Reading anything?

[Rev. Powell]

[ER]

Twenty-five days til the release of Scrappy Little Nobody, and it's a safe bet you're not as excited about that as I am!

[frank]

Currently The Road to Little Dribbling by Bill Bryson.

Before that Crimson Shore by Preston and Child.

Next What Do You Care What Other People Think by Richard Feynman.

[Ticonderoga 64]

This..



A look at paranormal investigations into cryptid sightings across America..

[indianasmith]

That looks cool!  I love cryptozoology, even if I am a bit skeptical.

[Ticonderoga 64]

That looks cool!  I love cryptozoology, even if I am a bit skeptical.

It's worth checking out if only for the creepiness factor. 

[Newt]

Bad Luck and Trouble by Lee Child.  Before that I read Tripwire.  Both are 'Jack Reacher' novels.  Now all I can think of is how badly miscast Tom Cruise is as Jack Reacher in the upcoming movie.  Boggles the mind and it is too bad, really.  Lots of other action stars (and I use the term loosely - Tom Cruise an 'action star'? it is to laugh) should have come to mind long before they got down to the bottom of the barrel with Cruise. 

[BoyScoutKevin]

6 mysteries + 1 non-mystery

G. M. Malliet
either a Brit or an American ex-pat
award winner
The haunted season
5th in the Max Tudor series
Hero: English
Place: England
Time: present

A woman critic about a woman authoress for a woman reader. As a man it makes me laugh, at how much they overrate authoress Tana French, as this writer is a much better writer, who does not fall back to male stereotypes for her male characters, which Tana French did in her last book, ere her latest, which is now out. Which may be why the Max Tudor series is one of my favorite mystery series, as the authoress seems to understand men and her male characters.

D. E. Ireland
(writing duo)
Brits
Move your blooming corpse
2nd in the Doolittle and Higgin mystery series,
and yes based on the characters from "My Fair Lady"
Heroes: English
Place: England
Time: past

Charles Todd
(mother and son writing duo)
Americans
A pattern of lies
7th in the Bess Crawford mystery series
Heroine: English
Place: England
Time: past

Deanna Raybourn
award winner
A curious beginning
1st in the Veronica Speedwell mystery series (?)
Heroine: English
Place: England
Time: past

Stuart Neville
Northern Irish
award winner
Those we left behind
5 more fiction

Actually, I just read his next novel after this one, which is a sequel to this one, or this is a prequel to that one, which we'll get to later.

Matthew Guinn
The scribe
1 more fiction

the non-mystery
Donita K. Paul
Dragon quest
sequel to Dragon spell

Next time: a half dozen of the other or graphic novels

[indianasmith]

This past week I read 2 books:  One was PIRATE HUNTER OF THE CARRIBEAN by David Cordingly.
  This book focused on the privateer-turned governor, Captain Woodes Rogers, who helped end the reign of pirates in Nassau and brought some of the most notorious pirate lords to justice.  This was a companion volume to Cordingly's study of the pirates themselves, UNDER THE BLACK FLAG, which I also bought but have not yet read.

Overall, I really enjoyed this and it filled in some corners on my knowledge of the pirate era.  Informative and overall rather easy to follow, although it does jump topics frequently, all the topics covered are pretty interesting.

Then I re-read a work I am quite familiar with - my own first novel, THE TESTIMONIUM.  I was at a book signing the other day and things were going rather slowly, so I went to Amazon to check and see if I had any new reviews.  But then I accidentally hit the "one click purchase" option and downloaded the book to my Kindle App.

  This was my first work, and while I can see a few points where I would love to go back and do one final edit, overall I was pleasantly surprised by how well my first book held up over time.  I wrote it in 2012 and published it in 2014, and this was the first time I read it since I got my first  copies in hand over two years ago.  It is a Christian-based adventure story, but I do think that it is a novel non-Christians can read and enjoy, a memorable tale of faith, archeology, romance, and terrorism.  I did get better as I went along; my second novel, THE REDEMPTION OF PONTIUS PILATE, is a better book.  But for a first novel, I am proud of the work I did on THE TESTIMONIUM!

[BoyScoutKevin]

Ye-es!

and a half dozen of the other or graphic novels.

Ted Naifeh
Princess Ugg
v.1. 2014
v.2. 2015
v.3. 2016?

Smith, Tanner, Lehner
Junior Braves of the Apocalypse
book 1: A Brave is Brave

Victor Hugo
Les Miserables
adaptor, Crystal Silverman
artist, Sun Neko Lee
Magna ed.
as of 2014 the 1st in what was to be 5 Magna classics

Abridged? Unabridged? This is the only edition that I found that was readable.

All from the Guardians of the Galaxy series
All by Brian Michael Bendis

v.3. Guardians Disassembled
v.4. Original Sin
v.5. The Black Vortex

Batman '66
v.4
King Tut (Victor Buono) return
The Archer (Art Carney) return
The Bookworm (Roddy McDowell) return
Lord Ffogg (Rudy Vallee) new
The Joker (Cesar Romero) return
Lord Death Man (not on TV)
2-Face Harvey Dent (not on TV)
The Penguin (Burgess Meredith) return

Probably 2-Face (Harvey Dent) is the biggest villain from the Batman comic books, which never appeared on the TV show, even after Harlan Ellison wrote a screenplay featuring 2-Face (Harvey Dent.)

Aaron and Bachalo
Doctor Strange
v.1. The Way of the Wind

To get ready for the Marvel film, which is scheduled to be released on November 4 of this year or 2016, I have gone back and started reading the comics featuring Doctor Strange. And if this is any indication, I think the film might be actually better than the comics.

Doctor Strange. While the Avengers protect the earth from physical threats, Doctor Strange protects the earth from mystical threats from his home in New York.

Here Marvel seems to be more honest than DC. While Marvel sets its stories in New York, actually naming some New York locations, DC's Metropolis and Gotham City seem to be inspired by New York without actually naming them New York. For example,  if you look at the 1st episode of 1952's The Adventures of Superman with George Reeves, the skyline showed in that episode is the New York skyline.

Next time: 6 of 1 or 6 mysteries + 1 non-mystery.

[Newt]

Just finished "Fleetwood Mac: Behind the Masks" and starting in on "The Autobiography of Christopher Lee: Tall, Dark and Gruesome".

[BoyScoutKevin]

Ye-es!
6 mysteries + 1 non-mystery

The 6 mysteries

Bernard Miners
The Circle
translator, Alison Andersen
2nd in the Servaz series
Published 2012
Translated 2015
One of my favorite mystery series, but, further proof as to why this type of character should not be the villain. They are just not credible.

Peter Robinson
award winner
A dedicated man
2nd in the Inspector Banks series
Published 1988. Thus early in the series
Children done well.

Marjorie Eccles
Heirs and assigns
1st in the Herbert Reardon series
Though, not her 1st series

Jo Bannister
Desperate measure
in the Ash and Best series
Children done well.

Christopher Fowler
award winner
Bryant and May and the burning man
12th in the Peculiar Crimes Unit series
Last in the series
Children done well.

Michael Stanley
(2 white guys writing duo
South Africans Michael Sears and Stanley Trollip)
A death in the family
5th in the Detective Kubu series

and the 1 non-mystery

Kliph Nesteroff
The comedians :
drunks, thieves, scoundrels, and the history of American comedy

It began with . . .
sexism -- racism -- anti-Semitism -- and child abuse

It continued with . . .
alcoholism -- drug abuse -- and political controversy of both left and right.

And it ended with . . .
mental problems -- profanity -- and feuds.

6 Stages of a Comedian
unknown -- ere they were known -- famous -- after they were known -- forgotten -- deceased.

And the 6 Comedy Formats
vaudeville -- radio -- TV -- records -- various -- internet

Next time: and a half dozen more--graphic novels

[BoyScoutKevin]

Yee-es!
a half dozen of the other graphic novels

Weuman and Jones
Invasion
Young Justice ; v.4
Based on the cartoon series of the same title on the Cartoon Network

The Best American Comics 2015
Jonathan Lethen, guest editor
Comics published between September 1, 2013, and August 31, 2014
37 comic comics + excerpts from 17 comics + 95 honorable mentions

Some are familiar. Some are unfamiliar.
Some with words. Some without words
Some in color. Some in black and white
And short bios for each cartoonist included. 13 of whom are women.

Duggan, Medina, Baldeon, Santagati
Nova
v.4. issues 17-22. Original sin
v.5. issues 23-27. Axis

Bendix, Schiti, Cho
Guardians of the Galaxy
v.5. issues 24-27 + annual 1. Through the looking glass.

And they're b-b-a-a-c-c-k-k!

Gillen, Larroca, Delgado
Star Wars : Darth Vader
v.1. Vader

Naid, Dodson, Dodson, and Bellaire
Star Wars : Princess Leia

Marvel originally had the comic book rights to Star Wars. Then they lost the rights to Dark Horse, and (IMHO) the quality of them went down. Now, Marvel has the rights again, and the quality (IMHO) is once more where it was.

Next time: 6 of 1 or a little different. 6 non-mysteries + 1 mystery

[Rev. Powell]

This is one crazy book, it's sort of an old Gothic horror novel but with stories-inside-of-stories-inside-of-stories.

[bob]

I made a real find at Goodwill yesterday with the following Ian Flemming Bond novels: Dr. No, From Russia With Love, The Man With the Golden Gun, Goldfinger, Thunderball, Live and Let Die, Casino Royal, Diamonds Are Forever, On Her Majesty's Secret Service, Moonraker, For Your Eyes Only, and The Spy Who Loved Me

oh yes, I'll be busy reading for a while