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Currently Reading? Just Finished? 2020
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Linda
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May 15, 2020 11:50AM
If It Bleeds by Stephen King
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Mr. Penumbra's 24-Hour Bookstore
by Robin SloanWhen an unemployed web designer takes a temporary job at a bookstore he uncovers deep secrets and a nefarious plot.
Okay story with lots of tech talk. 3 stars
My review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
Currently reading: Jak zawszeIt's a tragicomic story of an old couple that one day goes back in time, but the reality has changed. We have here alternative Polish history and some romantic adventures, and the plot is set in 1963. I hope one day someone will translate it to other languages than my mother tongue.
Recently read Polish edition of The Silkworm.
You can read my short review here: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
Just finished Jennifer Hilliers Little Secrets! Absolutely loved it. very intense and not predictable
Not a mystery, but an enjoyable book of short stories Syrian Brides My review https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
just finished Alafair Burke's The Ex. It's an extremely predictable book with an ok cast.
currently reading A Simple Favour by Darcy Bell.
Los Pioneros by Enrique Campos Menéndez, about the Founders of Patagonia. Amazing and captivating story. Don't know if it's available in English though. https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/2...
I finished kind of a science-fiction mystery - it's not bad but not mind-blowing either: 
Head On by John Scalzi
Rating: 3 stars
Review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
Just finished
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Currently reading
The Siberian Dilemma
by Martin Cruz SmithIn this 9th book in the 'Arkady Renko' series, the Moscow detective goes to Siberia to lock up a criminal, and to look for his journalist girlfriend. The book can be read as a standalone.
Not the best book in the series, but I always like to see what Arkady Renko is up to....so it's worth reading. 3 stars
My review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
I finished Clara McKenna Murder at Morrington Hall. I stopped reading Darcy Bell's A Simple Favour
I've just started The Love Shack by Jane Costello.
I just finished Who did You Tell
Here’s my four star review:
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
I've just finished To Kill a Mockingbird. Now I'm reading The Rosary Girls, because I wanted to read a printed book.
Finished 11/22/63 by Stephen King. I used to enjoy King a lot more when I was younger. Too long and corny in places. Rating - 3/5
My Review https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
Mod
I was down most of last week because of being a bit under the weather and my dog hurt her back pretty badly so she is also down along with me (going into week 3), so I've had plenty of reading time for a change. Recently I've read
Race Against Time: A Reporter Reopens the Unsolved Murder Cases of the Civil Rights Era by Jerry Mitchell (nonfiction),
The Adventures of China Iron by Gabriela Cabezos Camara (fiction from Argentina) - on this year's international Booker awards shortlist,
and
the excellent Buried Shadows by John Howard (weirdish fiction with some supernatural overtones).
Mod
Finished 11/22/63 by Stephen King. I used to enjoy King a lot more when I was younger. Too long and corny in places. Rating - 3/5
My Rev..."
I always wonder if I liked King's stuff more when I was younger because it was better than his more modern work, or if I've just outgrown him in general.
Just finished - Deeper than the Dead by TamiHoagCurrently reading - Dead Ends by Joseph Michael Reynolds
just finished Murder At Morrington Hall by Clara McKenna. I'm starting Lisa Jewell's The Family Upstairs
The White Tiger by Aravind AdigaThis isn't really a mystery, but the main character commits murder and theft.
In this 2008 Man Booker Prize winner, an Indian boy born into an impoverished family manages to elevate himself into a successful businessman. His rags to riches story is tragic, compelling, surprising, and told with humor.
4 stars
My review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
Bad Faith
by Robert TannenbaumButch Karp #24, OK to read as stand-alone. Actually (ghost) written by Steve Jackson. Further adventures of Butch with a phony faith-healer and a particularly nasty international terrorist. The early Karp books were ghosted by Michael Gruber, who is a really talented author. Read those, this one gets 2 stars. Just OK.
Just started Nightmare Town: Stories by Dashiell Hammett. Found this collection at a library book sale and am excited to read some short stories by the noir master that I haven't read before.
Mod
by Josh BazellOutrageously entertaining crime novel about a Mafia contract killer who reinvents himself as a doctor. Hospital/killer story by Q..."
Absolutely hilarious. Not for everyone but very entertaining.
@Nichelle Most of Hammett's story collections will have at least a couple of good ones. Won't be as good as his longer works but enjoyable.
@Nancy I was certainly more accepting of King's flaws when I was younger. For example he always had a problem with ending his books, back then I was more forgiving of that. I don't really see myself taking a chance on another tome if a 1000 page book from an author leaves me unsatisfied. Time constraints mean I read less now and have to be a bit more choosy, so middling authors get the boot.
I finished:
The Man Who Risked His Partner by Stephen R. Donaldson writing as Reed Stephens
Rating: 3 stars
Review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
and I started reading:
A Murder of Quality by John le Carré
Wolves Eat Dogs
by Martin Cruz SmithIn this fifth book in the 'Arkady Renko' series, the Moscow police detective is sent to the devastated area near Chernobyl to investigate a death. The book can be read as a standalone.
Good mystery. 3.5 stars
My review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
Reading The Poet; listening to One Second After
I finished "Dust" by Martha Grimes. When I say "finished" I mean I got so bored that I skimmed at least the last half. Having heard a lot about Grimes, I gave it a try (one of the Jury series) and found it predictable, two dimensional, nothing that set the characters, the plot or the writing apart from any other middle of the road books
Starting
Little Whispers by K.L. Slater. Recently finished the creepy and chilling
Dear Child by Romy Hausmann. https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
Wicked Business
by Janet EvanovichLizzy and Diesel #2, OK to read as stand-alone. Pastry chef Lizzy and supernaturally endowed Diesel solve a murder and track THE STONE. Booga booga. Cute humorous semi-mystery with supernatural overlays. Evanovich has a cute light funny style but this story doesn't match her Plum series. I liked it but....not a lot.
Barbara wrote: "I finished "Dust" by Martha Grimes. When I say "finished" I mean I got so bored that I skimmed at least the last half. Having heard a lot about Grimes, I gave it a try (one of the Jury series) and ..."That's too bad, Barbara. I've enjoyed the Jury series for the most part; I'm working through from the beginning now. I read one of her standalones (can't remember which now) and recall not enjoying it as much. But then again, there are so many authors out there, they're not all going to be everyone's cup of tea, eh?
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