All things Books and Reading thread - 2017

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Winchester

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Ebooks from the Library:

Downfall - JA Jance

Cover Your Eyes - Mary Burton

The Shut Eye - Belinda Bauer

On my Nook:

Mourning Gloria (A Leah Hudson thriller) - Andrew Downs

The Amazon Code - Nick Thacher
 

Mamanyt1953

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Just got the first four books of The Cat in the Stacks mystery series, about a librarian and his Maine Coon cat, and ALSO have the first two books of Laurie Cass' The Bookmobile Cat mystery series.  SO many good mysteries with cats as central characters!  Light reading, but there is NOTHING wrong with light reading!
 

foxxycat

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I am still reading on my new kindle I bought- fire. it's a darn good tablet.

the following I have read over the past few days.

Where We Belong by
Loan

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boSwitchWhen: true
Catherine Ryan Hyde

P.A. Glaspy  Before the Power was Gone: A Powerless World Series there's 3 books- these are average suburban folks who just want to be self sufficient. The 3 novels are all connected and flow together lovely.

JJ holden Dark New World (Dark New World, Book 1) -book 2 book 3. I am currently half way through book 3. these three books focus more on military strategy and more of a no nonsense types of books where P A Glaspy focuses on the womens view of a world without electricity. I find these interesting but soon I will return to my light hearted romances that everyone says is a waste of time.

I have several new ones by Deb Macomber and Sherryl Woods I need to pick up.

Oh and the latest book Kristin Von Kreisler "Earnest" about a dog who saves some people from a burning room-I just read the first 3 chapters=if this book is anything like her previous books=I am sure I will love it.
 

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I hate Jack London books. Beautifully written, but the depictions of animal abuse make me angry. Especially since I know that crap really happened. It's hard to enjoy the prose when I'm that angry.

I haven't been reading enough novels lately. I always enjoy the early The Cat Who. . .books (the later ones get too formulaic) but probably everyone has read those already :D. Also the early Mrs Pollifax books and others written by Dorothy Gilman.
 

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I hate Jack London books. Beautifully written, but the depictions of animal abuse make me angry. Especially since I know that crap really happened. It's hard to enjoy the prose when I'm that angry.
True, but in the end Buck prevails & that's what matters.
 

Willowy

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Yes, dog revenge is sweet :tongue2:. But it didn't work out so well for the other dogs, ya know? Grr, it's making me angry all over again. Plus the other books are worse, White Fang especially.
 

Mamanyt1953

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Currently gobbling down Miranda Jame's "The Cat in the Stacks" series.  I have all but the last two, and want to get those ASAP.  Once that's done, I have the FIRST two of Laurie Cass'  Bookmobile Cat series to try out!  I am hoping for the funds to start my Ellery Adams collection shortly after that.  She has three series out, and all three of them feature animals, The Book Retreat Mysteries have a cat, and The Charmed Pie Shoppe Mysteries and The Books by the Bay series (set here in NC) feature dogs.  THEN I'm on to Lilliean Jackson Braun and her famous "The Cat Who" series.  I think I'm gonna need more bookcases than I originally thought...
 

handsome kitty

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I hate Jack London books. Beautifully written, but the depictions of animal abuse make me angry. Especially since I know that crap really happened. It's hard to enjoy the prose when I'm that angry.

I haven't been reading enough novels lately. I always enjoy the early The Cat Who. . .books (the later ones get too formulaic) but probably everyone has read those already
. Also the early Mrs Pollifax books and others written by Dorothy Gilman.
I love the Mrs Polifax books.  I had been waiting for Dorothy Gilman to write another.  After a while I googled her and found out she had passed away a few years before due to Alzheimer's.  It's so sad.  I lost a few in the move and should replace them while I can.

I am currently rereading One For the Money.  The first in the Stephanie Plum series by Janet Evanovich.   So much better than the later books.  There is more meat to the story. 

I read most of the Klepto Cat series in August.  I have one on my Kindle but need to charge it so I can read it.
 

Mamanyt1953

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DANG!  I've added yet another author to my "Must Buy" list!  I had forgotten about Anne George and her Southern Sisters Mystery series!  They feature a pair of middle-aged women, and are both funny and good mysteries!  I was searching for something else, and ran across "Murder Boogies with Elvis."  I had forgotten those books, but now I want them again!
 

Kieka

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I switched to Kindle a few years back and have slowly gone to 99% kindle reading and a few in print. I just ran out of room on my bookshelf and money. Kindle has the Unlimited for $10 a month where I can get as many books (from select lists) and then Prime does the free monthly download. Since I can read a book a day when I get on a roll it just made more sense financially. Plus, I can read at my desk when it is slow and people walking by just think I am checking my phone when I use the kindle app.

I can't even list the books I've read so far this year. My taste tends towards more alternative reality and fantasy. Rewritten fairy tales. Alt history. Murder mystery or thriller.

Right now I am doing a series by K.F. Breene. But I want to reread American Gods and some other Neil Gaiman next.
 
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foxxycat

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  3 books by William Forstchen One second After, One year after and now Final Day. I am half way through the final day. Scary stuff. But these are all take place in the black mountains of North Carolina=and the characters seem so real. I really enjoyed how each book connects together. Just something to think about-makes me want to learn preparation better- cook from scratch, fire making and shelter making. Just one of those things I never think of but I should be better prepared= water, food and shelter are lifes primary goals and family and community as well. No one can stand alone but we all have to work as a community...something I shy away from as I often stay to myself and don't really integrate well with people but at least the books goals worked=made me stop and think about what would I do if I was stranded and had to move on foot to get home or wherever my shelter is...
 

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I got three books for Christmas by a new author I have discovered, Lynn Austin. I am reading one of them.
 

catspaw66

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I switched to Kindle a few years back and have slowly gone to 99% kindle reading and a few in print. I just ran out of room on my bookshelf and money. Kindle has the Unlimited for $10 a month where I can get as many books (from select lists) and then Prime does the free monthly download. Since I can read a book a day when I get on a roll it just made more sense financially. Plus, I can read at my desk when it is slow and people walking by just think I am checking my phone when I use the kindle app.

I can't even list the books I've read so far this year. My taste tends towards more alternative reality and fantasy. Rewritten fairy tales. Alt history. Murder mystery or thriller.

 
For some good rewritten fairy tales, check out the Paul Kater Hilda the Wicked Witch series. There are quite a few of the books for free from Amazon.
 

Mamanyt1953

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Originally Posted by foxxycat  

>SNIP<
 

. I find these interesting but soon I will return to my light hearted romances that everyone says is a waste of time.
NOTHING can make me madder than a literary snob.  Waste of time?  In my book, anything that can lift someone out of their ordinary life and transport them to another world for an hour or six without breaking any laws or most moral codes is not only not a waste of time, but is a serious necessity!  And it's your time, so let them gnaw on that for a while as they read some musty, dusty tome full of high-flown ideas and low interest quotients, while I curl up with Charlaine Harris, or Jennifer Cruisie, or Miranda James, or Heather Graham, or even Preston & Child (I do love me some Agent Pendergast!).  YOU GO GIRL!
 

Primula

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NOTHING can make me madder than a literary snob.  Waste of time?  In my book, anything that can lift someone out of their ordinary life and transport them to another world for an hour or six without breaking any laws or most moral codes is not only not a waste of time, but is a serious necessity!  And it's your time, so let them gnaw on that for a while as they read some musty, dusty tome full of high-flown ideas and low interest quotients, while I curl up with Charlaine Harris, or Jennifer Cruisie, or Miranda James, or Heather Graham, or even Preston & Child (I do love me some Agent Pendergast!).  YOU GO GIRL!
But aren't you criticizing someone else's choice of reading when you talk about dusty tomes?
 

handsome kitty

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But aren't you criticizing someone else's choice of reading when you talk about dusty tomes?
No.  I have plenty of 'dusty tomes'.  They happen to be romance novels and others that I consider 'brain candy'  I have cleaning and am allergic to dust.  I find it I leave it be it doesn't bother me.

@Mamanyt1953   reads all kinds of books.  But there are those who wouldn't touch a romance novel and they are 'literary snobs' .  She was referring to their personality not their book choices.  I think.
 

Mamanyt1953

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But aren't you criticizing someone else's choice of reading when you talk about dusty tomes?
Well, kinda sorta, but I do dip into them myself on occasion.  I LOVE "War and Peace," and that's about as dusty a tome as it comes.  It's that sneering tone of voice that they always use that gets me,
and sets my back up to no end.  Can you tell I've heard it more than once?  I read eclectically, and constantly.  There is very little other than highly technical manuals and reference books that I don't enjoy, and I'd probably like those if my math skills were good enough to understand more than a quarter of them!
 

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I'm about to start "Revenger" by Alastair Reynolds, one of my favorite novelists.

I just re-read a short story called "My She" by Mary Rosenblum. It's actually a great story for animal lovers, since the antagonist is a dog. The story is about a seeing-eye dog who helps raise children in a special "convent" or temple, where the children have telepathic abilities. It's free on Lightspeed magazine's site:

http://www.lightspeedmagazine.com/fiction/my-she/

And here is another science fiction story, but this one is about CATS!
It's called "The Game of Rat and Dragon" by Cordwainer Smith, and it's about a far future in which humans have mastered interstellar travel...but there are hostile alien entities they call "dragons" between the stars. The thing is, the "dragons" are lightning-quick and humans do not have the quick reflexes or response times to fend off dragon attacks -- so they enlist the help of their earth-buddies, cats, to help them safely traverse star systems. They call the cats "partners," and the cats just happen to be awesome at defending human ships against the aliens.

This story is also available for free online:

http://www.gutenberg.org/files/29614/29614-h/29614-h.htm

The narrator talks about how he becomes particularly fond of one of his cat partners, and then describes a colleague who gets partnered with an old tomcat who thinks about nothing but food lol:

e grimaced. He had drawn a greedy old character, a tough old male whose mind was full of slobbering thoughts of food, veritable oceans full of half-spoiled fish. Father Moontree had once said that he burped cod liver oil for weeks after drawing that particular glutton, so strongly had the telepathic image of fish impressed itself upon his mind. Yet the glutton was a glutton for danger as well as for fish. He had killed sixty-three Dragons, more than any other Partner in the service, and was quite literally worth his weight in gold.
I was introduced to this story by my teacher in a science fiction writing class, and I love it. It turned out my teacher was also a big-time cat lover, and after one of our classes where we went off on a tangent about cats, he assigned us a few science fiction stories revolving around cats or featuring cats.
 
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