Welcome!

By registering with us, you'll be able to discuss, share and private message with other members of our community.

Sign Up Now!

Which Book Are You Reading thread

tsf said:
A few I have done recently

Short History of Everything - Bill Bryson. More interesting than I thought it would be. Basic history
Guns, Germs and Steel - Jared Diamond good
Also 100 years of solitude just finished
Click to expand...
Bill Bryson - great sense of humour!

Very, very funny man!
 
Last edited:
THINK TWICE : HARLAN COBEN

Genre: Crime Thriller/Private Investigator Mystery

Setting : New York State

Number of pages : 412

The reason I chose this book, is I've liked all other Harlan Coben books I've read to date. This includes 11 predecessors in the Myron Bolitar series. I've read just about every HC book he has written.

Greg Downing, former pro basketball star and pro coach has mysteriously disappeared for years. Yet some murders are taking place and Greg's DNA has appeared at the murder scenes. It indicates he could be alive - and - killing people?

Myron Bolitar was a partner of Greg's wife, before she married Greg. Win Lockwood is Myron's best mate. Both worked for the FBI for a few years in the past. They decide to investigate. Win calls in a senior FBI contact for background info.

The book is fast paced and entertaining, with some neat twists. At times it is hard to put down.

Reading the Myron series after a break, there are too many, perfect looking, highly intelligent, superbly athletic, main characters. My better half, thinks Myron and Win are smug, smart arses, after not reading any for years. I tend to agree.

I have preferred HC's Detective Booth ( 1 book) and Detective Lauren Muse, protagonist in a few Coben books, who are regular down to earth investigators. I prefer them to Myron and Win.

In many HC books, he has a main character who is a fugitive throughout, who is also wrongly believed to be the villain by the cops. The crims are also tracking the main character of the story to kill them. I prefer investigators as the protagonists in HC books.

To HC's credit, particularly in latter books, his counter sexist consciousness leads him to create strong , dynamic female leads.

Satisfactory conclusion in Think Twice. Definitely recommend it.
 
Last edited:
It is about a family that found a magic city with mirrors which is initially like a utopia.With time it becomes linked to Colombia.The novel traces the family's fortunes through generations and their ultimate downfall.It is really about the idealism that the various Latin American countries espoused after breaking away from the Spanish Empire and the tribulations that have beset those countries with civil wars, exploitation of peasants and workers and political upheavals.Ghosts are a common theme as would expect of a writer who is an an exponent of magic realism.I know that is a bit jumbled but is a complex book.
 
booney52 said:
It is about a family that found a magic city with mirrors which is initially like a utopia.With time it becomes linked to Colombia.The novel traces the family's fortunes through generations and their ultimate downfall.It is really about the idealism that the various Latin American countries espoused after breaking away from the Spanish Empire and the tribulations that have beset those countries with civil wars, exploitation of peasants and workers and political upheavals.Ghosts are a common theme as would expect of a writer who is an an exponent of magic realism.I know that is a bit jumbled but is a complex book.
Click to expand...
Sounds very interesting!

Good info there!
 
P IS FOR PERIL: SUE GRAFTON

Genre: Hard- boiled Crime Fiction/Private Investigator Mysteries

Setting: Coastal California in fictitious Santa Teresa

Length : 383 pages

I chose this book, because I've liked all other 24 books A -Y in the Kinsey Millhone series that Sue G wrote in this genre. Kinsey Millhone is a Californian based Private Investigator who was a cop for a while.

Fiona Purcell employs PI Kinsey Millhone to find out what happened to her missing divorced husband, Dr Dowan Purcell. Kinsey immediately contacts her police contacts for background when Fiona reported it to the police some time in the past.

Grafton's style is witty, funny. Kinsey mocks herself, which is a nice change from the arguably arrogant Myron and Win protagonists in the last Harlan Coben book I reviewed a few posts back.

Kinsey gets manipulated, by some con people, with a tenuous connection between them. Kinsey is no fool though and is a very good investigator.

Grafton has recurring likeable characters, mid 80 plus years old brothers Henry and William, plus late 70s, Rosie, carrying out extremely energetic roles for people of this age. I'd suggest unrealistic. Poor Sue G died before she reached the age they fictitiously are in the Kinsey M books.

There are all sorts of twists and turns and entertaining interviews of persons connected and disconnected to the case. The conclusion is a bit nebulous as to who the perpetrators were in the main case, and, the side conclusion, which is atypical of Grafton in the KM PI books.

Highly recommended. Rate this as one of Grafton's better books in this 25 book series. I read this book 20-25 years ago. Remembered only about 4 key parts of the book!

I don't know why, but Sue G's books don't seem to date.
 
A few newbies have said they are coming, or lurking to decide. Please welcome them to the forum when they arrive.
 
booney52 said:
It is about a family that found a magic city with mirrors which is initially like a utopia.With time it becomes linked to Colombia.The novel traces the family's fortunes through generations and their ultimate downfall.It is really about the idealism that the various Latin American countries espoused after breaking away from the Spanish Empire and the tribulations that have beset those countries with civil wars, exploitation of peasants and workers and political upheavals.Ghosts are a common theme as would expect of a writer who is an an exponent of magic realism.I know that is a bit jumbled but is a complex book.
Click to expand...
Good shout Booney, Ive never read it but you've peaked my interest :)
 
THE ROSIE PROJECT : GRAEME SIMSION

Genre: Romantic Comedy

Setting: Aus and USA

Number of pages: Circa 300

Reason for reading it: I chose the Rosie Project because it was recommended by friends and family.

Other books written by the same author:
The Rosie Effect ( similar, so I won't review it).

The main character is Don, an academic. He is autistic. Don is attracted to Rosie, who I recall is another academic. It is hilarious - one of the funniest books I've ever read! Ditto The Rosie Effect, the sequel. The unique perspectives of someone who is autistic and perceives the world is rather funny as delineated by Graeme S. At the same time, Don has extreme talents that are useful in different areas from neuro-typical people.

In the union movement it has been found that 45% of organisers and workplace delegates are neuro-diverse. I've been staggered lately when a lot of young unionists I've been drinking with, have told me they have ADHD, or are on the autism spectrum. Most are very intelligent too.

I'm not going to go into too many details, because I don't want to disclose any spoilers. A lot of posters reading this have displayed a keen sense of humour on G and G, so I think they would like the Rosie books in this genre.
 
THE THIRD WIFE : LISA JEWELL

Genre: Relationship fiction/domestic fiction.

Setting : Contemporary London, England.

Number of pages: 404

I read The Third Wife because it was recommended by a female friend to us. My better half read it first.

LJ is a skilled writer. She is good with characterisation. This book is more subtly cerebral than most recent fiction books I've read.

Adrian has been married twice before. First to Susie, who has had 2 adult kids with Adrian. Susie raised them when Adrian moved onto Carolyn, his second wife.

Carolyn then has had 3 younger children with Adrian, and lives with them in their old house, which Adrian gave to Carolyn.

Adrian moved on to Maya, who is younger than Carolyn. Maya and Adrian are engaged. They live together with a cat in a flat.

Each wife/fiancee is younger than the predecessor. All three families - Adrian, the 3 women and 5 kids have holidays together.

Adrian assumes everybody is happy because he is. All 5 children miss not having their father present. He lives 3 kilometres away with Maya.

A dramatic event occurs. A stranger, Abby, spends time with Maya, who had drunk a lot prior. Abby and Adrian later make contact about adopting a cat. It is disclosed that Maya has been receiving spiteful and malicious emails from someone close to her. Until very late in the plot, Maya has no idea who is sending them?

This is an insightful perspective from Lisa Jewell. She sheds light on men who always yearn for a new female model, younger than the current model - and act on it.

I know men like this off forum. I'm surprised they seem to find younger women interested in committing to relationships with older men, who've exited so many other marriages/de facto relationships.

Males who are like this will probably find this book very confronting in the final parts of it. I think it is a must read.

The Third Wife also has an excellent and poignant conclusion.
 
Last edited:
The Beacon: P.A. Thomas

Genre: Murder mystery

Setting: Byron Bay

No. of pages: 416

The blurb - "Jack Harris, the disgraced son of Australia's most powerful business tycoon, has just been exiled to Byron Bay as a junior journalist at his father's smallest regional newspaper, The Beacon. His arrival coincides with the disappearance of the newspaper's editor, Patrick O'Shaughnessy, while out on his morning surf. When Patrick's body is discovered in the ocean, with a severed leg, it appears certain that he's fallen victim to a shark attack."

The frustrating thing about this book is that the underlying story is a really good one. But it's dragged down by the lack of a compelling main character (Jack Harris is certainly no Jack Irish), too many WTF moments, several irrelevant incidents that don't really push the story forward, and everything hastily wrapped up in the end.

A friend suggested that could have been written with a TV series in mind, and I agree.
 
reading Eusebius' church history. Its a book from 320s ad about the first 300 years of the church and about 500 pages long. Been trying to find a coreader for a few months with no luck so biting the bullet and reading it myself

first page has a single sentence take up an entire page - apparently that was a common writing style in the classical world. I just read the commas as if they are full stops as I tend to hold my breath when reading long sentences in my head for some reason :D
 
Dr Curmudgeon said:
The Beacon: P.A. Thomas

Genre: Murder mystery

Setting: Byron Bay

No. of pages: 416

The blurb - "Jack Harris, the disgraced son of Australia's most powerful business tycoon, has just been exiled to Byron Bay as a junior journalist at his father's smallest regional newspaper, The Beacon. His arrival coincides with the disappearance of the newspaper's editor, Patrick O'Shaughnessy, while out on his morning surf. When Patrick's body is discovered in the ocean, with a severed leg, it appears certain that he's fallen victim to a shark attack."

The frustrating thing about this book is that the underlying story is a really good one. But it's dragged down by the lack of a compelling main character (Jack Harris is certainly no Jack Irish), too many WTF moments, several irrelevant incidents that don't really push the story forward, and everything hastily wrapped up in the end.

A friend suggested that could have been written with a TV series in mind, and I agree.
Click to expand...
It can happen sometimes. The main character disappoints.

I thought it was the case with Villani - a Peter Temple main character. Yet Peter T wrote Jack Irish - which had a compelling protagonist in the screen series.

The plot in The Beacon sounds interesting. Will look for this book in secondhand bookshops and op shops.

I know a few authors. They often lose a third of the book after a pro editor edits the book. Could the hasty wrap up be because of an editor wanting to shorten the story?
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top