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[Reggia]

Wishing your son get-well wishes, Christine... peace and energy for you!

[Janelle]

Hope your son's ok, Christine.

[Werner]

Some time ago, I ran across some reviews of J. B. Lynn's series opener Confessions of a Slightly Neurotic Hitwoman, featuring a protagonist who becomes a contract assassin (although not of innocent people) in order to pay the massive hospital bills for her comatose niece's care, and was intrigued enough to add it to my "maybe to read" shelf. (I haven't read many books with assassin protagonists, but I do think they have the potential to be interesting characters.) Recently, I stumbled across a short story/novella the author has published about the same character, designated as number 2.5 in the series, , which turned out to be free on Kindle. Granted, the title is an eye-rolling and embarrassing double-entendre (though I've browsed enough reviews to be pretty certain the actual meaning here isn't sexual --the settng is Atlantic City, which is noted for its casinos). But despite that, I thought the chance to sample the series at short length for free was worth taking, so I downloaded it to my Kindle app. I started reading it last night, so we'll see where it goes! :-)

[Christine]

Many thanks to you, Werner, Reggia, Janelle, and Charly, for your good wishes for my son! We're doing our best to get him well.

[Christine]

Thanks, Werner, for the link to your review of The Beekeeper's Apprentice. I really enjoyed it! The series is among the few books I will still buy in print, for the lovely covers (first printing), and to have at my fingertips.

[Werner]

You're welcome, Christine! Interestingly, this is one of several cases where I've read the series opener and rated it very highly (five stars, in this case),but chose not to pursue it in the sequels. (view spoiler)[For me, the idea of a married Holmes was too much a departure from the original character. :-) (hide spoiler)]

[Christine]

I do understand, Werner. I was reluctant, even resistant, to start the series for over two years. A friend convinced me, based on the quality of writing, and the stories themselves.

Spoiler below... (Sorry, I don't know the "tech" way to hide it?!?!)

I also find a married Holmes unlikely... but Mary Russell herself is irresistable, at least in my case. : )

[Werner]

Understood, Christine! :-) (She IS quite an engaging character.)

[Werner]

Christine wrote: "Spoiler below... (Sorry, I don't know the "tech" way to hide it?!?!)"

Christine, I don't know why I didn't pick up on that sentence before; sorry! If you click on the "some html is okay" link just above the comment box (where you type your comment), the pop-up box that comes up shows you, near the bottom, how to type the opening and closing spoiler tags; you type the "spoiler" material you want to conceal between them. (They don't show once the comment is posted; it just appears as a "spoiler" link.)

[Christine]

Thank you Werner! I appreciate that, and will give it a try next time. : )

[Werner]

You're welcome, Christine! Let me know if you have any problems with it.

[Matt]

I am currently halfway through The Scarlet Pimpernel and am really enjoying it. I almost see some Shakespearian story-telling going on with it.

[Werner]

Charly wrote: "Matt I really liked Pimpernel (4 stars) but in my review I noted that I saw a hint of similarity to Dickens. Of course this pre-dates Dickens but i found similarities."

Actually, Charly, Dickens died in 1870; The Scarlet Pimpernel was first published in 1905. I haven't read the Orczy novel myself yet (I'm hoping this will finally be the year that I do!). But given how prominent Dickens was as a writer, it's almost a certainty that Orczy had read his A Tale of Two Cities; and since she's also a writer of the Romantic school, and treating the same time period in her own novel,, it seems likely that she'd have been influenced by the earlier work.

[Matt]

I actually just completed a Tale of Two Cities before starting this book, so I'm seeing it first-hand. I think the similarities may rest more on the French Revolution than anything else. Dickens may have influenced the idea of that specific genre to Orczy, but her story is certainly her own.

Werner, the book isn't too horribly long and starts to read quickly once you get in just a little bit, so I would certainly say that once you start it, you'll wonder why you held off. I have 2 young kids at home and work long days, so being able to finish it in a week is good for me :).

[Christine]

I really liked The Scarlet Pimpernel, also (novel), long ago. As well as the older mini-series... I believe it was with Richard Chamberlain. I can see some Dickens similarities in theme, but I think the author's voice is very strong, and distinct from Dickens'. I need to add this to my "re-read" shelf.

[Werner]

Thanks for the tip, Matt. I'm planning to nominate it as the common read this year in my Vintage Tales group (which will be coming up in September!), so we'll see what happens. :-)

[Christine]

Yes, Charly, I agree! Sorry for any confusion. I see similarities too. I also like Tracy Chevalier's work, especially Girl With a Pearl Earring.

[Christine]

I've just finished Oil and Marble: A Novel of Leonardo and Michelangelo, by Stephanie Storey. Very enjoyable; I gave it 3 stars. If we could do partial stars, I'd bump it up to 3.75, for a satisfying ending (which I found more cohesive than earlier parts of the book).

I would recommend it to anyone who likes the Italian Renaissance period. It's historical fiction, a bit heavy on the imaginings of emotions and motivations, but still full of facts and great background information. : ) I will read almost anything set in Italy! (Having lived there once, in my twenties.)

[Christine]

: ) I like that, too, Charly! As well as the quality of her writing.

[Werner]

As of yesterday, I started two new books, having finished the prior reads pretty much simultaneously. One is the regular book that I'm reading to myself; the other is the "car book" that Barb and I are reading together.

The latter is , the seventh (and so far last) book in Suzanne Arruda's Jade del Cameron series, which we've been reading together pretty steadily since the first one. The other is a review copy of a short story anthology from WolfSinger Publications, , yet another kind gift from my friend Andrew Seddon, who has a story included. This one focuses on the theme of imprisonment (mostly literal), examined from a science fiction perspective. It sounds as if it would be grim and dark --and so far, in the main, it is.

[Christine]

I finished my first buddy-read, of Illuminae, (Jay Kristoff and Amie Kaufman), with my GR friend, Maria. Very unique visually, fast-paced, and exciting.

I have started the first Temeraire book, His Majesty's Dragon, by Naomi Novik. My teen son and I are reading it together, and really enjoying it so far.

We've also started The Bane Chronicles, by Cassandra Clare. This one is sillier, but Kodi loves the main character, the warlock Magnus Bane.

Still also working on the stories in A Study in Sherlock.

[MichelleCH]

Just finished To Build a Fire; short but quite powerful. Still working on Dr Zhivago - it's quite the epic.

[Christine]

Recently finished both The Bane Chronicles and His Majesty's Dragon , having read them both with my son, who has been out sick from school for an extended time. He'll be using them both for school projects over the summer... but I just enjoyed reading with him. : )

[Janelle]

Reading with our kids is such a privilege, isn't it Christine. I hope your son feels better soon.

[Christine]

Thanks, Janelle! My son is now 16, so it had been quite a few years since we'd read aloud together. Time flies.... and then you miss things that you never thought would stop. : )
But he actually requested doing that this past week as a distraction, which made me really happy!
It is a privilege - I'm glad that you enjoy it too!

[Janelle]

It's been a few years since I've read to my kids, Christine. They are 22 and 20 now and I do miss those days.

[MichelleCH]

Still working on Dr Zhivago and also reading/listening to Lives Like Loaded Guns: Emily Dickinson and Her Family's Feuds. Dickinson's family is fascinating.

[Reggia]

In the middle of The Alchemist, and have recently begun Les Miserables. On the latter, folders have been opened for discussion, just scroll down when you are on our group's main page. All are welcome to join the conversation, but do take note of the chapters in each folder so as not to give away any spoilers. :-)

[Yvonne]

I just started les miserables as well. I don't know how I'm going to keep two Victor Hugo books straight as I am a 1/4 of the way through the hunchback of Notredom.

[Linda]

Oh you struck a chord Yvonne. The Hunchback of Notredom. Never read the book but my Mom tells me I practically used a whole box of tissues watching the movie. I'm still a crier!

[Yvonne]

I still use a whole box of tissues when I watch the movie. lol

[Reggia]

Finished The Alchemist (for tomorrow night's bookclub) and spent a day reading The Screwtape Letters for next Monday's meetup.

Now, it's back to Les Mis for me. :-)

Wonder how you're doing with the two heavy reads, Yvonne. I've not read or seen The Hunchback.

[Menno]

A Summer of Drowning

[MichelleCH]

Just finished Before I Go to Sleep - it's quite compelling and was a page-turner for me. Still plugging away at Dr Zhivago

[MichelleCH]

I think that it depends on the translation. I thought that mine was pretty good, but there are so many characters and names change constantly. Dr. Zhivago is Yuri, Zhivago, Yurochka, Yura all in the same chapter! I am also trying to follow the revolution battles. The writing is beautiful but very intense. You must of been an exceptional HS student!

[MichelleCH]

:)

[Werner]

With a common read coming up next month in another group, I wanted the read I started today to be fairly short; and I've also been wanting to sandwich a nonfiction read into this year somewhere, to fulfill a mental commitment I made a couple of years ago to try to read one nonfiction book every year. So I settled on H. P. Lovecraft's classic , which has been on my to-read shelf for awhile; at 106 pages, it should be easy to read before Aug. 1, with plenty of time to spare. Given my love for weird fiction, this should be right up my alley. :-)

[MichelleCH]

Dr Zhivago is finally finished! Intense ending. I'm enjoying Beartown.

[Yvonne]

Charly, how!? *beats ground in frustration.* I'm still on book two. lol too easily distracted.

[Werner]

I'm taking part this month, in one of my other groups, in a common read of by Graham Greene.

[MichelleCH]

Reading All the Birds in the Sky. I love it so far.

[Reggia]

Les Miserables, the first book

[Yvonne]

I made it to the second just barely. we will make it Reggia!

[Reggia]

Thanks, Yvonne! Nice to know I'm not alone. :-)

[Werner]

Today, Edwardian writer (and Anglican priest turned Roman Catholic priest) Robert Hugh Benson is mostly known as a writer of ghost stories, and I've read one or two of his works in that genre. But back in the early 70s, I stumbled on a copy of a very different kind of work, his 1907 novel , and skimmed it but didn't have the opportunity to actually read it (long story). Ever since, it's been on my to-read list as a must-read, so it's with special satisfaction that I finally started on it this afternoon. In a very real way, I think it can be said to be Benson's answer to H. G. Wells' A Modern Utopia (1905)

[MichelleCH]

Just started SPQR: A History of Ancient Rome

[Werner]

Although another of my groups is doing a common read in September, the book picked is one I've already read. With another common read possibly coming up in October, I'm taking advantage of the respite to read the book my 11-year-old grandson recently gave me for my birthday, by a new-to-me author, Tami Hoag. (He got a bargain on it at a library sale. :-) ) It's a long novel (the Goodreads description says 574 pages, but the actual count is 590 for the text), so it'll take a fair amount of time to read.

[Werner]

Charly wrote: "Tami Hoag writes sequences of novels with certain characters carrying through. Not familiar with this one. Just an fyi"

Thanks, Charlie. When I added this one to my Goodreads shelves, I discovered that it's officially both # 4 of the author's Doucet series (the books of which apparently each feature a different male from the Doucet family finding romance and danger in a mystery in the Louisiana bayou country --and one of the Doucet clan has already turned up in this one) and #1 of the spin-off Broussard and Fourcade series, named for the female and male lead characters, who are sheriff's deputies. My impression is that the books of the first series can be read as stand-alones; and I'm not expecting to get sucked into the spin-off series (or any other long series) right now. I'm planning to make my current visit to the bayous just a one-book experience. :-)

[Werner]

Charly wrote: "Still in all she is a really good author in her genre."

I'm genuinely enjoying this one so far, Charly!

[Werner]

For some time, the e-book freebie by Bob Moates has been sitting around on my Kindle app, ever since it got an enthusiastic review from a lady in one of my other groups. (When I can, I sometimes take advantage of the option of reading a book by an unfamiliar author for free electronically, to see if it's worth supporting with a purchase in paperback.) This one is fairly short (140 pages), premised on the teaming up of a living homicide detective with the ghost of another cop to solve cold cases, and intended to be humorous. I finally got started on it last night.