What Are You Reading?

[Doc Creed]

I've read several of his, and he's pretty good.

I like reoccurring protagonists/detectives but can get bored after a while and I will need a break. Sue Grafton was ok, for awhile. Then I latched on to Lee Child and C.J. Box. James Lee Burke is probably the only writer of this genre that I consistently like. He's always fresh and charged. He is an enormous talent.
I did read Mr. Mercedes but haven't read the second, yet. It has been a nice switch for King, speaking of keeping it fresh and exciting.

 

[danie]

I like reoccurring protagonists/detectives but can get bored after a while and I will need a break. Sue Grafton was ok, for awhile. Then I latched on to Lee Child and C.J. Box. James Lee Burke is probably the only writer of this genre that I consistently like. He's always fresh and charged. He is an enormous talent.
I did read Mr. Mercedes but haven't read the second, yet. It has been a nice switch for King, speaking of keeping it fresh and exciting.

Yes, I tend to burn out on the same detectives too. I get to about three, and I'm done for a while. I've had this experience with Linwood Barclay, Jeffery Deaver , C.S. Harris and Elizabeth George. My main exception is Robert McCammon's Matthew Corbett series. I never tire of him.

 

[Doc Creed]

Yes, I tend to burn out on the same detectives too. I get to about three, and I'm done for a while. I've had this experience with Linwood Barclay, Jeffery Deaver , C.S. Harris and Elizabeth George. My main exception is Robert McCammon's Matthew Corbett series. I never tire of him.

Thanks for reminding me. I've only read the first Matthew Corbett book. I'll look at the thrift store for his others. I never finished Swan Song, either. I enjoyed it but I probably had too many books in the fire...am I butchering a metaphor? No, I'm not talking about Bradbury.
McCammon, even now, doesn't get the respect he deserves. His books are fully textured and tender but can cut you like a switchblade. He's more in the King realm than Koontz, I think. Koontz follows many of the same tropes but executes them in his own fashion.

 

[danie]

Thanks for reminding me. I've only read the first Matthew Corbett book. I'll look at the thrift store for his others. I never finished Swan Song, either. I enjoyed it but I probably had too many books in the fire...am I butchering a metaphor? No, I'm not talking about Bradbury.
McCammon, even now, doesn't get the respect he deserves. His books are fully textured and tender but can cut you like a switchblade. He's more in the King realm than Koontz, I think. Koontz follows many of the same tropes but executes them in his own fashion.

The new Corbett books comes out May 31! Yay! Speaks the Nightbird is in my top 5. I've read that one twice. The magistrate, oh the magistrate. How I love that man. I started Swan Song as well and didn't finish. I will try it later.
Koontz seems juvenile to me. I read Watchers when I was young and liked it, and I've tried his books off and on, but I swore off him when I read one of his books and all the paragraphs were 2-3 sentences long. Felt like I was reading a first-grade primer. The one book of Koontz's that I like (and have read twice) is Intensity.

 

[Doc Creed]

The new Corbett books comes out May 31! Yay! Speaks the Nightbird is in my top 5. I've read that one twice. The magistrate, oh the magistrate. How I love that man. I started Swan Song as well and didn't finish. I will try it later.
Koontz seems juvenile to me. I read Watchers when I was young and liked it, and I've tried his books off and on, but I swore off him when I read one of his books and all the paragraphs were 2-3 sentences long. Felt like I was reading a first-grade primer. The one book of Koontz's that I like (and have read twice) is Intensity.

Exactly. I liked Velocity but haven't read Intensity. I will look for it.

 

[danie]

Exactly. I liked Velocity but haven't read Intensity. I will look for it.

I think Velocity may have been the one that sunk the boat for me.
Intensity is like it's written by someone else.

 

[Mocos]

Just finished The Gemini Effect by Chuck Grossart. Not a masterpiece, but I loved it! First time a book has made me scared of the dark. Kind of a disappointing ending, but the rest of it makes up for it. I wish it was a longer book.

Also recently finished Crooked by Austin Grossman, and have to recommend it! Basic plot cracked me up! Richard Nixon is the main character and it's written in the first person, so if you can, I suggest getting the audiobook. The reader does a pretty good Nixon impersonation and it makes it easier to suspend disbelief.

 

[Mocos]

The new Corbett books comes out May 31! Yay! Speaks the Nightbird is in my top 5. I've read that one twice. The magistrate, oh the magistrate. How I love that man. I started Swan Song as well and didn't finish. I will try it later.
Koontz seems juvenile to me. I read Watchers when I was young and liked it, and I've tried his books off and on, but I swore off him when I read one of his books and all the paragraphs were 2-3 sentences long. Felt like I was reading a first-grade primer. The one book of Koontz's that I like (and have read twice) is Intensity.

Koontz played an important role for me when I was younger and immersing myself in Stephen King literature. King's books always had me thinking about them long after I had finished them... replaying scenes in my head, asking myself countless "what if"s. I had to put something lighter and less thought-provoking in between my King reads so that I didn't miss the first one-third of one of his books because his last one was still so much on my mind. Enter Dean Koontz, lol. And it just so happens That I really enjoyed a few of them. Lightning and Phantoms are my favorites from him. Nowadays, I have a little more respect for him as he seems to be expanding his style a bit, trying some new things... not that his newer stuff has caught my interest, lol, but I appreciate his effort.

 

[doowopgirl]

I'm reading The Twelve. I like it ok but I just got through a section where Cronin gave names to forty different people and I'll bet only one or two are mentioned later I'm unable to visualize any of these characters. It would be nice if I could put a name with a face y'know? The story is good... if the characters were described better, I'd think maybe I was reading something SK wrote.

I mostly enjoyed that book. Started out fantastic. I agree with you about if the characters were described better it could almost be a SK book. I just got fed up the further along it went. By the end I really didn't care.

 

[Kurben]

I am reading again!! Doing happy dance. ... reading an alternative history by S.M. Stirling. THe Domination. It is really three books that is given out as one. We are in the second WW but there are another worldpower based in south Africa that has powers over big parts of the afrikan continent. They dont like the US but dislike the nazis even more so very reluctantly they are on the same side as the US. Dont know what I think yet, only read about 100 pages, but im Hopeful and the most important thing is that im reading books again! Yaypee

 

[Arcadevere]

re reading Misery, alternating with Assassin's Creed : Black Flag novelization , and probably continue re-read it after i take a few nap, and still continue re-read it again while i'm in my way going to the college

 

[skimom2]

Trying to bust through Mothering Sunday today, as I just received it yesterday--shouldn't be too hard, as it's novella length. Released on 3.30, but they still want a review.

 

[Walter Oobleck]

The Recognitions, William Gaddis, a big chunk of story...there's this kid in it, name of Wyatt. Gaddis does kids good. His J.R. is a hoot. 60 pages in, enjoying it. 'Fore this, The Log of the S.S. Mrs. Ungeuntine, Stanley Crawford...really enjoyed that one, the best from Crawford I think. Check out a description, you might like it. Been trying to read Dalkey Archive published stories...they seem to all be...different that your average bear. Or they were for their time maybe.

 

[Kurben]

I have been reading some Kipling. I think he's great. I read The Phantom Rickshaw, The Law Of the Jungle and Rikki-Tikki-Tavi. Great little stories.

 

[skimom2]

I have been reading some Kipling. I think he's great. I read The Phantom Rickshaw, The Law Of the Jungle and Rikki-Tikki-Tavi. Great little stories.

Rikki-Tikki-Tavi is one of my kids' favorite stories. Between having read it to myself (I still have and read the Kipling book I got when I was 10), aloud to them, and the excellent Chuck Jones movie, I think I could do a full performance of the story without a script

 

[muskrat]

Picked this lil beauty up in the dollar box (kinda rough shape but intact), dig yet another Wrightson werewolf cover. Great werewolf story inside.

 

[Haunted]

Along with Every Patient Tells a Story I am also reading Ghostly : a collection of ghost stories, Mr. Penumbra's 24-hour bookstore and Slade house

 

[skimom2]

Mothering Sunday is better than I'd been led to expect. Swift's writing reminds me quite a bit of Ian McEwan--sublime imagery juxtaposed with 'earthy' language.

 

[kingricefan]

Picked this lil beauty up in the dollar box (kinda rough shape but intact), dig yet another Wrightson werewolf cover. Great werewolf story inside.

Wrightson rocks! Wish I had all of those Creepy and Eerie comics I had back in the day....

 

[Mr Nobody]

Mothering Sunday is better than I'd been led to expect. Swift's writing reminds me quite a bit of Ian McEwan--sublime imagery juxtaposed with 'earthy' language.

Having seen your first comment about it, my immediate thought was "Sales have probably been slower than they liked", hence the need for a post-release review. Maybe. (I mean, what do I know about it? lol)
Seems like they might get the positive one they were after, though.

On-topic:
My current reads are The Burning Girl by Mark Billingham (UK crime novelist; 'DI Thorne' series) and a re-read of A Scanner Darkly - Philip K Dick.