I’m still reading epic fantasy and urban fantasy with sci-fi here and there. Last series was The Sharing Knife by Lois McMaster Bujold. Any suggestions for a good book to read by the pool?
My Stamporama avatar pic is one of my favorite Urban Fantasy protagonists. Anyone recognize him?
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Fleet of Worlds, by Larry Niven. Fifth time around for the series, but enjoying it as much as the first time. First rate "real" science fiction. I've been immersed in "real" sci-fi for 45 years, and loving it!
I've been on a Cornwell kick lately and am in the middle of his Civil War Starbuck series. Great reading!
I still recommend the series by Block about the stamp collecting hit man Keller!
As always, I've been tending to the non-fiction side of things. Wade Davis' 'Into the Silence', about Mallory and the first attempts on Everest is a big read, but riveting history. The context of the expeditions is something I never considered before. On a bit of a Jared Diamond kick as well.
Fiction-wise, I'm a complete Donna Leon junkie and just finished off the Inspector Brunetti series at the beginning of the summer. Great Italian crime procedurals.
Waiting for Good Omens, by Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman, to come available through the local library. Will get around to finishing A Soldier of the Great War, by Mark Helprin (thanks Phil!) sometime this summer (hopefully - it's been on hold for quite a while).
Looking at this, I've been running quite the balancing act over the last few months
I bounce around a lot. Just finished "Enemy of the People" by Jim Acosta and before that was a biography of Barcelona architect Antoni Gaudi and an autobiography by Jackie Speier. Next up is book 5 in the series: "The Girl Who Takes an Eye for an Eye". After that is "Becoming Madison" and then "The Great Deformation".
I'm all over the place.
Lars
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"Expanding your knowledge faster than your collection can save you a few bucks."
I have just started into the English translations of the Inspector Montalbano detective series by Andrea Camilleri. They are quite addictive which is dangerous as the series is quite large. (He didn't start writing them until he was seventy which gives me hope.)
This weekend I will go on holiday and that means reading books (more than normally). I do not know exactly what books will end up in my suitcase, but I will probably continue reading a book about forgotten beer styles in the Netherlands (very intriguing stuff!) and think I'll take a book by Bill Bryson (The Road to Little Dribbling). Bryson is an author who always manages to make me smile and wonder how he managed to find all that trivia. Added to that I may take a Dutch novel or a Swedish thriller (translated in Dutch) because we are going to Sweden this year.
Dull fare to most I imagine but political history is my favorite and so Foreign Policy of France 1914-1945 by Jacques Nere is the book of the moment. I did just finish Flying the Andes by William Krusen which is about the origins and history of Panagra. Krusen was one of the early pilots when the service was being organized. Fictionally, its Stick Together by Sophie Henaff which is a bit of a wry french twist on Jussi Adler-Olsen's Q squad stuff.
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"Euros think a 100 miles is a long way, Americans think a 100 yrs is a long time..."
Current book: Ottoman Empire: War, Revolution, and the Making of the Modern Middle East, 1908 - 1923.
Author: Sean McMeekin. Professor at Bard College, NY. Also available as audio book.
Last books:
At Home on the Prairie: The Houses of Purcell & Elmsie (Dixie Legger) and Purcell & Elmsie: Prairie Progressive Architects (David Gebhard). P&E were “disciples” of Frank Lloyd Wright. Both read in preparation for upcoming MSP architecture “field trip”.
Next books:
Shared Walls: Seattle Apartment Buildings, 1900 - 39. Diana James. (In hopes of meeting the author in Sept.)
One of the Inspector Montalbano books (Camilleri). This would be an introduction to the author and character. Catalyst: recent book review in LA Times.
I have been reading a number of the shorter plays of G. K. Chesterton including "The Flying Inn", "The Surprise" and "The Temptation of Saint Anthony".
Have you read Viveca Sten? A great Swedish author of mysteries/thrillers that has been translated into Dutch. I was introduced to her via Amazon who offered her 1st book free and I am hooked.
I have been traveling out to Seattle on business a bit lately so I found myself a book to read during my travel delays!
I'm reading Travels With Charlie by John Steinbeck. Steinbeck took off in the fall of 1960 to find America by traveling in a 1960 GMC pickup with a camper unit with his French poodle Charlie. I had read that this book fueled the interest in campers in America in the early 1960s.
I did some research and found that the camper was restored and is in the Steinbeck Center Museum in California.
Every so often I re-read 'The Guns of August', by Barbara Tuchman. Just started again.
I think it was JFK who said that book ought to be required reading for political and military leaders; It documents how easily things can spiral out of control.
A recent BookBub* suggestion which I purchased was Halsey's Typhoon: The true Story of a Fighting Admiral, an Epic Stoirm, and an Untold Rescue.
In mid-December, 1944, when a fleet of American warships under the command of Admiral William "Bull" Halsey was preparing to be refuelled in order to support General MacArthur's invasion of the island of Mindoro in the Philippines, a vicious typhoon, which would be named Typhoon Cobra, began brewing near the equator. It was a monster, with lower barometric pressure, stronger winds, and smaller footprint than the Navy had ever encountered. That was bad enough. Worse was the fact that senior meteorologists mostly ignored the signs of what was coming, and Halsey himself was so set on helping MacArther (who had severely criticized him a few weeks earlier) that he ignored what little advice he got to forget the refuelling and get the hell out of the way. As a result, he sailed his flagship and most of his fleet directly into the eye of the typhoon.
Before the storm spent itself, three destroyers had sunk, 790 sailors had died, and Halsey's professionalism was placed in doubt. I've always been interested in meteorology and ships; in 1962 I joined the Navy in hopes (never realized) that I could go to sea on a destroyer or cruiser. In 1965, after I was seconded to the Marine Corps, I got to cross the Pacific on a troop ship, U.S.S. Magoffin, that was transporting my battalion to Okinawa for training before landing in Vietnam. At sea, south of the Aleutian Islands, I experienced my first (and only) storm at sea: Magoffin's captain ordered us Marines below decks to weather the fringes of a typhoon to our south, but I found a safe nook near the ship’s bow and rode out the storm, enjoying the elevator-like rise and fall of the ship as it plowed into really big waves. I took this photo at that time; the misty look comes from storm-driven spindrift and rain. Note the ship on the horizon:
Bob
* If you sign up with BookBub, you'll receive a list of ebooks, tailored to your reading tastes, that are currently on sale at various websites.
Im reading the Colin Dexter novels of Inspector Morse. Was turned on to that idea by the old tv series of Morse. And also the current tv series of Endeavor - a prequel. Im on the second novel, I believe there are 13.
My wife Penny and I have gotten hooked on Mysteries and Police Procedurals, Hercule Poirot and everything after. .We have gotten quite good at figuring out who "did it" before the actual reveal.
Agree with your assessment re Suchet, Thaw, and Brett. Each established the bar re character portrayal.
If you have not already done so, recommend investigating Vera (adaptions of Ann Cleeves’ novels), Highlander (first bilingual Welsh/English series), and Inspector George Gently (based on Alan Hunter novels).
For all you John Thaw fans get a hold of a video / dvd or the book of "Goodnight Mr. Tom". The film deviates a bit from the book but is a terrific bit of character acting.
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Brechinite Neddie Seagoon from The Telegoons 03 Aug 2019 02:46:04pm
The best crime fiction books are the Skinner Series by Quentin Jardine and The Rebus series by Ian Rankin.
Both series are based in my home city of Edinburgh.
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"One persons idea of improvement may be detrimental to others...........Some are more equal than others. (Always to be avoided)"
Seeing that I publish some of his books I must give Colin Cotterill a plug. His Dr. Siri crime series is set in communist controlled Laos and has become quite popular in the US, (I don't publish this series, it's done out of New York.) Dr. Siri by default becomes Lao's only forensic specialist after the communist takeover. The crimes he investigates are spread throughout modern Laos and at times spill into northeastern Thailand.
I'm about halfway through Nathaniel Philbrick's latest: In the Eye of the Hurricane: The Genius of George Washington and the Victory at Yorktown(2018) Philbrick never fails to deliver.
ok i was going to say something very bad about GW but upon reflection I will offer a postive suggestion ~ John Le Carre Tinker Tailor or Smiley's People - in book or in video ~ kenneth brannagh _ Henry V "only", Barchesther chronicles first 2 or 3 episodes of TV and if you like trollope .... well all of it ... prolly a few typos here after a few conversations with martini and rossi ...
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"Euros think a 100 miles is a long way, Americans think a 100 yrs is a long time..."
