I recommend reading the first one (Beekeeper’s Apprentice) first. After that, the sequence doesn’t really matter. There’s a new one due out early next year.
A lot of fans of Conan Doyle’s Holmes canon don’t like King’s Russell stories-- she takes the Holmesian misogyny and turns it right over-- but I find them wildly amusing and quite refreshing. They’re very well written, and the mysteries presented are wonderful.
Urgh. I can’t imagine what they’d be like if I had studied them. In my experience, what would make them more enjoyable would be making them about 75% shorter.
This reminds me of the true shame in our household: one of my daughters has arranged the hundreds of books on her wall-to-wall bookcase by color of spine.
Well, I could find something to read on that shelf, but it wouldn’t be the Rushdies. I enjoyed Midnight’s Children, and I managed to work my way through The Satanic Verses, but most of his work just leaves me flat. It may be that I don’t properly appreciate the culture.
I agreed with Robert Towers’ review of Shame: “Some of Mr. Rushdie’s devices misfire; others are so exaggerated that the reader simply backs away, untouched and unamused. The false starts, loose ends and general extravagance of the tale can become irritating. The theme of ubiquitous shame is driven home at times with all the subtlety of a street-drill.” (I cherry-picked that quote; his overall review was positive.)
(first world complaint warning) - my cleaning lady moves my book piles into other piles and I spend a lot of time looking for the book I was reading the night before…
Eeeh, if I’m feeling in a tidying mood (not often, cos I don’t, you know, mainline speed any more), I’ll arrange mine by size, but otherwise they just go on a shelf. It makes it so I might not find what I’m looking for, but I’ll find something interesting.