Reading Wednesday
Aug. 5th, 2015 03:24 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
brigdhWhat did you just finish?
Dry Bones by Craig Johnson. The last (so far) book in the Longmire mystery series. This one starts when a T. rex skeleton – worth an estimated $8 million – is found, and a legal battle immediately crops up concerning who actually owns the remains: the museum that excavated the skeleton? The family who owns the ranch it was found on? The Native American reservation that the ranch was leased from? Or the US government (honestly, I never got what their legal claim was, but they're in here trying to get the money like everyone else). Matters are complicated when the head of family who owns the ranch is found dead, possibly murdered, leaving the verbal contracts he had with both the museum and the reservation in question. Meanwhile, Walt deals with plots from previous books: his relationship with Vic, the hit-man with a contract on him, his new-born granddaughter. This was a slighter book than some in the series, but I did like enjoy it, especially the fantastic action sequences in a flooding, pitch-black, abandoned mine.
The Masqueraders by Georgette Heyer. One of the few Heyers I hadn't yet read (well, of her romances. I tried a few of her mysteries and didn't like them). This one is set in the mid-1700s rather than the Regency, and features a brother and sister pair in disguise due to having participated in the Jacobite Rebellion: Prudence, the sister, is living as a man, and Robin, the brother, as a woman.
Actually, I did start this book once before, though then I was listening to the audiobook rather than reading it. I bounced off it fairly early on because I couldn't figure out what was going on; I assumed the problem had been that I was only half-listening, but no, on reading it this time, it's just that the book starts out in pretty fiercely in media res and never stops to explain (including, for example, why on earth disguising a brother-and-sister pair as a slightly different brother-and-sister pair is supposed to be helpful in escaping the authorities). Of course, the plot doesn't really matter and shouldn't have that much thought put into it; it's all about the id. If your id is all about cross-dressing, highwaymen, duels, and secret identities, it is the book for you. Alas, I didn't like it quite as much as I'd hoped I would from that description, though I can't put my finger on why. Maybe it's just that I've read a couple of other cross-dressing romances recently that I liked better. Prudence's ultimate romance was pretty cute, I have to admit.
What are you currently reading?
"Hear My Sad Story: The True Tales That Inspired Stagolee, John Henry, and Other Traditional American Folk Songs by Richard Polenberg. A NetGalley book. Sadly not as entertaining as you would think.
Dry Bones by Craig Johnson. The last (so far) book in the Longmire mystery series. This one starts when a T. rex skeleton – worth an estimated $8 million – is found, and a legal battle immediately crops up concerning who actually owns the remains: the museum that excavated the skeleton? The family who owns the ranch it was found on? The Native American reservation that the ranch was leased from? Or the US government (honestly, I never got what their legal claim was, but they're in here trying to get the money like everyone else). Matters are complicated when the head of family who owns the ranch is found dead, possibly murdered, leaving the verbal contracts he had with both the museum and the reservation in question. Meanwhile, Walt deals with plots from previous books: his relationship with Vic, the hit-man with a contract on him, his new-born granddaughter. This was a slighter book than some in the series, but I did like enjoy it, especially the fantastic action sequences in a flooding, pitch-black, abandoned mine.
The Masqueraders by Georgette Heyer. One of the few Heyers I hadn't yet read (well, of her romances. I tried a few of her mysteries and didn't like them). This one is set in the mid-1700s rather than the Regency, and features a brother and sister pair in disguise due to having participated in the Jacobite Rebellion: Prudence, the sister, is living as a man, and Robin, the brother, as a woman.
Actually, I did start this book once before, though then I was listening to the audiobook rather than reading it. I bounced off it fairly early on because I couldn't figure out what was going on; I assumed the problem had been that I was only half-listening, but no, on reading it this time, it's just that the book starts out in pretty fiercely in media res and never stops to explain (including, for example, why on earth disguising a brother-and-sister pair as a slightly different brother-and-sister pair is supposed to be helpful in escaping the authorities). Of course, the plot doesn't really matter and shouldn't have that much thought put into it; it's all about the id. If your id is all about cross-dressing, highwaymen, duels, and secret identities, it is the book for you. Alas, I didn't like it quite as much as I'd hoped I would from that description, though I can't put my finger on why. Maybe it's just that I've read a couple of other cross-dressing romances recently that I liked better. Prudence's ultimate romance was pretty cute, I have to admit.
What are you currently reading?
"Hear My Sad Story: The True Tales That Inspired Stagolee, John Henry, and Other Traditional American Folk Songs by Richard Polenberg. A NetGalley book. Sadly not as entertaining as you would think.
