What Fiction are you reading this week, October 8, 2023?

[hermetic]

Reading The Twist of a Knife by Anthony Horowitz. In this 4th Detective Hawthorne tale, Horowitz becomes the prime suspect in a murder investigation -- and only one man can prove his innocence. I love this story because it takes me away from the real world for a while.

Listening to Dark Angel by John Sandford. A group of hackers threatens to take over the power grid of Minneapolis and Letty Davenport is brought on board to go undercover and infiltrate the group, posing as a rogue programmer for hire. Should be a good one.

What new tales will we find in your home this week?

[The Blue Flower]

1. The Void and the Mark by Paul Murray

Just started it. I read The Twist of a Knife. It wasn't as clever as I expected, but the final twist was good.

[hermetic]

6. That sounds like fun!

"A madcap novel of institutional folly. Probably the funniest novel ever written about the recent financial crisis, The Mark and the Void is a stirring examination of the deceptions carried out in the names of art and commerce."

[japple]

2. With all the wonderful new books to read, not counting the ones on my list, I

found myself re-reading another favorite from the past--Wayne Caldwell's Cataloochee. Here's the summary from amazon.

Nestled in the mountains of North Carolina sits Cataloochee. In a time when “where you was born was where God wanted you,” the Wrights and the Carters, both farming families, travel to the valley to escape the rapid growth of neighboring towns and to have a few hundred acres all to themselves. But progress eventually winds its way to Cataloochee, too, and year after year the population swells as more people come to the valley to stake their fortune.

Never one to pass on opportunity, Ezra Banks, an ambitious young man seeking some land of his own, arrives in Cataloochee in the 1880s. His first order of business is to marry a Carter girl, Hannah, the daughter of the valley’s largest landowner. From there Ezra’s brood grows, as do those of the Carters and the Wrights. With hard work and determination, the burgeouning community transforms wilderness into home, to be passed on through generations.

But the idyll is not to last, nor to be inherited: The government takes steps to relocate folks to make room for the Great Smoky Mountain National Park, and tragedy will touch one of the clans in a single, unimaginable act.

Thank you for the weekly thread, hermetic! We finally got a break with a tiny bit of rain and temps down to 37 degrees this morning!

[hermetic]

4. 37?!

Yikes. 41 is as low as it's been here. Chilly enough to turn on the heater. No doubt it feels good after all that horrible heat, though.

I've been to that Great Smoky Park. Beautiful. Especially in the fall. Sounds like a great book.

[Backseat Driver]

3. Finally started reading S. Rushdie's Victory City -

Unfortunately, sleep after my "melly" is claiming me before I finish a couple pages of this storyteller's latest yarn...Skipping it doesn't seem to matter much...off to dreamland I go. We'll see if I can suspend belief long enough in prep for the meat of the tale...

[hermetic]

5. I really enjoy Rushdie's writing

This one sounds terrific.

I frequently fall asleep after just a few pages of a book but can count on my cats to wake me up again 4-5 hours later so I get a chance to read more.

[mike_c]

7. To Sleep in a Sea of Stars by Christopher Paolini

Last edited Sun Oct 8, 2023, 04:37 PM - Edit history (1)

I've literally just started it. I'm like a dozen pages in, still no clue where it's going.

[hermetic]

8. Couldn't find it

Title is actually To Sleep in a Sea of Stars. That's okay. I always enjoy a little mystery.

So, this is sci fi, fantasy. A brand new epic: "During a routine survey mission on an uncolonized planet, Kira finds an alien relic. At first she's delighted, but elation turns to terror when the ancient dust around her begins to move."
Sounds promising.

[mike_c]

14. oops, fixed it

Everything in the blurb happens in those first pages! I'm generally not a fantasy fan, so I'm hoping it leans more sci-fi.

[Polly Hennessey]

9. Here I go again, a nighttime cozy mystery.

Velvet Cake and Murder by Amber Crewes. Takes place in Sandy Bay, Washington (fictional). This is book 22 by the author. Have not read her before. So far it is charming, cozy, and just perfect for reading before turning out the lights.

[hermetic]

10. MmmmHmmm

Yummy.

[mentalsolstice]

11. The Dutch House by Ann Patchett

Just starting it. I finally finished Double Delight by Rosamond Smith aka Joyce Carol Oates, after so many delays and distractions. I gave it 4 stars.

Sounds like a lot of good books are being read this week! 📚

[Polly Hennessey]

12. Not sure my cozy's qualify as good as some of

the mentioned books but I adore them. I have been known to read some outstanding literature. I am also working my way through A Canticle for Liebowitz and The Plague. Definitely not a “before bed” read. 😇

[mentalsolstice]

13. I hear ya Polly!

Sometimes a cozy is just what’s needed.

[Staph]

15. On Wednesday, Mainer posted Time Magazine's list of the 100 best mysteries/thrillers.

I've read so few, so I decided to start from the beginning. I'm reading The Woman in White by Wilkie Collins, published in 1860.

The language is very mid-Victorian, but not as difficult to slog through as some of Dicken's works. But the story is great! I'm 145 pages into 1318 (e-book pages, not paper ones!) and I think I have not yet met all of the major characters - at least, I haven't met the villain or villains yet.

The Woman in White is an intricately plotted story, organized as a chain of 'witness' statements from a wide diversity of characters designed to unravel a cunning conspiracy against innocent women by a duo of memorable aristocratic monsters, Sir Percival Glyde and his devilish companion, the Italian Count Fosco.

[yellowdogintexas]

16. I just finished two books in the Cam Derringer Tropical Adventure Series

Lots of plot twists in these! For me this series is a trifecta: main character with a troubled past, set in Key West, great characters & story.

Bloodshot (vol 2) It's not a game anymore. It's deadly and it's real.
Cam Derringer, the detective from Key West, found himself in an unfamiliar situation. The hustle and bustle of New York City was different than his laid-back hometown. He was thrown into a dangerous game, with bullets flying around him and his friends. He soon learned that BLOODSHOT, the deadly assassin, was out for one of them. Searching for clues and gathering information at every turn, Cam had to make critical decisions between staying alive or going down in a blaze of glory. He had to choose between what was real and what he wanted to be true, as the fate of those involved hung in the balance.

Key West: Two Birds, One Stone (vol 3)
SOMETIMES YOU HAVE TO STRIKE FIRST–OR DIE.
The ocean spray danced across the bow of the cruise ship, bound for the crystal blue waters and salty air of Key West. But a different kind of storm was brewing on board–a twenty-million-dollar heist had taken place, and all fingers pointed to Cam Derringer.

As he frantically searched for the jewels, events took a sinister turn and soon Cam found himself knee deep in a web of drugs and murder.

Someone wanted him behind bars, but with Jack Stiller watching his back and three powerful women from Key West at his side, Cam faced his most difficult challenge yet–staying a free man.

Every twist led to more danger as Cam switched from hunted to hunter; still, he refused to give up on protecting those he loved.

In the end, despite all odds, it was these five unlikely souls that would fight together for their freedom.

[yellowdogintexas]

17. last week I finished Heat Lightning by Michaela Thompson

Thompson's books are set in the Florida Panhandle, in and around the town of St Elmo they are all stand alones. There is one more and after I read it I may go back and read them all again, back to back to catch all the subtle connections. Thompson creates the atmosphere of a small, sleepy coastal town beautifully.

Heat Lightning THIRTY YEARS OF MARRIAGE AND NOT ONE WORD ABOUT A CERTAIN LITTLE MURDER…

In all the years of their marriage, Clara Trent’s husband failed to mention his involvement in a murder—and now he’s not only dead himself, but accused of committing it. When St. Elmo sheriff’s investigator Aaron Malone re-opens the 40-year-old cold case, Ronan Trent’s named—posthumously—as the killer of his previous lover, a vivacious blonde with a jealous husband. Clara’s discovery of sensuous drawings of the woman, unlike any of her husband’s other work, reveals a carefully concealed obsession.

As she tries to reconcile her recently deceased husband with the facts of the brutal bludgeoning, she’s led back to the scene of the crime, a shabby 50s-style motor court where, as befits a dedicated detective, she takes a room to investigate.

[ExWhoDoesntCare]

18. The Water Dancer by Ta-Nehisi Coates

Hard Times by Charles Dickens.

[Hekate]

19. 🌸🌸."Aleister & Adolph" a graphic novel by Douglas Rushkoff which reads like chilling fiction, but...

… is based on a true story. ( Rushkoff has written “Survival of the Richest” a non-fic book about our twisted economics, which looks like it’s very good but will take longer to read, because lots of words. The graphic novel is only 92 pages. )

The title refers to Aleister Crowley, a major figure in the occult magick movement of the first half of the 20th century, and to Adolph Hitler, who along with his henchman Rudolph Hess, was avidly interested in using occult means to win WWII.

Some of this I knew, for instance that English witches were active in fighting the Battle of Britain, and that the Nazis had a thing for the occult. I just somehow interpreted “witches” to mean a network of individual covens — not Crowley aka “the Beast,” the man notorious for using drugs and sex in his magical rituals. Lots and lots of both, because whatever else he was, he was a master manipulator.

This is a graphic novel — quite graphic. Mature audiences graphic.

But also, in its way, very, very good. The obsession with symbols ( “sigils,” to Crowley) came to a head for me about the middle of the book, with the discussion of the origin of Churchill’s famous V for Victory hand sign.

My husband found it on Hoopla, via our local public Library. He went looking for Rushkoff’s books after listening to an interview with him, and A&A popped up. His review of this particular one was along the lines of ew. My review is above.

I hope this is okay here.