I got nothin’ for ya.
Who can get any reading done in the midst of the holiday run-up? Not us. We’ve each read a few pages on the books we’ve been working on, but not enough to even report progress. Now comes a few days leading up to Christmas, all of them will be rainy here, and then hopefully things will settle down and we’ll get back to reading.
Hope you are all reading and enjoying the run-up to the holidays!
What are you reading?
Tip the Wink 
I’m reading a bunch of 500+ page books. The Holidays are equally chaotic here.
You and your big fat books. Hope you’re enjoying the pre-Christmas days.
I feel your pain, Richard. The two collections I had hoped to finish (Stephen King’s THE BAZAAR OF BAD DREAMS and Shirley Jackson’s JUST AN ORDINARY DAY) are still on my bedside table; I have made inroads and have read some really fine stories in both but still have a ways to go.
I did finish RALPH 124C 41+ by Hugo Gernsback, my FFB this week — clunky, but held my interest. Also, Craig Johnson’s THE DARK HORSE, a very readable entree in the Sheriff Walt Longmire series, and THE GOLDEN SCORPION, a “yellow peril” thriller by Mr. “Yellow Peril” himself, Sax Rohmer. Although never mentioned by name nor seen onstage, a mysterous person who may or may not be Fu Manchu is referenced a number of times. In fact, this book is inclluded with three early Fu Manchu novels in the American edition of the omnibus BOOK OF FU MANCHU; interestingly, the book was dropped from the British edition of the omnibus. Go figure.
It looks like we, too, may have a wet holiday. Heavy rains (four to five plus inches) are predicted for here, to begin today and to continue through to Christmas. Flash flooding also. Time for us all to break out the water wings. Naytheless, have a great Christmas and keep your powder dry.
I’ve read some Romer, but not that one. It reminds me I want to read TEN YEARS AFTER BAKER STREET, narrated by Dr. Petrie. It’s interesting that when it comes to fame, it’s Rohmer’s criminal while it’s Doyle’s detective.
Stay dry, 5 inches in as many days is a lot.
WHAT ALICE FORGOT, Liane Moriarty but the font is so small and so light I may not be able to finish it. Why do publishers not realize that the majority of readers are older people?
I share that concern. Nothing new, of course, I picked up an older paperback and the small, light print went way into the gutter. WHAT ALICE FORBOT, if it’s the book I think it is, is kind of depressing.
No, that’s STILL ALICE.
Oops, yes, you’re right.
They are talking possibly 70 degrees on Christmas Eve. This is not only the warmest December in history here by a long chalk (after the warmest November), but we are currently averaging more than 11 degrees WARMER than normal, despite a chilly (but seasonable) weekend. I’m hoping it stays warm (the predictions are looking good so far) for the next four weeks until we leave for Florida. Then, you’re on your own.
I finished a book I’m sure is on your list, Rick, and I’m sure you will like it as it is one of the best of the series so far: SILENT NIGHTS: Christmas Mysteries, edited by Martin Edwards. I’d read three of the stories previously (Conan Doyle, Sayers, Edmund Crispin) but the others are quite good, including Nicholas Blake, Margery Allingham, H. C. Bailey, and J. Jefferson Farjeon.
The other book was a Kindle download from the library, Connie Willis’s collection IMPOSSIBLE THINGS, which I enjoyed. If you looked at my database you’d see the last 6 fiction books I’ve finished have been short story collections.
But wait, there was non fiction too! Mary Karr’s THE ART OF MEMOIR has been discussed by George and others. Another I downloaded from the library (another George Kelley pick) was John D. Spooner’s NO ONE EVER TOLD US THAT, a series of ;letters giving financial and other advice to his high school age grandchildren.
New arrivals: that order I mentioned arrived but one wrong book was sent. I’ll name it when the replacement arrives. The others (all paperbacks, at $2.75 each) were:
John Scalzi, AGENT TO THE STARS
Harlan Ellison, WEB OF THE CITY (Hard Case Crime trade pb reprint)
Andre Norton, VOODOO PLANET (last I needed in the Solar Queen series)
Georges Simenon, THE BAR ON THE SEINE (the new Penguin reprints)
One more from PaperbackSwap (I know I read about it on someone’s blog a week or so ago): INVITATION TO MURDER. short story collection edited by Bill Pronzini. And a Hard Case Crime paperback I’d read from the library (I have the rest of the series), Max Allan Collins’s THE FIRST QUARRY (which followed THE LAST QUARRY).
So, a busier week than I’d thought.
A busy week indeed! I have the Scalzi and the Norton, not the Ellison (not that I want it) not sure if that’s one of the Simenon books I have, but if I do it’s the older edition, not the Penguin. I’m fine with our temperature here, but I’d like more respite from the rain than the one day we had yesterday (we saw the sun all afternoon!). Enjoy your warm weather. Heaven knows what you’ll get in Florida. I haven’t read any Collins in a while.
One correction, if I may: INVITATION TO MURDER was edited by Ed Gorman & Martin Greenberg. Bill Pronzini did the introduction (and a story).
Been dealing with a lot of work related stuff myself so very little time to read
But your off this week Charles, and maybe you’ll have a chance to relax and read. That’s what I’m going to try to do today! But tomorrow I have to wrap presents, always a chore for the fumble-fingered wrapper I am.
We are warmer than usual, even for Louisiana. Amid the chaos of the season, trying to read two recent British mysteries: Peter Lovesey’s DOWN AMONG THE DEAD MEN (the latest in the Detective Peter Diamond series and it also features Hen Mallin who is the main detective in another series) and Ruth Rendell’s DARK CORNERS. Of the two, I’m having a harder time with the Rendell. She’s one of my favorite mystery writers, but this really isn’t one of her best. I believe I read somewhere that the manuscript was not complete when Rendell passed away a few months ago and another writer stepped in to finish it (I’m not sure if this is true; there is no indication of a co-writer anywhere on the copyright page or dust jacket); there’s a lot of “tell don’t show” in the book, which is very atypical of Rendell.
Richard, I’m reading a crime-legal thriller PRESUMPTION OF DEATH by Perri O’Shaughnessy, a pseudonym of two sisters. I also posted reviews of two nice books that were long overdue.