What are you currently reading?

[brlesh]

Just finished up A Face in the Crowd by King & Stewart O’Nan.

It had a Christmas Carol feel it, just set in the summer.

I liked it a lot, though IMO it’s not as strong a story as The Longest December.

B

[brlesh]

Prior to Holly, I read The Longest December by Richard Chizmar (one half of a two story book, along with A Face in the Crowd by King & Stewart O’Nan).

I really liked The Longest December, a tense mystery that kept me guessing throughout.

Another winner from Chizmar.

B

[brlesh]

Finished up Holly & really liked it.

How many authors out there could have pulled off a story about 80 year old cannibals!

The constant covid harping got old, but King addressed this in the afterward (based on the timing of the story & Holly Gibney’s personality quirks, he felt it was appropriate for the story), and his explanation makes sense.

Next up, the Joe Lansdale Drive-in tribute anthology.

I’m a couple stories in and not really into it

B

[sholloman81]

Just finished reading the Centipede LE of Guy N. Smith's "Bats Out of Hell", a first time read/author for me. This book was so much fun and greatly surpassed any expectations that I had for it. Figured it would just be your usual animal-attack story, but the book was much deeper than the title would have one believe. I never expected it to lean into things like virology, or conservationism. I was also amazed at how large of a story Smith was able to cram into such a short novel. Feel like many authors would have padded the book, but he kept it lean and mean, much to its betterment IMO. Overall, I'm glad that I finally pulled this from my TBR stack and gave it a chance, and I'll definitely be looking for more books from Smith. Hopefully, Centipede will go back to the well and do another!

Am now reading the SST LE of Josh Malerman's "Daphne"

[sholloman81]

Just finished reading the Thunderstorm LE of Stephen Kozeniewski's "Braineater Jones", a first time read/author for me. Wasn't quite sure what to expect, and it definitely subverted any expectations that I had. At first, the story took me a bit to get into as I couldn't quite tell if the author was playing it straight or as a satire, but once that I finally caught on, I quite enjoyed it. Definitely more of a bizarro novel than a horror novel. The book has lots of fun characters, a bonkers plot, and a few very memorable scenes. Overall, I'm glad that I gave the book and author a try and would love to see further adventures for Braineater Jones.

Am now reading the Centipede LE of Guy N. Smith's "Bats Out of Hell", a first time read/author for me.