Submitted by Jeff Fisher
It is time for the autumn installment of Blog Reads. Read a good book lately? Are you reading a horror title for October? (Why are there no books about cassowaries running wild through the city?)
Please leave the title and author of your recent reads in the comments section below.
I am enjoying The Mostly True Story of Tanner and Louise for a fun read (no horror for me, please!)
ReplyDeleteI recently read What Time the Sexton's Spade Doth Rust, the latest fantastic addition in the Flavia DeLuce series. If an eleven year old chemist obsessed with the science of death who puts it to use solving mysteries sounds intriguing to you, book one is The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie :)
ReplyDeleteI also read the Tattoist of Auschwitz, since I had the opportunity to visit Auschwitz in September. After finishing it, I did find an article by the Auschwitz-Birkenau memorial fact-checking the book and finding many historical errors that show a lack of attention to research or give a wrong impression of life at the camp. (A main character's tattoo number is wrong, the train route described is a modern day route rather than the one at the time, the prisoners have freedom to move around the camp in the book when in reality were restricted by guards and barbed wire, you can find the memorial's article on it for more.) Since the author states that the book is very factually based, I did find it offputting that there were incorrect impressions given about the history through the writing.
I just finished my creepy Halloween read—This Thing Between Us by Gus Moreno. It's a cosmic horror novel featuring an Alexa-like device (Itza). It's definitely not a feel-good read, but it has a likeable main character and deals with themes of grief and belonging.
ReplyDeleteI recentlly enjoyed the audiobook of The Best Strangers in the World : Stories from a Life Spent Listening by Ari Shapiro. He has had a fascinating life and career.
ReplyDeleteI ventured into the horror-adjacent with a haunted house spooky story that also has a love plotline! It's Karen Marie Moning's latest book, "The House at Watch Hill". It's super atmospheric, witchy, and subtly unsettling. The love interest (perhaps??) is a Scottish groundskeeper that I keep imagining as Groundskeeper Willy from the Simpsons, which is patently incorrect, but still fun. I'm only 35% of the way through, but I keep thinking about it nonstop, so it's definitely captured my attention!
ReplyDeleteI recently finished There are Rivers in the Sky by Elif Shafak which intertwined the tales of three people living centuries apart. The theme connects all three characters through water flowing from both the Thames and the Tigris rivers. This connection is based on the premise that a rain or snowdrop today may be the same drop felt centuries before.
ReplyDeleteA Yazidi girl and her grandmother set off on a journey to Iraq for a ritual ceremony. Arthur (aka King Arthur of the Sewers and the Slums) was born on the banks of the Thames in the late 1800's, raised in the slums of London, and became an ambitious archeologist. Zaleekah, a hydrologist in modern day England, struggling with her marriage, moves into a small houseboat on the Thames despite her family's misgivings. The story weaves each of the characters together with references to the Epic of Gilgamesh which is set in ancient Iraq and Syria. Each character's story is interesting enough but together make for an endearing epic of human perseverance.
Warning: There are a few disturbing scenes of the past and the more recent persecution of the Yazidi people.