Easley Library Bookworms discussion

James Matthew Wilson has a reputation, in some intellectual circles that I respect, as a serious 21st-century voice in American poetry. I tried reading his first collection, Some Permanent Things (2014), back in 2020, but bailed on it before reading very far. But reading some favorable reviews of this collection, or of other work by him, convinced me that I should give him another chance, so I've now started reading it again.

In the past 24 hours, I've started reading (in different formats) two new books. Both of them happen to fall into the mystery genre.

I typically spend much of my evenings at the computer, usually on Goodreads. But our Internet connection was down last night, so I started reading a book on my Kindle app. The one I picked was Louisiana Longshot by Jana Deleon, the first book in her Miss Fortune Mysteries series. My Goodreads friend Monica gave this one five stars, which put it on my radar; and I'd downloaded the e-book edition some time ago when I discovered that the author offers it for free (as a teaser for the series).

The Barks and Beans Cafe' mystery series by Heather Day Gilbert is one that I've frequently mentioned here, since Barb and I are following it and have read the first six books together so far. We started on the seventh installment, Roast Date, this morning.

On Aug. 3, Barb and I plan to leave for another visit to the Harrisonburg, Virginia area. While we're there, I hope to do some reading in The Best Short Stories of O. Henry, which the public library in Harrisonburg has. But since the BU library has it too, I started this read of it (which will be my third, though I've never reviewed it) this week. This one goes onto my "being read intermittently" shelf.

I'm joining in another group's read of Mere Christianity by C.S. Lewis. Originally, I'd expected to start it later, since Barb and I had intended to be out of town for a few days. But our plans are up in the air now, and our departure has been at least delayed (if we go at all). So I've gone ahead and started on the read. It's actually a reread for me; but the first time was decades ago, so I'm very much looking forward to the refresher!

The collection The King in Yellow and Other Horror Stories by Robert W. Chambers has been on my to-read shelf forever; and my appetite for reading it was further whetted earlier this year when I read his story "The Mask" (which was my first exposure to his work!). So I've finally begun reading it this afternoon. I'm interested in him both in his own right, and as an influence on H. P. Lovecraft, one of my favorite writers.

Being a longstanding horse lover, Barb's read a number of the Black Stallion books by Walter Farley, but mostly back in the 90s. I'd never read any of them myself, and didn't actually have any on my to-read shelf; but I suggested The Black Stallion Mystery (1957), the only one we own, as our next "car book," and we started on it yesterday. (It's the 13th book in the series, but I'm trusting that I can appreciate it as a stand-alone, and I think it will be another relatively quick read.

Yesterday, I started reading a paperback ARC of The Guardian Initiative by Liane Zane (which actually just went on sale in that format today, though it's been available on Kindle a little longer). This was a kind gift from the author; it's the final book in her action-adventure/espionage trilogy The Unsanctioned Guardians. Both of the first two books got high ratings from me, and I expect that this one will as well!

Back in January, my Goodreads friend Charles Van Buren gave five stars to the (77-page) novella Miss Knight and the Night in Lagos by Vered Ehsani, who was born in South Africa, but now lives in Kenya. That put it on my radar; and since it's free for Kindle, I downloaded it to my Kindle app. Since my Internet access was down yesterday over breakfast (which I eat at my computer), I started reading it to pass the time. :-)

Barb and I decided that we weren't invested enough in The Black Stallion Mystery to continue with it. Instead, we've started on Shade Grown, the next installment of the Barks and Beans Cafe' mystery series by my Goodreads friend Heather Day Gilbert. Since we've already read seven previous books in that series together, it's been mentioned fairly often on this thread. :-)

Ryan J. Stark, an English professor at Corban Univ. in Oregon, was kind enough recently to send the BU library (where I work) an unexpected donation of his book A Guidebook to Monsters: Philosophy, Religion, and the Paranormal. Since it's short and I was intrigued by the subject matter, and since I wanted to show appreciation for the gift, I've now started reading it.

William J. Laurence (who's a Goodreads member, but not officially a "Goodreads author") and I are in another Goodreads group together; and through a discussion on one of the threads there, I became interested in his short treatise, The Purposeful Love of God: Seeing God's Love from His Perspective. I was recently able to purchase a copy online, and started reading it earlier today.

Right now, I'm taking part in another group's common read of The Jewel of Seven Stars (1904) by Bram Stoker. With this novel, as he did on a larger scale with Dracula, Stoker took an idea that had been written about before (in this case, reanimated Egyptian mummies) and gave it a definitive literary treatment which became the dominant influence for all of the subsequent portrayals in drama and fiction.

Starting this past Saturday, I'm taking part in another group's common read of Nicholas Nickleby by Charles Dickens. (This is a new read for me; it's my ambition to eventually read all of Dickens' novels, and I have quite a few to go!) I'm late in joining in; the read officially started on Sept. 22. But the group as a whole is reading very slowly, only a chapter a day (to facilitate deep discussion, and emulate the serial experience of the first readers), so I'm confident of my ability to catch up.

Ever since the BU library acquired a copy of The Mark of Zorro (1919) by Johnston McCulley, I've had it in mind as a possible book for Barb and I to read together; and we finally started on it this morning. Although McCulley originally created the iconic character of Zorro in magazine stories, this novel was probably the primary impetus for the subsequent movie/TV adaptations and spinoffs that made the character an enduring part of U.S. pop culture.

Although I've liked a couple of short stories by Zora Neale Hurston, I've never read any of her long fiction. Late last year, I resolved that 2024 would be the year I finally read her novel Their Eyes Were Watching God. With the end of the year fast approaching, that's been, as the British would say, "a close-run thing;" but I finally started on it this morning!

Yesterday, I started on a review copy of the fantasy novel The Eye of Ebon by P. Pherson Green, the opener for his projected White Sword Saga. This is a book I'm reading aloud to my wife; I generally don't read review copies that way, because it takes longer than reading a book to myself. But in this case, it allows me to start on it much earlier than I could otherwise, since I have a fairly thick interlibrary loan book that I need to read next month (long story!).

With the aid of the Goodreads group What's the Name of That Book??? (https://www.goodreads.com/group/show/... ), after a quest lasting several years, I recently tracked down a story collection I read as a kid, Case for Mr. Fortune, by Golden Age English mystery writer H.C. Bailey, featuring his series character Reggie Fortune. I started rereading it yesterday.

2025 will see the 250th anniversary of the birth of Jane Austen. My library colleague Paula would like to do an Austen-themed program for the library's face-to-face Book Club; and to hopefully pique student interest, she'd like to feature the spin-off novel Pride and Prejudice and Zombies by Seth Grahame-Smith. So I'm reading the latter in order to be able to contribute to that discussion, and started on it today.

Well, I bailed on Pride and Prejudice and Zombies after three days (this note explains why: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show... ).

I'm now reading a book I got for Christmas, The Accidental Keyhand by Jen Swann Downey, the opener for her The Ninja Librarians series. It's written for younger readers, and has a 12-year-old protagonist; but that doesn't bother me, and I'm enjoying it so far!

Back in the late summer of 2023, I started reading The Complete Poems of Thomas Hardy intermittently, in snatches between other books. Given that the book has 947 poems, and by today my intermittent reading had gotten me through just 234 of them in over 17 months, that wasn't working too well. So although it will be a gargantuan read, as of today I've started reading the rest of it straight through.

My Goodreads friend Heather Day Gilbert is a writer I've often mentioned here, and a favorite for both me and my wife. As of yesterday, we started reading her newest novel, Queen of Hearts (2024). Though she's not a new writer in the mystery genre, as this book is a stand-alone work of psychological suspense, it's a new departure for her; she likes to read novels in this subgenre, but hasn't published one of her own until this one.

Robin of Sherwood, the book I started this morning, is the fourth and final installment of The Clerk of Copmanhurst's Tales, a Robin Hood re-telling by my Goodreads friend, G.K. Werner. I greatly enjoyed the first three volumes, so I'm looking forward to this one with much anticipation!

Over a period of about nine years, I read and liked the first several books of the Kim Oh series (now renamed the Real Dangerous Girl series) by K.W. Jeter. But I lost respect for his artistic integrity after he changed the protagonist's ethnicity from Korean to white, and rewrote all the books to change all the character's names. :-( I've now started on a back-to-back read of the last two books, Real Dangerous Ride and Real Dangerous Plan, just because I want to see the completion of Kim's arc (no matter what she's called). But I don't plan to promote either book by reviewing it.

While waiting for the next novel I'm going to read to arrive by interlibrary loan, I'm dipping into the anthology A Century of Great Western Stories, which I gave my wife for Christmas back in 2012, but have never read myself. (It's edited by John Jakes, who began his career as a writer of Westerns, and always remained a fan of the genre.) This one goes on my "being read intermittently" shelf.

A book I requested by interlibrary loan arrived yesterday, so I've started reading it today. It's The Hounds of Skaith by Leigh Brackett, the second book in her swords-and-planet SF The Book of Skaith series. The first one, The Ginger Star, earned five stars from me last year; so I'm looking forward to this read, and hope to finish reading the trilogy before the end of this year.

Undercover Colorado Conspiracy by Jodie Bailey, part of Harlequin's Love Inspired (Suspense) imprint, is a book I gave Barb for Christmas last year. Neither the book nor the imprint initially interested me very much; but nevertheless, we decided it was one we could read together, and we started a bit over a week ago. (I'd meant to post about it here earlier, but got sidetracked at the time!)

In another group, I'm taking part in this month's common read of The Case of the Late Pig by "Golden Age" British mystery writer Margery Allingham (I started a bit late). It's a reread for me, but my previous read was as a teen, so there's a fair bit I don't remember (though I do recall the identity of the culprit!). This is the eighth novel featuring the author's series sleuth Albert Campion, but the only one (and as far as I can recall, the only sample of her work) that I've read.

Later this month, I'm expecting to spend a few days in the area of Harrisonburg, Virginia, visiting family. On such trips, I usually spend some time in the public library there (long story!), during which I generally read intermittently in a short story collection, since the format is better suited than a novel or monograph for long hiatuses between spurts of reading on multiple visits, that may be spread over a couple of years. Here at home, I'm already intermittently reading a story anthology, but it's not one that library has.

However, both that library and the BU library here do have an omnibus edition of every Father Brown mystery that G.K. Chesterton ever wrote (albeit in different printings by different publishers, and with different editors). So, I've also begun intermittently reading The Father Brown Omnibus, which has long been on my to-read shelf. That will give me a head start, and let me continue the read for a bit after returning home.

Although I've read two or three poems by Frances Ellen Watkins Harper (1825-1911), back in the 90s, when I was homeschooling our girls (the only one I actually remember is "Bury Me in a Free Land"), I've never read any of her prose. Her 1892 novel Iola Leroy, or, Shadows Uplifted has been on my to-read shelf for several years, and now I've finally begun reading it, as part of my project of reading more literature by writers of color.

Barb are I are continuing our reading of the Avenging Angels series by "A. W. Hart" (which is a house pen name used by multiple authors) with Overturned Heart. It's actually the twelfth, and final, series installment, so we're reading it quite a bit out of order. I wanted to find out whether the romantic arcs for our main characters that were begun (or in Sara's case, potential) in the first book really come to fruition. :-)

With family coming soon for an extended visit, I wanted my current read to be a short one; and I'm also interested in expanding the very scanty amount of contemporary general fiction I've read over the years. (I've tended to be more drawn to older classics.) So I opted for Dead Poets Society by N.H. Kleinbaum. (It will also fit into a challenge I'm doing in a couple of groups.) Although it's a movie novelization, I've never seen the original film myself.

Although the novella Wolf Moon by Ed Gorman is incorporated in its entirety in the anthology that I'm currently reading, A Century of Great Western Stories, the fact that it was originally published by itself in book format seemed to me to entitle it to be counted (and reviewed) as a read in its own right. (The book pictured above was bulked up by the addition of another Gorman story as a bonus; that's apparently what explains the much higher page count.)

This month, I'm taking part in another group's common read of Lyrical Ballads (1798) by William Wordsworth and Samuel Taylor Coleridge, although I've started late. As the first major poetry collection in the Romantic style to be published in England, this book has a landmark significance in British literature, despite its relatively short length. (I'm reading it in the 1969 edition of the Oxford Univ. Press printing, edited by W. J. B. Owen of Canada's McMaster Univ.)

Earlier today, Barb and I started reading the latest installment of the Barks and Beans Cafe' mystery series by Heather Day Gilbert, Knight Brew, which will bring us up to date with the series. Since I've read nine of them so far, I've mentioned these books frequently on this thread. :-) This particular one is set against the backdrop of a Renaissance Fair taking place in our series setting, Lewisburg, West Virginia.

Although I've read novels by both Charlotte and Emily Bronte, Anne is the only one of the three sisters whose work (until today) I hadn't sampled. So, to remedy that neglect, today I started reading her first novel, Agnes Grey (1847). The Tenant of Wildfell Hall (which is on my to-read shelf) is generally regarded as the superior of the two; but at present, I want a shorter read, and wanted to "save the best for last." :-)

Another group I'm in is doing a common read of And the Shofar Blew (2003) by Francine Rivers during the month of August, and I'll be taking part. But since I'll be out of town visiting family from Aug. 1-5 (and I don't take my personal reading along with me on vacations, where the object is to spend time interacting with people I don't often see), I went ahead and started on it a bit early, so as to keep up better.

My Goodreads author friend Liane Zane kindly sent me a paperback ARC of her latest supernatural fiction/paranormal romance novel, Helsing: Demon Slayer, which arrived on the same day I finished reading my preceding book; so I was able to start it immediately! It's meant to be the opening book of The Dragon's Paladins, a spin-off series from her earlier trilogy, The Elioud Legacy.

The novella Benito Cereno by Herman Melville, published serially in 1855, is currently a common read in another group I'm part of; I'm joining in, and started reading it yesterday. (I'm reading it from the 1969 collection Great Short Works of Herman Melville, edited by Warner Berthoff.) This will be the third longish fiction work by Melville that I've read (I've also read and appreciated his short story "Bartleby the Scrivener"), but he's a writer whose work I've wanted to read more of for some time.

Years ago, I watched and really liked the 1995 movie A Mother's Gift (https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0113859/ ), starring the under-appreciated actress Nancy McKeon; and ever since then, I've wanted to read the novel it's based on, A Lantern in Her Hand by Bess Streeter Aldrich. I've finally gotten a chance to work it into my reading schedule while I'm waiting for an October group read, so I started on it this past Friday.