What Fiction are you reading this week, March 6, 2022?

[hermetic]

Last edited Wed Mar 9, 2022, 10:48 AM - Edit history (1)

Kyiv National Library

Reading Beyond Black by Hilary Mantel, a story about two women. A charismatic, corpulent professional psychic whose connection to the spiritual world torments her, and her shy assistant. There's also a nasty little demon who travels with them and is quite amusing in a rather revolting way. Review says: "insightful, darkly comic, unorthodox, and thrilling to read." Only 70 pages in but finding it quite enjoyable.

Listening to Last Night at the Lobster by Stewart O'Nan. I just started this one, thanks to recs from dedicated reader PoindexterOglethorpe. Thanks, PO. You are right. O'Nan writes wonderfully, his words painting vivid pictures. Very down to earth and sometimes funny.

What books would you recommend this week?

[SheltieLover]

1. Murder Under Cover, Kate Carlisle

Meh, it's okish. But something to read. 😏

[hermetic]

3. Never heard of it

It sounds fantastic, though. Written by Mervyn Peake. "The fertility of incident, character and rich atmosphere combine in a tour de force that ranks as one of the twentieth century's most remarkable feats of imaginative writing."

I'll have to look into that one. I did absolutely adore Lord of the Rings.

[The King of Prussia]

5. It was televised here

and the adaptation was commonly referred to as "Gormenghastly". Never read the book.

[hermetic]

7. Yeah,

I was looking to see if there were DVDs made of it. I wouldn't mind seeing that.

I gotta tell you what I just got: The Complete Detectorists Series. I got it from the library last month and totally fell in love with it. Then I found it on sale online and bought it so I can watch it over and over. Best show ever.

[The King of Prussia]

20. Confession

Never seen The Detectorists.

[hermetic]

22. It is so amazing

I belong to an online group of people from England, Scotland, Australia, the U.S. and everyone says it's some of the best TV they have ever seen. It's not a crime/mystery series but by the end of the second episode it will start warming your heart and the theme music will have you humming. It's quite funny and you can't help but fall in love with some of the characters. You just want to be there with them. I sure did, anyway.

[The King of Prussia]

23. I'll give it a go

I'm sure it will be available somewhere

[Ohiya]

15. I read this trilogy in the seventies.

I've re read the third book a couple of times. For me, the third book makes the trilogy worth reading.

[ultralite001]

13. Mervyn Peake trilogy...

Dark... dark... dark...

yet glorious...

No adaptation can match the visions captured and displayed in the mind's eye...

[Ohiya]

16. I can still picture some of the scenes, some forty years after reading it!

The third book blew me away!

[PoindexterOglethorpe]

4. So glad you are liking Stewart O'Nan.

I just finished Henry, Himself, and reread Emily, Alone. I have the third book about them, Wish You Were Here on hold at my library.

At the moment I'm not reading any fiction. Moneyball by Michael Lewis is what I'm working on. I need to read more of what he has written.

[hermetic]

6. Last Night at the Lobster

is a story about a Red Lobster restaurant that is going out of business and it's just a couple of days before Christmas. So, all sorts of interesting scenarios come up, as you might well imagine.

Wanted to let you know there is a new show at the Blue Rain Gallery, going on til Mar 12. Appears to be some really nice art, in case you're looking for something pleasant to do.

[PoindexterOglethorpe]

10. I really liked

Last Night at the Lobster. Have you read The Good Wife by him? It has absolutely NOTHING to do with the TV series by the same name. I constantly recommend it but get few takers.

I don't often get downtown, but perhaps I can try to get to the Blue Rain this week.

[hermetic]

12. Cool

I have not read The Good Wife, yet. My library does have it, though, so I will be getting it.

[PoindexterOglethorpe]

26. Please do. It is amazing.

And let us know what you think.

I should probably reread it myself.

[bahboo]

8. finally getting around to All the Light We Cannot See.....

it is thus far, as excellent as expected. And very relatable to these present times....

[hermetic]

9. Oh yes

Such a wonderful book. Glad you are enjoying it.

[Jeebo]

14. Re-reading "Titan" by Stephen Baxter

I read it once before, in the late 90s when it came out.

-- Ron

[hermetic]

18. That sounds awesome

Possible signs of organic life have been found on Titan, Saturn's largest moon. A group of visionaries from NASA plan a daring one-way mission that will cost them everything. In the orange methane slush of Titan's icy surface the astronauts will discover the secret of life's origins.

Impressive.

[The King of Prussia]

19. "What they knew" by Marion Todd.

Number 4 in one of my favourite detective series. Set in St. Andrews. It's a cracker.
Just finished "In A Lonely Place" by Dorothy B. Hughes. I found it a real struggle.
Before that I read "The Holiday" by T.M. Logan, which was also on the TV this week. The book was good. The TV adaptation was a DNF.

[hermetic]

21. DI Clare Mackay series

Those sound really good. Sadly, not at my library. But, on my list. Cheers.

[question everything]

24. Charles Finch's An Extravagant Death

The last, so far, in the series of Charles Lenox, an amateur detective in Britain of the mid 1800.

I like mysteries that take place before fingerprints, phones, DNA analyses etc. Just logic and observations.

In this book he visits "the colonies" - i.e. the United States. In her Majesty service.

But he is called to Newport to investigate a brutal murder of a young woman.

As a parallel, it takes place in 1878 and Lenox is introduced to the forms of "Society" in New York and in Newport. I have been watching "The Gilded Age" on HBO, nicknamed Downton Abbey New York. Same people, the old establishment, the "Knickerbockers" the upper crust of New York Society led by Mrs. Astor and aided by Mr. McAllister both are mentioned here.

[hermetic]

25. That sounds good

And it just came out last year. "...promises to be a breakout in Charles Finch's bestselling series." Oooh, and it's on audio, too. On my list, it is. (I loved Downton Abbey).

[Paper Roses]

27. Just finished an oldie: A Time for Mercy by John Grisham.

I'm a Grisham fan and enjoyed this book, I think it was one of his his best. Long read but worth the time.

[hermetic]

28. That does sound good

Filled with all the courtroom machinations, small-town intrigues, and plot twists that have become the hallmarks of the master of the legal thriller.

[panader0]

29. Reading 'Day of the Locust' by Nathanael West.

It's a re-read for me, first read in the 70's. My old paperback has "Miss Lonelyheart" and
'The Day of the Locust' in one book as they are short novels. Dark and biting satire of the
newspaper world (Lonelyheart) and Hollywood (Locust). I recommend them for the writing.
West died at 37 in an automobile accident in El Centro, California in 1940.