Book a Week 2019 - BW18: Whodunit Bookology - Peter Zak

[aggieamy]

19 hours ago, Liz CA said:

I am late to the party this week. I need to look into Peter Zak mysteries - thanks, Robin. Sounds right up my alley.

I am thoroughly enjoying "Sebastian St. Cyr" by C. S. Harris as well. 

I think one summer Sandy (@mumto2) and I read almost all of the books she had released. It was one of those deals where I would finish a book in the series at 11 pm and instantly buy the next one on my kindle and be up all night reading. I think there's been a few more books released since then. I'll have to check them out. 

You might also really like the Julian Kestrel mysteries. The author died young and only wrote four but it's similar setting and so well done. 

23 hours ago, Violet Crown said:

1. Dickens, Great Expectations
2. Euripides, Medea
3. Fitzgerald, The Great Gatsby
4. Homer, The Iliad
5. Swift, Gulliver's Travels
6. Sartre, No Exit
7. James, The Portrait of a Lady
8. Shakespeare, King Lear
9. Faulkner, As I Lay Dying
10. Poe, "The Cask of Amontillado"
11. James, The Turn of the Screw
12. Shakespeare, Hamlet
13. Melville, Moby Dick

Since there's no Hemingway on that list I would read any of those!

23 hours ago, Violet Crown said:

Dishonorable mention:
Lee, To Kill a Mockingbird ... is worse in our maturity, because now we've all ... met our hundredth child named Atticus or Scout.

And the first time I ran into an Atticus it was so cute. His father was an English teacher so it was clever. And now it's probably a top ten name. 

23 hours ago, Violet Crown said:

Anonymous, Beowulf
 

I read this in high school and had no idea what I was supposed to be getting from it. I would retry it. 

[aggieamy]

I've been thinking about trying to read some of the names from the Golden Era of Mysteries this summer too. Ones that I haven't read before like Crispin (The Moving Toy Shop) or Bentley (Trent's Last Case) or Carr (Scandal at High Chimneys) but I don't know how well they'd do as read alongs. Most are short. 

And @Robin M might have somethings similar planned since she's got a year of fun mysteries planned for us. 

[Liz CA]

43 minutes ago, aggieamy said:

I've been thinking about trying to read some of the names from the Golden Era of Mysteries this summer too. Ones that I haven't read before like Crispin (The Moving Toy Shop) or Bentley (Trent's Last Case) or Carr (Scandal at High Chimneys) but I don't know how well they'd do as read alongs. Most are short. 

And @Robin M might have somethings similar planned since she's got a year of fun mysteries planned for us. 

 

Trent's Last Case did not disappoint! I am not familiar with the others but I am taking notes.

[Kareni]

Last night I finished a book by a favorite author. I enjoyed it, though I suspect it will not attract other readers here. But, one never knows.... (Adult content)

Earth Fathers Are Weird  by Lyn Gala

 "Captain Maxwell Davis and his entire unit scrambled to engage alien ships over Iowa. The aliens snatched him out of his destroyed jet before they continued on their interplanetary hot pursuit. Then they informed Max that Earth was too far outside regular shipping lanes to return him to his planet.

So Max ends up in an alien spaceport looking for work. To afford a ticket home he can either spend three hundred years working with linguists to improve the computer's questionable ability to translate English or he can take a job as a nanny for an unpopular alien.  That way he can afford the ticket in four years.  The problem is that the computer may have mistranslated the word "nanny" and there might be a reason an alien is willing to pay such a high fee. "

Regards,

Kareni

[Violet Crown]

1 hour ago, aggieamy said:

I think one summer Sandy (@mumto2) and I read almost all of the books she had released. It was one of those deals where I would finish a book in the series at 11 pm and instantly buy the next one on my kindle and be up all night reading. I think there's been a few more books released since then. I'll have to check them out. 

You might also really like the Julian Kestrel mysteries. The author died young and only wrote four but it's similar setting and so well done. 

Since there's no Hemingway on that list I would read any of those!

And the first time I ran into an Atticus it was so cute. His father was an English teacher so it was clever. And now it's probably a top ten name. 

I read this in high school and had no idea what I was supposed to be getting from it. I would retry it. 

I plan to read Middle Girl's Heaney translation because I used to (in another lifetime) read A-S passably, and the facing text will let me delude myself that I still can.

We toyed with "Attica" as a girl's name, figuring people could choose, for the referent, between Athens and the prison riot. I kind of wish now we'd had the courage.

[Violet Crown]

 

19 hours ago, loesje22000 said:

I read The Hunchback a few years ago and have it shelved in memory as ‘very good readable’...

From the list from Violet Crown I read:

1. Dickens, Great Expectations

7. James, The Portrait of a Lady

11. James, The Turn of the Screw
 

I just finished a Faulkner and I don’t think I can handle another one that soon...

Maybe I should hunt for a better Translation of Gulliver, because that book I left unfinished, because the book went totally over my head... I felt sooo dumb 😞

I want a book I can read in Dutch as summerreading, if possible.

Don't feel dumb about Gulliver's Travels! You probably don't need a better translation but better notes. It makes little sense in English if you don't know whom Swift is poking in the eye with his satire. Also, his satire is very dry, so it can be hard to tell when he's being serious and when he means the opposite of what he says. 

Can you list some books you'd have available in Dutch? In fact, what are some classics of Dutch literature? All I can think of is Thyl Ulenspiegel, if I even have that spelled right.

Edited May 4, 2019 by Violet Crown
Weird double quote

[aggieamy]

8 hours ago, Violet Crown said:

I plan to read Middle Girl's Heaney translation because I used to (in another lifetime) read A-S passably, and the facing text will let me delude myself that I still can.

We toyed with "Attica" as a girl's name, figuring people could choose, for the referent, between Athens and the prison riot. I kind of wish now we'd had the courage.

Really wish you'd gone with Attica. That's a fantastic name. You run in highbrow circles ... I think they would have figured it out. And if they didn't just think about how awesome it would be for people to think you named one of your daughters after a prison riot.  They'd make all sorts of crazy speculations on that.

Edited May 4, 2019 by aggieamy

[aggieamy]

Speaking of Golden Age mystery writers ... I came across this listing and thought it was really interesting. Lots of authors on here that I know and some new names. I'd love to hear everyone's favorites from the list. 

https://goldenageofmystery.com/authors-page-1%3A

The only thing that I don't like about some Golden Age mysteries is how a great number of them are battling against a super powerful unnamed conglomerate of criminals. A secret society apparently devoted only to doing evil and our hero must bring them down. It's just a little too much Inspector Gadget vs the Claw for me. All I want is some foppish younger son to work with Scotland Yard and figure out who bopped the mean uncle over the head with a candlestick. Knitting old ladies are not only allowed but encouraged.  

 

[aggieamy]

Does everyone else have plans on Friday night or what? I feel like I'm talking to myself a bit.

Back to the read along ... how do we decide which book we're going to read? Democratic vote? Does someone get to be a dictator and just choose for us? Draw a book title out of a hat?

[mumto2]

14 minutes ago, aggieamy said:

Does everyone else have plans on Friday night or what? I feel like I'm talking to myself a bit.

Back to the read along ... how do we decide which book we're going to read? Democratic vote? Does someone get to be a dictator and just choose for us? Draw a book title out of a hat?

Ok, I am here.  I survived my previously jinxed bike ride which I wiped out on about a month ago.  Embarrassment kept me quiet.  My kids were along when I fell......their quizzing regarding injuries was sweet,  skinned knee and my pride.   I did it across the street from a hospital,  for real.  So this 12  miles, was my redo and everyone has eaten something......leftovers primarily. So I can check in here.

Regarding the reread..........No idea how we decide but I am also pretty happy with any of VC’s suggestions.  Several are disliked high school reads......Portrait of a Lady and Turn of the Screw being notable in the yuk category from then.  😂 It would be good for me to read them again.  I did look around and found several audios of Hunchback available but no books in English.  I had already planned to listen to Crime and Punishment this year.......

 

 

[Violet Crown]

30 minutes ago, aggieamy said:

Does everyone else have plans on Friday night or what? I feel like I'm talking to myself a bit.

Well I just finished losing (as usual) at Clue, where as it happened, someone did get bashed over the head with a candlestick. In the conservatory. Maybe if I read cozy mysteries I'd win once in a while.

[Robin M]

1 hour ago, aggieamy said:

Does everyone else have plans on Friday night or what? I feel like I'm talking to myself a bit.

Back to the read along ... how do we decide which book we're going to read? Democratic vote? Does someone get to be a dictator and just choose for us? Draw a book title out of a hat?

I'm still at work and going home in a few minutes.  I'll try to check in later this evening. One neighbor is having a wake so will be lots of drunken revelry happening.  Along with that, our excitement for the day...discovered rats in our garage.   Our three cats are basically worthless., although they did get really excited when I brought a box inside that I didn't notice at first that a rat had been happily chewing on.  They were searching all over the house for that exclusive, invisible, thing.  So this weekend will be spent working in the garage in an effort to discover and close off entrances and exits. YUCK!   We were due for a major garage clean up any way.  

[mumto2]

5 minutes ago, Robin M said:

I'm still at work and going home in a few minutes.  I'll try to check in later this evening. One neighbor is having a wake so will be lots of drunken revelry happening.  Along with that, our excitement for the day...discovered rats in our garage.   Our three cats are basically worthless., although they did get really excited when I brought a box inside that I didn't notice at first that a rat had been happily chewing on.  They were searching all over the house for that exclusive, invisible, thing.  So this weekend will be spent working in the garage in an effort to discover and close off entrances and exits. YUCK!   We were due for a major garage clean up any way.  

I am having real problems liking a post with rats!  How’s the building coming?

 

53 minutes ago, Violet Crown said:

Well I just finished losing (as usual) at Clue, where as it happened, someone did get bashed over the head with a candlestick. In the conservatory. Maybe if I read cozy mysteries I'd win once in a while.

We could definitely find you some cozies........Anna Katherine Greene has some good ones and they were even (mostly) written in the 1800’s!  They should still be free on Kindle.  I love Clue and I frequently win.....it probably is the cozy mysteries!

[Lady Florida.]

1 hour ago, aggieamy said:

Does everyone else have plans on Friday night or what? I feel like I'm talking to myself a bit.

 

I was watching Les Miserables from Masterpiece. I bought PBS Passport just so I could watch it. It's so much better than the musical because it includes more from the book. Just came to check WTM before going to bed. My photography club is going to a botanical garden early tomorrow morning so I probably should have already been in bed.

[Kareni]

11 hours ago, Violet Crown said:

Well I just finished losing (as usual) at Clue, where as it happened, someone did get bashed over the head with a candlestick. In the conservatory. Maybe if I read cozy mysteries I'd win once in a while.

 

10 hours ago, mumto2 said:

I love Clue and I frequently win.....it probably is the cozy mysteries!

I would love to get together for a Clue party. I frequently win when I play; however, I don't read many cozy mysteries, so there is hope, VC. I play with a strictly logical approach. My note sheet is filled with fractions, Xs, and checkmarks when the game is done.

Regards,

Kareni

[Violet Crown]

27 minutes ago, Kareni said:

 

I would love to get together for a Clue party. I frequently win when I play; however, I don't read many cozy mysteries, so there is hope, VC. I play with a strictly logical approach. My note sheet is filled with fractions, Xs, and checkmarks when the game is done.

Regards,

Kareni

Dh teaches Logic, and would write down every single accusation and response in first-order logic notation, working it out as he went. He always won before anybody else figured out anything. We had to make a house rule that he’s not allowed a pencil but must do it in his head, which gives the rest of us a fighting chance.

I mostly lose because I panic and make a final accusation based more on intuition than evidence. Which I will mention if ever summoned for jury duty.

[mumto2]

1 hour ago, Kareni said:

 

I would love to get together for a Clue party. I frequently win when I play; however, I don't read many cozy mysteries, so there is hope, VC. I play with a strictly logical approach. My note sheet is filled with fractions, Xs, and checkmarks when the game is done.

Regards,

Kareni

 

57 minutes ago, Violet Crown said:

Dh teaches Logic, and would write down every single accusation and response in first-order logic notation, working it out as he went. He always won before anybody else figured out anything. We had to make a house rule that he’s not allowed a pencil but must do it in his head, which gives the rest of us a fighting chance.

I mostly lose because I panic and make a final accusation based more on intuition than evidence. Which I will mention if ever summoned for jury duty.

My winning system is similar....I consider it to be my Detective’s Notebook!

[Mothersweets]

Despite reading lots of cozy mysteries, I am terrible at Clue. My kids always figure it out before me. 

[mumto2]

On 4/30/2019 at 12:32 PM, emba56 said:

I listened to the audio of The Naming of the Dead by Ian Rankin. It’s my first Inspector Rebus book, and I enjoyed it, especially because I was sure, just sure, I knew who done it very early on, and was wrong. Nice to be surprised.

 

Before we move on to next week’s thread I want to respond to a couple of posts that I have been planning to add to another post then forgot.  I have read two Rebus books and enjoyed them both.  Rebus is the reason I chose Scotland as the setting for on of my personal 10 challenges......as in I will read 10 books set in Scotland in 2019.

On 5/2/2019 at 2:27 PM, Liz CA said:

I am late to the party this week. I need to look into Peter Zak mysteries - thanks, Robin. Sounds right up my alley.

I am thoroughly enjoying "Sebastian St. Cyr" by C. S. Harris as well. 

Reading:

Where Shadows Dance (my first Sebastian St. Cyr book - loved it) I was not able to get the first book in the series on Overdrive.

"When Gods Die" by C. S. Harris

Audiobook:

"The Anatomist's wife" by Anna Lee Huber

I am not far enough in to say much about it yet.

I am so glad you are enjoying St. Cyr.  Just read what you can find in order.......the books are set rather closely time wise back to back and the important bits are recapped.  

On 5/2/2019 at 8:46 PM, Teaching3bears said:

I'm trying to get back into reading.  I have been too busy but it grounds me in times of stress.  I have been reading snippets of a bunch of non-fiction books.  The only book I read cover-to cover for myself lately was Note to Self edited by Gayle King which is a collection of short letters by famous people to their younger self.  It makes you want to figure out what you would tell your younger self if you could.  It's a short read.

For homeschooling we are reading the Tripod trilogy as well as the prequel which we read first.  It is really grabbing DSs' attention on days when they are so jumpy that it is hard to read to them.  I think it was considered science fiction but today I really think it would be considered dystopian.  I read one of the books as a tween but none of it felt in any way familiar to me.  It's so sad how much we forget.  Anyways, it's a well-thought out series.  We are also reading Sophie's World.  For me, it is the third time reading this and I am enjoying it even more this time around. 

The Tripod trilogy looks like so much fun!  I had a good time reading about them and they appear to have been published a few years after Day of the Triffods which I really enjoyed and is definitely dystopian.  I read Sophie’s World last year and wished I had know about it when we were still homeschooling.  

Off to start reading Amnesia, the first book with this month’s detective Peter Zak.........which reminds me.......any ideas for the Z in the spelling challenge?  I thought I had several identified but can’t find a single one now!

[Robin M]

On 5/3/2019 at 7:43 AM, aggieamy said:

And @Robin M might have somethings similar planned since she's got a year of fun mysteries planned for us. 

Erm.  Do I? I don't remember.   I think November's detective stories are set in the 1920's which count as the golden age. Yes, No, Maybe.  Too long to wait for Golden Age detectives?  I can fit in a post somewhere this summer.  Just let me know when.  Other than the mini challenges listed on 52 books, everything else is rather spontaneous depending on what sparks when I do the weekly posts.  

On 5/2/2019 at 8:08 AM, Violet Crown said:

Interesting! I haven't checked e-books because I hate reading electronically so much (it's on Project Gutenberg too, but I lasted three pages). But the long hold list seems to support the recent-interest theory.

We'll throw that one on the stack then! Here's a quick list; please add. (Sorry table format unavailable)

This high school work is better in our maturity...
1. Dickens, Great Expectations
2. Euripides, Medea
3. Fitzgerald, The Great Gatsby
4. Homer, The Iliad
5. Swift, Gulliver's Travels
6. Sartre, No Exit
7. James, The Portrait of a Lady
8. Shakespeare, King Lear
9. Faulkner, As I Lay Dying
10. Poe, "The Cask of Amontillado"
11. James, The Turn of the Screw
12. Shakespeare, Hamlet
13. Melville, Moby Dick

... because now we've all ...
1. ... read Harry Potter and want to see the source material. (h/t Kevin)
2. ... seen a horrifying marital break-up where both spouses know exactly which buttons to push.
3. ... met people who go through life blithely wrecking things and letting others pick up the pieces.
4. ... found out first-hand what damage ungoverned anger does.
5. ... lived in a society ruled by overweening technocrats.
6. ... discovered the hard way that Hell really is other people.
7. ... known women abused by men who never laid a finger on them.
8. ... begun to see Regan's and Goneril's point.
9. ... had neighbors like the Bundrens, whom we'd gladly pay to Go Away.
10. ... entertained that particular fantasy. Oh, we'd let them out after a while. Really.
11. ... hired at least one crazy babysitter.
12. ... seen kids who come home from college all judge-y about their parents.
13. ... started cheering for the murderous whale. Hey, no one made you go harpooning endangered species.

Dishonorable mention:
Lee, To Kill a Mockingbird ... is worse in our maturity, because now we've all ... met our hundredth child named Atticus or Scout.

Awesome!    Let's see. I've read Great Expectations, but now that Amy's Kevin has pointed out similarities to HP, I may have to go back and read both again.  🙂  Great Gatsby, once was enough. Portrait of a Lady, The Cask of Amontillado, Moby Dick.  Sartre's Nausea. Does that count?  😀   I hardly remember Gulliver's Travels and have never actually finished Iliad.  Beowolf is also one I'n never gotten around to.    I'll throw in my vote for Gulliver's Travels. It's short. Short or fluffy books are about all I can handle right now.

23 hours ago, mumto2 said:

I am having real problems liking a post with rats!  How’s the building coming?

Slowly, oh so slowly. They are currently working on the outside siding, replacing and or repairing, prepping for final paint which is supposed to be done this coming week.  I don't think all the flooring has arrived yet so that's next, along with concrete and cabinets.   Meanwhile, I'm trying to keep hubby from stressing out from all our unfinished household projects that have been festering in hopes of the building being finished sooner or later.   

[Robin M]

1 hour ago, mumto2 said:

Off to start reading Amnesia, the first book with this month’s detective Peter Zak.........which reminds me.......any ideas for the Z in the spelling challenge?  I thought I had several identified but can’t find a single one now!

Um, besides Zak?  Timothy Zane, Zane Grey, Carlos Ruis Zafon, Roger Zelazny are authors to check out.  Titles with Z could be Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance, Baldacci's Zero Day, Andre Norton's Zero Stone, Zookeeper's Wife, Zorro, Zorba the Greek, or how about something with Zombies or Zoo in the title. 

[Robin M]

On 5/3/2019 at 6:04 PM, aggieamy said:

Speaking of Golden Age mystery writers ... I came across this listing and thought it was really interesting. Lots of authors on here that I know and some new names. I'd love to hear everyone's favorites from the list. 

https://goldenageofmystery.com/authors-page-1%3A

The only thing that I don't like about some Golden Age mysteries is how a great number of them are battling against a super powerful unnamed conglomerate of criminals. A secret society apparently devoted only to doing evil and our hero must bring them down. It's just a little too much Inspector Gadget vs the Claw for me. All I want is some foppish younger son to work with Scotland Yard and figure out who bopped the mean uncle over the head with a candlestick. Knitting old ladies are not only allowed but encouraged.  

 

They all look good.  I've read Dickens, Poe, Doyle, Christie, Sayers, and Chesterton's Father Brown mysteries are good, more fun to listen too than to read, but good all the same.  On my list of people to read but haven't yet are Wilkie Collins and Ngaio Marsh and Michael Innes.  It'd be fun to read one of each author as they all have enticing line of stories.  

[Kareni]

12 hours ago, mumto2 said:

.....any ideas for the Z in the spelling challenge?  I thought I had several identified but can’t find a single one now!

You've read The Book Thief, yes? How about another book by Zusak? I read his The Messenger years ago.

You could read a collection of Zits comic strips.

I gave the non-fiction Zero: The Biography of a Dangerous Idea to my husband a few years ago.

I think some here have read Zinky Boys (non-fiction).

A book by author Rebecca Zanetti.

Then there's Z: A Novel of Zelda Fitzgerald.

Regards,

Kareni

[mumto2]

11 hours ago, Robin M said:

Um, besides Zak?  Timothy Zane, Zane Grey, Carlos Ruis Zafon, Roger Zelazny are authors to check out.  Titles with Z could be Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance, Baldacci's Zero Day, Andre Norton's Zero Stone, Zookeeper's Wife, Zorro, Zorba the Greek, or how about something with Zombies or Zoo in the title. 

 

53 minutes ago, Kareni said:

You've read The Book Thief, yes? How about another book by Zusak? I read his The Messenger years ago.

You could read a collection of Zits comic strips.

I gave the non-fiction Zero: The Biography of a Dangerous Idea to my husband a few years ago.

I think some here have read Zinky Boys (non-fiction).

A book by author Rebecca Zanetti.

Then there's Z: A Novel of Zelda Fitzgerald.

Regards,

Kareni

Thank you so much!  It never entered my mind that I could use Zak but I could!  I still have the Z issue for both of the A to Z challenges so I would love to get one of those solved now.  I just put Zero Day on hold because it looks like something I will enjoy and it’s even the first in a series.😁. I like the look of The Messenger by Zusak so will read that for my author Z later in the year......after making sure the Bookology doesn’t have another Z in the future!  Heading out to Church and then off to celebrate Dd’s Birthday!  

[Robin M]

Week 19 is live - please continue conversation in new thread