What Fiction are you reading this week, December 15, 2019?

[hermetic]

May your days be merry and bright…

I’ve just started Spill Simmer Falter Wither by Sara Baume. A tale of a man and his dog in Ireland. A very sad and dark story, with gorgeous descriptive writing. VERY Irish. Novelist Joseph O’Connor raved about the “exhilarating strangeness” of this novel, calling it a stunning and wonderful achievement.

I’m back to listening to “The Cat Who…” series of tales by Lilian Jackson Braun. They keep me chuckling while I go about my daily chores and try not to ponder the very sad and dark future that we may soon be facing in this country. So, ho ho ho, right?

Anything merry and bright on your reading list this week?

[Miguelito Loveless]

1. Bleak Expectations

A hilarious parody of Dickens’ writing.

[hermetic]

3. Sounds like fun

Hearing Bleak Expectations on the radio is a splendidly satisfying experience, but now you can get even more thrills, spills, words and added paper! Bleak Expectations the novel will shortly be available for purchase in all literature emporiums of good repute. Bleak Expectations recounts the remarkable adventures of young Pip Bin as he tries to make his way in a world made all horrible by the machinations of his cruel guardian, Mr. Gently Benevolent. WEEP! As Pip is sent to Britain's nastiest boarding school, St Bastard's. GASP! As our hero suffers misfortunes such as prison, poverty, the workhouse and at least one close relative dying. SIGH! As Pip finds love with London's most eligible frail beauty, Miss Flora Dies-Early. FIND A TENTERHOOK AND SIT ON IT! As everything climaxes in a massive fight-and-wedding-filled finale. Grim circumstances, mistaken identities, nightmarish court-cases, ridiculous names, convenient coincidences to resolve plot problems, over-sentimental death scenes and lots and lots of adjectives: Bleak Expectations is a novel like Charles Dickens might have written after far too much gin.

[Miguelito Loveless]

21. The radio show was hysterical

with Anthony Head playing the villain, Mr. Gently Benevolent. It is a brilliant satire of Dickens, and throws in absurd, anachronistic references.

[yellowdogintexas]

24. I've got to find this!!! nt

[Aquaria]

6. I remember when I took Bleak House with me to work

My co-workers thought I was weird for reading "such a big book."

It made me wonder what they would think of the average output of Thomas Pynchon or Neal Stephenson.

Fun fact: Neal Stephenson has written everything since Cryptonomicon longhand. That means he wrote all ten gajillion words for the Baroque Cycle and Anathem, by hand.

That's just crazy.

[yellowdogintexas]

23. I love big books. My mother used to choose books because they

were long. Her favorite was big multigenerational family sagas. And Holocaust fiction.

I wonder what your friends would have thought about the Robert Jordan and George RR Martin series??

[LastDemocratInSC]

2. Republican talking points

[hermetic]

4. Mmm.

Neither merry nor bright.

[Aquaria]

7. And yet weirdly amusing

In that "If I don't laugh, I'll cry" way.

So there's that.

[Aquaria]

5. I just had to do a major computer "house-cleaning"

For transferring data to my new 10TB HD. So my reading got waylaid a little.

That's why I've only been able to devote small stretches of time to Elizabeth Gaskell's North and South. Well, that and how it's tough to keep reading when she can't seem to get to the fricking point. For now, there's an awful lot of whining going on, and it's getting old. Everyone in the book is a whiner. Good grief, stop whining and start DOING something!

Argh! How annoying!

It's making me look forward to The Great Passage by Miura Shion, because I can count on a Japanese author not to bore me with endless whining. Not that I expect none of it, only that I can expect any of it to get smacked down, and hard, sooner or later. Usually sooner.

As for the concept, from the jacket:

Kohei Araki believes that a dictionary is a boat to carry us across the sea of words. But after thirty-seven years of creating dictionaries, it’s time for him to retire and find his replacement.

He discovers a kindred spirit in Mitsuya Majime—a young, disheveled square peg with a penchant for collecting antiquarian books and a background in linguistics—whom he swipes from his company’s sales department.

Along with an energetic, if reluctant, new recruit and an elder linguistics scholar, Majime is tasked with a career-defining accomplishment: completing The Great Passage, a comprehensive 2,900-page tome of the Japanese language. On his journey, Majime discovers friendship, romance, and an incredible dedication to his work, inspired by the words that connect us all.

A book about words is right up my alley.

[hermetic]

10. Nice write ups. Thanks!

I, myself, also enjoy books about words. Like Neal Stephenson's.

[dweller]

8. TIMESCAPE

by Gregory Benford, 1980
hailed at the time as the "genuine marriage of science and literature"

not a big science fiction fan but this was fairly engrossing for the concept, and the characters..

✌🏼

[hermetic]

11. That does sound

most interesting.

[dweller]

13. just curious

do you google the books mentioned here to read some comprehensive review of the subject? and if so, do you have a preferred site?

tia

✌🏼

[hermetic]

14. I do

I almost always use https://www.fictiondb.com/ but once in a while a book doesn't show up there so I have to go to Google or Wikipedia. My goal is to encourage people to read as much as possible.

[dameatball]

9. "Raider's Wake" by James L. Nelson.

Part six of a series of Viking adventures in Ireland. This series reminds me a lot of Bernard Cornwell's novels that took place around the same time in England.

[hermetic]

12. Adventures indeed

I believe our Texas Progressive was/is reading that series as well.

[TexasProgresive]

15. "Lost Light" Michael Connelly

Finished "1921" it was very depressing, 1st the terror of the British against the Irish and then worse, the Irish against the Irish.
It did end with some grace notes of hope.

[hermetic]

18. Well, then

I'll be sure and give that one a miss.

Speaking of sad, I've been watching the "Vera" TV series and just saw Dark Road which had me crying my eyes out. I find, though, that that specific episode was not based on an Ann Cleeves book so no need discussing it here. But it did make me cry.

[Aquaria]

20. It's been a while since I read Lost Light

I always get the Connelly books as soon as they come out, so that would explain why it's way back in the old memory banks. I do remember the gist of it, and it's one of the better entries in the series.

It's also one of the important books of the Bosch saga. You'll know why, soon enough.

[The King of Prussia]

16. Live and Let Die

Giving Bond a go. Just finished Casino Royale which was poor, but this one has started better.
Done masses of reading during my time in hospital and am now recovering at home. Read about a dozen of the Hamish Macbeth series by MC Beaton - recommended if you like cosy mysteries.

[hermetic]

17. So happy to see you!

I was wondering how you are doing. Good enough, then?

I read a few Bond books, long ago. Wasn't overly impressed. I do enjoy a good cosy,though so I will check those out. Thanks.

You take care, now.

[pscot]

19. Virgil Wander by Leif Enger

I had just read 3 Robert Crais in succession so this represents a significant change of pace. It evoked memories. Winter in the upper midwest is a hellish experience. The book wasan Ok read otherwise

[hermetic]

25. That's 2 votes now

for Virgil Wander, from some of my favorite contributors here. A good sign, IMO.

My winters in Minnesota weren't so bad, being as I lived in the big city with snowplows and such. I recently met a lady, though, who grew up further north in rural MN and she told me of a time when, as a young girl, she slipped and fell into a snow-filled ditch and wasn't found for hours. Luckily she survived but this was not a happy memory.

[pscot]

29. Cold is a serious quality of life issue

Midwest winters made me feel lke a salamander in a snowbank. I have actually seen a thermometer that read -31 degrees F.

"Buckle your galoshes," mom advised. "And don't dawdle or you'll miss the bus."

We left Illinois in a blizzard and I've never looked back.

I have another Enger novel on hold now.

[yellowdogintexas]

22. Blood Symbols by Izak Botha

just another in an ever growing group of books which combine archaeology, history, intrigue, and the ever popular sinister grip of the Vatican. Yet another da Vinci Code type book.

I have become quite addicted to these books and have several authors in the genre that I follow. The fun part is that each of the three writers will address a particular artifact or legend in a completely different fashion.

Pure escapeism.

[hermetic]

27. I, too, enjoy stories

that examine the mythos behind certain artifacts. I see lots of 4 and 5 star ratings for this one.

[AC_Mem]

26. OUTLANDER

I'm on book 7 and also watching the series on Starz. I'm a serious novel reader and this is by far the best series of books and the best Episode-Series I've ever read/seen. Amazing, wonderful, entertaining, dramatic, horrific - it has everything. Highly recommend!

[hermetic]

28. Absolutely!

One of my favorite series ever and then the TV show is magnificent. The music, the scenery, the actors.

[bif]

30. "The Gallery of Lost Species"

My review: http://thisisagreatbook.blogspot.com