What are you reading the week of July 13,2014?

[TexasProgresive]

I finished In the Woods by Tana French yesterday. It is a good read but this lady seems to like to finish on an unresolved chord or two. I don't get the impression that she will return to that in a sequel but that she believes that not all of life's questions have answers.

Anyway, I was without a book to read when I took my sweetie to get a hair cut. In the car was a tattered copy of The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins. I picked it up and read 16 pages by the time my wife's locks were shorn (she gets a really short cut). We went to eat and stopped by a book store where the only book to catch my eye was another by Ms. French. I wasn't ready for that and so I am continuing to read Hunger Games.

It is a fast read but I am captivated by the characters. In a novel character development is number 1 with me. I want the story told through characters that are believable and bring out an emotional response in me. It doesn't matter if I love or hate them but if my response is tepid the book goes down.

So at page 66 I am off and running in this youth/young adult novel.

[Enthusiast]

1. I read that one, TexasProgresive.

I liked it.

I'm reading These Granite Islands by Sarah Stonich.

[TexasProgresive]

2. Hunger Games was a quick read

It was good but quite disturbing- kind of like Lord of the Flies" sponsored and administrated by the government.

I just began an Elizabeth George mystery, In the Presence of the Enemy. Ironic that the next book I pick up has a young person in peril. I'll just have to hope that Lynley and Havers will save her.

[scarletwoman]

3. After being on the library waiting list for months, I finally got "The Son" by Jo Nesbo.

I'm only on page 63 - out of 400+ pages, but I'm completely absorbed in the story. Like all of Nesbo's work, it's dark - this book is all about the drug trade and corrupt officials. It's not part of his Harry Hole series, it's a stand-alone. There are still good cops in the story, just not with such tortured souls as Harry.

I really loved Nesbo's early books, but his later Harry Hole books seemed to get bloodier and more sadistic as he went along, until I felt like I didn't want to read any more books by him. I'm just not into psycho serial killers as a plot device.

The Son isn't like that, thank goodness. Yes, there are murders, but they are in the context of the drug trade and the ruthlessness of those who control it.

No matter what, I think Nesbo is a brilliant writer. So I'm very glad to have a new book by him to read, one with no psycho serial killers.

[pscot]

4. The Daughter of Time by Josephine Tey

[Enthusiast]

5. We just received In the Woods by Tana French in the mail today.

[Paladin]

6. "The Smoke At Dawn," Jeff Shaara's latest Civil War novel.

A very worthwhile read, as usual.