What book are you currently reading?

[kristina]

During the four hours of "you know what" I have started to read books which I usually would not really read,
but during "you know what", these books are providing me with great fun and they make "my" four hours run much quicker...
... like when I am reading an Agatha Christie Thriller or a Dennis Wheatley Murder Mystery with all the evidences supplied in little paper-pockets  included in every mystery story, as in "Murder Off Miami" or "Murder At The Milky Way Club" or "Who Murdered Robert Prentice"
or "The Malinsay Massacre", where a wealthy family is being "wiped out" by one of their financially poorer "side-liners" of the family...
These stories by Dennis Wheatley come with all the evidence supplied in those little paper-pockets within the book
and it is very fascinating to play "Sherlock Holmes" for four hours and "snoop" though the evidence during "you know what"...
... or the book I am currently reading: Anthony Masters "Literary Agents" (The novelist as a spy) with little stories
about writers (i.e. Somerset Maughan, Ian Flemning, John le Carré and many others) and their spying during the first and second world disaster...
... another book which is quite interesting to read is "Femme Fatale", the researched story about Mata Hari...
... And as I have said above, I would usually not have the time to read these books,
but during the time of "you know what" they are great fun to study and read...

[kristina]

The Grand Era Of Cast-Iron Architecture In Portland (USA) by William John Hawkins III
The interesting story about how Portland was first build-up by brave pioneers who also invested their money
in the further development of Portland, once they became established there ... and the great pride people took in the city of Portland...
... and then, one hundred years later, Portland was "taken over" by conglomerates who destroyed a lot of the wonderful original architecture
which was so lovingly build-up by all those pioneers, plus, the conglomerates also destroyed anything in Portland
that would be of no more service to them without bothering about the great history of Portland
and how difficult it was for the pioneers to build-up Portland in the first place...
...Despite the rather non-descript title of the book, it is a most interesting historical and sociological story of one city,
 which happens to be Portland, but the reader is also allowed to see through a historical/sociological magnifying-glass
how people’s priorities did change over one hundred years...
Great Book!

[WishIKnew]

I just finished The Girl on the Train.  It's crazy good in a Gone Girl sort of way.  I recommend it!

 

[MooseMom]

I just finished The Girl on the Train.  It's crazy good in a Gone Girl sort of way.  I recommend it!

 

Oh wow, I've just finished that one, too!  I really liked it.

I've just started the first book of the 44 Scotland Street series by Alexander McCall Smith.

[kristina]

I just finished The Girl on the Train.  It's crazy good in a Gone Girl sort of way.  I recommend it!

 

Hello WishIknew, great to "see" you again!
Hope things are going well for you
and I send you my kind regards,
Kristina.

[Sibella]

I just finished The Girl on the Train.  It's crazy good in a Gone Girl sort of way.  I recommend it!

 

My book group is reading The Girl on the Train this month but I haven't started it yet. Thanks for the recommendation!

[Sibella]

Currently reading All the Light We Cannot See. It was my book group's pick for February but I was away and am just reading it now.

[iolaire]

Currently reading All the Light We Cannot See. It was my book group's pick for February but I was away and am just reading it now.

Our book club settled for that book on Sunday, we are three couples and two of the wives read it and all three wives recommended it....

[Sibella]

Currently reading All the Light We Cannot See. It was my book group's pick for February but I was away and am just reading it now.

Our book club settled for that book on Sunday, we are three couples and two of the wives read it and all three wives recommended it....

Thanks for the multiple recommendations! I've been rather lax in my reading recently. The books are piling up.

[Riki]

I just finished Prince Lestat by Anne Rice.  It's the newest of the Vampire Chronicles.  It jumped around a bit, as her books tend to do, and it ended strangely, which I hope means that there are other books coming.

[Charlie B53]

Took the last of the three Dennis Wheatley murder books back to the Library today.  The first two were really neat, just like kristina described.  Never seen anything like them and would like to see publishers do more like that.  The third was hard-bound.  Still a purplexing riddle whodunnit.  I always thought (wrong) that I cold be a great detective.  Now I know better.

While at the Library I picked up another five Ed McBain, from his series of murder in the 57th Precinct.  Usually a good read, and not too long, or dry.IDR, he has written maybe some 80 odds books in the 57th series.  There are a lot I haven't seen, yet.

[kristina]

Took the last of the three Dennis Wheatley murder books back to the Library today.  The first two were really neat, just like kristina described.  Never seen anything like them and would like to see publishers do more like that.  The third was hard-bound.  Still a purplexing riddle whodunnit.  I always thought (wrong) that I cold be a great detective.  Now I know better.

Hello Charlie,
I am so glad that you had great fun reading through those Dennis Wheatley mysteries ...
... I also wish, that a publisher would publish more of them,
but perhaps it has become too time-consuming and too expensive these days
to put all these different "evidences" into many little paper-pockets included in every single mystery...
...It is a great pity that only these few Dennis Wheatley mysteries with evidence were produced in the 1930's,
because they are most fascinating and such great fun to "work" through during "you know what" ...
Best wishes from Kristina.
P.S. I am not a detective either, but these mysteries have kept me very busy during "you know what"...
... Could you please share the titles of the Dennis Wheatley mysteries you located at your library?
Thanks again from Kristina.

[Charlie B53]

The first one is 'Murder in Miami'

Second was 'the one you've seen, 'Who Killed ....'  then I forgot the name.

And I don't remember the name of the third hardbound book.

I live in Mid-Missouri, our Library is associated with three other county Library systems and regularly loan books back and forth.  So I was very surprised to fiind they borrows all thre of these from different libraries in Oklahoma, one from the Univ of OK.

The Librarians all got a real kick out of seeing howw the first two books were assembled.   They are really neat.  And make them very hard to put down.  Once you start you just HAVE TO finished.

Thank you for posting about the one as I never would have found any of them, never had a 'clue' that any books like this would exist outside of police files.

[kristina]

Thank you Charlie,
I am so glad that you enjoyed these Dennis Wheatley mysteries
and that the librarians found them interesting as well because they are so very different...
It is great to read a mystery and it feels like "combing" slowly through a police file with all the evidence included ....
... Lets hope one day someone else puts a few more of these mysteries together ..
... I have just started to read Dennis Wheatleys "Old Rowley" (a very private life of Charles II)
and Dennis Wheatleys "The Dark Secret of Josephine" (Napoleon)...
... I have no idea about these books yet and I "only" relied on the name of the autor...
but I do hope very much that these books also entertain me well during "you know what"...
Best wishes from Kristina.

[kristina]

- CAMP Z - How British Intelligence Broke Hitler's Debuty by Stephen McGinty.
An interesting book to read about May 1941 when Rudolf Hess (?), the Debuty parachuted over Reinfrewshire in Scotland
on a "mission" to meet with the Duke of Hamilton, ostensibly to broker a peace-deal (?) with the British Government (?) ...
... The book creates many more fundamental questions than it could possibly answer, but is a fascinating and interesting read all the same...

[Riki]

Just bought the ebook version of The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood.  I'm told it's a great read.  I'll most likely start it on Monday

[Sugarlump]

Just bought the ebook version of The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood.  I'm told it's a great read.  I'll most likely start it on Monday

I read this book awhile ago for my bookclub. It was a startling but good read. It makes you think ...it isn't that far out of the realms of possibility...

[Sugarlump]

I have just finished SECOND LIFE (Highly recommended) by SJ Watson who wrote Before I go sleep...
I loved it.

[Riki]

Just bought the ebook version of The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood.  I'm told it's a great read.  I'll most likely start it on Monday

I read this book awhile ago for my bookclub. It was a startling but good read. It makes you think ...it isn't that far out of the realms of possibility...

I'm hoping that it starts to explain itself a bit.. I don't understand why they are doing all these things.. and what happened to cause such a change in society

[Riki]

I also bought the audio book for Stars: The Anthology, which is a compilation of short stories written by prominent science fiction authors, each inspired by a song by Janis Ian.  There are 30 stories, I think.  I've discovered, while listening to this audio book, and the audio book of her autobiography, that I could listen to Janis Ian's speaking voice forever.  She could read the phone book, and I'd hang on every single word.

I also found several of the stories in this collection to be rather plotless, so I started writing one of my own, of course, inspired by a Janis Ian song

[Sugarlump]

Just bought the ebook version of The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood.  I'm told it's a great read.  I'll most likely start it on Monday

I read this book awhile ago for my bookclub. It was a startling but good read. It makes you think ...it isn't that far out of the realms of possibility...

I'm hoping that it starts to explain itself a bit.. I don't understand why they are doing all these things.. and what happened to cause such a change in society

You learn more about why as you read it and some of the reasoning behind it. Persevere

[iolaire]

I'm reading Born to Run: A Hidden Tribe, Superathletes, and the Greatest Race the World Has Never Seen.  Its turning out to be a good story, both tracking down some people in the Mexican wilderness and the history of extreme running races (say 100 + miles mover mountains). 

Also goes into how modern shoes cause more injuries...  For example it quotes some studies of athletes (runners) stretching before races.  One study showed no decrease in injuries and another showed an increase in injuries with stretching!  Yet another reminder that just because something is popularized doesn't mean its right.

So that ties into medical care, some of what our doctors feel is best today might be proved wrong within our lifetimes...

[kristina]

During "you know what" I have been reading a fascinating book: "A Different Class of Murder" (The story of Lord Lucan) by Laura Thomson.
Not only is this book a most interesting real-life "who's-done-it-mystery", but it also gives a real insight into the UK-class-system during the 1960' and 1970's.
The story itself is most complicated and at the same time rather simple: The nanny of Lord Lucan's children was murdered and Lord Lucan has disappeared ever since...
But at the time when all this happened, Lord and Lady Lucan were fighting over the custody of their children and questions were being asked whether Lady Lucan was a fit mother
because she seemed rather pre-occupied with her regular psychiatrist treatments and/or medications... and Lord Lucan was just in the process to finally get custody over the children...
After the murder of the nanny had taken place, Lady Lucan instantly ran to the police and accused her husband of murdering the nanny ...
As a result of this accusation, she was given custody of her children again... Lord Lucan on the other hand has disappeared and the police has been "searching" for him ever since...
... It is interesting to notice, that one particular police-station in Lord Lucan's London-district (Belgravia) has been following up any new Lord-Lucan-sightings anywhere in the world ever since,
... and one of the police-officers regularly "has to" travel to far off regions anywhere in the world to search for Lord Lucan,
if by any chance Lord Lucan has been sighted again...  (Most interesting police-job, if you can get it...)
Fascinating book and a very fascinating story...!

[MuddyGurl]

I seem to split my reading between anything Scifi-post survival, LCHF nutritional ketosis, and the thinking brain.

Since most CKD patients can be pre-diabetic I am reading Dr Bernstein's Diabetes Solution,  Stop Pre Diabetes Now, by Jack Challem, & Fat Chance, Dr. Robert Lustig who has amazing youtube videos on anti-sugar rant, and the obesity epidemic. the high carb pyramid we have been 'sold' for 40+ years has riven a disaster for most of the world.   
For Nutrition it is "200 Low Carb High Fat Recipes" by Dana Carpender (not Carpenter)

For Sci Fi  am loving the type of futuristic/other world series The Saga of the Seven Suns- 6 books!! all thick.

For thinking…Daniel Kahnemans Thinking Fast and Slow   Nobel Prize winer..he shows how our embedded brain choices  of thinking in just 2 stages, can cause prejudice and skew decisions while we mean well.. and misread what others say or mean.  this is a DENSE read..whew….
 

[MuddyGurl]

Riki- The HandMaid's tale…   I think we eventually learn that Islamic Radicals take over the world  due to a progressive and liberal acceptance of laws changing, so while  women are seen as only baby makers for Jihad warriors, or sex play, and all NON-childbearing women are crones only good for maid service and cooking.  ( the women stealing butter to use as skin lotion was a sobering reality of how they survived, and being forced to wear glittery high heels, but have unshaved legs…grim)

So you are  entering the story as the world exists in the future….LEFT TO ASSUME they took over in the past…

It should  make us shudder to see how we can lose our rights and constitutional protection by being overrun. The political message seems clear…protect your self and your borders and defend the laws you live under..or risk the consequences.   [that this is happening NOW with Sharia Law in London and in Benilux countries..trouble is brewing today and it is in the news all the time.  Forwarned is forearmed?

One funny comment I read was "Were where the Hells Angels?  why didn't they kick ass?"   

 I ADMIT I read her book in the 80s when it came out, and not recently but what stuck with me was the SAME religious Jihadis who didn't drink or party by their laws..DID all these things in the book, dressed up women in scanty clothing, drank booze…..just like the 19 terrorists did in the days before 9/11 as they went to bars and strip clubs before meeting the 72 virgins in their heaven.