Current Non-Genre Reading III

Ropie said:
We should rename this thread which mystery book are you currently reading? :D
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Why, it was Journey Into Fear by Eric Ambler, thanks for asking. :p

My GoodReads review:
Graham is an ordinary man, an engineer for a munitions company. He is about to leave Turkey near the beginning of WWII, his country (England) already in the fight against Germany. And Germany does not want the advanced weaponry his company can provide Turkey to reach them before Spring. Graham is thus a marked man. In spite of help from the Turkish government, he finds himself on a boat with an assassin.

Ambler does a terrific job of isolating Graham and showing his fear and leaving it in the air as to how his resolve will either fail or save him. In the course of the voyage, he must balance his fear with trying not to show he recognizes the assassin and with interacting with an interesting array of fellow passengers.

While I did not find this as engrossing as A Mask/Coffin for Dimitrios, it's still an intense and immersive read.
 
Reading a historical fiction trilogy by Michael G. Thomas about the British / Zulu Wars. " Zulu Rising: A Tale of Empire and War (Blackwood of the Empire)"

On the 2nd now. But I'm impressed by the writing in this one. Will review after I finish.
 
Raf said:
Reading a historical fiction trilogy by Michael G. Thomas about the British / Zulu Wars. " Zulu Rising: A Tale of Empire and War (Blackwood of the Empire)"

On the 2nd now. But I'm impressed by the writing in this one. Will review after I finish.
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Finished the trilogy. I liked the history of the Zulu Wars. But the storytelling was ponderous in it's intimate descriptions of the drudgery of day to day life in a British Infantry regiment on the march in Africa. Chapter after chapter of moving a few miles each day to build another isolated fort before continuing on.

I get that it was more the reality of that war. But it reads like a history text instead of novel. I tried his fantasy trilogy, but stopped a few pages in as it still had the same ponderous feel. I may try it again later.
 
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Read the 12th Mitch Rapp Spy Thriller book, "Pursuit of Honor".

It continues from the previous novel as Rapp tracks down terrorists on the run while also dealing with internal traitors. A good fast paced read like most previous books, but some of the author's views seem to be pushed even stronger here, like the "torture's the only method of getting answers" one being almost rammed down the reader's throat.

But there was a passage comparing views on torturing prisoners to abortion that just felt totally out of place and irrelevant, it really brought it down a notch for me straight away.

Good overall but some distracting apects becoming more prevalent, hopefully the next book is better.
 
I'm almost done with Tomorrow and (x3) by Gabrielle Zevin.

A great read, with certain depth to it and quite interesting subject matter - a turn of the millennium computer game company that makes it big. Of course, this is literature, so the author is primarily concerned with details of the relationships of the company founders, but the games they are creating have been as carefully described as the main characters, and everything ties together in a believable, interesting and even symbolic way.

More than anything it reminds me of Ender's Game funnily enough, both in terms of world building (in the computer games), the traits of some of the characters and the easily digestible reading style.
 
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Having bailed on a re-read of Terry Brooks' "The Wishsong of Shannara" at around the 33% mark, I instead read Hans Fallada's very different "Every Man Dies Alone," finishing it this morning, 30 Jan 2026.

Brave Browser's AI-generated description is as follows:

"Every Man Dies Alone, originally titled Jeder stirbt für sich allein in German, is a 1947 novel by German author Hans Fallada, based on the true story of Otto and Elise Hampel, a working-class Berlin couple who engaged in quiet acts of resistance against the Nazi regime after their son was killed in World War II. The novel follows Otto and Anna Quangel (fictionalized versions of the Hampels), who write and distribute anti-Nazi postcards urging Germans to resist Hitler, knowing the penalty is death. Their campaign, though small in scale, triggers a relentless manhunt by Gestapo inspector Escherich, highlighting the pervasive fear and paranoia of life under Nazi rule.

Fallada wrote the novel in just 24 days in 1946, drawing from the actual Gestapo files on the Hampels, which were given to him by friend Johannes Becher. Despite his personal struggles—addiction, institutionalization, and collaboration with the Nazis—Fallada crafted a powerful, unsentimental portrayal of moral courage in the face of overwhelming oppression. The novel is lauded for its vivid depiction of everyday life in wartime Berlin, its complex characters, and its exploration of the difficult choices ordinary people faced under totalitarianism."

It reminds me of William Ainsworth's "Jack Shepard, a Romance," read last year, in that almost every character of note is cruel, corrupt, and/or otherwise flawed. Those few who aren't exist to be victimized. Bad things happen to them. Very bad things. A sometimes uncomfortable yet engrossing read.

The translation of my Kindle e-book edition, or its editing, is not without flaw. Still, I consider it a very solid recommendation for those interested in this sort of novel.
 
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I finished No Country for Old Men by Cormac McCarthy.

It's the first I've ready by the author and he has a very distinctive writing style, with short sharp sentences, and limited use of punctuation, including no quotation marks for dialogue. It takes a while to get used to - it worked to a degree in this novel as it added to the cold and unemotional feeling - but after a while it was a bit annoying. Probably more so for this book as apparently it was originally written as a play so there's lots of dialogue.

Anyway for a book that gets a lot of praise I thought it was just OK overall 3/5.
 
Westy said:
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I finished No Country for Old Men by Cormac McCarthy.

It's the first I've ready by the author and he has a very distinctive writing style, with short sharp sentences, and limited use of punctuation, including no quotation marks for dialogue. It takes a while to get used to - it worked to a degree in this novel as it added to the cold and unemotional feeling - but after a while it was a bit annoying. Probably more so for this book as apparently it was originally written as a play so there's lots of dialogue.

Anyway for a book that gets a lot of praise I thought it was just OK overall 3/5.
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I read The Road and really loved it. I've got All the Pretty Horses as my next McCarthy read, but No Country for Old Men is definitely on my list. I did not know about it being written as a play. Thanks for the review.
 
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Finished "In Harm's Way" by Thomas M. Wing. A seafaring tale set during the early stages of the revolutionary war. Britain has blocked all shipping to the bays and estuaries of the colonials. Returning from a successful 15 month sea journey and unaware of the changing political climate? He is boarded by a British Warship, his ship and all his goods confiscated and he and his men arrested for being revolutionaries.

Barely out of the gaol once they hit land, he searches for his family. Finding them at his father in law's home. With no way to make a living, he re-fits another ship and becomes a Privateer for the colonial forces.

Good story. And I learned quite a bit about the technical side of sailing. Even if I didn't understand a lot of jargon. There is so much of it though, that I sometimes felt it was used as filler. It would probably be a really good story for an actual sailor.

I knew it was the first novel in a series, but I didn't know the series was unfinished after this novel. If the series had been complete, I might have at least looked at the others. But I'm not really enmeshed enough in the story enough to track it's evolution going forward.

I love the cover art though.
 
The Fabulous Clipjoint by Fredric Brown. Brown was a great s.f./fantasy writer, but made his living as a linotype operator and mystery writer. This was the first of a series featuring Ed Hunter and his uncle Ambrose; Ambrose is a carny and Ed starts the series at 17-years-old and is our narrator. Ed's father has been murdered and the two of them are determined to find out by whom.

Read this first back in the '90s and was a bit disappointed -- I really enjoy Brown's s.f./f. And I'm not sure now what it was that disappointed me. This is a good mystery, and one of the better first novels in a mystery series that I've read.
 
I've been meaning to read John Irving's "A Prayer for Owen Meany" for years. A lot of years, actually. I finally started it last night and I haven't been able to put it down.

I can't remember the last Irving book I read. Maybe Garp...? But I'll be checking out some others after this one.
 
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Raf said:
I've been meaning to read John Irving's "A Prayer for Owen Meany" for years. A lot of years, actually. I finally started it last night and I haven't been able to put it down.

I can't remember the last Irving book I read. Maybe Garp...? But I'll be checking out some others after this one.
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Wonderful Book!!! Read it years and years ago!
 
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Finished " A Prayer for Owen Meany" by John Irving last night. The first half of the book detailing the lives of Owen Meany and his best friend John Wheelright as small boys is both charming and tragic. I loved the first half of the book but thought the second half dragged a bit during Wheelright's adult years. The ending was heartbreaking and uplifting at the same time. It is a good book, but not my favorite Irving work.
 
kennychaffin said:
What is your favorite Irving?
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My readings of Irving are 20+ years old. I remember liking Garp, but that one was so long ago I'd be hard put to describe anything about it. (1979-1980-ish?) I did like Last Night in Twisted River. But even that book was 15 yrs +/- ago. I've not read anything recent.
 
My four star GoodReads review of All the Sinners Bleed by S. A. Cosby:

Titus Crown, against the odds, becomes Charon County, Virginia's first Black sheriff. Not long after, a local school shooting that kills a beloved teacher reveals the presence of a serial killer, and Titus, a former FBI agent, must rally the meager resources of his small town sheriff's office to investigate.

Cosby somehow blends small town politics, religion, serial killings, small town dread, the long-term cost of past slavery and current racism, and his main character's reckoning with his own past and his own losses into a thriller that never seems forced. The novel is brisk, tight and violent -- the acts of a serial killer of children and adults aren't dwelt on, but aren't avoided, and the discovery of his doings brings out the worst in a town already divided by its past.

Really, though, a good read for anyone who isn't overwhelmed by the consequences of violence.
 
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