This Week I are mostly reading (contd)

Belle E. Flops

I finished the Invisible Man a few days ago. It was good enough and I read a few chapters each night but it wasn't a book that I was excited to keep reading.

I'm now onto 'Wise Man's Fear' by Patrick Rothfuss. It's the second in the Kingkiller Chronicles fantasy trilogy. I read the first last year and loved it and really enjoying this one too so far.

minnow

White Teeth, by Zadie Smith. 50 pages in and really enjoying it.

Aenaes

One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest is finished. Grim with some light-hearted moments. Having already seen the film, I was surprised that

the story was told through Chief Bromden's eyes.

I've now started Chance Acquaintances, another short story by Colette.

Fathom

Horribly Awkward, by Edwin Page.

Swiper the fox

About 80 pages into the unlikely pilgrimage of Harold fry, bored to tears. I had read good reviews, should I finish? does it continue to be this dull or will something happen to restore my will to live?

TICKLE_ME_ELMO

Swiper the fox wrote: »

About 80 pages into the unlikely pilgrimage of Harold fry, bored to tears. I had read good reviews, should I finish? does it continue to be this dull or will something happen to restore my will to live?

It is pretty much the same thing over and over.

Wyldwood

Finished All the Light We Cannot See and really loved it. It's one of those books you look forward to reading and don't want to end. Must look up some other Doerr books.

Onto Helen Dunmore's The Siege now.

Swiper the fox

TICKLE_ME_ELMO wrote: »

It is pretty much the same thing over and over.

Thanks, I won't be opening it again.

SarahBM

I havent had much chance to read over the last couple of weeks but thanks to a few days off I have gotten stuck into Career of Evil. Loving it.

Callan57

Finished There Eyes Were Watching God .... amazing but did take a bit of work to get to grips with the Negro vernacular

Completly different genre but enjoying The Distant Echo by Val McDermid

HamsterFace

Am re-reading East of Eden.

This book blows my socks off every time. I can't believe its scope and the threads that run through it. Try to explain his books would make them sound infinitely more inaccessible than they actually are.

Sometimes I fantasize about writing one of these stupid stories I have in my head, then I read something like this and feel like an intellectual pigmy!

SarahBM

Finished Career of Evil last night. JK says in the acknowledgements at the back that she has never enjoyed writing a book so much and I really think that comes across. I thoroughly enjoyed every page of it.

Started the Lovely Bones on the train. It's gripping so far. I am sorry I haven't read it sooner. And I really want to see the film too.

TICKLE_ME_ELMO

SarahBM wrote: »

Started the Lovely Bones on the train. It's gripping so far. I am sorry I haven't read it sooner. And I really want to see the film too.

The film isn't great. I loved the book but was fairly disappointed with the film. Saoirse Ronan is great, as she always is, but I felt like Jackson got it entirely wrong, he focused on the wrong things and missed the heart of it, if that's the right word.

Swiper the fox

Callan57 wrote: »

The Mark and The Void by Paul Murray

Started last night after months of looking at it, unsure at the beginning but when the Igor character showed up I was wetting myself laughing for the whole Time, I really hope it can keep it up, haven't laughed at a book so much since the begining of confederscy of dunces.

Aenaes

Well, I finished Chance Acquaintances by Colette. It dragged a little and I didn't find it as interesting as Julie de Carneilhan.

Now I'm reading The Tales Of Beedle The Bard by J.K. Rowling.

Callan57

Finished The Distant Echo by Val McDermid ... liked it even if it stretched credibility in parts and the ending was a bit of a let down but of it's type not bad at all.

Last night I started Before We Began by Tania Unsworth ... picked it up on a whim & it has me gripped

Callan57

Swiper the fox wrote: »

Started last night after months of looking at it, unsure at the beginning but when the Igor character showed up I was wetting myself laughing for the whole Time, I really hope it can keep it up, haven't laughed at a book so much since the begining of confederscy of dunces.

Have you come across Remington yet? I absolutely loved him :D

Fathom

Shadow Princess, by Indu Sundaresan

HamsterFace

Reading Paddy Clarke ha ha ha. It may be my favourite book.

Gerard3003

Bit late to the party , reading Rebel by Bernard Cornwell , first in his Starbuck series. Great author who has really got me into the genre of historical fiction

Callan57

Bereft by Chris Womersley

eire4

Finished a re read of Anne Rice's epic The Witching Hour the first book in her Mayfair Witches Chronicles. A change of tack from her Vampire Chronicles but classic Rice all the same.

TICKLE_ME_ELMO

Callan57 wrote: »

Bereft by Chris Womersley

I read that a few years ago, loved it.

Jijsaw

Been a while since I posted here, read 'East of Eden' by Steinbeck, 'With A Little Help From My Friends: The Making of Sgt. Pepper' by George Martin and did a reread of 'A Storm of Swords'. All were very enjoyable but my God I'm looking for short reads now.

Currently reading: Peter Pan. I never read children's classics when I was a child myself so I'm reading them all now- I'm 40 pages in to my 180 page edition, I didn't like the writing style at first but I'm enjoying it more as it goes along.

For my next book which should I read first: 'The Time Traveller's Wife' or 'The Lovely Bones'?

ivytwine

Couldn't get into The Time Traveller's Wife at all, loved The Lovely Bones.

I've been incredibly busy the last few weeks and I'm stuck on a book called The Dante Club for ages. It's pissing me off now!

SarahBM

Jijsaw wrote: »

Currently reading: Peter Pan. I never read children's classics when I was a child myself so I'm reading them all now- I'm 40 pages in to my 180 page edition, I didn't like the writing style at first but I'm enjoying it more as it goes along.

For my next book which should I read first: 'The Time Traveller's Wife' or 'The Lovely Bones'?

I never read the classics when I was a kid either. Only recently read the Secret Garden which was lovely. I thought the Time Traveller's Wife was ok. Movie was awful.
Im reading the Lovely Bones at the moment, and I think it is very good. Hopefully I will get to finish it over the long wknd.

Happy Easter everyone!

confusticated

Loved both the time traveller's wife and the lovely bones, both a bit odd and sad though.

Currently reading Disney Wars which a friend lent to me ages back. Finding it okay, bit dry though and new names on every page.

Callan57

Making a start on The High Mountains of Portugal by Yann Martel

Das Kitty

Digging into Old School by Tobias Wolff, and I'm about halfway through Tender by Belinda McKeown.

Enjoying both immensely.

KJ

Just started Siberian Education by Nicolai Lilin. Good so far but I'm only about 50 pages in.

Callan57

Finished The High Mountains of Portugal .... odd but oddly enjoyable read with lots of laughs

Next is Academy Street by Mary Costello - just got it on Kindle

Swiper the fox

Callan57 wrote: »

Finished The High Mountains of Portugal .... odd but oddly enjoyable read with lots of laughs

Next is Academy Street by Mary Costello - just got it on Kindle

Glad to hear you got the laughs out of the way so. You'll do well to crack a smile for the next few days.

Aenaes

I finished The Tales Of Beedle The Bard by J.K. Rowling, was grand. The notes from Dumbledore seemed a bit childish but I guess that can't really be a criticism.

I've started Exit Wounds by J.A. Jance. It was meant to be just an easy murder mystery/thriller, I didn't realise it's part of the Joanna Brady series/ It's pretty bad and annoying, I think I'll be giving it up soon.

Callan57

Swiper the fox wrote: »

Glad to hear you got the laughs out of the way so. You'll do well to crack a smile for the next few days.

You got that right

Callan57

Wrung out like a dishcloth after Academy Street so now I anticipate some good clean fun as I pick up Ablutions by Patrick deWitt - it it's anything like The Sisters Brothers and Undermajordomo Minor it should be an enjoyable weekend

Belle E. Flops

I adored 'Wise Man's Fear'. Finished it the other day. I actually spent a whole day last week just reading and it's been a very long time since I've done that.

I've just moved on to 'Slaughterhouse 5'. I'm only a chapter in so I don't really know what to expect.

SarahBM

I finished the Lovely Bones which I thought was very good. Now I am debating what to start as I am going holidays next week. I don't think I will have too much time to read, but I am not sure. I don't want to be stuck there with nothing to read if I end up finishing a book.
I was going to bring Sapiens and two Jane Casey ones. Im going to start the Burning which is #1 in the Maeve Kerrigan series. I read the Reckoning which is #2 without realising it was the second one LOL
I also have Chris Hadfield's book. Has anyone read that?

Jijsaw

I also finished The Lovely Bones a couple of days back. I thought it was great. I'm now onto 'Brooklyn' and I'm about a hundred pages in, I'm enjoying it so far, it's been a light enough read.

Aenaes

Aenaes wrote: »

I've started Exit Wounds by J.A. Jance. It was meant to be just an easy murder mystery/thriller, I didn't realise it's part of the Joanna Brady series/ It's pretty bad and annoying, I think I'll be giving it up soon.

Yeah, that's gone.

I've started The Martian by Andy Weir. Enjoying it, looking forward to watching the movie afterwards.

TICKLE_ME_ELMO

I'm reading HHhH by Laurent Binet.

It is about Reinhard Heydrich who was the head of the Nazi secret service and by all accounts the brains behind Himmler. In 1942 two Czechoslovakian parachutists were sent on a mission by London to assassinate him in Prague.
It's written in a really strange style... it's basically a history book but it reads almost like a conversation... if that makes sense. Imagine you have a friend who knows a lot of history and is very good at telling it so it sounds like the most interesting thing in the world and you can understand and keep track of it all. That's what this book is like.

There's loads of background information on Heydrich himself but also on key points in the lead up to the outbreak of WW2 and the parts played by Britain and France in basically giving Hitler free reign over most of Europe. I'm finding it fascinating.

Callan57

TICKLE_ME_ELMO wrote: »

I'm reading HHhH by Laurent Binet.

It is about Reinhard Heydrich who was the head of the Nazi secret service and by all accounts the brains behind Himmler. In 1942 two Czechoslovakian parachutists were sent on a mission by London to assassinate him in Prague.
It's written in a really strange style... it's basically a history book but it reads almost like a conversation... if that makes sense. Imagine you have a friend who knows a lot of history and is very good at telling it so it sounds like the most interesting thing in the world and you can understand and keep track of it all. That's what this book is like.

There's loads of background information on Heydrich himself but also on key points in the lead up to the outbreak of WW2 and the parts played by Britain and France in basically giving Hitler free reign over most of Europe. I'm finding it fascinating.

I loved it once I got used to the unusual style of writing ... Enjoy

TICKLE_ME_ELMO

Callan57 wrote: »

I loved it once I got used to the unusual style of writing ... Enjoy

Yeah... I just read a bit where it describes one of the parachutists meeting with some old army friends and them discussing the German's being in Prague and how he sets off for Poland to join the resistance. Next paragraph is basically "I made all that up, some research tells me this is what happened....."

It's almost like he's "live tweeting" the book as he writes it. It's bizarre, but I like it.

Gonzovision

Still on a WW2 theme, I'm about half-way through Roger Moorhouses 'The Devils Alliance'. It's about the "alliance" between the Nazis and Soviets during the first two years of the war. A fascinating read so far. Lot's of information that was new to me, even though I've read a lot about the period.

TICKLE_ME_ELMO

I've started to get the feeling that at the end of HHhH he's gong to reveal he made the entire thing up.

Callan57

The Blind Assassin by Margaret Atwood is lined up for today's commute

Xofpod

Callan57 wrote: »

Wrung out like a dishcloth after Academy Street so now I anticipate some good clean fun as I pick up Ablutions by Patrick deWitt - it it's anything like The Sisters Brothers and Undermajordomo Minor it should be an enjoyable weekend

It's a very different book to the other two as I'm sure you've found. I have the feeling that his style has settled a lot more after the Sisters Brothers.

makeandcreate

The Governor by John Lonergan, enjoying more than I expected. He has a lot of empathy and respect for both for prisoners and prison staff. Quite dry but still quite compelling reading.

Callan57

Xofpod wrote: »

It's a very different book to the other two as I'm sure you've found. I have the feeling that his style has settled a lot more after the Sisters Brothers.

Finished it last night & I agree it's not at all in the same league as Sisters & majordomo but I finished it nonethelesss.

Xofpod

Callan57 wrote: »

Finished it last night & I agree it's not at all in the same league as Sisters & majordomo but I finished it nonethelesss.

I thoroughly enjoyed it myself, it's just a very different beast to the other books. He's shaping up to be a fantastic writer though.

Fathom

Stranger & Friend, by H Powdermaker