The Books/Reading Thread

[TageRyche]

I finished reading an advance copy of the Christmas themed novella collection CHRISTMAS SCARF MURDER. It's got stories by Carlene O'Connor, Maddie Day and Peggy Ehrhart. The first two authors I am a big fan of while I hadn't read anything by Peggy Ehrhart before. I ended up enjoying each of the stories overall. You can check out my thoughts on the book via this Goodreads link.

I got one copy of this one from author Maddie Day, so that is signed by her. The publisher ended up sending me a second copy and when I had lunch with Maddie Day about a month or so ago, she signed that for a friend of mine.

 

[Einherjar86]

IT'S HERE. I'm super psyched, just started this morning and I'm feeling the old pull. No idea where this is going, and I'm not reading anything about it ahead of time.

 

[TageRyche]

My three latest Mystery Scene magazine reviews have been posted online.

Suspect by Scott Turow

Mystic Wind by James Barretto

Should I Fall by Scott Shepherd

 

[Einherjar86]

They simply thought that the world had ended. It hardly even occurred to them that it had anything to do with the war. They carried their skin bundled up in their arms before them like wash that it not drag in the rubble and ash and they passed one another mindlessly on their mindless journeyings over the smoking afterground, the sighted no better served than the blind. The news of all this did not even leave the city for two days. Those who survived would often remember these horrors with a certain aesthetic to them. In that mycoidal phantom blooming in the dawn like an evil lotus and in the melting of solids not heretofore known to do so stood a truth that would silence poetry a thousand years. Like an immense bladder, they would say. Like some sea thing. Wobbling slightly on the near horizon. Then the unspeakable noise.

That's the McCarthy I remember. Fuck.

 

[no country for old wainds]

i'm gonna get my dad that for christmas and then slyly borrow it from him once he's done.

 

[TageRyche]

I finished reading the Joyce St. Anthony mystery novel DEATH ON A DEADLINE. Here's my Goodreads review.

The LAST issue of Mystery Scene magazine was published recently. I have a couple of reviews in that issue and I have the final word in the Letters to the Editor section as well. The online version of that section was put online but it is out of order from how it was printed in the magazine.

 

[TageRyche]

Here's my picks for My Favorite Mysteries & Thrillers of 2022.

 

[Einherjar86]

Finished The Passenger and Stella Maris, have some thoughts. I'm toying with the idea of submitting a review somewhere, we'll see if I can finish it quickly enough. Too many other items on the checklist, alas. SM was a bit of a letdown, personally. The Passenger was good, I thought, although I'm sure it won't appeal much to non-McCarthy fans.

Honestly, way better than either of the new McCarthy books was this superb debut novel from Julia Armfield, whose short fiction I quite enjoy:

Armfield writes a beautiful and unsettling form of weird fiction, usually with strong currents of sexual disorientation and understated body horror. Our Wives is narrated by Miri and Leah, a married couple who are separated for months when Leah's marine expedition is inexplicably stranded on the bottom of the sea. Leah's narrative tells what happens under the water, and Miri's tells of the strange things that happen upon Leah's return. It's a fantastic novel.

 

[TageRyche]

I finished reading the 2018 Bradley Harper mystery A Knife in the Fog. It was a fantastic read. You can check out my review HERE!

 

[Bloopy]

I just read Lord of the Flies since I'd never read it. A bit different to how I imagined it unfolding in places. A piggy washed out to sea - what a waste of pork.

First time I'd tried reading an ebook, just on my desktop PC. Actually didn't mind reading that way.

 

[Slammed]

I hate reading books on the PC or laptop, yet I don't mind reading them on an 8inch tablet.

 

[TageRyche]

I hate reading books on the PC or laptop, yet I don't mind reading them on an 8inch tablet.

I have had a number of authors offer me ebook versions of their novels for free but I have to turn them down. I can't read longform stuff on a computer screen for some reason.

 

[Slammed]

Doesn't matter what format I get books sent to me in I always convert them to epub, stick them on an SD card and then put the card in my Windows tablet. I spend enough of the day looking at a computer screen, the tablet feels less like work, besides it's easier to handle on the crapper.

 

[TageRyche]

My final two Mystery Scene magazine reviews have at last been posted online.

The Double Agent by William Christie

Righteous Prey by John Sandford

 

[TageRyche]

I took a ride to the Sandwich Public Library tonight for the latest stop on author Hank Phillippi Ryan's book tour for her new suspense thriller THE HOUSE GUEST.

Turned out to be a very good night. I ran into fellow Jungle Red Writers commenter Joan, who I hadn't seen in a number of years.

Once I got to where the event was being held in the library, I saw Hank signing books that had been pre-ordered. She saw me and said hello and that it was nice to see me. (We hadn't seen each other in three years, and that was at a book signing for another author). She then surprised me by saying that someone from The Strand Magazine had reached out to her looking to get in contact with me. Color me shocked, to say the least.

At the start of her talk, she mentioned how it had been three years since she'd seen people including both myself and Joan. After a brief interview, the floor was opened up to questions and people were asking them with Hank providing answers and stories.

I asked a question and before she answered, she said to the crowd, "This is Jay, a well-known book reviewer and now I'm terrified." That sent a chuckle through the room.

I don't know why she gives me such great shout out and support. It is always a surprise and always appreciated. I mean, how lucky can one dumbass like me get this kind of support from authors who certainly don't have to go out of their way for me.

After the event finished, I waited until everyone else had gotten their books signed and then Hank signed not only my newly purchased copy of THE HOUSE GUEST but also the two books of hers that I had bought the last couple of years but hadn't yet gotten signed.

On National Read Across America Day, Hank Phillippi Ryan sure knows how to continue to make one hell of an impression!

 

[Vegard Pompey]

Took a months-long break in the middle of this one due to school which might not have been the ideal way to experience it. Nonetheless, I thought it was one of the better books so far. Loved the tone of it, loved returning to the best city, the lovecraftian deathcult shit, best narrator, kick open the gates -----, etc etc. I know the book has a reputation for being slow and I'd agree the Black Coral and Karsa stuff took forever go get anywhere, but the Darujhistan story was one massive interlocking tragedy and I was on board from page one. The climax was confusing as fuck but upon reflection it seems to make sense and might be the cleanest of all of Erikson's big convergences so far. Most of the players are given reasons for being in the same place at the same time (assuming some prescience on the part of certain actors but the Deck of Dragons exists and all so) and it doesn't feel so much like things happened just because the narrative ordained it.

Spoiler

The actions of gods have been left so ambiguous in previous books it often felt like they weren't doing anything at all, so it was cool to actually see a bunch of gods plot and execute a grand sacrificial gambit to avert a cosmological catastrophe.

Ranking so far:

1. The Bonehunters
2. Deadhouse Gates
3. Memories of Ice
4. House of Chains
5. Toll the Hounds
6. Midnight Tides
7. Gardens of the Moon
8. Reaper's Gale

...huh, thought I'd rank Hounds higher but the top 4 are all too vivid in my mind to displace. Guess I kinda like this series.

 

[no country for old wainds]

hounds has slowly become very beloved over the years; on the malazan subreddit it ranked 2nd in the last poll they did after MoI. it’s probably the most philosophical and theme-driven one in the series and quite slow-paced which causes a lot of people to reject it at first, but i think it’s maybe the one that benefits most from a reread, so it’s cool you already liked it so much first time around!

p.s. we have the same top 2.

 

[Vegard Pompey]

The TVBB interview with Steve is pretty funny if you haven't heard it. He eviscerates the hosts over their complete misreading of a scene, and he does it in the most Erikson way possible; starting with a long reflection on death of the author before seguing into an articulate takedown of the hosts. I love that he can be so unapologetically confrontational with professed fans of his work.

 

[TageRyche]

I finished reading The Hound of the Baskervilles by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle.

Hard to go wrong with one of the best detective stories of all-time.

 

[Cronopio]

Been dipping in and out of this. Interesting read if you're at all interested in how Europe got to this fucked up state concerning immigration and integration.