Reader Friday: What Are You Reading?

It’s always fun to catch up, and we haven’t done one of these for a while, so…

What are you reading?

Fiction or nonfiction?

Genre?

What are you enjoying most about the book?

I’m deep into HOLLOW KINGDOM by Kira Jane Buxton. Normally, I steer clear from Apocalypse type novels. I’ve never even watched an episode of the Walking Dead. What attracted me to this funny, off-beat, heartwarming story was not the cover, or blurb, or industry praise. It’s narrated by a crow. Brilliant!

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About Sue Coletta

Sue Coletta is an award-winning crime writer and an active member of Mystery Writers of America, Sisters in Crime, and International Thriller Writers. Feedspot and Expertido.org named her Murder Blog as “Best 100 Crime Blogs on the Net.” She also blogs at the Kill Zone, Story Empire, and Writers Helping Writers. Sue lives with her husband in the Lakes Region of New Hampshire. Her backlist includes psychological thrillers, the Mayhem Series (books 1-3) and Grafton County Series, and true crime/narrative nonfiction. Now, she exclusively writes eco-thrillers, Mayhem Series (books 4-8 and continuing). Sue's appeared on the Emmy award-winning true crime series, Storm of Suspicion, and three episodes of A Time to Kill on Investigation Discovery. Learn more about Sue and her books at https://suecoletta.com

44 thoughts on “Reader Friday: What Are You Reading?

  1. Ebook – Outlander #6 – A Breath of Snow and Ashes. Late to the party on these, partly because once upon a time (pre-Diana Gabaldon) I wrote a Scottish time travel novel and was too chicken to send it in thinking it was too weird and no one would like it. Lesson learned. It’s only been lately I’ve been able to read these without kicking myself (that’s a lie. I’m still kicking myself and probably always will but I’m submittingmy next weird thing just in case).

    Commute audio book – David Baldacci Will Robie #3 – The Target – never thought I’d like a series about hired killers but I do work in psych…

    Happy Friday, y’all!

    • Haha. I can relate, Cynthia. While reading HOLLOW KINGDOM, I can’t believe I didn’t think of having a crow as a narrator.

    • In ancient times, I submitted a vampire romance to a new Harlequin paranormal line, and my rejection said, “Vampires aren’t sexy.” A few years later…. Sigh.

  2. I’m reading the Girl Who Fell From the Sky by Axie Oh.

    It’s MG fantasy, sort of a Korean myth retelling. The strange thing about this read is that when I’m reading I’m speeding through and can’t put it down. But when I do put it down, I have very little desire to pick it up again. I think it’s because the plot line is really thin and there’s no character arc, but the worldbuilding is intriguing.

  3. Comfort to the Enemy and Other Carl Webster Stories by Elmore Leonard. It’s historical crime fiction, set in the United States during World War II. The title story, a novella, nudges a toenail over the line into espionage thriller territory. This collection wouldn’t have a prayer of being published now by an unknown author which is all the more reason to read it.

    Thanks Sue! Have a great weekend!

    • Isn’t it funny how some books work only for their time? I agree, for that reason alone it’s worth the read.

      Wishing you a great weekend, SJ!

  4. Slow Horses by Mick Herron (giveaway from Left Coast Crime. Don’t let the title fool you. No horses.)
    The Watch on the Fencepost by Kay DiBianca

  5. The Chronicles of Narnia, C.S. Lewis – fantasy – enjoying the author’s creative story lines.

    The Stand, Stephen King – enjoying his pacing, internal dialogue, and descriptions

    Have a wonderful weekend!

  6. Fiction: Silent Bud Deadly, by H.Y. Hanna, a delightful English cozy mystery, the second in a series. Reading in eBook.

    Fiction: The Kaiju Preservation Society, by John Scalzi. A fun romp on a parallel Earth where a colossal monsters roam and a secret organization is tasked with protecting them. Science fiction in the classic mode–big ideas, huge sense of wonder, rollicking plot, served with Scalzi’s trademark wit and humor. Listening while puzzling with my wife while jigsaw puzzling. Narrated by Will Wheaton, who is a terrific narrator and captures Scalzi’s tone perfectly.

    Nonfiction: The Mental Game of Writing by our very own JSB. I picked this up back when it came out six years ago, read through, and realized recently I needed to read it again, given writing mindset issues that I’ve been grappling with recently. Jim serves up a book of very handy advice on tackling the one thing we writers (indeed anyone) can truly control: what goes on between our ears. Reading in eBook.

    • I have never been able to enjoy audiobooks, Dale. My mind wanders too much. Plus, my hubby is chatterbox, so… 😉

      Jim’s craft books are top-notch. Love how it’s working for you.

    • Scalzi makes some fun pokes at STAR TREK in his REDSHIRTS which is totally and absolutely not on the Enterprise or in the TREK universe. He swears it. Snicker.

  7. Non-fiction. Lautin A. The Limbic Brain. One of many precursors (more or less) to the Guardienne concept, each called by a different name: the double brain, the divided self, the automatic self, the limbic brain, the adaptive unconscious, Cartesian dualism, the triune brain, cerebral dualism, the reactive unconscious, Jekyll & Hyde, DID, MPD, et alii.

  8. Just finished “The Hiding Girl” by Memphis author Andrew McClurg who writes under the pen name of Dorian Box. The story reminded me of Gilstrap’s “Nathan’s Run.”

    Also recently read “The Daughter of Time” by Josephine Tey after having read Dale Ivan Smith’s comment that it was his favorite mystery. I enjoyed it so much that Dale and I are planning to do a TKZ post on the book in the future.

  9. Nonfiction: In The Garden of Beasts by Erik Larson

    Fiction: The stories that are not mine in the soon-to-be-released anthology titled Hotel California, edited by Don Bruns. (“New Kid In Town” by Andrew Child, “Life In The Fast Lane” by Don Bruns, “Wasted Time” by John Gilstrap, “Victim Of Love” by Reed Farrell Coleman, “Pretty Maids All In A Row” by Heather Graham, “Try And Love Again” by Amanda Flower, “The Last Resort” by Rick Bleiweiss, and “Hotel California” by Jennifer Graeser Dornbush)

  10. The last book I read had a golden retriever on the cover, and the dog kinda offered hints to the murder like the cats in THE CAT WHO mysteries. I was not impressed by the book because the victim was so disgusting I not only didn’t care who the killer was, I wanted to give him/her a reward for getting rid of the trash. The killer’s identity just made me sad.

    If you enjoy animal narrators in mysteries, I recommend Spencer Quinn’s “Chet and Bernie Mysteries.” Chet is a police dog who washed out of K-9 training, a cat may have been involved, and his human is a former cop and private eye. Chet’s lack of attention span, squirrel!, is both comic and annoying, but he adores his human, and they always get their bad guy.

  11. My scribd subscription is better than crack and cheaper too.

    This week I’ve got John Kelly’s The Great Mortality about the 14th century black plague-nuclear aftermath, anyone? and Paul Beatty’s Hokum: An Anthology of African American Humor.
    From the library there’s Seabiscuit by Laura Hillenbrand (thanks, TKZers) and Wallace Stegner, On Teaching And Writing Fiction.

  12. Not a Sci-Fi reader but just started Book 1 of The Wheel of Time by Robert Jordan. 20 pages in and the cast of characters have matched that number. Finishing up the audiobook of Little Fires Everywhere by Celeste Ng. To me, a character driven tale where you really care about everyone. Hard pressed to pick one antagonist.

    • Wow, that’s a full cast of characters, Jeff. I bet it’s not easy remembering them all.

      I heard great things about Little Fires Everywhere. Happy reading!

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