EVERYONE Has Read This but Me - The Catch-Up Book Club discussion
FOR FUN!!!
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The Last Book I Read Was...
What a great way to introduce kids to some of the classics by the much-loved Charles Dickens! I think A World Full of Dickens Stories by Angela McAllister would make an excellent gift.
5★ Link to my Dickens review with several illustrations
I knew I'd enjoy a visit to C.J. Sansom's 16th century London, but by golly it was terrifying in Revelation! 
4.5★ Link to my Revelation review
My new favourite book! Becoming Duchess Goldblatt: A Memoir is funny, poignant, witty, unique. The anonymous author shares her real, broken life and the wise tweets of her 81-year-old Twitter alter-ego. "People often come to me seeking the true meaning of life, but I find they’re usually satisfied with half a sandwich." DG
5★ Link to my Duchess Goldblatt review with some of her many observations on life
Finished reading Darkness at Noon by Arthur Koestler
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
Darkness at Noon (from the German: Sonnenfinsternis) is a novel by the Hungarian-born British novelist Arthur Koestler, first published in 1940. His best-known work tells the tale of Rubashov, a Bolshevik 1917 revolutionary who is cast out, imprisoned and tried for treason by the Soviet government he'd helped create
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
Darkness at Noon (from the German: Sonnenfinsternis) is a novel by the Hungarian-born British novelist Arthur Koestler, first published in 1940. His best-known work tells the tale of Rubashov, a Bolshevik 1917 revolutionary who is cast out, imprisoned and tried for treason by the Soviet government he'd helped create
I thought All Systems Red by Martha Wells was pretty good. Might continue with the series.My review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
Mystic wrote: "I thought All Systems Red by Martha Wells was pretty good. Might continue with the series.
I enjoyed the first two books in the series. It will be interesting how you liked the second book in the series.
All Systems Red is listed in the 100 most popular Sci-Fi books on Goodreads. https://www.goodreads.com/blog/show/1...
I enjoyed the first two books in the series. It will be interesting how you liked the second book in the series.
All Systems Red is listed in the 100 most popular Sci-Fi books on Goodreads. https://www.goodreads.com/blog/show/1...
I think the second book might be a lot better I just read it's description, it sounds interesting. Very curious to know more about the Murderbot's dark past.
I finished 2001: A Space Odyssey by Arthur C. Clarke
My suggestion is to watch the movie then read the book. The movie will give you a visual for what is happening in the book, but the book is ultimately far better. As another reviewer said, “Kubrick touched the monolith, but Clarke went inside.” Besides, watching the movie, you get to listen to the initial fanfare of Richard Strauss’s “Also Sprach Zarathustra.”
It should also be noted that HAL was one letter away from being IBM.
My suggestion is to watch the movie then read the book. The movie will give you a visual for what is happening in the book, but the book is ultimately far better. As another reviewer said, “Kubrick touched the monolith, but Clarke went inside.” Besides, watching the movie, you get to listen to the initial fanfare of Richard Strauss’s “Also Sprach Zarathustra.”
It should also be noted that HAL was one letter away from being IBM.
I finished reading the Sci-Fi novella Binti by Nnedi Okorafor.
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
I finished (original Twilight Zone writer) Charles Beaumont's earliest short story collection - it was good but didn't contain much of his best work:
The Hunger: And Other Stories by Charles Beaumont
Rating: 3 stars
Review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
and I started reading:
Night Ride And Other Journeys by Charles Beaumont
There is a lot of overlap in Beaumont's various short story collections so I have already read many of these stories.
I just finished We Have Always Lived In The Castle by Shirley Jackson. I’ve been meaning to read it for years and it was wonderful!
There Will Come Soft Rains is the phrase Ray Bradbury pinched from a poem for the title of this 1950 short story about California in 2026. 
5★ Link to my Soft Rains review which has a link to the small PDF online
The Pardoner's Crime: A historical crime thriller featuring Robin Hood is the first in a new series by Keith Moray, who writes under a couple of other names. Light, easy read.
3★ Link to my Pardoner's Crime review
I finished: 
Endurance: Shackleton's Incredible Voyage by Alfred Lansing
Rating: 4 stars
Review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
and I started reading:
Barbarians at the Gate: The Fall of RJR Nabisco by Bryan Burrough and John Helyar
I just finished
The Last Dive: A Father and Son's Fatal Descent into the Ocean's Depths by Bernie Chowdhury
My review: www.goodreads.com/review/show/3365331165
I do so enjoy Louise Penny's Canadian Inspector (now Commander) Armand Gamache series, so I was delighted to visit Three Pines again in A Great Reckoning.
4.5★ Link to my Great Reckoning review
John Updike won Pulitzer prizes for books three and four of his Rabbit, Run series. I've just read the first, and he certainly does know how to write.
4★ Link to my Rabbit, Run review
I finished another excellent short story collection by one of the writers behind many of the finest episodes of the original Twilight Zone TV series:
Night Ride And Other Journeys by Charles Beaumont
Rating: 4 stars
Review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
and I started reading another Beaumont collection:
Yonder by Charles Beaumont
Because of the overlap of stories in Beaumont's various collections, I have already read many of the stories in this book.
I'm reading Ilona Andrews' Kate Daniels series. 
Magic Bites This first book in the urban fantasy series introduces Kate Daniels as she avenges the murder of her guardian. My review: www.Goodreads.com/review/show/3456857659
I finished
Magic Burns #2 by Ilona Andrews. I had started the highly rated Kate Daniels series here, instead of with #1, so it can be read as a standalone. My review: www.Goodreads.com/review/show/3460021572
I finished the crime classic: 
The Friends of Eddie Coyle by George V. Higgins
Rating: 5 stars
Review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
and I started reading another crime classic:
The Black Dahlia by James Ellroy
I finished Never Let Me Go
by Kazuo Ishiguro this book is depressing😞. Only book so far where I cried at multiple scenes.My review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
Robert Pobi is new to me, but I enjoyed City of Windows - (think skyscrapers/sniper) - so much that I've already started the second in the series. I appreciate a good guy who IS a good guy. 
5★Link to my City of Windows review
A Murder Unmentioned by Sulari Gentill is my favourite one so far in this delightful Aussie historical mystery series. 1930s Australia - love it!
5★ Link to my Murder Unmentioned review
I finished another collection of stories by original Twilight Zone writer Charles Beaumont:
Yonder by Charles Beaumont
Rating: 3 stars
Review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
As a result of finishing this collection, I have also read all the stories in these two Beaumont collections as was able to rate and review them as well - both are out of print but well worth picking up if you should happen to find them second-hand:
The Magic Man and Other Science-Fantasy Stories by Charles Beaumont
Rating: 4 stars
Review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
The Edge by Charles Beaumont
Rating: 4 stars
Review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
and I'm starting the final Beaumont collection, published posthumously and consisting of several unpublished stories:
A Touch of the Creature by Charles Beaumont
I finished:
Death's Master by Tanith Lee
Rating: 3 stars
Review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
and I started reading:
The Tombs of Atuan by Ursula K. Le Guin
Whew! I think that's it for me in July...
Catch and Kill: Lies, Spies, and a Conspiracy to Protect Predators by Ronan FarrowIt's nonfiction, but it has all the elements from the mystery/ thriller genre - a villain with a shadowy cabal, power, money, sex crimes, and espionage. Recommended.
My review: www.Goodreads.com/review/show/3115634695
I hope, I hope, I hope some little girls will be inspired by Corazon Aquino and her passion for democracy! The Philippines needs her kind again. Thanks Mª Isabel Sánchez Vegara for another great addition to the Little People BIG IDEAS series. 
5★ Link to my Corazon Aquino review
Under Pressure is the second in the Lucas Page thriller series by Robert Pobi. Chemistry, physics, and brain-power vs money and thugs. Good read!
4.5★ Link to my Under Pressure review
I finished: 
The Testaments by Margaret Atwood
Rating: 3 stars
Review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
and I started reading:
Dreamsnake by Vonda N. McIntyre
I finished The Cenci by Alexandre Dumas, which I discovered later is part of his Celebrated Crimes, The Country of the Pointed Firs with Biographical Introduction by Sarah Orne Jewett, A Rose for Emily by William Faulkner, The Emperor's New Clothes by Hans Christian Andersen (a group read), The Call of Cthulhu by H.P. Lovecraft, An Ideal Husband by Oscar Wilde, and The Nose by Nikolai Gogol. I am finishing up The Prince by Niccolò Machiavelli and In Praise of Folly by Erasmus. Also started The Three-Body Problem by Liu Cixin.
Fantastic 2005 best-seller! The Glass Castle is an outstanding memoir by Jeannette Walls, who was lucky to make it to adulthood, more or less intact, despite her neglectful, nutty parents.
5★ Link to my Glass Castle review
I'm now a fan of Kate Daniels, created by Ilona AndrewsMy reviews for
Magic Strikes #3www.Goodreads.com/review/show/3479061345
and for Magic Mourns
#3.5www.Goodreads.com/review/show/3479104041
Things are heating up in the world of Kate Daniels, created by Ilona Andrews - 
Magic Bleeds #4My review - www.Goodreads.com/review/show/3481656026
Magic Dreams #4.5 - short story featuring Dali and JimMy review- www.Goodreads.com/review/show/3482350260
This was a most delightful change of pace from reading thrillers during a pandemic. The House in the Cerulean Sea by T.J. Klune is Peter Pan in 1984. Both worrying and charming. Absolutely loved it!
5★ Link to my Cerulean Sea review
From Ilona Andrews, two really good Kate Daniels novels set in an alternate future in Atlanta
Magic Slays #5My review: www.Goodreads.com/review/show/3483301346
Gunmetal Magic #5.5 - with Andrea Nash in an overlapping timelineMy review: www.Goodreads.com/review/show/3484128846
I finished reading The Three-Body Problem by Liu Cixin,
Review at https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
Review at https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
From Ilona Andrews, 2 more in the Kate Daniels series - 
Magic Rises #6 - I had a few quibbles with this one, but I liked the major advancement in the overall story arc of Kate's mission. My review - www.Goodreads.com/review/show/3487219651
Magic Steals #6.5 - can be read as a standalone adventure with Dali Harimau and Jim Shrapshire. This was my introduction to the KD books. My review - www.Goodreads.com/review/show/3487225819
The last book I read was Beach Read. I was pleasantly surprised by how much I enjoyed it. It made me laugh and cry, and left me with the warm fuzzies. Beach Read
My review - https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
Small Magics is an anthology by Ilona Andrews. Fans of the Kate Daniels universe will want this book just because "Curran's POV" is about 40 percent of it.My review - www.Goodreads.com/review/show/3489106953
It's no secret I'm partial to Sir Robert Carey and his Elizabethan escapades, and I loved An Air of Treason, number 6 in P.F. Chisholm's historical mystery series.
5★ Link to my Air of Treason review
Will the long awaited confrontation with the master villain occur in Ilona Andrews'
Magic Breaks #7?My review- www.Goodreads.com/review/show/3490930537
My review of this special book called Coraline
by Neil Gaiman:https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
Magic Shifts #8 in the Kate Daniels UF series can be read as a mystery standalone with a missing person case. But why miss out on the fun of the preceding books by Ilona Andrews?
My review - www.Goodreads.com/review/show/3492926600
Magic Stars #8.5 - Kate Daniels fans will not want to miss this oneMy review - www.Goodreads.com/review/show/3494406104
By Ilona Andrews,
Magic Binds #9 - this feels like a transitioning middle installment in the Kate Daniels seriesMy review - www.Goodreads.com/review/show/3496007965
I finished reading Scarlet Sister Mary by Julia Peterkin. This book won the Pulitzer Prize in 1929.
Review at https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
Review at https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
EVERYONE Has Read This but Me - The Catch-Up...
Books mentioned in this topic
The Devil Take Tomorrow (other topics)The Martian Chronicles (other topics)
Emily of New Moon (other topics)
A Murder for the Books (other topics)
Dear Miss Lake (other topics)
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Authors mentioned in this topic
Gretchen Jeannette (other topics)L.M. Montgomery (other topics)
Victoria Gilbert (other topics)
A.J. Pearce (other topics)
Jasmine Guillory (other topics)
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Here's my review:https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...