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Lily Fairbairn
Half-elven
Apr 3 2022, 4:18pm
Post #1 of 8
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It's the occasional reading thread!
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I've been able to get out of town a couple of times this spring, so haven't spent quite as many hours reading/listening as I did the last couple of years. Still, even when I go out of town I make sure I have my e-reader, my MP3, and a paper book. I may never need one of them for more than a few moments, but it's like having money in the bank knowing I have reading material at my fingertips! (The e-reader with its multiple books is a wonderful thing for a bookworm 
Since I last reported in, I read a novel and two novellas on my e-reader. The novel was the fourth in the Sister Joan mysteries by Veronica Black, A Vow of Obedience. Any cozy mystery series tends to stretch your suspenders of disbelief when the main character continually finds herself embroiled in murder cases, and this one is more unbelievable than most: Sister Joan is a semi-cloistered nun living in the outback of Cornwall. On top of that, while Black writes well, her plots are relatively transparent. While I knew the identity of the killer early on in this installment, I was a bit skewed as to the motive---and, if the truth be told, I like my version of the motive better than the one in the book!
But I like Joan's curiosity and intelligence, and her fellow nuns make a great supporting cast, and the Cornwall landscape is so beautifully described I'm willing to just go with the flow. Perhaps I won't see the underpinnings of the plot quite so clearly in the next installment---and perhaps the author will kill off someone of mature years for a change.
It's taken me way too long to begin the highly recommended, award-winning Murderbot series by Martha Wells, especially since I've known Martha for many years. The first novella is All Systems Red, a delightful headlong rush of a science fiction adventure told from the point of view of a robot who's hacked its programming and become uncomfortably sentient. I'm describing this as Data meets the Mandalorian meets Peter Grant.
Speaking of Peter Grant, I also re-read The Farthest Station . This is a novella-length installment in Ben Aaronovitch's Rivers of London series, in which Peter investigates ghosts appearing on the London Underground. I love Peter's wry, laconic voice, and find any story in which he's involved to be a ride well worth taking. (There's a new book out next month, woo hoo!)
As for audiobooks, I've just finished listening to the non-fiction Poirot and Me, written and read by David Suchet, the actor who played Agatha Christie's Hercule Poirot for 70 dramatizations over the course of 25 years. He speaks movingly of how much he loves the character and how he worked to develop him over so much time---and also gives an insight into some of his other work in between bouts of filming Poirot.
I'm now starting the audiobook of The Various Haunts of Men , by Susan Hill, the author of amazing ghost story, The Woman in Black. Haunts begins a lot more slowly, reminding me of a Morse or Endeavour episode where several apparently unrelated people go about their lives in a smallish English town. Then one of them goes missing, and....
On paper I read Murder on the Flying Scotsman, an installment in the Daisy Dalrymple mystery series by Carola Dunn. Like the early Christie novels, these stories are set in Britain after World War I. In this one, Daisy encounters an old school friend and her extended family on the famous train that runs between London and Edinburgh. When one of the family members is killed, Daisy once again (see above about suspenders of disbelief) finds herself involved. This book in particular is short and slight, although Dunn doesn't shy away from the stifling social conventions and casual racism of the time period even among Daisy's colleagues on the police force.
I'm just starting a book titled Travels with George: In Search of Washington and His Legacy, where the author visits sites important in George Washington's life. Stay tuned!
So what have you been reading?
Where now the horse and the rider? Where is the horn that was blowing?
Where is the helm and the hauberk, and the bright hair flowing?
Where is the hand on the harpstring, and the red fire glowing?
Where is the spring and the harvest and the tall corn growing?
They have passed like rain on the mountain, like a wind in the meadow;
The days have gone down in the West behind the hills into shadow....
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Annael
Immortal
Apr 3 2022, 5:17pm
Post #2 of 8
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"Suspenders of disbelief" - LOL!
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Great phrase.
Speaking of, I attempted two Mary Higgins Clark mysteries recently. Found the first in a nearby Little Free Library and thought "why not?" Well, it's a recent one, she's in her 80s now, and . . . it was terrible. But I thought I should give her more of a fair shake, so I got one written 20 years ago that had good ratings. It was better, but I've already forgotten the name & plot. Don't think I'll be pursuing her.
I also picked up a Jude Deveraux mystery, The Mulberry Tree, on the "cheap" rack at a local store. Her Knight in Shining Armor is one of my guilty pleasures - side note, I was introduced to it by an emergency room physician at my former hospital; he said the entire ER staff had read & loved it. She writes well, but the plot was SO convoluted that even Deveraux seemed to get lost and the only way she could wriggle out of it was to introduce an entirely new character near the end of the book who suddenly had all the clues and all the clout to solve everything and put the bad guys in jail. Plus the psychology of the characters made no sense to me; people behaved inexplicably throughout, and the bad guys got away with way too much without anyone noticing or saying anything for far too long. Oh and also, apparently if you lose your appetite for six weeks you can lose 100 pounds and become beautiful after a lifetime of being fat.
Fortunately there's Rick Riordan. I've been gobbling up his "Apollo" series and enjoying both the snark and the mythos. Margaret Atwood just described herself as belonging to the "rag-picking, wandering-minstrel mythomaniac novelists" and that's a wonderful summation of Riordan's work. Watching Apollo figure out that hubris, even for the Sun God, isn't a good way to be has been fun as well.
And I can't wait to dig into Tuesday Mooney Talks to Ghosts by Kate Racculia. I also have The Fort by Bernard Cromwell on tap, as research for my own novel as the fort in question will feature in mine as well. (Cromwell's is set in the Revolutionary War, mine in the War of 1812.).
On the strictly nonfiction side I'm reading How Emotions are Made by Lisa Feldman Barrett, continuing my studies in brain neuropsychology.
I am a dreamer of words, of written words.
-- Gaston Bachelard
* * * * * * * * * *
NARF and member of Deplorable Cultus since 1967
(This post was edited by Annael on Apr 3 2022, 5:18pm)
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Ataahua
Forum Admin
/ Moderator
Apr 3 2022, 8:14pm
Post #3 of 8
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I discovered a new (to me) historian/novelist: Alison Weir.
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Among her non-fiction and fiction books is the Six Tudor Queens series. Her book on Jane Seymour was excellent - I knew little beyond her being pretty, docile, and the mother of Henry VIII's only legitimate son so this telling of her story was a welcome insight. At the end, Weir explained why she made the literary choices she did based on what little information is available about Jane.
I'm about 3/4 of the way through Queen of Secrets (about Anna of Kleve, or Anne of Cleeves) - another one of Henry's wives that is usually passed over for the more excitable women in the King's life. Weir's made a BIG call on Anna's past and I'm looking forward to reading her reasonings for it. Unfortunately this novel isn't quite as gripping as Jane Seymour: The Haunted Queen but Weir certainly has the details down for 16th Century royal life.
Celebrimbor: "Pretty rings..."
Dwarves: "Pretty rings..."
Men: "Pretty rings..."
Sauron: "Mine's better."
"Ah, how ironic, the addictive qualities of Sauron’s master weapon led to its own destruction. Which just goes to show, kids - if you want two small and noble souls to succeed on a mission of dire importance... send an evil-minded beggar with them too." - Gandalf's Diaries, final par, by Ufthak.
Fantasy novel - The Arcanist's Tattoo
My LOTR fan-fiction
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ElanorTX
Tol Eressea
Apr 4 2022, 4:21am
Post #4 of 8
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I picked up a 2006 copy of National Geographic magazine, which I had saved for its article on the Celtic realm. It also turned out to have an article about Ukraine's Maidan election, unnervingly prescient.
"I shall not wholly fail if anything can still grow fair in days to come."
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Lily Fairbairn
Half-elven
Apr 4 2022, 2:41pm
Post #5 of 8
(513 views)
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...an Australian friend for that "suspenders of belief". Always steal from the best, right?
Where now the horse and the rider? Where is the horn that was blowing?
Where is the helm and the hauberk, and the bright hair flowing?
Where is the hand on the harpstring, and the red fire glowing?
Where is the spring and the harvest and the tall corn growing?
They have passed like rain on the mountain, like a wind in the meadow;
The days have gone down in the West behind the hills into shadow....
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cats16
Half-elven
Apr 5 2022, 6:15pm
Post #6 of 8
(476 views)
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I've finished Omensetter's Luck by William Gass. Quite a beast of a book - something of a cross between Faulkner and Joyce in their more opaque moments. Certainly not everyone's cup of tea, and it tested me several times, but I won't deny feeling accomplished having now completed it. It took me many months of stopping and starting to get over the hump.
I'd like to jump into another long, challenging book, but I may need a breezier read first as a sort of buffer for the mind. 
Join us every weekend in the Hobbit movie forum for this week's CHOW (Chapter of the Week) discussion!
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ElanorTX
Tol Eressea
Apr 9 2022, 6:12am
Post #7 of 8
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From Saturday Morning, 5:05 pm today
Known for her historical fiction, Jenny Pattrick is one of New Zealand's best-selling novelists, but she says her latest novel Harbouring may be her last.
I haven't read her novels myself, just thought some people might be interested.
"I shall not wholly fail if anything can still grow fair in days to come."
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Lily Fairbairn
Half-elven
Apr 11 2022, 2:53pm
Post #8 of 8
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The Various Haunts of Men---mega-spoilers!
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I finished The Various Haunts of Men. Duck and cover---there’s a rant coming up, loaded with spoilers:
I just looked on Amazon to read the reviews for Haunts and see that a lot of people agree with my disappointment and disgust. It’s number one in the Simon Serailler series, but DCI Serailler is no more than a minor character, with no point of view and no particular personality.
The main pov character is Sergeant Freya Graffham, who falls hopelessly in love with Simon (why?), to the point she opens the door to the murderer thinking it’s Simon! Why would she think that?!? And then she is murdered too!!! Nope, despite a very contrived bit of business, no one reaches her in time to save her, only to keep the killer from taking away her body.
I said the book is slow and deliberate, but I stuck with it wanting to see how Susan Hill ties all the different characters, themes, etc., together into one plot. Well, she doesn’t. People are introduced with wodge after wodge of material and then abandoned. She’s much more interested in the psychology of the characters (the murderer is quite a study in insanity) than in writing a mystery. She’s also trying desperately to write a book about alternative medicine rather than a mystery.
It’s a grim, dark, hopeless lit’ry novel, ending in utter futility, passing itself off as a mystery. The murderer is never brought to justice---he’s pressured enough by the suspicions of the police he commits suicide, true, but the police suspect him because, despite after page after page about his life story and self-control and meticulous actions (which makes it not at all difficult to see who it is), he starts doing stupid things.
I don’t care that it ends with the survivors adopting stiff-upper-lip, mustn’t-fuss attitudes, it left me with a foul taste in my mouth.
I am astonished that there are ten more books in the series! What the..!?! And yet this is the same author who wrote The Woman in Black, a lovely, taut, ghost story that I like a lot. Haunts is definitely well-written (and the audiobook is narrated beautifully), but nope, never again.
I’m going to clear my audio palate with a Brother Cadfael or a Terry Pratchett or something by an author I can trust.
Where now the horse and the rider? Where is the horn that was blowing?
Where is the helm and the hauberk, and the bright hair flowing?
Where is the hand on the harpstring, and the red fire glowing?
Where is the spring and the harvest and the tall corn growing?
They have passed like rain on the mountain, like a wind in the meadow;
The days have gone down in the West behind the hills into shadow....
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