What are you reading at the moment? Recommendations welcome

[RK Wallis]

Ooh, love Gaiman. Just listened to his Norse Mythology, which he read which was even better

He's reading Neverwhere too

 

[Hannah F]

Yes, I’m definitely going to read the others. Her writing is so good it makes me question my own. It would make a great tv series if done in the right way.

Universal bought the film rights. Joe Roth is the main producer. It's presently in development.

 

[Hannah F]

Recently finished Alix E Harrow’s The Once And Future Witches. LOVED it. Not least for the creeping sense of menace that underlay every page.

Great Book. Her Thousand Doors of January is on my tbr list.

 

[Vagabond Heart]

Great Book. Her Thousand Doors of January is on my tbr list.

Reading it right now xxx

 

[Jonny]

Adrian McKinty's latest Detective Sean Duffy novel. The Detective up Late (#7 in the series with two more due for publication in the not too distant).

I've enjoyed every one immensely, and to me they are so much better than his two real global biggies - The Chain & The Island.

 

[Hannah F]

Read Naomi Novik's The Last Graduate - second in her Scholomance trilogy. Mainly because I'd bought books one and two together so it was on my tbr pile. Also because I've loved Novik's previous works and held out hope that this would be better than book One, A Deafly Education.
What was wrong with book one? An enormous amount of expositional worldbuilding, in such huge chunks that I could have torn those pages out and made an actual brick out of them. An enormous amount of internal monologue from the MC, who had a good voice if she didn't keep going on and on and on . . . ,
So book two wouldn't need the world building, and MC must be all out of monologue so we can get on with story, right? Wrong. Having told us most of the workings of the Scholomance (a school for wizard kids that's plagued by wizard-kid-eating monsters) in book one, let's just throw in a whole load of info about politics outside the school as a set up for book 3, most of which is totally unnecessary in book 2. Internal monologue? Oh dear. Novik has her MC addicted to making us suffer from her continuous droning.
I ploughed through in the vain hope that Novik would come to her senses and give us the wonderful story I know she's capable of. The last 3 chapters speeded up. At last some excitement leading to a . . . unsatisfactory ending. Because, of course, she wants you to read book 3.
No. Much as the MC has a good voice (if only she'd use it more sparingly), I can't face ploughing through another. I just needed to know if a certain character survived, so I read up on the plot which answered me and told me that a really main and followable character in books one and two is given almost no page space in book 3, and the MCs character arc basically flattens, and she does stuff that is just not on (no spoilers in case you want to read it rather than thrashing yourself in the back for your sins). So, I won't be buying book 3, and I'll be giving books one and two away to the next charity bag or tombola that takes them.

 

[Emily]

Read Naomi Novik's The Last Graduate - second in her Scholomance trilogy. Mainly because I'd bought books one and two together so it was on my tbr pile. Also because I've loved Novik's previous works and held out hope that this would be better than book One, A Deafly Education.
What was wrong with book one? An enormous amount of expositional worldbuilding, in such huge chunks that I could have torn those pages out and made an actual brick out of them. An enormous amount of internal monologue from the MC, who had a good voice if she didn't keep going on and on and on . . . ,
So book two wouldn't need the world building, and MC must be all out of monologue so we can get on with story, right? Wrong. Having told us most of the workings of the Scholomance (a school for wizard kids that's plagued by wizard-kid-eating monsters) in book one, let's just throw in a whole load of info about politics outside the school as a set up for book 3, most of which is totally unnecessary in book 2. Internal monologue? Oh dear. Novik has her MC addicted to making us suffer from her continuous droning.
I ploughed through in the vain hope that Novik would come to her senses and give us the wonderful story I know she's capable of. The last 3 chapters speeded up. At last some excitement leading to a . . . unsatisfactory ending. Because, of course, she wants you to read book 3.
No. Much as the MC has a good voice (if only she'd use it more sparingly), I can't face ploughing through another. I just needed to know if a certain character survived, so I read up on the plot which answered me and told me that a really main and followable character in books one and two is given almost no page space in book 3, and the MCs character arc basically flattens, and she does stuff that is just not on (no spoilers in case you want to read it rather than thrashing yourself in the back for your sins). So, I won't be buying book 3, and I'll be giving books one and two away to the next charity bag or tombola that takes them.

I'm delighted to read this, Hannah, as I was thinking of reading these, so now I'll give them a wide berth (everything you mention makes me Itchy with annoyance!)

 

[Michael C]

I'm about to start The Dark Tower, the final volume of Stephen King's saga. I've also been re-reading some of the Charlie Parker books, which are superb thrillers with a very significant dash of horror (like when a recipe says use 2 cloves of garlic and you use 12).

I'm planning to re-read This Thing of Darkness by Harry Thompson as well, which is possibly my all time favourite book.

 

[RK Wallis]

a very significant dash of horror (like when a recipe says use 2 cloves of garlic and you use 12).

lol!

 

[Hannah F]

Just finished One of Us is Lying. YA crime by Karen McManus. It was an enjoyable read especially as I didn't manage to guess the whodunnit. With the four POVs, I'd have liked a greater difference in their voices. Sometimes I had to recheck the chapter title to see who was talking. It didn't have enough impact on me to make me want to read her next one, but crime is not my go to. It was useful as an example of a bestselling contemporary YA.

 

[Jonny]

Just finished Knots and Crosses. Ian Rankin's 1st John Rebus novel. Once again, the so-called "craft rules" ridden over roughshod by a coach and horses. Did nothing to mar my experience. Like a lot of these extended series, as a debut it was good though not stunning by a long chalk. But, the pace was breakneck throughout and kept me completely engaged.

I'm now halfway through Quite Ugly One Morning. The 1st of Chris Brookmyre's Jack Parlabane series. Brookmyre for me is nothing short of brilliant. Darkly hilarious, politically contentious and a superb storyteller. Re so-called no-nos and bad craft. He thinks nothing of frequently throwing in 4-5 pages of telling and backstory but never once loses me.

This book has one of the most brilliant darkly hilarious first chapters ever. Icing on the cake here is David Tennant's narration. A total joy. You can sense his ear-to-ear grinning on almost every sentence.

 

[Peyton Stafford]

I just finished Herland. This is an early twentieth-century feminist SF novel about a land of women, who reproduce by parthenogenesis, and have created a Utopia. Author was a sociologist. Charlotte Perkins Gilman.

 

[Rich.]

/wry humour on

I'm reading West Sussex Superstitions by Charlotte Latham, published in 1878. It opens with a quote written in 1776, and it strikes me as so indicative of the times, so pompously offensive, that I had to share it here:

It is the hardest thing in the world to shake off superstitious prejudices: they are sucked in, as it were, with our mother's milk; and, growing up with us at a time when they take the fastest hold and make the most lasting impressions, become so interwoven into our very constitutions, that the strongest good sense is required to disengage ourselves from them. No wonder, therefore, that the lower people retain them their whole lives through, since their minds are not invigorated by a liberal education, and therefore not enabled to make any efforts adequate to the occasion. Such a preamble appears to be necessary before we enter on the superstitions of this district, lest we should be suspected of exaggeration in a recital of practices too gross for this enlightened age.​

In our shiny post-post-modern times, could you simply replace "superstitious prejudices" with "nutjob conspiracy theories" and leave the rest untouched? Or would you be labelled unkind and skinned alive on Xwitter? You'd have to do something about "lower people". That is offensive whichever way you cut it. But the rest... hmm.

/wry humour off

 

[RK Wallis]

lower people

wow, that's hoity toity! just wow.

 

[Rich.]

I know, right! And of course the implication is that people at the time would read this and nod sagely – Oh, those foolish lower people, what is one to do! The British class system (caste system) was so damn rigid.

 

[Rich.]

It looks like Charlotte Latham wasn't only in the business of attacking those she deemed "lower". On page 11, she has a go at one of her own:

[PROGNOSTICS OF GOOD AND EVIL.] (34) Beware, too, of singing before breakfast : if you sing before breakfast, you will cry before night. I have found this superstition prevalent amongst both gentle and simple; and I know a very highly educated lady who seems to place implicit faith in it.​

I'll stop now, but there's some great (and hilarious) material in here for anyone writing historical in this period.

 

[Jonny]

Just finished A Man With One Of Those Faces by Caimh (pronounced Qweeve) McDonnell. A really fun crime read. Full of great characters, Irish humour and wit. It's book one of The Dublin Trilogy (7 books so far, I believe )

The narrator Morgan C Jones makes it come alive. Pleased I have found a new author with quite a prolific body of work to enjoy.

 

[E G Logan]

Just finished A Man With One Of Those Faces by Caimh (pronounced Qweeve) McDonnell. A really fun crime read. Full of great characters, Irish humour and wit. It's book one of The Dublin Trilogy (7 books so far, I believe )

The narrator Morgan C Jones makes it come alive. Pleased I have found a new author with quite a prolific body of work to enjoy.

I find his Dublin Trilogy quite like Chris Brookmyre, though not so dark. If you don't know him, you might like him, too. (And he's written a lot.) If you can manage McDonnell's Dublin, you can probably get through Brookmyre's Paisley without a translator. (But if you do need one...)

 

[E G Logan]

Brookmyre's Paisley without a translator.

Now that would be a challenge for the average audio book narrator. I'd recommend buying the books, on paper.

 

[Hannah F]

Just finished The Foundling by Stacey Halls. Dual POV. The first part was in one POV, then it switched to another POV. This second part was good, but I felt I was missing experiencing the 1st POVs inner conflict at this stage in the story. I could imagine it, but I'd like to have experienced it. I was pleased it switched again. Then switched again and this fourth part was very engaging but again missing the 1st POVs inner conflict. I think it would have been better to switch more often so we get the whole story from both POVs. Just my opinion of course.

 

[Jonny]

Now that would be a challenge for the average audio book narrator. I'd recommend buying the books, on paper.

I love Brookmyre, he's one of my favourite authors and in the past two years I have consumed almost everything of his (in audiobook too) Easy for me as I'm from Northern Ireland. I speak fluent Weegie So many similarities to Belfast slang and dialect.

Brookmyre's dark humour is razor sharp, merciless and rips his targets to shreds.

Agree, Dublin Trilogy a great comp.

 

[E G Logan]

I found 'A Tale Etched in Blood and Thick Black Pencil' – the one that goes right back to primary school – a challenge in places, and my whole family is from Paisley. I was born there.

Partly Brookmyre had set the bar very high for himself, using period-correct slang in the children's dialogue. (Yes, really.) That is, what young schoolchildren in Paisley were saying then, not what anybody has said in recent years. I had to shake my head hard a couple of times to think back.

And I struggled with the spelling; I think someone somewhere in the publication process, maybe even B himself, had tried to 'normalise' the spelling. Didn't work for me. I had to sound some of it out loud to get it.

But worth it in the end.

Who narrates Brookmyre's audiobooks? Assuming they couldn't get Gerard Butler (too Hollywood), or maybe Paolo Nutini (not his thing)... maybe Peter Capaldi? He was very good in 'The Crow Road', much of it set the Paisley side of Glasgow. That's another one worth reading, but I'd assume you already have.

 

[Jonny]

There are a variety of narrators but for me the best two are Angus King & Sarah Barron. Interesting you mention A Tale Etched in Blood and Thick Black Pencil. I had no bother with that, but then again - I'm of that vintage.

 

[Hannah F]

I found 'A Tale Etched in Blood and Thick Black Pencil' – the one that goes right back to primary school – a challenge in places, and my whole family is from Paisley. I was born there.

Partly Brookmyre had set the bar very high for himself, using period-correct slang in the children's dialogue. (Yes, really.) That is, what young schoolchildren in Paisley were saying then, not what anybody has said in recent years. I had to shake my head hard a couple of times to think back.

And I struggled with the spelling; I think someone somewhere in the publication process, maybe even B himself, had tried to 'normalise' the spelling. Didn't work for me. I had to sound some of it out loud to get it.

But worth it in the end.

Who narrates Brookmyre's audiobooks? Assuming they couldn't get Gerard Butler (too Hollywood), or maybe Paolo Nutini (not his thing)... maybe Peter Capaldi? He was very good in 'The Crow Road', much of it set the Paisley side of Glasgow. That's another one worth reading, but I'd assume you already have.

Ye cannae throw a jam piece oot a twenty storey flat,
A hundred Glasgeh hungry weans will testify tae that,
If butter, cheese or jeely, if the breid is plain or pan,
The odds against the right side up are ninety-nine tae wan.

 

[Peyton Stafford]

Just started Cane, by Jean Toomer. Harlen Renaissance.

 

[E G Logan]

There are a variety of narrators but for me the best two are Angus King & Sarah Barron. Interesting you mention A Tale Etched in Blood and Thick Black Pencil. I had no bother with that, but then again - I'm of that vintage.

Me, too – and the rest. Hence the stretching to remember.

 

[E G Logan]

Just started Zadie Smith's 'The Fraud'. Mmmm.

IMO, it's a slow starter and rather 'flat' so far....

 

[RK Wallis]

Just finished a very popular YA, Fourth Wing, and I'm rethinking. I don't think YA is for me anymore. It was so melodramatic! A good concept but I kept thinking, 'get to the story,' and I struggled to care. I liked the banter though. It earned a few laughs.

 

[Hannah F]

Just finished a very popular YA, Fourth Wing, and I'm rethinking. I don't think YA is for me anymore. It was so melodramatic! A good concept but I kept thinking, 'get to the story,' and I struggled to care. I liked the banter though. It earned a few laughs.

Fourth Wing is really New adult. I haven't read it, but it's getting a marmite response.

 

[Peyton Stafford]

I read Cane by Jean Toomer for a U Chicago grad seminar. Most of us did not get it. Is it even a novel? We asked. The beautiful and wise Mary Lane Potter showed us how it was a novel, but a high modernist novel. Rather than following the chronology of people's lives, it moves from time to time and person to person. It shows life not as a Homeric Odyssey, but as a collective movement. Think James Joyce... I intend to reread it with a new vision.

Here is a link to her website. Ignore the woodcut of her face. She may be old, but she is beautiful.

Mary Lane Potter - Welcome!

The Web site maintained by Mary Lane Potter, teacher, fiction writer, and author of "A Woman of Salt" and "Strangers and Sojourners."

www.marylanepotter.com