Current Non-Genre Reading III

Agent Cormac said:
While looking for an enjoyable read a friend and big fan of Boyd recommended this one to me. This is my first experience of Boyd and from this one book alone I’d hazard a guess that he specialises in romances for men, which is a blunt appraisal certainly and probably deserves to be shot down.
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I read Any Human Heart a few years ago and found it to be pretty much the perfectly rounded story - moving, surprising, funny, charming - all those bland adjectives you see in the blurbs that you instantly forget about when you actually start reading a book :) It really was very good, though.
 
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I finished Yellowface by R.F. Kuang - after her friend Athena Liu dies, author June Hayward uses Athena's unfinished manuscript about Chinese laborers during WW1, rewrites parts of it and releases it as her own. The narrative follows June as she struggles to protect her secret and deal with the media.

Wow, what a well-crafted story! Fast paced, with an excellent first person view storyline, dealing with cultural appropriation and racism. It was also an interesting dive into the publishing side of the business, and the impact social media especially can have on authors.

This was very different to her last novel Babel - but just as good in a disparate way - and shows as an author she can branch across genres. Looking forward to what she does next.
 
Just completed Rosamunde Pilcher's, "Winter Solstice". I had been looking for something different and came across another of her works, "The Shell Seekers". An NYT favorite for many weeks, but I just couldn't connect with that novel. Several online reviews liked this novel better, so I figured I'd give it a try.

It is a novel about people and their loves, lives and regrets. 5 disparate characters meet / end up in a large house in a northern Scottish fishing village. Thrown together by the vagaries of the weather and chance to eventually end up celebrating Christmas with each other.

There isn't an alien, spaceship, gun, sword or alternate world in the entire book. Definitely out of my usual wheelhouse of scifi, fantasy & historical fiction. But the prose and the evocative description of day to day life, & love in small English townships and Scottish fishing villages was absolutely charming. I don't know if that type of lifestyle is even still around these days. But I surely hope so. I'd like to think that it is.

While the ending may be a bit predictable, the journey there with the characters, country and the lifestyle was extremely uplifting. The book may be a bit old fashioned in it's telling. But heck, I'm old fashioned too. And it is one of my favorite reads of the year. Maybe up there with my top 5 of all time.

This was a Kindle Unlimited selection. But I purchased it as soon as I finished it. I'd like to find a hardcover edition to add to my remaining collection. I can see pulling this one out during the Holidays just to experience it again.


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I finished Sira by M Duenas, the sequel to her acclaimed novel The Time in Between. Energetic and hard to put down again, though a bit less interesting than the original as spying on the Reich in Madrid during the war versus covering Eva Peron's visit to Madrid in 1946 under a bit of false pretense too, can attest. Still a very good and entertaining read. My Goodreads review is below:

The sequel to the excellent Time in Between is also a compulsive read that is hard to put down but overall is less interesting than the original in some ways. Now as Sira Bonnard, married to her English spy boyfriend, our protagonist follows him to his new posting in Jerusalem where the British try to maintain peace between the Jews and the Arabs in an increasingly divided and dangerous Palestine mandate of 1945. Not to speak that as an exotic Spaniard among the wives of the colonial administrators, Sira doesn't quite fit either and while she gets involved in various pastimes for such, she also tries to do something more interesting like convincing the local radio station boss, a friend of Marcus who has taken a shine to her, to produce a radio miniseries about Spanish culture, of course, sanitized of anything political. Later she gets entangled by chance with a Canadian freelance journalist, who as a woman in a mostly men's profession tries to get as many outlets for her articles as possible and Sira's Spanish origins come in handy for South American publication.

When tragedy strikes, Sira has to make her own destiny again and this time her recent journalistic experience and her secret agent past combine on assignments that shouldn't be really dangerous, but the reappearance of shady personages from her past may actually make them so.

Moving from Jerusalem to London, Madrid, and Tangiers of 1945-47, the novel is a page-turner and while it doesn't quite reach the heights of the Time in Between, it is still a very entertaining read with an excellent ending which of course leaves open the possibility of more.
 
Completed" The Art of Racing in the Rain" by Garth Stein. The story is narrated as a first person observer in the form of "Enzo", a dog owned by aspiring race car driver Denny Swift. Enzo, knowing he is something of an anomaly, tries to make do in a human world while desperately wishing for opposable thumbs.

Much of the story is about racing in general and, honestly I skimmed through a lot of that. It is also a very sad story as the Denny's wife battles brain cancer. And Denny and their 5 yr old daughter try to cope.

It is a very human tale as observed through the mind of Enzo, a dog. Not a really happy story, but the ending made it worth the journey.

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I'm reading Geography is Destiny by historian/archaeologist Ian Morris, a fascinating and very entertaining account of the 10,000 years of history that led to Brexit and beyond.
 
I was looking for information on Christian Cameron's new final Long War novel and I ran across this article he wrote about the way he researched the series. Basically, he and friends from all over the world created a Hoplite reenactment group in Greece. Pretty interesting as well some photos of gear and battle sites.

No mention of the next novel, but the article was really about the writing of the original series

christiancameronauthor.com

Finishing the Long War -- On parting with old friends • Christian Cameron

A long, long time ago, in what sometimes seems like a different world, I sat down, full of passion, to write the book that eventually became 'Killer of ...
christiancameronauthor.com christiancameronauthor.com
 
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Raf said:
I was looking for information on Christian Cameron's new final Long War novel, and I ran across this article he wrote about the way he researched the series. He and friends from all over the world created a Hoplite reenactment group in Greece. Pretty interesting, as well as some photos of gear and battle sites.

There was no mention of the next novel, but the article was about the original series's writing.
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Cameron's Artifact Space was my favourite Science fiction last year, and I eagerly await the next book in its series, (Do you think it will be a Trilogy or short series?)
christiancameronauthor.com

Artifact Space - Miles Cameron

Midshipper Marca Nbaro has achieved the near-impossible.
christiancameronauthor.com christiancameronauthor.com
 
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Taking it easy for a while, I read Bye, Bye, Baby by Ace Atkins. It is the continuation of Robert Parker's Spenser series, authorized by the Parker estate. Atkins does the humor and asides that typify Spenser to a high level. In fact he tries to out-Parker Parker by the frequency with which Spenser, Hawk and a few others cover the page with one liners. That was a little overdone.
Of note is that Atkins tries to be aggressively contemporary. Spenser makes the points that he no longer has a landline, doesn't research newspaper microfilm and has added a few physical skills that go beyond mere pugilism. Of real note is that the plot is, as they say, ripped from the headlines. Death threats to a progressive Boston representative whose profile and even name resembles Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. The threateners are a clone of the Proud Boys. It is interesting to note the aggressive use of yesterday's newspaper stories.
My overall grade would be a B. However that's about where I would put all of the Spensers. Amusing and relaxing. Certainly not taxing.
Atkins says that this will be his last Spenser (after ten)
 
Read the first 4 volumes in R Fabbri's series about Alexander's Successors and their wars, called Alexander's Legacy; definitely interested in upcoming volume 5 tbp later in 2023: my Goodreads minireviews for all below

1: To the Strongest

Presented from multiple viewpoints, the story of roughly the first 3 years after Alexander's death, dominated by the regent Perdiccas who has Alexander's ring but not his full endorsement and who doesn't have the best political mind either, though his martial abilities are unquestioned. Excellent stuff, gripping and fascinating

2: The Three Paradises

The immediate sequel to the first volume, this one covers the years of Antipater's regency and the ascension of Antigonous. While the fracturing started, there are still two kings (true, one is a half-wit and another a young child and not a pure Macedonian either), so the regent still acts in their names, but of course, others may claim the same on various pretexts. Still very entertaining

3: An Empty Throne

The third volume covers the rise and downfall of Olympias, Alexander's mother who uses that Antipater shockingly leaves the regency to his second in command rather than to his oldest son, while technically not having the power to bestow the regency on anyone, so opening another huge can of worms. Unfortunately despite advice from all her councilors, Olympias is set on revenge on those (and there are many) who belittled and minimized her. In Asia, Antigonous continues his ascension, as he holds the most armies and more and more, that, rather than any legalistic arguments, is what actually counts

4: Babylon

Maybe due to reading the first 4 installments of the series one after the other, or maybe due to the fact that some of the most interesting characters left the scene and the new ones are not at their levels, while the "not on my ar.." expression of Antigonous, kind of started wearing thin, but this while still interesting is the weakest volume so far. Essentially what is known as the 3rd Diadochi war with Antigonous (biggest army, wealth, and interior position) against most everyone else (scattered in various places) who are by and large orchestrated by Ptolemy of Egypt; Antigonous wants it all, the others just want their kingdoms, though for now they still all act in the name of the regency as one of the kings is still on the board and as Alexander legitimate son, he is still difficult to kill without encountering the various armies opprobrium, but everyone kind of knows the child is not going to survive for long as nobody really cares about him anymore with his main protectors all dead
 
“Raf said:
Windshadow said:
Cameron's Artifact Space was my favourite Science fiction last year, and I eagerly await the next book in its series, (Do you think it will be a Trilogy or short series?)

Artifact Space - Miles Cameron
Midshipper Marca Nbaro has achieved the near-impossible.
christiancameronauthor.com
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I’m pretty sure I read somewhere that he was planning a trilogy, at least.
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Cameron sent this email last December to folks who had signed up on his web page.

Dear Readers,

Happy Holidays! It had been a few months since my last newsletter, which I think is good for all of us. No one likes to be buried under commercial emails. Right?
And I was waiting to make the big announcement, so here it is: Gollancz has bought a whole series of sequels to Artifact Space. So we’ll have Deep Black in August 2024, a book of short stories set in the Arcana Imperii universe (most of which will be directly related to the events in Aritfact Space) in December 2023, and then two more novels after that. Fun, eh?

And, because it’s been a long wait, I’ve written a little Holiday novella for you for free. So, come celebrate Alliday (all holidays) aboard the battlecruiser DHCS Huron. Just to, you know, keep you going until next year.
Click Here To Get Your Copy
In other news, I’m past page 300 in William Gold/Chivalry 6, ‘Captain of Venice.’ It’s coming along nicely; a complex political plot revolving around Byzantium, Genoa and Venice, with the Visconti and Robert of Geneva lurking in the background. I think you’ll enjoy it; there certainly was and is a lot of research involved.
And speaking of research, I fought in a tournament in Verona this autumn. And won! How remarkable is that? (I’m sixty this year…). I doubt I’ll ever win the Hugo or Nebula awards, but an armoured tournament… makes me grin ear to ear. And it was all great research for William Gold.

‘Treason of Sparta,’ which is book 7 of the ‘Long War’ series, will be out in the spring; I expect May 2023. ‘Storming Heaven’ (book 2 of ‘Age of Bronze) will appear in late summer 2023. When I finish William Gold, I’ll be moving straight on to writing ‘Deep Black,’ the sequel to ‘Artifact Space.’

Exciting times. I have another ‘secret project’ set in mid-seventeenth century Venice, an historical novel… but that’s still mostly secret…

Have a Happy Christmas and wishing everyone a healthy, happy, and stable New Year. And good reading!

Your author,

Christian
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Finished Riley Sager's The Last Time I Lied for a GoodReads book club. I read Final Girls a few years ago and enjoyed it, but this is much better, a very good thriller with overtones of those horror movies about summer camps. But this is not about a slasher, no, this is about something much more sinister: Teenage girls at camp.

Emma, 13, goes to Camp Nightingale for the first time and meets Vivian, 16, who recently lost her beloved older sister and takes on the role of older sister to Emma, an only child. They share a cabin with Natalie and Allison. Only a few weeks into the camp, Vivian, Natalie and Allison disappear in the night, leaving Emma behind after she and Vivian had a brutal argument. For 15 years Emma has held back secrets about that night and felt guilt for their disappearance. Camp Nightingale had shut down, unable to overcome the scandal, but now it's reopening, and Emma is invited back as an instructor, and she's going to dig into the secrets of that night.

I'm feeling pretty lucky. The last three books I've read (this one, Chasing the Boogeyman and The Saturday Night Ghost Club) have been page turners I hadn't planned on reading this summer, all entertaining and well-written.
 
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I finished The Black Box by Michael Connelly. It's another Harry Bosch novel. It was a pretty standard Bosch novel which means I liked it.
 
blailock said:
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I finished The Black Box by Michael Connelly. It's another Harry Bosch novel. It was a pretty standard Bosch novel which means I liked it.
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On my nightstand. For some reason Iam a little played out on SF/Fantasy, hence I am reading Bosch and Spenser (in the Atkins incarnation, Read the originals years ago))
Bosch's baddies are a little overly gorge rising, but I'm currently in my third title.
 
Trying out another one by Rosamunde Pilcher. "Coming Home". Only a few pages in, but so far seems to be a coming of age story for a young girl in England circa 1935. And set against the politics of the era as Hitler & Mussolini rise to power. And eventually on into WW2...as far as I can tell from other reviews.

But like the previous book of hers that I read, "Winter Solstice"? The author's love of the English (and Scottish) countryside & village life is reflected so well in her prose. Just that alone is worth the read.

Finished this one and I think I'm done with Pilcher. I much preferred Winter Solstice to this book. I like her prose, but this book is about one person, for the most part. Judith Dunbar as she and the people around her try to make do in wartime England and postings around the world during the war as pretty much everyone in the UK are in uniform.

Winter Solstice was an uplifting read. One I will re-read. Coming Home...I'm just glad it's done. It is not a bad book. Beautifully written in fact, just not something I want to experience again.
 
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Downloaded a trio of Alexander Dumas works for $2.49 from Kindle. Starting out on "The Count of Monte Christo". The prose is dated, to be sure. But not to the point of being unreadable. We'll see.

Also included was "The Three Musketeers" and "The Man in the Iron Mask".

All of these I've watched multiple film interpretations, but I've never actually read Dumas.
 
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