What are you reading the week of August 15, 2020?

We're still hoping for a speedy return, fredbacon!

I just finished Hothouse Flower and the Nine Plants of Desire by Margot Berwin. It was light and adventurous. I had a few issues with it, but for the most part I would recommend it to plant lovers.

I'm going to try The Mermaid and Mrs. Hancock by Imogen Hermes Gowar again. I hope I can finish within 2 weeks for book club.

What are you reading?

Finished Nothing But Blue Skies, and found it essentially mediocre. I think guys might enjoy this more than women. It had some funny scenes in it, but it also had several scenes where I was just shaking my head and thinking "Jeeze, man -- grow the f*** up!"

Just started Whiteland, by Rosie Cranie-Higgs), which is a LTER. Once I finally got it to download it is shaping up well. (I'm still struggling with my Kindle Fire tablet.) But I didn't realize when requesting it for review that it was listed as the first in a series.

And am also dipping into Then We Came to the End, which so far feels an awful lot like a rewriting of several episodes of "The Office", concentrating more on the office workers and less on the clueless boss.

>1Thanks for starting the thread, Pirate! Wishing you well, Fred.

>2 LyndaInOregon: It's been years since I read it, but I loved Then We Came to the End.

I just finished Elly Griffiths' latest Ruth Galloway mystery, The Lantern Men. It was excellent!

And after rooting around for a new book, I think I've settled on The Color of Air by Gail Tsukiyama.

I have just spent a week reading the lovely but challenging The Makioka Sisters by Junichiro Tanizaki, which was a slow-paced and precise piece of historical fiction which is well worth reading. I think if I'd known something about Japanese history and customs, the reading would have been easier, but I knew little, and kept needing to stop and Google something or other.

I've got two books next to me on the coffee table, one of which I'll read next: Midnight Sun by Jo Nesbo and Two Years in the Forbidden City by Princess Der Ling.

Currently reading:
The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction July/August 2019
Clarkesworld Magazine Issue 164
LIFEL1K3
Network Effect
Redemption's Blade

Man In the Empty Suit
by Sean Ferrell
2.5/5 stars
The man in the empty suit is a time traveler and has returned home to celebrate his birthday in New York City with versions of himself from years past. But when one of his versions is killed, the main character hides out with Lily, a young, poor woman taking care of a man with physical and mental disabilities while he figures out what to do. I had a hard time suspending disbelief while reading this one. I didn't understand why there were so many versions of him and why were they trying to kill him. I did like his relationship with Lily, the young woman he befriends but overall I can’t recommend it.

I finished up the interesting and enjoyable Mr. Lincoln's T-Mails: How Abraham Lincoln Used the Telegraph to Win the Civil War by Tom Wheeler. This was a very interesting trip through the American Civil War with a close focus point of how the use of the telegraph gave Abraham Lincoln the ability both to communicate with far flung generals and gather information about unfolding events in real time. More importantly, due to how new telegraph technology was, Lincoln was the first head of state to have that ability. Wheeler makes the point that Lincoln's gradual ability to fully master this new communication tool and its functions is one more indication of the president's remarkable character and intelligence. He was learning these things on the fly with--because the technology was so new--no blueprint to follow and nobody to advise him as he learned.

I also complete my gradual reading through the charming essay collection Leaves in the Wind by Alfred George Gardiner (a.k.a Alpha of the Plough).

My full review of the former can be found on my 50-Book Challenge thread. Soon I'll have a review of the latter, as well. My next book will be John D. MacDonald's fifth Travis McGee novel, A Deadly Shade of Gold.

Finished Network Effect by Martha Wells. Still like the Murderbot.

Added Ballistic by Marko Kloos into my rotation.

The Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follett for a book club read. I have read it in the past and recently saw the series on TV again.

Just finished Whiteland for Early Review, and will now pick up Then We Came to the End.

Reading The First Signs: Unlocking the Mysteries of the World's Oldest Symbols by Genevieve Von Petzinger. It's very interesting.

>11 ahef1963: That sounds like my kind of weird book! I just put in an ILL request.

(We have a ***very small*** library in a very small town, and the librarian is constantly amazed by what I request. When I requested Therese O'Neil's Unmentionable, I thought she was going to have a stroke.)

I finished The Topeka School. The insights in this book, particularly about the male experience, the images invoked by the language, and the elucidation of how the past is ever present were excellent. As a novel, however, it seemed to lose a common thread or a point.

Finished Dress in the Age of Jane Austen by Hilary Davidson
A deep dive of fashion during Austen's life time. Lots of period drawings, illustrations, and photos of well-preserved clothing.

Finished LIFEL1K3 by Jay Kristoff. Liked it well enough to keep reading the series.

Added Winds of Marque by Bennett R. Coles to my rotation.

>3 Copperskye: Reading this thread and sharing on this thread is part of my Saturday! Hope you're doing well, Joanne.

Enjoying ~

1st Case
by James Patterson
(OverDrive audio)

almost finished - bookish life of Nina Hill by Abbi Waxman

well into the changeover, Margaret Mahy. This won the British Carnegie Medal.

Dead Presidents: An American Adventure into the Strange Deaths and Surprising Afterlives of Our Nation's Leaders
Brady Carlson
4/5 stars
Brady Carlson, reporter and NPR Radio Host traveled around the country with his son tracking down a number of dead presidents' graves, looking into the manner of their deaths and how they were remembered. I thoroughly enjoyed this book and loved all the trivia. I definitely recommend this book.

Finished Then We Came to the End and just started The Queen: The Forgotten Life Behind an American Myth -- one of those nonfiction pieces that makes you shake your head in wonderment.

New topic for the week posted here.