What Fiction are you reading this week, June 7, 2020?

[hermetic]

I just finished Cemetery Dance by Preston/Child. It was interesting to be reading about a huge protest march in NY. Of course they were marching against a different evil, but still…

I was gifted with a copy of Shakespeare For Squirrels, Christopher Moore’s latest, so I think I’ll read that next in hopes it will provide some much needed levity in my life. I was going to attend a Zoom comedy show Friday but it was canceled because the comedians just didn’t feel they could be funny right now.

Listening to Ruth Rendell’s The Veiled One, a thriller/mystery. Who would garrote a middle-aged housewife and leave her body in the parking garage of a suburban shopping mall?

Speaking of Zoom, I have an important event to attend this afternoon so I won’t be around much. I will read everything you say, though, and respond when I can. Take care out there.

[JackintheGreen]

1. This week? Kameron Hurley's The Light Brigade n/t

[Warpy]

5. Louise Erdrich "The Night Watchman"

Haven't gotten far thanks to my wretched eyesight, but much of it reads like poetry.

[hermetic]

23. oh, hey Warpy

I didn't see you up here. I tell ya, I'm starting to have trouble with my vision, too. And I am not at all happy about that. Getting old sure sucks.

Louise Erdrich is an absolutely glorious writer. I totally adore reading her books.

You take care.

[Warpy]

24. You too

I'm glad I've found another fan of her work.

[japple]

25. Just finished that wonderful, magical work. Louise Erdrich has long been one of the

writers whose books I always read. I am so grateful to have large print books available on downloaded for kindle at the library and on amazon.

Edit to add: Books on tape and CD saved my sanity during the years when I had multiple eye surgeries. I am comforted to know that there are audiobooks available if/when I reach a point where I cannot read.

[hermetic]

8. Oooh, SciFi

We like SciFi. This one sounds good: A worthy successor to classic stories like Downbelow Station, Starship Troopers, and The Forever War, The Light Brigade is award-winning author Kameron Hurley's gritty time-bending take on the future of war.

[PoindexterOglethorpe]

2. I've been working on the mystery series by Iona Whishaw.

First one is Killer in King's Cove. In 1946 Lane Winslow has moved to a small town in British Columbia to start a new life. During the war she'd been something of an operative, not quite a spy, although she periodically went behind the lines in Europe. The man she'd loved had died in a plane crash in 1943, her mother died when she was a child, she's estranged from her father. So moving to Canada seems like a good idea. She is settling into this small community, when a body turns up in the stream that is her water source. There's no identification, just a piece of paper in a pocket with her name on it.

I have read the first three books so far, which include Death in a Darkening Mist and An Old, Cold Grave. I have the next four on order through a local bookstore.

What's best about the books so far is the isolated, small town feel of them. King's Cove is itself a fictional place, apparently based at least somewhat on a small town Iona lived in as a child. There's also a decent sense of the time, the late 1940s, the lingering influence of WWII. Plus the ghost of The Great War hangs over this place. Only two decades separated the two wars, making the first one far closer to the people of 1946 than Vietnam is for us. More like the first Gulf War to now.

Oh, and I went to high school with Iona.

[hermetic]

10. How fun,

That you went to school with her. Those sound like worthwhile reads. Will have to look them up.

[PoindexterOglethorpe]

20. It is fun that I went to school with her.

We were fairly good friends in high school, but went our separate ways after. Saw her at a recent high school reunion, and she's as great as ever.

[CherokeeDem]

3. The Book Woman of Troublesome Creek: A Novel

This haunting book by Kim Michele Richardson tells the story of the travelling librarians in Appalachia who brought literacy to the region during the Great Depression. The main character is also the last of the Kentucky Blue people, who were afflicted with a genetic disorder affecting their hemoglobin that turned their skin blue. Subjected to prejudice and the harsh realities of mountain life, this is an amazing book of how one young woman fought for her identity. Beautifully written, Richardson's prose will take you into the "hollar" with her. Highly recommend this book
.

[hermetic]

11. That sounds

really wonderful.

[MuseRider]

17. I loved that book!

Oooh it is just so good. Enjoy it!

[japple]

26. I liked that book very much and have recommended it to many friends. Jojo Moyes has

written a book about horseback librarians--The Giver of Stars, though I have not read it.

[murielm99]

4. I have gone back to finish

"The Tenant of Wildfell Hall," by Anne Bronte.

My library now has curbside takeout service. I called and ordered two books. They will not be available for a while. They are checked out. Anything checked out has to be quarantined for seven days when returned. Then, they call and we can pick it up at the curb. Interlibrary loan has been discontinued for a while. I will not be able to get anything from other libraries.

It is a good thing I have a pile of books at home that I need to get around to reading.

Happy reading, everyone!

[hermetic]

7. That IS a good thing

But it's also good that your library is working at getting back to providing books, even if it takes a while. My library is only quarantining stuff for 3 days. Seven seems a bit extreme. But, perhaps you have a lot of cases there. They are fairly low here, compared to others. It really is hard to imagine how libraries will ever be able to go back to business as usual. Crazy times.

[murielm99]

22. They are not collecting any fines.

When I go to pick up my books, I am going to give them a donation.

[randr]

6. Rereading an excellent novel

The Posthumous Memoirs of Brás Cubas by Joaquim Maria Machado de Assis
spellbounding

[hermetic]

12. This sounds amazing.

A literary delight of the highest order. A novel that has influenced generations of Latin American writers but remains refreshingly and unforgettably unlike anything written before or after it.

[The King of Prussia]

9. The Stranger House by Reginald Hill

A stand-alone thriller by the author of the "Dalziel & Pascoe"series. Enjoying it, although it's a bit slow.

Earlier in the week I finished "Brothers in Law" by Henry Cecil. Thoroughly enjoyable, if I ever venture back into a bookshop I'll be on the lookout for more of his stuff. Then "The DA draws A Circle" by Erle Stanley Gardner - well up to his usual high standard.

Next up I might try something by Mark Billingham - recommended by my wife.

Nothing much happens here - the number of new cases in our district is down to about 5 a day - & deaths at the local hospital are averaging less than 1 a day. Lockdown restrictions were eased again last Monday, so if there's going to be an upsurge it may well be in the next few days.

Stay safe, fellow readers.

[hermetic]

13. Hang in there

It is truly fortunate that we enjoy reading so much, wouldn't you agree? I can't even imagine what I'd be doing otherwise...

[grumpyduck]

14. Anything Trump says.

Sorry, couldn't resist.

[lordsummerisle]

15. Annihalation

Last edited Sun Jun 7, 2020, 03:01 PM - Edit history (1)

by Jeff VanderMeer

[hermetic]

18. More SciFi

Area X has been cut off from the rest of the continent for decades. Nature has reclaimed the last vestiges of human civilization. The first expedition returned with reports of a pristine, Edenic landscape; all the members of the second expedition committed suicide; the third expedition died in a hail of gunfire as its members turned on one another; the members of the eleventh expedition returned as shadows of their former selves, and within months of their return, all had died of aggressive cancer. Annihilation is about the twelfth expedition.

[MuseRider]

16. I started listening to

the Kay Scarpetta books in order. I had not read them all but had enjoyed them coming from a medical background and having spent time in the autopsy rooms. I like the way Patricia Cornwell constructs her stories being that she is experienced in those fields. It will take me a while and help me work in these awful temps. and the ending of the Trump maladministration!

[hermetic]

19. That can't come too soon for me!

Cornwell is one of the greats and I hadn't thought of getting her audio books. I'll bet the library has a bunch so that is something to look forward to. Thanks.

[MuseRider]

21. I loved the first

narrator she had. Somewhere she changed and I could not quite get used to it but I am certain with time and a nice read through it will.

[japple]

28. Started reading Alice Hoffman's latest book

The World That We Knew and was completely drawn in, as is usual for a work by this author. I have read almost everything Alice Hoffman has written and this is another beautifully told, heartbreaking story.