What are you reading this week of December 4, 2016?

[hermetic]

The Ploughmen by Kim Zupan. This had been on my list for a long time and it was worth the wait. Bleak and brilliant. The Montana landscape is like a third character. creating an unusual bond between a brutal murderer and a deputy.

Happy to be listening to The Trespasser, the latest by Tana French. The book just came out this year and I was surprised to see the library had the audio. I must say, it's not easy being the only woman on the Dublin Murder Squad. Hearing it read by someone with a lovely Irish brogue certainly adds to the fun.

Any books cheering you up a little this week?

[shenmue]

1. "Where They Found Her," Kimberly McCreight

[hermetic]

2. You always find such interesting books...

A devastating discovery. Shocking revelations that will change three lives forever. A decades-old trail of dark secrets hiding behind Ridgedale's white picket fences.

I'm glad you stop by to tell us about them.

[shenmue]

3. Thank you

[TexasProgresive]

4. Thanks for the thread.

As for cheering up; I am just about finished with Bobke II by Bob Roll. It is non-fiction but has been a lot of fun. Bob writes in a stream of consciousness, well one assumes he's conscious, about his time as a pro cyclist. You get to read his take on some of the greats and not so greats of the sport along with the escapades of Bobke (Dutch for Bobby, pronouced Boob Kah).

I'm back to Peter Robinson's Detective Chief Inspector Alan Banks. I was hoping to get the one following Bad Boy called Watching the Dark but no such luck. I really want to know what happened to one of the characters who was badly injured in Bad Boy.

So I picked up 2; in a Dry Season #10 and Piece of My Heart # 16.

This DCI Banks reminds me of another Dectective Inspector, maybe Rebus. Something similar in the life and personal struggles.

hermetic, Who's doing the reading of the French novel, is it Ms. French herself?

[hermetic]

5. No

It's read by Hilda Fay, an award-winning Irish actress. I don't believe I've ever found an audible book read by the author other than Neil Gaiman.

Yeah, I think I recall some similarities between Rebus and Banks.

Bobke II sounds like fun. I've always enjoyed stream of consciousness writers.

[PoindexterOglethorpe]

6. Finale by Thomas Mallon.

It's about Reagan and those around him and is mainly set around and during the summit in Iceland with Gorbachev in October, 1986.

I have liked everything I've ever read by Mallon. Henry and Clara is one of my all time favorite books.

[hermetic]

8. Henry and Clara

sounds wonderful. (This young couple joins the Lincolns in the Presidential box at Ford s Theater, and the events that evening have a profound effect on the rest of their lives.) Written back in 1995, it will take some searching to find a copy but it sounds well worth the effort. Glad you mentioned it.

I'll give the Reagan story a pass, though. Too much contempt to imagine it would be an enjoyable read. That's just my opinion, of course.

[PoindexterOglethorpe]

11. Henry and Clara is one of my all time favorite books.

I've been known to grab total strangers in a bookstore and actually sell that book to them.

The Reagan book is not as compelling as any of the others I've read so far. Perhaps it's that the events are so close in time, and that so many of the characters are real people. He gets into their heads (including Nancy Reagan, as well as former Presidents Carter and Nixon, and many, many other historical personages) and while it feels valid and believable, it's a bit weird.

It does not feel as if he's distorting anything for his own agenda, for what that opinion is worth.

Oh, and Henry and Clara is still in print. So you can buy it, or possibly your library will have it. I can say that I'd never heard of these two before I read the book, and I read the last twenty or so pages with my mouth open in astonishment, as he tells what eventually happened to them.

One of Mallon's strengths is that when he's writing historical characters, he doesn't just write modern people in old clothes. He gives us real (in this case) 19th century people.

[hermetic]

13. Heh,

I can just imagine you in a bookstore: "Here!! You have GOT TO read this book!"

I already checked my library catalog on line and they don't. I will track it down, though, especially now with what you've added.

[PoindexterOglethorpe]

14. Oh, yes!

Perhaps we've crossed paths in a bookstore.

Especially if I can strike up a conversation with someone perusing the books. I'll ask a few questions, figure out what they might like, and make suggestions. Honest, there's a couple of bookstores and authors out there who should be paying me a commission.

[Goblinmonger]

7. The Blue Fox by Sjon

Going to Iceland for a week over Christmas break so figured I should read some Icelandic literature. About 25% in and it is very beautiful. Told as a fable--kind of--but gets deep pretty quickly.

Finished The 100 on Friday/Saturday last week because it was available and someone talked about the TV show. It's a love/romance story in the guise of a dystopian look. That and that it is horribly derivative of Lord of the Flies with NONE of the good things from Flies, made me really not like it. But it was a quick read.

Now I need to find some Icelandic poetry.

[hermetic]

10. Lucky you!!

I hope you can take some pictures and share them with us, either in the Lounge or Photography group.

Here you go, then..... A Toast to Iceland

Our land of lakes forever fair
below blue mountain summits,
of swans, of salmon leaping where
the silver water plummets,
of glaciers swelling broad and bare
above earth's fiery sinews —
the Lord pour out his largess there
as long as earth continues!
--Jónas Hallgrímsson

[japple]

9. Hi everyone. Thanks for the thread, hermetic. I'm still deep in 1814 New

South Wales. The deportees and their families are getting nervous. The indigenous peoples are gearing up to take back their land from the white settlers who have stolen it and abused their people. Tensions are high. I highly recommend Kate Grenville's book, The Secret River

This book is certainly not cheering me up, but watching Bill Maher, Stephen Colbert, and reading funny stuff on the internet certainly helps.

[hermetic]

12. Hi

I will for sure look for that book, even though I pretty much know how it ends.
The Ploughmen keeps getting darker and quite depressing. Can't guess how it will end. Not well, probably.

[japple]

15. I liked The Ploughmen very much. It is beautifully written.

My sister also read it and said she found the writing style infuriating. No, I don't think either of our books will have a nice, tidy, happy ending. We'll see.

[hermetic]

16. Zupan's writing style

I've seen several reviews that say it "riffs on the rhythms of Cormac McCarthy" but can't comment on that as I've never read a McCarthy book. I have noticed a couple of what could be editing errors. Those do interfere with the flow of his prose sometimes.

The thing that infuriates me is Val's conversations with his wife. They talk but they don't really say anything. They talk around their issues, like people in real life do. Arrggh! I just want to slap the both of them and tell them to spit it out. Interesting how he can communicate so much easier with the prisoner. Yep, this is quite an extraordinary book. I expect to finish it tonight.

[japple]

18. Yes, I caught that as well. It seems like they had a relationship that

went sour, but there's not a real good explanation of the reason for it...

[eissa]

17. Finally read "The God of Small Things" by Arundhati Roy

Thought I'd like it more than I did. Beautiful writing, but the story itself takes a backseat.

[hermetic]

20. Not familiar with it

It did get a lot of high praise for a debut novel. Thanks for sharing your thoughts on it here.

[eissa]

22. Yes, the high praise may have affected my expectations

I don't mind a lot of descriptiveness. I love the writings of Garcia and Llosa, among others who do that. I do mind when the descriptions become so repetitive, and so often that it's almost juvenile in its attempt to impress the reader, at the expense of the actual story.

[Number9Dream]

19. "Beyond the Ice Limit" by Preston & Child

Late to the thread as usual, sorry... The awaited sequel to "The Ice Limit" turned out to be very enjoyable too. The meteorite which had sunk to the ocean floor in the first book, turned out to be an alien life form which endangered the Earth. The team assembled to stop it soon discovered that the alien had no intention of going quietly. Another good action, page-turner.

[hermetic]

21. Always happy to see you

Whenever.

Sounds like another hit for Preston & Child. They do keep turning them out, don't they. Such imaginations!

[NTOZamboni]

23. I've actually been reading fairytales and fables ...

... and then rewriting them with dark twists for the Trumpian Age! Of course, some are pretty dark already. But it feels like there's no place for happy endings at the moment. At least, I don't have much patience for them, in my reading.

It's not exactly cheering me up, but it's keeping me steady. I'll take it.