What are you currently reading?
What did you recently finish reading?
What do you think you’ll read next?
Currently Reading
Someone recently recommended In the Blink of an Eye by Jo Callaghan (2023), which I am enjoying. The main character, Detective Kat Frank, is a single mother asked to lead a pilot program using a sort of robot with artificial intelligence.
Naturally, there is conflict between what the machine advises for a murder investigation and how Kat is used to handling a case based on her years of experience. Can two missing persons cases be solved using AI?
In The Distant Echo, four St. Andrew's University students returning from a late-night party come across a young woman who had been stabbed. She died while they were waiting for an ambulance and they were considered suspects, although nothing was ever proved. Now 25 years have gone by and the police in Fife are taking another look at cold cases and hope to use DNA to find the killer. This is the first book in Val McDermid’s Karen Pirie series. I didn’t like her Tony Hill & Carol Jordan books very much (although I kept on reading them to find out how the characters would develop) but this audiobook is a treat because of the wonderful Scottish narrator, Tom Cotcher.
Just Finished
My book group just finished The Frozen River by Ariel Lawhon, which we discussed Monday night. It is a dramatic, fictionalized version of the life of midwife Martha Ballard in late 18th century Maine. Ballard is asked to examine the body of a man found frozen in the Kennebec River – her unpopular conclusion is that the man, who she recognizes, has been murdered. Martha finds herself as a witness in two controversial lawsuits which puts her into grave danger. I liked this although wasn't blown away as some readers were. Now I'd like to read the nonfiction Pulitzer-prize winning version, A Midwife's Tale: The Life of Martha Ballard, Based on Her Diary, 1785-1812 by Laurel Thatcher Ulrich.
I also read The Waiting by Michael Connelly, which is the sixth book about detective Renée Ballard (no relation to Martha!). Renée is running a cold case unit but is temporarily distracted when someone breaks into her car while she is surfing and steals her gun and badge. I have nothing of value in my car except library books yet sometimes worry about people breaking in when I park in a dangerous part of the city; I often wonder why Renée isn’t more careful. She asks Harry Bosch to help her get her badge back and, at the same time, his daughter Maddie has started volunteering with Renée’s cold case unit on a serial killer case, so she is working with both of them on separate projects. The result is as entertaining as all Connelly's books!
The Instrumentalist by Harriet Constable is set in 18th century Italy, based on a real-life orphan prodigy, Anna Maria della Pieta, who is determined to become Venice’s greatest violinist and composer. My book group is reading this for February, having enjoyed The Violin Conspiracy last year about another violinist.
In The Distant Echo, four St. Andrew's University students returning from a late-night party come across a young woman who had been stabbed. She died while they were waiting for an ambulance and they were considered suspects, although nothing was ever proved. Now 25 years have gone by and the police in Fife are taking another look at cold cases and hope to use DNA to find the killer. This is the first book in Val McDermid’s Karen Pirie series. I didn’t like her Tony Hill & Carol Jordan books very much (although I kept on reading them to find out how the characters would develop) but this audiobook is a treat because of the wonderful Scottish narrator, Tom Cotcher.
My book group just finished The Frozen River by Ariel Lawhon, which we discussed Monday night. It is a dramatic, fictionalized version of the life of midwife Martha Ballard in late 18th century Maine. Ballard is asked to examine the body of a man found frozen in the Kennebec River – her unpopular conclusion is that the man, who she recognizes, has been murdered. Martha finds herself as a witness in two controversial lawsuits which puts her into grave danger. I liked this although wasn't blown away as some readers were. Now I'd like to read the nonfiction Pulitzer-prize winning version, A Midwife's Tale: The Life of Martha Ballard, Based on Her Diary, 1785-1812 by Laurel Thatcher Ulrich.
Next Up
The Instrumentalist by Harriet Constable is set in 18th century Italy, based on a real-life orphan prodigy, Anna Maria della Pieta, who is determined to become Venice’s greatest violinist and composer. My book group is reading this for February, having enjoyed The Violin Conspiracy last year about another violinist.
I am also about to start Five Little Pigs by Agatha Christie, which is this month’s selection for Read Christie 2025.
What are you reading this week? Have you read any of these?
4 comments:
I read Five Little Pigs quite recently and have read all of the alternative titles for this month as well, so I think I'm just going to wait until February rather than re-read one of them. The Frozen River sounds interesting!
I had The Frozen River on my summer list and never got to it. Sounds like the midwife had quite a life. Also I'm interested in The Waiting ... now how many Connelly books has Renee been featured in? Perhaps I should start with the first one with her. thx.
I liked The Frozen River and found it interesting that the author says Diana Gabaldon is a big influence (is it a coincidence that rape or threatened rape are significant in both their writings?). The conclusion of my book group is that it was a tough time to be a woman. Then we decided that now is a tough time to be a woman too!
I think you should read all the Connelly books in order, if possible, but you could also begin with the first Renee Ballard book which is The Late Show.
Helen, I am sure you have plenty of January reading to keep you busy without Christie! I am sure I have read every book she wrote but some of them not since I was a teen. Usually but not always, the plot comes back to me midway. It seems like every book group is reading The Frozen River. There were hundreds of people ahead of me at the library but I luckily found a copy that was kept for one-week borrowing. My community is planning (well, I am planning and trying to find collaborators) what is called a One Book One Read where everyone reads the same book and discusses - I think this might be a good choice.
I did not like the first Tony Hill & Carol Jordan book (too much torture and too tense) and I never read another one. But I am enjoying the Karen Pirie series.
The book about a detective working with an AI sounds interesting. Maybe I will try it someday.
I have so many of the Michael Connelly Bosch series books that I should really read more of those, but realistically I don't think I will ever get to the Renee Ballard series.
Post a Comment