Current Non-Genre Reading III

[pogopossum]

I am returning to the above described book, The Pigeon Tunnel, as it gets better and better.
LeCarre (David Cornwell)'s prominence is such that he has access to an former Israeli agent who describes a death squad that killed more than a thousand Nazis after the war.. He dances (yes ) with Yassir Arafat, spends time with numerous reporters and courageous activists who saved thousands of refugee children (many of said activists do not survive their work) numerous spies, English, US, German, Czech, Israeli & other. Russian gangsters and thugs of many nationalities. Dissidents of many countries. An Israeli prison supervisor, who he learns speaks perfect German but who refuses to speak it with a Baader-Meinhof terrorist who was part of an attempt to blow up an El-Al jet. The supervisor had survived Buchenwald
The then Foreign minister of Russia describes trying to act as an intermediary between Sadaam Hussein and Bush #1 who refuses his offer to let Iraq leave Kuwait without a war. (Desert Storm). Meeting Thatcher, she lectured him & wanted the war. Similarly the Russian tries to mediate between Hussein and Bush#2 to prevent the second Iraq war. That time Hussein was the refusnik.
He meets Vaclav Havel, Thatcher, the President of Italy. Andrei Sakharov, two heads of the KGB, (one had become the above described Foreign Minister) and numerous others who somehow think of him as a superspy
He describes his disgust at the prevelance of actual Nazi war criminals, still in power in post-war West Germany.
Warlords in Africa, Stanley Kubrick, FF Coppola and other celebrities. Read it.

 

[Randy M.]

The Sins of the Fathers by Ruth Rendell

My first novel by Rendell, and an early one from her featuring her series character, Chief Inspector Wexford. If you're a beginning writer, it's a great example of economy: She sets her scene, her characters and her plot quickly and efficiently but without a sense of hurrying the pace. It's not perfect -- while set up early on, the conclusion is a bit pat, avoiding the consideration of nature vs. nurture. I'll be interested in seeing if she reconsidered that again later in the series.

 

[Westy]

I read A Solitude of Wolverines by Alice Henderson - Alex is a wildlife biologist set up to study wolverines in remote Montana, but some of the locals are less than welcoming, resulting in an eco-thriller of sorts. Quite well-written, fast paced, and an entertaining read. It's also helped by the fact that the author is a wildlife researcher, geographic information systems specialist, and bio-acoustician - so she knows her stuff.

 

[owlcroft]

Here, from Lists'R'Us Central, is a collection of works that I call "Books on the Borderland". These are works that are not truly "speculative fiction", but seem to have the "look and feel" of such work--and hence might be of special interest to readers on this forum.

Auster, Paul
The New York Trilogy [omnibus of three short novels]

Bradbury, Ray
Dandelion Wine
Death is a Lonely Business
Green Shadows, White Whale
A Graveyard For Lunatics

Calvino, Italo
If on a Winter’s Night a Traveler
Mr. Palomar
Marcovaldo

Carey, Edward
Observatory Mansions
Alva & Irva

Chesterton, G. K.
Manalive
The Napoleon of Notting Hill [Arguably “science fiction” in that it takes place in what was the future when it was written.]
The Club of Queer Trades
Tales of the Long Bow
The Man Who Knew Too Much
The Return of Dox Quixote
The Flying Inn

Connell, Evan S.
The Alchymist’s Journal

Eco, Umberto
The Name of the Rose
The Island of the Day Before
Baudolino

Helprin, Mark
Memoir from Antproof Case [surreal; close to fantastic.]

Hudson, W. H.
Green Mansions [by report: not yet read here]

Le Guin, Ursula K.
Malafrena
Orsinian Tales [stories]

Lightman, Alan
Good Benito

Mitchell, David
Black Swan Green

Nesbit, E. ["children's books" readable by adults]
The Railway Children
[One might also include her series about the Bastable children.]

Nooteboom, Cess
In the Dutch Mountains
The Following Story

Nye, Robert
Falstaff

Peake, Mervyn
Peake’s Progress

Seare, Nicholas
1339 or So

Wilhelm, Kate
Somerset Dreams [stories]

Wolfe, Gene
Pandora, by Holly Hollander [That's the actual title of the book.]

 

[Wendy Gamble]

I have to read "City of Girls" for my book club. I don't always finish the books, but this one looks readable. I have a small city, no SF club, so this is my connection to local bookish people, and they're great. It's also good to be "forced" to read things I wouldn't normally pick up.

This is by Elizabeth Gilbert, and is the story of a young woman told by her older self, as she leaves home to live with an Aunt connected to the theater.

 

[tpetty]

I mix in non fantasy/science fiction occasionally. Currently on Daniel Silva's 12th Gabriel Allon book - Fallen Angel. It's really a great spy series. Think of it as a "thinking man's James Bond." No gadgets, and the main Israili spy protagonist is also one of the world's best art restorers. Not campy, but really interesting - you will likly be surprised how well he can mix in middle east history & politics, as well as some art history and restoration. I know it sounds like a strange mix - but they are really great books!

 

[Westy]

I mix in non fantasy/science fiction occasionally. Currently on Daniel Silva's 12th Gabriel Allon book - Fallen Angel. It's really a great spy series. Think of it as a "thinking man's James Bond." No gadgets, and the main Israili spy protagonist is also one of the world's best art restorers. Not campy, but really interesting - you will likly be surprised how well he can mix in middle east history & politics, as well as some art history and restoration. I know it sounds like a strange mix - but they are really great books!

I agree they're great - read each new one religiously! There are so many now some of the storylines get a bit old, but still enjoyable. I think The English Spy (#15) was a favourite.

These posts should probably be in the general fiction section though.

 

[Hobbit]

These posts should probably be in the general fiction section though.

Agreed: so moved!

 

[Randy M.]

American Dreaming by Dianne Liuzzi Hagan


Disclaimer: I have known Dianne and Ron for over forty years. Ron, Dianne, my wife and I have formed bowling teams, dined together, watched movies together, and shared our delight in watching both their daughters and our daughter grow into independent young women. Therefore I am not an entirely objective reviewer.


Dianne’s last book, To the Mothers of the Movement, With Love (2017; revised 2019 as Another Day in Post-Racial America) was a cry of distress and outrage at events and governmental responses to those events during the Trump Presidency. The first chapter of this book feels like an extension of that, the anger and fear of that book certainly exacerbated by later events including the insurrection of January 6, 2021, all compacted into a statement more concise though no less impassioned.

With the second chapter, Dianne’s focus changes, her memoir coming more to the forefront, each chapter named after the relatives most closely discussed within. These depictions identify family relationships, good and bad, and family tensions and dysfunctions (I especially commend your attention to chapter five about her Aunt Josephine for a sense of how complex interactions with family can be), laying the foundation for understanding the sources of her personality and beliefs, as well as depicting the America in which she grew to adulthood, the America which she came to understand views Ron with suspicion just because he’s Black. If the sources of her and Ron’s relationships with family and each other are laid out, so too are the sources of her fear and for this book, a plea to our better natures, to whatever fairness and decency we have in the face of an assault on the democracy this country could become with a good faith effort from its citizens.

American Dreaming is a thoughtful, frequently touching memoir of Ron and Dianne’s life together, of their love for each other, of the families they came from and the family they formed. This is not a happy memoir, but neither is it an unhappy memoir, though a sense of melancholy lingers over it. Rather, Dianne confronts the issues that has caused each of them, her husband as well as herself, to feel estranged from their respective families and at odds with the society around them while finding comfort and solace in the family they formed.

 

[Westy]

I read The Frenchman, the debut spy thriller by Jack Beaumont. Alec de Payns is an operative with France's DGSE intelligence service, and after a botched mission that indicates a mole, he travels undercover to Pakistan to investigate a biological weapons facility.

The author is an ex-DGSE spy, and the result is a remarkably realistic spy thriller, full of detail on the methods, tradecraft and training they go through when working with the service. I've read quite a few spy novels, but thought this was easily ahead of the pack; one of the best I've read. Recommended if this genre appeals!

 

[pogopossum]

Currently reading Stargazer by Anne Hillerman.
If you have any interest in cop novels that express that which is best (serve the community) about law enforcement read Tony Hillerman and/and his daughter's) novels, embedded in the American southwest and the Dine (Navajo) police force. To say that they are atmospheric re love (and description) of the land and culture is putting it mildly.
Anne adds to her dad's evocation of the landscape and people by making Bernadette Manuelito the central character. You know that Chee and Leaphorn, her dad's people, are there, but viewing the world through Bernie's eyes illuminates the story. Death, violence, booze and depravity. It's a cop novel.
That exceeds the previous sentence description. It's about culture and people, not depravity.
She is a little less evocative than her dad, but still a prose stylist
Half way through. Already pretty convoluted. Few doubts that it will be as good as the previous dozen +.
Tony Hilllerman won an Edgar for best novel as well as the Grand Prix de Littérature Policière and numerous other awards. His favorite was voted by the Navaho Tribal Council, "Friend of the Navajo People". Doesn't sound too impressive until you learn that it was the only time that they awarded it.

A note, referencing the interaction between two of my favorites. (Wikipedia)
"The dedication page Of Eye of Cat) reads "To Joe Leaphorn and Jim Chee", two Navajo Tribal Police characters in detective stories by Tony Hillerman. Zelazny took much inspiration from Hillerman's stories of Navajo life and culture. Hillerman repaid the compliment by having one of his characters reading a Zelazny novel while on a stakeout."

 

[Agent Cormac]

Just finished The Evening and the Morning by Ken Follett

Basically, this is full of the usual Ken Follett tropes: a caring, intelligent and sensitive ahead of his time male character and a strong-willed ahead of her time female character, whose love for each other is continuously hindered by the machinations of the local nobility and / or clergy. The early medieval setting provides the injustices that tend to litter Follett's stories. I regard Follett as a guilty pleasure and this one did not disappoint.
I also read Follett's Century trilogy earlier this year. If you haven't read it yet, it charts the trials and tribulations of three families (Welsh, Russian and American) and their descendants through the political changes of the 20th century, including the rise and fall of communism, nazism and fascism, and the women's suffrage and civil rights movements. Quite a massive undertaking you may feel, and you'd be right to think so, each of the novels is huuuuge. However, if you like big reads in historical settings (as I do) then I recommend all of the above.

 

[Agent Cormac]

Just finished Sacred Games by Vikram Chandra...

The review on the cover makes the book sound sordid but don't let that put you off, and Netflix has apparently made a series of it (which I wasn't aware of) so some of you may be familiar with the story. The main storyline centres on Sartaj Singh, a Sikh Mumbai detective and a local gangster, Ganesh Gaitonde, who is discovered dead in a bombproof shelter at the start of the book. Although these two are the main protagonists, the story encompasses the lives of other associated characters and it does this by flashbacks into the past to as far back as the partition of India. Each of these is a story in itself. There's lots of Mumbai slang in the book, though I found a link online that provided me with a complete glossary of translations. It's a wonderful book and is one that will stay with me for a long time. Highly recommended.

 

[kennychaffin]

Here, from Lists'R'Us Central, is a collection of works that I call "Books on the Borderland". These are works that are not truly "speculative fiction", but seem to have the "look and feel" of such work--and hence might be of special interest to readers on this forum.

.....

Much of Anthony Doerr's work includes SF/F/Magical Realism/etc elements.

 

[Raf]

Just finished The Evening and the Morning by Ken Follett

Basically, this is full of the usual Ken Follett tropes: a caring, intelligent and sensitive ahead of his time male character and a strong-willed ahead of her time female character, whose love for each other is continuously hindered by the machinations of the local nobility and / or clergy. The early medieval setting provides the injustices that tend to litter Follett's stories. I regard Follett as a guilty pleasure and this one did not disappoint.
I also read Follett's Century trilogy earlier this year. If you haven't read it yet, it charts the trials and tribulations of three families (Welsh, Russian and American) and their descendants through the political changes of the 20th century, including the rise and fall of communism, nazism and fascism, and the women's suffrage and civil rights movements. Quite a massive undertaking you may feel, and you'd be right to think so, each of the novels is huuuuge. However, if you like big reads in historical settings (as I do) then I recommend all of the above.

I love huge historical sagas that span generations. James Clavell is / was a favorite in that respect. Might have to revisit his Asian saga books. It has been long enough to enjoy the reads again.

James Michener, Ken Follet and Edward Rutherfurd are other favorites of this type of reading as well.

 

[Agent Cormac]

I forgot about James Clavell. Think I read a couple of his - Tai-Pan and Shogun, if I remember right, but it was a loooong time ago. Reading Frank Yerby's novels from the local library got me into historical fiction, those and CS Forester's Hornblower books. And mustn't forget Wilbur Smith either.

 

[Agent Cormac]

James Michener, Ken Follet and Edward Rutherfurd are other favorites of this type of reading as well.

Thanks for the mentions, Raf. Just checked out Rutherfurd on Wiki and he looks right up my street. Not being one to dilly dally or shilly shally, I've ordered used but very good hardback copies of Sarum, London and The Forest from World of Books, all for less than a tenner!

 

[Stephen Palmer]

Sarum is good.

 

[Windshadow]

Shogun was made into an excellent tv miniseries staring Richard Chennai released back in 1980 I wonder if it is on offer by any of the streaming service. And I wonder how it holds up to my memory of it 41 years later…. I can recall whole parts of its visuals which is unusual for me for something seen once all that time ago.

Shogun (TV Mini Series 1980) ⭐ 8.1 | Adventure, Drama, History

1h 49m | TV-MA

www.imdb.com

 

[Raf]

Sarum is good.

2nd that...Sarum is a great read.