What Fiction are you reading this week, April 5, 2026?

[hermetic]

This discussion thread is pinned.

Still reading Get In Trouble by Kelly Link. This is some VERY unusual writing.

Listened to The Killing Code by J.D. Kirk. Funny, but then scary as hell. There is a whole series and I'm looking forward to it/them. Like I said: "Love Scottish crimes." Even more so when they're read by someone with a rich brogue.

Listening to Lost Birds by Anne Hillerman from 2024. "Exploring emotionally complex issues, Anne Hillerman delivers another thought-provoking, gripping mystery that brings to life the vivid terrain of the American Southwest, its people, and the lore and traditions that make it distinct." Great line: "Patriotism is love of country, not government."

Happy Easter

[NoMoreRepugs]

1. Washington Post.

[viva la]

2. The Second Sleep by Robert Harris

Kind of weird post-apocalyptic novel set in Devon England. It starts out with characters in the 15th Century... only there are little clues that something is off (like they have 'plastic' and the King James Bible).
Then gradually the mystery is revealed.

It's pretty good, so I'm hanging in there to find out what the apocalypse was.

[rsdsharp]

4. I read that last summer; it's a departure for him.

The Fear Index is a look at AI in the context of the stock market, and is even more frightening (to me, at least) than The Second Sleep.

[rsdsharp]

3. I just finished Precipice by Robert Harris.

I took a couple of weeks to read this because it made me feel uncomfortable. I felt like a voyeur.

The novel takes place between July 1914 and May 1915, and focuses on the relationship between 64 year old UK Prime Minister H. H. Asquith, and Venetia Stanley, 27, largely through letters he wrote her.

The letters are real — more than 500 of them — and still exist. He destroyed her letters on his last day as Prime Minister, and Harris basically tries to recreate them.

The novel is silent as to whether there was a sexual relationship, but it is clear that Asquith was besotted, and even more shockingly, was sharing top secret war information with her, even mailing her telegrams which were intended to be seen only by Asquith and five other Cabinet members.

It’s an interesting look at the machinations of His Majesty’s government in the early days of WWI, and the personalities — including Churchill — who occupied the positions of power.

[hermetic]

6. Sounds amazing

Thanks.

[cbabe]

5. Also Anne Hillerman/Shadow of the Solstice

Navajo Grandmother saves the day. All the ills including uranium mining, kidnapped tribal members by Medicare scammers, solstice cult.

Grandmother is tough. Her age and speaking Navajo makes her invisibile to white bureaucrats.

Author’s writing is not great but I can go along for the ride thinking of her dad’s original works.