Feeling bookish

What are the best books you’ve read lately? What’s on the stack that you’re looking forward to?

by Dietrich

Nothing like pages of inspiration. Here’s the cream of what I’ve been reading lately.

I started digging into Craig Johnson’s Walt Longmire stories — top notch crime novels with a western feel on the fringes. Craig Johnson is a master of dialog, bringing characters and settings to life. I started with The Cold Dish, the first in the series, and I loved every page.

Down to the Dirt by Joel Thomas Hynes is a novel set in small-town Newfoundland. Booze, drugs, sex and violence swirl around the main character, Keith Kavanaugh, as he faces the realities of life after his girlfriend leaves him. Excellent writing skills packed into this debut novel.

Start Without Me (I'll Be There in a Minute): It’s the autobiography of Family Guy writer, Gary Janetti, and it’s deep and laugh-out-loud funny from page one.

City on Fire by Don Winslow is a gritty tale of survival set in the mid-eighties on the streets of Rhode Island amidst ongoing mob violence. It’s the start of a new series told in Winslow’s wonderful style.  

White Out by Dana King. It’s always great to read an ARC written by one of my writer buddies, and Dana sure knocks this Penns River novel out of the park. High octane and highly recommended.

Irish Thunder: The Hard Life & Times of Micky Ward by Bob Halloran

It’s the true story of boxing legend Micky Ward, a great underdog story that’s well-told, heartfelt and often funny.

The Willow Wren by Philipp Schott is a touching tale of the author's father as a boy growing up and surviving the horrors of war in nazi Germany. 

The Twilight World by Werner Herzog is the true account of Hiroo Onoda and his four-man detachment of Japanese soldiers who defended a small island in the Pacific for nearly thirty years after the end of World War II. It’s an amazing story told by another master story teller. 

Hero Found: The Greatest POW Escape of the Vietnam War by Bruce Henderson is another true war story. This one’s about Dieter Dengler, the only US fighter pilot to escape from a POW camp in the Laotian jungle, battling impossible odds to claw his way to freedom.

Hello Molly! is the memoir by Molly Shannon. I heard this as an audiobook narrated by the author, and it's real, bold, and very funny. 

Dragon Teeth by Michael Crichton is the story of a palaeontologist who makes an incredible discovery of dinosaur fossils near Cheyenne, Wyoming in 1876. He’s faced with having to protect his find against everything the Wild West can throw at him. 

Strip Tease by Carl Hiaasen is a twisted and hilarious tale of a stripper pursued by a crooked congressman across south Florida.  

Some promising books on my reading stack that I’m eager to start: 

The Punishing Journey of Arthur Delaney by Bob Kroll

Every Cloak Rolled in Blood by James Lee Burke

Rogues – True Stories of Grifters, Killers, Rebels and Crooks by Patrick Radden Keefe

Hero Haters by Ken MacQueen

The Ghosts of Paris by Tara Moss

To Those Who Killed Me by J.T. Siemens 

I hope I’ve given you some titles to add to your own summer reading list. Happy reading.