What are you reading?

[aimo]

the huge fire at the Los Angeles public library in 1986.

That breaks my heart!

[rasputin]

That breaks my heart!

Mine too, but the part I was reading last night (I'm about a third of the way in to the book) discussed at some length the public support of the library. Once the fire was out they needed to get the books to a safe place (including putting them in a FREEZER so that they wouldn't mold!), and thousands of people formed human chains to pass the books along. Also the author discusses the support from Hollywood people to raise money to replace the books and records.

So, there's a heartwarming part too.

[YmoBeThere]

My new novel comes out next week, the third installment in the Seth Walker series. It's called DEPARTURE, and if you're not on board yet (or if you just want an early sneak peek), Criminal Element has posted a free excerpt here: http://t.co/sGNftII1Fd?amp=1

If you give the book a try, I certainly hope you enjoy it!

Just got a notice for it. I signed up for Kindle Unlimited last week and the book is available to me there based on the e-mail from Amazon. Should I give it a read?

[JosephReidBooks]

Should I give it a read?

I would love for you to give it a try, no matter what platform. If you're reading one of my books, I'm grateful no matter where, when, or how!

This is book #3 in the Seth Walker series, but you don't need to have read the first two--it's a standalone adventure. In this one, a passenger has mysteriously gone missing before an international flight, and Walker is called in to investigate. But is the missing person the victim of a crime, or about to perpetrate one?

If you like fast-paced thrillers, I hope you'll give it a try and that it'll keep you up past your bedtime to see what happens. If you ever end up ordering this or any of my other books and want them personalized, don't hesitate to let me know. Thanks!

[aimo]

Placed my order for Next to Last Stand, Craig Johnson's latest Longmire book. Longmire Days starts tomorrow, virtually. They are auctioning off a 12-year-old bottle of Pappy Van Winkle as part of their fundraiser.

https://www.longmiredays.com/

[JosephReidBooks]

Just wanted to throw out a note that I'll be part of a virtual book event tomorrow night (Friday, 8/14) through Houston's famous independent bookstore Murder By the Book. It'll be on Facebook Live, starting at 7pm Central time.

Setting aside my piece of it, I know a lot of you like westerns, and my co-host will be J. Todd Scott, whose Texas Border series is a fantastic modern-day look at crime in small Texas towns. He's a real-life ATF agent and a wonderful writer, so even if you don't want to see or hear me, tune in to see him talk about his stuff including his latest book LOST RIVER.

Hope to see you there!

Event photo.jpg

[YmoBeThere]

Just wanted to throw out a note that I'll be part of a virtual book event tomorrow night (Friday, 8/14) through Houston's famous independent bookstore Murder By the Book. It'll be on Facebook Live, starting at 7pm Central time.

Setting aside my piece of it, I know a lot of you like westerns, and my co-host will be J. Todd Scott, whose Texas Border series is a fantastic modern-day look at crime in small Texas towns. He's a real-life ATF agent and a wonderful writer, so even if you don't want to see or hear me, tune in to see him talk about his stuff including his latest book LOST RIVER.

Hope to see you there!

Event photo.jpg

Missed your post, but did start reading Departure this evening.

[OldPhiKap]

Missed your post, but did start reading Departure this evening.

And I have had a Joseph Reid book as my “play next” audiobook for months, it’s just been way too hot here for my long walks and I don’t audio on my kayak adventures. Didn’t want JR to think it’s fallen off the list — I am dying to get to it!

[YmoBeThere]

Missed your post, but did start reading Departure this evening.

A third of the way through, my initial thought is best of the three!

[JosephReidBooks]

A third of the way through, my initial thought is best of the three!

Ymo, thank you SO much! I hope every book is a little better than the last one, so it's good to hear that I'm delivering on that. Will be curious (and nervous!) to hear whether you like the rest.

And I have had a Joseph Reid book as my “play next” audiobook for months, it’s just been way too hot here for my long walks and I don’t audio on my kayak adventures. Didn’t want JR to think it’s fallen off the list — I am dying to get to it!

OPK, totally understand! If I'm at all impatient, pardon me for it--we authors are always dying to know what people think, and whether we did OK.

BTW, Murder By the Book posted the video of our event the other night on YouTube. If you missed it and want to give it a try, the link is here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YR0QqrXGFCU

And, even if you don't want to see J. Todd Scott and me talk books, they have a piece with John Grisham interviewing James Lee Burke. I'm dying to watch it as soon as I have a free second.

[YmoBeThere]

Ymo, thank you SO much! I hope every book is a little better than the last one, so it's good to hear that I'm delivering on that. Will be curious (and nervous!) to hear whether you like the rest.

I should be done by this evening and will post my thoughts.

[YmoBeThere]

Okay, a couple days late.

I enjoyed Departure the most of the three books in the series so far. I liked the way the pace was maintained early on as well as the interspersing of the "two" stories. I also liked the change in the level of violence. Honestly, Takeoff and False Horizon felt almost Grand Theft Auto-ish at points. Here it was much more coincidental to the story rather than a focus. Finally, this comment may be somewhat unique to me, I appreciated the discussion about IP and the patent decision. I have a couple, could have several more, but was involved in a several discussions on whether to patent versus keep as a trade secret. At the time, my employer was focused on increasing its patent count, to keep up with the consumer goods producers that we supplied. We changed course when one of them tried to patent what they observed in our facilities.

I look forward to Seth Walker's next adventures.

[JosephReidBooks]

I enjoyed Departure the most of the three books in the series so far.

So glad you liked it Ymo! One of my goals is certainly to make each book better than the last, so if you felt like DEPARTURE was the best of the three, then I'm hopefully delivering on that.

Not many people bring up the IP/law aspects of the books. There's little bits of that in each of them, but usually I hear about the tech, the action, the character stuff. I'm glad those aspects appealed to you--they're near and dear to my heart for obvious reasons.

Thanks again!

[rsvman]

Ok, so last night I finished Proust's In Search of Lost Time, all 1.5 million words of it. In print it is about 4700 pages! I read it on a kindle. Whew! That was a monster! You know how people put stickers on their car when they complete a marathon or a triathlon? I feel like there should be a bumper or window sticker for getting through Proust's behemoth. I would proudly display it on my car.

My wife and I are reading The Adventures of Tom Sawyer.

[rsvman]

Forgot to mention that my next book is going to be House of Wits, An Intimate Portrait of the James Family by Paul Fisher, my cousin. He is an English professor who has been studying the James's forever. It got a starred Kirkus review that called it "A stunning multigenerational portrait of one of the most complex families in American intellectual history...A golden bowl, brimming full." Charles McGrath of The New York Times said, "A sweeping biography...Fisher gives fair and sympathetic time to everyone, and provides a lively and detailed social history of the period." Yes, I'm bragging on my cousin.

My cousin is a talented author and a true scholar, so I am looking forward to it. He also moved in to live with my family when he was about 14 or 15 years old after both of his parents passed away and my parents were legal guardians, so he lived in my house with me for a number of years and we actually shared a bedroom, because the house wasn't big enough for everybody to have his/her own bedroom after my cousins all arrived.

Anyway, I started it already and although I have never read anything by anybody in the James family, the book seems interesting from a historical perspective alone.

[WillJ]

Forgot to mention that my next book is going to be House of Wits, An Intimate Portrait of the James Family by Paul Fisher, my cousin. He is an English professor who has been studying the James's forever. It got a starred Kirkus review that called it "A stunning multigenerational portrait of one of the most complex families in American intellectual history...A golden bowl, brimming full." Charles McGrath of The New York Times said, "A sweeping biography...Fisher gives fair and sympathetic time to everyone, and provides a lively and detailed social history of the period." Yes, I'm bragging on my cousin.

My cousin is a talented author and a true scholar, so I am looking forward to it. He also moved in to live with my family when he was about 14 or 15 years old after both of his parents passed away and my parents were legal guardians, so he lived in my house with me for a number of years and we actually shared a bedroom, because the house wasn't big enough for everybody to have his/her own bedroom after my cousins all arrived.

Anyway, I started it already and although I have never read anything by anybody in the James family, the book seems interesting from a historical perspective alone.

Sounds good. In the genre, I can recommend Fathers and Sons: The Autobiography of a Family by Alexander Waugh.

[Jim3k]

Published in 2018, this is an important and somewhat disturbing book. It’s not long, only 263 pages in the hardback edition. Its premise is that for the U.S. population, despite all of the wordsmithing done by those we recognize as leaders, be it intellectual leaders or the ultra wealthy, their premise that they can change the country for the better, is only a charade to protect the status quo. Note that he has excluded political leaders; under his POV, they are an endangered species in our democracy.

Giridharadas has been a NYT columnist, a TED speaker, a Poynter fellow and, at the time of publication, was a journalism prof at NYU. He has an undergraduate degree from Michigan. This is his third book. As you will see, he’s one smart dude.

Though not long, it is both thought-provoking and frustrating. It is well written, yet hard work to read. In seven quite different chapters, from entirely different points of view, he reaches the same conclusion.

I guess I could simplify it down to: Trickle-down economics doesn’t work, was never intended to work and was always a fraud upon the public. But that is not exactly where Giridharadas is coming from. He’s coming from anecdotal and historical evidence. He’s coming from, among others, McKinsey; he’s coming from Davos. From Harvard Business, and from the Ford Foundation.

All those centers assert they are working to make the world better by providing opportunity to the body politic to make their lives better. Giridharadas does a really good job of putting the lie to that contention—from employment to charitable mega-giving.

I can recommend this book to anyone who wants to try. You will need to take it in small bites. There are a lot of moving parts. Don’t give up even if Giridharadas has convinced you early on.

[rsvman]

Just started 'where the crawdads sing.'

[aimo]

Just started 'where the crawdads sing.'

Will discuss when you have finished.

[DUKIECB]

I know I'm very late to the party but I decided to start making my way through King's Dark Tower series. I just finished the third installment, The Wastelands, and so far I'm really liking it. King has a way of making you feel like you truly know his characters and having a series where you can continue to get to know them has been nice. I wasn't a huge fan of book 1 but have loved The Drawing of Three and Wastelands. His imagination is out of this world. Going to take a break before beginning the behemoth that is next, Of Wizard and Glass. Any fans of the series here? Just wondering what everyone's favorite book of the series is?