An open discussion on what everyone is currently reading. Make recommendations to others, discuss what is new, hot, bestsellers, anything and everything related to books and the authors.
Was pleased to get permission to use a photo of Al Capone's yacht Americana for my book "The Lollipop Murder."
Discovered one of the tracks in the mp3 file of "The Mystery Club Solves a Murder" was a duplicate and am now struggling to modify a backup file to replace the track. Software registration problem because original computger drive failed and we had to rebuild the system. And I thought I had retired!
I'm reading Dirty Martini by J.A. Konrath. I started it yesterday and finished a hundred pages before I could put it down. I have been following his blog on ebooks and wanted to read one of his books. I went to Barnes an Noble first but they didn't have any of his books so I went to Borders and they had two so I bought one. I didn't want to clean all of his books off the shelve.
Just finished THE WOODEN LEG OF INSPECTOR ANDERS, by the Australian Marshall Browne. I liked it very much for all the right reasons (good writing, great protagonist, interesting setting, excellent minor characters, and suspense). My only quibble is with the thriller aspect. Granted the Sicilian mafiosi are very nasty and the Italian justice system is frequently corrupt, but in true thriller fashion, the violence and the frequency of it were a tad beyond believability.
Just finished John Mortimer's RUMPOLE MISBEHAVES. It was, as expected, a delight.
Just started John Harvey, ASH & BONES. To my mind, John Harvey is better at police procedurals than anyone else. (And that includes Rankin and Mankell). Highly recommended.
I just finished reading 7th Son:Descent, by J.C. Hutchins. He's one of the authors who is using new media to build a fan-base, and the print version of his work did not disappoint. A great technothriller with a generous side of Crichton-esque science.
I am reading 'Anniversary man' by RJ Ellory. But i'm not afraid to admit that i am struggling with it. Feels ovewritten and depsite being 70 odd pages in I'm still unsure about the characters and the narrative balance. I am teetering on putting it down.
Just finished '9 Dragons' by Michael Connelly - not the best Harry Bosch novel, but a return to form for the character. Better than the Scarecrow.
Shot, by Jenny Siler. She's terrific. Great literary chops and surprising women characters (she does men well, too). Most of her characters are extremely self-sufficient, handle things on their own rather than going to the police, and are imaginative in their manner of survival. The books are short (usually less than 300 pages) and full of poetic energy and compression.
My man man is John Harvey. He's a poet and jazz buff (runs a poetry press) and writes some of the best crime novels I've read.
I'm reading "America Alone" which shows how demographics will change the world to a world-wide Islamic empire. Russia, Italy, Germany, and Spain have aging populations no longer able to maintain their numbers because of low birth rates. The old Soviet Union in particular has a decling life expectancy, major health problems, and is losing population fast. The replacement populations because of very high fecundity among Moslem women will proeudce Moslem majorities in those countries soon, with a consequent adoption of Sharia law. The USA still has a high enough birth rate to maintain current populations, chiefly among Hispanics who have large families. In the next generation or two the US white populastion with be a minority. These are simple facts that have nothing to do with racism, but the cultural changes that are taking place are profound.
The only group that matches or exceeds Moslem family growth is the Haredi, the ultra orthodox Jews in ISrael who gfenerally have ten kids.
If you want to listen to any of my audio books in mp3 format, they are now available world wide. Visit Audible.com (US) or the Listening Zone (UK). For ldetails see my web site www.hu.mtu.edu/~hlsachs.