Finally finished. It was good, but felt like a slog at times (and certainly didn't seem like it needed to be as long as it was).

Finished

Just finished:


Just started:

Finished:

Finished:



Up next:

Just finished:

Read:



I have read bits and pieces over the years but decided to read it through. What a labor of love this book must have been for the writers which includes footnotes, faux ads, and appendices. A fun complement to the TV series.

Reading:

I had to give up on the Wheel of Time series halfway through book four. So much repetition, over-explaining, lack of forward movement. I might get back to them after I read a few other books, but I'm tapping out for now.

Started:



The City and the Stars - Arthur C Clarke

Finished a couple of short horror novels:

My second Riley Sager book (who I found out is a guy despite always having female main characters and a gender-neutral name). Less a slasher/horror, and more a twisty mystery/thriller (in the vein of things like Girl on a Train, Girl in the Window). I enjoyed it for what it was.


My first Grady Hendrix novel. An odd mix of tones. At times, has the cheesy 80s vibe that the cover suggests. Especially with the exorcist character, a bodybuilder that battle demons focusing Jesus with the strength of his muscles (ala 80s cheese-fest Rock 'n' Roll Nightmare)! At other times, got into heavy and uncomfortable teen melodrama. Overall I liked it, and will certainly check out other Grady Hendrix books (which I'm guessing are in the same vein).

Highly recommend the new Grady Hendrix: The Final Girl Support Group

Finished:

I was actually going to read the Southern Book Club book first (since it seems to be his most popular, at least on Goodreads). But in the introduction he commented how it was written as a spiritual follow-up to Best Friend's Exorcism (although not an outright sequel) so I changed my mind and read that one first.

Southern Book Club is also a good time. Can't go wrong with either imo.

Still reading Reaganland, by one of my favorite authors, Rick Perlstein. I believe he also wrote Nixonland (one of my favorite books) and Days of Rage (another favotire of mine). I'm trying to pace myself with this book, cause I know he only does one ever four or five years or so....But I'm super enjoying it...Learned a lot more about the ERA that I didn't know, and I've learned other things as well. Just a fantastic book by a fantastic author...Can't wait to read his next one...

Finished


I must say that King has really been on a hot streak these last 10 years have been as strong as any previous period IMO. Although I do have a few holes, namely the Hodges Trilogy and Sleeping Beauties

Just finished:


Just started:

Just finished:

Just finished:

Finished

Just started:

I read some Perry Mason books by Erle Stanley Gardner from Mrs Danger's collection. The Case of the Postponed Murder, The Case of the Horrified Heirs, and The Case of the Crimson Kiss. They were quite entertaining. The Perry Mason in the books is not like the Perry Mason on TV. In the course of three stories, I saw him destroy evidence, try to get a witness out of town, and burglarize a residence. Well!

I also read an Ellery Queen novel, A Fine and Private Place. It was bad. The basic structure of a murder mystery is the author slowly releases jigsaw puzzle pieces until the reader has enough information to solve the puzzle. In the mean time, I think the author should keep the reader entertained with plot and characters. Ellery Queen can't be bothered with that second part. Nothing happened, characterization was kept out, and I skipped whole pages of irrelevant exposition that was probably adapted from an encyclopedia.

Leading up to October, I've been in the mood for horror. Finished:

My first book by this author. I liked it, although it took a while to really get going (it only took off in the last 50 pages). Despite the title, I wish it was more "Mexican". Sure it takes place in Mexico, but the story takes place in a transplanted English manor (with most characters being British). I'm open to different things, but readers expecting a ghost story may come away disappointed. Also finished:

Another solid collection by King. Mr. Harrigan's Phone has a flimsy premise for a novella (though it's a cool idea, about being communicate with a man buried with his iPhone). But the story is good for King's character building ... this would've been a solid coming-of-age story even if there was nothing supernatural. The Life of Chuck was probably my favorite. More of a fantasy/drama than horror, with a rather unconventional structure for King (being three related short stories, told in inverse order). If It Bleeds was a solid sequel to The Outsider (though it has massive spoilers for that novel and the Bill Hodges trilogy, so readers should be wary). The idea seems like such an obvious one that I'm surprised it hasn't been done before (a kind of psychic vampire who feeds off misery having a job as a news reporter). Though probably something like that has been done, but I'm just not aware of it. The Rat was a story about a writer struggling with a book in an isolated environment ... certainly a topic that King has handled before.

The Saint and the People Importers by Leslie Charteris. This novel was written in 1971, but the villains were a giant pro wrestler, a malignant dwarf, and a British military officer gone bad -- and the Saint is working with a spunky girl reporter. Not only were the characters musty with age, but I kept tripping over grammatical errors. It seemed strange to me, until I discovered that the original author of The Saint stories had retired in 1963 and everything released after that was ghostwritten under his pen name. I'll find a novel written by the original author and read that for comparison.

Some things haven't changed. The plot is about a gang who smuggles illegal aliens into Britain and then blackmails them. The Saint murders all the gang, steals their money, and then hands over a dozen Pakistanis to the police and tells them to immigrate legally.