What are you currently reading?

[Michelle Louring]

I thought it was about time I did one of my book owl photos with the most owlish book of all: Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone.
It's been years since I last reread the Harry Potter series, but I find I still enjoy it immensely.

[Kate Elizabeth]

I started a lot of books over the past month or so, but here are the ones that I finished:

Ed West's Saxons vs. Vikings - an irreverent history that I loved.  I will definitely check out more of his books.

Lucy Foley's The Hunting Party - I liked this thriller pretty well.  I could really feel the isolating Scottish wilderness that the characters experienced.

Helena Hunting's The Good Luck Charm - this was not her best, but it was still okay.  Meet Cute was much better.

Melody Grace - All for You - a lovely romance.  I will definitely check out the rest of her series.  This was the 2nd in the Sweetbriar Cove series.


I'm currently reading two books:

Rhys Bowen's Love and Death Among the Cheetahs (Book 13 in Her Royal Spyness Mystery Series) - I have loved this series from the beginning.

Robert Silverberg's Hawksbill Station novel - I just started this one.  I was intrigued by the blurb and I didn't realize that this was originally a novella.

[LeonardDHilleyII]

Blood of the City by Robin D. Laws

[Vijaya]

Really enjoying Andrew Levy's A Brain Wider Than the Sky. It's part memoir, part history of migraine treatments and migraineurs.

[dgcasey]

Really good paranormal thriller.

[Kate Elizabeth]

I just finished Miranda Liasson's Then There Was You.  I will definitely read more of her books.

I'm currently reading Jane Casey's Let the Dead Speak, a UK police procedural.  I like it, so far.

[Hopscotch]

Rereading everything on my overburdened home library shelves - right now Jean Backus' Letters from Amelia (Earhart) - and taking those books I no longer want to keep to the neighborhood bookshare box by the beach when I do my daily walk, hastily sidestepping joggers who think speed spares them the need to maintain social distancing.

[elleoco]

I've been relying heavily on the library and KU since the lockdown and discovered a great new-to-me author when browsing the library's website, Bart Paul. There are currently 3 out in his Tommy Smith "High Country Noir" series, and they're IMO opinion terrific. I think any one who likes outdoor wild country settings for thrillers by authors like C.J. Box, Nevada Barr, and Paul Doiron would like these. Also Craig Johnson, although these don't have the Native American woo-woo stuff that Johnson's do.

These books are not actually noir by any definition of it I know. No sex to speak of, violence, but only at a level typical of thrillers.

The only negative is the price, which is why I got them from the library.

Under Tower Peak
Cheatgrass
See That My Grave Is Kept Clean

[Maggie Ann]

I'm reading (again) through my favorite mystery series. First, the Hillary Greene series by Faith Martin and now I'm reading Nero Wolfe. I think next I will reread the Miss Marple books.

I noticed something with the Nero Wolfe Books. If you go all the way to the end, past the back matter, you can download the next book in the series. I already have all the books so I can just go from one to the other and not have to search.

[TWErvin2]

Reading Contest by David Wood. It's the 12th in the Dane Maddock Series (action/adventure).

[Maggie Ann]

Currently reading Murder at Melrose Court set in the 1920s. So far so good.

Also read A Traitor at Tower Bridge by Lynda Wilcox, known around these parts has Gerri Attrick. It's the third in her Lady Eleanor series and I have enjoyed them all.

Just finished The Black Pill by L.J. Sellers in her Detective Jackson series. I think there are 17 books and I've read them all.

Continuing marathon reading of Nero Wolfe and also the Liturgical Mysteries by Mark Schweitzer.

[Vijaya]

Apocalyptic fiction by Bud McFarlane.

[elleoco]

It may be heresy in these contentious times, but tonight, thinking about tomorrow's holiday (here in the U.S.), I'm reading David McCullough's 1776. Tomorrow night I'll do my usual 4th of July viewing of Mel Gibson's The Patriot.

[Vijaya]

It may be heresy in these contentious times, but tonight, thinking about tomorrow's holiday (here in the U.S.), I'm reading David McCullough's 1776. Tomorrow night I'll do my usual 4th of July viewing of Mel Gibson's The Patriot.

Happy 4th of July!

Reading Canticle for Leibowitz.

[Maggie Ann]

I am mostly rereading mystery series. I just finished Mark Schweitzer's liturgical mysteries and I'm only about halfway through the Nero Wolfe series.

I have two tablets with only one series per tablet so when the battery gets low, I switch tablets and series. I have to decide what series I'm going to replace the liturgical mysteries. I'm thinking of Catherine Aird's Calleshire mysteries.

[Marti Talbott]

I bought a cook book I probably won't read. Does that count?

[Maggie Ann]

I read a few of Catherine MacLeod's Sarah Kellerman series but I couldn't get into the characters. I much prefer her Peter Shandy series.

I finished up the Nero Wolfe series and now I'm rereading Catherine Aird (Sloan and Crosby series). There's a little slow going getting to the meat of the mystery but it's well worth the slog both on a character and mystery level.

I'm also reading Faith Martin's Ryder and Loveday series. She has a new one out and I want to reread the prior books before I get to the new one.

I just finished a four book box set by Jean Heller. It features a columnist for the Chicago Chronicle. Good mysteries though kind of long, and the motive in the third book was kind of weird.

[elleoco]

I read S.W. Hubbard's Frank Bennett Adirondack mysteries, liked them enough to try her Palmyrton series, and liked them even more. KU!

[Hopscotch]

Re-reading Hammet's The Thin Man - a slim (pardon the pun) mystery but the writing is terrific and worth the study .

[Luke Everhart]

Morningstar by David Gemmell (not for the first time as I've reread all of Gemmell's books more than a few times)
It's loosely inspired by the tale of Robin Hood but it's a brilliant departure.

(David Gemmell is the greatest fantasy author since Tolkien imo. Fittingly there are several awards in fantasy named after him and his works.)

[Alec Hutson]

Morningstar by David Gemmell (not for the first time as I've reread all of Gemmell's books more than a few times)
It's loosely inspired by the tale of Robin Hood but it's a brilliant departure.

(David Gemmell is the greatest fantasy author since Tolkien imo. Fittingly there are several awards in fantasy named after him and his works.)

Not anymore. The Gemmell Awards stopped in 2019.

[Luke Everhart]

Morningstar by David Gemmell (not for the first time as I've reread all of Gemmell's books more than a few times)
It's loosely inspired by the tale of Robin Hood but it's a brilliant departure.

(David Gemmell is the greatest fantasy author since Tolkien imo. Fittingly there are several awards in fantasy named after him and his works.)

Not anymore. The Gemmell Awards stopped in 2019.

Yeah, unfortunately. It's a real shame for fantasy imo.

Departing Gemmell Awards Chair Stan Nicholls said: "This is a decision that has not been taken lightly, and indeed is one that myself and my committee members make with a heavy heart. It was always important to us to do things to a high standard, and in the current situation I don't think that we could deliver something befitting the reputation the Gemmell Awards has. I hope that the awards will be remembered for the good work they have done in supporting and championing the cause of fantasy fiction over the last ten years, and that we've left a legacy behind that people can look at fondly in years to come."

[Alec Hutson]

Morningstar by David Gemmell (not for the first time as I've reread all of Gemmell's books more than a few times)
It's loosely inspired by the tale of Robin Hood but it's a brilliant departure.

(David Gemmell is the greatest fantasy author since Tolkien imo. Fittingly there are several awards in fantasy named after him and his works.)

Not anymore. The Gemmell Awards stopped in 2019.

Yeah, unfortunately. It's a real shame for fantasy imo.

Departing Gemmell Awards Chair Stan Nicholls said: "This is a decision that has not been taken lightly, and indeed is one that myself and my committee members make with a heavy heart. It was always important to us to do things to a high standard, and in the current situation I don't think that we could deliver something befitting the reputation the Gemmell Awards has. I hope that the awards will be remembered for the good work they have done in supporting and championing the cause of fantasy fiction over the last ten years, and that we've left a legacy behind that people can look at fondly in years to come."

I agree that fewer awards are worse for the genre, especially with how politicized the Hugo and Nebula Awards currently are, but the last few years of the Gemmel were also sort of eye-rolling. The winner in 2017 was a Warhammer novel with currently a 3.7 rating on Goodreads with a whopping 63 ratings, beating out Mark Lawrence and Barndon Sanderson and others. Clearly Games Workshop mobilized their legions of fans to vote for a book they never actually read.