What did you read this week?
What did you read this week?
Jennifer Crusie is the New York Times, USA Today, and Publisher’s Weekly bestselling author and co-author of twenty-three novels, one book of literary criticism, miscellaneous articles, essays, novellas, and short stories, and the editor of three essay anthologies. She lives in a cottage in Pennsylvania, where she often stares at the ceiling and counts her blessings.
Find out more about Jenny’s published works by visiting JennyCrusie.com
97 Responses
It is indeed still Thursday!
I read The Husbands by Holly Graziano, recommended eons ago by some generous soul whose name I don’t recall here on this blog. Thank you, and I’ve started keeping notes on who recommends what so that I can be more specifically grateful in the future. In the meantime, an excellent recommendation about a London woman who comes home to a husband she doesn’t have, in a life that’s slightly different than the one she had before, then discovers that when he goes into the attic a new husband/life comes down – and this keeps happening. Sliding Doors crossed with Groundhog Day. It was thought provoking and funny in an acrid kind of way.
I listened to the Goblin Emperor and honestly, it was even better than reading it the first time a few years ago. Such a well-written book, grabs you (softly) and doesn’t let you go from beginning to end, not an extraneous or slow scene in sight. This time I was struck by Maia’s mourning of his mother’s early death being a thread that pulls together many of his character development moments.
I read Eden Finley and Saxon James’ latest in the Puckboy series, Possessive Puckboy about a hockey player whose team has been purchased by the owner he bullied in high school. Their ensuing relationship is not exactly realistic but fun just the same, although gets droopy toward the end. For more fun, try Jesse Reign’s The Legend Next Door – Dodo, I promise it’s not as over the top as her first one – I really loved it, especially the non hockey playing MC living next door to the retired hockey superstar who moves in. Listening to him figure out hockey is hilarious. There’s actually not a lot of hockey since the other MC is retired – and yet, there’s a lot of hockey permeating the background.
PS – for hockey lovers, if you like RJ Scott and VL Locey’s Harrisburg Railers series, the first three books are on sale in Volume 1 for 99 cents. The first three are the best ones anyway.
Tammy, I agree that The Legend is more intriguing than Poetry on Ice! I’m somewhat stuck around 60% and their first “encounter”. I will stick with it for exactly the reasons you pointed out. Jelly and his fast track learning sbout hockey is very nice. Jelly and his love for books us also a big plus. I guess I’ll never be one for big passion (with rare exceptions), but… book 3 is obvs about Ben’s former teammates (goalie and d-man). I’ll keep an eye on that!
With Possessive Puckboy: did you also find the authors introduction of the next installment’s MCs increadingly heavy handed?? Though a Novi/Ovi-cameo… still interesting.
Totally heavy-handed! I remember thinking to myself: “Why is this guy suddenly in the book? Oh wait – he must be the MC in the next book so this is like a commercial for that book.” 🙄
I didn’t notice this heavy handed approach in the first few books, but the author duo had planned to stop after book 7 iirc, but now we’re waiting for book 9 or 10?
For me, the collective, especially the character of Ezra, has turned a bit too much into a caricature which I am sad about as I like Ezra a lot. So I just skimmed the last installment to see if I want to continue with the series.
Tammy S.: I totally agree with you regarding The Goblin Emperor! One of the best narrations I have ever heard, truly [others being Kobna Holbrooke Smith (Aaronovitch’s Rivers of London); Kate Reading (Paladin of Souls and Loretta Chase’s novels); Grover Gardner (Lois McMaster Bujold’s Penric series & Vorkosigan series); Lloyd James (The Curse of Chalion); also John Banks…]
Tammy, there were several people who recommended The Husbands, and I was one of them. I’m glad you enjoyed it – I thought it was hugely original. Meanwhile I too need to keep a list of who recommends what.
Then I give you credit for that recommendation! Although anyone else should feel free to chime in. Yes, an unusual book. I think my only critique is that I wish I’d found the MC a little more relatable. She was written, as my former professor Northrop Frye said, in the ironic mode.
You studied with Northrup Frye? Wow.
A great academic privilege.
For a while I was doing pretty well at remembering who recommended what. Then, as my TBR queue lengthened I had to resort to putting items on a Kindle want list or Libby tags, and I’m now mostly reduced to saying “somebody on the site” by the time I actually get things read.
Me too, Patrick!
I finished my te-read of The Deal by Elle Kennedy and Top Secret, by Kennedy and Sarina Bowen (I picked up the latter because I like one of hhd narrators A LOT snd he didn’t disappoint) and Cracking Ice 1 by Lysk, an interesting alternative omegaverse hockey book. But there are 7 installments and getting all of them gets expensive, so I better read other titles on my library first.
Still plenty to read on my tbr mountain, even about hockey: Hey, if real life hockey is depressing, fictional hockey is an escape! Just watched Denmark beat a somewhat lackluster Canadian team in the quarter finals of the world championship. Which made it a bit less painful that on Tuesday(?) Denmark had eliminated my team, too. Now I’ll cheer for the host teams – last year the Czechs won at home (now beat by Sweden). It’d be nice to see the Swedes win at home.
What I’m reading currently: The Legend next Door by Reign (I liked it better than Poetry on Ice so far – one MC dealing with grief after the loss of his spouse which also meant the end of his career- , but at 55% it gets spicy and I fear Reign’s flavour of spice is just not for me).
Also listening to Fire Season by KD Casey (baseball instead of hockey!! I have no clue at all about that game but it’s not football which is always a plus). I don’t love the narrator, sigh, but he’s better than what I heard from book 1 and definitely than the one who did title 3 whom I don’t like at all!
It’s a pity the narrator is not good for Fire Season, because I think KD Casey is great!
Fire Season is okay, I just came from listening to books narrated by one of my favourite narrators, so it’s a difficult task to satisfy me.
Audible had this offer to get a fourth book if you got 3 books within a certain period. As we had a backlog of unused tokens, I jumped into the Casey series but steered clear of title three where I know I can’t stand the narrator’s voice and way to read the book.
For whatever reason, possibly the weather, I had a string of days where I did little except to read, so I finished quite a bit; I will even have to carry some items over. Herewith what I got written up:
•Ali Hazelwood, Deep End, 2025. Our hero and heroine are undergraduate applied-math geniuses with their eyes on med school, but all that’s all on the side. They maintain A averages at Stanford while also being Olympic-class athletes, Scarlett in diving and Lukas in swimming. Oh, and they’re both into BDSM and are struggling with personal problems, probably rooted respectively in Scarlett’s having had an abusive father and Lukas’s having had his mother die when he was 14 and away at a swim meet. The story mostly concentrates on athletics and the lead couple’s relationships with each other and with other athletes. Some aspects of the novel strain credibility pretty hard, but the depiction of the strictly disciplined lives required of serious student athletes feels authentic.
Starting in 2023, Hazelwood reportedly “took a break” from academia to write fiction full time. That may represent as big a disruption as these characters face between college and med school. In her acknowledgements, Hazelwood thanks her publicity and marketing people, “who have to deal with an increasingly unmarketable and unpublishable author.” That’s probably putting it a little strongly, but she has certainly been moving a bit away from the format of her first successes. On the whole, I enjoyed this one and I already have her next book on hold. And the queue for that one is long enough to dispel any notion that the author is unmarketable.
•Lois McMaster Bujold, Demon Daughter, 2024 . I finally caught up with the most recent two Penric and Desdemona stories. In this, the first, Penric (with, as always, his demon Desdemona) and his wife Nikys take in, and would like to adopt, a six-year old girl, Otta. Otta has been inhabited by a “baby” newformed demon, and her Quadrine parents evidently either are dead or have abandoned her. Will her birth parents turn up and reclaim her? If not, what will happen to the demon? The choices seem to be destroying it (which the Five Gods seem to be on board with as an option, but which is beginning to seem more like murder to Penric and Desdemona) or having Otta keep it if she so chooses. But in the latter event, unless something goes badly wrong with the demon, the very young Otta is committed to a lifetime as a Quintarian Temple divine, the only path that will insure control over the demon. But all ends fairly happily, with less angst than Bujold might have chosen to stir up.
In the Five Gods universe, Bujold has previously wriggled a bit free of the Problem of Evil by having explained that the Five are benevolent (at least from their view of the Big Picture), but are neither omniscient nor omnipotent. In this novella, the author seems to circle back to the issue. Although she explains that the demons are the Bastard’s creations (possibly involuntary ones), the Gods evidently neither can offer them life in the hereafter (as they do for most humans), nor even any existence at all apart from a host, except by killing that host. For that matter, in addition to some human souls who have justly damned themselves to ghosthood and to fading away by their evil actions, other souls become ghosts through little or no fault of their own, randomly through the manner of their deaths. A disquieting belief system to live by, as of course are, for various other reasons, the systems of the real world.
Penric and the Bandit, 2024. Penric attempts to find, and then to place in hands he regards as more reliable than the local (foreign) Temple authorities, the library of now-ruined seminary. A bandit, Roz, mistakes the nature of the wealth that Penric is after. Penric, sensing that Roz fell into banditry out of desperation rather than evil inclination, plays along in an attempt to reclaim Roz’s soul. As usual, insightful reading from Bujold. Roz’s home country is named Grabyat, which, probably not by accident, is Russian for “they steal.”
Just to here to say I love Penric, they always make me feel better about life.
Ditto about Penric. I love all his stories.
Agree with you about Ali Hazelwood, Patrick – she appears to be developing range.
I read Bujold’s Paladin of Souls, which is the second in a series. Because I did not read the first book, I think I missed a few things. Lian Tanner, Jinx, LN and Lian (same as Lian T?) recommended it because the MC is middle-aged, which is unusual in MCs. There was a lot of gore, demon mischief, and threatening circumstances in this book. It was slow-starting, but kept my interest. The titular character was never mentioned by that name, which was confusing to me. I liked the creative way Ista dealt with all the difficulties she encountered and that she chose her own helpers, not the ones her oppressive family wanted to foist onto her. Her second sight comes in handy multiple times. I think I will not reread it, as it’s pretty violent.
My brain is the apocalyptic kind, so not seeing a GBT until now made me worry. Very relieved it was just a case of late post and not a case of something being wrong.
If I remember correctly, last I posted I had just finished “The Secret of Orchard Cottage” by Alex Brown, which was nice. I moved on to her “A Postcard from Paris”, second in her Postcard-series (of standalones), which also has connections with WW2. It was a nice read. Older FMC (49), which I know many here like to see. Good story.
That said, I felt I needed a break from WW2-things, so I read “Olivetti” by Allie Millington, which Jinx had recommended. Enjoyed very much. Bit bittersweet though.
“The Cat Who Saved Books” by Sosuke Natsukawa was next in line, and it was… all right. Not mindblwoing.
My meltdown last week had me grab for comfort and safety, so on my sib’s suggestion I reread an old childhood favourite: “Poo-Poo and the Dragons” by C. S. Forester. I love that book so. very. much. Can recommend it to kids of all ages (0-99+) who enjoy dragons and imagination.
Now reading Swedish children’s books that I don’t think even have an English translation. I need this right now. The narrator has been a comfort-voice for me for over 30 years.
And now it’s bedtime. Sleep well, everyone!
Shass, with you in mind, I should have added above regarding Deep End that Lukas is Swedish and by the Epilog, Scarlett is learning the language.
Really? That’s a funny little detail!
I read and recommend The Warm Hands of Ghosts by Katherine Arden. A Canadian nurse injured in WW1 returns to the front to find out what happened to her brother. Sounds like Not My Thing at all, but it was good. Ghosts, love, evil, madness, competency, a hint of understated Heyer-esque romance x 2, fantasy adjacent I think? Or just an allegory? Either way, it was interesting and I’m pleased I read it.
Definitely historical fantasy with ghosts and devils and enchantments. Although I’m remembering someone (can’t find the quote 🙁 ) talking about the difference between speculative fiction readers and literary fiction readers is that what the latter assume is metaphor, the former take literally. So maybe one could read their battlefield experiences as hallucinatory or metaphor.
Have you read Arden’s Russian folk tale-inspired Winternight trilogy (#1 The Bear and the Nightingale)? I really rather loved that.
Oh no, don’t call me a literary fiction reader (laughing, I am sometimes, although it’s often too bleak for me). I think she wrote it as fantasy but I couldn’t help but read it as a beautiful consideration of sanity and when one mightb prefer to let go.
Yuri, I may have read the same quote. I recall something about a dinosaur lumbering up to an aircraft, which the litfic author intended as a metaphor for an airbridge, but which a spec-fic reader would have taken as an indication that we were on another planet or alternate world where the large local wildlife had been pressed into service by training or mind control. (I add: As, for instance, in Stirling’s underappreciated The Sky People.)
Or was the author of the dinosaur airbridge an sf writer who had thrown in a metaphor in a place where it could all too easily be taken literally? Anyhow, the same lesson would apply.
Yuri, my High School teacher DIL recommended Arden’s books to me, and I really liked them.
I picked them up a few years ago as they were finalists for the Hugo series awards and they were also gorgeously romantic.
Read Travis Baldree’s Goblins & Greatcoats – a free short story from Subterranean Press. It was a funny, quick, and absurd murder mystery with a twisty ending. You can download it here: https://subterraneanpress.com/goblins-greatcoats-ebook/
I’m also reading free fiction from Ilona Andrews. For those who love their writing, there is a new serial story, The Inheritance. They’ve been publishing it twice a week on their blog for a few weeks. I get it in my email. But you could read all the chapters already published here: https://ilona-andrews.com/category/the-inheritance/. I think it is going to be a novel-length story, and so far, I’m loving it. Typical Ilona Andrews – monsters, adventures, shenanigans. There is even a dog there. A heroic dog, no less.
And I’m re-reading Swordheart for the nth time. So good!
I’m reading Story of My Life by Lucy Score. Took a little bit to get into it but am now enjoying it. The reading is going a bit slow since I’m working on polishing up my ms and taking that class to plot and get the characters well-rounded and motivated for the next story. I did reread a couple of comfort reads.
Karan Anders/ Andrea Host put a post up on her blog that made me feel better about her choice to offer AI narration. Basically, she is trying to offer something that Amazon always had for free and has taken away. Thus she is offering them at the cheapest point possible. So I have been listening to The Book of Firsts. The performance is better than expected and I apparently really needed the comfort. I am going to live here for a while, I think as I haven’t had the focus to read much else.
Oh, and I dnfed Go Luck Yourself, the sequel to A Nightmare Before Kissmass because the author wrote in a truly epically stupid Big Misunderstanding and I am still mad about it.
I am part way through some Alien smut that is better than my very low expectations but didn’t quite hit the mark of being exceptional. I probably would have really loved it when I was younger. Swords Will Cross (in space) by Kaylee Pike.
Hmmm, will have to give Book of Firsts a listen.
I got through it in a week instead of a month, which was a win for me. I got to follow the flow of the story, plus I heard some things that I think I glossed over when reading.
Lupe, I can understand Anders wanting to make an audiobook as financially accessible as possible. The trouble is, it’s such a slippery slope. ‘I’ll use AI for the cover, because using a human artist costs too much.’ Then, ‘I’ll use AI to write the entire book because human writers cost too much.’
I feel we are on the verge of losing so much.
Adding to your remarks, Lian, I don’t want to listen to AI narrated books, I want to get books narrated by human voices. At the moment, our treasured actors doing dubbing are at risk of getting out of work because their work has been the basis for AI generation dubbing. It’s an alarming development which I don’t want to facilitate.
It’s easy to stay clear of the basic amazon AI narration because it’s just so awful (AI generated female voice without proper interpretation of the story), but AI is developping sooooo rapidly and I’m sure if the demand is there, I fear we enable the take over.
I agree, and was feeling really torn about it and disappointed in the author for that decision, but she explained that Amazon used to offer it automatically through whispersync and has discontinued the service, so she was trying to keep serving readers who can’t read printed type for one reason or another. She isn’t really using it as an alternative to a true audiobook, but as a continued effort to make her work accessible to everyone. I feel less conflicted in this instance.
I wanted the audiobooks. Would I prefer living narrators? Yes. I would. Nevertheless, I spent $1.99 each for the two Secret Garden books on Audible and I’m listening to the first, now. No complaints.
can you or anyone think of a reason the Audible version would not be available in Canada?
The only thing I can think of is if there were specific country/region limits placed on the contracts, as various authors have mentioned in the past.
An observation: The AI pronounces the “oOo” divider between sections as “oh-ooh.” I find that amusing.
Deborah Crombie’s ‘Necessary as Blood’ which was just as good as the previous one I read. I have several others of hers on hold from the library because they are really touching a sweet spot for me at the moment.
Also a reread of Laurie King’s ‘Island of the Mad’, partly because a big chunk of it is set in Venice, and it was a delight to read about places I had recently visited.
— “The Madness of Ian Mackenzie” by Jennifer Ashley — a historical M/F romance with a hero who is on the spectrum. It had been a long time since I reread it and I found that it has withstood the test of time and I still loved it. Such a moving story – it definitely remains on the reread loop. As I recall the rest of the series was pretty good too so I will probably revisit them as well at some point.
— Second Act by Kaje Harper M/M story of an actor who returns home to see his first love after 10 years away in Hollywood. The story didn’t go the way I expected and I really liked that. Not a reread but a very nice story that held together well.
— Hot Streak by Beth Bolden. M/M baseball story between a veteran player stuck in the minors and an up and coming younger pitching phenom. Thank you to the Argher who recommended this one (sorry, I can’t remember who it was…🤦♀️) I really enjoyed it — there was lots of baseball and some good team dynamics and the romance was convincing. And baseball.
There was lots of hockey this week — not just the playoff games but then the post mortems and analysis in all my favorite hockey podcasts. To recover from the Maple Leafs’ loss to the Panthers, I reread “Heated Rivalry” for the umpteenth time and am currently rereading The Long Game. Depending on how the playoffs continue it might be time for me to finally read the latest Rachel Reid which I’ve been hoarding for when I need it. That time might be coming up after last night’s Oilers’ loss…
and now last night’s Hurricanes loss to the Panthers …AGAIN…
I loved The Madness of Ian MacKenzie too! It was my first Jennifer Ashley and I went on to read the entire series after that. Enjoyed them all but that one remains my favorite.
Oh, forgot to mention that I really did not like the audiobook version of Hot Streak. If I had started with that it would have been a DNF for me. Definitely a book to read rather than listen to.
Thanks for the rec and not rec, Christina!! Lustening to the audio sample, I see what you mean.
I tried to comment earlier, but my comment included links for both stories below, so it went to moderation. Here is the same comment without the links.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Read Travis Baldree’s Goblins & Greatcoats – a free short story from Subterranean Press. It was a funny, quick, and absurd murder mystery with a twisty ending.
I’m also reading free fiction from Ilona Andrews. For those who love their writing, there is a new serial story, The Inheritance. They’ve been publishing it twice a week for a few weeks. I get it in my email. But you could read all the chapters already published on their blog. I think it is going to be a novel-length story, and so far, I’m loving it. Typical Ilona Andrews – monsters, adventures, shenanigans. There is even a dog there. A heroic dog, no less.
And I’m re-reading Swordheart for the nth time. So good!
I also read “Goblins & Greatcoats” and liked it – but its been a while since I read the other books – are we meant to recognize Zyll or are they a new character?
The Inheritance is really good so far! The only bad thing about it is that it is only coming out in in small increments at a time. I want to read it all now… whiiiiiine. I also liked the Baldree short. Thank you Subterranean! Subterranean is also releasing the latest Penric novella, Penric and the Bandit in paper form. It’s not cheap, but if you want to preorder a paper copy, now is the time.
Best thing I read this week was Francis Spufford’s “Cahokia Jazz” (2024), a noir political thriller in an alternate 1920s USA where smallpox didn’t kill the Mississippi Valley farming culture before Europeans arrived and Cahokia joined the Union as a native-led state. While noir isn’t usually my thing, the characters were vivid, the world and the political tensions in the city intriguing, and although the ending was bittersweet (because noir), I still really enjoyed reading it. I really want more in this world, which I gather is unlikely, nonetheless will seek out more from this author.
Farah Heron’s “The Chai Factor” (2017) is an m/f romance between an Indian Canadian engineering grad student and a red-bearded barbershop-quartet-singing hipster country boy. There’s a lot of bickering, and both MCs are quick-tempered and far from perfect, but I liked where they ended up. There’s discussions of religion (FMC is Muslim, if not particularly observant), family, intolerance, race, homosexuality and sexism – and I like a romance that tackles those things head on, and MCs that find they can love across those divides. Her 2021 book “Accidentally Engaged” is more fun, but this was definitely worth reading too.
Also read “Sleep No More” and “The Innocent Sleep” by Seanan McGuire (2023) which cover the same events from October and Tybalt’s perspectives respectively (plus the novella from Raysel’s perspective). These are books 17 & 18 of the October Daye series and I’m really impressed at McGuire’s ability to sustain such a long arc (do not start here!) and really solid deep world-building. I particularly like that these are effectively an AU of her own series. Plus always nice to see the Library!
Yuri, Spufford made an interesting gradual transition from nonfiction to fiction. I’ve had him on my radar, but have so far only read Red Plenty, which is a historical quasi-novel about the historical period when Khrushchev and fellow Soviets really thought they were on track to overtake and surpass Western capitalist economies.
Per the Wikipedia, Spufford also has written a reportedly pretty good Narnia novel that the Lewis estate will not let him publish, but that may appear when (at least in the US) the copyright runs out on the series. As with Mickey Mouse currently, I imagine the deal is that one can only use characters and traits already established in the public domain parts of the series. (I wasn’t raised on Narnia myself and came to it too late to be a huge fan.)
How intriguing. Apparently in a number of countries (e.g. Philippines, India, New Zealand etc) the works of C.S. Lewis, including Narnia, are in the public domain, although not for another 15+ years in the USA. However “Narnia” is trademarked by C S Lewis PTE and trademarks don’t expire, so permission is unlikely to be granted at least until management of the Estate changes.
Although, as its effectively fanfic, maybe Spufford should check out archiveofourown 😉
Yuri, I don’t think that trademark dodge works in the US. I’m almost positive that Mickey Mouse is also trademarked and I think they’ve tried to use that to constrain exploitation of the public-domain early MM material, but without success. The same thing may have happened with the Arthur Conan Doyle estate’s efforts to cling with the dead hand of the past to Holmes, but I recall their legal argument, such as it was, less clearly. As you may know, the Lewis literary rights were sold long ago to Swiss investors, and I think they’ve made a fair profit long ago, so they get zero sympathy from me.
Yuri, Another case of a rights tangle occurred to me. As the Wikipedia article “Captain Midnight” explains,
“When the TV series went into syndication in 1958 via Telescreen Advertising, Ovaltine was no longer the sponsor. However, The Wander Company owned the rights to the character’s name “Captain Midnight,” forcing a title change by Screen Gems from Captain Midnight to Jet Jackson, Flying Commando, and all references in the episodes to Captain Midnight were redubbed “Jet Jackson.” The series (as “Jet Jackson”) was syndicated well into the early 1960s. The Jet Jackson name was also used for the show’s syndication in Australia in order to avoid confusion with a fictional bushranger also named Captain Midnight.”
As a child, I had watched the series as Captain Midnight, and then again as Jet Jackson, and was more than a little annoyed at the very clumsy redubbing of the hero’s name.
I finally finished Network Effect by Martha Wells. Thanks to all who encouraged me to keep on with it! I also reread The Shuddering City by Sharon Shinn, as well as The Snow Queen by Mercedes Lackey.
Glad you enjoyed “Network Effect” 🙂
Annuka, the Sammoi witch in “The Snow Queen” was fascinating – I really wish she’d had more of the book.
Yuri, I agree, Annuka deserved more attention in the story.
The Snow Queen is part of the 500 Kingdoms series. I really enjoy this series. It’s a very subversive take on the traditional tales.
VARIATION ON A THEME is up to chapter 59. Friday and Monday both had two chapters, back to just one on Wednesday. I was confused by the largess.
I watched more HOUSE. Finished Season 1 well into Season 2. I want to watch Murderbot but I don’t want to subscribe to Apple TV. Curses! I may try the “Binge-watch on trial subscription” others have mentioned.
I reread the entire Rocky Start series. Good work, Jenny! Good work, Bob!
I am considering an Esther Friesner reread. First would be the six Chicks in Chainmail series books, Followed by as many of the eight Princesses of Myth books. Only two of those are rereads, the other six are not yet in my library. Then I’d reread her urban fantasy anthologies. Full disclosure: The princess books are solely hers – the rest are the anthologies. Which is fine, because I love Elizabeth Moon and her stories of the “Ladies Aid & Armor Society” Among others. You may wonder who Esther Friesner is. Attendees at various cons will recognize her as “that hamster lady.” She is famous for, “Cry ‘CHEEBLE!’ and let slip the Hamsters of war!”
I had an urge that led to John Ringo’s KILDAR. I am not at all sure it will lead to the rest of that series.
Finally, one addition to the list.
Sturgeon’s revelation. It came to him that [science fiction] is indeed ninety-percent crud, but that also – Eureka! – ninety-percent of everything is crud. All things – cars, books, cheeses, hairstyles, people, and pins are, to the expert and discerning eye, crud, except for the acceptable tithe which we each happen to like. This book is definitely a ninety-percenter.
Gary, I best liked Friesner’s early series starting with Here Be Demons.
Much of the Hamster Lady’s bibliography is unavailable as ebooks, and I’m not interested in recyclables.
Gary, Tastes and situations differ. In my case, on the one hand, there is plenty of good stuff to read in ebook form. On the other hand, sometimes there isn’t some specific title that I don’t already own, or it’s outrageously expensive as an ebook compared to used print. For those times, if the library and ILL fail me (or if I would need to keep a book for a long time) I try to donate the book when finished, or at least donate another of comparable size.
Rereading Patricia Briggs’ Mercy Thompson fantasy series. I’m up to book 9 at the moment. Next up, the new Vivian Shaw, and Kelley Armstrong’s new book, Death at a Highland Wedding.
Too distracted by outside factors to read much. Veggie tv is what holds my attention right now.
Binging Dead Like Me again. So sad it only had 2 seasons & a movie. Really good actors & stories.
Binging Miss Fisher Murder Mysteries & missing Kerry Greenwood.
Watched Etoile season 1 & it is good. Hard to watch because I am so disgusted with Amy Sherman Palladino for leaving Rory pregnant & unable to find work after setting her up to be admired by so many young girls / women. (Gilmore Girls)
Dr Who with Ncuti Gatwa still makes me happy.
Always nice to find someone else who liked Dead Like Me. I too wish that it had been around longer. I feel the same way about Pushing Daisies. A fabulous cast and fabulous writing, gone too soon.
I loved both those series! I still enjoy rewatching Pushing Daisies.
I had left Gilmore Girls some seasons back, when it got FAR, FAR too soap-operatic for me, but per Wikipedia, Sherman-Palladino has left the show after disagreement with the network management by the time Rory got pregnant. Not that it mattered to me, since I had gotten disgusted with the show’s direction years before that point.
“…has left” should be “had,” typo.
Loved Dead like me! Mandy Patinkin specially!
Judy — have you watched the New Miss Fisher Murder Mysteries (staring her niece)? I’ve been rewatching them and enjoying them.
On Wednesday, I said that I was going to skip ahead and try Christie’s Mystery of the Blue Train again. I went forward to Disc 3, which is where it should have started (perhaps 90 minutes of narration in). I don’t think that there’s anything in the setup that could not be picked up from that point.
I noticed that Christie uses “judicially” to mean “judiciously,” a very annoying quirk that I had first seen in Ellis Peter’s. Perhaps it is or was a Brit thing. (Yes, that sense is in the dictionary. )
DNFd several things recommended here. The Eight Deadly Words: “I don’t care what happens to these people.”
I finished T. Kingfisher’s Toad Words after discovering more of her work is available on Hoopla than in Libby, and then spent several days wrestling with the Hoopla app before I could get it to let me read The Raven and the Reindeer, so I am not finished with that one, but I have enjoyed them both. (Hoopla! Downloading and reinstalling the app twice and waiting days for it to get past the “Sorry we cannot process that now. Try again later.” response to the Agree to Terms and Conditions! And then freezing all over again. Grr.)
My re-read of the Fall of Ile-Rien is lovely. I keep checking how far I’ve come and saying “Ah! There’s plenty left.”
I’m currently on your novel ‘Strange Bedfellows’, really enjoying reading your older novels again, it’s giving me quite an insight into how your writing has evolved. I think out of the previous 3 novels – ‘Manhunting’, ‘Getting Rid of Bradley’ and ‘What the Lady Wants’ my favourite has to be your very first novel ‘Manhunting’. Really loved that particular story. Have quite a few more to read. How many books have you actually released? 26? I’ll get through them all eventually.
Lisa, Strange Bedfellows should come before What the Lady Wants, as the MCs appear there, briefly, already married. But I doubt if it makes that much difference. I really like Manhunting, too. It’s wonderful to watch Kate unraveling from being her father’s clone, to being her own, more adventurous, self.
Jan, Alas, the library’s CD audiobook of Manhunting finally has perished. I can still borrow it in other formats, though, including the less convenient e-audio, so I’ll get to a reread at some point. I hadn’t read Strange Bedfellows and What the Lady Wants close enough together to notice the linkage, but among probably too many simultaneous books, I’m working on rereading the latter in e-print at the moment. I applaud your alertness about these linkages.
Thanks, Patrick. I love Jenny’s books and have reread them many times, so I did begin to notice when a character showed up in another book.
I read “Strange Pictures” by Uketsu, which was a very quick and suspenseful read. Now I’m rereading “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory” by Roald Dahl as a bit of a mental reset.
I stumbled accross Sarra Manning’s latest book, ‘the last days of summer’
I had forgotten how much I enjoy her books even though she writes about fashion (lots of brand name drop ins), a certain London milieu and emotionnally stunted boarding school educated upper middle class boys, which are really not my thing.
I do like her heroines a lot though and somehow her books work.
Also, bonus point, the French in the latest book is correct if unbelievably rude. It really establishes how much of a fuckboy the male protagonist was when they met. The difference about what he said to the heroine and the way he translated it says it all.
I am rereading Unsticky and it has held up. She is good at starting from a really morally dubious point and making it work, at least for me 🙂
My ebook of Someone You Can Build a Nest In is going back to the library before I could finish it, crowded out by other reading. But it had a promising start, although to my taste maybe a bit too gruesome in a black humor way, and I put another hold on it.
It certainly is visceral!
Ha, I see what you did there. 😉
he-he 🙂
I really enjoyed my reread of Victoria Goddard’s Lays of the Hearth-fire series (Petty Treasons, The Game of Courts, The Hands of the Emperor, Portrait of a Wide Seas Islander, At the Feet of the Sun). I followed with Alexandra Rowland’s A Taste of Good and Iron, but didn’t enjoy this as much the second time; it’s gone into Rejects. I think it’s the slow pace and the world that put me off. I’m currently reading Vedashree Khambete-Sharma’s What Will People Think?, which is a clever retelling of Pride & Prejudice set in 1970s India. I’m not feeling involved with the characters, though, and am rather wishing I’d reread the original instead.
I reread an old Elsie Lee, the Nabob’s widow. I reread the girl who chased the moon by sarah Addison Allen which led me to the peach keeper. After that. I am starting the very secret Society of irregular witches.
After that, who knows? Blessings.
I have to put in a good word for The Retired Assassin’s Guide to Country Gardening, by Naomi Kuttner.
The hero is, as you might expect, an ex-assassin. He retired to a quaint country village in New Zealand, and as you’d expect in a quaint country village a murder occurs and he’s one of the suspects.
His efforts to clear himself would be much simpler if he hadn’t joined Assassins Anonymous. Their motto is: One Kill Would Be One Too Many.
So he has to find other ways to solve his problems. Which come to include a cat who has adopted him and a gardener who chats with ghosts.
Reading Sarina Bowen’s The Last Guy on Earth and enjoying. She also wrote I’m Your Guy. I guess I should circle back to the first in the series, The New Guy…
Mostly I’ve just been reading political stuff. Frustratingly boring.
I had a few meh reads this week, but I really enjoyed The Retired Assassin’s Guide to Country Gardening by Naomi Kuttner and A Care of Frost by Amy Rae Durreson. And enjoyed Murder at the Wedding by Jane A. Adams, but not quite as much as the other two. Oh, I also liked Waifs and Strays by Helen Harper pretty well.
Based on your review I just started this last night and am loving it! Partly the New Zealand vibes which is reminding me a little of Corinna Chapman. I would like to hang with Dante in real life.
I really liked it and can’t wait for the next in the series! Hope you enjoy it, too 🙂
Yes, I read the Retired Assassin as well, really enjoyed to NZ location, and the cat that moved in!
Well, it’s not Thursday anymore, but I did want to mention Olivia Waite’s MURDER BY MEMORY, a queer, kinda cozy, utterly delightful SF mystery novella. I was surprised by how very much I enjoyed it. Happy Memorial Day reading, everyone!
I presume you’re at Balticon by now (possibly why you posted at 12:15 am) and are enjoying it.
Oops. Should have read “… and I hope you are enjoying it.”
Still making my way through my relisten of the Rivers of London audiobooks. I’m up to Lies Sleeping, which I didn’t remember very well. It’s almost like reading it for the first time.
I suppose I should have saved this post until Sunday, for the happiness involved. Nearly half of my plants have germinated. That is three types of micro tomatoes, a colorful type of ornamental/edible peppers, an assortment of lettuces, and green onions.
My description of the hydroponic gardens is at The (Nearly) June 2025 Farm Report. There are 19 active gardening units and another dozen inactive units.
I am very late to the GBT because I signed off too early on Thursday and was out on the town with DH all day Friday. Dumping my reading recap here because otherwise next week’s will be Way Too Long!
1. ‘A Sinister Revenge’ by Deanna Raybourn, in her Veronica Speedwell series, in which a house party is convened to solve a 20-year-old mystery. I enjoy these books but Veronica, an Amelia Peabody-ish scholar, does not have an intelligent & challenging child to nudge her toward emotional growth. She needs somebody to do that. As does her love interest.
2. ‘Played to Death’ by BV Lawson, first in a series I won’t be continuing; ex-FBI private crime consultant (don’t call him a PI) inherits a derelict opera house in coastal Virginia; arrives on scene and finds the dead body of a person who’d just called him for a consultation. If your jam is private investigators working well with local cops to solve convoluted mysteries with roots in the past, dive right in. For me: barely a drop of humor, zero romance, many subplots & side characters (including some change of POV) that make sections drag and/or provoke annoyance with the MC. I was interested enough to read the whole thing but, and this could be a trigger, the only scene that really seemed written to illuminate the MC as a Good Guy is when he rescues new cubs of a coyote that he had to shoot because it attacked him. The problem is, the only reason to have that coyote in the book at all is so he could kill it and then go find the cubs. There were other, better ways to establish this person as a Good Guy. And the century-old opera house, which should be a character, is merely a little-used setting.
3. ‘Better Late Than Never’ by L.A. Witt. M/M set in Spain with two American Navy personnel, both nearing their 20-year mark. One is enlisted and one is an officer, which is a big No in the Navy. The predictable problems ensue. I suffered from repetitive internal monologue from one MC, but the “how do we make this work” was given a little more space on the page than one typically gets. Both men are good-hearted professionals who treat each other fairly.
4-5. ‘Mr. Warren’s Profession’ and ‘Throw His Heart Over’ by Sebastian Nothwell. These two books feature the same MCs in an M/M Edwardian romance. A baronet, very rich; and an aspiring engineer, very poor. Pretty solid 4 stars for the duology. Occasional editing and formatting issues, particularly in the first book, but a thoughtful and uncompromising look at the very real legal risks, to say nothing of the social difficulties, in a cross-class M/M affair at the time. The relationship between the MCs put me in mind of Stephen Day and Lord Crane of the Magpie Lord books. Vanilla, mostly fade-to-black sex and zero eldritch horrors, just some awful people who get dealt with satisfactorily, and some useful allies for the heroes.
5.5 [re-read] my own short story ‘View From the Bridge,’ M/M holiday setting feat. 50ish ex-Navy men.
6. ‘Four Squares’ by Bobby Finger, a literary novel about a gay writer. Set 1992-2022. Touches on his friendships, a long-term on-off conflicted but true love affair, many losses mostly seen in retrospect, a beloved honorary niece, and making new friends (possibly finding new love) at 60. 5 stars.
7. ‘What the Eyes Don’t See’ by Mona Hanna-Attish. Nonfiction by a pediatric hospital researcher about the Flint water crisis. 5 more enthusiastic stars. Everything that happened in Flint is happening now on the national stage, so reading about how a few tenacious people saved the day was truly inspiring.
8. ‘Network Effect’ by Martha Wells. Another 5-star read, cracking good adventure and I like where she’s taking the MC.
9. ‘Hand in Glove’ by Ngaio Marsh, published in 1962, this is in the range of books where Inspector Alleyn and his wife Troy have paused aging. He should be 60+ by now but it seems they haven’t even had their kid yet. 🙂 The usual pack of promising suspects is quickly winnowed down, with the person you most want to be the villain unfortunately not. A whiff of secondary-character romance plus a nice cameo from Troy.
9.5 ‘Iron Lady at Sea’ by Phyllis Burns, a self-published part-history, part-fiction book about the sailing ship Star of India (nee Euterpe), built in 1862 and still seaworthy. I picked up the book on a visit to the San Diego Maritime Museum, where we toured the ship.
10. [re-read] ‘Daddy-Long-Legs’ by Jean Webster. I’ve read this at least 20 times and still love it.
11. ‘A Tree Grows in Brooklyn’ by Betty Smith. I expected to love this 1940s classic, but found it a bit of a slog.
12. ‘Only This Beautiful Moment’ by Abdi Nazemian. This on the other hand, I wasn’t sure about but really loved. Polished & deep, well paced & thoughtfully constructed. Three interwoven narratives braid together key moments in the lives of a 2019 teenager, a 1978 university student, and a 1939 teenager – three generations of Iranian American men. The 1939 character leaves the US for Tehran after running afoul of LA police department harassment, raids, and entrapment of homosexuals; he only goes back for brief visits. Marries an architect (lesbian) and teaches music. The 1978 (straight) character leaves Tehran for the US to escape antirevolutionary violence. Pursues an engineering degree and marries another Iranian American. The 2019 character, recently out to his father, goes to Tehran to visit his dying grandfather. It’s all about family histories, secrets, differences, similarities, bonds. Also about authoritarianism, racism, homophobia, and corruption. Published in 2023 but a book for this moment.
I listened to “Paladin’s Grace,” which was not what I thought it was going to be. Lots of does s/he love me? I’m so messed up, what great thighs he has..” where I had been expecting more swinging swords and maybe a wizard or two… It was moving pretty slowly, but once I turned the narration up to 1.1 times the original speed, it helped quite a bit.
I picked up The Village Library Demon-Hunting Society on my trip, and am in the middle of it. Also going places I wasn’t quite expecting.
Listened to Kristan Higgins “Now That You Mention It,” this one’s up in Maine, which I enjoyed.
I’m trying to read Your Brain on Art, not that I’m not already convinced of the happy results of creating, participating, following, appreciating the arts on the human mind. But, I thought I would check out, even if it has graphs.