Jim53's reading journal

I've been enjoying peeking into others' threads, so it seems good to start one of my own and hope that folks will visit and comment. Virtual diet root beer (my own libation of choice, and if it's not yours, you can always pretend it's something else) available at all times.

I have been reading more mysteries than anything else this year, partially because I'm in a mystery reading group at the public library, and partially because I've really enjoyed some of them. Trying to branch out a bit more recently. Overall it hasn't been a thrilling year of reading.
Here's my list for the year so far. I think my favorites have been the two mysteries by NC author John Hart.

Just finished A Cold Day for Murder, the first of a series of mysteries featuring Aleut investigator Kate Shugak. Interesting character but the plot left me a bit cold (sorry). Too little opportunity to solve the case along with her. I'm not automatically excited about books that give a glimpse of a different culture; I want the glimpse to be accurate (hard to determine sometimes) and to contribute meaningfully to the characterization. I have to lead the discussion next week so I'll be doing some related research.

Currently I'm reading The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao for another reading group. I'm in the third chapter and finding it a bit of a slog at the moment. I hope he'll pick up the pace soon.

Thanks for stopping by. Be sure to sign the guest book and share a thought or two.

Welcome to the TBR book pile generator. Hope you enjoy yourself.

Oh, I adored Oscar Wao! I think you need to be slightly unhinged to appreciate it, though. :oD

*scribbles her John Henry, grabs a glass of porter and prepares to read about some new mysteries to fall in love with*

I'm assuming you've read the Tony Hillerman books? In my eyes, those are perfect culture/mystery blends. I never thought about the concept of the culture contributing meaningfully to the mystery, but I know you are right. That is one of my huge dissatisfaction with "cozy" mysteries (that and the writing), so many of them seem to just want a catchy theme to draw people in, rather than spending time being excellent mystery writers.

Another very successful (at least, for me) blend of mystery and culture are the Inspector Shan mysteries by Eliot Pattison starting with The Skull Mantra. I've only read the first two of the six books. The first has a very interesting picture of the Tibetan/Chinese conflict from the eyes of a Chinese political prisoner held in a labor camp in Tibet. The second involves the changes to Kazakh culture brought on by Chinese influence in the region.

Hi all, thanks for your comments. MrsLee, I have indeed read a few of Mr. Hillerman's mysteries, three I think. He does a nice job of constructing the story. One of the things I'm coming to appreciate in mysteries is the pace at which the author drops clues.

DrN, thanks for the pointer to Pattinson. I'll be sure to look him up, or maybe I'll just force him into the queue by suggesting him to my library group.

Clam, thanks for the enthusiasm about Oscar. I suspect many folks would say that I meet your criterion ;-) I read some more before bed last night and it seemed to be picking up. I'm learning lots of Spanish--I can figure out a lot from my French and Latin. I suspect that someone unfamiliar with LOTR would have some difficulty with the allusions.

#6 - "I suspect that someone unfamiliar with LOTR would have some difficulty with the allusions."

Agreed. I actually have the book tagged 'The Lord of the Rings' because of all the references, BTW.

Dorothy Sayers is my favorite mystery writer. Alas, she wrote too few Wimseys.

majkia, I like a lot of the Wimsey books, especially the ones that also feature Harriet Vane.

I've been enjoying doing some research on Dana Stabenow and the Kate Shugak books. Read some interviews and other commentary. She was raised on a salmon fish tender (75-foot boat). There is a group of super-intense fans called Danamaniacs. Apparently she's good buds with Laurie King and Diana Gabaldon. Since she's written some SF as well as mysteries, she's pretty familiar with genre issues. She writes for a state travel magazine and is also the president of the Alaska chapter of Sisters in Crime.

Sometimes, when I do this sort of research, it makes me want to read more of the author's work. Hasn't really happened this time. A Cold Day for Murder had interesting characters and setting, but as a mystery it was uninspiring. I'll probably come back to them at some point, since characters are the primary driver for me, but it wasn't good enough to bump it ahead of all the other things on the list.

Is there another title by Dana Stabenow that you would recommend? I've not read any by her.

No, Jill, this was my first exposure to Stabenow. I finally got around to posting my review of the book just now.

Tomorrow I'll try to come up with a review for Oscar Wao, which my meetup group discussed last night. My main reaction to it was that I liked the energy of the style, and found the characters mostly pretty interesting. I'm not sure quite what makes it really wonderful, though. It could use a concordance that summarizes the Dominican Spanish slang terms and cultural references. I followed along easily enough, but I suspect the experience would have been richer had I grasped more details of what he was doing.

Just started Jonathan Carroll's The Wooden Sea. I've heard a lot about him and picked up this one as part of a bagful at my library's recent book sale. It's the first book I've read in a while that wasn't for a group or a committed review, so I'm enjoying the lack of pressure ;-)

The Wooden Sea is a lot of fun. I see why people have good things to say about Carroll. I'm trying to decide if it's magical realism, or just a novel that starts out very comfy and normal and then gets really weird. I've heard the term "weird tale," used as a category. I wonder what's the difference between that and magical realism. Anybody familiar with those?

Finished The Wooden Sea over the weekend and liked it a lot. I didn't even realize it was the third of a trilogy till after I had finished it. Seems to stand on its own pretty well. I liked the characters, though, so I'll be sure to seek out the other two. Yesterday I started In the Tennessee Country, which so far is a lot like other Peter Taylors I've read, which is mostly a good thing.

Back to the mystery theme: I play bridge, and after running across a mystery that used bridge as a setting, I decided to collect and read such books. I've found a few, and I guess I shouldn't be surprised that I've been quite diusappointed in how they used the game of bridge in the stories. Most have either just had passing reference, or used a bridge party as a setting but not used the game at all. So far I've read:

On the Slam
Who Killed the Queen of Clubs?
Playing for Keeps
Cards on the Table
Grand Slam

Of these, Christie's Cards on the Table is the only one that made any use of bridge in solving the mystery. I've identified a few more authors, including Merry Borkowski and Jim Priebe, and set up searches for them. I also just snagged a copy of one of Matthew Granovetter's mysteries on eBay. Since he writes a bridge column (with his wife) for the ACBL Journal, I expect to find more bridge in this one. Unfortunately it's the second of three. Has anyone read these? Any idea whether the order is crucial?

Seems to me that one of Dorothy L. Sayers stories had a game of bridge in it, but I can't remember now whether it was central to the story or just the setting. Just looked it up, The Unpleasantness at the Bellona Club has bridge themed chapter titles, but I don't remember that revolving around playing bridge. I was sure there was a short story though, which took place during a game of bridge. Could be confusing authors though.

Thanks, MrsLee, I'll look for that one too.

I've been having a tough few days, lots of back and knee pain, feeling pretty discouraged about it. So rather than tackling one of the many new books I've got on my list, I'm doing a comfort re-read, The Lions of Al-Rassan.

There could be wore choices :)
Hope your back and knee gets back in order the soonest.

There was a Sherlock Homes story with Bridge in it I think (unless it was whist?) But very much part of the setting rather than part of the solution - one from the Adventures of Sherlock Holmes I believe.

weird/ vs magical realism. I'm sure niether publishers nor authors would choose to describe their work as 'weird' so that is much more likely to be a fan description! Seems apt to me. I have a "weird sf" tag that I use for the very bizzare sf tales one sometimes comes across.

>14 Jim53: Louis Sachar (of Holes fame) just released a YA book called The Cardturner which helps to introduce bridge along with a wonderful story of a teen-aged boy who serves as a cardturner for his blind uncle.

Busifer, thanks very much for your good wishes. Not much progress with the various body parts, but Jehane and the gang did succeed in cheering me up. I even managed not to get too annoyed at the epilogue ;-)

reading_fox and mamzel, thanks for those pointers. I've requested The Cardturner from the library and will keep an eye out for the Holmes story.

Currently I'm reading Angel Interrupted, the second in the dead detective series by local author Chaz McGee. I enjoyed the first one pretty well (review here: Desolate Angel), and am curious to see how McGee will develop things.

I even managed not to get too annoyed at the epilogue ;-)
Aye, that's what I call a feat!!!

I finished Angel Interrupted a week ago, but I had a hard time reviewing it. Finally managed it this evening. I found it disappointing in some ways but better than expected in others.

For some variety, I turned to Slo Mo!, a basketball farce by one of my favorite columnists, Rick Reilly. It's basically a long running joke about a dorky white kid in the NBA. I also zipped through H Is for Homicide over the weekend. Exactly what I expected: moved along pretty nicely, didn't make me think too hard. I didn't have anything new to say about that one, so I didn't post a review. Both of those were from my haul from the library's fall sale; I think they'll go back to be sold again.

Started The Children of Hurin last night. Forty pages in, it reads more like summary than a story, but I'll give it a chance. It is kinda fun to be back in Middle Earth again.

I almost picked up The Children of Hurin to read last night, but chose another murder mystery instead. It will be coming soon. As you say, sometimes I just want to be in Middle Earth. :)

Finished The Children of Hurin. Pretty much a downer all the way through. It was pretty clear part way through that there would be no eucatastrophe in this story. Much more like The Silmarillion than LOTR, which I sorta expected, since it appears there in short form, but I thought in the longer version we might see some of the virtues of LOTR. One of the most amazing things about LOTR for me was the characters. In fantasy you tend to get stereotypes, but Frodo and a few others were quite fully realized. Not so with any of the gang in TCoH. Even Turin, who gets most of the face time, is hard to decipher, beyond his pride; most of what he does seems to follow from the curse onm his family rather than from his own internal growth or motives. It really reads like something from Sophocles. It was fun to see Gondolin, Nargothrond, and a few key names from the early history of Middle earth, but this book didn't illustrate their greatness or give me any further insught into JRRT's thinking about them. Oh well.

Worked a lot today, but have found time to start Gene Wolfe's The Sorcerer's House, which I found at the library. Just a couple of chapters in, but so far so good. I wasn't that excited about Pirate Freedom (good but not fabulous), and I skipped An Evil Guest, which sounded more like horror than anything I would like, so I'm delighted to finally have a new Wolfe novel to read. He takes a good bit of work but consistently rewards it.

Just back from a four-day trip. Finished The Sorcerer's House, which was very enjoyable. I looked at a bit of the criticism of it and was astonished to find no references to Wolfe's earlier novel Castleview, to which it bears a good bit of similarity: set in the present day in the upper middle west, mysterious intrusions from faerie, etc. I'd say it's one of Wolfe's more accessible-seeming books, although there's clearly quite a bit going on underneath. A re-read after a while is definitely in order and will be a lot of fun.

While travelling I also knocked off Joe Gores's Cases and wrote LT's first review of it. Not too exciting, but not bad if you like the hard-boiled style of detective fiction.

Give An Evil Guest a try. I've never read anything quite like it.

Thanks, deniro, I probably will try it pretty soon. Right now I'm trying to make some headway through the bag of books I picked up at my library's last sale.

I'm also conscious that I've been reading rather frantically lately. Part of it was because of commitments to review a couple of books I got from authors, as well as keep up with my monthly reading groups. I've gotten through a pile of these and am taking a long, slow breath before making any more commitments.

Right now I've just started The Good Husband. Never read any Godwin before, but my wife mentioned enjoying it and thought I might, and it feels like a good break from the genre fiction to which I've given so much time this year.

Still working on The Good Husband. Doing lots of other things lately and not reading as much. The book is kinda slow, but the writing is smooth and I'm enjoying several things about it. The writer character, who is not very attractive in general, has a lot of interesting things to say about writing.

Just picked up a copy of one of the books supposedly written by Richard Castle, so I think that will be next. Thanks to Dr. N for alerting me to their existence.

Heat Wave was a very nice light read, great fun for fans of the series. I didn't bother with a review since several people have said what there is to be said.

The Good Husband had some interesting metafictive things going on. I'm still digesting it. Just started Love Medicine, which is very episodic so far, but I'm hoping she'll tie the pieces together soon.

Love Medicine is still quite episodic, with different narrators for each chapter. Thank goodness she puts the year at the top of each chapter so I can see how they're related. Slow going but interesting; I'm sticking with it even as I also look at other things.

Did a quick re-read of Mistletoe Man, a China Bayles mystery by Susan Wittig Albert, over the weekend, since it's coming up in my library's mystery reading group. I read it and wrote a brief review last year. I still find all the tidbits about mistletoe a bit cutesy, but I can imagine the series appealing to someone who's into gardening.

Also found another book on back pain, which seems to be compatible with the one I read a couple of months ago, whose approach has been helping me more than others I've tried. The new one is called Breathworks for Your Back. It will take me a while to work my way through it; I'm not usually willing to set aside my other reading for long enough to plow straight through one of these.

Still getting through Love Medicine; left it at work and was out sick for a few days, so I'm just getting back to it today. Have been reading A Free man of Color, an interesting mystery set in 1833 New Orleans and very concerned about racial issues. The first 100 pages were very slow but things are starting to pick up. Went to a reading by Katy Munger last night, of one of her Chaz McGee books; was good to see her and hear more of her story as a writer.

Also looking forward to my annual December read of Gene Wolfe's excellent short story "La Befana."

Finished A Free Man of Color and wrote a review. 3.5 stars; pretty good lead character and a very interesting, well drawn setting, but it took quite a while to get going. The final third was fast and exciting.

Still making my way through Breathworks for Your Back. Trying to add a new exercise to the sequence each day, although it's turning out more like every other day.

Read a couple more chapters of Love Medicine. I have to look back and remind myself how people are related and that sort of thing. Probably not a great book to read sporadically, because it consists of separate stories being told by different characters. I'll finish this before I tackle something new.

Finished Love Medicine. In the second half she brings together the threads she began in the first half, and connects them nicely. Some sorta mystical elements, not enough to call it magical realism. I liked some of the characters, but I would have liked to see a bit more of some of them.

Ran quickly through California Girl for my library mystery book club. I'll get around to a review soon. Not sure what's next; I'm enjoying the luxury of taking my time to choose.

Decided to take the plunge and started Bleak House last night. Been meaning to tackle it for a while. The first chapter, describing the chancery, could have been the inspiration for Kafka or other writers who describe absurd legal settings.

Also saw that one of my book clubs is reading The Thirteenth Tale for January, so that will be up for a re-read quite soon. Excellent news--that was one of my favorite books of 2009.

Forgot to mention earlier that I received my Early Reviewers copy of Pilates Illustrated. I tend not to think of this sort of thing as a candidate for a reading journal. Because of my existing back and knee issues, I can't leap into all of the exercises as thoroughly as I'd like, but I have been able to do a few of them and the book seems like an excellent introduction.

Meanwhile, Bleak House continues, although not quickly. Yesterday was my last work day till January 4, but there's so much to do to prepare for Christmas and travelling that I have very little extra time for reading. It's good to spend time with friends and family, and to read letters describing what the folks we see to seldom have been up to.

We'll be travelling the next few days. Very best wishes to all who drop by!

As of year end, I'm still working my way through Bleak House. I'm about halfway through the 800+ pages and enjoying it, but other matters have left me with very little reading time lately. There is an interesting similarity with Love Medicine, which I read recently, in that I have to work to remember the relationships among the characters. I think it is part of the book, but might also be a sign of creeping senility.

I also finally finished off Strong Poison, a Wimsey mystery that I was reading a few pages a day at work. There's less of Lord Peter in this one; Miss Climpson is the real star. We meet Harriet Vane for the first time, and Lord Peter proposes to her in their first interview, which is pretty entertaining. A nice addition to the Wimsey list but not fabulous.

My meetup group is reading The Thirteenth Tale this month. I plan to take a break from the Chuckster to re-read it starting this week.

I loved The Thirteenth Tale. I listened to it on audiobook and the narrators were amazing.

Jim, have you read the other books with Harriet Vane in them? I believe they get better, though some people didn't care for Have his Carcase, I liked it muchly and of course I adored Gaudy Night. YMMV

Me, too. And Busman's Honeymoon.

I agree that Miss Climpson is the real star of Strong Poison and I've always had a fondness for her on that basis. I am also one of the ones that MrsLee references in not being an advocate of Have his Carcase which I found unnecessarily convoluted. But the other titles are all quite enjoyable.

Thanks all for stopping by. I enjoy Harriet a lot. She's one of the few equals to Lord Peter. I haven't read Have His Carcase. I find I often enjoy reading books about which others disagree, so I'll have to dig up a copy. I liked Gaudy Night a lot. I know I read Busman's Honeymoon, but I don't remember it at all, so I guess I need to take another look.

It's been fun, but time for a new thread. For 2011 I'm tackling the "11 in 11" challenge. I like the flexibility of creating my own categories. Come join if you haven't! My thread is right here.