Hey!! Let's get some action going! What are we reading?

[foosion]

Originally Posted by issybird

Thanks. I've just borrowed Metropolitan Stories myself.

Are you familiar with the delightful From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Finkweiler? It's a children's book set in the Met. I've also read The Night Life of the Gods, a comic novel set in the Met by Thorne Smith, author of Topper, but I can't recommend it.

I had avoided From Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Finkweiler because it's a children's book, but how can I resist "delightful". Thanks!

BTW, if you're in the neighborhood before late January and are interested in such things, the Met's Sienna painting show is spectacular.

[Apache]

Originally Posted by sufue

And The Tainted Cup is now £0.99 in the UK...

Kindle UK: https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0CDDMVJ64
Kobo UK: https://www.kobo.com/gb/en/ebook/the-tainted-cup-2

I read this based on the mystery-in-a-fantasy thing, and loved it. Enough to actually do a review for my blog, which is really rare for me, since I have enough trouble keeping up with reviewing the review copies I receive, much less everything else I read...

One note - in spite of the first sentence of its blurb,



The Tainted Cup is really a Nero Wolfe/Archie Goodwin pastiche, confirmed by the author in his acknowledgements. (FWIW, he also compares Ana to Hannibal Lecter...) Maybe the blurb-writer thought no one would know who Wolfe and Goodwin were? Or maybe Holmes and Watson were the only detective duo the blurb-writer knew? In any case, well worth a read IMO.

I picked this up and am about 30% in and am enjoying it a lot. So far it has me wanting to purchase the second book when it is released in April of 2025.
Apache

[issybird]

Originally Posted by foosion

I had avoided From Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Finkweiler because it's a children's book, but how can I resist "delightful". Thanks!

BTW, if you're in the neighborhood before late January and are interested in such things, the Met's Sienna painting show is spectacular.

Oops; that should have been Frankweiler! I'm an idiot.

As to New York, I wish! I'm from New York originally, but my last trip was 2019.

[acprinter]

Just finished The Good Earth Trilogy by Pearl S. Buck. The first book The Good Earth won the Pulitzer Prize, I can see why. I gave The Good Earth a five star rating, the next two were good only 4 stars.

[pdurrant]

Originally Posted by pdurrant

Next up: Necessity by Jo Walton. The third volume of her Just City trilogy.

An excellent and satisfying conclusion.

Next up: Defiant by Brandon Sanderson. The fourth in his Skyward series.

[John F]

Originally Posted by Fbone

...

Next, another Prime Reading freebie, Warriorborn by Jim Butcher, a stand-alone novella in his Cinder Spires series.

Thank you for mentioning this; read it and enjoyed it.

[foosion]

Originally Posted by issybird

Oops; that should have been Frankweiler! I'm an idiot.

Searching for the title you originally posted got many hits for the correct title. I didn't even notice the difference until your latest post.

I started Metropolitan Stories but couldn't get into it. I'll try again.

[pdurrant]

Originally Posted by pdurrant

Next up: Defiant by Brandon Sanderson. The fourth in his Skyward series.

Which was good.

And now: Death on the Tiber by Lindsey Davis. Her 12th Flavia Albia novel, and I'm hoping for a return to the form of earlier in the series. Otherwise I'll be dropping this series.

[Fbone]

Originally Posted by Fbone

Next, another Prime Reading freebie, Warriorborn by Jim Butcher, a stand-alone novella in his Cinder Spires series.

Interesting story. At first, I thought everyone was a cat. Ends abruptly unless it continues on in the next book. Rated B [4 stars]

Next, I read "The Map" by William Ritter, a short story in his Jackaby series. Clever with interesting characters. Rated B [4 stars].

[Dr. Drib]

Almost finished with The Vanishing, by Bentley Little.

I'm a big Little (Ha!) fan, but this book is a piece of ghoulash (get it? haha!), a real mashup of storytelling that doesn't really succeed, in my opinion.

One thing, though that is really terrifying to contemplate are those milking machines in the barn and what they are attached to. The image is horrendous and will stay with me forever. I can say no more, lest I reveal too much.

Meow! (You'll understand if you read this book.)

Read some other Bentley novels before you read this one.

[BenBanned]

I've been Looking out for a copy of The Store by Bentley Little. A friend mentioned this author and it sounds like something fun to read, just waiting to stumble upon a copy.

Currently reading The Fountainhead by Ayn Rand.
This is the second time reading this one and thoroughly enjoying the experience.
Convinced a few people I met through my YouTube channel to read along as well this month so it will be interesting to hear some different thoughts and opinions on it as well.

[Uncle Robin]

Giving The Toff another go with The Toff Steps Out and, as a Gooner of more than 40 years, continually being distracted that fact that Toff on the cover bears a striking resemblance to Gabriel Martinelli!

[Deskisamess]

Originally Posted by acprinter

Just finished The Good Earth Trilogy by Pearl S. Buck. The first book The Good Earth won the Pulitzer Prize, I can see why. I gave The Good Earth a five star rating, the next two were good only 4 stars.

One of my favorite books, and I reread it every few years. I bought a bunch of her books many years ago when there was a sale. I've been meaning to reread Pavilion of Women again, I read it 30 years ago and remember liking it.

[DiapDealer]

Thought I'd try something a little different from my usual and it didn't work out. From the opening page of "Down Range" by Taylor Moore, I was assaulted with a never-ending barrage of branding, tech specs, and paramilitary lingo, acronyms, and abbreviations. It was like reading a military technical writer's description of a fictional account of a technical writer's nightmare.

Quickly dumped that and have moved on to Carl Hiaasen's "Bad Monkey."

[issybird]

Reading two books that will probably make my ten-best list:

Wreath of Roses by Elizabeth Taylor, who I think has become one of my favorite novelists. I’m glad I still have a few to go.

Master Slave Husband Wife by Ilyon Woo, an account of an enslaved couple who escaped bondage in Georgia through the ruse of the light-skinned wife dressing as a man and posing as her husband’s owner. It won the Pulitzer this year for biography. I frequently don’t love prize winners; this is an exception.