Q&A with Josh Lanyon discussion
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What Are you Reading?
Judy wrote: "Reading DANCING DAYS by Clare London, NIGHT SHIFT by Kim Fielding, and MAGIC FOR LEE by Hollis Shiloh. I get distracted easily, but I was in the mood for something a bit different. These books are ..."I liked Night Shift. I usually enjoy Kim Fielding's stories - the writing's good, reliable.
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The only problem with greyhounds is they seem to be like potato chips, you can't stop at one."
:-D
HJ wrote: "I've been enjoying some very British reading, as two of my favourite authors had new books released close together. Lessons for Idle Tongues by Charlie Cochrane ..."
JL Merrow is an amazing author...I have several in the queue, bought and paid for, but languishing in the pile.
I'm currently avoiding intense books...these situations trip triggers I didn't even know I had. I can't tell you the number of books sitting have finished because I freaked out. This is hopefully only a faze I'm going through, because these are darned good books by great authors. Damn, I hate being f*cking broken
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Lessons for Idle Tongues by [author:Charlie Cochran..."
*HUGS*
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Jordan wrote: "At work, and would much rather be in bed reading LL2. So far, I think I enjoyed the first book more, but I can't tear myself away from the second all the same."I'm not sure how I feel about LL2 so far, i mean, it's good, but i'm trying to understand where it's going, while with LL1 there was barely time to breathe.
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I'm not sure how I f..."
That's how I'm feeling. I'm at 50% now, and still wondering where it's going.
Just downloaded a bunch of new books. Charlie Cochrane and Indra Vaughnwhich are new to me, so looking forward to those, plus Harper Fox and J.L. Merrow and a couple samples from different authors. Where to start....
Haldis wrote: "Just downloaded a bunch of new books. Charlie Cochrane and Indra Vaughnwhich are new to me, so looking forward to those, plus Harper Fox and [auth..."Nice! Enjoy! I love everything Harper, and enjoyed Charlie's Lessons in Love and The Best Corpse for the Job, and Indra Vaughn's The House on Hancock Hill. Which JL Merrow? I like her sense of humor.
Judy wrote: "HJ wrote: "I've been enjoying some very British reading, as two of my favourite authors had new books released close together. Lessons for Idle Tongues by [author:Charlie Cochran..."
I tend to avoid the "darker" books, too. I just don't find them very enjoyable any more. And hey, at least you are reading. I haven't felt like reading much of anything... for months now. It's weird. ;-)
Judy wrote: "...I'm currently avoiding intense books...these situations trip triggers I didn't even know I had. I can't tell you the number of books sitting have finished because I freaked out. This is hopefully only a faze I'm going through, because these are darned good books by great authors..."I also avoid intense books, Judy, and I think it's fair to say that Charlie Cochrane's books are safe in that regard, and so are J.L. Merrow's. Of course, almost any book can affect you if you have a particular sensitivity so I tend to check quite carefully, but these tend to be engaging and affecting but not desperately sad, and they have humour, which tends to help!
June and July so far were really good reading months - May had been a bit meh, with a few notable exceptions (Winter Kill one of them :-)), I read a lot of older m/m novels I had on my Kindle or bought during a sale, but I got the feeling that I was too late to the party: there are so many better books out there now.Most books I read during the last weeks were as good as expected (like KC Charles' The Secret Casebook of Simon Feximal), a few others turned out to be very nice surprises. I especially liked Trust the Focus, a road trip novel, kind of coming-out and coming-of-age, not my favourite tropes, but the author handled this very well and with a fresh perspective, I thought. Balls Up was harder to read, it is a cancer story and made me gulp sometimes - I find that Kate Aaron is quite an underrated author. HJ already mentioned Played! which I enjoyed a lot more than the first book in the series, even if I disliked one of the central plot aspects. But the main characters and the writing made more than up for it.
KC wrote: "Haldis wrote: "Just downloaded a bunch of new books. Charlie Cochrane and Indra Vaughnwhich are new to me, so looking forward to those, plus [author:Harper Fox|405..."I picked up Relief Valve from J.L. Merrow and also Charlie's Lessons in Love.
Haldis wrote: "I picked up Relief Valve from J.L. Merrow and also Charlie's Lessons in Love. ..."I do hope you enjoy them! I like them both very much. I am also thinking how very different they are, largely due to being set in such different time periods.
HJ wrote: "Judy wrote: "...I'm currently avoiding intense books...these situations trip triggers I didn't even know I had. I can't tell you the number of books sitting have finished because I freaked out. Thi..."I was zipping along, enjoying the hell out of the Plumber's Mate series...and hit #3, Heat Trap with the slippery "just a regular bloke" creep, and went bat shit crazy. I'm flipping obtuse at times...most of the the books I set aside unfinished had the basic theme. I'm still caught flatfooted with a WTF expression. Sadly, I don't think that's my only trigger.
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Now I'm listening to [book:..."
There's a new one out, right?
I recently read Played! by JL Merrow. Then I had to re-read Muscling Through, a perennial favorite re-read by JL Merrow.Then I read a few short stories including Perfect Day and Wedding Favors. I totally know how Wyatt felt. I didn't want a wedding either. We got married at a party at my house. We had a "stealth wedding" long before there was a name for it.
Now I'm reading a rather mundane contemporary, Collide by Riley Hart. I have NO idea how this book garnered over 600 reviews on here. It's ok. It's a first effort. It's NOT worth 600 reviews and a 4.08 overall rating. I am suspicious.
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Not that I will have any time to read until August, but most of these were preorders anyway.
They've really kicked up their reviews of translated titles considerably.
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Then I read a few short stories including [..."
IF I ever get married, and I highly doubt it, I don't want a wedding either. Jeans, t-shirt, boots/sneakers and a justice of the peace. I'm not interested in the fanfare. I'd only be horribly embarrassed, even when I know I have no reason to be. So, yeah, no wedding for me. But the likelihood of my life ever coming to that in the first place...
Josh wrote: "Idamus wrote: "I've been in a Jack Reacher mood lately, I decided to try an audio version this time, I've finished Persuader 3 stars for the plot and 3.5 to the Narrator.Now I'm list..."
I have no idea, GR says a new book soon though, I'm not even halfway through the series and it might be a year or more until my next 'Reacher mood' strikes :p
Jordan wrote: "IF I ever get married, and I highly doubt it, I don't want a wedding either. Jeans, t-shirt, boots/sneakers and a justice of the peace. I'm not interested in the fanfare. I'd only be horribly embarrassed, even when I know I have no reason to be. So, yeah, no wedding for me. But the likelihood of my life ever coming to that in the first place..."Haha, you just described my wedding! We had a civil ceremony, wore Jeans, and just had a picnic afterwards with a few family members and friends who surprised us at the town hall uninvited - it was great! No stress, no big planning, no mushy speeches, just the basic essentials and for me that made it all about what it was, two people wanting to try to spend the rest of their lives together, no further grand gestures needed.
It was the best day I'd had - until then, anyway ;-D And best of all, it's a day that couldn't have happened to any other person in that way , because it was exactly like we wanted it, not like other people expected it to be.
I have read a few fun books lately, among them "Played". I also are into the Captain Lacey series that some of you mentioned here earlier, and also I am in the middle of The Gilded Scarab a steampunk m/m that is suprisingly good.And still I am listening to the Peter Grant series on audio, I am on the last one now. There will be a new book out this fall I think, hopefully it will be on audio too. They are really very good! Thanks for mentioning them!
Judy wrote: "I was zipping along, enjoying the hell out of the Plumber's Mate series...and hit #3, Heat Trap with the slippery "just a regular bloke" creep, and went bat shit crazy. I'm flipping obtuse at times...most of the the books I set aside unfinished had the basic theme. I'm still caught flatfooted with a WTF expression. Sadly, I don't think that's my only trigger. ..."I am sorry!
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On my bus ride into work I started to read The Caine Mutiny, but so far I've only read the author's note in the beginning and the three Naval codes that inspired him to write the book. I hope these 500 pages fly by quicker than I'm thinking they will!
Susinok wrote: "I recently read Played! by JL Merrow. Then I had to re-read Muscling Through, a perennial favorite re-read by JL Merrow...."Muscling Through is the first JL Merrow I read and still my favorite. Hmm...rereading it would be really nice after Harper's Last Line 2.
Anne wrote: "I have read a few fun books lately, among them "Played". I also are into the Captain Lacey series that some of you mentioned here earlier, and also I am in the middle of [book:The Gilded Scarab|246..."I should give Played another try. And The Gilded Scarab sounds cool, i added it to the forever-expanding TBR list :-)
I've just read Summer Son by Anna Martin - and as much as I usually like her, this book isn't one I'd recommend. I hope, I'll do better with Played!.
Oh, and I have to catch up on all the Lanyons I missed! I really enjoyed The Boy with the Painful Tattoo, and there's so much more out there :-D
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I just finished that one yesterday and liked it a lot. There's something really fresh in Alexis Hall's author voice that makes the characters seem very natural and spontaneous and real. I especially like the inner monologue bits. And he (?) makes me laugh out loud, and that's always a bonus. :-)
I am reading The Animals: Love Letters Between Christopher Isherwood and Don Bachardy It is such a fascinating book because it allows the reader to see the depth of love between Isherwood and Bachardy. They met in the 1950's when Bachardy was 18 and Isherwood was 48, so a huge age gap and a relationship that began when homosexuality was still illegal in the US. Their relationship met with all kinds of disapproval, even from close friends, and both of them had a kind of open relationship but they had a deep enduring love for each other which survived until Isherwood died in his eighties.
The book is also overflowing with all kinds of Hollywood gossip and in their letters to each other the two of them make caustic comments about other people and films/plays that they have seen. It is probably a good job that some of the people they moan about have passed away. I am sure lawyers went through the book with a fine tooth comb otherwise Christopher Isherwood's estate would have been sued to pieces. I also saw a documentary about the two men and Don Bachardy is still alive and living in LA.
The book is very long - over four hundred pages, but it is just so interesting and I am quite enjoying the way the two men dish the dirt on others. Naughty I know but thoroughly entertaining!!
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It is such a fascinating book because it allows the reader to see the depth of love between I..."
Sounds entertaining, indeed. :-)
Thank you for the recommendation, Ije.
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Johanna wrote: "I think it's safe to say I'm now totally hooked on Ben Aaronovitch's Peter Grant series — and especially on the audio versions. Good God, the narrator Kobna Holdbrook-Smith is amaz..."Agreed 100%. I think I'm in love!
Johanna wrote: "I think it's safe to say I'm now totally hooked on Ben Aaronovitch's Peter Grant series — and especially on the audio versions. Good God, the narrator Kobna Holdbrook-Smith is amaz..."So happy to hear you love it as much as I do! :-)
The narrator is awesome and the story is a wonderful blend of mystery, magic, wit, daily observations of life in London etc.
Ije the Devourer of Books wrote: "I am reading The Animals: Love Letters Between Christopher Isherwood and Don Bachardy It is such a fascinating book because it allows the reader to see the depth of love between I..."
I read in a review that the reviewer disliked the book very much because of it's racism. I would guess it mirrors how people (in this case white men) spoke in the fifities and sixties about other races than their own, (maybe also about women?) but what is your take on that?
Johanna wrote: "I think it's safe to say I'm now totally hooked on Ben Aaronovitch's Peter Grant series — and especially on the audio versions. Good God, the narrator Kobna Holdbrook-Smith is amaz..."I agree. I have started book 2 of the audio and it is just so enjoyable :)
Johanna wrote: "I think it's safe to say I'm now totally hooked on Ben Aaronovitch's Peter Grant series — and especially on the audio versions. Good God, the narrator Kobna Holdbrook-Smith is amaz..."Yes, amazing narrator. Only listened to the first one so far. He really makes the story come alive.
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Thus, I started a new book last night that I'm thoroughly enjoying: Cop Out. The narrator's voice took a few minutes getting used to, but now that I'm in, I'm pretty into it. Which makes it hard to get back into The Caine Mutiny. lol. But I'm still enjoying that too.
I also took a quick break from Caine the other day to finally read a graphic novel/manga I've been wanting to get my hands on for nearly a year. Wandering Son, Vol. 1 is the story of a 5th grade boy who slowly realizes he wants to be a girl, and eventually learns that his best friend who's a girl wants to be a boy. So far, it's really good, though I've only read the first book.
Anne wrote: "Ije the Devourer of Books wrote: "I am reading The Animals: Love Letters Between Christopher Isherwood and Don Bachardy It is such a fascinating book because it allows the reader ..."
It is very much a book of it's time and the US is a very racially divided country. I am in the middle of the book and the racial divide is very clear because there is a clear absence of black people except as servants.
Bachardy mentions here and there about coloured servants doing this and that. He is also disrespectful about Arabs and when writing about his trip to Egypt depicts them as cheats but only because they were selling things at high prices. This is the norm for tourists everywhere. He doesn't racially abuse them though, but is quite critical. He is also very critical of the Greeks because he visited Greece.
So far in the letters there seems to be an absence of political commentary. So nothing about the civil rights movement. Nothing about Vietnam so far but I am only in 1965. The letters are from 1956 - 1970 and I am only half way through at the moment so. I have to wait and see. The letters are very much love letters and focus on their relationship and what they mean to each other and then on their work and friends. So far I haven't come across overt racism or anything that shows whether they experienced homophobia. The two men seem entirely wrapped up in each other, their work, friends and family and they can be very biting in their comments about others, but It feels as if they created a world of their own which they did.
They refer to each other as 'the Animals' because they see their relationship as two animals living together. Isherwood is Dobbin and old horse, and Bachardy is Kitty - a white furry kitten. I think it was their way of dealing with their age disparity but it is also part of the world they created together.
So far no overt racism but definitely an absence of black people as contemporaries but that was the social context of the time so I am not surprised. They also knew so many people who were gay but married to women and having sex with other men. Hollywood was also homophobic as well as racist and I don't think it has changed all that much.
It is a fascinating book but very long.
Ije the Devourer of Books wrote: "Anne wrote: "Ije the Devourer of Books wrote: "I am reading The Animals: Love Letters Between Christopher Isherwood and Don Bachardy It is such a fascinating book because it allow..."
Thank you, Ije, very interesting.
Johanna wrote: "I think it's safe to say I'm now totally hooked on Ben Aaronovitch's Peter Grant series — and especially on the audio versions. Good God, the narrator Kobna Holdbrook-Smith is amaz..."Isn't Kobna Holdbrook-Smith simple smashing? Waiting for the library to get the CD audio of Foxglove Summer. It's eerie--even though this CD was published in Nov 2014, I am unable to find it anywhere. It's apparently "out of stock". Boo. Anybody else have problems getting their paws on this?
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It's available as an audiobook on Audible. I don't know about the CD version.
Karen wrote: "Judy wrote: "Johanna wrote: "I think it's safe to say I'm now totally hooked on Ben Aaronovitch's Peter Grant series — and especially on the audio versions. Good God, the narrator [author:Kobna Hol..."Saving my pennies...don't have $24 to spend on an audiobook, especially when my library is excellent about purchasing requested books and audiobooks. I don't have a MP3 player (or $200 for the ones that can accommodate audiobooks) and I don't have a 12-year-old to show me how to download stuff to my cell phone. Getting old sucks and isn't for sissies. :D
I finished Carole Cummings's Blue on Black the other day and it was awesome! It's a sci-fi western and I thought it was really cool. The story is totally gripping, the characters are really interesting, and there's a wonderfully wry humour throughout from the very cool MC. I smiled a lot through all the life-or-death situations. It's definitely more of an adventure story than a romance, but the love story is key, and it's cute and intriguing besides. In a nutshell: trains and gunfights and neat tech and otherworldly creatures and nasty bad guys out in the desert, plus a fair bit of pining for the hot genius engineer. I really like Carole Cummings's books--she does a good blend of fantasy and romance.
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Yes, smashing describes him well. :-D
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Jordan wrote: "I've gotten into Cop Out and I have to say it's a very gripping story, and yet it's so sad! I just can't tear myself away and yet I want to cry over poor Davey. The author does a ve..."Oh, yes. I think I bought it as an audiobook first and was gonna listen while I did the laundry. The laundry was quickly forgotten and I ended up sitting in my sofa listening intently and not doing any of the chores I intended to do.
I really love that story :)
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Q&A with Josh Lanyon
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Lessons for Idle Tongues by Charlie Cochrane is an enjoyable addition to the series, going back to 1910 and so set against the calmer, pre-war period. It was fun!
J.L. Merrow released the second book in her Shamwell series, Played!. I re-read Caught! first, but in fact it wouldn't have mattered if I hadn't as the characters from Caught only made a couple of appearances in Played!. I enjoyed it very much: the characters are likeable, and if you know Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream that will add a whole layer of enjoyment. However, I think you'd still enjoy it even if you don't, because it's really about the interaction between the two heroes and their various friends and fellow amateur actors. A third book in the series called Out! will be published in January 2016.
I recommend both books!