This Week I are mostly reading (contd)

crustybla

Nothing as bad as spelling mistakes. I gave up on The Forbidden Daughter last night because of it.

Aenaes

I'm roughly halfway through At Risk by Stella Rimington, her first novel. She's the former Director General of MI5 and the first woman to occupy the position.

It's an espionage story, of course. An "invisible" (an operative who is a native of the country and can enter/move freely) has supposedly entered Britain and is planning a terrorist attack. MI5 agent must track the target. Pretty good, will depend on the ending.

TICKLE_ME_ELMO

Half of a Yellow Sun started off quite slow, introducing everyone and lulling me into a false sense of security and then all of a sudden it all kicks off. I had to stop reading it a few chapters back to look up Biafra and the history that the book deals wit. It's pretty heavy stuff.

eire4

Finished a re read of Paul McGrath's superb biography Back From The Brink. Very frank and open when talking about his off the field problems and in particular his battles with alcoholism.

Fathom

Just finished The Catch by Taylor Stevens. Checking out The Innocent by the same author from our public library today. The lead female character is in many was similar to the lead in The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo.

eire4

Finished a re read of James Joyce's classic short stories collection Dubliners.

ivytwine

eire4 wrote: »

Finished a re read of James Joyce's classic short stories collection Dubliners.

Have that on my ginormous "To Read" pile.

I finished "Russia" and it was quite bleak reading at the end. It was written a little before the invasion of Crimea but there's no denial that Putin is essentially yet another tyrant.

Another bleak read now, In Plain Sight, by Dan Davies about Jimmy Savile. Awful yet fascinating reading.

Have a couple of Terry Pratchetts on the go too, just to remind myself that people (on Discworld anyway) aren't totally horrible!

Wyldwood

I bought The Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet by Jamie Ford for my Kindle to read over Christmas. I thought it was going to be a light fluffy story to distract me from the madness of the season but I was wrong.

It's a great social history of the 1940s era in Seattle when Japanese residents were being interred during the war. Various relationships are portrayed very well.

I travelled along with Henry on his emotional journey, but maybe it was the season that was in it that made me sentimental! For a debut novel it wasn't bad at all.

Now to find my first book of 2015. Happy 2015 reading to all and thanks for all the great recommendations. I've enjoyed many a book I would never have read only for the posters here.

Callan57

Wyldwood wrote: »

I bought The Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet by Jamie Ford for my Kindle to read over Christmas. I thought it was going to be a light fluffy story to distract me from the madness of the season but I was wrong.

It's a great social history of the 1940s era in Seattle when Japanese residents were being interred during the war. Various relationships are portrayed very well.

I travelled along with Henry on his emotional journey, but maybe it was the season that was in it that made me sentimental! For a debut novel it wasn't bad at all.

Now to find my first book of 2015. Happy 2015 reading to all and thanks for all the great recommendations. I've enjoyed many a book I would never have read only for the posters here.

Could I recommend The Universe versus Alex Woods by Gavin Extence - it kept me awake to 4am - it is brilliant

eire4

ivytwine wrote: »

Have that on my ginormous "To Read" pile.

QUOTE]



I think you will enjoy Dubliners a lot when you get to it. Very enjoyable. Great dialogue.

eire4

Finished a re read of James Joyce's A Portrait Of The Artist As A Young Man.

mejulie805

Onto 'Horns' by Joe Hill - Im only about 70 pages in but I'm really liking it.. for a horror!

Censorsh!t

About half-way through the last book of Stephen King's Dark Tower series. Kind of upset it's all coming to the end!

Jijsaw

Michael Palin's Python Years 1969-1979 diary- enjoying it immensely so far as not only does he comment on his work with Monty Python but also the political changes in Britain but the IRA London bombings. I'm halfway through at 1976.

Unfortunately I'm back in school now so I only have 1/2 hour to read a night, hoping to have it finished by the end of the week, then onto some Kafka I think. Any recommendations?

Aenaes

Sons And Lovers by D.H. Lawrence. It's slow and the dialogue is difficult to understand at times but it's getting a bit interesting.

Dibble

The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck.

Birneybau

Finished 'The Book of Strange New Things' by Michel Faber earlier, great book by great writer.

Onto '2010' by Arthur C. Clarke, something short thank god. Enjoyable.

eire4

Finished a re read of Sean Kenny's Celtic Fury. Set in the west of Ireland it is an enjoyable drama with a supernatural theme as its core.

Fidge13

Reading two books at the moment.

Red Or Dead, by David Peace. It's about Bill Shankly's time as Liverpool manager. Has a wonderful repetitive style, which at times is like the book is singing at you. I figure this book is a must read for football fans, not just Liverpool fans.

Also reading 11/22/63 by Stephen King. Really enjoying it, wishing I could take a stroll around 1960s America.

TICKLE_ME_ELMO

Finished Half of a Yellow Sun the other day. It's pretty heavy going but at the same time it's not that depressing, if that makes sense. It's a real eye opener historically speaking. I had heard of "starving Biafrans" before but had no real idea what any of it was about. I have a funny feeling the term Biafran has been used in entirely the wrong context by a lot of people because I know I wasn't alive when the actual Biafran war was happening, but I digress...

The writing is brilliant and I found myself so invested in every character despite the fact that some of them weren't that likable. I'm putting Americanah on my To Read list now.

eire4

Finished a rea read of the short little book Folktales Of The Yeats Country by local Sligo native Eily Kilgannon.

Fathom

Finished The Doll. Taylor Stevens. Interesting read. Longest chase ever.

Griever931

Good Omens by Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman.

Fidge13

Anyone use GoodReads to track your book consumption etc?

TICKLE_ME_ELMO

Fidge13 wrote: »

Anyone use GoodReads to track your book consumption etc?

I do. I think I've seen a few others mention it too.

I decided for 2015 I'd let other people decide what books I read so I asked twitter and got a few titles. I've started with The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern. Can't say I'm loving it so far. Too many characters, too much description instead of plot.

Belle E. Flops

Fidge13 wrote: »

Anyone use GoodReads to track your book consumption etc?

I like to track the books I'm reading. And it's nice at the end of the December to see what you've read during the year.

I'm doing their challenge this year. Last year because of college and just laziness I only read 11 books which is pretty poor. So this year my challenge is 20. I'm after starting well though, I'm beginning book 3 tonight.

Aenaes

Sons And Lovers was a bit of a slog. I didn't really look forward to reading it every night but I'm glad I finished it.

On now to a collection of Oscar Wilde's poetry and Johnny Cash: The Life by Robert Hilburn.

Belle E. Flops

Starting 'Red seas under red skies' by Scott Lynch. It's the second of the Locke Lamora/Gentlemen Bastards books.
I read the first a few months ago and absolutely loved it so I'm hoping this will be just as good.

SarahBM

Fidge13 wrote: »

Anyone use GoodReads to track your book consumption etc?

Yep, it's so handy. have the app on my phone. you can scan in the barcodes of books you read and organise them into shelves. Did the reading challenge in 2013 and surpassed my 25 book goal. so I upped it to 30 last year which I managed, despite a heap of college work and work work. So my challenge for 2015 is 40. A bit optimistic, but aim high I say!

Im still struggling my way through Gone Girl. Seriously don't get the hype. I think its very poor. Im not sure what to read next.

Aenaes

SarahBM wrote: »

Im still struggling my way through Gone Girl. Seriously don't get the hype. I think its very poor. Im not sure what to read next.

Are you about halfway yet? It reaches a certain point and then just takes off, that's what I found.

SarahBM

Aenaes wrote: »

Are you about halfway yet? It reaches a certain point and then just takes off, that's what I found.

I have about 50 pages left (86% read, thanks to Goodreads)
I found the plot predictable tbh. Not a fan of Flynn's writing at all. Hated Dark Places too.
Im interested to see if the film changed my mind though.
I love the Last of the Mohicans the film, but I hated the book. so we shall see.

Ice Storm

SarahBM wrote: »

Im still struggling my way through Gone Girl. Seriously don't get the hype. I think its very poor. Im not sure what to read next.

I started Gone Girl last night. I was looking for something low effort and was curious after all the hype.

When I read the first line I knew it wasn't for me!
"When I think of my wife, I always think of her head."
I'm finding the style of writing intensely annoying but I'm going to stick with it, for now at least.

Censorsh!t

Finished book VII of the Dark Tower series by Stephen King last week. I really liked it, and it made me cry numerous times....which I haven't done since Dumbledore died in HP! I loved the characters, and I loved the story. Brilliant!


I then read Margaret Atwood's Stone Mattress, a collection of shorts. I'm unfortunately not a short story person so wasn't too pushed by this. Which is a pity cause I loved The Handmaid's Tale and the Maddaddam trilogy.

And now I've just started Colorless Tsukuru Tazaki and His Years of Pilgrimage by Haruki Murakami.

kirk buttercup

Started Cloud atlas I know nothing about it Just a random pick up (I havent seen the film either)

Jijsaw

Halfway through The Graduate by Charles Webb. It's an alright novel, I should have it finished tonight then onto 'A Woman in Berlin' I think.

GLaDOS

Censorsh!t wrote: »

Finished book VII of the Dark Tower series by Stephen King last week. I really liked it, and it made me cry numerous times....which I haven't done since Dumbledore died in HP! I loved the characters, and I loved the story. Brilliant!

I had a few misty eyes moments during it as well

eire4

Finished a re read of Simon Kuper's take on the intersection of football and politics around the world "Football Against The Enemy"

Birneybau

kirk buttercup wrote: »

Started Cloud atlas I know nothing about it Just a random pick up (I havent seen the film either)

Fantastic book. The structure is ingenious.

SarahBM

Finally finished Gone Girl. Seriously don't get the hype and the ending was a joke.

Can't decide what to read next! Ah!

Callan57

SarahBM wrote: »

Finally finished Gone Girl. Seriously don't get the hype and the ending was a joke.

Can't decide what to read next! Ah!

Couldn't agree with you more - seriously unjustified hype IMO

I recommend getting your hands on The Universe versus Alex Woods by Gavin Extence - great read

TICKLE_ME_ELMO

I'm about half way through The Night Circus and I'm still waiting for something of note to happen.

Kablamo!

No. 1 One Direction Fan wrote: »

I had a few misty eyes moments during it as well

OY 4 LYF!

SarahBM

Half way through the Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks. I cannot put it down.
I was down home for the weekend and I found A Brief History of Time starting at me down off my book shelf. I really want to read it again. Despite the fact that there are 3 piles of books on my locker screaming "READ ME!!!" LOL

Wyldwood

Have got through 3 books in the last few weeks thanks to the awful weather.

We Are All Completely Beside Ourselves by Karen Joy Fowler, this was a Man Booker nomination and I must admit to not usually liking Man Booker books (a bit of a generalisation, I know). I liked it but didn't love it. A lot f it read like a psychology text book and while the theme was interesting and unusual I didn't quite take to the main character, Rosemary.

The Cuckoo's Calling by Robert Galbraith, I only picked this out of curiousity to see haw Rowling handled adult themes and must say I was pleasantly surprised. It's pretty run of the mill detective stuff with all the stereotypical characters expected but an enjoyable who-done-it all the same.

Then I decided to give Wolf Hall another go since I failed last year and gave up after 100 pages. It's coming on BBC2 this week as a 6 part series which includes Bring up the Bodies, I think, and really wanted to read it first and I'm delighted to say I finished it today. It was a bit of a struggle at times as there are so many characters to keep track of and I had to keep jumping to the family tree at the start of the book and I found the use of the pronoun instead of the Cromwell's name very annoying but I really liked the book and am glad I read it. Don't know if I'll have time to read Bring up the bodies before the BBC get to that part but I'll try.

giggii

Wyldwood wrote: »

Have got through 3 books in the last few weeks thanks to the awful weather.

We Are All Completely Beside Ourselves by Karen Joy Fowler, this was a Man Booker nomination and I must admit to not usually liking Man Booker books (a bit of a generalisation, I know). I liked it but didn't love it. A lot f it read like a psychology text book and while the theme was interesting and unusual I didn't quite take to the main character, Rosemary.

The Cuckoo's Calling by Robert Galbraith, I only picked this out of curiousity to see haw Rowling handled adult themes and must say I was pleasantly surprised. It's pretty run of the mill detective stuff with all the stereotypical characters expected but an enjoyable who-done-it all the same.

Then I decided to give Wolf Hall another go since I failed last year and gave up after 100 pages. It's coming on BBC2 this week as a 6 part series which includes Bring up the Bodies, I think, and really wanted to read it first and I'm delighted to say I finished it today. It was a bit of a struggle at times as there are so many characters to keep track of and I had to keep jumping to the family tree at the start of the book and I found the use of the pronoun instead of the Cromwell's name very annoying but I really liked the book and am glad I read it. Don't know if I'll have time to read Bring up the bodies before the BBC get to that part but I'll try.

I recently finished Wolf Hall and Bring up the Bodies, the latter was the book for my book club and I just had to read the first one first! Wolf Hall was definitely a slog at times, I found the writing to be a bit clumsy and annoying at times, the style is definitely refined in Bring up the Bodies, I found it much easier to get through. I really did enjoy both though!

I was surprised by how much I liked The Cuckoo's Calling, again it was another book club read that I would normally not have picked up but I ended up really enjoying it! I read the sequel, The Silkworm, as well and liked that even more! The series isn't going to win any prizes for originality and they still have the annoying little faults in Rowling's writing (particularly the way she latches onto a certain word or words and uses the repeatedly to describe EVERYTHING) but it's an easy read with a decent story and they're perfect for an easy holiday read.

We Are All Completely Beside Ourselves was one of my standout books of 2014, I adored every minute of it!

In the last few weeks I've gotten through a few books, as well as the two Hilary Mantel novels I read Sharp Objects by Gillian Flynn. I needed a bit of an easy read after the heaviness of historical fiction and it did the job wonderfully. I really enjoyed it and all of its twists and turns, the characters were horrible people but really captured my attention and I couldn't put it down. Not the best book in the world by a long shot but certainly a fun read.

Next was David Mitchell's Thinking About It Only Makes It Worse. He's one of my favourite comic actors and Peep Show is one of my favourite shows of all time. It was a collection of his columns for the Guardian, his wit gets me every time and I really liked it!

I also read What Ever Happened to Baby Jane, typical weird horror but I love that sort of thing so I really liked it.

Currently reading the Miniaturist by Jessie Burton, about halfway through and loving it so far, very difficult to put down, proven by the fact that I'm currently barely surviving on coffee and sugar at work right now between the book and the McGregor fight last night! :P

mejulie805

Onto 'The God of Small Things', love the writing style but I've really slowed up on it..

Kurtosis

I finished up Half of a Yellow Sun over the weekend. Fantastic book, I hugely enjoyed it. All the characters seemed really vibrant and the writing completely captured the horror of the Biafran War.

Having never read Catcher in the Rye I'm giving it a read now.

Aenaes

I finished the Cash biography. Really well researched, lots of information I didn't know.

I'm now reading Stamboul Train by Graham Greene.

Wyldwood

On the recommendation of Callan57 I bought the Kindle version of The Universe versus Alex Woods and loved it.

I will admit to glossing over the science bits as they meant nothing to me but it's a great book. My emotions were running high and I found myself wanting to listen to Mozart's 21st while reading the last chapter

On an aside, and slightly off topic, did anyone watch Wolf Hall on BBC last night? I've only recently read it and thought it was well done but I wonder if you hadn't read the book would it be easy to follow the story as it seemed to hop all over the place.

eire4

One book which in my opinion is most definitely not over hyped is Steig Larsson's The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo which I just finished a re read of. If you like thrillers and have not read this one yet enjoy because you will love it.