What are you reading this week of November 26, 2017?

[hermetic]

Happy leftovers week!



Super busy last week what with all the feasting and such, so I did not get far into The Lost City of the Monkey God by Douglas Preston. But I am giving myself a break today and plan to plunk myself down on the couch and just read for a good long while.

What's left over on your reading list this week?

[PoorMonger]

1. Two Kinds of Truth by Michael Connelly

Harry Bosch is back as a volunteer working cold cases for the San Fernando Police Department and is called out to a local drug store where a young pharmacist has been murdered. Bosch and the town's 3-person detective squad sift through the clues, which lead into the dangerous, big business world of pill mills and prescription drug abuse.

Meanwhile, an old case from Bosch's LAPD days comes back to haunt him when a long-imprisoned killer claims Harry framed him, and seems to have new evidence to prove it. Bosch left the LAPD on bad terms, so his former colleagues aren't keen to protect his reputation. He must fend for himself in clearing his name and keeping a clever killer in prison.

The two unrelated cases wind around each other like strands of barbed wire. Along the way Bosch discovers that there are two kinds of truth: the kind that sets you free and the kind that leaves you buried in darkness.

[hermetic]

3. Another winner!

Poor Harry, he's always got probs with the LAPD. Connelly worked for many years as a crime reporter so I'd guess he has a good sense for what really goes on behind the scenes.

[dhill926]

11. this was SO good.....

love the way Connelly slowly builds momentum throughout his books...

[TexasProgresive]

2. I'm taking a Bosch break to reread a Robert Heinlein classic

The Moon is a Harsh Mistress.

[hermetic]

5. Such a great title

For some reason I've never read this one, though it is widely considered his finest work. Should give you lots to think about, given what we know now.

You up and about yet?

[TexasProgresive]

9. I am not up on 2 wheels but I am much improved.

For those unaware, I love to cycle and I had a double hernia repaired last Monday. The swelling and discoloration is reduced. Yesterday I did 4 3/4 mile walk in 1hr20mins and felt very good. I have been pedaling on a thing called Desk Cycle that I bought for my wife. I can sit in a chair and pedal mindlessly while reading or watching TV.


As to which book of Bobby Heinlein is his best, that is certainly a matter of opinion. Stranger in a Strange Land is certainly up there. But this one is right there as well. It was a favorite of my mother who was a scientific computer programmer. She worked on a project for Computer Science corporation that was linking main frames together. She was thinking that one day enough computer power would be joined together and WAKE UP. We may be approaching that event not with attempting to create artificial intelligence but by accident. If it is like MIKE only the "not stupid' will know.

You just have to read it now. It has Heinlein's lovely twisted sense of humor.

[hermetic]

10. I guess so

Stranger... is one of my most favorite books ever.

Good for you on the walk and pedaling! Keep on keeping on.

[Lulu KC]

4. The Plot to Hack America by Malcolm Nance n/t

[hermetic]

6. Definitely

some compelling reading there.

[murielm99]

7. I just picked up

The Guilty One by Lisa Ballantyne. I have read only the first few pages. It is about an eleven year old boy accused of murdering another child. He is defended by a lawyer who has a past as an abused child.

I have read only the first few pages so far. I have to make gingerbread men today.

[hermetic]

8. Oh yum!

I'm thinking not too many people make those anymore. Now I want one...

Sounds like a really good book: Moving and suspenseful, The Guilty One is a psychological thriller about the darkness in each of us. It explores how we are all tied to our pasts, and what it means to be guilty.

[japple]

12. Between all of the cat rescue work and Friends of the Library Fall Book Sale, I haven't gotten much

reading done lately. I started reading The Risen by Ron Rash, a writer from Western North Carolina. He also wrote Serena, which I didn't particularly like. I like the story and the history, but found the characters, esp. the main female characters to be cartoon-like and unbelievable. The same is true of The Risen and I didn't finish it.

Then came Thanksgiving cooking and 2 family birthdays, and my time in the kitchen took precedence over reading.

I downloaded Radio Free Vermont: A Fable of Resistance by Bill McKibben. I've read a bit and enjoy the writer's loose-jointed style. I think it will be a lot of fun.

Nice to be back in the swing of normal things. Thank you, hermetic, for pulling all of us together on a weekly basis.

[hermetic]

13. Hey, my pleasure

Good to see you again.

Speaking of cat rescues, remember I told you about the tiny one that went missing here? Well, a couple of weeks later she returned, as mysteriously as she disappeared and seemed fine though not one bit bigger. I could not bear the thought of her enduring the coming winter so I got on Facebook and found her a home. It was a great relief and I am sure they are good people.

Tiny

[japple]

14. Awwww. Such a sweet little one. Bless you for finding her a home. I hope they will keep her

indoors and get her spayed ASAP.

[PennyK]

15. Justice Hall by Laurie R. King

It's the sixth in the Russell/Holmes series, which I'm loving. I had requested the sixth and seventh from my library, and sadly, the seventh arrived first. Since I promised myself I would read them in order, I had to sit and wait out the long weekend (occupied myself with The Woman on the Orient Express, by Lindsay Jayne Ashford, a fun fantasy about Agatha Christie) until this one arrived.

[PoorMonger]

16. The Talented Ribkins by Ladee Hubbard

At seventy-two, Johnny Ribkins shouldn’t have such problems: He’s got one week to come up with the money he stole from his mobster boss or it’s curtains.

What may or may not be useful to Johnny as he flees is that he comes from an African-American family that has been gifted with super powers that are a bit, well, odd. Okay, very odd. For example, Johnny's father could see colors no one else could see. His brother could scale perfectly flat walls. His cousin belches fire. And Johnny himself can make precise maps of any space you name, whether he's been there or not.

In the old days, the Ribkins family tried to apply their gifts to the civil rights effort, calling themselves The Justice Committee. But when their, eh, superpowers proved insufficient, the group fell apart. Out of frustration Johnny and his brother used their talents to stage a series of burglaries, each more daring than the last.

Fast forward a couple decades and Johnny’s on a race against the clock to dig up loot he's stashed all over Florida. His brother is gone, but he has an unexpected sidekick: his brother's daughter, Eloise, who has a special superpower of her own.

Inspired by W. E. B. Du Bois’s famous essay “The Talented Tenth” and fuelled by Ladee Hubbard’s marvelously original imagination, The Talented Ribkins is a big-hearted debut novel about race, class, politics, and the unique gifts that, while they may cause some problems from time to time, bind a family together.

[hermetic]

18. Good times!

Sounds like much-needed escapist fare for these days.

[PennyK]

17. The Game by Laurie R. King (duh)

What a series! This one takes place in India and revisits Rudyard Kipling's Kim, all grown up. Amazing stories.
I've had a horrendous tension headache for almost a week, so I had to seriously curtail my reading...plus I can't get to the library for the next one yet. Something to look forward to.

[hermetic]

19. Sounds awesome

Hope your headaches improve though we all have a great deal to be tense about these days. Ever hear of wild lettuce tea? I've just learned about it. Is a great pain reliever without any nasty side effects. A bit hard to get right now and "they" are working on making it illegal but I just got some for my partner who has painful knees and it seems to work quite well.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lactuca_virosa

My library has something for me to look forward to next week, too. Tell ya all about it tomorrow.