Who to read if you're an Agatha Christie devotee, but have read all of her books (besides re-reading her books, of course)? The former is true of me, but the latter, not quite yet. I'm planning ahead.
I know to at least consider Sherlock Holmes, anyone in the Detection Club (which Christie co-founded), medieval mysteries like Brother Cadfael, etc. And yes, I've already read some of those here and there, especially Cadfael.
@theotherotherone@bookstodon Other Golden Age mysteries may work for you- Patricia Wentworth's Miss Silver series has a middle-aged ex-governess detective, Freeman Wills Crofts has a polite policeman, Dorothy Sayers of course has an aristocrat. John Dickson Carr/Carter Dickson is the classic for locked rooms (more stilted writing than Christie). The BL is republishing a lot of classic mysteries, search "British library crime classics" on Amazon (or wherever) and have a good browse.
@zkrisher@bookstodon
I love T Kingfisher! I particularly like her comment I read somewhere about the saint of steel trilogy. Something along the lines of: I set out to write a fluffy romance, but I've been informed that fluffy romances generally contain fewer severed heads
I am incredibly excited to say that my debut novel released today on Amazon KU/ebook/paperback: http://quill-still.sofaer.net/mast . It's a queer, cozy slice-of-life portal fantasy story about civics, divinity from a Jewish lens, chemistry/alchemy, and more civics.
Join Sophie Nadash, burned-out 39-year-old chemist, as a run-in with the goddess Artemis while hiking in the Greek woods and finds herself sent to a new, kinder world.
Why You Like It: The Science and Culture of Musical Taste
From the chief architect of the Pandora Radio 's Music Genome Project comes a definitive and groundbreaking examination of how your mind, body, and upbringing influence the music you love. Everyone loves music. But what is it that makes music so universally beloved and have such a powerful effect on us?
@appassionato@bookstodon Just yesterday I was reading a blog post about a book called Listen, by Michael Faber, about "musical anhedonia", which argues that about 5% of people don't like music at all https://www.metafilter.com/201592/Your-Favorite-Thing-Sucks (this book sounds interesting! I was just amused at seeing the "everybody loves music" so soon after seeing "not everybody loves music".)
What's Gotten Into You: The Story of Your Body's Atoms, From the Big Bang Through Last Night's Dinner
A wondrous, wildly ambitious, and vastly entertaining work of popular science that tells the awe-inspiring story of the elements that make up the human body, and how these building blocks of life travelled billions of miles and across billions of years to make us who we are.
John Le Carré's groundbreaking novel, "The Spy Who Came in From the Cold," is 60 this year. For Crimes Reads, novelists Paul Vidich and Joseph Kanon discuss the legacy of this masterpiece, which transformed spy fiction from the polish of James Bond to the grim reality of the Cold War, introduced the idea of the "mole," and even influenced real-life espionage.
@CultureDesk@bookstodon I re-read it recently. The description of The Wall was great. The insight into how weird spies was great. It's pretty weird about Jews though. He uses Jews to make a point. Then he kills them off. Also to make a point. It's not exactly an antisemitic book. Philosemitic in a creepy way? Much like Little Drummer Girl.
You put yourself together. Bit by bit. Part Sometimes you do it with clarity and precision. As if by a manual. As if provided with a step-by-step guide. At other times, in total darkness. In the midnight hour. Grappling with esoteric secrets. With hieroglyphics. An impenetrable mystery. Like Ikea instructions for building anything...
@bookstodon Happy December! November reads round-up: what was/were the best book(s) you read in November?
One of my fave November reads:
Courage to Dream: Tales of Hope in the Holocaust, Neal Shusterman, Andres Vera Martinez. [Graphic novel of aspirational stories, giving power to characters against the Nazis.]
@kimlockhartga@bookstodon I liked "Arboreality" by Rebecca Campbell. Ticked several of my boxes like music, plants, trees, climate etc. Reminded me a bit of James Bradleys amazing "Clade", but original enough to stand on its own.
In December and January I typically read books that my buddies (librarians and booksellers) thought were great but I didn’t get around to. Just finished C Pam Zhang’s Land of Milk and Honey and it was incredible. Reading Happiness Falls by Angie Kim now and then will read North Woods by Daniel Mason. What were your best reads published this year? #AmReading#BestBooksOf2023#Bookstodon@bookstodon @librarians
@jillrhudy
At the risk of being impertinent, I just released a new volume of short stories, and until Sunday, you can get three previous volumes for free.
Warfare in a Fragile World:
Military Impact on the Human Environment
This book, first published in 1980, examines the extent to which warfare and other military activities contribute to environmental degradation. The military capability to damage the environment has escalated. The military use and abuse of each of the several major global habitats – temperate, tropical, desert, arctic, insular and oceanic – are evaluated.
I've been working my way through James Blish's 4part 'space opera' Cities in Flight (1970/1999) & while clearly dated in some aspects (not least its male-centricity) & not wearing its science lightly, at its centre are two interesting elements; the wandering anti-gravity power 'okie' city in space & the going end of all time. Its also been clearly influential on later large scale #scifi but for me too dependent on its characters' lives @bookstodon
"In those streets everyone moved faster than me, but what they didn’t know was that I had already moved too fast, too far, and wished to travel no further."
Gaspery Roberts, Sea of Tranquility by Emily St. John Mandel