29 thoughts on “This is a Good Book Thursday 6-8-2017”

  1. For by book club, I’m listening to “Handmaid’s Tale” by Margaret Atwood, narrated by Claire Danes. I don’t think she’s great as a narrator (a little flat) but it’s fine for a book with very little dialogue. The book itself is very well written ( almost like poetry), but just as depressing as you think it’s going to be.

    For myself, I’m reading “The Thing About Love” by Julie James and really enjoying it so far. I love a good enemies to lovers story and this one is ticking the boxes so far.

    1. I enjoy Julie James, but I often find her conflict a bit weak. A lot of the barriers to the romances seem to be Big Misunderstandings, stubbornness, or just ego. They’re still a lot of fun, I just find myself thinking “If you were a grownup, this wouldn’t be a big deal.”

      I haven’t read this one yet, though, so will have to look it up.

  2. I finished The Boy on the Bridge by MR Carey, the companion to The Girl With All the Gifts and loved it. Books about zombies, but not.

  4. Two things jumped out at me this week. First, the May/June issue of Asimov’s was excellent, with some great authors and a full novel by Kristine Kathryn Rusch in her Wreck Diving universe, my current favorite for evolving literary universes right now. Norman Spinrad’s essay in his On Books colum also has some great things to say about othering. The other interesting read was Rainbow Man, by M. J. Engh. Interesting things in this one about both gender and religion.

  5. Velocity by Chris Wooding, a tale of two very different best friends racing cars together in a Mad Max-like world.

  6. I recommend Emma Chase’s Legal Brief series, especially Sustained, my favorite. The series wraps up with a novella/epilogue titled Sidebarred. Julie James is also a treat. Speaking about paperbacks I used to throw them out when I finished reading them until it occurred to me that I could read them again. Now when I’m at the library there is a section that sells used books and paperbacks some for as little as .50 cents. A couple times a year they will have fill a bag for $2.00. The money goes toward buying library materials, books, dvds etc.

    1. When we go on vacation we used to find a local library and buy their books on sale. Some libraries have book sales all year round when we were through we just donated them back. Now I have Kindle on my iPad.

  7. Getting through some meh books on my pile….. things people lent me that I feel obliged to at least try, or something I started and put down. On the other hand, my BIL brought the movie “Perks Of Being A Wallflower”. It was TERRIFIC. It made me want to re-read the book, so that will be my reward for getting through the less fun ones. It’s an odd one, but so satisfying.

  8. A thanks to the people who suggested Ilona Andrews’ Burn For Me/White Hot. Enjoyed them both. Thanks!

    On my wish-list is a re-read of A Suitable Boy by Vikram Seth, but it’s just so long I know I don’t have the time. However, I would thoroughly recommend it to others.

  9. Just finished ‘A cold death in Amsterdam’ by Anja de Jager, and went straight onto the second one in the series ‘A cold case in Amsterdam Centraal’ (also called The Murderer’s guide to Family). Well plotted, well written, and as I mainly audiobook nowadays, well narrated. Past and present intermingle superbly, heroine is humanly flawed, and no need to wade through pools of blood and grisly details to get sucked into solving the mystery.
    I haven’t seen the 3rd one in series (Death on the Canal) in audiobook format yet, but am contemplating eyestrain and buy the kindle version anyway.

      1. Just checked my paperback hoard and I’ve got Charlie All Night, will add that to summertime rereading on the deck.

  11. Thank you to whoever posted that Thick as Thieves was out. I loved it. Now I want to go back and reread the rest of them.

    I also enjoyed Al Franken’s new book, Giant of the Senate. I expected to laugh, which I did, but was not expecting to tear up a couple of times.

    1. After I read TAT, I re-read all the rest. But in reverse order, for some reason.

    2. Both daughters and I saw Megan Whalen Turner in Boston on Monday – she answered questions and signed books and was charming and utterly delightful. I asked a question that wasn’t even a question (very embarrassing – I managed to stammer out that Gen and Lord Peter mapped into the same territory in my head, and she very kindly stopped me and and talked about the smartest people in the room).

      After reading Argh for years, and particularly watching Nick and Nita’s book evolve, I was could classify reader questions as useful or not useful, but I still can’t ask good ones.

      1. As somebody who has done many booksignings, I can tell you that she was delighted that you were there; anything you said was gravy.

  12. The Duff, and A Midsummers’ Nightmare, by Kody Keplinger. They’re excellent YA that doesn’t patronize their teenage audience or shy away from serious issues (without getting preachy about them). I laughed, I cried, and I was satisfied by the endings. Highly recommended.

  13. I just finished a Laura Florand, but I’ve already recommended her here. So this week I’ll go with Suzanne Arruda’s Jade del Cameron series. Starts with Mark of the Lion. Jade is an American who drove an ambulance in Europe during WWI and goes to Africa in the early 1920s to fulfill the dying request of her boyfriend (died during the war) by finding the half brother he never met. Adventure ensues. That description might be a bit more melodramatic than the actual book. Jade is extremely capable and the stories are a nice blend of action and mystery. The supporting characters include Jade’s friend from the front and her husband, English aristocrat types, who have settled in the British African colony. Jade gets a love interest in the second book, and her parents come to visit eventually, too.

  14. “The Curious Charms of Arthur Pepper” by Phaedra Patrick. lt must have been recommended by someone on here because it is totally outside my usual genres. But I loved it. And in its own way it is a romance.

  15. Re-reading The Devil’s Delilah. It’s pretty much a perfect book. I also re-read Rose Lerner’s True Pretenses, because I am a sucker for books about conmen and politicians who help people.

  16. Last week I was complaining that I need big blocks of time to get to the red hot new books waiting on my Kindle. Both The Girl with the Make-believe Husband by Julia Quinn and Wikdfire by Ilona Andrews were excellent, and I highly recommend them. Such fun to read a JQ set in America! And Wildfire has fantastic action scenes.

  17. So it’s not a book, but it started with a kind of book. Are we ready to talk Wonder Woman yet? My husband requests we analyze the point of a particular scene in the overall narrative. ?

    1. Krissie and I are going this week. I’ll put up a spoiler space post when we get back so those who haven’t seen it can just skip the post.
      Now the question: plain or 3D? Our theater has both.

      2. I have no health problems with 3D, so I would say always do 3D if it’s available — you can always watch it in 2D in video at home. Go for the biggest experience if you are going to plonk down money!

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