What Are You Reading These Days?

Recent Reads 

So what have you been reading lately?

Please send your own, and be sure to invite your friends to follow our blog. I'd like this to turn into a great resource that encourages readers to try books they might not otherwise have considered.

The following is a short list of some of my recent reads.

The Prague Cemetery, by Umberto Eco

Umberto Eco's The Prague Cemetery was my most current effort - till I put it down someplace and have not figured out where. Okay, I admit it, I was struggling, but I also know that Eco is usually worthwhile. Soon as I figure out where I buried it I will rescue it and start again. 

Dead Irish, by John Lescroat

Meanwhile - just finished John Lescroat's Dead Irish. Although some of takes place in Irish pub (in San Francisco) it never really gets to Ireland proper. In this particular case, that is no short-coming. The book includes plenty of interesting characters, some not-entirely-predictable twists and turns, and some of the most quietly presented (and, therefore, most chilling) murder scenes I've ever encountered.

At first I wasn't sure I was going to care much for the boozing, bar-tending, ill-tempered protagonist, but as the story went along he definitely grew on me. There are several sub-plots in the book, each well represented, and carefully knotted together in the end.

One caveat: the Roman Catholic church takes some fierce hits in the novel, so if you are sensitive about that you might want to skip this one. For fans of well-crafted mysteries, however, it is well worth a read.

 The 100-Year-Old Man Who Climbed Out of the Window and Disappeared by Jonas Jonasson

This is one of those books that I will probably keep on recommending forever. I have a terribly difficult time describing it, so please just consider this: read the first ten pages. If you are not already hooked, then my apologies.

Even a lengthy recital of the plot couldn't do this book justice, so I am providing only a micro-sample below.

About to celebrate his 100th birthday (whether he wants to or not) Allan Karlsson leaves the nursing home where he has lived for years. He goes via the window, wearing his bedroom slippers, scuffs his way to the local bus terminal, and climbs aboard, discovering his pocket money will take him only as far as an old station in the boondocks. In the process, he accidentally (sort of) steals a large suitcase full of drug money, encounters the ill-tempered neighbor of the rural station, falls into an alliance, and the adventure appears to be just beginning.

Big surprise - the adventure has been going on throughout Karlsson's life, and readers are lucky enough to learn all about it as the contemporary story links with the previous years.

The best description I can manage requires references to three movies. Consider what you might get if you combined the best of each of the following pictures: Second-Hand Lions, seasoned by Big Fish, with a substantial dose of Forrest Gump....all combined into a genuinely original, charming, laugh-aloud book.