Current Non-Genre Reading III

[chitman13]

I started reading the Jack Reacher books in, I think, December 2022 prior to the first season of the TV show, and have been working through them since. Started on book #25, The Sentinel, this morning - the first co-written by Lee Child and Andrew Child. I've heard that the quality dips, but so far it's doing what I expect from a Reacher book, though will reserve judgement until I'm done. I think listening to them an audio certainly helps, and Jeff Harding is a great narrator for these.

 

[chitman13]

Finished The Sentinel last night - a quick one and actually way more enjoyable than I was expecting. No real issue with it being co-authored, and it seemed to do the characters well. Hopefully the next books will be just as good.

 

[blailock]

I finished Desert Star by Connelly. This is another Bosch/Ballard teamup novel. It was good, but not quite as good as some of the earlier Bosch/Ballard stories. One interesting thing was that I had the hardback for this. It was the first time that I have read a hardback from start to finish in quite sometime. I read some books jumping between hardback and ebook, but this one I took all the way. I really enjoyed turning the pages. Haha

 

[Westy]

I read Dark Arena, the 2nd spy thriller by ex DGSE agent Jack Beaumont. It was good, blending realistic details spycraft and the emotion strain jobs like this have on the family. Good, but not as good as the first book - there weren't enough big action/plot turn moments.

 

[Ropie]

I started the much anticipated Utopia Avenue by David Mitchell. I have to admit I had a few reservations about the plot from the start - the formation of a rock group in the 1960s, with all the well-trodden stereotypes that elicits. I have to say my fears were borne out. I have made it through about 75 pages and I've already had enough insipid 1960s band cliches to last me until the next time I get to watch A Hard Day's Night.

And if I ever have to read another dumb sentence along the lines of "..ow you say in Eenlgish, Obskur?", or "eez it ze same vurd, Doppelgänger??" from a token German character in a book, I'm going to probably do something I may, 'ow you say, regret?!!

 

[blailock]

I finished The Reckoning by Grisham. I have read many Grisham novels in the past, but I just kind of stopped for some reason. I always enjoy them. I was gifted this hardback from a friend, so I decided to jump in. It was a quick read, and I enjoyed it. I'll probably put Grisham back into my rotation.

 

[chitman13]

Listened to Better Off Dead by Lee Child and Andrew Child, the 26th Reacher book. Wasn't a fan of this one, and I'd go as for to say that it was the weakest in the series so far. It had the bones of a Reacher book, but there were lot of aspects that just didn't feel right, from time passing where there would previously have been further plot movement/development, to Reacher himself just feeling off compared to previous books. Suspect the move to Andrew Child authoring the series is more evident here and doesn't bode well for future books, but I'll be happy to be proven wrong.

 

[Raf]

Just finished, "The Cowboy and the Cossack" by Clair Huffaker. My Dad told me about this book decades ago. It was originally published in 1973. He had borrowed it from an associate while on a business trip. But I could never find it in our small rural school library. Or even the bigger library in the large metropolitan town of Waxahachie, TX (Pop: 15K +/- in the 70's).

And so it was forgotten until I stumbled onto it in Kindle Unlimited last year. And there it languished in my TBR list while I read other stuff. Knowing is was older work, I thought it would probably be a bit dated. I was wrong though. It is a really good piece of historical fiction

In the 1880's, the Slash Diamond Ranch in Montana has contracted to deliver 500 head of Longhorn cattle to a Cossack town deep in Siberia. 15 cowboys bossed by "Shad" offload the cattle onto a freezing beachhead outside of Vladivostok. Only to be met by 15 Cossacks led by "Rostov" who have come to help guide the herd through Russia.

It is a culture shock for both groups from day one as both leaders slowly overcome their own prejudices to eventually recognize a commonality in their own personal code of ethics. With an army of Tartars in their path and a troop of Tsarist soldiers behind them, the groups come together try and find a way to deliver the cattle.

In some ways, it is a western with all the tropes. In other ways it is a character study of 2 powerful characters. Good story.

 

[suciul]

Read an excellent series debut Impostor of Rome by T Cloutier (just published, KU available) that unexpectedly took over my reading:

Excellent book about the early years of Augustus and Agrippa (covers roughly 50 BC to 43 BC and the short war against Mark Anthony before the establishment of the Triumvirate) - there is an interesting twist about Agrippa which occasionally leads to a bit of overdramatic stuff, but the rest is just superb storytelling with intrigue, war, romance - narration by Agrippa from Roman intrigue, battling against elephants in Africa and against brigands and traitors in Spain and finally navigating a tight rope in helping his friend and patron Octavius now going as Gaius Caesar after his posthumous adoption by the late dictator in placating the Senate and confronting Antonius who is loath to recognize his adoption and consequently rise to an important leader of the Caesarian party, of which Antonius believed himself to be the rightful leader. If there is one niggle is that the book ends too soon and one wants to read the sequel asap...
Highly, highly recommended and a top novel of 2024

Blurb:
"An excerpt from the newly discovered journals of Marcus Agrippa: Military Commander, Politician, Architect, Right-hand man to Augustus Caesar—and impostor.
All Romans lie. It is a statement of fact, not a supposition. How can I be so certain, you ask? Because I am a Roman, one of fame and glory, and I am the biggest liar of them all. My name is Marcus Agrippa, and what I have to tell you would shake the very foundations of Rome itself were my words to come to light today. Hopefully, by the time these writings of mine are discovered in what I hope will be hundreds, perhaps even thousands of years from now, the secret that I have borne most of my life will no longer matter. I can only pray to the gods that it is so, for you see, the name that I wear now with such ease and the one which all of Rome knows me by and admires is not the name that belongs to me. It never did. So, take heed, friend, for if you choose to go further, you will learn of such things that you cannot even imagine. Tales of heroism and deceit, honor and treachery. It is all here, written by my own hand now that I am free to tell what really happened."

 

[chitman13]

Listened to No Plan B by Lee Child and Andrew Child, the 27th Reacher book. Better than Better Off Dead, though I do still feel that with the change to co-authoring the books have lost something. Anyway, my loan for book 28, The Secret, has rapidly moved forward from some point in May and it landed in my library this morning. Will be getting to it in the next week, I think.

 

[blailock]

I finished Shadow Prey by Sandford. I didn't really love this one, but I did like the new character, Lily. The last bit of the book picked up, though, so I will continue with the Prey series. I noticed on Goodreads that this is the lowest rated book of the series.

 

[chitman13]

Finished The Secret by Lee Child and Andrew Child, the 28th - and most recent - Reacher book. I'm finally up-to-date on the series! This one was set during Reacher's time in the army, but it falls into the same group as the previous few co-authored books - it's good, but not quite right and just seems to be missing that little something. As long as these keep coming through my library app I'll keep borrowing and listening to them, but I definitely won't be buying them.

 

[blailock]

I finished Resurrection Walk by Michael Connelly.
I love the Harry Bosch Universe, and this entry as a Lincoln Lawyer novel did not disappoint. Mickey Haller is the lead in this one with Harry Bosch working as his investigator. Highly recommended.

 

[pogopossum]

I finished Desert Star by Connelly. This is another Bosch/Ballard teamup novel. It was good, but not quite as good as some of the earlier Bosch/Ballard stories. One interesting thing was that I had the hardback for this. It was the first time that I have read a hardback from start to finish in quite sometime. I read some books jumping between hardback and ebook, but this one I took all the way. I really enjoyed turning the pages. Haha

Ordered from the library. Thank You blailock. Have read much of Bosch. Much prefer Ballard team ups to those with Haller.
edit:
Those brain cells just keep misfiring. Looked up Desert Fire description as it sounded awfully familiar. Realized that I had read, and enjoyed it, a year ago. Still appreciate the suggestion. Thanks b.

 

[blailock]

Ordered from the library. Thank You blailock. Have read much of Bosch. Much prefer Ballard team ups to those with Haller.

I agree. The Ballard team ups are probably my favorites too.

 

[Raf]

Started a historical fiction piece called "The Greenstone Trail" by Winston Cowie. Taking place in New Zealand as the war between the Maori tribes and the British settlers ramps up.

It was a new locale for me and a story I knew little of. I found the tribal histories and Maori way of life really interesting, but the overall feel of the book seemed amateurish in it's construction. And the characters never really came to life for me. Gave it a longer than normal chance to improve, but finally DNF at around 69%.

 

[pogopossum]

The story is that of Huckleberry Finn but with the difference occasioned by being from the perspective of Jim, Huck's fellow escapee.
The book is a long consideration of humanity and of slavery. The author is well known, having received numerous awards and citations including being short listed for the Booker and the Pulitzer.There is probably not a genre of fiction that he has not tackled. He received an Academy Award for the adapted screenplay of his novel Erasure. The movie title was American Fiction.

Jim is presented as a self-taught and thoughtful reader (Having snuck into Judge Thatcher's extensive library throughout his youth and maturity) His struggle is not only to withstand the constant brutality of slavery, but also to hide his literacy, vocabulary and awareness of the reality of his and other slave's condition. He personally teaches fellow slaves and family both to read and to speak like obedient and superstitious inferiors.
When injured or asleep he has conversations with philosophers that he has read, including Locke and Montesquieu. His experiences on the river are as brutal as can be imagined.
It was a little hard to take.
Given that Everett is well known and what was said about the book in the NYT review where I first heard of it, I expect it to (deservedly) be awarded the Pulitzer for fiction at the ceremony in May.

 

[blailock]

I finished Eyes of Prey by Sandford. This is Book 3 in the Lucas Davenport series.
I really feel like Sandford hit his stride with this one. I was thinking that I might not continue the Lucas Davenport series after Book 2, but this one was really good. I look forward to the next one.

 

[pogopossum]

Read Fair Warning, by Michael Connelly, author of the Bosch series. It stars Jack McEvoy, a reporter who is the lead in three Connelly novels. Fast paced, but not as enjoyable as Bosch.
I don't think that I'll be going back to Connelly for a while as I have read all of the Bosch and Renee Ballard novels, which are about the best police procedurals going. see blailock above.
Read Anne Hillerman's Lost Birds. If you are not familiar with her, or her father Tony's books, I strongly recommend them.They are southwest cop stories featuring three members of the Navaho Tribal police. It's not just the procedural part, it is the landscape and being able to see the world through the eyes of Navaho protagonists. This is the most recent. Don't worry that they are too heavy on the tribal slant. They're not - they just have a somewhat different perspective. If you are interested, you should probably pick up a different Tony or Anne book first. There is some assumption here that you are familiar with the characters.

 

[Westy]

I read Toxic Prey by John Sandford, #34 in the Lucas Davenport series, with Lucas and daughter Letty the focus.

Dr. Lionel Scott believes our planet Gaia is dying and the only way to save it is to wipe out half the world's population by releasing a deadly hybrid virus. Lucas and Letty have to hunt down Scott and the group he's recruited before it's too late.

This was another great read; well researched and fast paced - actually from about 1/3rd of the book onwards it was one of the most riveting cat and mouse chases I've read in a while. I missed the banter in the previous book between Lucas and Virgil, but this more than made up for it in suspense.