Read White Night by Jim Butcher. Book 9 of Dresden Files. The start felt weaker than previous books, but it picked up after a little while, and ended up pretty good overall. In general, every new Dresden Files book feels better than the last one, but with this one, I would say while it’s good, it isn’t better than previous one (Proven Guilty).
Also started reading Side Jobs by Jim Butcher. These are short stories in the same world. I have read all the ones until White Night (the book I just read). Will keep this book in ‘Currently Reading’ pile and read the next stories after reading the respective novels.
Read The Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka. The story was weird, specially the ending. Couldn’t decide what to make of it. So will just leave it at that.
Currently reading Moon Over Soho by Ben Aaronovitch. Book 2 of Rivers of London series. Urban fantasy featuring a “magic cop” in London. I loved the first book, and have only just started this one. Have hardly read 5 pages yet.
What about all of you? What have you been reading or listening to lately?
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I’m reading The Garden of Departed Cats by Bilge Karasu. It’s a collection of very strange and seemingly unrelated short stories, interspersed with chapters about a traveler in a Mediterranean city who ends up taking part in a human chess game. The publisher’s description says, “With many strata to mine, The Garden of the Departed Cats is a work of peculiar beauty and strangeness, the whole layered and shiny like a piece of mica.” If you like Kafka, or Italo Calvino, this might be up your alley. Me, I’m not too sure yet.
I’m also listening to the audiobook of The Sentence by Louise Erdrich. It’s told from the point of view of Tookie, an ex con who works at a bookstore in Minnesota owned by an author named Louise. Tookie is now married to the tribal cop who arrested her, she has a fraught relationship with her step daughter and with the ghost of a former bookstore customer who died while reading a book that is now in Tookie’s possession that she thinks may be cursed. It takes place in 2020, and COVID-19 has just struck. I love Louise Erdrich, and this is much more engaging than the Karasu.
I just finished The Push by Ashley Audrain. It has me torn so I’m not sure what to make of it. I find myself repulsed but I also can’t stop thinking about it. It’s about motherhood but with a twisted, psychotic twist.
I just started In the Lives of Puppets by TJ Klune. I enjoyed their first book, but since then I’ve found their work a little formulaic. Hopefully this one is refreshing. The title and subject make it seem like YA but I find the jokes lewd enough for grown-ups so I guess I am enjoying it so far.
I’m about halfway through Malice by Keigo Higashino. It’s unusual in that it’s not a who dunnit, it’s a why dunnit, and that half of the book (this is not a spoiler) is the murderer’s unreliable written account, interspersed with chapters of the detective’s report. The prose is a little dry (not sure if that’s a translation issue, or if it’s that way in the original Japanese), but it’s short and engaging.
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Finished Weak Heart by Ban Gilmartin. Sort of an urban fantasy on a remote Scottish island, dealing with Scottish folklore and a missing friend/ex. There are some monsters and apparitions, but I wouldn’t call it horror (although you might want to check content warnings, as there is some reliving of past traumas). Very much a peek into the two main characters’ heads as they investigate, learn to tolerate each other, and grow over the course of the story. Kind of a YA vibe, but not. Recommended if that sounds like your jam.
Bingo squares: Independent Author, LGBTQIA+ Lead (hard). (Maybe also Family Drama, if you count unrelated-but-raised-together.)
I blasted through Tom Lake by Ann Patchett this weekend. It was exactly what I wanted out of a “summer read”. Cozy, but with a strong plot and characters.
I’m still working on The Liar’s Key by Mark Lawrence. Only have about 100 pages left to go, but for some reason it’s just been hard to stick with it. Every time I pick it up, my mind tries to wander.
I’m reading The Player of Games by Iain M Banks. It’s the second book of the Culture series about a post scarcity anarchist collective of aliens and artificial intelligences evangelist. I really enjoyed the first and snapped at the second.
It’s good action and a neat space opera setting.
