Book Club

[smoky22]

I finished Wolf To The Slaughter, one of the early Inspector Wexford books by Ruth Rendell.  The characters were a little confusing but it had a great ending.  I'm looking forward to reading more in this series.

Also read The Buried Giant by Kazuo Ishiguro.  This book was a chore to finish.  It was part fantasy, part allegory, with some lofty themes.  I feel like I "got" all the symbolism and nuance, but ultimately the book was unsatisfying for me.

Now I'm reading The Last Policeman (Ben H. Winters) which I'm enjoying so far.

I also have The Anchoress (Robyn Cadwallader) on my kindle, as well as, Seveneves by Neal Stephenson.  It took me so long to read The Buried Giant, I'm afraid these will have to go back before I get to them.  

[Sagal]

I just finished THE SECRET WISDOM OF THE EARTH - really good book - very different from anything I've read lately.  I'm giving it a 4 on Goodreads.  The following is from Goodreads: 

4.12 of 5 stars 4.12  ·  rating details  ·  2,462 ratings  ·  568 reviews

Timely and timeless, this is a dramatic and deeply moving novel about an act of violence in a small, Southern town and the repercussions that will forever change a young man's view of human cruelty and compassion.

After seeing the death of his younger brother in a terrible home accident, fourteen-year-old Kevin and his grieving mother are sent for the summer to live with K Timely and timeless, this is a dramatic and deeply moving novel about an act of violence in a small, Southern town and the repercussions that will forever change a young man's view of human cruelty and compassion.

After seeing the death of his younger brother in a terrible home accident, fourteen-year-old Kevin and his grieving mother are sent for the summer to live with Kevin's grandfather. In this peeled-paint coal town deep in Appalachia, Kevin quickly falls in with a half-wild hollow kid named Buzzy Fink who schools him in the mysteries and magnificence of the woods. The events of this fateful summer will affect the entire town of Medgar, Kentucky.

Medgar is beset by a massive mountaintop removal operation that is blowing up the hills and back filling the hollows. Kevin's grandfather and others in town attempt to rally the citizens against the "company" and its powerful owner to stop the plunder of their mountain heritage. When Buzzy witnesses a brutal hate crime, a sequence is set in play that tests Buzzy and Kevin to their absolute limits in an epic struggle for survival in the Kentucky mountains.

Redemptive and emotionally resonant, The Secret Wisdom of the Earth is narrated by an adult Kevin looking back on the summer when he sloughed the coverings of a boy and took his first faltering steps as a man. His story is one with a rich cast of characters and an ambitious effort to reclaim a once great community. (less)

[Honeybit]

@dawg lover  Good to see your name here again.  My sympathy for all you've been through with your mom.  You said, Honeybit, please post if you ever track down that Penelope Rich book. I really do think that I read that book too, many years ago, as it seems very familiar. I have read tons of British historical fiction over the years. 

I'll certainly let you know.  I was surprised how few references there were to fiction about Elizabeth's era when I started hunting.  I guess modern technology doesn't reach back to embrace old books because I remember library shelves full of books about that period.  I've got the new Spencer Quinn on my to read shelf but saving it for a "treat drought."  I'm re-reading Eloise Jarvis McGraw's "Pharaoh"  (1958) as an antidote to some of the current stuff.  Do you remember a book about Beth Throgmorton who was Sir Walter Raleigh's wife?  I couldn't find a reference to it, either.  ( ETA:  I found the Rosemary Sutcliffe "Lady in Waiting" but that isn't the one I remembered.)

[RubyinNE]

Loved Pretty Baby!  Have you read her first book?

[number one queen]

I do so love  to read all your comments, and have found so many new authors and new books, thank you all! I too am starting The Kind Worth Killing For,by Peter Swanson, very good so far.I just finished The Dead Key, by D.M. Pulley, I really enjoyed this mystery, of an old bank,loved the descriptions of the high ceilings with the paintings and the furniture etc.Also, Murder On Molokai, by Chip Hugh's, I had to read because so many of you on the old format enjoyed,I am glad I did, it was refreshing from all the dark ones I've been reading. Speaking of dark, Dark Places, by Gillian Flynn, was extremely dark psychological  novel. I also had read the first book of The Pines, which I did not like much more Sifi than mystery.

[LoriLori]

I know a bunch of you have already tried to get QVC to provide a dedicated Books Forum but I'm having a lucky day so I decided to try (can't hurt).  Here's my post, please visit and let  your thoughts be known as Sunala and others have done.

 http://community.qvc.com/t5/Suggestion-Box/PLEASE-MODS-WE-NEED-A-SEPARATE-BOOK-FORUM-PLEASE-PLEASE/...

[smoky22]

I finished The Last Policeman by Ben H. Winters.  It's the first book in a trilogy and I'm looking forward to reading the other two.  I loved the author's style, sort of quirky and unexpected.  I really enjoyed it.

[dawg lover]

@smoky, coincidentally, I just finished WOLF TO THE SLAUGHTER as well, and I agree, it was confusing as they kept going back and forth to various policemen in the station to present their point of view. In fact, I wondered why they are called Inspector Wexford novels, as he really doesn't play that prominent of a role in them, at least not in the first three books in the series, which is all that I have read. Burden figures more prominently in the books than Wexford, and I don't know why he was in such a bad mood in this particular book. He was pleasant in the first two books. @Honeybit, I don't recall reading any books on Sir Walter Raleigh's wife, but try this alternate spelling of her name, and you may find some: Bess Throckmorton. The new Spencer Quinn book was cute. Chet's puppy son is back. I am about to start James Patterson's ALERT. This is the latest in his Michael Bennett series.

[smoky22]

@dawg lover I'm on waitlist for the next Inspector Wexford (The Best Man To Die).  He isn't very prominent in the early books, is he? I've read this series gets better as it goes along.

I'm just a little way into The Anchoress (Robin Cadwallader) and I'm not sure it's really my kind of book, but I'll keep going for a while.

[sophiamarie]

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@lainey1 wrote:

I just finished The Kind Worth Killing by Peter Swanson and enjoyed it. Lots of twists and turns!  Thanks Lynneuk for the recommendation!

Now I'm starting Twisted by Andrew E. Kaufman - recommended by Big Sister.

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I d/l The Kind Worth Killing to my Kindle Fire and cannot put it down.  Last night, I read until it needed a new charge but I was ready to watch the news anyway.  Great book.  I also d/l Twisted and that will be my next book.

BTW, for those who loved Joan Rivers, I went to Amazon and found "The Book of Joan" by Melissa Rivers and clicked on the hard copy edition and read "read inside this book".... It is hilarious.  There is so much to read inside, that I can't imagine what else could be in the book.  It's a hoot.  I discovered that when you read inside the book by clicking on the hard copy edition instead of the Kindle edition, there is a load more to read.  It took me almost an hour to get through it while eating my gelato of course.

Thanks again to those who recommended these books.  This is the only Forum worth reading IMO.  I don't even read anything else - just not worth trying to figure out what is where.  

Spoiler

 I am also going to get other books by Peter Swanson - love the way he writes.