What are you reading now?

[Reads to Sleep]

Started The Lost City of Z: A Tale of Deadly Obsession in The Amazon by David Grann. Since I'm not likely to ever go traipsing through the Amazon Basin in search of lost cities or foolhardy but brilliant, lost explorers of historical note, this book seems the best way to get my feet wet without dealing with piranhas, legions of nasty bugs, or mile-long anacondas.

Yes, abecedarian, I agree. Much better to find Z from the comfort of the armchair than through the jungle. I love characters driven crazy by obsession [reaching for Moby-Dick on bedside table].

p.s. Ex Libris is one of my favourite books of all time. I highly recommend it to all bibliophiles.

Back on topic: I'm reading The Honourable School Boy by John Le Carre.

I agree with pontalba. Ex Libris sounds great.

A few months ago, I read A Delicate Truth, le Carré's latest, which involves a botched counterterrorism operation on Gibraltar. It doesn't have the subtlety of some of his earliest books, but even a less-than-best le Carré is well worth reading. Libby, have you read it?

 

[Ell]

Yes, abecedarian, I agree. Much better to find Z from the comfort of the armchair than through the jungle. I love characters driven crazy by obsession [reaching for Moby-Dick on bedside table].
sy


I agree with pontalba. Ex Libris sounds great.

A few months ago, I read A Delicate Truth, le Carré's latest, which involves a botched counterterrorism operation on Gibraltar. It doesn't have the subtlety of some of his earliest books, but even a less-than-best le Carré is well worth reading. Libby, have you read it?

Just want everyone to know that Ex Libris is a book of essays about books, not a novel. It's a very short, quick read. I'm kind of a sucker for books about books.

 

[Reads to Sleep]

Just want everyone to know that Ex Libris is a book of essays about books, not a novel. It's a very short, quick read. I'm kind of a sucker for books about books.

I think we got this, but thanks for making it crystal clear, Ell. I've read books about books by Michael Dirda and Nick Hornby and really enjoyed them.

 

[readingomnivore]

I'm reading Bill Owen's memoirs, SUMMER WINE AND VINTAGE YEARS: A CLUTTERED LIFE. Not mystery or crime, but the life of the actor who created one of the great comic characters of all time, Compo Simmonite in LAST OF THE SUMMER WINE. More anon.

 

[Ell]

I think we got this, but thanks for making it crystal clear, Ell. I've read books about books by Michael Dirda and Nick Hornby and really enjoyed them.

I'm just a wee touch pedantic.

Also reading: Solar by Ian McEwan. Beautiful writing, but the main character is so unlikable that it's hard to continue.

Recently finished The Affair by Lee Child. It's a prequel to the Jack Reacher books. Whereas I find them entertaining and quick reads, Jack's ease and lack of remorse in killing (executing) the "bad guys" makes me uncomfortable. Maybe I'm just getting squeamish in my old age?

 

[pontalba]

An author you might like is Charles McCarry...I've read a few, and my husband has read most of them. Good stories. Well put together.

 

[Reads to Sleep]

I'm just a wee touch pedantic.

Also reading: Solar by Ian McEwan. Beautiful writing, but the main character is so unlikable that it's hard to continue.

Recently finished The Affair by Lee Child. It's a prequel to the Jack Reacher books. Whereas I find them entertaining and quick reads, Jack's ease and lack of remorse in killing (executing) the "bad guys" makes me uncomfortable. Maybe I'm just getting squeamish in my old age?

You're making me laugh. I have to be very detail-oriented at work, and sometimes I find it hard to snap out of it.

Do you read noir, Ell? I love it when I'm in the mood; however, at the end of a hard day, I don't want the company of a conscience-less main character like the sheriff in Jim Thompson's Pop. 1280 or a very bleak worldview. That's the time for British humor, courtesy of P.G. Wodehouse, Henry Cecil or John Mortimer, creator of Rumpole of the Old Bailey. Or, conversely, Russian lit at a time like this makes the sheets feel very luxurious and a glass of wine, very yummy.

 

[Maine Colonial]

Just starting The Intern's Handbook, a thriller about a ready-to-retire-at-25 hitman, who's doing his last job inside a law firm and writing his book of advice for assassins-for-hire in training.

 

[trykemom]

I'm reading

I was intrigued because Michael is a contact I have on Flickr and does some unusual photo work.

He tells about his life rather apart from the world because of his bouts with depression and panic attacks that may have started when he was a toddler. He meets his new niece when she is a few days old. After he is force to over come his fear of babies and hold her, he falls in love with her. He becomes her nanny and she changes his life. I'm enjoying it so far at about 25%. Right now it is a free Kindle download.

~Sheryl

 

[pontalba]

Finished The Big Sleep by Chandler, and started Blood Work by Michael Connelly. The first half of The Big Sleep really blossomed in the second half of the story. Blood Work is not a Bosch title, but is another detective. Great twist to him as well.

 

[Peder]

Pontalba, have you read Ex Libris: Confessions of a Common Reader by Anne Fadiman? Your post reminded me of one of the chapters entitled "Marrying Libraries" where the author discusses the difficulties she and her spouse had in combining their libraries. Whose duplicate gets thrown out? How to shelve? By author? By subject matter? By time period? At one point, her husband says in exasperation, "You mean you're going to be chronological within each author?" Really funny. Who knew it could be so complicated?

p.s. Ex Libris is one of my favourite books of all time. I highly recommend it to all bibliophiles.

Back on topic: I'm reading The Honourable School Boy by John Le Carre.

"Whose duplicate gets thrown out" What?! Is Anne Fadiman some sort of heathen? Her husband was such a nice man.

 

[Ell]

Do you read noir, Ell? I love it when I'm in the mood; however, at the end of a hard day, I don't want the company of a conscience-less main character like the sheriff in Jim Thompson's Pop. 1280 or a very bleak worldview. That's the time for British humor, courtesy of P.G. Wodehouse, Henry Cecil or John Mortimer, creator of Rumpole of the Old Bailey. Or, conversely, Russian lit at a time like this makes the sheets feel very luxurious and a glass of wine, very yummy.

I do read noir (e.g. Raymond Chandler, James Elroy, the Girl With The Dragon Tattoo Trilogy). I'm with you - I need to be in the right frame of mind. That's probably why I like to start several books at the same time. Then I can read whatever I'm in the mood for at any given time.

 

[Reads to Sleep]

I do read noir (e.g. Raymond Chandler, James Elroy, the Girl With The Dragon Tattoo Trilogy). I'm with you - I need to be in the right frame of mind. That's probably why I like to start several books at the same time. Then I can read whatever I'm in the mood for at any given time.

I always have several books going at once, too, although sometimes none of them will do, and I am forced to start another. Often, a library book that someone is waiting for dictates what I read next. I need to start Chris Pavone's The Accident, a thriller set among the world of publishing, soon; of course, I also need to get a move on, re-reading If on a Winter's Night a Traveler for B&R's April Book of the Month discussion.

 

[Maine Colonial]

 

[Brianna1977]

I am just finishing up Death of a Gentlelady by M.C. Beaton. I have to say that I just recently started reading M.C. Beaton and while I'm not a big fan of Agatha Raisin series I have enjoyed the Hamish MacBeth series. So far I have read two of the Agatha Raisin books and I am now on the third Hamish MacBeth books.

 

[quilter Kathy]

Maine,
I found Agatha Raisin quite by accident and absolutely loved the series - for awhile. I think the last two or three books have been quite disappointing. And Agatha's silliness over the man next door is no long charming - just boring. And she seems to have become almost mean and petty now - no longer just funny.
Kathy

 

[Reads to Sleep]

Maine,
I found Agatha Raisin quite by accident and absolutely loved the series - for awhile. I think the last two or three books have been quite disappointing. And Agatha's silliness over the man next door is no long charming - just boring. And she seems to have become almost mean and petty now - no longer just funny.
Kathy

Hey, Kathy, you mistook Brianna1977's comments about M. C. Beaton for Maine's.

We're happy to welcome you to B&R, Brianna, and to Murder, We Schmoozed. My usual crime fiction fare is more hardboiled than M. C. Beaton, although I do like traditional mysteries such as those by Dorothy L. Sayers, Michael Innes, and Rex Stout. What books do you like besides Beaton's Hamish Macbeth?

Maine, I'm happy you've started Friedman's Don't Ever Look Back. I loved his first book, 2012's Don't Ever Get Old, featuring an 87-year-old retired cop named Buck Schatz, who let himself be talked into a treasure hunt.

 

[readingomnivore]

Brianna,

Welcome. I was a fan of M. C. Beaton's Hamish Macbeth series from its beginning, but it trailed off quite a few books ago; the last one got back closer to her original characters, but the plot of the last one was so far out in to left field, it was a home run. Way, way too many deaths, too many criminals be remotely believable. I keep buying and reading them, hoping she'll get her groove back.

Linda S.

 

[Brianna1977]

Hey, Kathy, you mistook Brianna1977's comments about M. C. Beaton for Maine's.

We're happy to welcome you to B&R, Brianna, and to Murder, We Schmoozed. My usual crime fiction fare is more hardboiled than M. C. Beaton, although I do like traditional mysteries such as those by Dorothy L. Sayers, Michael Innes, and Rex Stout. What books do you like besides Beaton's Hamish Macbeth?

Maine, I'm happy you've started Friedman's Don't Ever Look Back. I loved his first book, 2012's Don't Ever Get Old, featuring an 87-year-old retired cop named Buck Schatz, who let himself be talked into a treasure hunt.

Thank you for the welcome. To answer your question, I like a verity of the mystery genera. I have read the more serious and intense authors like Patricia Cornwell, Tess Gerritsen, Lisa Gardner. I have also like David Baldacci, Robert Crais, and Michael Connelly. I also enjoy some of the liter fare like Sue Grafton and Diane Mott Davidson. I have read almost all of John Grisham's books and all of the Hollywood Station series by Joseph Wambaugh. And for the times I feel like something funny to take my mind off things I enjoy Janet Evanovich's Stephanie Plum novels. There are still more I have read and if list them all it would take forever.

 

[quilter Kathy]

Hey, Kathy, you mistook Brianna1977's comments about M. C. Beaton for Maine's.

Oooops! Sorry Brianna1977! It took me awhile to figure out what RtS meant! I reread the original post several times and was just sure I hadn't said anything to insult anyone - well, except for MC Beaton. (sorry) And it finally dawned on me what I had done. I do apologize, Brianna1977.
Kathy