What we're reading, the MTS edition

I just finished City of Glass by Paul Auster and was seriously, "WTF?"

Then I started No Orchids for Miss Blandish (James Hadley Chase) but realized I've the revised and re-edited version (done by the author, God knows why), and find I would really rather read the original...I just can't seem to find a copy. (If anyone wants to loan a copy...?)

I just finished "Labor Day" by Joyce Maynard. Movie just came out, and I was intrigued by the trailer, escaped convict holes up with kid and his mother, etc. I thought it reminded me a bit of my Stress Fractures book, but it's a different thing altogether. I didn't care for the style, never read Maynard before, don't know if this is just how she writes - no dialogue. At all. None. No quotation marks, no white space, hard to tell if the characters are speaking or thinking. It was an okay read otherwise, but I guess it's more romance or women's fiction than crime.

JohnnyGottaKeyboard said:

I just finished City of Glass by Paul Auster and was seriously, "WTF?"

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There are no answers.

I've read a few crime novels since I last commented in this thread, but I can't remember all of 'em. I know that three of them are Cross and Burn by Val McDermid, Havana Blue by Leonardo Padura and My Island Homicide by Catherine Titasey.

Sadly, I don't think I can read crime now without analysing the writing!

I'd meant to read Havana Black, which is the first in the series, rather than diving in with no. 3. I found it a bit of a struggle because it was quite slow-paced and I like my crime to trot along. Even canter. But not gallop. Galloping is too fast for me.

I had reservations too about My Island Homicide, which I really, really wanted to like. It's set on Thursday Island in the Torres Strait, which is an underutilised location for crime fiction. I don't think it's got the balance right between the crime and the romance, both of which are important to the story. Still, that's easy to say as a reader and bloody difficult to manage as a writer. (As an aside: I think the title might be a play on the song My Island Home, which was written about Elcho Island in the Northern Territory.)

heyjude said:

Day 3 of S. Dreamed the cat was a reincarnation of Straka. Woke up. Cat had an "S" shaved into his fur. Woke up again. Cat was fine. Dog says get rid of him just to be sure.

Send aspirin.

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sounds like you're enjoying it, HJ (to state the obvious)!

Flipper_Dipper said:

I've just finished Fear Nothing - Lisa Gardner. She is honestly one of my favorite authors and the absolute master of books you can't put down!

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Haven't read anything by her, FD, but she's on my "Holds" section of e-books at my local library.

Just finished "Mystic River" by Dennis Lehane and "The Wrong Girl" by Hank Phillippi Ryan. Both are set in Boston and have a great sense of place (Mystic River more so than TWG), but could not be more different otherwise. I enjoyed reading both of them. Certain scenes and passages from Mystic River are still in my brain two days later. Am now making my way through Tana French's "In the Woods."

Just finished a non-fiction but crime-related book: The Killer of Little Shepherds: A True Crime Story and the Birth of Forensic Science, by Douglas Starr.Really, really good. Fascinating. Excellent.

Yes, I liked it.

heyjude said:

Day 3 of S. Dreamed the cat was a reincarnation of Straka. Woke up. Cat had an "S" shaved into his fur. Woke up again. Cat was fine. Dog says get rid of him just to be sure.

Send aspirin.

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You are making me want to read this book.

pdichellis said:

Definitely. I enjoy all his series and characters. (Haller too!) If Connelly wrote it, I want to read it.

It's tough to tell what's going to happen with the Bosch series because the character aged in real time, and is now in his sixties, approaching retirement. Connelly has made clear that Bosch will retire from LAPD within a couple more books, but has recently hinted that after retirement Bosch might become a private investigator. Stay tuned!

Best wishes,
Peter DiChellis

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Well, I finally finished The Lincoln Lawyer -- decided to try it again after seeing various comments here. While it took a little while for me to get into the book (still don't know quite why), I ended up liking it, though not quite as much as the Bosch or MacEvoy books. I've put another Haller e-book on my library "hold" list to read whenever it becomes available.

And for those Connelly/Bosch fans out there, I also just watched the pilot episode of "Bosch" on Amazon last night. Excellent! Evidently Amazon has ten pilots out for voting -- five for adults, five for kids -- and will decide which one to develop into a full-fledged series based on public input. (Obviously I voted for Bosch!)

sheadakota said:

Connelly is in my opinion one of the best writers out there. The character he created in Bosch, was complex, dark and riveting. But Mickey Haller? The writing is fantastic, but I can't get behind the character. He puts money above all else, even his family. I'll finish the book, but I hope Connelly writes more Bosch.

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Mickey Haller is a shark. I love him. Harry Bosch is one of my favorites too. Hard to believe they are by the same author, the voice is so different.

I'm currently reading The Chalk Girl by Carol O'Connell. So far it's great. It's a Mallory novel. I'm also halfway through Gods of Guilt. I have a little ADD

pdichellis said:

It's tough to tell what's going to happen with the Bosch series because the character aged in real time, and is now in his sixties, approaching retirement. Connelly has made clear that Bosch will retire from LAPD within a couple more books, but has recently hinted that after retirement Bosch might become a private investigator. Stay tuned!

Best wishes,
Peter DiChellis

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Oh joy! I was wondering what was going to happen to Harry. Robert B. Parker's Spencer series is at the top of my list, and I can't believe I'll never read another new Spencer and Hawk dilemma.

'I Was Dora Suarez' by Derek Raymond. Oh boy. I dunno. It's pretty horrifying.

heyjude said:

I am on Day 2 of S. by JJ Abrams. Send food. Can't even walk into walls with it; there's no way to carry this tome around without stuff falling out. Must do the post-it-note thing.

If I am not back in a week, send a rescue party.

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heyjude said:

Day 3 of S. Dreamed the cat was a reincarnation of Straka. Woke up. Cat had an "S" shaved into his fur. Woke up again. Cat was fine. Dog says get rid of him just to be sure.

Send aspirin.

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heyjude said:

Day 4 of S. Had to go to work yesterday. Found an S in the kitchen. Pastor says "That's where we always keep the sacraments, for pity's sake." But I trust no one.

Send a fire extinguisher.

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My wife just bought S. Since she tends to do much of her reading in bed, I am curious as to how she's going to manage not to lose any of the bits stuffed in the pages.

There's a question - what happens if you drop the book and all the bits come out? How do you know where they go? How do you know?!?!?

Halfway through Hiassen's "Skin Tight." Not sure if it's as good as his earlier "Double Whammy." But both are enjoyable reads.

Just started Dennis Lehane's "Gone, Baby, Gone" and am enjoying it so far. I like his writing style. Oh, and I finished Connelly's "The Narrows" last week, which I enjoyed very much. Next up on the MC list is "The Brass Verdict," another in the Haller series.

vagough said:

Just started Dennis Lehane's "Gone, Baby, Gone" and am enjoying it so far. I like his writing style. Oh, and I finished Connelly's "The Narrows" last week, which I enjoyed very much. Next up on the MC list is "The Brass Verdict," another in the Haller series.

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I like Lehane. You have to read Mystic River.

Oh - and I'm reading The Last Olympian by Rick Riordan. And yes, it is a mystery/thriller.

I always remember Dennis Lehane for a story he told once when I saw him speak at a local bookstore. He said (and I'm paraphrasing) that whenever he started getting full of himself, his friends would call him on the phone and read excerpts from his first drafts into his answering machine. Said that was a quick cure for an over-inflated ego.

(It also made me much more forgiving of my own first drafts.)

jeseymour said:

I like Lehane. You have to read Mystic River.

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Jeseymour, I read Mystic River last month and loved, loved, loved it! Even though I'd seen the movie some years ago and knew how it turned out, the book was really a page-turner. Some of the passages were so poignant, they were fabulous and stuck in my mind for days afterwards.

lizmonster said:

I always remember Dennis Lehane for a story he told once when I saw him speak at a local bookstore. He said (and I'm paraphrasing) that whenever he started getting full of himself, his friends would call him on the phone and read excerpts from his first drafts into his answering machine. Said that was a quick cure for an over-inflated ego.

(It also made me much more forgiving of my own first drafts.)

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What a great story, Liz -- thank you for sharing!

heyjude said:

The Gods of Guilt. It took me half the book to get into it.

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Me, too, HJ, and I'm not entirely sure why. Maybe the pacing was a tad slower?

vagough said:

Just started Dennis Lehane's "Gone, Baby, Gone" and am enjoying it so far. I like his writing style. Oh, and I finished Connelly's "The Narrows" last week, which I enjoyed very much. Next up on the MC list is "The Brass Verdict," another in the Haller series.

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BTW, Harry Bosch will appear in the same story with Lehane’s Patrick Kenzie in a story Connelly and Lehane co-wrote for the upcoming anthology FaceOff.

Another FaceOff story pairs John Sandford’s Lucas Davenport with Jeffery Deaver’s Lincoln Rhyme. The anthology is a project of the International Thriller Writers and is scheduled for release in June.

Sounds like fun!


Best wishes,
Peter DiChellis