In addition to what’s below, I’m also reading a couple of GURPS gaming supplements because they make interesting, non-stressful, pre-bedtime reading.
For those of you just discovering this part of my blog, the Friday Fragments lists what I’ve read over the past week. Most of the time I don’t include details of either short fiction (unless part of a book-length collection) or magazines.
The Fragments are not meant to be a recommendation list. If you’re interested in a not-at-all-inclusive recommendation list, you can look on my website under Neat Stuff.
Once again, this is not a book review column. It’s just a list with, maybe, a bit of description or a few opinions tossed in.
I enjoy hearing what you’re reading. You may see it appearing on my reading list down the road.
Recently Completed:
Cart and Cwidder by Diana Wynne Jones. Book One of “The Dalemark Quartet.” Very strong. More serious than many of her works, but given that my favorite of hers—Dogsbody—is also serious, I don’t automatically think of her as a “humor” writer.
In Progress:
I Sing the Body Electric by Ray Bradbury. About two-thirds in. Limiting myself to one or two stories a day so I can think about them.
Digger by Ursula Vernon. Graphic novel. Who wouldn’t love a story about a wombat mining engineer caught up in a dark fantasy adventure?
The Life of Greece by Will Durant. Audiobook. We have just finished Plato and are into Aristotle.
Also:
I’m just about done reviewing the copy edited manuscript of Wolf’s Search. The cover for Wolf’s Search is nearly done and lovely. I need to write the dedication, acknowledgements, and decide which of the review quotes to include. More of the little steps that go into a new book…
June 14, 2019 at 4:14 am |
Cart and Cwidder sounds good. I have added it to my TBR list.
I am currently reading The Reckoning by John Grisham. It is about a murder in a small southern town in the mid 1940’s. Who, What, When, Where and How are all revealed at the start. So far, still don’t know Why.
Also reading A Betrayal in Winter (Long Price Quartet #2) by Daniel Abraham. It seems to me it is moving more slowly than the first book in the series. Still good, tho.
June 14, 2019 at 7:25 am |
Cart and Cwidder isn’t “fast” but it’s meaty. And why it isn’t “fast” is part of the plot, if that makes any sense.
I could never get into Grisham. Tried. Maybe a “historical” would be better than the one I tried.
June 14, 2019 at 11:35 am
Not necessarily. So far, I wouldn’t recommend this Grisham book!
June 14, 2019 at 11:02 am |
Very excited that you’re checking all the little boxes as “done” on Wolf Search!
I spent the week reducing my TBR pile. I started with Little Fires Everywhere by Celeste Ng. Two pages in, I thought it seemed really familiar. I went to the last chapter and yep, I’d read it already. Back in the library bag of went.
Completed –
The Last by Hanna Jameson. It’s a story written in diary form from the main character’s pov of the two months following a world-wide nuclear war. He is at a hotel in Switzerland with about twenty other people. The book was okay, not great.
The 18th Abduction by James Patterson. I really like the characters in this series, The Women’s Murder Club, but this book was just meh. I was disappointed 😞
There, There by Tommy Orange. This was an interwoven story of many characters and how their lives crossed and came together. The characters are Native tribes living in Oakland, CA. I absolutely LOVED this book! My ex is Native and I recognized all different struggles and questions in the story. All the characters were very real. I think that people who aren’t familiar with Native culture will enjoy the story too.
Currently Reading – Nocturna by Maya Motayne. I just started.
June 14, 2019 at 11:34 am |
I am so glad to hear you liked There, There. I was interested in it and now I definitely plan to read it soon.
Hope you are feeling happy and healthy!
June 14, 2019 at 2:37 pm
I’m doing good, thanks. I’ll be interested to see how you like There, There.
June 15, 2019 at 7:55 am |
Thanks for the word on There, There. Sounds like a book Jim and I would both like. Glad you’re feeling better.
June 15, 2019 at 3:04 pm |
I haven’t really had much time to read new stories, so I’m re-reading some light stuff from Mike Shepard (Kris Longknife series). Decent to read one or two times but they get old quick. I much prefer David Weber’s stories.
King Ben’s Grandma, I sure hope you get better and stay better! No fooling around, ’cause when you don’t feel good everyone else feels down. Get much better soon.
I found a new book which I just started. The first few pages are very intriguing. It is The Witch’s Kind by Louisa Morgan. I’ll let you know how it turns out.
Happy Reader’s Day to everyone.
June 18, 2019 at 10:07 am |
The re-read quotient of a book is definitely an important element for me!
June 16, 2019 at 4:55 pm |
I loved Digger…you’re the one that mentioned that to me. I like a lot of Ursula’s stories.
I had a chance to read on vacation and finished my book club book, A Gentleman in Moscow by Amor Towls – just incredible writing. I wasn’t three pages into it when I read those pages to Scot and asked how the writing could be that good that fast. If you gave me a short summary, “A Russian Count is imprisoned in a hotel as a nonperson during the Bolshevik revolution” – I’d never want to read it – and yet it’s one of the best written, most insightful books I’ve read.
I also enjoyed Martha Wells’ All Systems Red, and the Beasts of Tabat by Cat Rambo. I’m well into the second of that quartet, Hearts of Tabat. It’s an interesting fantasy world and I’m enjoying the intrigue and characters.
June 18, 2019 at 10:09 am |
I think a book club would be a great way to expand one’s personal reading preferences…