This Week I are mostly reading (contd)

Belle E. Flops

Seeing as it's coming up to Halloween I've decided to start 'The Monk' by Matthew Lewis. It's been on my shelves for a few years but just haven't gotten around to it.
Also downloaded 'Carrie' by Stephen King and 'The Legend of Sleepy Hollow' by Washington Irving. So I'm looking forward to getting through them.

Mr.Nice Guy

I finished Far from the Madding Crowd by Thomas Hardy and very much enjoyed it. I liked Hardy's writing style and I found Bathsheba a really likeable character.

TICKLE_ME_ELMO

Mr.Nice Guy wrote: »

I finished Far from the Madding Crowd by Thomas Hardy and very much enjoyed it. I liked Hardy's writing style and I found Bathsheba a really likeable character.

I read this a year or so ago. Loved it, one of my all time favourites.

Leocolceathrar

Just finished " A short history of Ireland" by John O'Beirne Ranelagh.

Moving on to "Fatal Path" by Ronan Fanning.

Dial Hard

Finally finished Martin Amis' "The Zone of Interest" last night. It took me weeks as I just wasn't enjoying it at all.

Unfortunately that was also my last "for pleasure" read before college kicked back in for the year :-(

eire4

Finished a re read of Gemma O'Connor's atmospheric mystery novel Walking on Water.

Mr.Nice Guy

I read Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen and enjoyed it. I had seen the Keira Knightley film version a few years back, and liked that too, so I did know what to expect with the story. I think reading the book gives a greater understanding of the social issues of the period, which is important to the story.

It's a pretty easy read and I liked many of the characters. Lydia Bennet was a real pain in the neck though. What a spoiled brat!

TICKLE_ME_ELMO

Mr.Nice Guy wrote: »

It's a pretty easy read and I liked many of the characters. Lydia Bennet was a real pain in the neck though. What a spoiled brat!

Have you seen/read Death Comes to Pemberly? It's a recent sort of sequel, although in no way officially connected to Austen, obviously. Anyway... Lydia is even worse in it. I only saw the TV adaptation and she was hilariously over the top in it.

Ipso

Reading Rendezvous with Rama by Arthur C Clarke. Really enjoying it so far.

Aenaes

I found Pride and Prejudice very funny in parts which was a nice surprise.

Callan57

Aenaes wrote: »

I found Pride and Prejudice very funny in parts which was a nice surprise.

Agree, I always found Mr & Mrs Bennett highly entertaining.

Dibble

Currently reading The Heart Goes Last by Margaret Atwood.

keane2097

Have just started Robert Harris' Dictator, which is the last of his trilogy about Cicero. Took him long enough!

Mr.Nice Guy

TICKLE_ME_ELMO wrote: »

Have you seen/read Death Comes to Pemberly? It's a recent sort of sequel, although in no way officially connected to Austen, obviously. Anyway... Lydia is even worse in it. I only saw the TV adaptation and she was hilariously over the top in it.

I haven't heard of that. I'll look out for it. What surprised me about Lydia in the story was that when I saw the film the character didn't make a strong impression on me. Perhaps I wasn't paying enough attention, I dunno. But when I read the book I found her one of the most irritating characters I've read in a long time!

Callan57

The Blue Guitar by John Banville

Swiper the fox

I'm reading Dub Sub Confidential, it's an autobiography of the former Dublin sub Goalkeeper, never got a chance as Stephen Cluxton was ahead of him. Very honest and different to any other GAA biography I've read, had a lot of trouble with drink, drugs and women before settling into his spot on the bench, very insightful into reasonably modern GAA mentality, tactics etc but I think things have moved on to another level in very recent years. I would highly recommend this to sports lovers in particular, he has written it by himself and he writes very well.

eire4

Finished a re read of Gemma O'Connor's After the Wake the sequal to Walking on Water.

eire4

Finished a re read of Gemma O'Connor's Following the Wake the sequal to Walking on Water. Word of advice do not read this book without first reading Walking on Water or you will know the whole plot of the first book.

keane2097

Finished Dictator. Of similar quality to the first two. A most worthwhile series.

TICKLE_ME_ELMO

The library have sent me a letter demanding I return War & Peace. I'm nearly finished. ...... kind of.

keane2097

Finished Dictator. Of similar quality to the first two. A most worthwhile series.

SarahBM

TICKLE_ME_ELMO wrote: »

The library have sent me a letter demanding I return War & Peace. I'm nearly finished. ...... kind of.

:eek:
Surely libraries would have exceptions to their return rules for such books.

I am about 2/3 way through the Silence of the Lambs. Still waiting for it to "grab me". This is probably a personal thing, but I find this book very american, and sometimes the dialogue is a bit ridiculous, like people saying things in conversation that would never be said in a normal context. An example, which I don't think gives away anything but I will spoiler anyway, is when

Starling is searching the room of the latest missing victim, and she finds something. Then the victims mother appears behind her and says she doesn't think anything was taken. and the first words out of Starlings mouth are "hello, would you like to lye down?" - surely that isn't naturally the first thing you would say when you meet a stranger at a possible crime scene.

Sorry, that bit just really annoyed me.
I have to say I can't wait to finish it.

Wyldwood

TICKLE_ME_ELMO wrote: »

The library have sent me a letter demanding I return War & Peace. I'm nearly finished. ...... kind of.

Take it back to the library and read it at your leisure on Project Gutenberg online:)

TICKLE_ME_ELMO

SarahBM wrote: »

:eek:
Surely libraries would have exceptions to their return rules for such books.

To be fair, I've already renewed it twice and I can't renew it anymore.

The first time I hadn't even started reading it. I'm nearly done though so the fines should be minimal.

Wyldwood wrote: »

Take it back to the library and read it at your leisure on Project Gutenberg online:)

I don't like reading things off screens, prefer pages.

Callan57

TICKLE_ME_ELMO wrote: »

To be fair, I've already renewed it twice and I can't renew it anymore.

The first time I hadn't even started reading it. I'm nearly done though so the fines should be minimal.



I don't like reading things off screens, prefer pages.

Can you not just check it in and check it back out again?

TICKLE_ME_ELMO

Callan57 wrote: »

Can you not just check it in and check it back out again?

Oh, there's a thought...

I'm sure I'll get it finished over the weekend though. If not I'll give that a go.

echo beach

TICKLE_ME_ELMO wrote: »

The library have sent me a letter demanding I return War & Peace. I'm nearly finished. ...... kind of.

They must have somebody else waiting to take it out... or it is a policy to force people to either finish it or give up.:D

Jijsaw

I'm reading 'Salem's Lot' by Stephen King. More than halfway through it now and I'm enjoying it. I thought the first 100 pages were a bit of a slog though with the setting up the town and the characters but luckily it's going a bit more fast-paced now.
I read 'Misery' before it and I think I prefer it more than 'SL', just because it was more realistic.

Aenaes

I finished The Day Michael Collins Was Shot, it seemed to be well researched. I found it interesting that the gunner of the armoured car (the Sliabh na mBan) left the National Army to join the Irregulars and took the car with him. The turret and gun was then removed so the turret and gun currently on the vehicle in the Curragh Military Museum aren't the original ones that were present at the ambush.

I'm about halfway through Brighton Rock by Graham Greene.

Mr.Nice Guy

I read In Cold Blood by Truman Capote. Described as a non-fiction novel it details the brutal killing of a family in Kansas by two men, as well as the investigation into catching the culprits.

I found this a very captivating read. Capote researched the crime extensively, and actually was aided by his friend Harper Lee (who was able to connect with the locals better than Capote), and he writes the story in a way very much like that of a novel. I was very impressed with how Capote paced the story and the way he was able to shift the narrative.

ivytwine

^^ great book.

I'm reading The Girl on the Train. Loving it so far.

I have so many unread books that I thought I'd give one a shot. Peter Carey's A chemistry of Tears was my pick. I just couldn't connect with it at all. It is a lovely book with a gentle kind of story but I was probably not in the right frame of mind. So I've moved direction completely to Jo Nesbo's The Leopard. Going well for now.

TICKLE_ME_ELMO

War and Peace just royally pi$$ed me off. I don't even know if I can be arsed finishing it.

Callan57

Deleted User wrote: »

I have so many unread books that I thought I'd give one a shot. Peter Carey's A chemistry of Tears was my pick. I just couldn't connect with it at all. It is a lovely book with a gentle kind of story but I was probably not in the right frame of mind. So I've moved direction completely to Jo Nesbo's The Leopard. Going well for now.

The Leopard is brilliant IMHO

I started Blood & Beauty by Sarah Dunant

Fathom

Tower, by Nigel Jones.

Hrududu

I finished The Talented Mr Ripley by Patricia Highsmith which I enjoyed. Now with Halloween approaching I'm reading Salem's Lot by Stephen King. Still in the set up phase of the book but enjoying it so far.

Wyldwood

Read E. M. Forster's Howards End (no apostrophe!) and enjoyed it. I love these old fashioned stories with their stereotypical strong female and flighty female characters and a host of dashing young and not so young men.

Half way through The Luminaries and really loving the way it's written. I like the way Catton feeds us the clues in dribs and drabs. I hope she can continue the pace through the rest of the book.

Have the new Robert Galbraith lined up on the Kindle once I'm finished The Luminaries. Roll on the long dark evenings.

Aenaes

I finished Brighton Rock. Excellent work by Greene as always. I'll be tempted to watch one of the film versions now.

I've started Archangel by Robert Harris. A brilliant first chapter that just sucks you in.

mejulie805

Wyldwood wrote: »

Have the new Robert Galbraith lined up on the Kindle once I'm finished The Luminaries. Roll on the long dark evenings.

Just started it yesterday. Enjoyable easy read like the others. You can hear JK's HP voice in it more than ever!

ivytwine

Finished The Girl on The Train... On the train very enjoyable, but I'd figured whodunnit way before the end!

littlema

Finished "We are all completely beside ourselves" by Karen Joy Fowler, which I sped through even though it was somewhat disturbing !
Nothing sinister, just the crazy sh... that some "intellectuals" come up with to study.
I even enjoyed "Things we have in common" by Tasha Kavanagh although I was a bit flummoxed by the ending....

heathledgerlove

Wyldwood wrote: »

Read E. M. Forster's Howards End (no apostrophe!) and enjoyed it. I love these old fashioned stories with their stereotypical strong female and flighty female characters and a host of dashing young and not so young men.

Half way through The Luminaries and really loving the way it's written. I like the way Catton feeds us the clues in dribs and drabs. I hope she can continue the pace through the rest of the book.

Have the new Robert Galbraith lined up on the Kindle once I'm finished The Luminaries. Roll on the long dark evenings.

I love Forster! Anthony Hopkins did a great Henry Wilcox in the movie I thought, made him seem pompous but boyish. I like A Room With a View best, the turns of phrase are just hilarious.

I'm struggling thorough The Last September which is surprising because I usually devour novels that depict the early 20th century decay of the Big House

TICKLE_ME_ELMO

Finished War and Peace.

Have to say, I hated it. It was a tough slog for the most part but I found a few of the characters compelling enough to stick with it and after a certain point I quite liked it. But then Tolstoy went and killed off the character I thought was the main character, the one person I was quite invested in, ruining the happiness of another character I was quite invested in and all to make the one guy who I detested the hero and allow him to be happy. I mean, I just don't understand this book?! Has anyone read it. Are we actually supposed to like Pierre or give a flying F about him? I just thought he was the biggest waste of life and if I knew him in real life I'd probably have punched him in the face several times within a week of meeting him. MY GOD!

P.S. Thank you to the person who liked all my updates on Goodreads. I'm fairly sure it's someone on here. Never was encouragement needed more.

SarahBM

Congratulations TICKLE_ME_ELMO!!!! can I ask how long it actually took you to read War and Peace? I don't think I will ever read it. If I am not enjoying a book I am reading I do everything to avoid picking it up. Therefore it had taken me nearly a month to read Gatsby! LOL

I started Frankenstein.

I didn't like Silence of the Lambs. Very over hyped IMO. I didn't find it scary or compelling and I have read far better thrillers than it. I thought maybe it was a bit dated. If I had read it 20 years ago, maybe I would have liked it. And if I was american I may have got the language and turn of phrase a bit more. But I didn't.

TICKLE_ME_ELMO

SarahBM wrote: »

Congratulations TICKLE_ME_ELMO!!!! can I ask how long it actually took you to read War and Peace? I don't think I will ever read it. If I am not enjoying a book I am reading I do everything to avoid picking it up. Therefore it had taken me nearly a month to read Gatsby! LOL

I started on Sept 9th and finished yesterday so... 7/8 weeks, maybe?

I was away for a few days in that and didn't read, a few migraines too and it took me quite a while to get into it so.... let's say 6.5 weeks all in
I didn't hate it until I was nearly finished and certain things happened. It's not one I would recommend, to be honest. It just didn't feel like it was worth the work by the end. I would love to speak to other people who have read it though to see if I'm alone in hating Pierre.

I've also ruined the upcoming BBC adaptation for myself, I was really looking forward to it and from the few little clips and pictures I've seen of it it looks fantastic but knowing the story now I don't know if I can be arsed watching it.

Mr.Nice Guy

Yeah, fair play to you for finishing it. War and Peace is a book I've thought about reading in the past. Now might not be the time for me though.

I am reading Middlemarch at the moment which is about 700-800 pages long and tbh I might have to give up on it. I've got past the first 100 pages or so which centres on Dorothea, but I really don't feel up to finishing the rest of the book.

I've read a lot of books of late so maybe I'm just burned out at this point, but the thought of committing to the rest of this book seems a punishment rather than a pleasure.

Anyone fans here of Middlemarch who think it's worth completing?

TICKLE_ME_ELMO

I find really long books are rarely worth the effort. East of Eden is the only exception I can think of. There's usually so much unnecessary stuff in them that could have been cut if the author had had a decent editor. You can forgive it in older books, to a degree, but modern ones like The Goldfinch there's no excuse for.

IvyTheTerrible

TICKLE_ME_ELMO wrote: »

I find really long books are rarely worth the effort. East of Eden is the only exception I can think of. There's usually so much unnecessary stuff in them that could have been cut if the author had had a decent editor. You can forgive it in older books, to a degree, but modern ones like The Goldfinch there's no excuse for.

I thought A Suitable Boy by Vikram Seth was excellent, for a very long book.

Belle E. Flops

I finished Carrie by Stephen King. I'd seen the original film years ago so I remembered the story pretty well. I thought the story was good by I wasn't overly impressed by how it was written, mainly because a lot of it is just the same story told from different points of view. It was my first King but I will definitely be making my way through more of his books.

Tonight I'm starting 'The Secret of Crickley Hall' by James Herbert. I love a good creepy house setting in books.

TICKLE_ME_ELMO

IvyTheTerrible wrote: »

I thought A Suitable Boy by Vikram Seth was excellent, for a very long book.

To be fair I've only read maybe 6 really long books so I'm probably not an authority on them.