FF: Tangled Up

Roary Wonders What His Labors Might Be

As those of you who read the WW this week already know, Jim and I were on the road last week, so my reading was scattered and odd, as well as being tangled with in my own work.

For those of you unfamiliar with this column, 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.  And it’s also a great place to tell me what you’re reading. 

Recently Completed:

Lucifer’s Crown by Lillian Stewart Carl.  A story set as the Twentieth Century is turning into the Twenty-first.   A story of a struggle for redemption, personal and social.  I enthusiastically blurbed it, so I must have liked it and I did all over again on this re-read.  Originally out from a small press, it is now available as an e-book, if you’re curious.

Twisted Twenty-six by Janet Ivanovich.  Audiobook.  Listening to Stephanie Plum while we’re travelling is something of a tradition for me and Jim.  This one was serious weak at points, but (as Beverly mentioned recently) I still like the characters and how they care about each other.  (Although I did note that Stephanie, who started the series always fighting weight gain now had a magical Hungarian metabolism that allows her to eat anything she wants.  That was seriously weird.  Also, Lula being black was not mentioned even once.  Again.  Weird.) 

In Progress:

The Mysterious Affair at Styles by Agatha Christie.  Audiobook.  Re-read. 

The Labors of Hercules by Agatha Christie.  A short story collection, with the “frame story” of Hercule Poirot doing his version of the mythical labors.

Also:

Reading and doing edits.  It takes most of my reader brain, as well as my writer brain.