58 thoughts on “This is a Good Book Thursday 6-1-2017”

  1. Am reading Man in the High Castle – and re-reading Handmaid’s Tale. Both have turned up as exam texts for the IB, which I’m marking, but have also been watching the tv adaptations. I far prefer the book of MHC, but I do enjoy what they are doing with HT. for light relief, I’ve got a Geoffrey Trease historical romance, So Wild the Heart, lined up as light relief next.

  2. Definitely ‘Long Voyage to a Small, Angry Planet’ by Becky Chambers, plus the follow-up ‘A Closed and Common Orbit’ – and thanks very much to whoever here recommended them. (This Good Book Thursday thing is really excellent.)

    I especially enjoyed ‘Long Voyage’ for its unusual structure – almost a series of short stories, except they’re woven into a whole that makes the book more than the sum of its parts. I’m not a SF fan, but this is really about characters and relationships, and is brilliant and enjoyable.

    1. “Closed and Common Orbit” was very different structurally from “Long Way,” but I really liked the way she dug into the nature of AI, sentience, and free will within a story about friendship.

  3. I’m just starting White Hot by Ilona Andrews. I’ve been waiting for this book for what seems like forever and now I can’t seem to find time to read it! 🙁 so sad.

    1. It’s sitting there on my Kindle, along with the new Julia Quinn. Argh! I wish they had come out that n Friday, so I could have read them over the weekend. I want a nice big chunk of time to devote to both of them.

      1. Oooh, there’s a new Julia Quinn? Or is this the Sixpence novella collection that’s currently on my nightstand?

        1. New! The Girl with the Make-Believe Husband. It’s the followup to Because of Miss Bridgerton.

          I’m waiting for Saturday morning to start it, so I won’t have to put it down until I’m done. It’s supposed to be 75 and sunny here, so I’ve got a date with a lawn chair, a pitcher of lemonade, and the book. I cannot wait. It’s not even eight a.m. and I’m already watching the clock wishing this day was over.

        2. I just finished Julia Quinn’s The Girl With theMake-Believe Husband: A Bridgerton Prequel. It was delish and worth staying up until the wee hours to finish. I love the ease of Ms. Quinn’s storytelling and always swear I personally know her characters. ?

          1. Tomorrow! The wait is killing me but I don’t want to read it in 20 minute chunks.

    2. I devoured it today. Can’t wait for the 3rd one this summer! I really think this series combines the best parts of the Kate Daniels books (thorough world building; awesome heroine) with the best aspects of the Edge series (super-intense, emotionally believable love story with a tight-knit, equally interesting family that you just know is going to have their own love stories some day).

      Sad for you that you can’t find time to read it; jealous of you because I read it and now it’s over for me!

      1. I’m working on it! I stayed up way too late last night though and I work both days of the weekend. I will probably finish it on Monday. Soooo good though!!

  4. I read SEP’s entire Chicago Star’s backlist. I didn’t think I liked sport’s romance, but boy was I wrong. Loved every book.

    1. I’m in the middle of an SEP re-read! I finished Match Me if You Can yesterday, and started Natural Born Charmer this morning.

      It’s funny that you say that about not liking sports romance, but loving her books – I don’t like enemies-to-lovers as a trope, and I hate “celebrity” romances, but when she does it I can’t get enough. She’s just that good.

      3. Match Me if You Can was my first romance novel with an actual sex scene ever. It holds a very dear place in my heart 🙂

  5. Dark Skye by Kresley Cole. It’s book 15 in the Immortals After Dark series, so that’s a serious commitment, but Dear Lord, it’s so worth it! There wasn’t a single bad book in that series and that’s a feat in and of itself. Right now I’m reading White Hot by Ilona Andrews which is the second in a trilogy and it’s predictably awesome. They’re both paranormal romance, so maybe not everybody’s cup of tea, but these two ladies (well, Ilona Andrews is a wife/husband writing team) deliver one fabulous book after another and if you ever wanted to dip a toe into PR this is a great place to start.

    1. I’m scared to start another paranormal romance series. My last author seems to have been abandon the series with lots of unfinished business.

      1. Well, she’s young so it’s not a G.R.R. Martin situation… 😉 And the books tie in to each other and she seems to handle the different strands really well. This is a very solid author who puts out books regularly, so I wouldn’t worry too much about it.

      2. Ilona Andrews also has a lot of organization and commitment to their readers. I don’t think they will ever leave us hanging barring life-changing events. But you could start with The Edge series, if you want to sample. They all can be read as stand alones 🙂

    2. I started reading the Immortals After Dark series today on your recommendation and I just wanted to thank you – it’s really fun! Almost none of my friends read paranormal romance, so it’s hard for me to get recommendations from people who like the same stuff I do. Finding a new series is like striking gold – thanks!!!

      1. I really like Meljean Brook for paranormal romance. She also has a steam punk series. Gives me the good shivers.

  6. I’m re-reading the Mistress of Death series by Ariana Franklin. 12th century female M.E. in England but she’s an Italian Jew.

    1. Yes, really excellent books; wonderful characters and the environment feels geniune.

    3. That’s a me too for these books. The daughter finished the last one after AF/aka DIANA Norman, died. If you like AF, try Vizard Mask.

  7. Our Own Private Universe: coming-of-age LGBTQIA+ YA. Characters are authentically clueless about their privilege, but oh well. Teens on mission trip to Mexico.

  8. I finished Thick as Thieves by Megan Whalen Turner (for the 2nd time). The first time I read it, I felt confused when I finished it. I had read it so quickly I missed some of the clues. When I read it again, more slowly, savoring it, I got more out of it and gave it 4 stars on Goodreads.

  9. “Our Tempestuous Day” by Carolly Erickson. Finally verifying all the history I’ve picked up from reading Regency romances. 🙂

  10. I started the new Amanda Quick/Jayne Ann Krentz, The Girl Who Knew Too Much, yesterday. This one has a 1930s setting, and although it’s not set in L.A. there’s a studio-era Hollywood element to it. Good so far. I love stuff set in this time period.

    1. It did make me want to read cozy mysteries set in the 1920s or 1930s. So any recommendations for me?

      1. Rhys Bowes’s Her Royal Spyness series. Georgie is young, not as pretty as her famous mother and 32nd in line to the throne. Did I mention penniless? Takes place in the 1930s.

        1. These books are SO much fun-read ALL of them and have the next one on pre order.

      2. Why not go back to the originals, and try Georgette Heyer’s detective novels if you haven’t read them?

        1. And this is what I get for reading comments on the dashboard. Seconding JaneB here.

      4. Georgette Heyer’s mysteries. They’re lovely, well plotted, witty, with a romance.

      6. They beat me to Georgette Heyer. Ashley Weaver’s Amory Ames novels are fun. The first one is Murder at the Brightwell. Only two in the series so far; the third comes out this fall. Set in England in the early 1930s.

      7. Georgette Heyer has some great period mysteries. I’m not sure quite what time, but they feel very glamorous and very British.

  11. I’m finishing the last in the “Lara Jean” YA trilogy by Jenny Han. They’re light and contemporary with some romance, but my favorite thing is Lara Jean’s deep relationship with her two sisters. They’re so girly (in their own ways) and as an only child tomboy, I find it fascinating. I suspect this one is going to have a bittersweet ending and I’m looking forward to it and dreading it all at once.

  12. After re-reading All The President’s Men last week, I’m now reading The Final Days, also by Woodward and Bernstein. For such a convoluted story it’s a very readable book, with which I stayed up well into the small hours last night. Topical and gripping.

  13. I just finished Wake of Vultures by Lila Bowen. It was…interesting. I’m not a “weird west” fan, but I enjoyed this book. You don’t get many characters like Nettie Lonesome. Mixed race, transgender, bisexual, and a real survivor. If you’re looking for something different, this is it.

  14. Re-read Courtney Milan’s “Hold Me.” I love Courtney Milan, but I went in to it with lowered expectations initially because other readers thought the hero was too much of a jerk initially, his motivation was revealed too late, and then his transformation was too fast and complete to be believable.

    And they weren’t wrong. But I love love love the heroine – Latina trans college student who deals with her anxiety by writing a sci-fi apocalypse blog that has become unexpectedly popular – and I love Milan’s writing, as always. Two characters who had something tragic happen growing up, but have still manage to build mostly happy and healthy and successful lives. But the key is mostly. When they meet each other, their coping mechanisms start to crack, and they each have to chose whether to try to do the painful, scary work of ripping out old beliefs to make way for a future that could be more than just mostly happy.

    I’d definitely recommend the first book, Trade Me – more consistent, believable hero, and a good entry into the series. But hold me is good too. Pretty much all of Milan’s stuff is good.

  15. I read Just getting started by Tony Bennett and Scott Simon (DB87113) this last week, and it was a nice look at the people who inspired and still inspire a great singer.

  16. Jenny Lawson’s Let’s Pretend This Never Happened. Funny, compelling and snarky. Love it!

    2. Finished that recently; it was hilarious. Next time I go for non-fiction I plan to get her second book.

  17. Joshilyn Jackson’s The Opposite of Everything. Not what I was expecting but really good.

  18. I re-read Nora’s Born In… trilogy, because I took a glassblowing class and now could understand what the heroine of Born in Fire was doing! It’s a lovely series, although it’s funny to see how much the world has changed (cellphones) since it came out 20 years ago.

  19. For awhile there I read Dorothy Garlock in the time period of the 20’s and 30’s moved on to Rhys Bowen’s Her Royal Spyness, jumped to Diana Gabaldon’s Outlander series. Before reading Book 8 I went back and read Book 1 all over again, totally awesome series, yes the books are drawn out. This week I purchased American Hellhound from Lauren Gilley for my Kindle but will wait to read it. In the five years I have been retired I thought that I had pretty much caught up on reading and rereading my favorites but there is always something I’ve missed, a new author to discover. There’s always something around the corner.

  20. Owl And The Japanese Circus by Kristi Charish. This is the 1st in a series dealing with a female archeology student turned thief after she was screwed over by her professor and archeology department. She lives in a world with hidden mummies, vampires and various other supernatural beings.

    She’s rash and jumps into situations without thinking, but, she gets out of them because she’s very knowlegeable and knows how to do research – which I really like. Also, I love archeology-based books.

    1. Oh, in case you’re wondering, no she wasn’t having sex with her professor. Instead, her professor stole her thesis and gave it to a more favored student – who just happened to be male. And, after promising her a dig if she signed a paper giving away her rights to her thesis, reneged and got her kicked out of the university.

  21. For detective novels I love Dorothy Sayers and N g a i o Marsh (spaces to avoid autocorrect).

  22. Burn for Me by Ilona Andrews… well, pretty much ANYTHING by Ilona Andrews. But Burn for Me is the beginning of a new series. Book one was awesome, smart, sexy, stunningly original. And a couple days ago Book two, White Hot came out–that’s what I’m reading now. And to make it all the better, Book three, Wild Fire, is coming out at the end of July.

    1. That’s the other one that’s sitting on my Kindle, waiting for me to be able to give it enough attention! Huge IA fan.

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