Current Reads

I'm halfway through A Place of Greater Safety, Hilary Mantel's French Revolution novel. Her prose is as gorgeous as ever, and she evidently enjoys historical novels where everyone is doomed from the outset. But at least with the Cromwell trilogy he's brilliantly sympathetic, even as he does some awful things. Here there are a few too many characters, and I'm not thrilled by any of them. Danton is just a massive bellend, and while I'm fascinated by Robespierre's evolution from "Ban the death penalty!" to "Guillotine everyone!", I'm still kind of looking forward to the fact that everyone will be headless by the end of the novel, whereas I am actively dreading Cromwell #3.

allochthonous wrote:I am actively dreading Cromwell #3.

Ooooh, ditto. That book is going to break me.

It took me forever but I finally finished The Sunne in Splendour. And it was wonderful. I understand why the book has made so many Ricardians! But really so many characters were so interesting and sympathetic even if they were in opposition to Richard. Penman's Elizabeth Woodville is about 100 times more sympathetic than Phillipa Gregory's despite the fact that she is an obstacle in this book and the heroine of Gregory's.

I'm enjoying The Cuckoo's Calling so, so much.

naughty zoot wrote:I'm enjoying The Cuckoo's Calling so, so much.

I just bought that for my Kindle, since it was on sale for $6.50. I have two more library books to get through first, but I'm really looking forward to it.

naughty zoot wrote:I'm enjoying The Cuckoo's Calling so, so much.

I'm afraid to read it. I tried reading The Casual Vacancy but I just can't get into it. I don't want to have the same problem with The Cuckoo's Calling.

I just finished it. I liked it A LOT. I was so-so on the ending, but thought it was very entertaining. I hope she writes a sequel.

Swarley wrote:

naughty zoot wrote:I'm enjoying The Cuckoo's Calling so, so much.

I'm afraid to read it.  I tried reading The Casual Vacancy but I just can't get into it.  I don't want to have the same problem with The Cuckoo's Calling.  

I don't think you will. I didn't bother to pick up The Casual Vacancy, it sounded so meh, but I found Cuckoo's Calling to be very engaging and it kept me up all night finishing it.

I'm looking forward to taking a crack at Cuckoo's Calling myself when the library gets it in.

I finished Blood of Tyrants and I liked the second half better than the first.

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Unlucky Bear wrote:I just finished it. I liked it A LOT. I was so-so on the ending, but thought it was very entertaining. I hope she writes a sequel.

Good Reads has it listed as "The Cuckoo's Calling: Cormoran Strike#1" so I'm optimistic on that count. Unless being unveiled has put JRow off.

I also couldn't get into The Casual Vacancy, but I loved The Cuckoo's Calling.  Her writing is well-suited for mystery.  I found her "adult" writing to be well-written, too.  It must be really liberating for her to be able to throw the f-bomb around with abandon.  

There's got to be a sequel!  I really hope she's not put off by being found out.  

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Plus I'm dying to meet

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I'm reading City of Women, and while I'm not 100% engaged yet, I'm interested enough in the subject matter (resistance in WW2, according to the book jacket at least) that I am going to continue with it.

I tried that novel last month but just couldn't muster enough enthusiasm for it, inversed.

I don't remember where I saw it, but I saw William Boyd recommended as an author of mysteries, so I got Waiting for Sunrise from the library.

It is a mystery, but surrounded by existential angst and point of view switching from third person to first person. It takes place before and during World War I.

I liked it when I was reading it, but the first half of the book annoyed me (it took that long to start the trail of the mystery) and when I wasn't reading it, I'd realized how annoyed I'd be by parts of it.

I don't know what to read next. I have Hour of the Red God that I heard recommended on NPR, but I'm not sure I'm in the mood for that. I also have Passages by Connie Willis, but again, that's going to require thinking. Maybe I'll re-read Julia Quinn.

I got Lee Child's 61 Hours from the library the other week. I was in the mood for something entertaining and that wasn't too heavy and it delivered. It was a good read and I found myself eager to finish it to tie up all the loose ends and find out who the culprit was. I know that the Jack Reacher novels get a lot of flack in certain places but I think they're a great read. I'm just not always in the mood for work from the LITERATURE canon, you know?

VodouDoll wrote:

allochthonous wrote:I am actively dreading Cromwell #3.

Ooooh, ditto. That book is going to break me.

All of this.

I broke and got into the Divergent trilogy. I'm actually quite liking it. I've finished the first and have just begun Insurgent. I like Tris a lot and the pacing, so far, has worked for me. I'm hopeful for this one! Stay good Divergent series!

I hope the last installment will be satisfactory and well-paced. Inhate when things get all rushed at the end.

I've been reading The Emperor of All Maladies, which is so, so good, but is also having the side effect of making me worry that some recent nausea and stomach issues might actually be cancer.

It also makes one SUPER GLAD to not live in the pre-anaesthetic era of medicine. Eurgh.

I loved that book. Some of the history of cancer treatment parts were downright horror movie-esque for sure.

I recommend that book all the time, and when I say it's the biography of cancer, people look at me like I'm nuts. But it's good! I swear!

I'm putting off finishing the last 100 or so pages of Kate Morton's The Secret Keeper because I love it SO much and my curiousity about learning the whole story is only tempered by my sadness that the book will be over then.

I loved her other books too, but this one is my favorite by far. As with all of her books, it took me a couple of chapters to get into it but once I got into it, I had a hard time going to work and doing other things besides reading the book. I really hope she writes another one soon!

I tried that earlier this year having loved all Morton's other books, and it just didn't move quickly enough for me. I'll probably give it a second chance down the line since I think her writing and plotting is usually superb.

whatthedeuce wrote:I tried that earlier this year having loved all Morton's other books, and it just didn't move quickly enough for me. I'll probably give it a second chance down the line since I think her writing and plotting is usually superb.

I took it out of the library like a month ago (found it accidentally when it was propped up at the desk) and was really excited to read it, but it took me so long to get past the first few chapters.

It gets SO good though, it's like reading someone's juicy diary. I haven't even finished it yet but it's one of my favorite books in recent memory.

I finished Gone Girl last night and I am just so happy to have finished it because

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Next up, my first foray into David Sedaris' work, which will hopefully be a lot lighter! I have his book of essays, Naked waiting for me at home tonight.