This Week I are mostly reading (contd)

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.