It’s been cold, windy and rainy. We had great Fall color, then the winds took most of the bright leaves away. In the garden, we had an aged, ill tree removed, including root ball, and a new one, purchased but to be planted when weather permits. Also we planned and have started a landscaping project. More on that later.
Richard – After reading some winter and holiday themed books last week, I’ve dug into short stories from (Anthony winner) In the Company of Sherlock Holmes edited by Laurie King and Les Klinger [review Wednesday]. I also read stories from The Omnibus of Science Fiction edited by Groff Conklin, and The MX Book of New Sherlock Holmes Stories, Vol. 1 – 1881-1889 edited by David Marcum.
, the continuation of the The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo trilogy series. She’s enjoying it, but as stated above, we’ve both been busy, so reading time has been a little limited.
How about you?
Have you read these books or authors?
What are you reading?
Tip the Wink 
Having no luck in finding a holiday book I like so far. They are all cozies and I am not too fond of cozies. Tried REST YOU MERRY by MacLeod and just couldn’t do it. So now I am trying a book by Nick Hornby about New Year’s Eve. I used to read a lot of gentle fare but now the world is too dark for me to believe in the world of cozies. Sad that.
Remember Patti, the idea was a book with Winter as a major part, OR that takes place during the winter holidays, or at least that’s how I recall. I don’t think the world is so grim we can’t believe in Cozies.
Richard, Groff Conklin’s anthologies are always enjoyable, although some stories in his earlier books may be dated. He did a lot to promote science fiction. It’s hard to go wrong with Sherlock Holmes, whether pastiches or parodies — he’s one of the few literay creations who keep on giving. I’ve avoided Larsson’s novels so far although I have enjoyed the movies.
I read three novels this week, along with a number of short stories from various sources. The novels: IN FOR THE KILL by John Lutz (a Frank Quinn mystery and my FFB this past Friday), ALIBI by John Creasey (the 39th –out of 43 — Roger West mystery), and Jules Verne’s TWENTY THOUSAND LEAGUES UNDER THE SEA. Many years, when I was a callow youth (as opposed to the callowed geezer I am now) I started the Verne novel but, for reasons that escape me now, never finished it. The copy I was reading was the old Bantam paperback with the Ray Bradbury introduction, and I recently read that introduction in a Bradbury collection of essays. This piqued my interest and when I happened across a copy of the novel in my local library, I felt it was time to correct an old mistake and read the book.
Enjoy the week.
So after all that, dud you like the book?
Yeah, I did. It was slow in parts and spent a lot of time with descriptions of marine fauna and flora, but it really picked at the end. Nemo’s monomania was on full display.
Cool. I read it as a kid, and probably most of that stuff slipped right past me, all I wanted was the adventure and excitement.
I read a number of stories (the ones by favorite authors like Doug Allyn and Brendan DuBois, for the most part) in the Penzler anthology THE BEST AMERICAN MYSTERY STORIES OF THE YEAR 2015 (nominal editor: James Patterson) and have gone back to reading Lawrence Block’s collection CATCH AND RELEASE. I’m going to have to pick up the pace on short story reading to match last year’s total of 729. I did pick up the new Stephen King collection at the library (THE BAZAAR OF BAD DREAMS) as well as the collection of Alfred Bester’s shorts, and I have several other collections on the shelf.
This week I did finish some books. First was SILENT CITY, a first mystery by Carrie Smith. Claire Codella is a tough NYPD detective on her first day back at work after ten months off for cancer treatments, and she is faced with the murder of a public school principal in his apartment. The school stuff is mostly accurate (my expert says) and it is definitely worth reading for that part alone.
Last year I read Best First Novel nominee Allen Eskens’s first mystery, THE LIFE WE BURY, and was quite impressed, despite his unfortunate late venture into “Had I But Known” territory late in the book. He spoke well at Bouchercon. Now his second (not a series) is out (in trade paperback) and I liked it even better than the first one. Sometimes a book will hit you just right, grab your attention and pull you along. Such was the case for me with THE GUISE OF ANOTHER. A fatal car accident leads to the discovery that the victim wasn’t who he said he was and the search to find his real identity and his history leads the reader on a non-stop whirlwind ride (to coin a cliche). It had me turning pages at a furious rate and I finished it in barely over a day. Had I started it in the morning it would have been in a day. Highly recommended.
One that got excellent reviews but left me disappointed was the latest Jack Reacher book by Lee Child, MAKE ME. Yes it is better than the last one but goes on too long before you reach the horrendous pay off behind the strangely named town, Mother’s Rest, that draws Reacher’s curiosity. There is the obligatory female sidekick/companion/love interest, but though Reacher was clearly smitten with her, I found Michelle Chang to be nothing more than an obligatory cipher, nowhere near as interesting as the few of Reacher’s females over the years who really made me care about them. I knew as little about her at page 402 as at page 1.
One new arrival, the new Penguin edition of Simenon’s THE CARTER OF ‘LA PROVIDENCE’ – my previous edition was MAIGRET MEETS A MILORD.
I finished the “holiday” book for FFB. I’m reading short story collections and short novels. That pattern will continue until this semester ends and WINTER BREAK provides time to read Big Fat Books.
I have some of those Omnibus publications. I think I might have this one
So, I don’t get a response?
It’s obvious I’ve spoiled you.
Hold your horses, my friend, I’ve been very busy – digging hole for tree, cutting wood, trying to sort out an electrical glitch that has the bathroom outlets – and ONLY the bathroom outlets – nonfunctional, concrete blocks delivered (any minute now, they say), dealing with a sick (cookie-tossing) cat, running errands yesterday because I have to sit here today waiting for those blocks. I’ll get to it. Soon.
Don’t worry about it. Just teasing you.
And now the blocks are coming today, instead. In the rain. And I have to finish digging the hole and put amendments in the bottom. In the rain. Not that I’m complaining! I’m excited that we’re adding a new tree, a Coral Bark Maple.
Oh, and here’s you’re comment reply.
Jeff, I gave up on those “best of” and “best year” anthologies a long time ago. They rarely seem to be the best, and more often than not I never get to or through them, anyhow. I’ll have a better story-read total this year than maybe ever, but NO ONE can match you!
Barbara would read that King, but for some reason she doesn’t like short stories, even by favorite authors. I guess she needs to settle into a novel, stories are too “quick”. That second book by Allen Eskens, THE GUISE OF ANOTHER sounds good. I wonder if the library will have it?
Barbara will read that Reacher eventually, but she’s quite a few books behind in the series now, as those are her books to read when she doesn’t have anything else. We just get them from BookSwap. Odd the Penguin edition of the Simenon would have such a different title.