This Is a Good Book Thursday

~ Jenny

I’ve been reading like crazy ever since we started this series of posts.  My last binge was Lawrence Block’s Keller series which was interesting and sometimes a little outside of my moral zone (yes, I have one, it’s not extensive but the guy is a hitman).  Now I’m reading some of my categories.  It’s like looking through an old photo album.  The earliest, Manhunting (hate that title), will be 25 next February, so a really old photo album.  

What have you been reading?

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57 thoughts on “This Is a Good Book Thursday”

  1. I have been thoroughly sucked into Jodi Taylor’s St Mary’s series. I’m halfway through book 4, so thanks to whoever first mentioned it here. Next up will be Temporary by Sarina Bowen and Sarah Mayberry, then more Taylor (trying not to overglom them).

  2. Comics. Ms Marvel and Miles Morales and Moon Girl & Devil Dinosaur, then Spider-Gwen and Champions and Guardians.

    Then back to the rainbow books.

    1. Ooooh, I have Spider Gwen and Moon Girl, but I haven’t gotten to them yet. Thank you for reminding me!

      1. If your grandchildren are old enough, you should be sure to share your comic books.

        My “cool” grandma had lots, and I read her entire collection when I visited her as a child. Loved the whole Superman saga. My grandma also introduced me to Georgette Heyer, so you can tell she was extra cool.

        1. Most of mine are on the computer. I’ll have to figure out a way they can share my Comixology account.

        2. My grandma kept all my mom’s old comics — a mix of Jughead and Archie and some True Romance ones. So much fun on a Sunday afternoon! (My granddad, who had passed away about the time I started reading, left an amazingly eccentric collection of paperbacks in the parlor, too. I remember the one about the Lost Continent of Mu the best . . . .)

          Hooray for family archives!

        3. We had a box of my older brothers’ Mad magazines that I loved to death. The old ones were so much funnier than the ones that were published in my time.

    2. My daughter is a Gwen and my husband definitely had Ms Stacy in mind when we chose the name. He also made her a SpiderGwen hcostume because he is awesome like that.
      My grandmother did not have any comics to lend me, but I spent hours with my uncle’s Silver Age collection while he was in the Navy. He’s still a little perturbed.

    3. Little Lulu and Tubby were my favorites followed by Wonder Woman. They went simultaneously with paper dolls and then back to True Romance and Scary/Horror. They are now called Graphic Novels but they’ll always be comics to me.

      1. I didn’t read the standard comic books.

        But my mother always picked up a couple of copies of Classics Illustrated for us on payday and I read those over and over. I was able to read Lorna Doone in grade school because the Classics Illustrated made it an exciting story so I could get through the British dialect.

        I loved those comics.

  3. The Harder You Fall by Gena Showalter. Book of a series about pretty damaged people who are finding their way to a better future. I read book 1 and then now book 3 and it is a good standalone. No need to read the rest of the series. But it is such a good series with good *empowering* happily ever afters.

  4. On audio, I’ve got Agnes and the Hitman. So thanks, Jenny and Bob!

    I’m at one of those “what next?” places in reading. But I’ve recently been reading Jodi Taylor’s Frogmorton Farm series. It’s short- 2 novels and a short story. The Nothing Girl, Little Donkey, and The Something Girl. It’s about a young woman as she comes into herself with the encouragement of her husband, despite her greedy and unfeeling family. With humor and snark. My kinda stuff.

  5. I’ve just downloaded a sample of ‘The Nothing Girl’, among others – recommended today by K. J. Charles in a blogpost about books she’s been enjoying (http://kjcharleswriter.com/of-course-you-need-more-books-a-recommendation-post/).

    I’ve been reading library books: a couple of recent Jayne Ann Krentz’s for the second time (still not keepers), and Nora Roberts’ ‘Come Sundown’, which was disappointing. I needed more fun comfort reading (I’m in suspense over a house I want to buy, since the sellers won’t meet me on price). So I’ve just read Eli Easton’s ‘How to Howl at the Moon’, which was sweet but I won’t bother with the sequels: humans doubling as dogs not being my thing.

    Going to try some of my samples next; rereading favourites may not distract me enough, although I’ve just got ‘Bet Me’ back from a friend.

  6. Finished the fifth Lockwood and Co. book, went back to the third, and now beginning the fourth one again.

    The Empty Grave is good fun and satisfying, though overly descriptive in places. It seems to be about 20% longer than the others.

  7. I just read Sherman Alexie’s memoir You Don’t Have to Say You Love Me, a mixture of poetry and prose, largely about his difficult relationship with his mother and how he mourned her death. Even though it was sad, it was also beautiful.

    1. I love Sherman Alexie. If you ever get a chance to hear him speak, do not pass it up. Once when my sister was visiting, we went to a Third Angle concert where they had set one of his pieces to music and he gave a brief talk before reading the piece and it was fantastic. Still my sister’s favorite visit. I have not seen it but she has the DVD of The Business of Fancy Dancing which she and her husband, who is an Alaskan Native, regularly re-watches.

      He can be very funny but is very poignant. He has the American Indian experience down, which is reasonable since he is one. Another friend took one of his classes at the University of Washington and said it was a life altering experience.

      1. It’s interesting to see this discussion- I’ve been meaning to check him out. I had never really heard of him, then earlier this year I saw The Powwow at the End of the World during U2’s Joshua Tree show (they show a series of poems, etc on the amazing screens before the show starts) and I made a note to look him up. I’ve tried a couple of bookstores without luck, but now feel I must re-double my efforts.

      2. I got to hear Alexie speak at the Fall for the Book Festival. It was basically very incisive stand-up. He’s an artist with words.

  8. I finished Glass Houses by Louise Penny and The Vanishing by Wendy Webb on audiobook on Saturday courtesy of my long drive. Thanks to rain and construction zones it wound up being closer to 8 hours round trip so the books were perfect. I’m on a gothic kick and am now listening to The Tale of Halcyon Crane, also by Wendy Webb.

    I also finished The Kill Society by Richard Kadrey, the latest Sandman Slim book, which was fantastic as usual.

    1. I am a quarter of the way through Glass Houses, and now desperate for time to finish it (pesky day/consulting job keeps getting in the way). I loved The Number of the Beast so much, I almost wanted to stop reading the series there. But I just can’t quit Louise Pemny.

      1. When you get to the end of Glass Houses, you will be so gobsmacked that you will want to stalk Louise Penny and hound her until she finishes the next book because reasons *frantically waves hands in the air in frustrated amazement at the end of the book.*

  9. My favorite book of Kristan Higgins is “Somebody to Love” especially when James says to Parker every time he sees her “always lovely to see you” and you know there is something there. Moving on to “On Second Thought” not so much. I think it was a lot of angst, the two sisters with their various dramas coexisting with the conversation in their own heads it felt like a story of 4 people. What I’m saying is that I don’t like change but I know authors have to move forward to re-energize.

  10. I read the Watchmaker of Filigree St. Which was unlike anything I’ve read recently, and it definitely got me hooked. Still deciding if I like it with some reservations, or like it all the way. But I loved Mori.

  11. I reread False Colors by Georgette Heyer which I was tepid about when I first read it about 25 years ago. The heroine of the piece is Amabel, the hero’s mother and not Cressy, the romantic interest. Once I realized that, it changed my perception of the story dramatically. Amabel is way more interesting than anyone else in the story.

    2. When I was younger I never understood why my mother thought Amabel was so wonderful. It seemed to me like she was the source of most of the hero’s (Kit?) problems.

      Now that I’m older, I get why Amabel could be considered the heroine instead of Cressy.

      Though I still like Cressy.

      1. One thing Heyer could do and did well was write two women who got along and supported each other and co-exist in one space. Amabel is the lead, but it’s hardly a you can only like one or the other. More like they complement each other and you can appreciate both.

      1. Oooh, that is adorable. I didn’t see it because I’ve been mobile bound these last few days.

        I’m pleased that we are exploring the universe remotely.

        Meanwhile on Mars, Curiosity is making its way to a top of a ridge. I’m saying even odds, there’s just more Mars or there’s a village like Macchu Pichu and it’s inhabited!!! 😀 Allow me my fantasies.

    2. Please don’t make me cry again.

      I don’t know why this has hit me so hard. I have so loved being able to download the new images as they come in, at 3AM when I can’t sleep. The wonder of being able to see distant worlds in your pjs is just the coolest thing. Really gonna miss that.

  13. I wanted to mention Ruthanna Emrys’s Wintertide, a novel set in the Lovecraft universe where Cthulhu is real. I thought of it in the thread about the new Nita first chapter where Nick was saying he’s the devil and Nita was saying he’s Cthulhu when we don’t have enough evidence to know which of them is right. Wintertide is a very effective story with great characters about what it would be like if those things were real, and taking apart H.P. Lovecraft’s weird racism and handing it back to him in shreds. There was a short story about the same characters first, The Litany of Earth https://www.tor.com/2014/05/14/the-litany-of-earth-ruthanna-emrys/ so you could try that and see if you liked it.

    1. You know, I just assumed everybody knew Cthulhu, the way everybody knows Frankenstein and Santa.
      Obviously, I am wrong.

  14. I am almost finished The Last Wish by Andrzej Sapkowski (first book in The Witcher series). Well-written fantasy about a Witcher whose job it is to rid the world of monsters. The inter-weaving of fairy tale legends is interesting.

  15. I’m reading Penric’s Fox, the latest addition to the novella series by Lois McMaster Bujold. Lovely.

    Also enjoyed Kitty Peck and the Music Hall Murders by Kate Griffin. Fabulous, dark, Victorian-era mystery. There are a few more in the series, one of which is waiting on my Kindle.

    Also Murder in Shadow, the latest in the Doyle and Acton Scotland Yard mysteries by Anne Cleeland. I absolutely LOVE this series. The main characters are both fabulous, the supporting characters are great, too, and there are always lots of twists and surprises, as well as a few dangling threads (I just love this) at the end of every book.

  16. I am (slowly) working on Yesterday I was the Moon by Noor Unnahar. I don’t think I have mentioned it here before… Sorry if this is a repeat.

    It’s poetry written by a young Pakistani woman. I really enjoy it so far, but I only read a few poems at a time. She also has her work up on instagram, if you don’t want to buy the book. There isn’t a kindle version.

    I tried Milk and Honey by Rupi Kaur and wasn’t thrilled. Yesterday I was the Moon resonates more with me.

  17. I’m listening to Karen Robards’ JUSTICE. Just started it today. Really enjoying the romantic suspense books. Never tried them before. Just finished listening to two Suzanne Brockman’s books too. Light suspense/action, not much romance, but they sure kept me entertained on my 40 minute drive to work.

  18. Read a couple of unmemorable cosy crimes and started The Martian by Andy Weir this morning for a change of pace, loving the level of competence and fix it mentality.

  19. I’m reading an annotated edition of Mansfield Park, which makes me like the book better than ever.

    I finished No Wind of Blame by Heyer and really loved the characters. Ermyntrude Carter is a great invention.

  20. Thanks to whoever here recommended Nevil Shute’s Trustee from the Toolroom. Loved it!

    Also read Her Royal Spyness. Enjoyed it, but in no hurry to read the next in the series.

    1. Try the Molly Murphy series – young Irish girl on the run, ending up as a New York PI in the very early 1900’s, or the Evans series, Welsh contemporary cop. I find them less fluffy than the Royal books, and way more intriguing. Both series also by Rhys Bowen.

      1. As an Irish American, I found the Molly Murphy really unbelievable. I liked the Royal Spyness books better.

  21. Read “A Kinda Fairy Tale” series by Cassandra Gannon. The first one is Wicked Ugly Bad. Quick pace, great humor, and it kept me guessing, which I loved. The third one, Kingpin of Camelot, was fantastic too.

    1. I am reading Kingpen of Camelot now and I love it! It’s a fantastic book, so funny and original. I keep reading it slower and slower because I want it to last (not my usual approach).

  22. I just finished binge reading all of Donna Andrew’s Meg Landslow mysteries. Some of them are hysterically funny and all of them warm and amusing, so they are my second favorite comfort reads. But now I am sad, because I have to wait a year for the next one.

  23. I followed the Jenn Bennett recommendation from someone here and read the first two Roaring Twenties books. They were fun, and I have the third one from the library, too. Haven’t gotten to it yet because I overdid it with the library books. I checked out all of Ilona Andrews’ Edge books and Tessa Dare’s Duchess Deal and need to get to those before they have to go back, plus JD Robb’s Secrets in Death is in, and I’m really looking forward to reading it. So those are up next. In the meantime, the book I’m taking to work with me this week is one of Suzanne Wright’s Phoenix Pack series since someone recommended her last week and some of them were super cheap on Kindle. I just read the first one then skipped straight to number 5 because it appealed to me the most; so far I’m liking it. It’s a pleasant escape since I’m only two days into my work week and it’s already been overwhelming. Three more days to go…

    Between books from these posts and all the regularly scheduled reading I already had planned from favorite authors, I feel like I haven’t watched TV in weeks except as background noise while preparing for work. The Netflix subscription is almost being wasted at this point.

  24. I just read “Coast Road” by Barbara Delinsky again. Love that book. Maybe I will listen to “Manhunting” again while I work. Or one of your other books. I always get some little nuance I missed or anticipate the parts I looove when I read or listen an old favourite.

  25. Biographies – Back Story by David Mitchell, A Memoir by Cyndi Lauper, I am Malala by Malala Yousafzi.

    Rule No. 5 No Sex on the Bus by David Thacker which brought back memories of a trip with Contiki in my twenties.

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