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City of Blows by Tim Blake Nelson
I guess you have to write a book if you have done any time in Hollywood. Tim Blake Nelson is probably most famous for being one of the triumvirate in "O, Brother Where art thou?" He is also a writer and director. But rather than writing a memoir of all his Hollywood anecdotes, he writes this fictional account of what it mean to make a motion picture mostly from the viewpoint of the above the line talent. The book concerns itself with producers, directors and actors with occasional forays into the other departments, but not far.
The book starts early with the childhoods of the three main protagonists and what made them go to Hollywood. There is Jacob the producer who has been at it a long time. There is Brad another producer just getting started. And David the actor and director. None of them have redeeming qualities. Some are bit more honorable than the others but only in small bursts. I get the feeling that Nelson had some subjects in Hollywood he wanted to talk about and made up fictional situations with his characters to do so.
There is also a big subplot about the me too movement in the book. The Weinstein brothers appear under different names. It is one of the big subsections of the book on how these producers and agents prey on the new talent.
I thought the book was just fair overall. It only shows the ugly side of the business but never goes in to why people put up with all that crap to do what they do.
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The Hunter by Tana French
I love Tana French because she writes beautifully and subverts all our norms. And everything and everyone is built in shades of gray. At the end, no one gets away clean.
Back in the west of Ireland in a fictional town, bad things are again happening for the retired American policeman and the people of Ardnakelty amidst an unprecedented heat wave that has every one on edge to begin with. Then, a long lost father returns with tales of gold in the hills and a scheme to get a rich British guy to pay everyone to dig on their lands to look for the gold. It's a con job but the question is who cons who? Very moody and atmospheric.
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Think Twice by Harlan Coban
Myron Bolitar returns. Ah, mystery comfort food books. Myron is Myron and he still has the same problems. Win is back, too, to look after Myron and make sure he doesn't get into too much trouble. I really do wish for more Win centered books because he is such an interesting character.
Anyway. A former client of Myron's DNA, presumed dead, turns up at a murder scene. Myron has a long history with the dead man so he sets off to unravel the is he or isn't he dead question. Which only leads to more questions which necessitates traveling around the country. Myron gets involved with Las Vegas gangsters and the his own son, fathered on the woman who was married to the dead man. Lots of good red herrings floating around.
Good quick mystery read of a character with lots of books behind him.
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In a Dark, Dark Wood by Ruth Ware
Ah, British mysteries with their tortured characters set in desolate places.
Nora gets invited to a Hen party with a friend she hasn't spoken to in years. Another mutual friend says she will go if Nora goes. Against her better judgement Nora goes, confused why she was even invited in the first place. This story cuts back and forth with the main story of Nora waking up in the hospital unsure of how she got there, but there is a policeman outside her door.
It's all good and moody. I did have a problem with some of the premise but that might just have to do with being an old male type person. But it was well written and kept me sort of guessing.
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Pieces of Her by Karin Slaughter
The book starts with Andrea involved in a shooting at a cafe on her birthday. She is rescued by the intervention of her mother. But this activity sets Andy off on the run as the world she knows seems to be based on lies, mostly about who her mother actually is. There is a second narrative about an assassination thirty years early of a pharmaceutical billionaire at a conference in Sweden done by an underground terrorist group ala the symbioses liberation army. Pieces of the past story keep bleeding over into Andy's journey.
It was a solid story although I felt the lead was a little to whiny in the whole "woe is me" sort of way.
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The Women in Cabin by Ruth Ware
The Ruth Ware exploration continues. Or ends. I think I've seen enough.
Female travel writer goes on an exclusive ten cabin cruise ship to see the Northern Lights. Bad things happen.
It's probably wrong of me that the whole time I read the book as the travel writer becomes increasingly unhinged as all her problems come to the fore is that I kept wondering how a cruise ship with only 10 cabins could make a profit.
The main mystery is what happened to women in Cabin 10 that the travel writer saw briefly just as the ship left port and was never seen again. Add to the complications is that Travel Writer though she heard something thrown off the balcony from that room.
But I didn't care for the lead. And the mystery wasn't all that involving.
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I'll Keep You Safe by Peter May
Naimh McFarlan watches her husbands car explode on a Paris Street. She returns home to her Hebridean Island home to reflect on her life and to figure out why here husband was killed. Lots of desolate Island atmosphere and Celtic flavor but it was pretty much a soap opera. I never felt really engaged with the story and figured out early on who was the most likely culprit. Did learn a lot about tweed manufacturing.
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The House of Shattered Thorns by Aliette de Bodard
The Dominion series of novels are set in Paris where the wars in Heaven have caused havoc in the city leaving great houses run by magic wielding fallen angels in charge. Everything is rotten from the food to the houses themselves. There are always intrigues between the houses and in the houses themselves between the people therein. It's all very gothic and depressing. In Shattered thorns, Hawthorne house is trying to make an alliance with a mystic kingdom that lives below the Seine. But the kingdom below the Seine is currently involved in a civil war. People go missing. There is an addiction to Angel essence.
The book was a slog to get through. I was really glad when I didn't have to read it anymore.
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Coffin Road by Peter May
A man wakes up on the beach of a different Hebridean Island than "I Will Keep You Safe" with no memory of who he is. The convenient temporary amnesia plot. The quest is on to determine who he is and what he is doing on this Island. Chances are he might be a murderer as well. Meanwhile a rebellious teenage girl in Edinburgh desperately misses her dad who died two years ago. Will their paths converge?
Bit of a slog. Huge environmental message not smoothly grafted on to the mystery. It was kind of like May had a message and he built this mystery to go around it.
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Read Tesh/Some Desperate Glory per your recommendation. It was one of the best reads in a very long time. Fascism & De-Radicalization were really well-handled and the story kept twistin & turnin. Very enjoyable.
In the Tudor Period, Fencing Masters were classified in the Vagrancy Laws along with Actors, Gypsys, Vagabonds, Sturdy Rogues, and the owners of performing bears.
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(07-10-2024, 09:56 AM)Dr. Ivor Yeti Wrote: Read Tesh/Some Desperate Glory per your recommendation. It was one of the best reads in a very long time. Fascism & De-Radicalization were really well-handled and the story kept twistin & turnin. Very enjoyable.
What the what? No one takes my recs!
I did really enjoy that.
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Of Wars, and Memories, and Starlight by Aliette de Bodard
A short story collection by Ms. De Bodard that further fleshes out her stories of Mind ships, the Xung Empire and more of the dominion world of Paris.
In some ways the stories were good in they fleshed out her far flung worlds. The stories about the Dominion world did give some clarity to how the houses run. But overall I wanted more completion from the stories. They left me hanging in so many cases. They were snippets rather than conclusion. I did like being in this weird Vietnamese future among the planets and how they would go about ruling the universe and their different takes on technology but the stories never really felt fulfilling.
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Kagan the Damned by Jonathan Maberry
That was disappointing. The book started off really well and I thought I was in for a good sword and sorcery epic. But not. After the big castle battle, Kagan spends the next quarter of the book drunk and feeling sorry for himself. That makes for compelling reading. Meanwhile the rest of the characters sit around talking about what they are going to do and how they are going to do it.
The end is fairly predictable and I guessed the big reveal coming from a long way off. Maberry also decides to throw Cthulu and some of the other elder gods in there just to be fun.
I'm pretty sure I won't read the rest of the trilogy.
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(04-24-2024, 09:13 AM)Greg Wrote: His Foundryside trilogy is better.
Almost finished book II of foundryside and you are right so far.
In the Tudor Period, Fencing Masters were classified in the Vagrancy Laws along with Actors, Gypsys, Vagabonds, Sturdy Rogues, and the owners of performing bears.
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Bridge of Dreams by Chaz Brenchley
A book of the Sund people and the Marias people separated by a river. The Marias used a magical bridge to cross the river and take over the Sund people. But that's just the backstory. There are two threads to the book. One is from the viewpoint of Issa a water seller on the Sund side of the river dealing with revolt and the Occupation of the Marias. On the other side, Jendra is about to be sold off into marriage to join a rich man's harem to boost the standing of Jendra's father.
The book has a middle easter flavor with Sultan's and weird magic but the writing is really evocative and poetic. Sadly, the two stories never intertwine and we are left on a cliff hanger. Issa is a really interesting character in how he views his life and his struggles and the curse that might be afflicting him. Jendra's tale seems a bit more standard but interesting.
As a matter of fact, my anger does keep me warm
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