What Fiction are you reading this week, December 23, 2018?

[hermetic]

Happy Christmas, everyone!

May your days be merry and bright.

Just finished Miracle and Other Christmas Stories by Connie Willis. Great Christmas reading. She really captures the feelings around a lot of holiday issues that we're all familiar with. Except for Epiphany. That one didn't do much for me. YMMV, of course.

Now I'm reading Lighthouse Island by Paulette Jiles

In the future, the world's population has exploded and covered the earth with endless cities. Animals are nearly all gone. Drought plagues the land and cloudy water is issued by the quart. There are no maps, no borders, no numbered years. On this urban planet the only relief from overcrowding, harsh rules, and informers is the television in every living space, offering dreams of vanished waterfalls and the promise of virtual vacations in green spaces for the lucky few.

A bright and witty orphan discovers a refuge in old and neglected books; the lost world of the imagination filled with characters who can't disappear, or be arrested, or hurt her. And there is the voice, bounced from an abandoned satellite, that patiently reads, over and over, the great classical books of the world. A sound in the night that lifts her above the relentless television noise and the dull and perpetual present. Despite deprivation, uncertainty, and the deceptions she must use to survive, her dream never waivers. "It will get better, life will get better."

So, basically, sci fi come true.

Listening to Open and Shut by David Rosenfelt.

Whether dueling with new forensics or the local old boys' network, irreverent defense attorney Andy Carpenter always leaves them awed with his biting wit and winning fourth-quarter game plan. Then he discovers his dad left him with two unexpected legacies: a fortune of $22 million that Andy never knew existed, and a murder case with enough racial tinder to burn down City Hall. Struggling to serve justice and bring honor to his father, Andy must dig up some explosive political skeletons and an astonishing family secret that could close his case (and his mouth) for good.

I think I'll be getting more from this series. Quite enjoyable.

What books are making you merry this week?

[TDale313]

1. Fire and Blood by George RR Martin

And it’s really quite good if you enjoy the world of ASOIAF. Set several hundred years before Game of Thrones, it tells the history of the Targaryens’ reign in Westeros. Also, Dragons... many dragons 🙂

[hermetic]

2. Nice

And dragons are cool.

[Ohiogal]

3. Cool photo, hermetic!

I don't know if this qualifies, but I am reading "Mercury: An Intimate Biography of Freddie Mercury" by Leslie-Ann Jones.

I saw "Bohemian Rhapsody" last weekend ........ nuff said!

[hermetic]

4. Did ya love it?

I heard the music is fantastic but the story, not so much. I've decided to wait for the DVD.

[Ohiogal]

7. I liked the whole thing

and if you can, do try to see it in a theater where there's a big screen and surround sound. The music segments beg for it!

They did an awesome job of casting. Even the band members looked like the real ones.

[murielm99]

5. The Nest,

by Cynthia D'Aprix Sweeney.

I may not finish it, and that is rare for me. It is about a dysfunctional New York family. The characters are cliches. The writing is pedestrian.

I have a bag and a bin full of books, and I chose the one that is depressing me even more than current events.

[hermetic]

6. I read that one

For the life of me, can't recall how it ended. It was getting so much praise when it first came out. But I was like, "Meh."

[TexasProgresive]

8. Hmmm, let's see.

Settle down in my recliner,
with my new book,
Frankie the cat in my lap,
This is going to be great,
Wha, what do you mean?
it's time for bed.
about 2/3 the way through Ann Cleeves Hidden Depths. It is good, I think I'm on the trail of all the red herrings. Which means I have not clue as to how this is going to end. That makes it a great mystery.

[hermetic]

9. Sounds perfect

[PoindexterOglethorpe]

10. Leave No Trace by Mindy Mejia.

Ten years ago a man and his 11 year old son disappeared in northern Minnesota. Now the son has surfaced, is extremely violent and it's left to Maya Stark, a speech therapist at a mental institution in Duluth, to try to connect with him. She has some pretty dark things in her own past.

So far I'm enjoying it a lot.

[PoindexterOglethorpe]

11. Finished Leave No Trace.

Not entirely sure it lived up to the early promise, but that might just be me.

Now I'm reading The President is Missing by Bill Clinton and James Patterson, and even though it moves along quite nicely, there are a couple of plot holes that are making me a bit crazy. I won't mention them here, because that would be a serious spoiler, but it's frustrating to have such holes in the plot. It also feels as if the narrator is withholding important information, and I'm not liking that either.

At least I'll be finished with it soon.