Lois & Clark Forums Forums General Discussion Off Topic 50-Book Challenge 2010

Thanks for the rec, Sue. I'll check that out. I have to admit that Stone's attitude to women grates on me, but I can overlook it. I'm enjoying Dead In the Water, although I'm a bit surprised that no one - save one reporter - has questioned Allison's behaviour. She's just lost her husband in dreadful circumstances, they supposedly had a strong relationship, she went through a terrible ordeal at sea...and Stone doesn't question her hopping into bed with him almost as soon as she docks and no one else questions that she doesn't seem to be grieving or traumatised one iota, but is behaving as though she's on vacation and nothing happened.

Still, that aside, I think I'm hooked. <g> I love the author's plots and Stone is growing on me more with every chapter I read. Getting quite fond of him now. Just wish he wasn't so naive when it comes to the women in his life. Sometimes, I think he needs a good smack upside the head with a two by four.

ETA: Just checked out Amazon. Those do look interesting. Think I'll buy myself the first Spenser novel and the first Jesse Stone one and see how it goes. Thanks again!


LabRat

Labby, I did not read the Spenser books in order. My library did not have the first couple books so I read them last (asked for them for xmas). Don't drop Spenser if you don't like the first book. I really didn't care about it reading it last. He hadn't met Susan yet, and he could hit the sack also. Parkers' writing got better a couple books in. I like the Jesse Stone books, again don't give up after the first one.
Both authors are fast reading. When I was stuck in bed for 3 months last year, I would read one in under 24 hours. I had my husband running to the library consistently. He told me to read something higher than a 5th grade reading level. LOL I told him these were written for adults.
I hope you enjoy.
Sue

Don't worry, Sue. I don't demand that my heroes are perfect - just that they are interesting. So long as they have interesting plots and characters, I'll be on board. I've ordered both books and am eager to try them out.

LabRat

#19 Dead In The Water - Stuart Woods

I really did enjoy this one. The plot was fascinating, I liked the St. Marks setting as something out of the ordinary and enjoyed the court-room shenanigans. (Sue, have you ever read any of Richard North Patterson's books? He does great mystery/court-room novels. One of my favourites is Silent Witness.)

One thing I do have to say - Stone Barrington couldn't have been much of a cop. He seemed to miss what I thought of as a lot of very obvious clues to the truth of things. I spent a lot of this one thinking "But, he could have..." and "But, wouldn't he be...?"

But, still, that doesn't matter much. I've grown fond enough of our hero, flaws intact, that I'll definitely continue to read more about him. Especially considering the ending of this one! Now I HAVE to buy the next book in line! And to the extent that Dirt arrived in the mail this morning and I'm feeling slightly resentful that I can't settle down with it as I have housework to do.

LabRat

#20 Dirt - Stuart Woods

Normally the rich and famous bed-hopping and gossiping about it, Jackie Collins-esque plot doesn't interest me, but I actually really enjoyed this. Again, the plot made a nice change from the usual plot of this kind of book and the characters made a big difference. I'm really looking forward to reading more in the series now.

#21 The Sharing Knife: Beguilement - Lois McMaster Bujold

This one suffered just a little - like The Hallowed Hunt - from not enough action and lots of talking. But it helps if the talk is interesting. I found the Lakewalker culture fascinating and our heroes charming and engaging, but I still would like some stronger antagonists and more action next time around. Keen to find out what happens next though.

Now my only problem is that I've spent quite a bit on books lately and really need to put a breathing space into my finances before I buy any more. :p But my fingers are itching now to buy the next in these series, so I may not hold long to my promise.

LabRat

Yes, Labrat, but please keep on reading the tetralogy. Stuff will happen, I assure you!

43. The Wrong Reflection by Gillian Bradshaw. A man wakes up after a horrendous car accident. Everyone says he is Paul Anderson, and his ID says so too. Why, then, does he feel so strongly that he is *not* Paul Anderson? And what is with all the machinations in the background? Why does he speak other languages when he didn't before? Why has his appearance changed? Why does his employer look at him strangely now? Bradshaw really pays off in spades on this one, and it's highly recommended.

The Wrong Reflection sounds fascinating, Iolan. I've never come across this author before, but a quick Amazon search brought up what look like a few fascinating historical/fantasy novels by her, too. Like Cleopatra's Heir and The Wolf Hunt. Have you read those?

I've tagged all three to try when I've gotten over my self-imposed ban on buying anything new for the next month or two . But they do look very intriguing.

LabRat

#22 Small Vices - Robert B. Parker

Well, I was absolutely enthralled by my introduction to Spenser and Hawk. I'm definitely in the market for more as soon as I can buy them.

Sue, have you read any of Robert Crais's Elvis Cole novels? (The series begins with The Monkey's Raincoat). Part of the reason I enjoyed this so much, I think, was that I found so many similarities between Spenser and Cole, Hawk and Cole's buddy, Joe Pike (Hawk talks just a bit more than Pike, I think ) - even in Pearl and the relationship Cole has with his psychotic cat. It's always a real bonus for me if our hero has a quirky relationship with a pet. Pearl was wonderful.

Anyway, if you haven't, I think you might enjoy them. The characters share many qualities and Cole has that marvellous self-deprecating wry wit that Spenser has, which is always a big attraction for me in a hero.

LabRat

Labby, I tried a couple Robert Crais's Elvis Cole novels and at the time really didn't like them. I'll try another time. I have found it all depends on the mood you're in at the time. LOL
Something I've wanted to ask, don't you have any libraries?

Labby, those are definitely worth reading! I loved "Cleopatra's Heir", and "The Wolf Hunt", and another one I'd recommend is "The Sand-Reckoner", about Archimedes.

"Island of Ghosts" is set in Northern Britain at Hadrian's Wall, where a troop of Sarmatians are sent (long story, it's basically because they lost a war and they're conscripted into Roman service and set hundreds of miles away from their homeland.)

"The Beacon At Alexandria" is a fascinating glimpse of Alexandria at the time of Athanasius:

"Imperial Purple" - how did they dye fabric that color back in ancient times? Well, they extracted the dye from the murex snail - expensive as all get-out, so only the Emperors could afford it. But someone is planning a coup d'etat, and needs to have that purple cloak to make a good show...

Gillian Bradshaw is one of my favorite authors. I like her historical fiction better than her fiction set in the present time, but that's just me.

I have to say that I'm quite excited to get reading GB now. My favourite historical periods have always been the classic civilisations and having read a small bit of The Wolf Hunt on Amazon, I definitely want to read more of that one! Can't wait.

Sue - Libraries? Sure. In fact, I worked in three of them for over a decade as an assistant librarian. But I don't like borrowing from them, for a variety of reasons. They don't always have what you want, if they do it might be out, then you have to order it, if you love the book you have to take it back....

On another note, I'm feeling slightly miffed today. I had been led to believe by Amazon that Small Vices was the first Spenser novel. Now I find Wiki telling me it's actually the 24th! I'd begun to suspect something was amiss when reading it as it didn't sound like a first novel in the way it introduced characters. I should have asked you, Sue, and got more reliable info.

So...not that it matters much, but it would have been nice to start at the beginning.

ETA: Another thing which irritates me - coming late to a popular author, so that most of the early books are out of print or so rare that the second-hand sellers on Amazon feel justified in asking for stupid money for them. So far, I've seen prices ranging from £90- £350.

LabRat

Labby,

http://wiki.answers.com/Q/What_order_were_Robert_Parker%27s_Spencer_novels_written_in

Thanks, Sue. I've ordered the first two and they're on their way.

Meanwhile, I've just started Night Passage and am enjoying it so far.

LabRat

16) Gods of Tin by James Salker. An assortment of fictional and factual accounts of air combat during the Korean War.
17) Korean War by Maurice Isseman. A brief outline of the major engagements during the Korean War (with a few M*A*S*H references tossed in).
18) The Coldest Winter by David Halberstam. A detailed history of the Korean War based on personal accounts of the people who pulled the triggers and/or hung around the commanders on all sides.
19) A Time to Speak by Robert Bork. A selection of legal briefs and arguments before the US Supreme Court. (I did not know, for example, that in the early 1970's Bork was Solicitor General of the United States.)
20) Hostile Takeover by Susan Shwartz. S-F. Weak on character development but long on science. an interesting description of life within an enclosed asteroid with less than 1/20th Earth's gravity.
21) Medalon
22) Treason Keep
23) Harshini by Jennifer Fallon. Series fantasy with lots of interesting characters and some surprising plot twists.

After many weeks, I have finally finished the currently-existing books in David Weber's Honor Harrington series:

4. On Basilisk Station
5. The Honor of the Queen
6. The Short Victorious War
7. Field of Dishonor
8. Flag in Exile
9. Honor Among Enemies
10. In Enemy Hands
11. Echoes of Honor
12. Ashes of Victory
13. War of Honor
14. At All Costs

My next reading project is non-fiction--research on the Napoleonic War. I had an idea for an RPG campaign based on Naomi Novik's Temeraire series, which is based in that time period, and I have next to no clue about how the actual war went, so I figured I'd better remedy that.

Hopefully, that research will fill the two months I'll have to wait until Mission of Honor (Honor Harrington book 12) comes out.

Labby, I happen to be a second-hand seller on Amazon and although I don't have the Spenser books (I read and sell mostly nonfiction and I haven't really been following this thread) it is my experience that the prices for books by most popular authors are so low that I can't afford to sell them--by the time I pay an Amazon commission, I would lose money. In fact, I have not been adding any books to my listings because there are so few that I can get a decent price for. (I am a small seller, so if a book sells for $4, I pay $2.94 in fees to Amazon, and sometimes the shipping fee doesn't cover all the shipping costs, and I have to be willing to accept returns, so I generally don't list anything unless I can get at least $7 for it.)

When you buy books from Amazon, are you just checking the UK site, or do you look at the US site too? Also, there is one seller from the UK who advertises on the US site, and I don't know how they manage to sell their books so cheaply with the international shipping--I have bought one book from them, and I only paid about $5, which included the shipping.

Anyway, let me know what authors you are looking for and I can keep my eyes open for them next time I go to our local used book shop; they only let you use trade-ins for half the cost of the book, but I have so much credit there I will never use it all up.

Also, I have just checked Ebay, and there seem to be a number of Spenser novels for sale there.

11) Tom Clancy's Power Plays---Cold War by Jerome Preisler. Not up to the normal calibur of story in this series.

12) Tom Clancy's Op-Center---War Of Eagles by Jeff Rowin. Fast paced well written story.

13) The Case For Pluto by Alan Boyle. The history of the planet Pluto from the search for the planet to it's demotion in 2006 to dwarf planet. With photos. A small book but well written, fast moving, and very interesting.

Paladin of Shadows Series by John Ringo.
14) Ghost
15) Kildar
16) Choosers of the Slain
17) Unto the Breach
18) A Deeper Blue

Very enjoyable, fast paced story. Not what I was expecting when I picked up the first book. I'm looking forward to the next book in the series.

The usual price I pay for secondhand books from Amazon sellers is around £2.75, cookiesmom - that's from those sellers who list the book at 1p and then add £2.75 'P&P'.

I suspect they make their profit by buying the stock cheap in charity shops and that the P&P is considerably lower than that advertised. Which is fair enough and it's certainly a price I'm happy with. Although, if they all pay the same Amazon rates as you do, I don't know how they make a profit either.

The problem comes when a book is rare or out of print of course because they can pretty much set exorbitant prices for it. Of course, as Stuart pointed out when I was whinging about this to him, if I had one of those books I'd try getting all I could for it, too. Which is true. But, of course, if it was me doing it, that would be wholly justified.

Unfortunately, I can't buy from the US as I don't have a credit card. So I'm restricted to UK sellers.

I never thought of Ebay - it's a long time since I've bought anything there as I got fed up with the hassle of bidding. A lot of them, I see, are more than £2.75, but there are a few cheaper, too, so, yes, definitely I should check there when I get to the next in line. I've ordered the next two Spenser novels in the series from Amazon - The Godwulf Manuscript and God Save The Child - but when I'm ready for the next in line, I'll see what Ebay has to offer.

That's incredibly sweet of you to offer. Thank you! I'm looking for Robert B. Parker 'Spenser' and 'Jesse Stone' books and Stuart Woods 'Stone Barrington' books.

LabRat