my Neighbour by Colin Dexter, leaving me one more to go which I'll try strenuously to get around to this month, unless I get sent round the world on a ship.

I just finished The Parisian Prodigal by Alan Gordon, and I'm starting Blackwork by Monica Ferris.

Just finished I'd Know You Anywhere, by Laura Lippman, my Early Reviewer book from July, and started reading Damaged by Alex Kava, from the library so I put a couple others I had started on hold.

Just couldn't get into The Grave Tattoo by Val McDermid. It came highly recommended by some LTers, but I didn't find any of the characters interested me. However McDermid's descriptions of The Lakes District landscapes, villages, etc. were vivid.

I've high hopes of another LT recommended book: The Brutal Telling by Louise Penny which I'll crack open today.

I'm starting Bury Your Dead, the sequel to The Brutal Telling. Cannot WAIT!

I haven't had a chance to post here lately, due to my book choices, but I did begin The City and the City. This is my first Mieville and I love it so far.

Wanting Sheila Dead by Jane Haddam

>21 msf59: The City and the City was . . . well, interesting! Would like to hear what you think about it when you finish it.

I started The President Vanishes, a non-Nero Wolfe by Rex Stout. I got bored with it, but I'm still reading it. So I also started Harmful Intent by Baine Kerr, which I am finding much more enjoyable than the Stout. I'd never heard of this author - found the book while browsing for some more Philip Kerr.

Finished "State Fair" (Benni Harper #14) by Earlene Fowler.
Started "The Virgin of Small Plains" by Nancy Pickhard.

I'm reading Death of a Squire for the Reading Through Time challenge this month. If you like reading historical fiction or even non-fiction, you're welcome to check out our group, http://www.librarything.com/groups/readingthroughtime. It's a TIOLI type challenge. This month we're doing Royalty as a theme and next month is 1930s. Lots of great mysteries that fit in either category!

>19 Thrin:, 20

I just finished A Brutal Telling, another excellent Penny. But I've missed the 3rd and 4th, so I still have those to look forward to. I believe it was your review of Still Life that led me to it, richardderus. So thank you for some amazing, rich reads!

>26 littleshell: Just wait until you get to Bury Your Dead...!

About to start on The Woman in Black by Susan Hill

Crow Stone by Jenni Mills. Not only a good mystery/thriller so far, but I'm learning about quarries, and old mines as well. Some passages leave me a bit breathless and claustrophobic though, when the protagonist goes down into those deep, dark, dank tunnels. It's quite boogerish in places.

I just started Faithful Place by Tana French. I haven't read her other work, but I've heard such great things, especially about this one.

I envy you, richardderus! Can't wait to get my hands on Bury Your Dead.

Next up for me is a new thriller, The Killer by Tom Hinshelwood.

I just downloaded Sometimes A Great Commotion (A Devil's Harbor Mystery) by Carolyn J Rose and Mike Nettleton. I loved The Big Grabowski and am looking forward to the newest installation in their humorous mystery series set in a quirky coastal Oregon town.

I am reading Elmore Leonard's Tishomingo Blues. This is the first crime/mystery novel of his that I have read, up to now, I have only read some of his westerns. Of course, looking at the list of all he has written, I see many movies that I have enjoyed over the years.

Just started Darkly Dreaming Dexter by Jeff Lindsay. I've never seen the show, but I have an idea what it's about.

Far Cry by John Harvey.

I finished Harmful Intent by Baine Kerr. This guy must know the name of every bird and plant in North America! To me, a 'different' kind of legal thriller. I really enjoyed it.

Halfway through The Coroner by MR Hall - a very impressive debut indeed, and I'm looking forward to getting my paws on the follow-up, The Disappeared.

Add my name to the ranks of Louise Penny. Thanks to LT posters I've discovered the wonderful world of Three Pines.

Keep those recommendations coming. This is the greatest community for readers.

The Queen of Patpong, the latest Poke Rafferty from Tim Hallinan. Boy is he good.

I've reviewed and recommended the grim, cold, exciting follow-up to "Child 44"...The Secret Speech is a terrible (in the original sense) thrill ride!

>40 richardderus: Richard, good to know - I LOVED Child 44! I've been wondering about the follow-up, sometimes when the first is so good I worry that the next one can't hold up.

>41 she_climber: She, the second is the equal of the first, though there are some plot points that made me want to shake the characters involved and scream "WHAT ARE YOU, CRAZY?!?"

I like books that make me holler at the characters, not the author or the editor.

I've finished and reviewed Bury Your Dead in my thread...post #186.

What else need I say? You've either already drunk from Penny's Kool-Aid and are on the Three Pines Express, or you're a mutant alien from a galaxy where life is silicon-based and therefore don't get it.

reading A big boy did it and ran away

Other things have cut into my reading time, so I'm slowly making my way thru Sara Paretsky's Killing Orders. Kind of a different experience to not be zipping thru a book I em enjoying.

#43> You've either already drunk from Penny's Kool-Aid and are on the Three Pines Express...

Oh, that cracked me up. I'm yet to drink the Kool-Aid, but I've got Three Pines close to the top of the ever-changing Mt TBR.

Reading Fire and Ice by J.A. Jance which bring together the protagonists from both her series. For some f reason I have always liked the J.P. Beaumont books, but could never get into the Joanna Brady ones and that is proving true in this book as well.

Finished "The Virgin of Small Plains" by Nancy Pickard, and starting "Eight Days to Live" by Iris Johansen

#47 quartzite,
I read/enjoyed "Fire and Ice" (J A Jance) earlier this summer. I enjoy both of the JA Jance series. I've lived in Seattle and in the (US) desert Southwest, so the settings fro the two series are familiar to me. Her third, recently introduced, 'Ali Reynolds' series has gotten better with each title.

I've just started reading The Man Who Went Up In Smoke by Sjowall & Wahloo. I first read some of this series in the 1970s, although I have long since forgotten the plots. I'm enjoying the thoughtful nature of the approach to crime, which was much more unusual then than it is now. I can't help thinking this series must have influenced Henning Mankell's Kurt Wallander books.

Just starting the second Reacher book die trying by Lee Child.

I finished The Crime Writer and enjoyed it. I didn't absolutely love it, but it was a good story with a great opening.

I finished The City and the City. It was my first Mieville and it was excellent. I started an arc of The Devotion of Suspect X by Keigo Higashino. It's a Japanese crime novel and it looks promising. Anyone else heard of this guy?

The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson.

Thoroughly enjoying Louise Penny's Bury Your Dead.

I am reading The Cold Dish by Craig Johnson. This is the first in a series about a small town Wyoming Sheriff. I am really liking this one!

>DQ - I have The Cold Dish waiting in the stacks, after hearing some good buzz on this series. Hope you enjoy it!

The Janus Stone by Elly Griffiths. So far, not too impressed.

I am reading Citizen Vince by Jess Walter for one of my book groups. So far it is light and enjoyable, quirky and sweet. About a low level crook who has problems in Witness Protection.

I saw the book about Patpong in the store. It interests me because I have a non-fiction book about the place, a woman's thesis on the study she did of the sex workers there Patpong Sisters.

I have not read any of the series or the author but may check it out when it goes into paper.

I've just started Agatha Christie's first,The Mysterious Affair at Styles.

Ficus- I've heard such good things about Jess Walter. I have Citizen Vance and another of his, waiting in the stacks!

Hard Girls By Martina Cole. A really good thriller . Good English crime,far far from cosy. If you have not tried her i reccomend them.

Gave up on he lame The Janus Stone and am now reading the infinitely better Tropic of Night by Michael Gruber.

#57 -Mark, I wouldn't leave The Cold Dish on the stacks for long, it's really good. I'm excited about the start of an exciting new series!

Getting ready to start The Nursing Home Murder by Ngaio Marsh.

Halfway through Drowned Hopes by Donald E. Westlake, and can't stop giggling!

Rereading Tinker, tailor, soldier, spy.

Reading The Blessing Way

#67 I should so re-read Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy. This is the best one in the Smiley versus Karla trilogy.

>59 FicusFan: Citizen Vince--and the other two books by Jess Walter I've read--was wonderful. Funny, sweet, kind of dark, full of heart--I'm a big fan.

I hope, also, you'll look at Tim Hallinan's Bangkok books. Although I've read all four of them in order (because I read them as they come out), and although there is certainly some character and ongoing plotline development along the way, The Queen of Patpong would do very nicely as a stand alone. He does a really wonderful job of describing the bar/bar girl culture.

I'm on a John Lescroart binge right now. I finished The Mercy Rule and started The Second Chair last night. I didn't much like the first Lescroart I read—I think it was mostly an Abe Glitsky book—but the second one was better, and I'm trying to read the series.

Labors of Hercules by Agatha Christie was good fun; a collection of short Hercule Poirot mysteries with links to the old mythology.

Now I've started her Destination Unknown, which I understand is somewhat of a departure for her.

Reading And Justice there is None by Deborah Crombie and enjoying it a lot. Wonderful sense of place and interesting characters. This one is set in London.

Have finally picked up The Talented Mr Ripley by Patricia Highsmith. It's been languishing unread on Mt TBR for years, for some unknown reason. (Well, maybe because I buy too many books...)

I am about 1/2 way through Mr. Peanut by Adam Ross and enjoying it very much. More of a psychological thriller. Haven't yet figured out who the murderer is, or even if there has been a murder.

I just started Coyote Wind by Peter Bowen

Curse of the Pogo Stick by Colin Cotterill

Just finished "Eight Days to Live" by Iris Johansen...interesting mystery/thriller spin-off featuring recurring characters introduced earlier in the series, although, some sections read more like a romance &/or fantasy novels (BTW, Iris Johansen started out writing "romance" novels)

#73 Thrin
Glad you liked "And Justice There Is None". Deborah Crombie is one of my favorite authors..I've read the entire series, including her recent (2009) "Necessary As Blood". While waiting for here next novel to be published, I enjoy visiting her website and her Facebook pages.

Just finished Dead Sea by Brian Keene. A thumbs down compared to a couple of his other books, Terminal and Ghoul being my favorites.

Will be starting Event this weekend by David Lynn Golemon.

First time reading him.

I finished Citizen Vince by Jess Walter and enjoyed it.

Since then I have also read several other mysteries:

Chapter and Hearse by Lorna Barrett, Closet Confidential by Mary Jane Maffini, The Silent Hour by Michael Koryta.

Enjoyed them all.

I finished and very much enjoyed The Devotion of Suspect X, a terrific Japanese crime novel. I just started The Spies of Warsaw. I've heard such good things about
Alan Furst, it's about time I give him a try and so far I really like his style.

Nearly done with Still Life by Louise Penny.

I finished, and enjoyed, my romp with The Talented Mr Ripley. Unfortunately, the movie was a bit omnipresent in my mind (and I haven't even seen it!). Shame, it would have been more fun going into it cold.

Now moving on to Gorky Park, which is another book I've been meaning to read for years (or even decades, in this case). I have seen the movie adaptation, but so long ago that I can't remember much, apart from it being set in Russia. :)

Just into The Garden of Evil by David Hewson. Have read the others in his Nic Costa series and have enjoyed. They're set in Italy and, besides great scenery, you get a little art history thrown in, too.

Wookie- It's been at least 25 years since I read Gorky Park but it's an excellent thriller. I think I read the 1st three in the series and they are all terrific!

Just finished Bad Moon on the Rise, the sixth Casey Jones myustery by Durham writer Katy Munger, and wrote the first LT review of it. Those who have enjoyed the bodacious Casey's adventures so far will enjoy this one.

I read Faceless Killers, the first Kurt Wallander mystery, for my book club. Was a bit disappointed by the writing and by the flatness of almost all the characters other than Wallander himself.

Death at La Fenice by Donna Leon. About halfway through and enjoying it, but not enough that I can't be distracted by other books.

Storee, the series gets much, much better.

Ficus ~ I read one of the later mysteries in the series (on your recommendation) and agree. It was so good I wanted to go back and start at the beginning. (I am loving the descriptions of modern Venice especially!)

In keeping with the theme of reading thrillers published a while ago, I started The Key to Rebecca by Ken Follett. I liked his Eye of the Needle way back when and thought I'd try this one.

Joe- I loved the first 3 books by Follett! They were all highly enjoyable but then I didn't pick him up again for over 20 years and that was for Pillars. Have you read any Alan Furst? I'm really enjoying The Spies of Warsaw.

Mark, I am only 30 pages into Gorky Park but it's quite unputdownable already!

I've also got Death at La Fenice on Mt TBR, hoping to get to that one before I have too many more gray hairs!

Just read San Andreas (don't bother).

I finished The Eagle Catcher over the weekend and just started On This Rockne

I've started Compulsion by Meyer Levin.

Finally read the first of the Three Pine Mysteries, Still Life after months of procrastination.

My review is here,

http://www.librarything.com/review/64753842

Or my 75 Books Challenge thread here,

http://www.librarything.com/topic/98949

Just finished A Spy by Nature by Charles Cumming - pretty good for a debut novel, although I thought the ending was weak.

Almost finished with The Case of the Missing Servant by Tarquin Hall...preliminarily, though, I just want to mention that those who didn't like Hercule Poirot would do well to skip this series.

Finished Gorky Park and thought it was quite excellent. Apparently the library has book 2 (Polar Star) on the shelves, and I shall be searching for it next visit!

>those who didn't like Hercule Poirot would do well to skip this series

and conversely? If I like Poirot I should like this series. I read someone else very recently who liked this series and we usually like the same mysteries.

I am reading Red Leaves by Paullina Simons. An interesting mystery about the death of a college student in Vermont.

I'm still slogging through The President Vanishes (trying to read at least one section/chapter a day), and I am also having trouble getting into The Second Angel, a Sci Fi Thriller.

I am reading Harbor Ice by K.D. Mason. It is set on the NH seacoast.

Review of The Case of the Missing Servant posted in my thread...#200.

I doubt Tarquin Hall would like it much, but I think it's a fair and balanced presentation.

>103 FicusFan: hi Ficus!

Almost finished The First Cut by Peter Robinson. Fortunately I've read others by this author so shall continue to seek out his Inspector Banks series in spite of this rather disappointing novel.

Have to say, though, that I did like the setting: Yorkshire coastal towns in the seventies or early eighties I think. Very good feeling of place.

Am starting Terra Incognita, the second in the Gaius Petreius Ruso series by Ruth Downie. I snagged the third in the series, Persona Non Grata, from the LT Early Review program for July and of course had to read the first two in the series before I could start the third.

Edited to set out correct month.

Hi Richard !

Im investigateing the malice in maggody. so far it seems to be Hazzard County without the car chases

Have just picked up The Sign of Four, the second Sherlock Holmes mystery.

I finished Harbor Ice by K.D. Mason.

It wasn't terrible, but the author includes too much when dealing with each character so there are no questions left unanswered, or to discover as the story progresses. It makes the people seem unreal and the story a bit amateurish.

The main character doesn't have a real job, and so its just a series of doing the same things over and over.

I like books set locally, but there isn't a real feel of say Hampton Beach, which he describes. Hes not wrong, but it could be anywhere.

Also a lot of summarizing, so its very quick, but for me not satisfying.

Its the start of the Jack Beale series. The next book is due out in November, Changing Tides, but I don't think I will be reading it.

Again, its not horrible but I have so many other things to read, its not worth it.

If the series keeps going, I may check in 2-3 books down the road to see if he has fixed the issues that bug me.

Picked up Shoedog which will be my first from George P. Pelecanos.

I'm currently reading Arctic Chill by Arnaldur Indriđadon.

Re-read and thoroughly enjoyed Agatha Christie’s Evil Under the Sun. The link to my review is here,

http://www.librarything.com/review/63981317

or my 75 Books Challenge thread,

http://www.librarything.com/topic/98949

Getting more interested in The Second Angel, but I'm about 100 pages in and it is turning into a 'wrongly accused fugitive trying to prove his innocence' story. Not my favorite. For some reason I find this type of story frustrates more than entertains most of the time.

Just getting comfortable with Information Received by E.R.Punshon, written in 1933, in a 1955 green-covered edition from Penguin. He's a new discovery (to me) and published a lot thru the first half of the 20th century, though just about completely out of print and impossible to find now.

I've finished and reviewed The Shape of Water by Andrea Camilleri, the first of the internationally successful Inspector Montalbano series, in my thread...post #244. Excellent! Really well-done!

Love Montalbano! They have tours in Sicily for fans of the series, taking you to restaurants and villages the book is based on. It's one of the few series I am up to date on.

Me, too! That tour is intriguing - the food always sounds so good in the series.

Finished Arctic Chill by Arnaldur Indriđason. Rather depressing.

Next up is Revelation: A Matthew Shardlake Mystery by C. J. Sansom.

Finished The Executorby the prodigal son Jesse Kellerman. It was my fiirst read by Jesse and it was a wonderful one. He's a fine writer. This book is about a graduate student at Harvard who is hired by a rich older woman to be her partner in conversations. All kinds of horrible things eventually happen and the book reminded me of a Hitchcockfilm. Highly recommend it!

I'm redain Hooked Up. Its a quick read.

From reading Mickey Spillane in my local library, I found Ed Mc Bain and his 87th Precinct series.Reading backwards from Big Bad City, I'm searching online for Eight Black Horses that introduces the character, The Deaf Man.Anyone willing to part with their paperback or harcover copy,let me know.ty

Am reading The Shadow Woman (no touchstone, it seems) by Åke Edwardson, the latest of his to be translated. It's another great installment however I'm irked that they have been coming out not chronologically. In this one, he's still a bachelor but thinking about he and Angela moving in together. Makes me wonder where the other 6 or 7 books which haven't been translated fall in the chronology.

I have just started reading my first Agatha Christie book, Murder on the Orient Express.

About halfway into Silent on the Moor by Deanna Raybourn, trying to finish it in time for the next in the series, Dark Road to Darjeeling, which arrives in bookstores on Friday.

Wish I were reading Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy for the first time--it's marvelous. I read Deception on his mind by Elizabeth George earlier this month and thought it was great. Some of George's books get tied up in their own complexities, but this one--about a murder among Pakistanis in England--is first-rate. Am now reading The Spy Who Came in From the Cold Also, some friends and I read Death of a Cad, the second Hamish Macbeth, aloud while driving home from vacation.

I have just finished reading the three books so far published by Asa Larsson in her series set in far northern Sweden, starting with Sun Storm, then The Blood Spilt and The Black Path. All were terrific! Now I'm waiting for some John Lawton books to come in through library loan.

I started the October thread...it's over here.

Haven't finished The Spy who came in from the cold yet, so that's still in play. Also, Serpent on the Crown by Elizabeth Peters and East is east by Emma Lathen and Pleading guilty by Scott Turow. I'm looking forward to the Emma Lathen, even though I think her earlier books are vastly better than the later ones. She's one of my favorite authors and my library doesn't have any of her books anymore.

I love Emma Lathen too. I wish her books were more available.