This Week I are mostly reading (contd)

Wyldwood

Finished Kathryn Hughes The Letter and was disappointed. Two parallel stories, one in the 1940s and one in the 1970s. It started off very promisingly with a charity shop worker named Tina, who was having her own problems with an abusive husband, finding a letter written in 1939 by someone called Billy to a person called Chrissie apologising for the way he had treated her. The letter had never been posted as there was no postmark so Tina decides to try to reunite the letter and Chrissie.

The first half was quite gripping but then it became very predictable and stretched credibility, after one too many coincidental encounters with the people needed to move the plot along I started to lose interest. The final straw was when the protagonist, who was from Manchester, was in Tipperary town in 1974 and "heaved open the cumbersome red door of the telephone box", simple research would have found that Ireland had green phoneboxes (or maybe cream and green by then?)

Enjoying my time with Scrooge and A Christmas Carol now.

Callan57

The Universe Versus Alex Woods by Gavin Extence

the ax murderer

Finished "Look Who's Back" last week, the book about Hitler coming back in the modern day. It was decent, pretty underwhelming towards the end.

Now I've started "Age of Magic" by Ben Okri, not too sure what to make of it as of yet.

mejulie805

Finally finished with Edge of Eternity- disappointing in comparison to the others, and took me quite a while to get through. Wanted something different for a couple of days so picked up 'The Small Hand' by Susan Hill. Little short ghost story. Moving onto 'Tiger Tiger' next, unless I get 'Only ever yours' in my Christmas stocking!

TICKLE_ME_ELMO

Finished The Colour Purple.

I'm not really sure what to make of it. It's a good story and all but the way it's written I found it very hard to get any real emotional attachment to anything. It's all just very matter of fact.

Ipso

Birneybau wrote: »

On to '2001' by Arthur C. Clarke, enjoyable, very accessible, picked up the whole collection, seems short enough, makes a change from having read 'Song of Ice and Fire' collection over the Summer. ; )

Also, re-reading 'A Short History of Nearly Everything' by Bryson on the side. Love it.

Got 2001 and just started it. The intro chapters are great, I remember seeing that bit of the film on tv when I was young and being almost mesmerized. Not that I had. Notion what was going on.

Birneybau

Ipso wrote: »

Got 2001 and just started it. The intro chapters are great, I remember seeing that bit of the film on tv when I was young and being almost mesmerized. Not that I had. Notion what was going on.

It gets better

crustybla

Really enjoyed Orphan Train. It's fiction, though these trains did actually run. Very interesting bit of history, I looked it up after I read the book. It's mostly from the perspective of an orphan who sadly found herself on one of these trains that apparently ran in the 1800's-1920's, taking children from America's east coast and giving them off to whoever needed help on farms or in houses or whatever. Some did find good homes but sadly a lot didn't. Mainly Irish, Polish and Italian immigrants.

Stumped now. Sometimes I hate starting a new book. Love being immersed in a good read.

Happy Christmas everybody!

Callan57

Finished The Universe versus Alex Woods ... seriously superb and highly recommended.

Next is Hugo Hamilton's Every Single Minute

Jijsaw

I'm a bit late to the party but currently reading Burial Rites which I got for Christmas- I'm halfway through it now, really enjoying it despite the fact nothing has really happened. Interested to see how it ends now will probably finish it today or tomorrow.

Callan57

I'm reading two at the moment

The Taxidermist's Daughter by Kate Mosse
The Luminaries by Eleanor Cotton

Kurtosis

Jijsaw wrote: »

I'm a bit late to the party but currently reading Burial Rites which I got for Christmas- I'm halfway through it now, really enjoying it despite the fact nothing has really happened. Interested to see how it ends now will probably finish it today or tomorrow.

I finished up Burial Rites last week. Although I enjoyed it, I was expecting more from it for some reason, so interested to hear other people's take on it.

Have moved on to Half of a Yellow Sun now.

SarahBM

penguin88 wrote: »

I finished up Burial Rites last week. Although I enjoyed it, I was expecting more from it for some reason, so interested to hear other people's take on it.

I read it during the summer. I didn't like it at first. But the more I think about it the more I think I liked it. I loved the setting, and now I really want to visit Iceland
I originally only gave it 2.5 /5 but the more I think about it I think I would give it 3.5 or 4 /5.

Belle E. Flops

Finished Good Omens earlier. Really liked the book. It's absolutely mad, but very clever in places and it had me chuckling away throughout. I loved the relationship between Crowley and Aziraphale.

I'm a 6 or 7 chapters into Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro. Not really sure what I make of it so far.

TICKLE_ME_ELMO

penguin88 wrote: »

I finished up Burial Rites last week. Although I enjoyed it, I was expecting more from it for some reason, so interested to hear other people's take on it.

Have moved on to Half of a Yellow Sun now.

Earlier this year a good few of us read Burial Rites. I think it was universally loved to the point where others came along after and were expecting something life changing and were slightly disappointed with it. Personally I loved it.

Coincidentally I have also just started Half of A Yellow Sun. Not far enough in to have an opinion yet though.

Aenaes

I read Boy: Tales Of Childhood by Roald Dahl. Funny and interesting but annoyingly I had remembered them all.

ivytwine

Belle E. Flops wrote: »

Finished Good Omens earlier. Really liked the book. It's absolutely mad, but very clever in places and it had me chuckling away throughout. I loved the relationship between Crowley and Aziraphale.

One of my absolutely favourites! The BBC are doing a radio adaptation of it at the moment.

SarahBM

Finished Jamaica Inn. Loved it.
I wasn't planning on reading it, but I am going to read Gone Girl for cinema book club.
Also going to start The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks. Really looking forward to this one!

boobar

The Bat by Jo Nesbo

First of the Harry Hole Series, top class for fans of crime and detective novels.

Jijsaw

Finished Burial Rites this morning. Enjoyed it very much, I really want to visit Iceland now! I wish there was a bit at the end explaining what happened to the family members, Toti etc. at the end if the author knew.
I'm about 70 pages into Titanic Survivor: Violet Jessop's memoirs, good enough so far but I've found quite a few spelling errors in it. It has been reprinted 3 times since 1997, (I have the latest edition- 2010) so it has no excuse for simple mistakes.

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.