What Fiction are you reading this week, December 14, 2025?

[hermetic]

For 20 years, James Patterson has donated millions of dollars to schools, libraries, literacy programs and others in the book community, and that legacy continues this holiday season. He gave $500 bonuses to 600 indie booksellers.

Still reading To Shape a Dragon's Breath by Moniquill Blackgoose. This is a fantasy but is getting quite real.
15-yr-old Native girl is forced to attend a school in order to license the dragon who adopted her. Otherwise it will be considered feral and killed. "For a girl with no formal schooling, a non-Anglish upbringing, and a very different understanding of the history of her land, challenges abound -- both socially and academically."

I listened to His & Hers by Alice Feeney, a twisty, smart, psychological thriller. "A gripping tale of suspense, told by expertly-drawn narrators that will keep readers guessing until the very end." I highly recommend the audio version. Who IS that?

Now I'm listening to James Patterson's Bullseye. Even though it was written in 2016, a lot it seems to be ripped from today's headlines.

[MiHale]

1. Nicholas Binge...Professor Everywhere...

Professor Everywhere by Nicholas Binge is a sci-fi mystery novel framed as an academic work by a fictional narrator, Chloe Chan, who investigates the enigmatic Professor Roland Crannus, a mythical figure in academia.

The book blends genres, exploring themes of language, memory, and reality through a complex narrative that includes footnotes, fictional bibliographies, and quantum physics concepts like the many-worlds theory. It's a critique of intellectualism and a surreal journey into a labyrinth of conspiracies and alternate realities.

I have read two other books by him …

Ascension is a 2024 speculative thriller about a mysterious mountain that appears in the Pacific Ocean, prompting a team of scientists to climb it, only to find that time, space, and memory warp as they ascend, leading to mind-bending discoveries about humanity, science, and faith. The narrative is framed by the discovery of unsent letters from a lead scientist, Harry Tunmore, and explores themes of human nature, the limits of science, and the sublime. It's been praised as a suspenseful and emotional survival story and is being adapted for film.

And…
Dissolution a science fiction novel about a woman, Maggie, who uses advanced technology to enter her husband Stanley's memories to save him from a mysterious force that is erasing them, uncovering a vast conspiracy that threatens reality itself. The story blends a personal mystery with a larger sci-fi plot involving time loops, memory manipulation, and a secret organization, with themes of memory, identity, and the nature of time. It's described as an "Inception-like

[hermetic]

2. Those sound amazing

I never heard of Binge but I will sure be looking for him now. Thanks!

[MiHale]

3. Never heard of him either...

Was looking online for new sci-if authors and found him…not disappointed. Kinda new to the scene.

Another new to me author…
Emily St. John Mandel is a Canadian novelist and essayist. She has written six novels, including Station Eleven, The Glass Hotel, and Sea of Tranquility. Station Eleven, which has been translated into 33 languages, has been adapted into a limited series on HBO Max.

Haven’t got into The Glass Hotel yet but loved the other two…especially Station Eleven.

[hermetic]

5. Her, I have read

Most enjoyable. I'm on a waiting list for Sea of Tranquility.

[BOSSHOG]

4. The Fifth Witness by Michael Connelly

Another Lincoln Lawyer Murder Mystery. Home foreclosure, bad guys, good guys, courtroom drama, Hallers love life sideshow. Mindless drivel, easy to read.

[hermetic]

7. I enjoy Connelly's

easy to read stories. Good escapist fare from our daily horror show.

[BOSSHOG]

11. Yeah and his half brother

Harry Bosch often lends some hard nosed personality to his stories.

[cbabe]

6. Paul Doiron/Skin and Bones short stories

Maine game warden embroiled in nasty crimes. A dark side of wilderness and people.

[hermetic]

8. That sounds like a good choice

Doiron is "critically acclaimed for his brilliant crime novels."

[Jilly_in_VA]

9. The White Enchantress by Caitriona Drexler

It's kind of YA, but the sexy stuff in it would get it banned for sure. I'm a sucker for most Arthurian stuff, so I'm definitely into this one. And it's not "romantasy" (ugh) either.

[hermetic]

10. Fan of Arthurian stuff myself

This one is "Fast-paced with a strong female character." A "fantastical retelling that explores the idea that Guinevere was a time traveler."

[mentalsolstice]

12. Love that bookstore sign!

I’m reading The Heart’s Invisible Furies by John Boyle (also wrote The Boy In the Striped Pajamas.) Lots of humor and also tragedy about an adopted boy growing up in Dublin.

Thanks for hosting this thread, and have a great week everyone!

[hermetic]

13. Thank YOU

"THE HEART'S INVISIBLE FURIES is a novel to make you laugh and cry while reminding us all of the redemptive power of the human spirit."

[rsdsharp]

14. Identity Unknown by Patricia Cornwell.

Summoned to an abandoned theme park to retrieve a body, Dr. Kay Scarpetta is devastated to learn that the victim is a man she once had an intense love affair with.

I’m about 1/4 of the way into it, and so far it’s been mostly exposition. I read two or three of the other Kay Scarpetta novels years ago, and a lot has apparently changed for this character since then.

[hermetic]

16. I'vee only read one of hers

This one claims to be a "hauntingly original, impossibly clever and devilishly daring" thriller. Investigators are torn between suspicions of otherworldly forces..." Sounds intriguing. Thanks for sharing.

[Bayard]

15. Great sign!

I've finished two by Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child this week.

The first, "Bloodless," I mentioned starting last week. It ended up going in a totally different direction than I was expecting, delving into scifi.

"Diablo Mesa," features archaeologist Nora Kelly and FBI Agent Corrie Swanson investigating a murder at the alleged Roswell UFO crash site, which a billionaire is funding an excavation of." Very interesting turn into scifi as well.

Hope everyone is staying warm with a good book, and a hot beverage in front of a nice fire.

[hermetic]

17. Sweet. Thanks

[yellowdogintexas]

18. I finished Daniel Silva's Black Widow and started another of his books, The English Spy

I put it down to read the book club choice "The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society" by Mary Ann Schaffer and Annie Barrows.
This is a re-read but it is such a good book I don't mind reading it again.

My youngest sister (not a reader like our other sister and me) shocked the two of us when she said she could not put it down. We were on a video call and we both said "You read a book?". It is definitely a keeper.

“I wonder how the book got to Guernsey? Perhaps there is some sort of secret homing instinct in books that brings them to their perfect readers.” January 1946: London is emerging from the shadow of the Second World War, and writer Juliet Ashton is looking for her next book subject. Who could imagine that she would find it in a letter from a man she’s never met, a native of the island of Guernsey, who has come across her name written inside a book by Charles Lamb. . . .

As Juliet and her new correspondent exchange letters, Juliet is drawn into the world of this man and his friends—and what a wonderfully eccentric world it is. The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society—born as a spur-of-the-moment alibi when its members were discovered breaking curfew by the Germans occupying their island—boasts a charming, funny, deeply human cast of characters, from pig farmers to phrenologists, literature lovers all.

When I finish it I will go back to the Silva book.

[MIButterfly]

19. I signed up for this month's Shelf Awareness at the library

and I got a book called If Cats Disappeared From the World by Genki Kawamura. I've only read a few pages so far, but it's holding my interest.

For those who don't know (I've mentioned this before, but new people read posts all the time) a different topic is selected every month for Shelf Awareness and when you sign up, you get a book of the library's choosing, plus a little something extra, like a crossword puzzle or a mini-bag of cookies or a package of cocoa
mix. This month's selections are shorter books with a big impact. Apparently this book was an international bestseller. I never heard of it before.

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20. Me either,

and it's from 2018. "The international phenomenon that has sold over a million copies in Japan, IF CATS DISAPPEARED FROM THE WORLD is a funny, heartwarming, and profound meditation on the meaning of life."

I'll have to look for that one. If that happened, I would surely be devastated. My kitties are my bestest friends.

That program sounds really great. Thanks for sharing.

[MIButterfly]

21. My cats are my best friends, too!

[MIButterfly]

22. I finished that book and it was pretty good.

I laughed at a couple parts and got a little teary near the end. What more could one ask for in a book than to be moved?

I like that Shelf Awareness program because I get books I'd ordinarily never read. I'm so stuck in one or two genres (mystery; suspense, etc.) and it's nice to find something different, expand my horizons so to speak.