I finished, and really enjoyed, Ink and Bone by Rachel Caine. It’s the first in The Great Library series. For my summary of the plot see my Current Reading post last week.
The second book, Paper and Fire, will be published July 5th. My library doesn’t list the book yet, and when asked all they could tell me was “keep checking back”, not very helpful. I want to read that next book, now.
I’m currently rereading Mystery Ink which was my Friday Forgotten Book last Friday. It’s a lot of fun, but I’m realizing it’s not a book to read straight through, so I’m finishing up the short story anthology Sherlock Holmes Abroad and just got, from the library, Mort[e] by Robert Repino. More on that book next week.
Barbara finished Irene by Pierre Lemaitre, the first in the series. Now she’s read the first two, and wishes she’d read them in order, as book two contains a spoiler for book one.
Now she’s reading Sidetracked by Henning Mankill. She says it’s good as usual, she likes the Kurt Wallander books a lot.
Have you read any of these stories or authors?
What are you reading? Any short stories?
Tip the Wink 
I reserved INK AND BONE from the library, but had to cancel it when it arrived while we were still down here. (We’ll be home on Saturday.) I’ll put it on hold before we leave.
I read the aforementioned DISCOUNT NOIR, with all the [short] stories set at the Walmart-inspired “Megamart” (or Megamart UK). One that stood out was “House Names” by James Reasoner, but the whole thing was a fast, fun read. I’m currently reading a collection of Tom Piccirilli’s horror stories.
Also read: THE HEART OF VALOR, third of Tanya Huff’s Confederation space novels with Sgt. Torin Kerr as the very tough heroine. I have book four at home. Next was the dark CONSEQUENCES, the third Retrieval Artist (Miles Flint) book by Kristine Kathryn Rusch. I preferred the previous titles but not because she doesn’t do a great job keeping all her balls in the air. She does. It is just, as I said, a little dark and nasty. I have several more at home.
Currently I’m reading Nathan Lowell’s first spin-off from his Ishmael Wang series, after the unsatisfying OWNER’S SHARE ended the series on a disappointing note. It is taking a while to get going, but by bringing back friends like Pip and Cookie from the first book, QUARTER SHARE, Lowell seems to recognize that he got off track towards the end.
Since I commented last time on many of the things you mention this week, I’ll focus on the new. First, have a safe trip home. I’m not sure what sort of weather you’ll be greeted with upon your return, it seems a mess in many places. I do know it’s very wet here. I hope the new book in Lowell’s series is better than the last ones. I really liked the first two, and wished he’d stayed with them instead of trying to go all the way through the share.
Consequences is the Rusch I started in January, but only got about 30 or 40 pages before the Short Story February thing took me away from it, and I haven’t gotten back.I liked the first two, especially the 2nd one, so much I bought a bunch of the others. I’m not happy to hear this 3rd book is dark. Why do authors all seem to want to go dark/gritty with their books? I read for entertainment, not stress. There’s enough of that already, just in the world. I hope you like Ink and Bone, I know I did.
I may want to try Ink and bone
I hope you like Ink and Bone, I know I did.
I’ve been reading a lot of non-fiction lately. Diane and I have enjoyed the Kurt Wallander books and the BBC TV series starring Kenneth Branagh.
Barbara likes the books, hasn’t seen the TV – what channel is it on?
I have enjoyed reading and watching both TV versions of the Wallander books and I also read the second book ALEX of the series Barbara’s reading. I am now reading BLACK WINGS HAS MY ANGEL (fabulous) and STATION II for my April book club read. Delighted that Jeff read DISCOUNT NOIR. Now it stands as a great way to read early stories by many writers who went on to greater things and stories by writers already pretty great (Reasoner, Crider). I think if we had been able to call it WALMART NOIR we would have gotten more attention.
I wondered about that, Patti. You certainly had a good range of authors, and I liked the 800 word limit.
That’s the way I felt. I started IRENE and since ALEX had tipped me off to certain things and it was so very dark, I gave up on it. Still ALEX was pretty amazing,
Apparently Walmart is a pretty litigious organization we did not want to come up against. Especially since the book was no money maker for anyone.
Barbara said she liked IRENE and ALEX but won’t be in a hurry to read another in the series. Pretty grim, apparently. I liked a station 11, but my reaction was delayed. When I first finished it, I was so-so about it, but after ruminating for a couple of weeks, I liked it better and better as it stayed with me and some elements began to stand out.
Another slow week in terms of books finished. I read Robert Moore Williams’ THE DAY THEY H-BOMBED LOS ANGELES, my FFB this week — good pulpish fun — and Brian Aldiss’ THE PRIMAL URGE, a sly, comic look at a Britain which has ordered its citizens to wear an ER (Emotional Register) implanted on the forehead. The ER glows shades of pink and red when the wearer is consciously or unconscioulsly attracted sexually. The book is not salicious at all but is a witty look at the stereotypical British reserve. Aldiss, of course, is one of the most innovvatie writers around and almost every sentence here is a gem.
Following my current Batman kick, I also read three more graphic novels about the Caped Crusader.
Most of my time was spent reading short stories, mainly from the magazines stored at Internet Archive. They have recently added full runs of several early SF pulps, including AIR WONDER STORIES, SCIENCE WONDER STORIES, SCIENCE WONDER QUARTERLY, and WONDER STORIES QUARTERLY, as well as a complete run (less the final two issues) of WONDER STORIES. Add this to the complete runs of GALAXY and IF and most of STARTLING STORIES and THRILLING WONDER STORIES, I’ve got a lot of fun reading shead of me.
Have a great Pi Day! Celebrate responsibly.
I’ve always found Aldis to be challenging. I’m not sure how many of his books I made it through, but I remember quitting a few of them. It was probably because I wanted exciting adventure and he was a little too intellectual for my weak mind. I guess I’ll have to take a look at the Internet Archive. As for Pi day, I prefer the edible to the mathematical.
I’m now reading Lauren Groff’s FATES AND FURIES, which tells the story of a long marriage from both the husband’s and the wife’s points of view. I went into it with a bit of trepidation because some of the reviews had likened the book to GONE GIRL (which would not be a recommendation IMHO), but I find it’s much better than GG. First of all, it’s better written (although there’s some parts that feel overwritten, especially where we read the work of the husband, a playwright). Also, it’s clear that the husband and wife have different outlooks and approach events differently; so, while there are twists, these twists are not the entire raison d’être of the book and, paradoxically, less predictable and more enjoyable than they are in GG.
Sounds interesting, Deb. I sometimes wonder what other people would say to describe events I’m seeing or experiencing. My wife and I went to a housewarming party last Fall, and in later discussion it was obvious we could have been at two different parties. What we noticed, what we thought about the other people, the food, the house, a lot of it different. Especially what we saw as we wandered around separately, talking to other friends and striking up conversations with new people. For instance she noticed clothes, I didn’t, I noticed the music playing, and the stereo system, she didn’t, we both noticed the food, the ages of guests (which was all over the place) and so forth. That was just four or five hours! I can’t imagine the differences in characters heads over decades.
Phil just finished that Deb and liked it although….well, I won’t say as you’re not done.
Tease.
The Wallander series was on PBS. I’m sure it’s on DVD now. Perhaps your Library has them. Well worth watching!
Thanks, George!
The last season of Wallander will be on PBS (Masterpiece) later on this Spring, right after a new season of Grantchester.
I’ve been hearing great things about that Rachel Caine, happy to hear you’re enjoying it as well. 😀
I’m still reading Mike Allen’s Clockwork Phoenix 5, I’m not reading the stories in order, so who knows how close I am to reading the whole thing. I also started Ferrett Steinmetz’s The Flux, which is sequel to his Flex. It’s urban fantasy with lots of parents trying to protect their kids, fun pop culture references, and unexpected characters. I’m liking it so far!
Loved it, if it was several books in when I’d discovered it I’d read them all back-to-back.
You said before you read anthologies and collections by jumping around, but that would drive me nuts. I read reviews of Flux, but the concept didn’t grab me. Maybe it’s just that “urban fantasy” is a sub-genre that still doesn’t appeal as much as “regular” fantasy.