What are you currently reading?

[QualityBookReviews]

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.

[Meg]

It's been a while, but I've read A Grief of Observed and Mere Christianity. He is brilliant.

[James Fouche]

Meg, that Mere Christianity is a toughy. He is so humble in his writing style.

[I. J. Parker]

Alexander McCall Smith, The Saturday Tent Wedding Party.  I don't usually read cozies.  These books, featuring Mma Ramotswe of Botswana are the exception. Nothing could be more soothing than this series. Somewhere there is a better, simpler world where most people are decent and honest, and the bad apples don't thrive because Mma Ramotswe and Mma Makutsi are on the case.  In this book, Mma Makutsi becomes Mma Radiphuti.

[I. J. Parker]

Sjowall & Wahloo, THE ABOMINABLE MAN.  Swedish police procedural by the past masters of the genre.  This one is beautifully plotted.  Yes, there is an agenda, and it did irritate me (why write a police procedural in order to attack the police?), but characters, suspense, and resolution are perfectly handled in this one.

[David DeLee]

Michael Crichton's PIRATE LATITUDES. It was a completed manuscript found on his computer after his death in 2008.
So far, so good.
David DeLee
Fatal Destiny - a Grace deHaviland novel

[Miriam Pia]

Currently working on 2 books: one is called Don't Be Afraid of the Dark by Mark Jenkins.  The other is actually Webs of Fate.  Neither comes across like 'typical crime fiction' but both involve crimes and are certainly fictional.  Don't be Afraid of the Dark is actually about the creation of monsters by a mad scientist or else by a government.  The other one is about corporate espionage and assault or murder.

[I. J. Parker]

Two I tossed quickly:  Richard Kunzmann, SALAMANDER COTTON.  South-African thriller with a lot of over-the-top violence.  The Afrikaans, Zulu, and Tswana bits are not translated, which makes conversations very confusing.

 

Jon Cleary, YESTERDAY'S SHADOW.  Australian police procedural that's simply poorly written.  The author tries to sound impressive with some very weird constructions and images.  This one I bought on the glowing recommendation of someone whose taste I respect.  Alas!

[Ashley Write]

I'm trying out a new author - Michael Connelly.  Starting with the Lincoln Lawyer.  We'll see...

[I. J. Parker]

Good one.  :)

[Tim Scanlon]

I've got this one to read as well. Already consumed a few Connelly and he is a very good author, although sometimes he misses the mark. LL is meant to be a good one. I've got a signed copy from when he was here in Australia a few months back.

[Karen from AustCrime]

I SHOULD be reading David Owen's latest Pufferfish - How the Dead See, but I got distracted by This Night's Foul Work by Fred Vargas.  I predict further distraction with The Caller by Karin Fossum arriving this morning.

[Frank Zubek]

Read Robert MacCamonn's THE FIVE, which is about  a small time rock and roll band on their last tour just as a video they made about war begins to get decent airplay.

Meanwhile, an ex-Marine on his own last legs, watches the video and decides that this band is a group of liars who don't know what they are talking about and they have to die.

So using the band's website.... he notes their next play dates and begins stalking them

Then the shootings begin....

Excellent characters and style. I found it tough to put down and finished it in two days time

Very, very highly recommended if you love a good thriller that also reveals the life of a group of creative people on the road