This Week I are mostly reading (contd)

SarahBM

TICKLE_ME_ELMO wrote: »

Do you mean A Monster Calls?

If so stock up on tissues.

Yep, sorry A Monster Calls. My best friend has been at me for ages to read it. I started A Prisoner of Birth by Jeffrey Archer instead because I need something easy and likable to read at the mo.
I'll read A Monster Calls when I have my mini hols in Nov.

Birneybau

Finished 'The Bone Clocks', lost me in the last third (until the verrry end). Sometimes David Mitchell has TOO much ambition.

Onto 'The Handmaid's Tale' by Margaret Atwood.

booklove72

First men to the moon by HG Wells, Game of thrones by GRR martin, My Wicked, wicked ways, by Errol Flynn and an officer and spy by robert harris.

Dial Hard

Birneybau wrote: »

Onto 'The Handmaid's Tale' by Margaret Atwood.

Finished that yesterday and absolutely loved it. The scariest thing about it is how plausible it all is.

Re-reading Philip Pullman's Once Upon a Time in the North now. Short & sweet before I crack into all my college reading.

crustybla

I shelved Charm and Strange for now, until I suss it out a bit more. I started Until You're Mine, Samantha Hayes instead. Good so far, though I'm not far in yet.

Ice Storm

I finally finished Nicholas Nickleby - it felt like I was reading it forever!

Initially, I found it difficult to get into but once I did I started enjoying it only to struggle with it towards the end as I realised that I wasn't too invested in any of the characters. I'm glad to move on to something new now.

I think I'm going to start We Are All Completely Beside Ourselves by Karen Joy Fowler. It's been shortlisted for the 2014 Man Booker Prize. It was on sale in the Kindle store a while back and after reading the synopsis, I wasn't too interested in it and subsequently found out a significant spoiler. I ended up buying it because it was cheap and now I wish I hadn't spoiled it for myself! :pac:

Tom Joad

Finished Lanark by Alistair Gray and really enjoyed it. It's like nothing I've ever read before. Also read Country Girls by Edna O'Brien - flew through it as it's really short - easy to read but not sure what the fuss was about.

Started on The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plaith and enjoying it so far.

Kurtosis

I finished Oryx and Crake last week. Really enjoyed the book but found the ending very flat, which is somewhat understandable considering it is the first book in a trilogy. Will get on to The Year of the Flood over the next few weeks.

Considering the name of the poster above me, coincidentally I'm about halfway through The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck. I've owned it for years and regret not reading it sooner, loving it so far. I like how Steinbeck handles the dialogue and the descriptions are really vivid.

Wyldwood

Was away on holiday so zipped through a few books

Finished The Woman in White, a fantastic book, can't wait to read The Moonstone.

Had a few Richard & Judy recommendations on the Kindle so read them -

The Memory Book by Rowan Coleman, the story of an Alzheimer's patient. I downloaded that as I loved Still Alice but this wasn't a patch on Lisa Genova's book.
Daughter by Jane Shemilt, a teenager from an affluent home who doesn't come back one night. This was quite a good read.
Victoria Hislop's new novel The Sunrise, set during the war in Cyprus in the 1970s. It was an ok holiday read but not up to The Island.

Now reading Longbourn by Jo Baker. I don't like Jane Austen spin-off novels but this is quite readable so far.

GinnyR

I'm just about to start Phlomena.

pavb2

Wyldwood wrote: »

Was away on holiday so zipped through a few books

Finished The Woman in White, a fantastic book, can't wait to read The Moonstone.

Had a few Richard & Judy recommendations on the Kindle so read them -

The Memory Book by Rowan Coleman, the story of an Alzheimer's patient. I downloaded that as I loved Still Alice but this wasn't a patch on Lisa Genova's book.
Daughter by Jane Shemilt, a teenager from an affluent home who doesn't come back one night. This was quite a good read.
Victoria Hislop's new novel The Sunrise, set during the war in Cyprus in the 1970s. It was an ok holiday read but not up to The Island.

Now reading Longbourn by Jo Baker. I don't like Jane Austen spin-off novels but this is quite readable so far.

Loved the woman in white and the moonstone so atmospheric in a similar vein lady Audley's secret is also a great read

ivytwine

GinnyR wrote: »

I'm just about to start Phlomena.

Snap! I don't know about the fictionalised style yet tho...

Lisha

I'm currently trying to read 'the bone clocks' by David Mitchell.
Only reason I've not given up is that I paid €14ish for it.
what will I do will i give up or not ?

GinnyR

ivytwine wrote: »

Snap! I don't know about the fictionalised style yet tho...

I'm not convinced by the style yet either. Feels more like a novel than an autobiographical book.

Wyldwood

Finished Longbourn by Jo Baker and I have mixed feelings.

If this was a stand-alone novel of life in a rural gentry home it would have worked quite well. I could have enjoyed the story for what it was without reference to any other work. It's a well told story and has it's merits as a novel in it's own right.

As it stands, riding on the coattails of Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice it feels like exploitation. Jo Baker has changed the characters of the Bennett family to suit her novel. The story line involving Mr Bennett is not at all in keeping with Austen.
It appears that Baker felt the need to include all possible controversial issues

child out of wedlock, token gay character, child molestation

.
The whole back story of James Smith was just a long drawn out irrelevance that detracted from the original narrative of Longbourn.

All that said I did enjoy reading the book.

ivytwine

GinnyR wrote: »

I'm not convinced by the style yet either. Feels more like a novel than an autobiographical book.

The last non-fiction book I read was by Frank Connolly about Tom Gilmartin and the tribunals (well worth a read if anyone is interested in that story) and that was very much factual and any personal anecdotes were well-backed up by quotes from Tom Gilmartin himself. I feel a bit weird going from that to the fictionalised stuff!

Wyldwood wrote: »

Finished Longbourn by Jo Baker and I have mixed feelings.

If this was a stand-alone novel of life in a rural gentry home it would have worked quite well. I could have enjoyed the story for what it was without reference to any other work. It's a well told story and has it's merits as a novel in it's own right.

As it stands, riding on the coattails of Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice it feels like exploitation. Jo Baker has changed the characters of the Bennett family to suit her novel. The story line involving Mr Bennett is not at all in keeping with Austen.
It appears that Baker felt the need to include all possible controversial issues

child out of wedlock, token gay character, child molestation

.
The whole back story of James Smith was just a long drawn out irrelevance that detracted from the original narrative of Longbourn.

All that said I did enjoy reading the book.

Oh no I don't know if I like the sound of it at all I get why authors do that and in some cases it works very well- Wide Sargasso Sea which I did in college is absolutely fabulous. But introducing Eastenders type 'issues' into Austen... I don't think I'll be picking it up!

SarahBM

Wyldwood wrote: »

Finished Longbourn by Jo Baker and I have mixed feelings.

If this was a stand-alone novel of life in a rural gentry home it would have worked quite well. I could have enjoyed the story for what it was without reference to any other work. It's a well told story and has it's merits as a novel in it's own right.

As it stands, riding on the coattails of Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice it feels like exploitation. Jo Baker has changed the characters of the Bennett family to suit her novel. The story line involving Mr Bennett is not at all in keeping with Austen.
It appears that Baker felt the need to include all possible controversial issues

child out of wedlock, token gay character, child molestation

.
The whole back story of James Smith was just a long drawn out irrelevance that detracted from the original narrative of Longbourn.

All that said I did enjoy reading the book.

I enjoyed it, but like you I felt she should have left the P&P characters alone. Would have been better as a stand alone. I also agree about the James Smith bit :-)

eire4

Finished a re read of Tana French's debut novel In The Woods. A very impressive first offering.

Ipso

eire4 wrote: »

Finished a re read of Tana French's debut novel In The Woods. A very impressive first offering.

I have yet to read her latest, but I enjoyed all ger books. Alan Glynn is also wirth checking out.

Mehaffey1

Rereading The Woman in Black by Susan Hill, obviously outclasses the modern film adaption

eire4

Ipso wrote: »

I have yet to read her latest, but I enjoyed all ger books. Alan Glynn is also wirth checking out.

I have read her second book The Likeness as well and thought it was good. Thanks for the heads up on Alan Glynn. I will have to check him out. A back at you to check out is Declan Hughes.

trishasaffron

Booker prize announcement out this evening.

AnnyHallsal

Ralph Ellison's Invisible Man. Consummate style, compelling, historically crucial. Up there with the best I've read. Recommended.

Fidge13

Re-reading Filth, by Irvine Welsh. Very very funny. Written in a Scottish accent (think Billy Connolly).

ivytwine

trishasaffron wrote: »

Booker prize announcement out this evening.

Has anyone read the winner? I feel I should read more Aussie books.

Merkin

ivytwine wrote: »

Has anyone read the winner? I feel I should read more Aussie books.

No, but I intend to.

I'm in the middle of one of the short listed books, We Are All Completely Beside Ourselves by Karen Joy Fowler and can't recommend it enough, highly entertaining and wonderfully written.

TICKLE_ME_ELMO

I had been reading A Pair of Blue Eyes by Thomas Hardy but I gave up after about 80 pages. So dull, didn't care about anyone at all.
Granted it's one of his earlier books but I couldn't believe how much I didn't like it considering how much I love Far From The Madding Crowd.

Birneybau

Lisha wrote: »

I'm currently trying to read 'the bone clocks' by David Mitchell.
Only reason I've not given up is that I paid €14ish for it.
what will I do will i give up or not ?

Stick with it, it's worth it although it goes a bit mad for a while.

Callan57

At last I finished A Place of Greater Safety last night .... tough going but I got there, I'm no quitter

On the train this morning I started Gone Girl - I've seen the movie trailer & it looked interesting.

SarahBM

Finished A Prisoner of Birth this morning. Loved it. It was just a really good story. Archer is so readable and that was just what I needed.

Moving on to Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides. I've seen a few posters recommend it here. Hope it's good.

Birneybau

SarahBM wrote: »

Finished A Prisoner of Birth this morning. Loved it. It was just a really good story. Archer is so readable and that was just what I needed.

Moving on to Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides. I've seen a few posters recommend it here. Hope it's good.

'Middlesex' is great, you should also check out 'The Marriage Plot', my personal favourite of his.

Kablamo!

Just finished 'Elizabeth is missing' by Emma Healey. Really enjoyed it, already loaned my copy out. Starting 'The Erl-King' by Michael Tourney now.

Censorsh!t

Reading East of Eden by Steinbeck at the moment. Like it quite a lot!

Jijsaw

Tess of the d'Urbervilles, enjoying it but the long descriptions get quite tedious after a bit.

SarahBM

Didn't like East of Eden or Tess.

I started Middlesex last night. I dont know if Im going to like it. But I'll stick with it.

Swiper the fox

SarahBM wrote: »

Didn't like East of Eden or Tess.

I started Middlesex last night. I dont know if Im going to like it. But I'll stick with it.

It seems like you have a problem with good books:pac: (couldn't resist it), you'll probably hate Middlesex, it is absolutely brilliant.

SarahBM

Thanks for that Swiper!

Aenaes

I'm about half-way through Gone Girl. It's not a book I'd normally pick up, it only caught my eye after seeing it mentioned on here so many times.

I think it's finally picking up a bit of pace now and I'm starting to enjoy it. I was expecting the book to grab me when I started because the hype should mean it's good and it almost owed it to me to entertain me.

It was at the back of my mind that Amy faked the crime scene and left herself but I mostly dismissed it mainly because of her supposed aversion to blood and also the cops saying anyone losing that much blood couldn't walk away or something to that effect.
My main suspect was her father in law considering he seemed to think she was someone else, an old girlfriend of his or something and he was able to wander from the care home pretty frequently.
I'm also glad that "Diary Amy" turned out to be fake because I found her very annoying. It was getting to her parts in the book that slowed it down for me.

thoran

I read Lolita over the summer, and was also surprised with how entertaining it was. Whenever anyone asked, I recommended it as "the best book about pedophilia I've ever read". I think Nabokov would have appreciated that statement; he somehow found a way to sugarcoat the idea of pedophilia. If you keep reading, I promise you'll get too engrossed to worry about the weird subject matter.

Gonzovision

Almost finished "The Long Road to the Deep North" by Richard Flanagan. I picked it up on a whim after seeing it had won the Man Booker award. Absolutely harrowing. It took a little while to get into the flow of the book, but the mid section, mainly about 'the line' is fantastic, but unnerving and relentless. Highly recommended.

Dial Hard

thoran wrote: »

I read Lolita over the summer, and was also surprised with how entertaining it was. Whenever anyone asked, I recommended it as "the best book about pedophilia I've ever read". I think Nabokov would have appreciated that statement; he somehow found a way to sugarcoat the idea of pedophilia. If you keep reading, I promise you'll get too engrossed to worry about the weird subject matter.

I think you possibly missed the entire point of the book, which was that Humbert specifically wasn't attracted to children - and that Nabokov certainly wasn't trying to sugarcoat the inappropriateness of the relationship.

Paedophiles by definition are only sexually attracted to pre-pubescent children and as such, would have no interest in a girl of Lolita's age. The book explores (and, imo, exposes) Humbert's attempts to justify his relationship with Lolita based on that fact.

AnnyHallsal

Finished Invisible Man, powerful, beautifully written, but disappointingly misogynistic.

Started Fernando Pessoa's Book of Disquiet. Twenty pages in, I believe it will be in contention for favourite book eva eva.

Birneybau

'Under The Skin' by Michael Faber.

The book came to my attention through one of the most interesting films of the year, based on the book.

1st chapter down, enjoying it.

crustybla

Just started We Are Not Ourselves, Matthew Thomas. Found it on Kobo so I've no idea what it's about.

Belle E. Flops

I really enjoyed Neverwhere, so I'm adding a few more Gaiman books to my 'Books To Buy' list.

Just after starting ' The Strange Case of Jekyll and Hyde'

mejulie805

Just finished JK's (i.e Robert Galbraith) The Silkworm, and John Boyne's A History of Loneliness.

Would recommend the latter- still looking for someone to talk to about it!

Currently reading Cosmos by Carl Sagan, with Tiger Tiger next in line..

Wyldwood

Having read and really enjoyed Tom Rob Smith's Child 44, set in Russia around the end of the Stalinist era, I am now starting the second book in the series The Secret Speech. Hope it lives up to expectation.

biZrb

Gonzovision wrote: »

Almost finished "The Long Road to the Deep North" by Richard Flanagan. I picked it up on a whim after seeing it had won the Man Booker award. Absolutely harrowing. It took a little while to get into the flow of the book, but the mid section, mainly about 'the line' is fantastic, but unnerving and relentless. Highly recommended.

I have this on order, should be arriving soon, can't wait to get stuck into it. I've read The Railway Man, which has a similar theme, a great read on a harrowing subject.

eire4

Finished a re read of Tana French's The Likeness which I really enjoyed.

TICKLE_ME_ELMO

eire4 wrote: »

Finished a re read of Tana French's The Likeness which I really enjoyed.

I don't understand how people can re read mystery books. Does it not kill the whole thing when you already know who did it?

Although... I suppose re reading any book you already know what's going to happen so.... yeah. Never mind.