That They May Face The Rising Sun
Finished John Connolly's A Song of Shadows a thriller from his Charlie Parker series. This one is a bit different in that it is a transitional book in the series carrying directly on from Parker's near death in the previous book and setting the stage for whats to come with in between Parker becoming involved in looking into a series of murders involving neo nazi's centered around the small seaside town he is rehabbing in.
Exiles, Jane Harper. Enjoying it; seems like more of a straight-up whodunnit than the last book of hers I read (the Lost Man - brilliant).
@[Deleted User] Pilgrim reminded me of Day of the Jackal which is a much shorter book and fairly old. I devoured it though
I don't really read thrillers but I really enjoyed I Am Pilgrim. Would be happy to read others that entertaining
Chain of Thorns by Cassandra Clare - some fluff before getting stuck into Terry Hayes’ I Am Pilgrim for book club. Read it years ago but looking forward to the reread
Finished "This Book Could Fix Your Life" which is a New Scientist publication and follows "This Book Could Save Your Life".
Both really interesting though Save Your Life is definitely better. They basically contain loads of good advice but good advice that is backed up by scientific research, and not based on the individual poor studies that can generate tabloid headlines. Self help books that have been through the scientific method, and they also highlight what's nonsense.
Been reading a lot of non fiction anyway so next is a fiction - Mother Knight by Vonnegut
Interesting book, read it a few months back. Found it interesting too that some of the traditional Protestant Church's seem to be losing ground to the American evangelical style ones. Don't know if that bodes well for the future.
Finished 'Northern Protestants: On Shifting Ground' by Susan McKay. It's written 20 years after her previous book 'Northern Protestants: An Unsettled People'. Her first book was about unionism's unease following the signing of the GFA, and this is about their discomfort following Brexit. You do get a sense that the younger people interviewed aren't as fixated on the past and symbolic issues like flags the way the older folks are. Strong sense from the interviews that the people feel the DUP got shafted by Westminister and were foolish not to take the May Brexit deal involving the backstop. Sad thing is most of the older crowd will still vote DUP despite that.
But Beautiful, Geoff Dyer - possibly one of the best books about music I've read. Short, fiction-style passages from the lives of some of the great jazz musicians. Brilliant.
Finished Isaac Asimov's sci-fi adventure The Currents of Space which is the second of his 3 galactic empire novels set in the pre foundation days and an enjoyable read.
I think it was originally a CNN production, i happened across it on BBC.
Definitely intend to watch it - it's on one of the Sky channels I think?
If you ever get the chance, watch his movie Big Night; captures some of the spirit of italian America that's in the book, the glorious food, and is a great film in itself
I really enjoyed the TV series he did when he traveled Italy. He just seems like a genuinely decent person, and funny as well.
Finished Isaac Asimov's sci-fi adventure Nemesis. A standalone novel as opposed to his various galactic empire series. Worth a read but nowhere near the level of the foundation, robot and other galactic empire books.
Taste, Stanley Tucci. A strange mixture of memoir, food criticism, recipes, hollywood insights,..
Absolutely loved it. Don't read it when you're hungry though - my mouth was watering after 10 pages.
The Lost Man by the same author is even better, if you liked that one.
Exactly! I do like Scandi noir so I’m sure I’ll like this one. Thanks for the tip-off about the film.
They made a decent film out of that with Eric Bana. It's like a scandi noir in the outback.
Just for a bit of light relief I am starting “The Dry” by Jane Harper. It’s an Australian thriller, where three members of the Hadler family are killed. Policeman Aaron Falk, from Melbourne, is sent to investigate.
The Black Count by Tom Reiss. It is the story of Alexander Dumas, the father of the writer Alex Dumas. You can see where the writer found his inspiration for The Count of Monte Cristo. A really interesting tale of the Revolution in France and the subsequent story of Napoleon. Alexander Dumas (father) and Napoleon were actually contemporaries at one stage with Napoleon being a bit jealous of Dumas. Now I have more books to investigate about Napoleon. It’s worth reading.
Finished Tana French's crime drama The Trespassers and thoroughly enjoyed it.
On to Joe Country, the 6th book in Mick Herron's Slough House series. Standard seems as high as ever.
The series has recently been filmed as Slow Horses on Apple TV. Much as I like Gary Oldman and hear very positive reviews, this is one of those cases where I'm definitely happier to stick with the book version.
Finished and enjoyed it. Some sections are stronger than others and overall, it didn't have the same impact for me as A Visit from the Goon Squad, but would definitely still recommend. It goes off on tangents from the previous book and while it could definitely be read as a standalone, I found myself checking upon details on characters, etc. om t'internet.
Nearly a quarter of the way through The Girls Who Disappeared by Claire Douglas. Very well written and a refreshing storyline so far.
Listening to White Bones by Graham Masterton on Audible, again about a quarter of the way through. Great narration but I must warn you that it really is graphic. Maybe it's because I'm listening to the audiobook but it doesn't pull any punches.
Had only finished 1 book all of 2022 and that was on the 30th December so feeling very spoilt for choice now.
Finished Ken Bruen's Purgatory another classic noir crime novel featuring the Galway author's acerbic and witty Jack Taylor character. Loved every minute of it brilliant.
Finished Isaac Asimov's sc-fi adventure The Stars Like Dust and really enjoyed it. Set in the same galaxy but pre galactic empire of his Foundation novels it packs a lot of twists and turns into what is a smaller novel and first of 3 in this galactic empire series.
The Candy House, Jennifer Egan
Love is Blind, William Boyd.
The third of his I read. Really enjoy his books.
Cat among the Pigeons, an Agatha Christie for Christmas.
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