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Post by siss13 on Jul 15, 2014 7:45:52 GMT -6
So, I've completed Cop Town. I highly recommend the book. I think it's one of the best books Karin Slaughter has written in a while.
Moving on to James Patterson's Invisible, David Ellis co-writer. I have not been crazy about the last few books he's co-written, but Invisible is number one on the New York Times best selling list. I'll give it a shot.
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Post by bookperson39 on Jul 18, 2014 14:59:52 GMT -6
wkw, I've read some of Elin Hilderbrand, too... Nantucket Nights, Silver Girl, The Castaways, A Summer Affair. You're right. They are good beach reading. Since I posted, I read A Certain Justice by P.D. James. I've read most of her books, and this was quite good. I got caught up in Under the Dome on TV last year, so I read the book prior to the second season. The show doesn't follow the book in many cases. I'm not sure if I will stay with the show. It's a bit "out there" for me. When things get to be too much science fiction, as in they could never happen, I'm gone. I like some Stephen King books, but not all. The way The Dome seems to be going, (I haven't watched it) I don't think they're following the book. The book had a definited ending, albeit stolen from Star Trek. The show seems to be rambling on in a different way.
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Post by bookperson39 on Jul 18, 2014 15:02:41 GMT -6
I need to buy books! My list is long and I have been too busy to refresh my TBR shelf! I was watching an Inspector Morse mystery on PBS tonight and it harkened back to a great Josephine Tey mystery that I read years ago. Morse is experiencing a health crisis and during his down time, he solves a case that is 140 years old. It reminded me of Tey's "Daughter of Time" which is one of the most celebrated mysteries of all time. Her Inspector Grant is confined to hospital and spends his down time researching the fate of the two princes held captive in the Tower of London. Who actually killed them? Tey has written some of the best British mysteries of all time. I loved "Brat Farrar." Just exquisite. I am now going to read "Daughter of Time" for the third time.(I am down with a health problem, too, so I can commiserate with the detectives involved.) Most of you know that I am a mystery fanatic (especially British mysteries.) This is where I am coming from. I hope that by the time I finish "Daughter of Time" (again) that I will be able to join the human race once more. I hate being sick. Josephine Tey has no equal IMHO. Too bad her list is finite. I'd read something she wrote once a month.
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Post by bookperson39 on Jul 18, 2014 15:11:38 GMT -6
I recently read a review of The Invention of Wings by Sue Monk Kidd. First of all, I'm not crazy about SMK and second, I hate hate hate stories of slavery. I had totally decided NOT to read this book. Then, when I went to the library to pick up some books I'd reserved, there it was in my pile. Kismet? I read the other books first and then tackled Invention. All I can say, is, it is one hell of a book. The author skips from Sarah Grimke (an actual abolitionist) to Handful, a young girl given to her when she was just a child herself. This is a device I don't care for in books, but I must say this book is so moving and written with so much feeling and urgency that I found it hard to put down. Just put on your big girl panties (the book starts in the early 1800s so you know you have a LONG way to go before any sort of happy ending) get a glass of wine and some snacks and dive in. Some of it is hard to take, but I don't think you'll regret reading it.
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Post by bookperson39 on Jul 18, 2014 15:16:43 GMT -6
I also love Victorian nonsense of various sorts. I read Victoria Thompson's Murder In... series. Just finished Murder in Chelsea. The stories are about a young woman of a wealthy family (of course) who marries a doctor (of course) and becomes a midwife when he dies. Her crime-solving companion is a handsome, brusque widower (of course) who is one of the only honest cops on the NYPD of that time (of course). Great fun for a plane ride or a day at the beach.
Also read The Bees by Laline Paull which is a about....well...a hive of bees...and the life therein. Some of you who don't like SF might find this a bit hard to take, but it's beautifully written and makes you think about those bothersome little buzzers in a whole different way.
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Post by wkw99 on Jul 18, 2014 16:25:37 GMT -6
I can't do British mysteries. I know, I know....I don't know what I'm missing. I can't watch British crap productions on PBS, either. I think being forced to read Gulliver's Travels in AP English and my mother watching Upstairs, Downstairs (oh, the tedium!) soured me on anything British for life. Except the Stones. Love the Stones. And Colin Firth, of course. I just finished a re-read of To Kill a Mockingbird. I read it every few years, and I always always glean something new out of it. It truly is the great American novel, and it has something to say as clearly now as it did when it was written. I want to rewatch the movie now. I also read Orphan Train, by Christina Baker Kline. It goes back and forth between the story of a modern day foster child, Molly, and the story of the elderly woman she's taken on as a community service project. Vivian was one of the Orphan Train children, taken from orphanages in the large eastern cities for a 'new life' in the midwest. It's very good, and tells about history I'd never really known about. I also read a decent YA (young adult) novel called We Were Liars, by e. lockhart. I like YA, and some of the best writing happening right now is in that genre. Thanks, Bookperson, I think I might give The Invention of Wings a try. I'd avoided it because it sounded a lot like Tracy Chevaliar's book The Last Runaway. I really enjoyed that, but Chevaliar is a better writer than Sue Monk Kidd. I abandoned Fourth of July Creek. Good writing but too depressing. Meanwhile, my husband and I are binging on Breaking Bad. We're up to S3 and I'm really seeing how Cranston dominated the Emmy's for so long. Well deserved. Anna Gunn is great, too.
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Post by mondayschild on Jul 19, 2014 9:29:25 GMT -6
bookperson, I thought The Invention of Wings sounded good when I first read about it. May give it a try.
wkw, Mockingbird is one of my top ten favorites. I've read it three or four times, I think,and have seen the movie many times. I was finally able to add it to my DVD collection. I don't know if you are into biographies at all. If so, Charles J. Shields has written Mockingbird: A Portrait of Harper Lee. She has always fascinated me and I enjoyed reading about her life and her writing of the book. She has always been a bit of a mystery, a woman who was never truly comfortable with her success. I learned a lot about her.
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Post by Dolphin on Jul 22, 2014 14:33:45 GMT -6
bookperson, I thought The Invention of Wings sounded good when I first read about it. May give it a try. wkw, Mockingbird is one of my top ten favorites. I've read it three or four times, I think,and have seen the movie many times. I was finally able to add it to my DVD collection. I don't know if you are into biographies at all. If so, Charles J. Shields has written Mockingbird: A Portrait of Harper Lee. She has always fascinated me and I enjoyed reading about her life and her writing of the book. She has always been a bit of a mystery, a woman who was never truly comfortable with her success. I learned a lot about her. "To Kill a Mockingbird" is my all time favorite move. I used to watch it every time it came on TV with my Gramma. It was interesting watching "Capote" to see his relationship with Harper Lee.
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Post by mondayschild on Jul 23, 2014 21:36:36 GMT -6
I know, Dolphin. "Capote" was a really good movie. I read Mockingbird later, so I was caught unaware when "Capote" revealed that Truman and Harper actually ended up having a strained relationship after being friends for so long. This was due, of course, to Truman's jealousy of her success. He remains one of my favorite writers, but he could be a very nasty little man. A kinder person would have celebrated his friend's success. After all, he was a much celebrated writer in his own right.
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Post by kmmo on Aug 4, 2014 14:39:38 GMT -6
I can't do British mysteries. I know, I know....I don't know what I'm missing. I can't watch British crap productions on PBS, either. I think being forced to read Gulliver's Travels in AP English and my mother watching Upstairs, Downstairs (oh, the tedium!) soured me on anything British for life. Except the Stones. Love the Stones. And Colin Firth, of course. I just finished a re-read of To Kill a Mockingbird. I read it every few years, and I always always glean something new out of it. It truly is the great American novel, and it has something to say as clearly now as it did when it was written. I want to rewatch the movie now. I also read Orphan Train, by Christina Baker Kline. It goes back and forth between the story of a modern day foster child, Molly, and the story of the elderly woman she's taken on as a community service project. Vivian was one of the Orphan Train children, taken from orphanages in the large eastern cities for a 'new life' in the midwest. It's very good, and tells about history I'd never really known about. I also read a decent YA (young adult) novel called We Were Liars, by e. lockhart. I like YA, and some of the best writing happening right now is in that genre. Thanks, Bookperson, I think I might give The Invention of Wings a try. I'd avoided it because it sounded a lot like Tracy Chevaliar's book The Last Runaway. I really enjoyed that, but Chevaliar is a better writer than Sue Monk Kidd. I abandoned Fourth of July Creek. Good writing but too depressing. Meanwhile, my husband and I are binging on Breaking Bad. We're up to S3 and I'm really seeing how Cranston dominated the Emmy's for so long. Well deserved. Anna Gunn is great, too. wkw- I also love To Kill a Mockingbird. It's one of my favorite books and you're right that it still has something to say today. Glad you're enjoying Breaking Bad. It really is an excellent show. I'm on vacation, at the beach, and it's raining. I've jumped into Cop Town by Karin Slaughter. I finished a book by John Sanford called Naked Prey. It's the first one of his books I've read and I did like it. Your usual cop story, but a little more interesting. Whoever recommended Ace Atkins- wkw I think it was you- thank you. I read The Ranger and now I can't wait to get my hands on the rest of his Quinn Colson books.
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Post by mondayschild on Aug 5, 2014 20:33:27 GMT -6
Since PBS (Maryland) which I get in addition to PBS (Hershey, PA)has been running the Inspector Morse mysteries, I have decided to read them in order. I am now on book number five. The television series takes some license with the written stories, but I do enjoy both.There are 13 in all, and thanks to the internet, I can buy used editions for one cent plus p and h. My kind of deal. Morse is a complicated, very human detective. He drinks too much, is a bit of a womanizer in that he objectifies women, ogles them, lusts after them and can be a bit crude, but seldom acts on his desires. He is brilliant, but always makes mistakes in his initial deductions. I can relate to him in some ways. He loves crosswords. So do I. He loves Wagner. Not so much for me. He loves Mozart---especially the clarinet concerto. I relate 100%. It is incredible. I do get perturbed by his egotism sometimes, but he does often repent of his mistakes.The stories are always complicated with lots of red herrings. In the end, he figures it all out.As a lover of mysteries, especially British mysteries, I am having a great reading summer.
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Post by weegieburd on Aug 6, 2014 1:42:53 GMT -6
I have never read any of the books monday but I absolutely loved the TV series. We have the boxset and have watched it many times. The follow up "Lewis" is very good too and the prequel, "Endeavour" is excellent. I have just finished Dan Brown's last book Inferno which I really enjoyed because we are just about to head off to Tuscany and Florence again and I am half way through Disordered Minds by Minette Walters, another British crime writer.
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Post by mondayschild on Aug 8, 2014 20:17:19 GMT -6
Oh, weegieburd. Tuscany and Florence. I'll be with you in spirit, you lucky thing. Have a great time. P.S. Minette Walters is eerily good.
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Post by weegieburd on Aug 9, 2014 1:46:53 GMT -6
It's been a few years since we were last there and we are staying in San Gimignano (the setting for Tea With Mussolini) but a trip to Florence is on the cards and we are just 20 minutes away from Sienna, can't wait for next Saturday. Minette Walters is actually very good, I had seen a few of her televised adaptations but had never read her books.
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Post by bookperson39 on Aug 9, 2014 8:53:36 GMT -6
I can't do British mysteries. I know, I know....I don't know what I'm missing. I can't watch British crap productions on PBS, either. I think being forced to read Gulliver's Travels in AP English and my mother watching Upstairs, Downstairs (oh, the tedium!) soured me on anything British for life. Except the Stones. Love the Stones. And Colin Firth, of course. I just finished a re-read of To Kill a Mockingbird. I read it every few years, and I always always glean something new out of it. It truly is the great American novel, and it has something to say as clearly now as it did when it was written. I want to rewatch the movie now. I also read Orphan Train, by Christina Baker Kline. It goes back and forth between the story of a modern day foster child, Molly, and the story of the elderly woman she's taken on as a community service project. Vivian was one of the Orphan Train children, taken from orphanages in the large eastern cities for a 'new life' in the midwest. It's very good, and tells about history I'd never really known about. I also read a decent YA (young adult) novel called We Were Liars, by e. lockhart. I like YA, and some of the best writing happening right now is in that genre. Thanks, Bookperson, I think I might give The Invention of Wings a try. I'd avoided it because it sounded a lot like Tracy Chevaliar's book The Last Runaway. I really enjoyed that, but Chevaliar is a better writer than Sue Monk Kidd. I abandoned Fourth of July Creek. Good writing but too depressing. Meanwhile, my husband and I are binging on Breaking Bad. We're up to S3 and I'm really seeing how Cranston dominated the Emmy's for so long. Well deserved. Anna Gunn is great, too.
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Post by bookperson39 on Aug 9, 2014 8:55:44 GMT -6
I LOVE all things British with a rather silly fervor, so that's just a ME thing! LOL I too love The Stones and Colin Firth.
Haven't read the Chevalier book, although I've read many of hers. I'll have to check it out.
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Post by bookperson39 on Aug 9, 2014 8:57:08 GMT -6
I LOVE all things British with a rather silly fervor, so that's just a ME thing! LOL I too love The Stones and Colin Firth. Haven't read the Chevalier book, although I've read many of hers. I'll have to check it out.
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Post by bookperson39 on Aug 9, 2014 8:58:06 GMT -6
Also, the Victoria Thompson Victorian mysteries I mentioned about are NOT English but take place in NYC, if that helps any Anglophobes. Not serious, thoughtful reading, but just fun.
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Post by mondayschild on Oct 29, 2014 20:55:54 GMT -6
Okay, I realize that it's no longer summer, although in my area we are still experiencing summer. Well, until tomorrow anyway! The weather report is definitely FALL! I am a voracious reader, so I want to know what all of you are reading.
I am plodding my way through "The Casual Vacancy" by J.K. Rowling. Some critics loved it and some hated it.I will reserve my opinion until I am finished, but at this point, at about one third through, I am going to finish it, come hell or high water.I don't love it, but I don't want to give up on it either. It doesn't move quite as fast as I would like, but there are myriad characters who have captured my attention and I want to know what will happen to them.
I recently ordered some classic older books from my remaindered book source that I am anxious to tackle. They are "Lie Down in Darkness" by William Styron, "Appointment in Samarra" by John O'Hara, and "Sons and Lovers " by D.H. Lawrence. Call me ecletic.
What are you reading, my friends? I know that January will bring an abrupt end to reading as we all commit to Justified, but until then....
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Post by weegieburd on Oct 30, 2014 3:57:35 GMT -6
I have almost finished the Michael Connolly collection and have finished all of Karin Slaughter's book at the moment I am reading The Windermere Witness by Rebecca Tope, another crime series set in the English Lake District where I have spent a few weeks every year for 21 years.
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Post by wkw99 on Oct 30, 2014 4:24:25 GMT -6
Right now I am reading Delicious by Ruth Reichel. She's a food writer and this is her first novel. Our book club theme has been food this year. I'm glad it's almost over. I think I've gained ten pounds! I am really liking this story. The descriptions are vivid. There's a deli that makes my mouth water everytime she mentions it.
I'm also reading Summer of the Dead, the third in Julia Keller's Bell Elkins series. Akers Gap, WV is very Harlanesque and Bell and Raylan have similar backgrounds. Well-written, I recommend.
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Post by mondayschild on Oct 30, 2014 21:19:58 GMT -6
wkw, Summer of the Dead sounds really good. Have you read the other books in the series? I have to look into this one. I have quite a stack of books to read as it is, but I am always looking for something new. Once the bad weather gets here, I will be housebound to a certain extent. (Hopefully this coming winter will be kinder than the last.) When the ice and snow comes, I crack open a good book. Thanks for the info.
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Post by mondayschild on Oct 31, 2014 21:00:26 GMT -6
wsegie, when you reference the Michael Connolly series, I am just guessing that you mean the Harry Bosch books. I think that you mentioned them many moons ago. I have never started them, but think that that may be my next series if I can get them at a rock bottom price. I love the Lincoln Lawyer series and just got the latest for my birthday.
I finished the Inspector Morse books about a month ago. It was like saying goodbye to an old, curmudgeonly friend.
I am also reading Stuart Woods' Stone Barrington books. They are just for fun; they are pretty unbelievable. Nobody falls in shit and comes up smelling like a rose as often as Stone does.They are unrealistic, but fun quick reads.
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Post by weegieburd on Nov 1, 2014 2:53:01 GMT -6
Yes Monday, it is the Harry Bosch AND the Mickey Haller ones, I think I have one of each still to read. I get my books from charity shops book fairs, much cheaper that way and the proceeds go to good causes. I got another Jonathan Tropper yesterday "Everything Changes", has anybody read it? I loved Morse I still get upset watching the final episode of the TV series, even more so when you know that John Thaw, who played him, died fairly soon after the series finished.
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Post by mare27 on Nov 1, 2014 9:22:54 GMT -6
Yes Monday, it is the Harry Bosch AND the Mickey Haller ones, I think I have one of each still to read. I get my books from charity shops book fairs, much cheaper that way and the proceeds go to good causes. I got another Jonathan Tropper yesterday "Everything Changes", has anybody read it? I loved Morse I still get upset watching the final episode of the TV series, even more so when you know that John Thaw, who played him, died fairly soon after the series finished. hi guys- I have been following your posts about recent reading...unfortunately have not done a lot of that lately, except for re-reading TIWILY, prior to the film coming out in Sept.
I DID read "Everything Changes" about a year ago as well as other Tropper novels, "The Book of Joe" -"How to Talk to a Widower" - _"Plan B" I liked all of them and I think he writes with a movie version in mind, for all of these. It seems to me I read at that time that TO may be considered for another one of Tropper's novels-translated-to-film...anybody else ever hear that? or maybe it was my wishful thinking.
I see the pilot episode of Bosch on Amazon is available again, but no other episodes, I thought maybe that was going to go forward as an online series?
I get my books from the library sales and second hand shops too, and of course checking out of the local library. Aren't libraries the best invention ever? I am going to look for some of these books that you guys mentioned on this thread, thanks for the info...have a beautiful day!
Watching for TIwILY to come out on Amazon or Netflix so I can see it again on my ROKU...I'm glad to see blue ray Justified S5 with extras will be out in about a month...yeah!
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