Books: What have you been reading?

[Deathstroke]

Ten years after publishing the outstanding thriller I Am Pilgrim, author Terry Hayes will be releasing his 2nd novel The Year of the Locust on February 6th, 2024! Article Link

[MajorHoy]

Started reading

The Knife Slipped by Erle Stanley Gardner
writing as "A. A. Fair"
<Cool & Lam series>
(© 2016 by the Erle Stanley Gardner Trust / First Hard Case Crime edition: December 2016)

Here's a little about it from the Hard Case Crime website:

THE LOST DETECTIVE NOVEL
BY THE CREATOR OF PERRY MASON!

At the time of his death, Erle Stanley Gardner was the best-selling American author of the 20th century, and world famous as the creator of crusading attorney Perry Mason. Gardner also created the hardboiled detective team of Cool and Lam, stars of 29 novels published between 1939 and 1970—and one that’s never been published until now.

Lost for more than 75 years, THE KNIFE SLIPPED was meant to be the second book in the series but got shelved when Gardner’s publisher objected to (among other things) Bertha Cool’s tendency to "talk tough, swear, smoke cigarettes, and try to gyp people." But this tale of adultery and corruption, of double-crosses and triple identities —however shocking for 1939—shines today as a glorious present from the past, a return to the heyday of private eyes and shady dames, of powerful criminals, crooked cops, blazing dialogue, and delicious plot twists.

Donald Lam has never been cooler—not even when played by Frank Sinatra on the U.S. Steel Hour of Mystery in 1946. Bertha Cool has never been tougher. And Erle Stanley Gardner has never been better.

[The Darknight Detective]

New reads: Line of Fire (1992), the fifth novel from the Corps series by W.E.B. Griffin...



... and on my Kindle, the short story Munford (1911) by Frank L. Packard and the novel Walker of the Secret Service (1924) by Melville Davisson Post.

Started reading

The Knife Slipped by Erle Stanley Gardner
writing as "A. A. Fair"
<Cool & Lam series>
(© 2016 by the Erle Stanley Gardner Trust / First Hard Case Crime edition: December 2016)

Here's a little about it from the Hard Case Crime website:

The knife slipped and accidentally cut off her dress?

[Jim Kelly]

Unlike others on here, I'm not one to speed through a book unless I'm under the gun to do so or it's a real page turner. I fall asleep too easily.

I'm continuing to read several old comic books as is my wont. I'm slowly getting through THE SECRET HISTORY OF AA COMICS by Bob Rozakis. I found THE OFFICIAL SOAP OPERA ANNUAL for 1977 that I gave my mother back then and, from time to time now, I'm reading the synopses of different soap operas. At the moment, I'm working my way through ANOTHER WORLD, which is like a Russian novel.

I'm on the third volume of FUNK & WAGNALLS STANDARD REFERENCE ENCYCLOPEDIA (circa 1964), reading about Austria. There are 25 volumes in the set, and I started almost a year ago, so at this rate I should be finished in about eleven years.

I find with very long works, if I just read a bit each evening before bed, I can eventually get through the whole thing. I just finished reading THE ARABIAN NIGHTS TALES OF 1001 NIGHTS, in three volumes (after what? two or three years?)--actually, those volumes, I finished awhile ago, but there were many added stories in my book of selected TALES FROM THE ARABIAN NIGHTS, translated and annotated by Sir Richard F. Burton. In fact, many of the most popular tales are not the original ones but those added later by Antoine Galland--like Ali Baba and Aladdin. And the story of the magic carpet only appears in the additional tale of the Peri-Banu.

I'm debating what other long work I should tackle next. I read the entire King James Bible when I was a teen, which stood me in good stead when I did all my English literature courses at university--maybe I should read that again. Or perhaps À LA RECHERCHE DU TEMPS PERDU by Marcel Proust, for the sake of Lorelai Gilmore.

From the public library, I've taken out TARZAN ALIVE by Philip José Farmer, so I'll have to plow through it to return it by the due date. I first learned about this way back in the 1970s, when I was a teen and reading EDGAR RICE BURROUGHS: MASTER OF ADVENTURE by Richard Lupoff. He referenced Farmer's contention that Tarzan was an actual person, which intrigued me, yet I never got Farmer's book until now. I did read more about it on a website some years ago. And then, the memory of it came back to me recently.

In the book, it's not Tarzan and Jane alone who Farmer argues actually exist, it's also several other supposedly fictional personages--the Scarlet Pimpernel (an ancestor of Lord Greystoke), Sherlock Holmes, Mr. Darcy, Bulldog Drummond, Doc Savage, Lord Peter Wimsey, et al. On their journey to Africa, Tarzan's parents cross paths with Sir Richard F. Burton in Freetown, Sierra Leone.

I've always considered TARZAN OF THE APES to have one of the best openings of any novel in the English language--it's up there with "It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, . . ." and "The river flowed both ways." When Burroughs writes "I had this story from one who had no business to tell it to me, . . ." the reader is immediately taken into a forbidden mystery, which could actually be true.

Farmer's book is not that easy to follow, because he presents it as a work of non-fiction. It's written less like a novel and more like a research paper. Perhaps I'll need to buy my own copy.

[The Darknight Detective]

Unlike others on here, I'm not one to speed through a book unless I'm under the gun to do so or it's a real page turner. I fall asleep too easily.

I don't really Evelyn Wood my book reading myself, Jim. I'm just fortunate enough to be my own boss and also knowing how to utilize my time for reading a hundred pages a day. I just wish I had been more disciplined when I was a younger instead of viewing too much crap on TV years ago.

[The Darknight Detective]

New Kindle reads: the short story A Source of Irritation (1918) by Stacey Aumonier and the book The Saint in Action (1937) - the sixteenth Simon Templar novel by Leslie Charteris.

[The Darknight Detective]

On the hard-copy level, I'm now reading The Planet Savers (1962), the first Darkover book by Marion Zimmer Bradley.

[MajorHoy]

Currently reading

Dime Detective Magazine #1 Facsimile Edition by various
(originally November 1931 issue / © 2023 by Steeger Properties LLC.)

[Deathstroke]

I finished reading The Puzzle of Blackstone Lodge by Martin Edwards.

[a moment closer]

I just finished Dune: The Duke of Caladan by Brian Herbert and Kevin J. Anderson and started the second book in this trilogy, Dune: The Lady of Caladan.

[FluffySheep]

I've just started Red Rising by Pierce Brown. After reading The Shadow Casket, which was 800+ pages, I wanted to read something non fantasy next. I hear a lot of hype for Red Rising, so hopefully I enjoy it.

[The Darknight Detective]

Now reading The Berets (1985), the fifth book from The Brotherhood Of War series by W.E.B. Griffin.

[kidfresh512]

I've just started Red Rising by Pierce Brown. After reading The Shadow Casket, which was 800+ pages, I wanted to read something non fantasy next. I hear a lot of hype for Red Rising, so hopefully I enjoy it.

Absolutely love this series. I am listening to the audiobook of the new entry Light Bringer now. He really navigates all the characters and world building and various simultaneous plots so well. And the detail he describes things like the battles. It is really like an action movie how very descriptive and action packed the battle scenes are. The audiobook is done so well I feel like I am watching a good movie. I stopped in the parking garage at work to wait till I got to the next chapter this morning because I happened to be at an intense battle part and didn't want to pause the momentum going to my office at work.

[The Darknight Detective]

New Kindle reads: the short story At the Last of the Ebb The Mountain of Fears (1905) by Henry C. Rowland and also The Old Man in the Corner (1908) - the second book from the Teahouse Detective series by Baroness Emmuska Orczy.

[Deathstroke]

You can check out my review of the new Joanna Schaffhausen thriller Dead and Gone, officially due out tomorrow, via this Mystery Scene magazine link.

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