June 2022 Newsletter
Hi everyone and welcome to June!
A day late this month, my apologies. Time just got away from me in the last week. I’ve mentioned that new book website project that is underway a few times in the past year.
That has kept me quite busy as it nears completion, and then some unfortunate issues popped up in the last couple of weeks that caused some delays. It’s been about 4-5 years in the making and will hopefully be ready for launch by August 1st. We were aiming for July 1st until the issues popped up.
In the past couple of weeks, I read Interference by Brad Parks. This was a great book and I read it in one sitting. It’s about a Quantum physicist who starts having these crazy seizures which medical science can’t explain. There’s the possibility it is something to do with his work and some sort of bioweapon.
He has a third seizure and is taken to the hospital. When his wife gets to the hospital, she finds out they have no record of him being admitted there. It looks like he may have been kidnapped.
I loved this one. I love authors who are able to bring that sci-fi element into it but within a grounded reality. It really kept me guessing and I was completely wrong as to who was behind it all. An excellent thriller.
I read Afterlife by Marcus Sakey. This one has been picked up and may soon be a movie. It’s sort of a love story. The premise is FBI agent Will Brody dies in an explosion, only to wake up without a scratch in the same place he died.
He realizes he has entered the afterlife. A place where only some make it to. Where the real world is still going on, but freezes as he enters a location. And a world where people who kill others become much stronger, quicker etc.
All he wants is to see the girl of his dreams again, who is back in the real world.
It was a great premise and I really enjoyed the majority of it. Fun to think of a world like that. The pace moved fast. One of those books that could have easily been stretched out into a trilogy quite honestly. It did fall flat I felt in the final act, but still worth reading. I really enjoyed his Brilliance Trilogy and that’s still #1 in my books by Sakey.
I read The Island by Adrian McKinty, which I’ll write about in the recommendations section.
I’m currently listening to Ishmael by Daniel Quinn. Not the usual type of novel I read or listen to but I am enjoying it a lot. It’s a very thoughtful novel about human life, what we take for granted and what we take – period. Told via the perspective of a telepathic gorilla. Fascinating stuff.
Have a Facebook account? Participate in our What’s Your Favourite Book to TV/Movie Adaptation survey. Answers will be in the mid-month newsletter.
Each month we give away 5 $25 Amazon gift certificates to random subscribers.
To win all you have to do is be a subscriber. Nothing more! When we go to hit “Publish” we take a list of all of our subscribers, throw them into a random draw and those are the winners.
Our winners this month are:
Audrie from Halfmoon, BC
Tommy from Henderson, NV
Michael Sk. from Brooklyn, NY
Bonnie from Royserford, PA
Elizabeth from Wenatchee, WA
All of you have been e-mailed. If you don’t see anything, check your junk folder or contact me.
Graeme
OrderOfBooks.com
Quote of the Month
“I was talking aloud to myself. A habit of the old: they choose the wisest person present to speak to.”
– Gandalf, .
Submitted by Joanna. While I primarily read on Kindle, I still have a few books sprinkled around my house. There’s just something about them that really adds to a room I find. Submit your own quotes; just hit reply.
Book Recommendations
In this section, I give 5 random book recommendations. They can be old books, they can be new. But either way – I recommend you read them if the type of genre they are in appeals to you. Feel free to e-mail suggestions to site@orderofbooks.com as many of the suggestions each month are from our readers. If you wish to add a description for the book around the same size as the ones below that’d be great too! I should note we also have a huge backlog of recommendations so if you don’t see one that you recommended then don’t worry – it’ll show up eventually!
This was one of those books I felt like I kept seeing everywhere as the release date approached.
It’s a thriller about a family of 4 who go on vacation to Australia. They visit a remote island while there, where a terrible accident happens. Then they are taken hostage by a clan of locals.
This was an excellent book and is going to be a series on Hulu at some point. This was one of those novels where I was so caught up in what was happening that I was only partially reading parts as I couldn’t wait to see what happened next!
First Adrian McKinty book I’ve read, but certainly not my last!
Hugo Marston Series by Mark Pryor
Scott recommended this crime fiction series. There are currently nine books in it.
The Bookseller is the first book in the Hugo Marston series. Hugo is working as the head of security at the US Embassy in Paris when a friend of his, an elderly bookstall owner named Max, is abducted at gunpoint. His position leaves him powerless to do anything about it, but he begins to investigate anyways with the help of a semiretired CIA agent named Tom Green. Their investigation leads to Max’s dark past and a group of rival drug gangs in a turf war.
The Others Series by Anne Bishop
Kathryn recommended this fantasy series. Here is what she wrote:
“The Others – It’s strange, but I really only like her Others series, not so much the Black Jewels. I am a library person and rarely purchase books, but I absolutely love the Others and will always purchase her new book each year. ”
There are five books in the series and then there is a new series started within the same universe. More details.
Charlie Crawford / Palm Beach Mysteries by Tom Turner
If you’re looking for a lighter read with some humour, then be sure to check out this series.
There are 11 books in it at the moment. Wessel recommended it, stating “I want to alert you of the Palm Beach series by Tom Turner featuring detective Charlie Crawford. They are easy reads that are a lot of fun, almost like Laurence Shames’ Key west novels.”
Palm Beach Nasty is the first book in the Charlie Crawford Palm Beach Mysteries series. The story sees a New York homicide detective who decides to leave the big city behind and head to Palm Beach. It’s mostly petty crimes down there until the day he ends up on the scene of a man hanging from a banyan tree. There are many suspects for who could be responsible, including a shady hedge-fund billionaire and a sketchy bartender. Crawford’s girlfriend finds herself right in the middle of it all. Some of the residents of this town are as diabolical as they are wealthy.
Lighthouse Library Mystery Series by Eva Gates
The 9th book in this series by Eva Gates, pen name of Canadian author Vicki Delaney, comes out this month so I thought it would be a good time to recommend it.
This is a very popular cozy mystery series. By Book or By Crook is the first book in the Library Lighthouse Mysteries series. Lucy has worked poring over rare tomes of literature at Harvard Unversity for ten years, but a recent change in her relationship leads her to a new career at a lighthouse library tucked away on Bodie Island.
She considers this place to be her favorite in the world and is thrilled to land this job, but when a priceless Jane Austen novel is stolen and a library board member is murdered, Lucy finds herself getting outside of the books and investigating a mystery of her own.
The Omega Factor by Steve Berry
Steve Berry hasn’t written a standalone novel in a decade, so there is a lot of excitement and high expectations over his next standalone novel.
It’s called The Omega Factor and it has a release date of June 7t.
There is a work of art which has inexplicably been violated 13 times. UNESCO investigator Nicholas Lee looks into why the art keeps getting vandalized and what potential secrets it may hold.
Nick discovers that there is a legendary panel from the Ghent Altarpiece which has been missing from 1934 and before he knows it, he is right in the midst of a 2000 year old conflict.
10 More Notable Books Releasing June 1-15
- Escape by David Ellis and James Patterson
- The Hotel Nantucket by Elin Hilderband
- A Face to Die for by Iris Johansen
- Look Both Ways by Linwood Barclay
- Clause of Death by Lorna Barrett
- Zero Hour by Don Bentley
- Red Warning by Matthew Quirk
- The Friendship Pact by Jill Shalvis
- Death By Beach Read by Eva Gates
- So Not Meant To Be by Meghan Quinn
June Charities
While I appreciate all offers of donations to show your appreciation for the site and newsletter, I’d much rather you do that by supporting some great causes. Each month I pick a few select charities broken down by our most popular countries or topics that you can support instead. Thanks!
Books: United Through Reading
Veterans: The Fisher House Foundation
Dementia: Dementia UK (via a friends Justgiving page)
Domestic Violence: Safehouse Denver
Audiobook Arena
We have a lot of audiobook fans and invite book listeners to write their own column every month, or just write in a few audiobook thoughts. Want to discuss audiobooks or a favourite narrator? Hit reply and write and we’ll feature your column in a future newsletter!
By Monique
Regarding your audiobook question, I can’t say that I only listen or read certain authors. I can say that I’m so glad you mentioned audiobooks in one of your newsletters last year. I’m not the best at sitting still so I’ve started listening to books while cooking, cleaning, going for walks, etc. Right now I’m averaging about 3 books a week (thank you public library)! This year I’ve gone through the Longmire series by Craig Johnson which is way better than the TV show. And I’m working my way through the Stephanie Plum series by Janet Evanovich now. I sprinkle in other books as they come available. I just finished Greenwich Park today and have listened the new books from Baldacci, Child, Connelly, etc.
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By Mark
Especially since you are an audiobook-while-walking kind of guy (as am I!), I **very highly** recommend that you do *not* watch The Expanse on TV, and instead listen to it on audiobook. First of all, it’s the absolute best science fiction series ever (and I’ve now read close to 1,000 science fiction novels). Brilliant from start to finish. Nine novels and a few novellas; only two of the novellas are essential to understanding the later novels. Second, Jefferson Mays’ narration is glorious. Having listened to the last eight novels (I read the first one before discovering the audiobooks), I can say that I can now no more conceive of The Expanse without Jefferson Mays than I can conceive of Alice in Wonderland without Sir John Tenniel’s illustrations; it’s that perfect. Third, the series is now complete; no waiting for future installments!
Your Thoughts
Last month I asked what your favourite book genres were. The replies are later in the newsletter.
This month’s question is:
Where do you primarily read?
I don’t mean what country or “in my house” or anything like that. But more specifically – do you read in bed? Have a favourite armchair to sit in? Out in the garden?
I do the majority of reading in the hot tub. I’ll usually go in for 2-3 hours at a time and read. Often I end up in there for over 4 hours as I just can’t put down the book I am reading. We also have a fire table out back and I enjoy reading there.
If I am eating alone, I will usually always read while at the dinner table.
I used to read in bed but I’ve had to put a stop to that as I was having too many late nights!
When it comes to listening to audiobooks – I mostly do them on long walks or when I am running. However I’ve taken to going out to a coffee shop on weekend mornings, and sitting there listening via my headphones while sipping on a latte or flat white, and eating a tasty treat. Really starting to enjoy that routine.
E-mail us your feedback to site@OrderOfBooks.com or just reply to this e-mail, and we’ll pick the best comments and feature it in next months newsletter. Five people will also randomly win a $25 gift certificate to Amazon.
Reader Mailbag
Click here.
Hi, I read your email when I receive it I usually scroll down to see if I have won the gift certificate. Than I go back to the beginning.
I don’t go to the website to read it. Maybe that is the problem.
I’m still working my way through Bernie Gunther books. I’ve also read 3 of his children’s books.
I always enjoy your email.
Thanks.
Hanny
Hi Hanny – I assume you got that “we haven’t detected you reading the newsletter recently” message? If so not to worry. The system isn’t foolproof 🙂 I see you clicked the link in the e-mail so no worries – you won’t get checked upon again 🙂