The "I am currently reading" thread

[metalman]

I've got through a reasonable number in May, though some of them have been quite short.

 

M. W. Craven - The cutting season. A short novel/novella featuring Poe and Bradshaw produced as one of the Quick Reads series last year It was, but I'm not sure it really benefited from the shorter length, just made it seem rather rushed in my view.

Carl Randau & Leane Zugsmith - The visitor. Another short one but from 1949. 14-year-old boy disappears then reappears some years later - but is it really him?

Ysenda Maxtone Graham - British Summer Time begins. A non-fiction book about what children used to do during their summer holidays in the last century. If you were around then, you'll find it very nostalgic and a really good read too.

Douglas Clark - Heberden's seat. Supt. Masters and DCI Green break down near a disused church and find a body down a well in the churchyard. As you do. And it's only the first of three. This being Clark, an obscure poison is involved too. Very good.

Ed Gorman - Blood red moon. Another thriller of the ex-FBI man on the track of psycho serial killer variety, but Gorman does at least do it well.

Dominic Devine - Illegal tender. Junior typist on Scottish town council finds incriminating document and is bumped off;  deputy town clerk, who happens to be having an affair with the town clerk, investigates. Excellent as usual from this author and I do wish someone would reprint his other books I can't find.

Emma Page - A fortnight by the sea. One of the guests at a seaside guest house, all of whom have something to hide and something against all the others, is the victim of a cyanide sandwich. Very good.

Richard Hull - Keep it quiet. When an old member of a London club dies in situ, possibly as a result of a poisoning mix-up, the club secretary tries to hush it up with unexpected results. Another very good one, written with Hull's usual amusing lightness of tone.

John Wainwright - The reluctant sleeper. More of a spy drama but a crime novel as well, with a characteristic twist at the end. Good.

Lucille Kallen - Introducing C. B. Greenfield. Small town newspaper reporter Maggie Rome and her boss Greenfield turn sleuths when their paper boy is the victim of a hit and run. Wittily written mystery, the first of a series of five.

 

Just started: Carolyn Wells - Murder in the bookshop. So far a man has been murdered in a bookshop, not surprisingly, but that's as far as I've got.

[wearysmith]

None of the fluff of the film. Miss Golightly is not a nice character.

 

[leviathan13]

Got two on the go at the moment:

 

Endurance by Alfred Lansing - the story of Ernest Shackleton's attempt to read the South Pole in 1914. Almost finished it and what an incredible story of hope and stoicism! Not for the faint hearted.

 

The Satsuma Complex by Bob Mortimer - only about half way through but thoroughly enjoying it, much to the bemusement of my partner who didn't really get on with it in the end.

[metalman]

June's round up, been too busy gardening to get through many:

 

Stephen Booth - Dying to sin. Cooper & Fry investigate bodies buried at a remote farm and get on each other's nerves as usual. Up to his usual standard.

Stephen Booth - The kill call. A body in a field gets Cooper & Fry into the world of dodgy horse dealing. Again pretty good.

Dell Shannon - No holiday for crime. Lt. Luis Mendoza and his squad solve some cases over the Christmas period. I've been trying to read these vaguely in order but this one seems to have escaped because it was published back in 1973. Good as usual.

Richard Hull - The ghost it was. Another urbanely witty mystery by Mr. Hull. Idle layabout Gregory senses an opportunity when his rich uncle moves into an allegedly haunted house. Good, but let down a bit by the ending.

Douglas Clark - The libertines. Not the group, but instead members of a cricket team, two of which are dispatched by poison during a tournament fortnight. Slick Supt. Masters and abrasive DCI Green sort it out as usual. Excellent.

John Wainwright - Heroes no more. Tensions erupt during the weekend reunion of a WWII bomber crew. Not bad, but maybe not his best.

Henry Kane - Private eyeful. A man on death row confesses to a murder, exonerating a wrongly convicted one... but he has an ulterior motive. Beautiful PI Marla Trent (hence the title) is on the case. Floridly written pulpy thriller but no worse for that.

Louise Kallen - C. B. Greenfield: The Tanglewood murder. Violinist murdered in mid-concert. Reporter Maggie Rome and her boss Greenfield find the culprit. Excellent.

 

Now reading: Dan Schreiber - The theory of everything else. Another book about weird beliefs and events (what keeps drawing me to these - it's weird).

[nikki-red]

I’m currently plodding through A Clockwork Orange by Anthony Burgess.

[top4718]

1 hour ago, nikki-red said:

I’m currently plodding through A Clockwork Orange by Anthony Burgess.

How are you finding it, I struggled with the writing style?

[Mr Bloke]

8 minutes ago, top4718 said:

How are you finding it, I struggled with the writing style?

Hmmm...

I think you may be getting a bit confused here, Mr Tops...

... with A Chocolate Orange by Joseph Terry.

[Prettytom]

1 hour ago, Mr Bloke said:

Hmmm...

I think you may be getting a bit confused here, Mr Tops...

... with A Chocolate Orange by Joseph Terry.

What are you reading, Hackey?

[hackey lad]

4 minutes ago, Prettytom said:

What are you reading, Hackey?

The last thing I read was The Bachman Novels.

[nikki-red]

6 hours ago, top4718 said:

How are you finding it, I struggled with the writing style?

It was the use of ‘Nadsat’ (the made up English/Russian slang) that I was struggling with, having to look in the glossary every 5 minutes to see what words mean.

Im having to do that less and less now tho so I am starting to actually enjoy it now.