This Week I are mostly reading (contd)

giggii

Flew through The Book of You by Claire Kendall, really intense, fast paced read, very impressed with the debut novel, I'll certainly be reading more from her, riviting stuff!!

Now [EMAIL="I@m"]I'm[/EMAIL] reading Wild by Cheryl Strayed, about a third of the way in, so far [EMAIL="I@m"]I'm[/EMAIL] liking it, although I regret watching the film trailers for it first, all I can see is Reese Witherspoon's face as I read it!!

ivytwine

Aw man. 11/22/63 broke my heart. I think I need a few days before I can pick up anything else. Fecks sake Stephen, you're either scaring me or making me cry

TICKLE_ME_ELMO

Something Is finally happening in The Woman in White. Only took half the bloody book. I might get it finished this month at this rate.

Ice Storm

TICKLE_ME_ELMO wrote: »

Something Is finally happening in The Woman in White. Only took half the bloody book. I might get it finished this month at this rate.

I actually really enjoyed it up until then and felt that was the point it started to go a little downhill.

eternal

Mousewar wrote: »

Finally read The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoot. I'm a massive David Mitchell fan but this book was the one of his that I found really difficult to get into. At the start he throws a lot of different characters at you without any of them forming a strong place in your mind and so the book doesn't really hook you. I initially gave up on it a few times but after reading The Bone Clocks I decided to go back and complete his catalogue.

Really glad I did. It is, of course, an excellent book although ultimately would not feature at the top of his canon. He's clearly not quite as comfortable with the 3rd person narrative as he is with 1st person, which is the style for all his other books. Also, while his attention to detail in the historical setting is impressive I think ultimately more attention might have been paid to the story. It's a very strong second part but the third and final part just kind of fades away and is ultimately somewhat unsatisfactory. That said, reading it after The Bone Clocks was quite illuminating. In many ways, The Bone Clocks is a sequel to it.

I bought this but have yet to read it. Hopefully now I can give it a go. He does create some dense narratives alright.

TICKLE_ME_ELMO

Ice Storm wrote: »

I actually really enjoyed it up until then and felt that was the point it started to go a little downhill.

The first half was alright in that it was clearly building to something but I just feel it's dragged a bit. I'm not sure I like the multiple narratives though.

kirk buttercup

started blood meridian

Birneybau

eternal wrote: »

I bought this but have yet to read it. Hopefully now I can give it a go. He does create some dense narratives alright.

I'm taking a rest 50℅ in. Have had a few others books on the go at the same time. It's going on the back burner for a while.

EoghanIRL

Just finished the bourne identity . Good thriller . Would recommend.

Mehaffey1

Spencerville by Nelson Demille.

Loved all his books I've read so far but this one is simply dire!!!

Belle E. Flops

Finished Sense and Sensibility. I enjoyed it but I didn't think it was as good as Pride and Prejudice. That might be partly because I didn't have much time to read in in the last week or so, so it felt like I had been reading it for ages.

Moving straight on to 'A Moveable a Feast' by Hemingway.

eire4

Finished a re read of Morgan Llwelyn's classic Lion of Ireland.

Callan57

eire4 wrote: »

Finished a re read of Morgan Llwelyn's classic Lion of Ireland.

Read it years ago, a great entertaining read

Jijsaw

I finished 'The Casual Vacancy'- enjoyed it far more than the first time I read it and I really got caught up in the drama in Pagford.

Just starting, Sophie Scholl: The Real Story of The Woman Who Defied Hitler by Frank McDonough. I consider Scholl a personal heroine of mine and it'll be interesting to learn more of her life before The White Rose etc.

Callan57

Finished The Robber Bride and now it's on to
Capital by John Lanchester

Belle E. Flops

Finished A Moveavle Feast. I'm not a big Hemingway fan, parts were a bit dull but I mostly enjoyed the book, especially the chapters involving Scott Fitzgerald.

Starting 'The Name of the Wind' by Patrick Rothfuss today. I've been meaning to read this with ages. I've heard great things about it so I've high expectations.

Birneybau

Callan57 wrote: »

Finished The Robber Bride and now it's on to
Capital by John Lanchester

Thought that was a decent book myself.

Callan57

Birneybau wrote: »

Thought that was a decent book myself.

Enjoying it so far

giggii

Callan57 wrote: »

Finished The Robber Bride and now it's on to
Capital by John Lanchester

I really liked that, very readable!!

TICKLE_ME_ELMO

Finally I have finished The Woman in White. It's a decent enough story but God is it long!! I think I'm 3 books behind on my Goodreads challenge now

ivytwine

I'm flying through The Virgin Suicides... I'd been putting it off cos I thought it would be horribly depressing but it's great! Not a feel-good book, natch, but very absorbing and readable.

Callan57

ivytwine wrote: »

I'm flying through The Virgin Suicides... I'd been putting it off cos I thought it would be horribly depressing but it's great! Not a feel-good book, natch, but very absorbing and readable.

Could never get anything out of that book, hated it I'm afraid.

Jijsaw

^ Same here I thought it was pretty crap. Everything is spoiled for you at the beginning (and the title itself obviously) and the rest of the novel is just those creeper boys pointing out evidence of the sisters downfall.

I am starting 'Swing' by Rupert Holmes. It is set in San Francisco in 1940, just before the war hits America where a woman (supposedly) kills herself after talking with our protagonist, the jazz saxophonist, Ray Sherwood. it is meant to come with a CD with 1920's inspired jazz music which contains clues to the mystery but I got this book from the library and alas no CD came with it

ivytwine

Callan57 wrote: »

Could never get anything out of that book, hated it I'm afraid.

We won't fall out over it finished it now. Although it was pretty short it dragged a bit towards the end. Could have worked better as a novella I think. I did like it though, knowing the end and working back never really bothers me. It was haunting for what it was, an elegy for lost youth.

I'm taking a Pratchett break now. It's my habit after reading something depressing to read some Terry Pratchett, always cheers me up. Never got around to the Tiffany Aching ones so on A Hatful of Sky now.

Dial Hard

Haven't been doing much reading lately thanks to an endless round of college assignments.

I got The Narrow Road to the Deep North for Christmas and am only about halfway through it. Not loving it, but I suspect that's because I've been very stop-start with it.

After that, it will be A Girl is a Half-formed Thing, and then Bill Bryson's At Home, which was a Valentine's gift. Will probably get to that some time around August, the way things are going...

TICKLE_ME_ELMO

Started The Girls at the Kingfisher Club last night. Very easy read after The Woman in White. It's a modern day retelling of a fairy tale about 12 dancing princesses, apparently, I've never heard of them. Set in the 1920's, I think, it's basically 12 sisters who are kept locked in their house by their father, he wanted a son, the mother gave up after the 12th daughter. The eldest sister, Jo, is left in charge of the rest of them and to stop the next eldest, Lou, from running away, they sneak out to a club to dance and one by one the other sisters join them as they're old enough. This carries on for years until suddenly the father decides he's going to marry them all off to whoever will have them.

As I said it's a very easy read after The Woman in White but it's also very enjoyable. I'm flying through it. Should be back on my Goodreads schedule in no time.

ivytwine

TICKLE_ME_ELMO wrote: »

Started The Girls at the Kingfisher Club last night. Very easy read after The Woman in White. It's a modern day retelling of a fairy tale about 12 dancing princesses, apparently, I've never heard of them. Set in the 1920's, I think, it's basically 12 sisters who are kept locked in their house by their father, he wanted a son, the mother gave up after the 12th daughter. The eldest sister, Jo, is left in charge of the rest of them and to stop the next eldest, Lou, from running away, they sneak out to a club to dance and one by one the other sisters join them as they're old enough. This carries on for years until suddenly the father decides he's going to marry them all off to whoever will have them.

As I said it's a very easy read after The Woman in White but it's also very enjoyable. I'm flying through it. Should be back on my Goodreads schedule in no time.

Never heard of that but it sounds right up my alley! Must look out for it!

Birneybau

ivytwine wrote: »

We won't fall out over it finished it now. Although it was pretty short it dragged a bit towards the end. Could have worked better as a novella I think. I did like it though, knowing the end and working back never really bothers me. It was haunting for what it was, an elegy for lost youth.

I'm taking a Pratchett break now. It's my habit after reading something depressing to read some Terry Pratchett, always cheers me up. Never got around to the Tiffany Aching ones so on A Hatful of Sky now.

I also liked it but then, I am a huge fan of Jeffrey Eugenides. You should check out his other books if you get a chance, not that many to be honest but I loved 'The Marriage Plot' and liked 'Middlesex'.

ivytwine

Birneybau wrote: »

I also liked it but then, I am a huge fan of Jeffrey Eugenides. You should check out his other books if you get a chance, not that many to be honest but I loved 'The Marriage Plot' and liked 'Middlesex'.

I loved Middlesex too. Must check out the Marriage Plot

Swiper the fox

Middlesex is an absolutely outstanding book, it was slated on this thread recently and I couldn't believe it, each to their own obviously. Virgin suicides is a lovely book and is quite a bit shorter, nowhere near as good as Middlesex though IMO. To be honest I was quite disappointed with the Marriage Plot.

I'm currently very much enjoying a book called The Illuminations by Andrew O'Hagan, read an interview with him in esquire and picked it up last week.