WRITING STUFF: BOOKS I HAVE READ RECENTLY
Even though reading is difficult for me – my left eye is "lazy" as a result of a mild stroke – I listen to books on tape (or CD) every day. I am partial to mysteries, but I found a few a little outside my envelope and here's a partial list of what I have been reading:
THE LAST TEMPLAR by Raymond Khoury - Okay, this is my number one pick for a book with *everything* in it: The Vatican, the FBI, a damsel in distress, Knights Templar battles, French and Turkish history, romance on a Greek isle, murder at the museum, relics, shipwrecks, and lots of hidden secrets of the past. Oh, and a killer ending you don't see coming!
THE PRINCES OF IRELAND by Edward Rutherfurd - This is a history of Dublin from the ancient times forward told in vignettes so compelling you forget it's a history lesson.
LOST BOY, LOST GIRL by Peter Straub – and to a lesser extent, the sequel, IN THE NIGHT ROOM. I read THE BLACK HOUSE, written with Stephen King, and loved it. LOST BOY, LOST GIRL was a creepy supernatural trip through the eyes of a writer. But I gotta say, IN THE NIGHT ROOM left me dissatisfied. I will most assuredly read more of his stuff – I am looking forward to SHADOWLAND, MYSTERY, and FLOATING DRAGON.
Linda Fairstein – Read her Alex Cooper series in order for a rich development of all the side characters. I got a kick out of THE KILLS. She has nine books out and I have read five of them. I like the characters and the fact that they play along with Alex Trebek's "Jeopardy" – not everyone knows I was a JEOPARDY contestant back in 1987!
Tammi Hoag – I read KILL THE MESSENGER and was hooked – whatta thrill ride! I also liked PRIOR BAD ACTS and ASHES TO ASHES. Warning, these books offer some pretty horrific and explicit crime scene detail.
The Goldy Schulz Cooking/Catering Mysteries by Diane Mott Davidson. Anything with chocolate and murder (not to mention recipes!) is a-okay with me. DARK TORT is the latest. DOUBLE SHOT, CHOPPING SPREE, STICKS & SCONES are all a hoot. If you want to read them in order (there are 13 so far) start with DYING FOR CHOCOLATE and THE CEREAL MURDERS.
The Joanna Brady and J.P. Beaumont books by J.A. Jance. There's even one with both of them in it. They are so different as characters, and not just because they are different genders for starters, but they are such different *people*. She also has an Ali Reynolds series and some stand alone books. To say she is prolific just doesn't really do it – how about a writing dynamo? There are 17 J.P. Beaumont books, 12 Joanna Brady books, 2 Ali Reynolds, 3 thrillers and a book of poetry, for crying out loud!
Kathy Reichs – with 9 Temperance Brennan mysteries and four scholarly works on anthropology and forensics, there's enough to keep you in dank, shallow graves with plenty of rotting corpses for quite some time. I'm not a big fan of her TV series, Bones, based on the books (except that David Boreanaz, Angel from "Buffy" is a lead actor in it) but the books are great.
Well, this is a sort of spooky look into my recent reading habits – kinda heavy on thrills & spills and forensic evidence, with a major shot of poison and the supernatural.
So what lurks in your reading closet?
Even though reading is difficult for me – my left eye is "lazy" as a result of a mild stroke – I listen to books on tape (or CD) every day. I am partial to mysteries, but I found a few a little outside my envelope and here's a partial list of what I have been reading:
THE LAST TEMPLAR by Raymond Khoury - Okay, this is my number one pick for a book with *everything* in it: The Vatican, the FBI, a damsel in distress, Knights Templar battles, French and Turkish history, romance on a Greek isle, murder at the museum, relics, shipwrecks, and lots of hidden secrets of the past. Oh, and a killer ending you don't see coming!
THE PRINCES OF IRELAND by Edward Rutherfurd - This is a history of Dublin from the ancient times forward told in vignettes so compelling you forget it's a history lesson.
LOST BOY, LOST GIRL by Peter Straub – and to a lesser extent, the sequel, IN THE NIGHT ROOM. I read THE BLACK HOUSE, written with Stephen King, and loved it. LOST BOY, LOST GIRL was a creepy supernatural trip through the eyes of a writer. But I gotta say, IN THE NIGHT ROOM left me dissatisfied. I will most assuredly read more of his stuff – I am looking forward to SHADOWLAND, MYSTERY, and FLOATING DRAGON.
Linda Fairstein – Read her Alex Cooper series in order for a rich development of all the side characters. I got a kick out of THE KILLS. She has nine books out and I have read five of them. I like the characters and the fact that they play along with Alex Trebek's "Jeopardy" – not everyone knows I was a JEOPARDY contestant back in 1987!
Tammi Hoag – I read KILL THE MESSENGER and was hooked – whatta thrill ride! I also liked PRIOR BAD ACTS and ASHES TO ASHES. Warning, these books offer some pretty horrific and explicit crime scene detail.
The Goldy Schulz Cooking/Catering Mysteries by Diane Mott Davidson. Anything with chocolate and murder (not to mention recipes!) is a-okay with me. DARK TORT is the latest. DOUBLE SHOT, CHOPPING SPREE, STICKS & SCONES are all a hoot. If you want to read them in order (there are 13 so far) start with DYING FOR CHOCOLATE and THE CEREAL MURDERS.
The Joanna Brady and J.P. Beaumont books by J.A. Jance. There's even one with both of them in it. They are so different as characters, and not just because they are different genders for starters, but they are such different *people*. She also has an Ali Reynolds series and some stand alone books. To say she is prolific just doesn't really do it – how about a writing dynamo? There are 17 J.P. Beaumont books, 12 Joanna Brady books, 2 Ali Reynolds, 3 thrillers and a book of poetry, for crying out loud!
Kathy Reichs – with 9 Temperance Brennan mysteries and four scholarly works on anthropology and forensics, there's enough to keep you in dank, shallow graves with plenty of rotting corpses for quite some time. I'm not a big fan of her TV series, Bones, based on the books (except that David Boreanaz, Angel from "Buffy" is a lead actor in it) but the books are great.
Well, this is a sort of spooky look into my recent reading habits – kinda heavy on thrills & spills and forensic evidence, with a major shot of poison and the supernatural.
So what lurks in your reading closet?
THREE BEAUTIFUL THINGS
The new bathroom cabinet my Dear Husband assembled while I was at work yesterday. He's home recuperating fro hip surgery, but he has been busy, busy!
Three orchids blooming in the dining room – one tiny and bright yellow, one tiny and in that shade of lavender always called "orchid" and one in assertive brown stripes, huge and tiger-like.
A hawk sitting atop a light post this morning, head darting side to side, feathers glistening in the morning damp. And he was big!
6 comments:
Thanks for the reading list -- I'm always looking for someone "new". It's funny you mentioned J.A. Jance, because literally just yesterday I read my first book by her and thoroughly enjoyed it! Of course, it was a JP Beaumont book and out of sequence, so now I have to go back to the beginning of the LONG series and get caught up.
Oh darn.
sonnjea b, I've been reading the JP Beaumonts all out of sequence, all over the place! But good stories stand on their own, I think.
And Kate--Just for you, I did a Circus Tent Man update! Have a nice weekend.
I just finished a wad of Laurel K. Hamilton books.
Am now reading one of David Drake's The Tank Lords.
sonnjea b - the Circus Tent Man update is bizarre!!! Everyone, please read about it at Koji's Kitchen (link on my blog main page)
Bernita - I've been looking for more stuff to read - The Tank Lords sounds perfect!
On your advice I have picked up The Last Templar. Looking forward to reading it!
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