75 Books...More or Less! discussion

1. Woman in Cabin 10. I definitely enjoyed and recommend, however I liked In a dark dark wood a bit better. Good quick read, slow in a few parts and rushed in a couple others.

Drew wrote: "1. Woman in Cabin 10. I definitely enjoyed and recommend, however I liked In a dark dark wood a bit better. Good quick read, slow in a few parts and rushed in a couple others."

Woman in Cabin 10 is coming up soon on my list. I got it with my brief Book of the Month membership last summer.

2. The Wrong Side of Goodbye I've read all his books, (can't believe it's up to something like 29), and he keeps it pretty fresh. A good read, enjoyable, and the twists at the end are believable.

Are you watching the Harry Bosch Amazon series?

Yes, I liked Season one but I'm stalled in season two. I find in the books Bosch is fairly arrogant, but in the tv series he is incredibly arrogant.

3. The Knife Slipped Guilty pleasure: the Hard Case Crime series, plus they're easy to read when you have one eye on a football game you don't really care about.

Drew wrote: "1. Woman in Cabin 10. I definitely enjoyed and recommend, however I liked In a dark dark wood a bit better. Good quick read, slow in a few parts and rushed in a couple others."

I just got this on audio from the library. I got the book for my mom for Christmas and she said its good it just would be better if more was going on.

4. The Mystery Writers of America Presents The Mystery Box A fun short story anthology, theme based. A box is somehow a key element of each story, it was interesting to see how different authors interpreted it.

Drew wrote: "4. The Mystery Writers of America Presents The Mystery Box A fun short story anthology, theme based. A box is somehow a key element of each story, it was interesting to see how diff..."

This sounds cool!

5. The Old Man by Thomas Perry. Another author I enjoy, and like most of his other books, this is a good page turner, not too heavy. I like the plot concept, interesting twist on the former government agent gone rogue theme.

6. Wow. I picked up this book at the library on Saturday afternoon and couldn't put it down until I finished it Sunday night (except to watch the Patriots, of course). This book has a great plot and an intricate style of narration, and all the twists and turns make perfect sense in the end. I had never heard of the author before (Christopher Brookmyre) but I'll be reading more of his books as soon as I can get my hands on them. I strongly recommend this book to anyone who likes mysteries and well-told stories.

Drew wrote: "6. Wow. I picked up this book at the library on Saturday afternoon and couldn't put it down until I finished it Sunday night (except to watch the Patriots, of cours..."

Adding to my TBR!

I will also add this to my TBR!

7. I like Grisham, you know what you're getting, and this book is classic Grisham. I find most of his books to be well written good quick reads. Like many, I was terribly disappointed with Rogue Lawyer, but this is his standard fare. A few stalwart investigators battle a corrupt system in the Florida Panhandle with some classic twists and turns. I had to think about the ending for a while, and I have decided I like the way it ended. I'll stop there to avoid any spoilers.

Drew wrote: "7. I like Grisham, you know what you're getting, and this book is classic Grisham. I find most of his books to be well written good quick reads. Like many, I was t..."

I have about 8 Grisham books to read, I'm hoping to get to a few this year. Like you, I like his books for the ease of reading.

8. Dead Girl Walking The second book I've read by Christopher Brookmyre, and I love the feeling I get when I find a new author to read! A good plot involving an up and coming rock star in Europe, touring, a crime, an investigator with a past... I've been busy lately, and this was a great book to read in "sprints" as mentioned in that great article posted elsewhere on how to increase your reading. The narration goes back and forth between the protagonists and the investigator, separate timelines converging on the climax of the book. The chapters are short, so during a week when I only had 15 minutes here and 20 minutes there, it was a perfect book. I like the author's style and will read more. There are references and plot points that date back to a previous book I haven't yet read, but aside from spoiling that book, it didn't take away from this plot.
I'm now behind pace for the 75, but a couple long weekends and the fact I have 3, ok, 4, books half read around the house, I should be back on track soon. Then off to the library for a few more by this author.

9. I read something about this author, probably somewhere in here, and decided to read this book before his latest. I'm glad I did. The writing is excellent and I couldn't put it down. It's about 200 pages, easy to read in a day, and you'll probably want to. It's a bit of an emotional roller coaster, centering around a traumatic event for the protagonist, and going back and forth between what led up to the event and life afterward.
When my daughter was in middle and high school, I read a lot of the books she read and developed an appreciation of YA literature. While this is definitely not YA, I found myself with the same feelings, basically an empathy for the character dealing with difficult situations.
If you read it, I'd like to hear what other people thought.

10. Best book I've read about the writing of the Oxford English Dictionary. OK, the only book, but it was interesting and a history of the book and its writers I knew nothing about. Spoiler: the OED and Wikipedia have a lot more in common than you thought...

Drew wrote: "9. I read something about this author, probably somewhere in here, and decided to read this book before his latest. I'm glad I did. The writing is excellent a..."

This was slow to win me over, but I ended up really enjoying it. I haven't read anything else from this author.

Drew wrote: "9. I read something about this author, probably somewhere in here, and decided to read this book before his latest. I'm glad I did. The writing is excellent a..."

This one is in my To Read pile, but I haven't gotten to it yet. I did just finish his most recent book, Universal Harvester and enjoyed it. Have you listened to his band? He's the singer and songwriter and his lyrics are excellent at inspiring that empathy and hope for characters in difficult situations.

11. I only finished this because I wanted to put it on this list and felt I could only do that for boks I actually finished. The first fifty pages were engaging, then it slowed to a crawl. Under developed plot, slow pace, and oddly inconsistent characters made reading this a chore. Don't use your time here...

12. I really liked this and I'm still getting my head around it. I borrowed from the library, but I'll probably pick it up because I want to go back and re-read it after giving it some thought. Side note, averaging about 6 books/month, I'm actually closer on track to get to 75 than I thought...

Drew wrote: "9. I read something about this author, probably somewhere in here, and decided to read this book before his latest. I'm glad I did. The writing is excellent a..." I just finished this one. I loved the construction, the way the chapters unfolding mirrored the set up in the game. I read several reviews that talked about how bleak and grim (one described it as "a steady spiral into crushing defeat") but that was never really the feeling I got from it. To me it was more of a "There is cause and effect, but no guiding purpose, no overarching reason to everything... and that's ok. There is an end point, a concrete goal, a 'victory'. It's real, it exists and it's possible to achieve... but you'll never really get there, and that's ok too. And knowing this could have made the protagonist bitter, angry and cruel but has instead made him kind. And it can make you kind, too." It was sad, but it was comforting too. And now I have such a book hangover...

13. This met the expectations I had based on a couple reviews and the description. I really enjoy when an author creates good characters that don't fall into stereotypes, and Delaney did a great job here. The plot(s) have a couple of twists and turns, and I don't know if there are a lot of books with parallel plots, or if I just keep finding them lately, but this one brings everything together well in a way that makes *perfect* sense.

14. Razor Girl by Carl Hiaasen. More laughs as crazy characters try to get ahead in South Florida.

15. I actually had this book for a while before reading it because I didn't want it to be over. I very much like Carol O'Connell's writing and this has been one of my favorite series for years. The lead character, a NY detective named Mallory with a deep dark past is fascinating, and the crimes at the center of each story are original and complex, even if a bit hard to believe.
The problem is that the first several books were fantastic, in that they included a tantalizingly slow unravel of Mallory's past, her family and her journey to becoming what she is today. Now, that story's been fully told, so the last couple of books have focused solely on murder cases. As I said, they are unique and I really like the writing, but there's something missing. Dare I say, might it be time to end the series before it becomes boiler plate? Is that why O'Connell only publishes every couple of years? I don't want the series to end, but I'd prefer that to becoming routine...

16. Where the Bodies Are Buried As referenced above, this is a new author for me (C. Brookmyre) and this is an early story in one of his series. It's a good fast read and I'll keep reading him. The plots are serious, and he's got a sharp wit, so there are some laughs thrown in there.
Officially well behind, but I don't usually get to read much this time of year (I work in higher education, spring's crazy), but I think I'll catch up.

17. Yes, I'm still enjoying this new authors and will keep reading through his works.

18. I was incredibly disappointed by this book. I was looking forward to reading it since I've read most if not all of his works and have enjoyed them.

There's a bit of a spoiler in here.

This was very well written, which goes without saying. He is a skilled writer. The plot on the other hand left much to be desired. The first half of the book is a portrait of the lives of the main characters. I thought maybe the entire book would be a new direction for the author, sort of a easy going slice of life thing and I stuck with it. About half way through, there's a major plot twist, and I thought, great, here we go. And shortly after, another twist, which was fun. Then another and another and another, each more unrealistic than the one before and the thrill was gone. I can suspend disbelief, but these were out of control. Lastly, I though the ending was a cop out.

I'd tell someone to go ahead and read it, but don't expect to be thrilled by it.

19.Fatal 5 stars. This is a break for this author, away from his series, which I also enjoy. This has a plot that kept me guessing and characters who were easy to like. There were a couple of issues that were touched on lightly, but more depth would have made the book too long. What I liked most is that there were several suspects and he had me guessing wrong, then right, then wrong again, but in a believable way. It wasn't a "where did that come from" ending that drops in a solution you didn't see coming, rather, there are 3 or 4 endings in your mind...

20. Defender of the Innocent: The Casebook of Martin Ehrengraf Very enjoyable short stories, but don't read them all at once, they are fairly similar. Good book to have lying around when you have 15 minutes and want to read a quick, light short story.

20. Well written quick read. a "story within a story" murder mystery, with the clues in the embedded story leading to the resolution of the main story. Quick read, well written, won't tax your brain cells if you're looking for that kind of book.

21. I really enjoyed this. I saw he had a new one out that looked good, and when I realized it was a series, I went to get the first in the series to start with (and yes, I do that alot, read into it what you will...). I'm half way through the next in the series and took 3 and 4 out of the library last night.
The lead character is a reporter in New Jersey who gets involved in the stories to the point of solving the crime before, or as, the police do. The stories are serious, but sprinkled in are a few Evanovichian type characters. Not as gut busting funny, but some small laughs in the right place through out.

Eyes of the Innocent Second in the series, nice development of the lead character, I'll keep reading this series.

Killers of the Flower Moon There's a reason this is on everyone's summer read list. It's a true story that reads like a novel, telling the story of the seemingly random killings of Osage Indians in the 1920's. The author sets the scene efficiently and the motive is established. You think you're done, and there's about 50 pages to go, and you find out there's so much more we don't know. Great research answers many questions, and let's us know which ones may never be answered. Highly recommend

24. Another book I really liked (I'm having a good year in that regard, in spite of being behind pace to make 75). Some of you may have read it, it's been out for a few years. I like the style of the story telling, we meet two characters in the first two chapters, and then each succeeding chapter is a story of them, or someone in their friend group, in the past, or near future, told in first, third, or in one chapter, second person. So each chapter, it takes a paragraph or two to figure out which friend group, time and setting, and who is narrating. My wife calls these "slice of life" books which aren't my usual genre, but the novelty of this narrative technique sets it apart in my mind.