What have you read recently? 2009 -2020

[GravitySucks]

Just reread Love in the Time of Cholera and now reading Steve Martin's An Object of Beauty.
Steve Martin has turned into a decent novelist. It's entertaining and I'm learning a little about art while being entertained.

 

[Blue531]

I reread a few financial books from my own small personal collection during the fall. Among them were Secrets of the Millionaire Mind, Rich Dad, Poor Dad, The Millionaire Next Door and Your Money or Your Life. My next financial read will be How to Make Money in Stocks by O'neil which I put off buying for a long time. Waiting on it to come in the mail.

 

[Nemo2]

Just started Dominion by C.J. Sansom, a 'what if' alternate history novel:

1952. Twelve years have passed since Churchill lost to the appeasers and Britain surrendered to Nazi Germany after Dunkirk. As the long German war against Russia rages on in the east, the British people find themselves under dark authoritarian rule: the press, radio and television are controlled; the streets patrolled by violent auxiliary police and British Jews face ever greater constraints. There are terrible rumours too about what is happening in the basement of the German Embassy at Senate House.

Defiance, though, is growing. In Britain, Winston Churchill's Resistance organization is increasingly a thorn in the government's side. And in a Birmingham mental hospital an incarcerated scientist, Frank Muncaster, may hold a secret that could change the balance of the world struggle forever.

 

[CoolRich59]

Just started Dominion by C.J. Sansom, a 'what if' alternate history novel:

Sounds very interesting. It also came close to possibly being true as there were a number of people in Britain who felt that they should seek terms with the Germans.

 

[Lsbcal]

I enjoyed this amusing book: The Talented Mr. Varg
It is short and fun with a few light mysteries that Detective Varg encounters.

Link: https://smile.amazon.com/Talented-Mr-Varg-Detective-Novel-ebook/dp/B07V8BY6D5/ref=sr_1_1?crid=ZJO7PWERMX19&dchild=1&keywords=the+talented+mr+varg&qid=1607883414&sprefix=The+talented+mr+varg%2Caps%2C236&sr=8-1

In the Swedish criminal justice system, certain cases are considered especially strange and difficult, in Malmö, the dedicated detectives who investigate these crimes are members of an elite squad known as the Sensitive Crimes Division.

These are their stories.

The first case: the small matter of a man stabbed in the back of the knee. Who would perpetrate such a crime and why? Next: a young woman's imaginary boyfriend goes missing. But how on earth do you search for someone who doesn't exist? And in the final investigation: eerie secrets that are revealed under a full moon may not seem so supernatural in the light of day. No case is too unusual, too complicated, or too, well insignificant for this squad to solve.

 

[mitchjav]

i just finished american dirt by jeanine cummins. Absolutely superb. Probably the best novel i've read in the past 2 or 3 years. It's a harrowing tale of a mexican woman and her 8 year old son who are forced to flee their home.

+1... Great read!!!!

 

[6miths]

Finally got the audiobook of Dr. Jason Fung's 'The Diabetes Code'. I agree with much of the premise but it seems like in writing a book for the general public he has made some statements that are not accurate - hopefully for the sake of simplifying things. I find it annoying when people who are 'experts' play fast and loose with the facts to make their argument more persuasive.

 

[anethum]

I quickly read and thoroughly enjoyed "The Shooting at Chateau Rock" by Martin Walker. This is Walker's latest mystery in his "Bruno" series set in the gorgeous Dordogne Valley in SW France. I have liked every book in the series. He really captures the flavor of the region. In addition to a good story, it's interesting to see how the lives of the recurring characters evolve over time.

I read an interesting biography of the polymath Alexander von Humboldt by Andrea Wulf, titled "The Invention of Nature". Humboldt was once far better known than he is today, hence all of the things named after him throughout the world. He excelled in biology, geology, exploration, and other fields. I most enjoyed the chapters devoted specifically to Humboldt. I especially enjoyed the description of his travels in what is today Venezuela, Ecuador, & Colombia. The later chapters were more mini-biographies of others who were influenced by Humboldt or known by Humboldt, which is admittedly an impressive list: Darwin, Simon Bolivar, Thomas Jefferson, & John Muir.

I have mixed feelings about "Cleanness" by Garth Greenwell. It's 9 stories loosely connected about the narrator's life while teaching at an English-language school in Sofia, Bulgaria. It's supposedly fiction but comes across more like a memoir. A couple of the stories are very sexually graphic. This book is on several "best books of 2020 lists", but I didn't love it.

 

[donheff]

Just finished, The Guest List by Lucy Foley, winner of this year's Goodreads pick for best thriller. It was an enjoyable, light read. Secrets from the past pile up at a celebrity wedding on a remote island off the Connemara coast in Ireland. Elements of Agatha Christy.

 

[Venturer]

Just recently have gotten back into some of John Sanford's Prey series, and David Baldacci's, King and Maxwell series.

 

[Lsbcal]

I quickly read and thoroughly enjoyed "The Shooting at Chateau Rock" by Martin Walker. This is Walker's latest mystery in his "Bruno" series set in the gorgeous Dordogne Valley in SW France. I have liked every book in the series. He really captures the flavor of the region. In addition to a good story, it's interesting to see how the lives of the recurring characters evolve over time.

...

Thanks for mentioning this. I enjoyed Walker's first novel in this series 4 years ago and then forgot about the author. Looks like I have some catching up to do. Here is a link to the Bruno series order:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Martin_Walker_(reporter)

 

[ProspectiveBum]

Finally got the audiobook of Dr. Jason Fung's 'The Diabetes Code'. I agree with much of the premise but it seems like in writing a book for the general public he has made some statements that are not accurate - hopefully for the sake of simplifying things. I find it annoying when people who are 'experts' play fast and loose with the facts to make their argument more persuasive.

Can you cite any specific examples of inaccurate statements?

 

[6miths]

Finally got the audiobook of Dr. Jason Fung's 'The Diabetes Code'. I agree with much of the premise but it seems like in writing a book for the general public he has made some statements that are not accurate - hopefully for the sake of simplifying things. I find it annoying when people who are 'experts' play fast and loose with the facts to make their argument more persuasive.

Can you cite any specific examples of inaccurate statements?

It's difficult with the audiobook as I can't go back through and review easily but some of his discussion of human biochemistry is not clear or incorrect. He also seems to suffer a bit from the 'always tell the truth, but don't always tell it' where he omits things that don't jibe with his arguments. I am only through the first few sections.

One of the statements he makes that seems to be a common misconception is that humans can make glucose from fat. While humans certainly store excess glucose (and protein) as fat, they cannot convert fat (except for the small component that is glycerol - about 5% of a triglyceride molecule) into glucose. He also talks about dietary protein being converted to glucose as if it was the most common disposition of protein when again the most likely end product of excess protein ingestion is fat unless one has virtually no carbohydrate intake. Humans can convert most amino acids to glucose but this does not occur in the fed state (again unless there is no carbohydrate ingested which would normally be unusual).

There are other things but not worth getting worked up about in a book written for popular consumption. Sorry it's just the the old physiologist in me. As I said, I agree with the underlying premise in his two books which are similar to those of Gary Taubes and Robert Lustig.

 

[Nemo2]

Reading Yiddish for Pirates by Gary Barwin....and enjoying it:

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/art...ng-else-youll-read-this-year/article29568901/

Yiddish for Pirates is the story of a 500-year old polyglot parrot, Aaron, that hitches its star to that of a young Jewish adventurer named Moishe, who has a yearning for the sea. In plot terms, Yiddish for Pirates is a seafaring adventure par excellence, containing all manner of disasters, reversals of fortune, disguises, plot twists and last-minute saving throws. Author Gary Barwin, whom I can scarcely believe still has this many tricks up his sleeve after already writing 19 other books, has created out of the Spanish Inquisition a novel that feels both appropriately complex and yet vigorously adventuresome.............//.............

The real star of this book is the language – or, more properly, the languages. With a command of Yiddish that would leave even Michael Wex with little to complain about, and some of the freshest and most whimsical English ever contained between covers, Yiddish for Pirates is a language-lover's dream come true. The mordant observations offered by the talking parrot, the descriptions of historical scenes rendered intimate through the characters, and even the atmospheric settings are affecting precisely because they never seem careful or lapidary in their construction. Instead, the breezy and improvisational feel of the words as organized make the book sing like a jazz solo in the hands of a great artist. More than once I laughed aloud and required whomever was nearby to sit for a dramatic reading of an especially well-made turn of phrase, an affecting sentence or a paragraph that bubbled with artistry..............//...........

Yiddish for Pirates has an unmatched spryness in both thought and language. It doesn't conform well to any category or trope of literature, but instead makes a place as a fresh, new thing that draws from sea shanties and Talmud, history and fantasy, romance, adventure, linguistics, fashion, and the adventure serial of the early days of movies. This book is as irrepressible as my enthusiasm for it. You'll never read anything else like it, and that's a shonde.

 

[phil1ben]

The Club which is a book about Samuel Johnson and James Boswell along with the other members of their social club which met between the 1760s and 1780s in London. Enjoyed it very much.

 

[CoolRich59]

I'm currently reading 'Moonflower Murders', a murder mystery by Anthony Horowitz. It's the second of his Susan Reyland novels (the first was 'Magpie Murders').

Both novels use a story within a story technique, and I've found both to be very original and a lot of fun to read.

 

[Music Lover]

Just recently have gotten back into some of John Sanford's Prey series, and David Baldacci's, King and Maxwell series.

I've read a few Baldacci books....I enjoy them to a point but they're a little too far fetched to be fully enjoyable. One of my friends had a good take on Baldacci: "All of his characters are superheroes".

I did enjoy the King & Maxwell series though.

 

[FrankiesGirl]

I just started a new (to me) mystery series set in WW1 England with a former housemaid turned college girl turned nurse turned psychologist and investigator: Jacqueline Winspear's Maisie Dobbs series. The writing is decent but there's something sort of missing/less character development that I usually like, but overall has great promise (into the second book of the series so far) and I do enjoy historical fiction/mysteries.

Have greatly enjoyed Alan Bradley's Flavia De Luce series (highly intelligent 11 year old girl set in 1950s England) and hope there's still some more books left for him to write. They are just so so beautifully written, so much fun to read and the characters themselves are wonderful. He's in his 80s now and has stated he is "taking a break" from this series, so I'm very sad that the last one I read in 2019 might be the last one.

Also really loved the Mary Russell and Sherlock Holmes Series by Laurie R. King. I've read many Sherlock Holmes homages/tributes over the years, and this series seems to stay reasonably true to the character while providing an entertaining storyline.


Also just caught up with the Sandman Slim series by Richard Kadrey. Crazy fun read, very pulp fiction meets paranormal/supernatural. Modern-ish day LA (and hell. and other weird places), James "sandman slim" Stark is a supernatural magician/hitman that was sent to hell but came back with even more powers and problems. Sounds silly typing that out, but it's really entertaining if you like supernatural or modern day noir stuff.

 

[Philliefan33]

Have greatly enjoyed Alan Bradley's Flavia De Luce series (highly intelligent 11 year old girl set in 1950s England) and hope there's still some more books left for him to write. They are just so so beautifully written, so much fun to read and the characters themselves are wonderful. He's in his 80s now and has stated he is "taking a break" from this series, so I'm very sad that the last one I read in 2019 might be the last one.

.

I also enjoyed the Flavia series. In fact, one of my bicycles is named Gladys in homage to Flavia’s mode of transportation

 

[anethum]

I just started a new (to me) mystery series set in WW1 England with a former housemaid turned college girl turned nurse turned psychologist and investigator: Jacqueline Winspear's Maisie Dobbs series. The writing is decent but there's something sort of missing/less character development that I usually like, but overall has great promise (into the second book of the series so far) and I do enjoy historical fiction/mysteries.

I've read the entire Maisie Dobbs series, and they're some of my favorite books of the past few years. The author, Jacqueline Winspear, moves forward in time with each book, so they go from WWI up through and including WWII. The characters continue to age and you will find a great deal of character development if you continue reading the series. They should definitely be read in order. The author recently came out with a well-reviewed memoir which I put a hold on at the library.

I just finished Disappearing Earth by Julia Phillips. It was a finalist for the National Book Award in 2019. It's a very impressive first novel, set in the remote Kamchatka peninsula in far eastern Russia. At the beginning of the book, two young sisters go missing. For a while, the book feels like a series of somewhat independent stories about various people, with the main connection being their awareness of the disappearance and their reaction to it during the next 12 months. But the author returns to the two girls eventually and it all comes together brilliantly. The American author spent a lot of time in the region and elsewhere in Russia, and her descriptions of the lives, culture, and the land, are fascinating.

 

[Nemo2]

Just found, and started, yet another James Lee Burke novel that I never knew existed.

Wayfaring Stranger

https://www.jamesleeburke.com/books/wayfaring-stranger/

In 1934, sixteen-year-old Weldon Avery Holland happens upon infamous criminals Bonnie Parker and Clyde Barrow after one of their notorious armed robberies. A confrontation with the outlaws ends with Weldon firing a gun and being unsure whether it hit its mark.

Ten years later, Second Lieutenant Weldon Holland barely survives the Battle of the Bulge, in the process saving the lives of his sergeant, Hershel Pine, and a young Spanish prisoner of war, Rosita Lowenstein—a woman who holds the same romantic power over him as the strawberry blonde Bonnie Parker, and is equally mysterious. The three return to Texas where Weldon and Hershel get in on the ground floor of the nascent oil business.

In just a few years’ time Weldon will spar with the jackals of the industry, rub shoulders with dangerous men, and win and lose fortunes twice over. But it is the prospect of losing his one true love that will spur his most reckless, courageous act yet—one that takes its inspiration from that encounter long ago with the outlaws of his youth.

A tender love story and pulse-pounding thriller that crosses continents and decades of American history, Wayfaring Stranger “is a sprawling historical epic full of courage and loyalty and optimism and good-heartedness that reads like an ode to the American Dream”

Thus far...thus good. (Although, having seen pics of Bonnie Parker, (Faye Dunaway she wasn't), I'm not sure I concur with his comparisons.)

 

[donheff]

I just finished a couple of enjoyable SF books. All Systems Red, by Martha Wells is a Nebula and Hugo winning novella that is the first in the Murderbot Diaries series. The protagonist is an AI cyborg who has hacked his controller and become a free agent. Lightweight reading but enjoyable.

Piranesi, by Susanna Clark, is hard to pin down. It is a poetic fantasy set in a bizarre world. It has recieved rave reviews. I enjoyed it but only to a degree since fantasies are not my regular cup of tea.

I'm about half way through Michael J Fox's latest, No Time like the Future. This is the first of his books I have tried and it is excellent. Quite a guy. In the NYT's words: "A moving account of resilience, hope, fear and mortality, and how these things resonate in our lives, by actor and advocate Michael J. Fox."

 

[Nemo2]

Reading Yiddish for Pirates by Gary Barwin....

Loved this book! A funny/tragic Jewish Ulyssean Odyssey narrated by a multilingual African Grey....for me it's a keeper to be revisited.

 

[Koogie]

I just finished a couple of enjoyable SF books. All Systems Red, by Martha Wells is a Nebula and Hugo winning novella that is the first in the Murderbot Diaries series. The protagonist is an AI cyborg who has hacked his controller and become a free agent. Lightweight reading but enjoyable.

I finished that whole series (the novellas and the novel). Very light but enjoyable as you say and it gets better with each passing story as the author got more comfortable with the "universe" she fashioned.

Reminds me of the simpler sci-fi of my youth.

 

[donheff]

I finished that whole series (the novellas and the novel). Very light but enjoyable as you say and it gets better with each passing story as the author got more comfortable with the "universe" she fashioned.

Reminds me of the simpler sci-fi of my youth.

Glad to here it there is a sixth installment coming in April.