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].