What are you reading the week of April 6, 2014?

[TexasProgresive]

[TexasProgresive]

1. "By Valour and Arms" by James H. Street

Written by a former journalist from Mississippi in 1944. It takes place during the civil war telling the tale of the construction of the CSS Arkansas and Iron clad that wreaked havoc on Farragut's fleet on the Mississippi river. Street's characters tell stories of the Civil War from the point of view of those in the opposition to slavery in the South. "Tap Roots" is the tale of a Mississippi county that succeeds from the Confederacy.

"By Valour and Arms" is told by a navel gunner and friends who will serve on the Arkansas. Wyeth Woodward from Missouri, Simeon St. Leger Granville an English ex-patriot and Vespasian Gillivray are the 3 unlikely crew that are bound together by the love of Dolly. She weighs 9,200 pounds, glups 13 pounds of powder when hungry throwing a 70 pound shell from her 107 inch mouth. Dolly is a Dahlgren gun which the men hopes will be mounted on the Arkansas.

This mismatched group tell the tale of the Arkansas and may take us to the battle of Vicksburg.

[Enthusiast]

3. That sounds interesting

to a guy like me. A guy that likes Civil War stuff.

[Enthusiast]

2. The Widow's Revenge by James D. Doss.

I like it.

[SheilaT]

4. The Last Policeman

by Ben H. Winters.

It was recommended here a while back and so far is excellent. The plot so far is that in the months leading up to an asteroid impact which will probably kill everyone on earth (it's easily the size of the one 65 million years ago) a detective in a small town in New Hampshire a detective isn't willing to let justice slide.

The mix of approaching apocalypse and murder mystery is very nice.

[TexasProgresive]

5. SheilaT I read it and the 2nd volumn

And am on tenterhooks waiting for the finale.

[SheilaT]

6. I will be too.

I'm a huge fan of some science fiction, by no means all of it, and this book definitely isn't s-f, except for the science fictional set up of the end of the world coming. How people are reacting, how society is coming apart at the seams, and how in the middle of it all this guy is just trying to do his job. Absolutely awesome.

[Nay]

7. I just read the first two books and eagerly await the third.

[Mz Pip]

8. Life After Life

By Kate Atkinson. Sort of a literary Groundhog Day without any comedy.

[japple]

9. Still slogging through Philipp Meyer's book, The Son. Very good, but long. Anyone with

with ties to Texas would probably enjoy this book.

[Tindalos]

10. The Orenda by Joseph Boyden

After that, probably American Gods by Neil Gaiman and then The Confessions of Lady Nij_o.

[getting old in mke]

11. _The Case of the Deadly Butter Chicken_ by Tarquin Hall

Vish Puri is back, investigating away, this time following a case that leads both to Pakistan and his mother's past, a dangerous combination. I love Tarquin Hall's writing--the cadence of the dialog, the bits of flying description bring the sounds and sights and smells of India so vibrantly to life. I've traveled there often for work over the last couple of decades and I always find delight in the images Hall evokes for me.

Listening: _The Urth of the New Sun_ by Gene Wolfe. Follow-up novel to "The Book of the New Sun" quartet. Another author--kind of like Patrick O'Brian--who has the confidence to just skip stuff, skip ahead in a story and trust that the parts he does tell, he does so well that the human mind will fill in the rest. Amazes me.

2014: 41 and counting.