This Week I are mostly reading (contd)

TICKLE_ME_ELMO

Still wading through A Commonwealth of Thieves. It's very interesting and much more accessible than say your standard history book but it's not exactly something you get stuck into and read chapters at a time. I must owe a fortune to the library for it at this point

ivytwine

Kate Atkinson, Life After Life. Enjoying it, once I got past the fact that every chapter has the main character die somehow!

Callan57

ivytwine wrote: »

Kate Atkinson, Life After Life. Enjoying it, once I got past the fact that every chapter has the main character die somehow!

That takes a bit of getting used to right enough

eire4

Finished a re read of Alexander Dumas' old classic The Count of Monte Cristo today.

Callan57

Finally getting around to reading Fahrenheit 451 - it's been waiting for me for years

Aenaes

eire4 wrote: »

Finished a re read of Alexander Dumas' old classic The Count of Monte Cristo today.

I really need to read this sometime, it's been on my radar for a while now. I think I'll look for it specifically in the library next time I'm there.

SarahBM

Aenaes wrote: »

I really need to read this sometime, it's been on my radar for a while now. I think I'll look for it specifically in the library next time I'm there.

Its pretty big, it might be worth your while to just pick up a copy. I remember getting mine for like €3, its a wordsworth classic so you will probably get it cheap enough. might save your self in over due fines :D

Callan57

Finished Fahernheit 451 ... brilliant, amazing it was originally written in the early 50s

Next is The Corporal's Wife by Gerald Seymour

adrian522

Finished Dominion by CJ Sansom

Very impressed with it, a novel based on an alternate history where Britain makes a peace deal with Germany in 1940 and the British have a totalitarian government in the 1950's.

Very well written, good story. A bit like Winter in Madrid by the same author, only gripe being the ending being a bit over the top in both books, but both well worth the read, a solid 4/5.

IvyTheTerrible

Finished The One Hundred Year old Man ...

Meh, it didn't live up to the hype for me. A poor man's Forrest Gump.

a0ifee

finally finished This Side of Paradise now that exams are out of the way, didn't enjoy it as much as other Fitzgerald books but enjoyed it nonetheless! Onto the Virgin Suicides by Jeffrey Eugenides now.

TICKLE_ME_ELMO

Finally finished A Commonwealth of Thieves. Very informative but not exactly a page turner. Took me so long to finish it I'm 3 books behind my Goodreads target and must owe the library a small fortune!

Jimmy Iovine

I'm reading a biography of Neil Armstrong, "First Man: The Life of Neil Armstrong".

It's really interesting. A huge amount of the book consists of technical language relating to his various flights and planes. It's worth putting up with though and you do become a little bit more knowledgeable.

I don't get to read everyday so I'm getting through this steadily. It has taken me about a month to read 200+ pages. That's not bad going considering this is the heaviest book I've ever read in terms of specialist information.

I'm at the part in the book where Neil has just been picked for the space program. The author describes every single thing that they did. There is an incredible attention to detail in it.

I'd recommend it but you'll need to have an interest in his life, otherwise you'll give up by page 40. If you do stick with it, you'll really get to know Armstrong.

Ice Storm

I downloaded loads of free classics on my Kindle recently and have started The Wonderful Wizard of Oz. There is something comforting about reading a children's book.

It turns out that Dorothy's magic shoes were silver in the book, not ruby. Who knew!? (not me! :pac:)

TICKLE_ME_ELMO

Ice Storm wrote: »

I downloaded loads of free classics on my Kindle recently and have started The Wonderful Wizard of Oz. There is something comforting about reading a children's book.

It turns out that Dorothy's magic shoes were silver in the book, not ruby. Who knew!? (not me! :pac:)

I knew I think they made them red for the film because it was right at the start of the technicolour era and they wanted them to stand out.

a0ifee

The Virgin Suicides was a good book, very different from what I've read before.

Onto Wuthering Heights now so see ye in about five years, seeing as I'm already confused 4 chapters in

TICKLE_ME_ELMO

a0ifee wrote: »

Onto Wuthering Heights now so see ye in about five years, seeing as I'm already confused 4 chapters in

I love Wuthering Heights. So different from what I expected based on the epic romance idea that people seem to have of it from the films.

ivytwine

Wuthering Heights is one you need to read twice I think. I love the last lines.

Callan57

Beyond Black by Hilary Mantel

TICKLE_ME_ELMO

Started reading The Death of Bees by Lisa O'Donnell last night. Intended reading only a few chapters to get me started found myself breaking 100 pages and having to force myself to put it down.
I'm not entirely sure it's brilliant or anything but I couldn't stop reading. It's about two young sisters, 15 and 11, in a Glasgow housing estate who have just buried their parents in the back garden on Christmas Eve. Having experience with social workers and foster care the older one decides to keep the deaths quiet aiming to get to 16 when she can take care of them both without anyone interfering. Their next door neighbour is an old man known in the neighbourhood for being a perv. He takes an interest in the girls and knows there's something going on with them. He is, of course, not really a perv but that's as far as I've gotten.

Japandamo

Just finished The First Fifteen Lives of Harry August. I'd give it the thumbs up.

eire4

Finished a re read of what is a light but interesting read :
Secrets of The 7 Smallest States of Europe: Andorra, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, Malta, Monaco, San Marino and Vatican City by Thomas Eccardt.

TICKLE_ME_ELMO

Finished The Death of Bees. Loved it. Very easy read despite it's heavy and dark subject matter.

Daisies

Reading The Poisonwood Bible by Barbra Kingsolver. Really enjoying it.

Whippersnapper

Just finished The Wasp Factory by Ian Bainks. I had to skim read a lot of the animal torture and I felt that the book itself could have been a bit longer to explore the twist a bit more and learn about Eric. I think it's probably one to read again in the future knowing the ending.

syngindub

Reading Misery - Stephen King,: pretty long book and slow moving

SarahBM

syngindub wrote: »

Reading Misery - Stephen King,: pretty long book and slow moving

Really?!? I couldn't put it down! It's only about 400 pgs I thought. I really enjoyed ( might be the wrong word) that book

Busi_Girl08

Reading Book 3 of 1Q84. So far not as good as its predecessors, a bit repetitive (which at this stage in the book might be the intention), but I'm sticking it out because I'm really curious to see where this is going.

Not too mad about the 3rd new narrative that has been introduced, though.

Callan57

Starting The Silkworm by Robert Galbraith (J K Rowling)

heathledgerlove

I'm reading The American Boy by Andrew Taylor ( as recommended by Richard and Judy ha ha according to the sticker! ) It took me too long to realize who exactly the 'boy' was or rather who he will turn out to be. Doh.
I usually don't read historical fiction but I read Fingersmith by Sarah Waters this year and it was right good so am making the foray.

The Princess Bride

Mistress by James Patterson.
Am enjoying it-first of his books I've ever read.

The Princess Bride

syngindub wrote: »

Reading Misery - Stephen King,: pretty long book and slow moving

SarahBM wrote: »

Really?!? I couldn't put it down! It's only about 400 pgs I thought. I really enjoyed ( might be the wrong word) that book

I love reading, but found this hard work when I read it many years ago- absolutely love the film though.

ivytwine

Reading One Summer: America 1927 by Bill Bryson. Really liking it so far, love his eye for the ridiculous!

a0ifee

Finished Wuthering Heights, loved it. Started The Crucible by Arthur Miller yesterday, enjoying it so far

Decuc500

Red Moon by Benjamin Percy. I really wanted to like this werewolf novel. It grabbed my attention from the first set piece and I liked the idea of a world in which werewolves (or at least people with a virus that allows them to transform into Lycans) co-exist with uninfected humans.

But the writing was way too fussy and the whole thing is just a political/social allegory. The War on Terror, racial prejudice, discrimination, drug addiction, it’s all in there. The book is basically a political statement in the guise of a genre novel and not very subtle about it.

The blurbs say if you like The Passage you’ll like Red Moon but The Passage is a far better and rewarding reading experience.

eire4

Finished a re read of Peter Berresford Ellis The Celts. Its a good overview or introduction type book on the ancient Celts.

SarahBM

gave up on the Phantom of the Opera. I couldnt stick it anymore. I am so disappointed with it. I thought I would love it.

anyway, moving on. started Silver Linings Playbook. Its ok so far.

Tom Joad

Haven't posted on this thread in a while and have got loads of reading done with holidays. Here's what I read since last post here:

The New York Triliogy (Paul Auster): Which as per the title consists of three novels that are linked in that they explore similar themes. It was slow to get into and some parts were very good but others felt like a slog. Overall it was a good read.

The quiet American (Graham Greene): I really like Greene's work and this has all best bits of his style - sarcastic and cynical but at the same time delivers a strong message. There are a lot of anti war and anti colonialism novels out there but this is different from the run of the mill ones and gives a good sense of what 1950s Vietnam must have been like. Very short novel too - finished it in a day.

Money (Martin Amis): Really didn't like this one. John Self is one of the most loathsome main characters in any book I have read (and that includes Holden Caulfield and Ignatius Reilly) and isn't really believable. Ending is very poor too and I just didn't find it funny.

East of Eden (John Steinbeck): A re-read of this and loved it again the second time around - brilliant storytelling and really strong characters.

The Rainbow (DH Lawrence): I enjoyed reading this and is a interesting story of the relationship of three generations of the same family. Some of it is very bleak but very insightful too. Was a wee bit too long though.

Stoner (John William): Absolutely loved this book and it was difficult to put it down. A very simple book but beautifully written and one of the most moving books I've ever read - Everyone should read it. Will live long in the memory.

Started on Skippy Dies by Paul Murray and flying through it.

Dial Hard

SarahBM wrote: »

gave up on the Phantom of the Opera. I couldnt stick it anymore. I am so disappointed with it. I thought I would love it.

That's a shame, I absolutely love that book. It's such a sad story.

My recent reads have been:

The Wolf in Winter (John Connolly) - this was only ok. Connolly is getting a bit too formulaic and is running the risk of it starting to look like he's just calling his books in. What annoyed me most is that he had these little asides about an actual wolf interspersed with the main story, which then just ceased altogether, like he forgot about it entirely. I was like "But what happened to the wolf???!!!"

Guess Who's Back (Timur Vermes) - A "what if" story about Hitler coming back to life in modern Germany. Dull, dull, and thrice dull. Someone should probably explain to the author that satire is supposed to be funny. I don't know, maybe all the humour got lost in translation from the original German.

Mr. Mercedes (Stephen King) - I hate to say this, because there are no words for how much I love King, but this left me singularly nonplussed. He's trying to be a crime writer and it just doesn't suit him.

The Ghost of the Mary Celeste (Valerie Martin) - utter dross. Stultifyingly boring chick-lit disguised as a historical mystery, with Arthur Conan Doyle making several appearances for absolutely no reason I can discern.

So right now I'm reading Donna Tartt's The Goldfinch. I'm enjoying it, but it's not the epiphanic piece of literature that some of the reviews would have you believe.

Callan57

About to start on The Short Day Dying by Peter Hobbs

Dave!

Reading this currently. Quite compelling, finding it hard to stop reading once I start.

Aenaes

I finally finished All Played Out: The Full Story of Italia '90 by Pete Davis. It took me so long because I was only managing to read a few pages every night and being tired while reading didn't help. It was a good read, interesting and very much focused on the England team and supporters and the hooligan question.

On to "Contempt Of Court" by Alfred Hinds. A large store is robbed in 1950's London, cash and jewellery amounting to £38,000 is taken. A gang of four is quickly caught and charged, the majority of the jewellery is still missing. A fifth unknown member of the gang can't be found, however a man the gang had legitimate dealings with is arrested and charged apparently as a coercion measure by the police, who think him to be the "fence" and having knowledge of the jewellerys whereabouts.
The man is convicted and sent to prison where he decides to escape as much as possible to receive public attention/support to highlight his predicament. He's eventually confirmed to be innocent and released.
The man is Alfred Hinds, it's quite unusual for someone of his position to have written the book himself but he has done a good job, so far as I can tell at least.
From the point I am reading, he is only being charged so his escapes haven't came into it yet. It's interesting to see how police forces can trod on and overwhelm people and justice systems failing innocent people. I think it's still relevant today how not to co-operate too closely with police forces and thereby seemingly incriminating yourself even if totally innocent.

SarahBM

Just finished the Silver Linings Playbook. It was good. I wouldn't say I loved it. I'd probably give it 5/10. I have never really read a book that deals with mental illness in such a blunt way before, which I think it does very well. I also found it was quiet different than the film, focusing more on Pat's mental health rather than the stupid dance competition with Tiffany and the minor characters were very much brushed aside in the film which is sad because they are great.

Next its either Tuesday's With Morrie or Longbourne.

syngindub

SarahBM wrote: »

Really?!? I couldn't put it down! It's only about 400 pgs I thought. I really enjoyed ( might be the wrong word) that book

Finished it yesterday, once i got into it, found it very good. I tend to only read a night so books probably seem a lot longer that they are

started The Racketeer - John Grisham, any thoughts on this?

Callan57

Started The Lemur by Benjamin Black (aks John Banville)

Dibble

Currently reading Just Kids by Patti Smith.

TICKLE_ME_ELMO

I've been trying to read On Beauty by Zadie Smith for about 2 weeks now. Can't get into it at all. I'm over 100 pages in and I can't really say that anything has happened yet.

ivytwine

Dibble wrote: »

Currently reading Just Kids by Patti Smith.

I'm about 50% on that on the Kindle since last summer and I don't think I'll ever finish it. I found it really self-indulgent and thought she was quite disingenuous in places.

But that could be me!

Started 100 Years of Solititude. Have the feeling it'll take me weeks to get through, but like it so far!

Callan57

Finished The Lemur by Benjamin Black - didn't think it was as good as his Dr Quirke & Insp Hackett books.

Next off the pile is In the Sea there are Crocodiles by Fabio Geda

Miss.Mayhem

I've just finished The Story of Lucy Gault by William Trevor and found it very depressing. Now I'm reading The Surgeon by Tess Gerritsen.