What Fiction are you reading this week, June 17, 2018?

[hermetic]

Happy Father's Day! How about taking Dad out to a nice restaurant?


I'm finishing up Douglas Preston's The Kraken Project. Has anyone else read this one? It starts out with a "bang" but then the concept becomes rather outrageous. Granted, there's lots of action and evil people you love to hate, so it all goes by quickly. But that's pretty much all it has going for it. One good thing is that it has made me realize I really should read some reviews before I shell out any more bucks for a book. Live and learn, eh? (Thanks, PennyK, for your comment yesterday re. Island of the Mad)

Tell me about the really good books you are reading this week.

For all the children who cannot be with their fathers today.

[dameatball]

1. "By Gaslight"...........Steven Price

I am about 200 pages into this 700 page novel. Excellent so far.

[hermetic]

2. Well,

At 700 pages, I figure it better be really good. It does sound that way: "A deeply atmospheric, haunting novel about the unending quest that has shaped a man’s life. By Gaslight moves from the diamond mines of South Africa to the battlefields of the Civil War, on a journey into a cityscape of grief, trust, and its breaking, where what we share can bind us even against our darker selves.

[dameatball]

3. 731 to be exact. I guess I won't have to post next Sunday....will still be on this one....:)

[pbmus]

4. Fox News has enough fiction in one day to last a lifetime...

[hermetic]

8. Thank goodness

you haven't wasted any time reading their crap. Always happy to see ya, pbmus.

[Cartoonist]

5. SF. - The Clockwork Dynasty

By Daniel H. Wilson



This is the first book of his I've picked up. He has written others about robots and artificial intelligence that have gotten good reviews, so I will be checking them out next.

[hermetic]

6. Oh wow

Love that book cover. AND...

An ingenious new thriller that weaves a path through history, following a race of human-like machines that have been hiding among us for untold centuries. THE CLOCKWORK DYNASTY seamlessly interweaves past and present, exploring a race of beings designed to live by ironclad principles, yet constantly searching for meaning. Richly-imagined and heart-pounding, Daniel H. Wilson's novel expertly draws on his robotics and science background, combining exquisitely drawn characters with visionary technology -- and riveting action.

Now that sounds like everything I wanted the book I am reading to be. It seems to be aiming for that, but manages to go astray. I do hope you come back and tell us more about this author and his books. I'm sure several regulars here will be interested.

[Cartoonist]

10. Good writing

Sometimes the concept is too big to write. Some writers try to pad things up and over explain, or they just can't make it interesting. Not so with this book. Action and insight are well balanced.

[CrispyQ]

7. I finished "Game of Thrones" & am now a 1/3 of the way through "Clash of Kings."

That is one fab restaurant! In my dreams when I win the lottery I'll have a living room like that!

[hermetic]

9. I know, right?

I would love to go there but have no idea where it is. Just happened on the photo a couple of days ago.

[murielm99]

11. A Splinter in the Blood, by

Ashley Dyer. It is a British novel, a police procedural about a serial killer.

Ashley Dyer is actually a pseudonym for two authors writing together. This is their first novel as a duo.

[hermetic]

14. This is brand new

And sounding most enjoyable:

"Utterly engrossing and filled with masterfully crafted surprises, a roller-coaster ride filled with deception, nerve-jangling tension, perplexing mystery, and cold-blooded murder."

Ashley Dyer is the pseudonym for prize-winning novelist Margaret Murphy working in consultation with policing and forensics expert, Helen Pepper. She has published nine psychological suspense novels under her own name, including Darkness Falls and Weaving Shadows, and a trilogy of forensic thrillers under the pseudonym A.D.
Garrett.

Cool.

[murielm99]

17. You do a great job hosting this group.

Thank you.

[hermetic]

20. Well, thank you!

I enjoy it. Some really super people post here and I get to learn about all sorts of books I've never heard of. And I do love to read.

[pansypoo53219]

12. northanger abbey.

compare it to the PBS version.

[hermetic]

15. Is this

The one by Jane Austen? A work of wonderful ironic humor, a parody of the popular literature of the time, and an intriguing tale of men and women in pursuit of love, marriage, and money.

Or Val McDermid's witty, updated take on Austen’s classic novel?

There is also an erotica version, but I'm guessing it's not that one.

[matt819]

13. Finishing up two

The Whispering Room by Dean koontz and The Outsider by Stephen King.

I don’t know Dean Koontz’s politics, but this series has trumpian overtones. Be afraid. Be very afraid.

Both worth the time to read.

[murielm99]

16. Koontz hates liberals.

I used to read his books in spite of that. I have burned out on him lately. Knowing his politics, that is a good thing.

[hermetic]

18. Scary stuff!

Koontz had a difficult childhood. being regularly beaten and abused by his alcoholic father In the '60s he worked for the Appalachian Poverty Program, which greatly shaped his political outlook. He claims he developed a profound distrust of government regardless of the philosophy of the people in power and is now a liberal on civil-rights issues, a conservative on defense, and a semi-libertarian on all other matters.

[northoftheborder]

19. Just finished listening to The President is Missing by Clinton and Patterson...

Pretty good story line - fast paced - the President has to figure out how to disable a cybersecurity attack on the country, while dealing with insider disloyalty--- I suggest reading the BOOK rather than listening - some of the readers were terrible on this one. Good summer read...

[hermetic]

21. Awesome!

I was in Target yesterday and this book was on PROMINENT display. That made me very happy.

An unprecedented collaboration between President Bill Clinton and the world's bestselling novelist, James Patterson, The President Is Missing is a breathtaking story from the pinnacle of power. Full of what it truly feels like to be the person in the Oval Office--the mind-boggling pressure, the heartbreaking decisions, the exhilarating opportunities, the soul-wrenching power--this is the thriller of the decade, confronting the darkest threats that face the world today, with the highest stakes conceivable.

I can't wait to read it!

[Ohiogal]

26. I saw this book on prominent display at ,Walmart!

Usually the only books they prominently display are by Dimwit O'Reilly or Joel Osteen... So I was happy to see that! Looks like a good read!

[PoorMonger]

22. Woman of the Ashes by Mia Couto

The first in a trilogy about the last emperor of southern Mozambique by one of Africa’s most important writers

Southern Mozambique, 1894. Sergeant Germano de Melo is posted to the village of Nkokolani to oversee the Portuguese conquest of territory claimed by Ngungunyane, the last of the leaders of the state of Gaza, the second-largest empire led by an African. Ngungunyane has raised an army to resist colonial rule and with his warriors is slowly approaching the border village. Desperate for help, Germano enlists Imani, a fifteen-year-old girl, to act as his interpreter. She belongs to the VaChopi tribe, one of the few who dared side with the Portuguese. But while one of her brothers fights for the Crown of Portugal, the other has chosen the African emperor. Standing astride two kingdoms, Imani is drawn to Germano, just as he is drawn to her. But she knows that in a country haunted by violence, the only way out for a woman is to go unnoticed, as if made of shadows or ashes.

Alternating between the voices of Imani and Germano, Mia Couto’s Woman of the Ashes combines vivid folkloric prose with extensive historical research to give a spellbinding and unsettling account of war-torn Mozambique at the end of the nineteenth century.

[hermetic]

24. This sounds really lovely

And important. I see it's also the beginning of an as yet unpublished trilogy.

[PoorMonger]

28. I was duly impressed

A very good translation from Portuguese. I’ll have to keep an eye out for the other installments. Having studied so much American , British and even Spanish imperialism it was interesting to see an example that felt new to me in some way.

[pscot]

23. The Sunday Macaroni Club by Steve Lopez

"It’s a city of bottom feeders. With no bottom." Assistant District Attorney Lisa Savitch has a problem. Her boss wants her to nail the Sunday Macaroni Club-five remnants of the old political machine led by Augie Sangiamino, a former U.S. Senator with a conviction for fraud, now a political consultant. Why are these has-beens so important when there are children in Philadelphia dying of leukemia in the vicinity of an oil refinery? As for Augie, it's like he says at grace on Sunday: "We thank you, Lord, for this wonderful macaroni dinner. But we could use a little help, to tell you the truth, in this campaign."

I've had this laying around for ages. I can't imagine why I waited so long to read it.

I'm also reading Red Sparrow, a contemporary spy thriller. At last! The Russians are back! Life has been tedious without them.

[hermetic]

25. That is an oldie,

20 years. But sounds like it's cut from today's headlines.

Someone earlier mentioned reading Red Sparrow; maybe it was you. Speaking of timely, the third book of that trilogy just came out this year. "With a plot ripped from tomorrow’s headlines, Jason Matthews’s high-powered, seductive third novel not only continues the dangerous entanglements of Dominika and Nate but reveals with chilling authenticity how Russian espionage can place agents in the most sensitive positions of power." Hitting pretty close to home... And yay, my library has these. Must read.

[PennyK]

27. The Whole Art of Detection by Lyndsay Faye

It's a collection of short stories that are supposed to be additional Holmes-and-Watson stories. So far it's not bad. Faye also wrote Dust and Shadow, which tells the tale of Holmes' attempt to hunt down Jack the Ripper, and a few others.
Husband and I are deeply immersed in"Foyle's War"...great storytelling!

[hermetic]

31. Reading?

Or watching? I saw the first season. Enjoyed it and hope to find more.

[PoorMonger]

29. The Awkward Squad by Sophie Hēnaff

A new crime series starring Commissaire Anne Capestan, a brilliant but disgraced police officer placed in charge of a team of department misfits to investigate decades-old unsolved crimes.

Suspended from her job as a promising police officer for firing "one bullet too many," Anne Capestan is expecting the worst when she is summoned to HQ to learn her fate. Instead, she is surprised to be told that she is to head up a new police squad, working on solving long-abandoned cold cases.

Though relieved to still have a job, Capestan is not overjoyed by the prospect of her new role--and even less so when she meets her new team: a crowd of misfits, troublemakers, and problem cases, none of whom are fit for purpose and yet none of whom can be fired.

But from this inauspicious start, investigating the cold cases throws up a number of strange mysteries for Capestan and her team: Was the old lady murdered seven years ago really just the victim of a botched robbery? Who was behind the dead sailor discovered in the Seine with three gunshot wounds? And why does there seem to be a curious link with a ferry that was shipwrecked off the Florida coast many years previously?

[hermetic]

32. That sounds like the

plot from a different book I once read. Cannot recall which one, though. I know I never read that author.

[PoorMonger]

30. Adjustment Day by Chuck Palahniuk

The author of Fight Club takes America beyond our darkest dreams in this timely satire.

People pass the word only to those they trust most: Adjustment Day is coming. They’ve been reading a mysterious book and memorizing its directives. They are ready for the reckoning.

Adjustment Day, the author’s first novel in four years, is an ingeniously comic work in which Chuck Palahniuk does what he does best: skewer the absurdities in our society. Smug, geriatric politicians bring the nation to the brink of a third world war in an effort to control the burgeoning population of young males; working-class men dream of burying the elites; and professors propound theories that offer students only the bleakest future.

Into this dyspeptic time a blue-black book is launched carrying such wisdom as:

Imagine there’s no God. There is no Heaven or Hell. There is only your son and his son and his son and the world you leave for them.

The weak want you to forgo your destiny just as they’ve shirked theirs.

A smile is your best bulletproof vest.

When Adjustment Day arrives, it fearlessly makes real the logical conclusion of every separatist fantasy, alternative fact, and conspiracy theory lurking in the American psyche.

[hermetic]

33. Okay

That sounds like a hoot!