Reading any good books lately?

The latest by James Ellroy,"Blood's A Rover"..still one of the best mystery writers in the world and his first new work since 2001. It concerns the Mafia and Howard Hughes in Vegas and has subplots involving the Kennedy,King murders,too.

Recently read an interview on James Ellroy ,and one of the sickest characters in the book is based on himself and his "peeping Tom" activities.

This book was recommended by someone I know. I was told that "it's not religious", her knowing I'm an atheist.
It was a good read (hard to read at times since I knew a little girl that was abducted and murdered), but I just saw it as the author trying to justify the evil that exists in this world and attempting to justify it through God's eyes.

Great topic. Right now I am reading Canadian Battles by Norman S. Leach and The Sacred Stones by Mattew Reilly.

I also like to read Minette Walters, PD James, Martha Grimes, and Elizabeth George who are British authors or in the case of Martha Grimes, write British mysteries. Peter Robinson is another favorite, he now lives in Canada.

Slade is at the top of my list of favorite Canadian authors. William Deverell, Alastair MacLeod, Kathy Reichs, and Jane Urquhart are other must reads for me.

On my list of must-read US authors are Harlan Coben, Nelson DeMille, William Diehl, Jeffrey Deaver, Tony Hillerman, Dana Stabenow, Douglas Preston & Lincoln Child, Michael Crichton, and John Grisham.

I have had a life-long interest in botany though from an amateurs veiwpoint. When I moved to the Cariboo some twenty odd years ago, I decided to learn everything I could about the native plants in our area which meant I also had to learn about all the plants that are not native to the area. I have an extensive library devoted to plants, their origins and identification, uses for medicinal purposes, for food use, and for other purposes such as dyes or in making twines.

The final part of Ellroy's "Underworld USA Trilogy", how does it compare with the first two books?

I enjoyed "American Tabloid", it matched the best of his earlier books, but reading the sequel "The Cold Six Thousand" almost felt like a chore. Ellroy wrote it in his so-called "telegraphic" prose style - where he omits connecting words and uses only short, staccato sentences. While "American Tabloid" and "The Cold Six Thousand" are similar in length, the latter was just too long.

I usually wouldn't bother with "Blood's A Rover", but Ellroy pulled a fast one in the final few chapters of "The Cold Six Thousand", somehow the story came together and left me looking forward to the final part of the trilogy.

But that was about 7 years ago, and now I'm not sure if I want to read "Blood's A Rover", especially if it's as much of chore as most of "The Cold Six Thousand" was.

Is "Blood's A Rover" worth reading?

The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao. The character is from the Dominican Republic, the story is about him, and the people connected to him. I grew really fond of the character almost identifiable.