The "I am currently reading" thread

[wearysmith 141]

This, about a much-missed live act.

 

[Rockers rule 673]

Bad Dad.

David Walliams.

Illustrated by Tony Ross

 

 No I haven't gone Sealion (& neither can i find an Emoji for one)

Pinched it off one of the Granddaughters.

My reasoning A. she's never going to read the 420 pages of the book anytime soon &.

B. Do I want her to read it? 

C. Could my preconception of Mr Walliams be wrong?  

The easy answer is while there is a story in there, the 🚽 humour and fixation on  Bottom's, bodily functions 🧻  cross dressing 👗 and lesbianism 👭 hardly surprised me at all.

 

Harper Collins Children's books.

 

Not for my Grandchild it ain't 

 

 

 

 

 

[metalman 21]

Here's my round-up for September. Some old, some new, mainly crime but one or two other things as well.

 

Harry Stephen Keeler - The Crilly Court mystery. Reporter Jimmie Kentland gets a tip off about a murder in a junk shop in Crilly Court. So far so normal but then it takes off into a plot of typical Keeler bonkers-ness, not least involving a portrait of a man from Saturn and there's even a science fiction story shoehorned into the middle for no obvious reason. An experience not to be forgotten.

Dorothy L. Sayers - The unpleasantness at the Bellona Club. Old General Fentiman expires in a chair at said club. Lord Peter Winsey wants to know when and uncovers more than he bargained for. Quite simply a delight from start to finish.

R. T. Fishall - The Twitmarsh file. From 1985, an amusing look at the actions of loony left councils and bureaucrats. Trouble is, what was loony left then is completely mainstream now...

Holly Roth - The Content assignment. Terrant falls in love with a woman in post-war Berlin and tries to track her down years later, but is obstructed by the authorities at every turn. More of a spy thriller than a detective story but OK.

Jack Vance - Trullion: Alastor 2262. On the watery planet Trullion, typical Vance hero Glinnes Hulden returns home after ten years to find that his brother has sold off the family assets. Can he get them back, and can he do it through the game of hussade (which definitely would be described as problematic by the Me-Too generation!). Needless to say, yes.

Douglas Coupland - Shampoo planet. The only early Coupland I hadn't read, and it's like the others: nothing much happens and yet it's insanely readable. He could write the phone book and I'd probably still read it.

Anthony Horowitz - A line to kill. The third in this series in which a writer called Anthony Horowitz is shadowing a detective called Daniel Hawthorne. Here they are invited to a writers' convention on Alderney, during which the obnoxious organiser is bumped off. Excellent.

Belinda Bauer - Exit. Pensioner Felix Pink helps people kill themselves. But on his latest assignment, he helps the wrong person. Another excellent book by Bauer, though occasionally the actions of the protagonist did seem rather out of character.

Robert B. Parker - Widow's walk. Finally managed to find a copy of one of the Spenser series I was missing. Dumb blonde Mary Smith's husband Nathan is shot dead while she watches TV. Did she do it? 

Jan Stewer - Ole Biskit. In the 1920s, a man from the West Country buys a car and learns to drive it. Albert Coles adopted the pen-name Jan Stewer (from the song Widecombe Fair) for his gently humorous tales written in Devon dialect which were very popular in the inter-war years. Probably completely incomprehensible to anybody from the North.

 

Now reading: John Scalzi - Head on. The sequel to Lock In that I read last month, but I've only just started it.

[Rockers rule 673]

Twisted.

Steve Cavanagh.

With 4 books under his belt,  I'm a little surprised he hasn't come up on here before.

I read (more or less) anything but Crime/ Thriller Fiction isn't something I read a lot of.

HTSBO picked this up for me & she did well.

The title 'Twisted' is probably a little misleading (?).

Sure, there are enough 'Twist's' in the story & once your in, the book has you looking for next one.

Nothing and no one is safe as the Police investigate the attempted murder of one of the main characters/ 

outstanding murders and, just who is the mysterious writer J.T. Le Beau?

Who's going to survive? can you see where the next part of the story is going to take you?

Will your mind work out just where the Author is taking you?

The only way to find out is to read it yourself.

Definite page turner (did it in two sittings) and well worth reading.

 

There were a few scenarios that you could probably pick the bones out of but as the front of the book says,

 

"Never let MURDER get in the way of a good story"

 

Keep safe, read well.  

 

 

[Guest sibon]

I’ve just finished Utopia Avenue by David Mitchell. It’s a lovely romp through the underbelly of the music industry. 
 

I’m now halfway through Mr Wilder and Me, by Jonathan Coe. If you haven’t read it already, do it tomorrow. It’s a superbly written tale intertwining the present with the 1970s.  It’s centred upon the idea of ageing, but it has much more to say.

Edited October 5, 2021 by sibon

[wearysmith 141]

Grabbed the nearest Carl Hiaasen off the shelf. Read it a few times. His work is always fun. This one's about murder and greed amongst the lunker bass community in Florida. Entertaining, even though I can't stand fishing 😀.

 

[Guest sibon]

10 hours ago, wearysmith said:

Grabbed the nearest Carl Hiaasen off the shelf. Read it a few times. His work is always fun. This one's about murder and greed amongst the lunker bass community in Florida. Entertaining, even though I can't stand fishing 😀.

 

I love a bit of Carl Hiassen. I assume you’ve read his latest, “Squeeze Me”. I’d read Brookmyre and Hiaasen for weeks on end, quite happily.

[wearysmith 141]

1 hour ago, sibon said:

I love a bit of Carl Hiassen. I assume you’ve read his latest, “Squeeze Me”. I’d read Brookmyre and Hiaasen for weeks on end, quite happily.

Nope, I'm a few behind. Last 2 I bought were Star Island and Bad Monkey. Requests around birthdays and Christmas seem to go unheeded.....

[Guest sibon]

4 hours ago, wearysmith said:

Nope, I'm a few behind. Last 2 I bought were Star Island and Bad Monkey. Requests around birthdays and Christmas seem to go unheeded.....

Squeeze Me is brilliant. Buy it yourself for an October 8th present.

 

Do you read much Chris Brookmyre?

[wearysmith 141]

3 minutes ago, sibon said:

Squeeze Me is brilliant. Buy it yourself for an October 8th present.

 

Do you read much Chris Brookmyre?

No, but I've just looked him up. One to investigate. They had me at Theakston’s Old Peculier.

[Guest sibon]

20 minutes ago, wearysmith said:

No, but I've just looked him up. One to investigate. They had me at Theakston’s Old Peculier.

If you like Carl Hiassen, I think you’ll approve of Brookmyre. I’d give you mine, but most of them went to the charity shop last week. If you are anywhere near Abbeydale Road, St Lukes have a selection of cut price Brookmyres😀

[wearysmith 141]

8 hours ago, sibon said:

If you like Carl Hiassen, I think you’ll approve of Brookmyre. I’d give you mine, but most of them went to the charity shop last week. If you are anywhere near Abbeydale Road, St Lukes have a selection of cut price Brookmyres😀

Ta for the head's up. Might have a drive out there this morning. Or go see 'Bond'. Haven't decided yet 😀