What are you reading? Do you recommend it? Showing 451-500 of 2,320

[Barbara]

I finished Black and Blue by Ian Rankin. In this book Scottish D.I. John Rebus is obsessed with two serial killers he thinks are connected: "Bible John" who killed several women about 15 years ago and "Johnny Bible" who is killing women now. These are not Rebus' cases but he sneaks around and breaks rules right and left to pursue them. Rebus is a damaged alcoholic who is always in trouble with his superiors; however he is also a brilliant detective with loyal friends. Like all Ian Rankin's books this is an excellent read.

[Kim]

Started Mortal Fear by Greg Iles a few nights ago for an Author Spotlight Challenge. Having trouble getting into it or maybe at some other time. I'll give it a few more tries.

[Mary Todd]

Jan wrote: "I just finished Harlen Coben's Long LostLong Lost. I literally couldn't put it down. He is definitely a master of the page-turner."

I read it fast, too, but didn't you think it was weird and a little unsettling?

[Susanna - Censored by GoodReads]

Just finished yesterday The Murders of Richard III, by Elizabeth Peters. Fun read, especially if you have any interest in Richard III.

Currently reading Murder on Astor Place, by Victoria Thompson. Still making my mind up about this one.

[Mary Todd]

Elizabeth Peters is ALWAYS fun.

[Susanna - Censored by GoodReads]

I haven't read that much by her, but I've enjoyed everything I have read.

[JP]

Mary Todd wrote: "Jan wrote: "I just finished Harlen Coben's Long LostLong Lost. I literally couldn't put it down. He is definitely a master of the page-turner."

I read it fast, too, but didn't you..."

I also read Long Lost. Not Coben's best (My personal favorite is Tell No One) but still a very good read. He may have interjected too many "clever" exchanges between Myron and Win. They distracted the reader from the storyline.
JP O'Donnell
Author of Fatal Gamble and Deadly Codes

[Mary Todd]

I didn't mind the dialogue...in fact I think it is snappy...I thought the black room where you don't know if it's US or who doing the torturing and the whole embryo raising thing was just weird.

[JP]

Mary Todd wrote: "I didn't mind the dialogue...in fact I think it is snappy...I thought the black room where you don't know if it's US or who doing the torturing and the whole embryo raising thing was just weird."

Yes, he did veer off track with that "Boys from Brazil" tangent.

[Nancy]

I just finished a Donna Leon mystery "Uniform Justice". Set in Venice with the protagonist being Commissario Guido Brunetti. Great mix of travel and mystery. I'm going to work my way thru her books from the first one forward.

[Dia]

I always know I am in for a good read when I have a Harlan Coben book. I too loved Long Lost. The banter between Win and Myron never fails to make me laugh out loud. I just finished one of his stand alones... Gone For Good. It had me guessing to the very end, surprise after surprise. Next is No Second Chance. But I have to finish James Grippando's Got the Look first. So many books, so little time.

[Jim]

WRITTEN IN BONE by Simon Beckett
a forensic anthropologist chasing a murder in Scotland

[Michael]

Re reading "Hold Tight" by Harlan Coben.
Mr. Coben was the featured author at last year's New England Crime Bake and was wonderful. I had read this book once before. The idea is fetching, parents worried about their teenagers putting a spy system on the teenager's computer and attempting to see and thus protect their teens. From a parent who lost a child to drugs, this hit home.

[Linda]

Just started The Turnaround by George Pelecanos. Never read this author before.

[Linda]

Pamela wrote: "I'm cracking open The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo today after work. "

I loved this book and can't wait until his next book is here in the states. We featured this book on our website a month or so ago. So sadden when I heard of the author's untimely death.

[Linda]

I just finished reading "The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie" a week or so ago. Loved it.

[Linda]

Just finished "Never Tell a Lie" By Hallie Ephron. ( debut novel I think). Light read but fast paced and a page turner.

[Rachel]

This thread has introduced me to two new mystery series - and I love both of them. The first is the Lincoln Rhyme series by Jeffrey Deaver, and the second is Deborah Crombie's Kincaid and James series (I just started my first). Thank you to Goodreads!

[Michael]

Rereading "Drawing Dead" by Pete Hautman. It feels like the movie "The Sting" has been changed a little and added to print. I'm waiting for Paul Newman and Robert Redford characters to make their appearance.

[Gail]

Two oldies from Georgette Heyer: Why Shoot a Butler? (not recommended) and Behold, Here's Poison (recommended). The first is just a mess. The second is rather good.

[Patricia]

Linda wrote: "Just started The Turnaround by George Pelecanos. Never read this author before. "

I recently did a review on the paperback edition of The Turnaround for Armchair Interviews and I really liked the book. Hope you enjoy it too.

[Jen]

Linda, hope you enjoy Pelecanos. He's among my favorites and, in my opinion, one of the greats of contemporary crime fiction. He does SO MUCH MORE than tell a story. I just finished his newest book THE WAY HOME. Incredible!

[Mary Todd]

Mike wrote: "Re reading "Hold Tight" by Harlan Coben.
Mr. Coben was the featured author at last year's New England Crime Bake and was wonderful. I had read this book once before. The idea is fetching, parents..."

So sorry for your loss. I liked Hold Tight, too.

[Evelyn]

I just finished The Scarecrow by Michael Connelly--the continuing story of Jack McEvoy, the journalist we met in The Poet. It's a fast-paced ride that never stops. There's even a teaser for Nine Dragons, the next Harry Bosch novel due out in November 2009!

[Beth]

I'm glad to hear that Linda liked The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie! I'm about to start it, and I'm looking forward to it, given all the good buzz I've heard about it. I've got that book and a Nancy Pickard mystery tucked away in my travel bag while I'm on tour with my own mysteries in the northwest--Spokane tonight!

[Jan]

Mary Todd wrote: "Jan wrote: "I just finished Harlen Coben's Long LostLong Lost. I literally couldn't put it down. He is definitely a master of the page-turner."

I read it fast, too, but didn't you..."

Unsettling is part of what I like about books. Do you remember when "American Psycho" came out and the hysteria that ensued? It was actually stopped from entering Canada at the border. In my opinion books are meant to challenge and unsettle us. On the other hand, recreational reading should be recreational i.e. enjoyable. Sometimes it's hard to know when you pick up a book, especially by a favourite author, which way it's going to go.
I find if a book is just not doing it for me by the 50th page or so, I will put it down. Sometimes I'll go back to it but usually not. I used to feel an obsessive necessity to finish even if the book was a complete dud for me but no longer.
Just my opinion, what's yours?

[Elaine]

I agree. At one point a friend asked me to join her bookclub. The book was Atonement and I read about thirty pages and absolutely hated every one of them! I told her life was to short to read books you don't like. Sadly that was the end of my thoughts of joining a book club.

[Mary Todd]

I agree...being a teacher I'm a rule follower to a certain extent...finsh what you start, etc...but I have now at age 57 decided if I don't like a book, I'll just not read it. Good for me!

Long Lost I finished and enjoyed, but I found it weird. Maybe because it could happen...all those unclaimed embryos...being a teacher, I champion the children, adults are on their own and I think I found this the most horrible abuse of a child that could be...and all too possible.

A woman in a burka, raising 'infiltrators' with no nurturing gives me the willies.

[Jim]

STONE'S FALL by Iain Pears

fascinating book with spymasters, financiers set in
England from the 1870s to the 1950s
good depiction of English classes, their interaction and the financial aspects of the modern war scenarios

[[deleted user]]

I just finished reading J.A. Jance's "Until Proven Guilty". It is the first book I have read by her (and the first in the JP Beaumont series). I liked the main character and the relationship he begins to develop with his partner (Peters), but I was really underwhelmed by the plot. Am I alone in thinking this? Does the series get better?

[C.J.]

Hi guys! I've been lucky enough to be on a real winning streak lately as far as my reading goes!

First up was Lee Child's GONE TOMORROW, which I think is the best Reacher novel yet! Loved how Reacher's character absorbs all the details of his surroundings (as a former MP would) but instead of those details boring us, they become essential plot points that move things along....this one is in first person and it's fascinating to live in Reacher's head, see how his mind works.

Toni McGee Causey's publisher just re-released her first Bobbie Faye book--with a new cover and a new title: CHARMED AND DANGEROUS. They'll be following up with new packaging for her second book next month in anticipation of her NEW book, the third in the Bobbie Faye series coming in August: WHEN A MAN LOVES A WEAPON.

The new covers are great fun and I couldn't resist re-reading the first one in its new incarnation--what a hoot! I laughed and cried and laughed some more. If you haven't read Toni before, start now!!

Happy reading!
CJ

CJ Lyons
http://www.cjlyons.net
URGENT CARE, coming October 27, 2009
WARNING SIGNS, "Lyons is a master within the genre." ~Pittsburgh Magazine
LIFELINES, "A breathtakingly fast-paced medical thriller."~Publishers Weekly

[Michael]

Rereading and still enjoying "Drawing Dead" by Pete Hautman.
I'm seeing move of a Danny DeVito in the character Dickie Wickie. With his attempting to convince his clients to buy a worthless and fake comic book collection, he could be a clone of Harry Zimm, the film producer from Elmore Leonard's "Get Shorty."

[Michael]

Enjoying "Drawing Dead" by Pete Hautman and getting a kick out of the character Dickie Wicky, a stock broker who will sell anything. Ine these days of the Bernie Madoff fallout, Dickie Wicky is selling shares in a limited partnership in old time comic books that he knows is bogus. He reminds me of Danny DeVito in the movie, "Get Shorty" and Hautman's writing does shows a definate influence of Elmore Leonard.

[[deleted user]]

Snuggle up with Jackie Griffey, author of the Merrivale cozy mystery series, as she shares a little bit about her writing, her awesome new contract for her series, and her life on the Dames of Dialogue blog today. http://www.damesofdialogue.wordpress.com

[Kathy]

I'm reading The Last Dickens A Novel by Matthew Pearl and loving it.

[Mary Todd]

I just love you guys! Just cut and paste the books to my library request site and I'm good to go. Thanks for the really good books you reccomend!

[Barbara]

I'd suggest you give JA Jance another chance before giving up on her completely. Her Joanna Brady series is quite good and I've enjoyed several of the JP Beaumont books as well.


Kt wrote: "I just finished reading J.A. Jance's "Until Proven Guilty". It is the first book I have read by her (and the first in the JP Beaumont series). I liked the main character and the relationship he b..."

[Michael]

The Killer's Wife A Novel by Bill Floyd.
What happens to the family of a mass killer?
This tells the story of a wife and child of a killer and how a victim of the husband tracks them down and attempts to destroy their lives.

[Linda]

I finished "The Turnaround" by George Pelecanos and enjoyed it very much. After browsing here, I can see that my to be read pile of books is definitely going to grow; so many great recommendations!!!

[Linda]

Jan wrote: "Mary Todd wrote: "Jan wrote: "I just finished Harlen Coben's Long LostLong Lost. I literally couldn't put it down. He is definitely a master of the page-turner."

I read it fast, too..."

I'm glad I am not the only one who stops reading a book if it does not grab me. I usually give it about 100 pages. Loved your comment on books being meant to challenge unsettle or us.

[Melodie]

Bluedaizy wrote: "I "fanned" Steve Hamilton from reading one of his books about 5 years ago. I was kind of feeling guilty about it and bought a few more of his books. I'm reading Winter of the Wolf Moon and am aga..."

You should definitely read Starvation Lake A Mystery by Bryan Gruley! Great story that also takes place in upper Michigan. Hockey and a great story!!

[Melodie]

Mary Todd wrote: "I didn't mind the dialogue...in fact I think it is snappy...I thought the black room where you don't know if it's US or who doing the torturing and the whole embryo raising thing was just weird."

Agreed. I whipped right thru this one a flight to Las Vegas, but definitely thought it was weird and I thought it asked me stretch my "believability" factor just a bit too thin.

[Melodie]

Some recent reads that I would HIGHLY recommend: , , and . The Charlaine Harris book might not be to everyone's liking, but I love a little of the supernatural in my books!

[Kathy]

Melodie, I loved all of the Charlaine Harris Southern Vampire series with Sookie Stackhouse. I finished the most recent, Dead and Gone a couple of books back. I'm eagerly awaiting season two of True Blood, which is the HBO show based on Harris' book series and starts on Sunday, June 14th.

I'm also glad to see you recommended Dog on It A Chet and Bernie Mystery. I've been looking at it in the bookstore.

[Melodie]

Kathy wrote: "Melodie, I loved all of the Charlaine Harris Southern Vampire series with Sookie Stackhouse. I finished the most recent, Dead and Gone a couple of books back. I'm eagerly awaiting ..."

I'm eager for Sunday to get here, too, so season 2 of True Blood can start!! The Sookie books have been among my very favorites since I found the first one by accident back in 2001!

[Linda]

Patricia wrote: "Linda wrote: "Just started The Turnaround by George Pelecanos. Never read this author before. "

I recently did a review on the paperback edition of The Turnaround for Armchair Interviews and I re..."

I noticed you like Tom Rob Smith. I loved Child 44 and can't wait to read "The Secret Speech". Hope it is as good.

[Michael]

After reading this medical thriller I never want to go to a hospital again. This deals with medical malpractice, transplants, hospital intrege and buying a person's way to the top of a transplant list.

[Michael]

Just starting this well talked about novel. Looking forward to an interesting read.

[Melodie]

Mike wrote: "
Just starting this well talked about novel. Looking forward to an interesting read."

I love all the Twilight books.......well, maybe not BREAKING DAWN so much, but I'm a vampire junkie anyway!

[Mary Todd]

I'm really enjoying the Depression Era mysteries by Linda L. Richards...Death is the other woman and Death is in the picture.

Cute characters, resonable plots, great ambience of 30's Hollywood. Really fun.