The Girl Who Takes An Eye For An Eye.

I just started it and I think I am going to love it as much as the first 4 books. There are a lot of people who were angry that the series continued after the death of Stieg Larsson, but I really enjoyed The Girl In The Spider's Web and the writing of David Lagercrantz. I think he has done a great job of continuing the story of Lisbeth Salander.

I think Lagercrantz does a good job. It's terribly sad that we lost Stieg but I'm glad someone is keeping Lisbeth "alive."

The story of the struggle of as woman in Palestine 1990 and her granddaughter in Brooklyn 2008.


I'm about halfway through.It's interesting,not the best book of the summer,but a good read.

But kind of important. "Where I come from, we’ve learned to silence ourselves. We’ve been taught that silence will save us. Where I come from, we keep these stories to ourselves. To tell them to the outside world is unheard of—dangerous, the ultimate shame.”

I would not recommend this book.

by Grisham. Maybe I am being a bit picky this week. I think I know how this will end. It seems predictable.

I read the Shaffer book some time ago. I thought it was cutesy and the people had thinking that was too contemporary for what was happening all those years ago. I did learn some things about Guernsey, though.

Maybe I am just in a bad mood. Read on and love what you are doing!

These folks all seemed to be not too upset by what was going on. There were all these happy little background stories. But they kept getting more and more grim. !!SPOILER ALERT!!

Describing the blond hair floating on the water, smashing up against the rocks. The shootings. The dogs! All these things contrasting against the unbridled optimism of the Guernseyites made it seem even more horrid. For me, anyway.

And the ending did seem a bit trite, all 'happily every after' and such. I learned, though, that Shaffer died before she could complete the rewrites her publisher had demanded. So that was taken on by Annie Barrows, a noted children's books author. That may have changed things a bit. I wish I could read Shaffer's original.

Now Grisham, he's written so many books that if you read enough of them you can pretty much predict the way it will end. Some people really like this one and thought it showed originality. And some people are calling it racist, sexist, and boring. So, YMMV. I would point out that both the Grisham and Shaffer books take place in the 40s.

Hope your day gets brighter.

I appreciate the gentle way you present them.

To add to the mix, I just had a huge fight about a book with my brother, whom I see only once a year. He is an anglophile, and he only follows British politics. I think that is irresponsible, although I have never told him this. I reread Kim, by Rudyard Kipling. I found it dated and racist. He just about had a cow because I did not fall down and worship at Kipling's feet. He said some very insulting things to me.

I am sure my reading these days had been affected by this, by having a little less time to read, and by my husband's health. He is having surgery in a week. I should not bring all this in here. I apologize.

This is as good a place to vent as any.

Your brother sounds difficult, that's for sure. I have a half brother to whom I have not spoken for 5 years now. And that's fine by me as he is a real asshole.

I sincerely hope your husband's surgery goes well and his life is much improved afterwards. Keep us apprised.

by Emily St. John Mandel. Now reading, Cemetry Road by Greg Ilse and Fugitive Colors by Margaret Maron. Secretly rereading Beowulf just because I think I should. I will always love its mother monster. It all seems so simple, yet underneath so complicated. Hooray, for good versus evil 😇.

of civilization's collapse.

b] Cemetery Road looks good. A standalone Iles novel depicting a Southern cesspool of murder, deceit, corruption and revenge.

The Maron book looks quite colorful. Highly rated, and short (222 pages).

Not to worry, your secret is safe with me.

I somehow end up with a mashup in my head of Turning Angel and the Doctor Who episode "Blink"...

I love Blink. Never heard of Turning Angel til now. The book cover sure looks like a Blink angel. And, "in a town where the gaze of a landmark cemetery statue -- the Turning Angel -- never looks away, Penn finds himself caught on the jagged edge of blackmail, betrayal, and deadly violence." Must read.

was made into a movie. Available on Netflix. Might have something to do with the book still being so popular.

Thanks. I'll have to see if I can find that.

Currently reading A Reaper at the Gates, the third book in Sabaa Tahir's Ember Quartet. Pretty competent YA fantasy with some interesting parts. I especially enjoy books/series where a "bad guy" (from the protagonists' viewpoints) isn't evil, just has goals that are at total cross-purposes. "Plucky kid" narratives pull me in pretty regularly. Too much Hardy Boys as a child, I suspect. With one notable exception, a pretty generic world, though, kinda middle-eastern, but with more of a "Hyborian Age" feel.

Also Elizabeth Bear's Shattered Pillars, second book in the Eternal Sky Trilogy, is a much more richly imagined, complex world. Or perhaps its just enjoying something that clearly basing itself on thoroughly non-European, central Asian cultures. And the idea of different skies for different areas of the world freaks me out in a good way.

Earlier this summer, zipped through Mary Robinette Kowal's The Calculating Stars, which just finished the SF trifecta of Nebula, Hugo, and Locus awards for best novel last weekend at Worldcon. Also read the sequel The Fated Sky. Both occur in an alternate 1950s following a global disaster that forces the development of the space program much earlier. Main character is "Lady Astronaut" Elma York (as she comes to be known) making her way through all the expected baggage of the 1950's. And that makes it sound much more boring that it is. It's a sit-down-read-the-WHOLE-book-stand-up-look-for-the-sequel experience.

Also the "Dagger and the Coin" series from Daniel Abraham (who is half the team writing as James SA Corey for the Expanse). Let's just say it's the first time I've noticed banking, insurance and securities as a primary element of a fantasy world that includes dragons. (Of course there was Making Money in Disc World, but that's just the mint...)

and The Department of Sensitive Crimes by Alexander McCall Smith. I put both of these on hold months ago and both showed up the same day. I'm approaching these with caution. I've injured myself reading a Stephenson novel and this one checks in at around 4 pounds. Less athletic readers may want to use a tablet.

wasn't exactly a beach read. I'm 250 pages into Fall and it seems to be about the dissolution of society. There's a story in here somewhere but I'm not sure where he's going with it. Tech and Religion are the emerging themes. Stephenson is kind of throwback. Maybe it's the Libertarian strain but he reminds of Robert Heinlein.

The audiobook of Anathem.

I think maybe Seven Eves is one of his more conventional stories (well, unconventional for him since his conventional is unconventional...that way madness lies, which is interesting since I read most of it residing in a psych ward). But it probably could have done at least as effectively as a trilogy with the books being getting to space, surviving in space, and the aftermath.

And I loved how he projects forward what will become of "red states" and "blue states"...not actual states any longer but cities vs. rural areas. Safe places to live and wild areas where everyone lives by the gun. Intelligent people in the "blue states" and ignorant religious zealots in the "red states."

Stephenson is always worth the slog to the end.

I've read all his books. Cryptonomicon and The Baroque Trilogy are my favorites.

I just started it. Beautifully written novel that takes place somewhere in South America. I'll give this one at least 50 pages to see how it goes.

Lots of 5 star reviews for author Daniel Alarcon. “In sharp, vivid, and beautiful prose, Alarcón delivers a compulsively readable narrative and a provocative meditation on fate, identity, and the large consequences that can result from even our smallest choices.”

It was beautifully written, But I find myself running out of patience these days. If it doesn't grab me after 50 pages, I move on. I'm making my way through our library's fiction collection, from A to Z. I'm almost near the end of the As currently.