This Week I are mostly reading (contd)

Tom Joad

IvyTheTerrible wrote: »

On the Beach or The Beach? Two very different books!

Just to add confusion I meant on the Beach by Chute.. sorry my typo caused confusion

Monkeybonkers

Ringolevio:A Life Played for Keeps by Emmet Grogan

Say it Aint So

Submarine by joe dunthorne

WesternNight

Finally getting around to reading Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel. It's been on the bookshelf for ages.

Callan57

Solar by Ian McEwan

Tom Joad

Started The Kite Runner by Hosseini - already nearly half way through it already - its a very compelling book even though it is infuriating me at times but yet I can't put it down..

IvyTheTerrible

Flowers for Algernon.

It's giving me a lot to think about.

Callan57

IvyTheTerrible wrote: »

Flowers for Algernon.

It's giving me a lot to think about.

A brilliant but disturbing read

Ipso

The Big Nowhere by James Ellroy.

Callan57

Vengeance by Benjamin Black (aka John Banville)

emeraldstar

Ashenden by Elizabeth Wilhide. I love Big House novels, but this is rather dull.

adrian522

adrian522 wrote: »

Just finished News of a Kidknapping by Gabriel Garcia Marquez.

Excellent account of the political kidnappings that took place in Colombia during the early 1990s and the events of the time. focuses on 9 particular victims.

Currently reading Far to Go by Alison Pick. Seems good. It's a novel based aroud the time just before and just after the Nazi occupation of Czechzlovakia. Made the 2011 Booker long list (I'm planning to read all of those books, this is the 4th one I've tried and they've all been pretty good).

Far to go was good, but I thought the present day stuff wasn't nearly as the bit set during the War. It lost a bit of momentum towards the end an the ending was a bit of letdown, but overall decent book and well worth the read.

Currently reading Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro

emeraldstar

adrian522 wrote: »

Currently reading Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro

How are you finding this? I hated it

adrian522

Only about a quarter way through so I'll reserve judgement, does seem pretty slow paced at the moment though...I'll post back next week once I've finished it.

Im_That_Girl

Right now I'm reading The Stupidest Angel by Christopher Moore for my online book club. It's not great, but it's okay so far.

old gregg

Just started The Infinite Tides by Christian Kiefer. Too soon to tell but have a feeling this might be a slow one to get through.

Callan57

adrian522 wrote: »

Currently reading Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro

I cried buckets over that book, (any book that has a child or children being hard done by will have me in floods), as with The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas, I knew nothing about the book before reading it - went for it purely because it was Ishiguro & I had really loved The Remains of the Day (cried over that one too!). I'm an emotional wreck really :rolleyes:

eire4

Finished a re read of John Connolly's Bad Men. A supernatural kind of crime novel. Still as enjoyable a read again as his earlier novels.

Callan57

Finished my latest Benjamin Black & tonight I'm going to start Stasiland by Anna Funder. Read her All That I Am last week & was really impressed.

baconsarnie

Finished "the collector" by John Fowles

Just started "beloved" by Toni Morrison

DarkDusk

Reading "The Hobbit" at the moment, whilst listening to "Life of Pi" on the side. 2 great books!

lazorgirl

Just started reading "Ancient Light" by John Banville

old gregg

Callan57 wrote: »

Finished my latest Benjamin Black & tonight I'm going to start Stasiland by Anna Funder. Read her All That I Am last week & was really impressed.

I loved Stasiland. When I finished it I jokingly emailed her to say that I wished the Berlin Wall had stayed up for another 20 years so the book would be even longer. She replied back with a lovely message full of 's at my review. Hoping you enjoy it.

Busi_Girl08

Absolutely demolishing The Virgin Suicides at the moment. Brilliant book.

IvyTheTerrible

A Night to Remember by Walter Lord.

A really interesting account of what happened the night Titanic sank. And no love stories to be seen!

old gregg

IvyTheTerrible wrote: »

A Night to Remember by Walter Lord.

A really interesting account of what happened the night Titanic sank. And no love stories to be seen!

On the inside back cover there's one of those little button things you see on birthday cards, when you press it plays My Heart Will Go On

IvyTheTerrible

old gregg wrote: »

On the inside back cover there's one of those little button things you see on birthday cards, when you press it plays My Heart Will Go On

Kindle version, home free! :P

Reekwind

Just finished Fyodor Vasilevich Mochulsky's Gulag Boss, a Gulag memoir written from the perspective of a NKVD officer in the 1940s. As with all memoirs it comes with its own set of questions but it was a fascinating account nonetheless of life inside the NKVD system

SarahBM

I am so not liking the life of pi. I think I might read the hobbit again

Belle E. Flops

Finished the Hobbit Monday, absolutely loved it, and after seeing the film I kind of want to read it again.
I'm about halfway through the Perks of Being a Wallflower, which I am really liking even though I thought I wouldn't when I began reading it.

Ipso

LA Confidential, amazing stuff.

andrewie

Jack and Jill by James Patterson.

IvyTheTerrible

Ender's game by Orson Scott Card

Tom Joad

Just finished The Catcher in the Rye - I'm struggling to know what to say about it - maybe I'm to old to get it but the whole experience of reading it left me cold, hated Holden, hated the style of writing and couldn't see the point of it to be honest.

neveah

Recently finished 'Me Before You' by JoJo Moyes.

At first glance it appears to be just your standard romance novel but it's actually much more than that. It's not a romanctic book in the Chick Lit sense at all, the cover is very misleading. It is a compelling read that is thought provoking and will stay with you long after you put it down. It gives an incredible insight into the life of a quadraplegic. I found myself really emotionally touched by this story. It was my best read for 2012, funny to think I was in the bookshop and the only reason I bought this book was because a woman browsing the shelves next to me went out of her way to tell me what a good book it was. That's never happened to me before so I took a chance and bought it. I'm glad I did.

TICKLE_ME_ELMO

Tom Joad wrote: »

Just finished The Catcher in the Rye - I'm struggling to know what to say about it - maybe I'm to old to get it but the whole experience of reading it left me cold, hated Holden, hated the style of writing and couldn't see the point of it to be honest.

Read this twice, once when 16, again when 23. Two completely different reactions to it. Second time was a lot like your reaction. Funny that.

I are mostly reading (trying to) American Gods by Neil Gaiman. It's actually not a terrible book but when I put it down I don't seem to be that pushed about picking it up again. Think I'll give up on it.

Callan57

Finished Stasiland today & tonight I'm going to start Changeling by Philippa Gregory

Belle E. Flops

Finished perks of being a wallflower and now starting the Count of Monte Cristo.

MagicMarker

Belle E. Flops wrote: »

Finished perks of being a wallflower and now starting the Count of Monte Cristo.

Oooh you're in for a treat!!

Busi_Girl08

Frankenstein

Ostrom

Belle E. Flops wrote: »

Finished perks of being a wallflower and now starting the Count of Monte Cristo.

Enjoy! Utterly compelling read.

Just finished The Gulag Archipelago, and James Gleick's brilliantly brief biography of Isaac Newton yesterday. Halfway through Paul Theoux's The Old Patagonian Express (am working alternately through his train books month by month).

Got a 3-volume paperback set of The Gulag Archipelago last week, so will fill in the blanks of the awful abridgement over the weekend, hopefully.

Callan57

Well into The Women of the Cousins' War by Philippa Gregory

adrian522

adrian522 wrote: »

Far to go was good, but I thought the present day stuff wasn't nearly as the bit set during the War. It lost a bit of momentum towards the end an the ending was a bit of letdown, but overall decent book and well worth the read.

Currently reading Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro

emeraldstar wrote: »

How are you finding this? I hated it

adrian522 wrote: »

Only about a quarter way through so I'll reserve judgement, does seem pretty slow paced at the moment though...I'll post back next week once I've finished it.

I enjoyed it but it seemed to be always building up to a climax that never arrived. My brother loved it and said that was the point but I think it was a bit anticlimactic.

This week I've started into Blood Meridian: or The Evening Redness in the West by Cormac McCarthy.

It's a bit heavy going for Christmas week to say the least. Long roaming sentences that require a lot of concentration and pretty stomach churning subject matter. I've heard great things about it so looking forward to getting through it.

Catherine!

On my new Kobo Touch:

Across The Universe by Beth Revis - borrowed from my local library
On The Origin Of Species by Charles Darwin - free from Kobo store
Free preview of Yesterday's Sun by Amanda Brooke

IvyTheTerrible

I was pretty disappointed by Ender's Game. The writing is not fantastic, the characters aren't believable, and the book could have been 100 pages shorter if Card didn't describe every battle and tactics in boring detail. I won't be reading the rest of this series.

Started The Dirtiest Race in History, about the 1988 100m mens final in Seoul. It is fantastic already.

highlydebased

Reading the Casual Vacancy - unsure what all the hype is about (so far anyway)

TICKLE_ME_ELMO

highlydebased wrote: »

Reading the Casual Vacancy - unsure what all the hype is about (so far anyway)

Was there hype? Other than it was JK Rowling? I didn't see that much hype from reviewers about it once they'd actually read it.

old gregg

old gregg wrote: »

Just started The Infinite Tides by Christian Kiefer. Too soon to tell but have a feeling this might be a slow one to get through.

I finished this last week and have to say that it is absolutely wonderful. Easily the most enjoyable book I've read in quite some time.
http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/13000877-the-infinite-tides


Just starting the final part of Glyn Iliffe's Iliad retelling, The Armour of Achilles.

Callan57

Almost finished The Hundred Year Old Man Who Climber Out Of The Window and Disappeared by Jonas Jonasson .... totally crazy & very funny - a great one to end the year on.:D

mackthefinger

Kevin Barry - Dark lies the Island

Enjoyed this collection over christmas, short stories that
are disturbing, moving, funny and all beautifully told.
Stories are set in a variety of settings, including towns in the west of Ireland, Dublin, Cork, Berlin, Liverpool and London.
Some memorable characters that will linger with me for a while yet.