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Currently reading? Just finished? 2023
I read. An Evil Heart by. Linda Castillo It starts with a brutal murder and is not a cozy mystery. My 4 star review. https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
Whoo boy! Endgame: An Insurgency on Wall Street by Sheelah Kolhatkar is a cracker of a short story about the shortcomings of the Big Guys (my term), and how outsiders are challenging them. The author knows her stuff. Available on NetGalley until May 16.
5★ My review of Endgame:An Insurgency on Wall Street
Jussi Adler-Olsen's novel Mercy is also known as The Keeper of Lost Causes. Police prefer to think of them as cold cases, and Danish detective Carl Mørck has been 'promoted' to the basement to reheat them. 
4★ My review of Mercy
The Joe Pickett series carries on tackling criminals, bent politicians and cryptocurrency to small-town Wyoming in Storm Watch by C.J. BoxMy review:https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
Just read and enjoyed John Lawton's Old Flames
I like this series a lot; see my review https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
Moscow Exile
by John LawtonJoe Wilderness #4, strongly recommend the series be read in order. Not a mystery -- it's a spy thriller. The book is subtitled "a Joe Wilderness novel" but in fact it isn't. Joe doesn't really show up until half way through. I was prepared to be disappointed but Lawton is such a fine writer and since the other characters are mostly known to me from previous Wilderness and Troy novels I thoroughly enjoyed the book. Really liked it, 4 stars. Would have been 5 but for the false advertising.
Just finished
The Girl who survived by Lisa JacksonLisa Jackson.Here's my 4.5* review
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
Now starting CITY OF DREAMS by Don Winslow, the second novel in his planned crime fiction trilogy where both the characters and storylines parallel those of The Iliad and The Aeneid. In the author's trilogy the Irish and Italian mobs in Providence, Rhode Island during the 1980s and 90's substitute for the Trojans and Greeks. It makes for some great reading so far.
An Invitation to Seashell Bay: Part 1: All Things Crafty by Bella Osborne ⭐⭐ https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
This appears to be the first of a new series, Fire with Fire by Candice Fox is an incredibly fast-paced crime thriller set in LA.My review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
Mod
I recently bought Salvage This World ... are you enjoying it so far?
4/5 cozy stars
Pie Pie Bakery in Kilbane, County Cork Ireland should be renamed to Die Die Bakery.
Please read my review linked below
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
Icewineanne wrote: "Christine wrote: "Icewineanne wrote: "Christine wrote: "Nancy wrote: "Well, all I can say is that it's all about where you live and what you are exposed to early on. Nancy Drew and the Hardy Boys w..."Lucky you!
In 1965 when I was 10, Enid Blyton was banned by parents and teachers from most school libraries and public libraries. Would it not have been for my friend and her three older brothers, I would have missed the best children's books of my childhood (The Famous Five + The Adventure Series).
Pam wrote: "Why Enid Blyton's books were banned: https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/..."
thanks - that must have been a UK ban or else the books weren't very common in the US
CBRetriever wrote: "why were they banned?"Well, German parents and teachers were anti-Blyton and blamed her for her simple writing style. I never thought there's anything wrong with Blyton's writing style. She turned me into a bookworm. :)
Anything is allowed as long as an author can get a child to start reading books and starting to love literature. Just my 2 cents.
I used to love reading Blyton until fairly recently, so I think I have been an avid reader of her books for more time than many other former favourite authors who have fallen by the wayside for me. She was a gifted writer who had a sharp eye for plots and her simple writing was so cosy to me in my childhood. Even if she had ghostwriters she chose them well, I believe.
As for her classism and elitism, many people on GR are still like that and yet I am friends with some of them, so there's that.
Last Movie: Suzume no Tojimari (Makoto Shinkai, 2022) 8/10
Definitely noticing a change in style in the Jack Reacher books as the transition from one brother to the other takes place. Better Off Dead by Lee Child is far more heavy in the minute details than ever before.My review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
Luffy wrote: "I used to love reading Blyton until fairly recently, so I think I have been an avid reader of her books for more time than many other former favourite authors who have fallen by the wayside for me...."Believe me, Enid Blyton didn't have ghost writers.
Between 1928 and 1968 she published ca. 800 children's books and it was well-known that she could finish writing a Famous Five sequel in one week only.
My life wouldn't have been the same without Blyton's suspenseful series of books!
Christine wrote: "Believe me, Enid Blyton didn't have ghost writers.Between 1928 and 1968 she published ca. 800 children's books and it was well-known that she could finish writing a Famous Five sequel in one week only.
My life wouldn't have been the same without Blyton's suspenseful series of books!"
I can believe that. Blyton fulfills a role in getting people to read from an early age. My favourites are the Find Outers and Dog, and also the Faraway trilogy.
Last Movie: Suzume no Tojimari (Makoto Shinkai, 2022) 8/10
Hi Luffy, growuing up in Germany I only read Blyton's Famous Five books, my favorites are the Adventure series and "The Secret Island" (which I read to this day whenever I'm sick), and like her Barney & Miranda series which is also called R series. I did read the entire Five Find Outers & Dog series and liked 4 or 5 of the books, but never enjoyed her boarding school series which was called "Hanni und Nanni" in German.
British children's books author Norman Dale was another favorite author when I was 10 years old in the mid 1960's. Even though he was Blyton's contemporary and wrote similar books on secret passages and hidden treasure, he was never as successful and is forgotten nowadays.
His book "Skeleton Island" is as suspenseful as any of the Adventure series or Famous Five series sequels.
In Germany the publishers never translated "The Faraway Tree" or the Nobby books, so I never read them.
Christine wrote: "Hi Luffy, growuing up in Germany I only read Blyton's Famous Five books, my favorites are the Adventure series and "The Secret Island" (which I read to this day whenever I'm sick), and like her Bar..."Hello Christine! The Faraway series are good enough for any age. Once a GR friend told me she read The Enchanted Wood based on a review of mine. She gave the book 5 stars. If you are yet to read The Enchanted Wood (the first book in the trilogy), then go ahead. I must tell you though, that there are censored versions of this series. Apparently the people in publishing decided to change the names and actions of a few major characters. I feel relieved that I have the correct e-books. Thanks for the reply to my message :)
Last Movie: Suzume no Tojimari (Makoto Shinkai, 2022) 8/10
Faith wrote: "My review of Central Park West by James Comeyhttps://www.goodreads.com/review/show..."
I didn't know Comey wrote fiction. I'll have to try to get this. 🙂
Luffy wrote: "Christine wrote: "Hi Luffy, growuing up in Germany I only read Blyton's Famous Five books, my favorites are the Adventure series and "The Secret Island" (which I read to this day whenever I'm sick)..."Hi Luffy, I think all EB books have been changed (politically corrected) and most of all, her wonderful illustrations by Eileen A. Soper (Famous Five) and Stuart Tresilian (Adventure series) have been either replaced in the German translations by very ugly modernized illsutrations by Wolfgang Hennecke or they have been published without any illustrations (Adventure series).
Do you know this website: https://www.enidblytonsociety.co.uk/i...
Cheers,
Chrissie
Christine wrote: "Luffy wrote: "Christine wrote: "Hi Luffy, growuing up in Germany I only read Blyton's Famous Five books, my favorites are the Adventure series and "The Secret Island" (which I read to this day when..."That's a shame.
Every so often they start yellling about changing Huck Finn and Tom Sawyer. It usually makes me rush out and get another copy before they get change.
I don't think Blyton was popular here. I mostly read first The Bobbsey Twins and then Nancy Drew. Both are very dated. But I prefer them that way.
And, yes, they had virtually a factory going on Nancy.
Dead Man’s Wake
is a well done police procedural. My four star review:https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
Christine wrote: "I finished my 37th book"I finished my 58th book, 92 more to go.
I just finished a wonderful book: Colleen Hoover's It Ends with Us ... I'll begin its sequel tomorrow. https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/3...
Not a mystery, but a good memoir.Rocket Boys
by Homer HickamHomer Hickam Jr. is an American author, a Vietnam War veteran, and a former NASA engineer. In this memoir, Hickam describes his coming of age in Coalwood, West Virginia, where he and some friends became amateur rocket scientists.
Great coming of age story. 4 stars
My review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
Mod
I'm with you. I remember reading a later edition of No Orchids for Miss Blandish by James Hadley Chase (an awesome novel by the way), and it had been pretty much scrubbed clean to make it more palatable for modern readers. I was so upset, thinking "what's next? Is someone going to clean up Shakespeare?" I think books should be left in their original form.
Nancy wrote: "Jan C wrote: "Christine wrote: "Luffy wrote: "Christine wrote: "Hi Luffy, growuing up in Germany I only read Blyton's Famous Five books, my favorites are the Adventure series and "The Secret Island..."bowdlerism was common for Shakespeare at one time
Dr. Bowdler's Legacy: A History of Expurgated Books in England and America
here's the first volumeThe Family Shakespeare, Volume Three, the Histories
The Family Shakespeare in Three Volumes: in which nothing is added to the original text; but those words and expressions are omitted which cannot with propriety be read aloud in a Family. The Family Shakespeare is one of the most famous works ever written. There is even a word introduced by it into the English language: "Bowdlerized."
I finished the mother of all high seas pirate adventure books: 
Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson
Rating: 3 stars
Review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
and I started reading the short novel
The Moon Is Down by John Steinbeck
RJ - Slayer of Trolls wrote: "I finished the mother of all high seas pirate adventure books: Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson
Rating: 3 stars
Review:..."
I can highly recommend "Travels with Charley" by John Steinbeck.
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The Mystery, Crime, and Thriller Group
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