Saturday, December 8, 2018

Saturday Reading Wrap-up - 12/8/18

Welcome again to another Reading Wrap-up.  I sincerely hope you enjoy these things, because I do enjoy doing them.

I picked up two ebooks this week - a holiday romance and an urban fantasy.  No new hardcopies (I still have the bunch I bought the week before plus all the others I own but haven't read yet.)

89) Mr, Smith and the Roach by JJ DiBenedetto (12/6/18) - Hard-boiled SF Crime*# - 5 stars.  New to me and underappreciated.  Picked this up for 99c after seeing it in a FB book group post. 
Review:  " I'm having a tough time categorizing this genre, so I'm just going with Hard-boiled SF Crime. SF Crime Noir? Whatever it is, it's awesome. Great mystery. Great plot. Awesome premise. I love John Smith. I love Sam. (Who would've thought I'd love a cockroach, eh?) I can't wait until the next book comes out next year. Hopefully early next year, but I know how it goes."

88) Transfer of Power by Vince Flynn (12/5/18) - Political Thriller - 5 stars.  Neither new to me nor underappreciated.  Picked up this paperback for a fifty cents at St. Vinny's.
Review: (Original from June 2012) "Soooo satisfying. With Vince, you always know who the bad guys are and the good guys always kick the shit out of them - you just don't know how it's all going to come down and whose death you're going to end up cheering for. As with all of Mr. Flynn's novels, the tension rachets up until it's almost unbearable, and you're flipping pages to see what happens, only to have to go back and re-read because in your hurry to find out what happens, you flipped past some key element. (At least this happens to me when I'm reading a Mitch Rapp novel.)

12/5/18: Still as awesome as the first time I read it. And enough time had passed I'd forgotten the details, so it was almost like a new book."


87) High Profile (Jesse Stone #6) by Robert B. Parker (12/1/18) - Crime - 3 stars.  New to me, but appreciated way more than I would've thought it would be.  :shrug:  Must be due to the celebrity of the author.  Picked it up this hardcover at St. Vinny's for a dollar.
No review.
I didn't leave a review because he's so famous and there are already so many reviews for this, I didn't think mine would add anything worthwhile to the total.  Having said that, though, I had a feeling that the great Robert B. Parker pretty much phoned this one in.  I kept waiting for it to be better than it was, which is why I finished what ended up being only a 3-star read.  Probably not the best choice for my first foray into Parker's novels, which is sad.  I'll try some of his earlier books someday and see if they're any better.

No DNFs

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I really need to focus more on my editing than on reading, but I'm not doing too bad a job accomplishing both right now.  I did start a re-read on Phyllis A. Whitney's Stone Bull last night. 

And I'm 6 books away from my last goal of the year.  89/95.  Totally doable.   I've also surpassed my goal of reading at least one book (on average) a month by a new-to-me, underappreciated author.  So, yay.

Read anything noteworthy last week?  How are you doing on your reading goals?

2 comments:

  1. I've upped my goals a couple of times. I'll still reach the new, higher number. Still doing the re-listen of Jayne Castle's Harmony books. Fun, sort of comfort food like cheesy nachos. I've downloaded a few paranormal/urban fantasies from Kindle Unlimited. Reading them is another thing. I can only read for about 10-15 minutes before my eyes start to burn. I'll let you know if any of them are good, once I read them. I think a few might be permanently at .99 and several are new-to-me/underappreciated. I'm trying to be nice. Like you. :D

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    1. Heh, yeah, I didn't think I'd read much this year. Shows what I know. Yay for re-listening to comfort reads. Definitely let me know what you think of those books.

      Yay for trying the new-to-me, underappreciated authors! And you are already nicer than I am, so this will just up your game. ;o)

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