What are You Reading - 2022

[Margo]

I DNFed The Snow Killer after a few chapters. Instead I picked up The Split.

[Christine]

I’m reading a book called He Was a Liar by Daniel Hurst

[PattyMacDotComma]

How disappointing. I have enjoyed many of Aussie author Di Morrissey's historical fiction novels, but this contemporary one, Before the Storm, seems embarrassingly amaeurish as well as preachy. Could do better.
2.5★ Link to my review of Before the Storm

[PattyMacDotComma]

I loved Geographies of the Heart by Caitlin Hamilton Summie. She writes wonderful short stories, but this is her first novel.
4.5~5★ Link to my review of Geographies of the Heart

[Margo]

I put The Split down for now. I reading it for a task in freezing conditions as I thought it was set in Georgia but it turns out that's only the first couple of hours them it switches to summer in Cambridge UK and it sounds like most of the action is there. I'm trying to focus on the challenge at the moment so I'll save that one for another day.

Instead I listened to The Snow Song which fit the task and was a great little story. Set in a an unnamed place in an unspecified time, it had the feel of a fairy tale and there was a bit of magical realism and a lot of feminism thrown in.

Next I'm going historical with The Marriage Game: A Novel of Queen Elizabeth I

[Janice, Moderator]

I finished The Burning Swift today. It's my first 5 star of the year. It was such a great end to the series.

I will start Tesser: A Dragon Among Us tomorrow.

[Kristie, Moderator]

I just finished The Christie Affair. I was really torn between 3 and 4 stars on this one. I may still change my mind. I listened to the audio with Craig and he is giving it 5 stars though, so I don't know... maybe it's just me. I'll think on it and see how I feel in a couple of days.

my Christie Affair review

I'm also still reading both Sundial and Josh and Gemma Make a Baby.

[Christine]

I’m reading a book called Minutes to Kill by Melinda Leigh

[Margo]

Janice wrote: "
I will start Tesser: A Dragon Among Us tomorrow."

I'll be interested to see what you think of that one Janice. I've owned it for years, think I must have picked up in a sale sometime.

[Janice, Moderator]

I've had it for a long time too. I don't remember when I bought it or why. Likely, it was a sale item.

So far, it's okay... seems to be pretty much typical paranormal romance, though I'm not sure if there's romance in it yet.

[Lilisa]

Finished All The Lonely People - enjoyed it and definitely worth the read. Review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

Finished We Are All Birds of Uganda - another good read by debut author Hafsa Zayyan. I heard her on a Penguin U.K. podcast on how she ended up writing the book - impressive. My review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

I did a re-read of a top all-time favorite The Gift of Rain for one of my book groups. This is my third time reading it and it still literally takes my breath away. My updated review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

I’m reading I Rode a Horse of Milk White Jade. I also started The Complete Works of Rabindranath Tagore - a massive tome, which I’m mapping out to read through the end of the year.

[PattyMacDotComma]

I knew nothing about Letters to Camondo or Edmund de Waal, but just happened upon this fascinating biography, written as letters to "you", Count Moïse de Camondo, who lived in Paris during WWII.
4.5★ Link to my review of Letters to Camondo with a few photos and a link to more

[Dem]

Finished A Woman Made of Snow by Elisabeth Gifford

www.goodreads.com/review/show/4264946247

[Dem]

Finished A Woman Made of Snow by Elisabeth Gifford

www.goodreads.com/review/show/4264946247

[Margo]

Janice wrote: "I've had it for a long time too. I don't remember when I bought it or why. Likely, it was a sale item.

So far, it's okay... seems to be pretty much typical paranormal romance, though I'm not sure ..."

LOL - I don't remember when or why I bought it either but for me it was likely the word "Dragon" in the title ;-)

[Rusalka, Moderator]

I finished The Travellers. Quick read. Was enjoyable fluff, although got a bit dark in the last 50 pages or so. Lovely descriptions of Hungary, which I am unsure is real or not, but makes me want to go there.

Started on The Yard

[Wendy]

Lean Fall Stand because it was the first book (3rd I picked up) on the "New" shelf at the library that piqued my interest.

[Janice, Moderator]

I finished The Dutch Wife this morning. It was a quirky read and a nice change from the usual fodder. I mean, guinea worms, stink trees, and husbands with the same name.

I will start About the Night tonight.

[PattyMacDotComma]

Wendy wrote: "Lean Fall Stand because it was the first book (3rd I picked up) on the "New" shelf at the library that piqued my interest."

Ah, that has piqued my interest, too, Wendy. I love Jon McGregor's work.

[PattyMacDotComma]

I have missed Mick Herron's spies, the Slow Horses. These two novellas slot neatly into his much-loved Slough House series but can be enjoyed together without reading the rest.

The List is #2.5 and shows John Bachelor doing 'the milk run', babysitting retired, elderly spooks. Tricky!
4.5★ My review of The List

The Drop is #5.5 and follows the action from The List. Old-school tricks are recognised by old-school spooks!
4.5★ My review of The Drop


These are also available as a single book.
The Drop & The List

[Janice, Moderator]

Change of plans... The book blurb for About the Night mentions 1947 right off the bat, so I assigned it to the 1930/1940's task. When I went to start reading it, the chapters included the year, and there was only one chapter in 1947. The rest were in 1960's to contemporary times. Bah!

Instead, I will start reading The House of the Scorpion.

[Christine]

I’m reading a book called Seconds to Live by Melinda Leigh

[Christine]

I’m reading a book called The Defiant Hero by Suzanne Brockmann

[PattyMacDotComma]

My non-review shows why book reviewers are important. I also link to a very informative real review by a scientist and the interesting NZ article that sent me down this rabbit hole! Please avoid this book, though.
Charles Darwin: Victorian Mythmaker by A.N. Wilson
1★ (for the cover) Link to my non-review and reasons I posted it

[Rusalka, Moderator]

Oh that's fantastic, thanks Patty. Good to get that review up on goodreads, and for alerting us to that and the article. Why do people publish such things?!?

I read your "Review" and the supporting pages, and checked my twitter. The first post there was talking about Adam Rutherford's new book by an academic I follow. So that's timely!
https://twitter.com/ProfFrancesca/sta...

[Dem]

Finished and enjoyed Breaking Point by Edel Coffey

[Sandra, Moderator]

Very interesting, Patti. I haven't read the article yet, but the Amazon review is neat. Thanks.

[Janice, Moderator]

I finished both books I had on the go:


The Last House on Needless Street
The House of the Scorpion

Today, I will start The Eye of the World (audiobook) and The Hermit of Africville: The Life of Eddie Carvery (Kindle).

[Lilisa]

I finished Blackout. An enjoyable historical fiction thriller. My review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

Going to start The Travelling Cat Chronicles for the monthly themed read.

[PattyMacDotComma]

Rusalka wrote: "Oh that's fantastic, thanks Patty. Good to get that review up on goodreads, and for alerting us to that and the article. Why do people publish such things?!?

I read your "Review" and the supportin..."

Oooo that's always a little spooky, isn't it, Rusalka?!

[PattyMacDotComma]

Edgware Road by Yasmin Cordery Khan tells the story of an international banking scandal and how an English-Pakistani family living in London got caught up in it, to the point that someone ends up dead. Excellent!
4.5~5★ Link to my Edgware Road review

[PattyMacDotComma]

The only short story Toni Morrison ever wrote, Recitatif, has been reissued with an introduction by Zadie Smith. It is a real mind-bender. Which girl is black, which white? I loved it.
5★ Link to my review of Recitatif with a link to an article by Zadie Smith.

[Christine]

I’m reading a book called His Billion Dollar Baby by Lea Nolan

[PattyMacDotComma]

I enjoyed Aussie author Kerry Greenwood's glamorous and fearless (almost) Phryne Fisher flying her Gipsy Moth over the Australian Alps in the 1930s in The Green Mill Murder, #5 in this entertaining series.
3.5~4★ Link to my Green Mill Murder review

[PattyMacDotComma]

I'm really enjoying this historical mystery series by C.S. Harris, set in London in the early 1800s with England and France at war (again? still? always?). In Why Mermaids Sing, Sebastian St. Cyr, Viscount Lord Devlin, is investigating a murder, and then another, and then . . .
4.5★ Link to my review of Why Mermaids Sing

[PattyMacDotComma]

The Things They Carried in Vietnam include more than stuff. This phenomenal book by Tim O'Brien was a finalist for the 1991 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction. Included in a soldier's burden are shame, fear, and embarrassment. I feel like I know his people, and I wish they hadn't had to go.
5★ Link to my review of The Things They Carried

[Margo]

I'm just finished The Last House on Needless Street for the group read. It was a roller coaster of a book and I thoroughly enjoyed it.

I moved onto Troubled Blood. I'm 10 hours in and find it abit daunting that there's another 20 hours to go. I'm used to those kinds of lenths in SSF but not in mystery stories. I think J.K. is pulling it off though, I'm riveted. I was a bit nervous starting this one because if all the contravasy but I'm not finding it at all offensive. This 8s not a plot spoiler but for those who like to go into a story without any foreknowledge, don't read this.
(view spoiler)[I know the author has expressed some questionable views about trans people but I don't see that reflected in the themes of the book. There are references to a historical case where a man posed as a woman to assist in the capture of his victims. That is not a thing trans people do, it is a thing dangerous criminals do.
(hide spoiler)]

[Kristie, Moderator]

I preordered that one, Margo, and really want to read it, but it is quite a time commitment and I still haven't been able to do it. I'm hoping to get to it this year.

[Margo]

It's well worth the effort Kristie. She's such an engaging writer.

[Christine]

I’m reading a book called Save Her Soul by Lisa Regan

[Kristie, Moderator]

I hope to read it before the next book comes out at the end of March.

[Dem]

Finished and enjoyed The Last House on the Street by Diane Chamberlain

My Review: /www.goodreads.com/review/show/4528828653

[Dem]

Finished and enjoyed The Woman in the White Kimono by Ana Johns

My Review: www.goodreads.com/review/show/4188565914

[Christine]

[Janice, Moderator]

I finished The Hermit of Africville: The Life of Eddie Carvery last night. It's non-fiction about a black community in Halifax that was bull dozed and the residents displaced in the 1970's. Trigger warnings for racial discrimination and human injustices.

I'm pausing my current audiobook read (The Eye of the World) and will start two new books for the toppler:
The Bell in the Lake on audiobook
Daughters of the Dragon on Kindle

[Margo]

Just started Practical Magic

[PattyMacDotComma]

Buzz Books 2022: Spring/Summer has a long list of books coming out this year, and it includes excerpts from many of them. Authors range from winners of the Nobel and Pulitzer Prizes to debut authors new to the market. It's a great way to get a taste of what's out there.
5★ My review of Buzz Books 2022 Spring/Summer, which has a link to where you can download a copy for free

[PattyMacDotComma]

Author Chris Gill is originally a 'product' of the UK and NZ who now lives in Australia. (YAY!) His latest book, Boy Fallen, takes place on the rugged west coast of NZ's South Island. Accident or murder? It's a good story in a great setting - worth a look.
3★ My review of Boy Fallen

[Margo]

Finished Practical Magic and wasn't over impressed. Started Sistersong

[Christine]

I’m reading a book called Breathe Your Last by Lisa Regan