What Fiction are you reading this week, March 15, 2020?

[hermetic]

Top o’ the morning to ya.

Reading City of Endless Night, by Preston and Child. Good story. A real wide-eyed, edge-of-your-seat kind of tale.

Still listening to the Kathy Reichs’ book collection. Also really good.

My library has ceased all of its social activities now, and they had a lot of them. Movies, storytimes, workshops, something every day. In anticipation of them closing entirely, which is happening in other states, tomorrow I’m going to go get a whole bunch of books. I’ve made a long list. I am always saying how I wish I had more time for reading. Dayum. Be careful what you wish for. Right?

What books are on your list this week?

[Jeebo]

1. "Speaker for the Dead" by Orson Scott Card.

It's the sequel to "Ender's Game", which I finished a few days ago. Both novels won Hugo and Nebula awards. My house is full of books I haven't read, and now that I'm pretty much in coronavirus isolation I'll have lots of time for reading. Problem is, constant worry about the world disintegrating all around me makes it difficult to concentrate on an intellectual pursuit like reading. I'm still hoping the aforementioned disintegration will turn out not to have been happening after all. If it is, I fear I'm in bad shape because I'm in some of the undesirable demographics: 70 years old, diabetes, high blood pressure. So now I'm essentially hunkering down and holding out for the promised vaccine in a year to a year and a half. If I can last that long...

-- Ron

[Runningdawg]

3. Ooh, that's a good one!

I'm only 60 but high risk, and I wouldn't call it quarantine (yet) but I am certainly practicing good hygiene and social distancing. I had a few books on hold at the library, the library closed until further notice. A few days later they announced a drive through work around for pick ups. I was reluctant to use an e-reader, but now I am grateful I have one.

[matt819]

2. Here goes

About halfway through the audiobook of Track of the Cat by Nevada Barr. My first try with this series, and I'm liking it so far.

Reading Crooked River, the latest in the Pendergast series by Preston and Child. So far, so good. Not all of their books are appealing. A few along the way have been weird or just plain not so good. This one is off to a good start. I don't know who will be narrating the Pendergast books now that Rene Auberjonois recently died.

No Survivors by Tom Cain. I read a the first of his books some years back, and maybe this one. But I remember enjoying it (them?), so I'm giving them another try.

The Watchmaker of Filigree Street by Natasha Pulley. This is a debut novel and the first in a series. I just read the first few pages, trying to decide on this one or the Pendergast. I didn't get into it, really, but I like the writing and am looking forward to it.

BTW, listened to Blood is Blood, by Will Thomas, last week. It seemed a bit strained, but if you're hooked on Barker & Llewelyn, you're hooked. And I'm hooked. Right now there's only one more left that I haven't read, though I hope Will Thomas keeps writing them.

Also last week, finished Purgatory Ridge by William Kent Krueger. I'm enjoying his books and looking forward to the next. My feeling is that he has quite the grasp on the Anishinaabe community in norther Minnesota. Similar to the series by Steven F. Havill that incorporates the Tohono O'odham into his mysteries. I just checked and saw that he's written a few more since the last one I read. Looking forward to them.

[Runningdawg]

4. The Rook - The Chequy Files, Book 1 by Daniel O'Malley

I am less than 100 pages in, but I'm hooked. I will include the blurb from the jacket, but my take on it so far - It's the Jason Bourne plot with a female in the lead and a supernatural twist.

"The body you are wearing used to be mine." So begins the letter Myfanwy Thomas is holding when she awakes in a London park surrounded by bodies all wearing latex gloves. With no recollection of who she is, Myfanwy must follow the instructions her former self left behind to discover her identity and track down the agents who want to destroy her. She soon learns that she is a Rook, a high-ranking member of a secret organization called the Chequy that battles the many supernatural forces at work in Britain. She also discovers that she possesses a rare, potentially deadly supernatural ability of her own. In her quest to uncover which member of the Chequy betrayed her and why, Myfanwy encounters a person with four bodies, an aristocratic woman who can enter her dreams, a secret training facility where children are transformed into deadly fighters, and a conspiracy more vast than she ever could have imagined.Filled with characters both fascinating and fantastical, THE ROOK is a richly inventive, suspenseful, and often wry thriller that marks an ambitious debut from a promising young writer.

[TexasProgresive]

5. Reading the grandkids gift, "Wizard's First Rule" by Terry Goodkind.

Ironically the running gag, theme running through another Terry (Pratchett) book, The Thief of Time was Rule number 1, "Do not act incautiously when confronting a little bald wrinkly smiling man." I wonder what the wizard's first rule is. It will take a long time as it is very big, 820 pages, and in pocket book size with maybe 8 or 9 point type.

[dhill926]

6. well it seems like fiction....

but it's the daily paper....

[The King of Prussia]

7. The Last Detective by Peter Lovesey

Been filling in books that I half-finished and this is on the list. Not sure what is next up. Might make a start on the Oxford History of England.

Because I had the heart attack and may be vulnerable, my wife & I are "social distancing". Basically eschewing all human contact - as it stands we have enough supplies in to do this for about 6 weeks. She isn't vulnerable so if she is out and about we could even distance me from her. The suggestion here is that the vulnerable might have to exclude themselves for 4 months. THis would be awkward, but do-able.

Heart attacks are diagnosed by reference to troponin levels - different countries look at these differently. What I had was diagnosed as a heart attack here - in the US it would not have been.

[hermetic]

8. Interesting

Hope you are feeling better all the time.

I live in an area with low population. Only 5 cases of the virus confirmed so far and none within 100 miles of me. But I am somewhat vulnerable so have been deliberately staying away from others. I don't think anyone can really predict what will happen now, timewise. I just know that the idiots in charge here have mucked things up very badly and there may be a heavy price to pay.

[The King of Prussia]

9. Although I live in a rural area

Last edited Sun Mar 15, 2020, 11:24 PM - Edit history (1)

it's part of a larger area with a population of 528,000 - so far 6 cases, although, like you, the UK is not carrying out any meaningful testing.

I think both our countries will come to regret putting idiots in power, merely because their bigotries coincide with large segments of the population.

[Freedomofspeech]

10. Just finished The Hunting Party by Lucy Foley...

It's the Barnes and Noble Book of the Month. Excellent, Agatha Christie type mystery. Today I will be starting The Dutch House by Ann Patchett.

[hermetic]

11. Ooh, good one

For fans of Ruth Ware and Tana French, a shivery, atmospheric, page-turning novel of psychological suspense in the tradition of Agatha Christie, in which a group of old college friends are snowed in at a hunting lodge ... and murder and mayhem ensue.

Will have to look for that one, if our libraries ever open again....