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Ben

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Everything posted by Ben

  1. Three cheers for BCF's super-mods. Thanks Gaia, just one of those annoying, body-tiring colds that leave every bit of your body aching. I shall plod through. Oh and I'm sure I will.
  2. I tried this but couldn't find the right fix. What I didn't try was copy and pasting into Word and starting again. Thanks for the tip! I tried to be fancy - might not try again.
  3. Janet you are an absolute LIFE SAVER. I thought it might be that but for the life of me couldn't find it/fix it. Thank you very much for your help.
  4. I also started David Mitchell's Slade House on the bus this morning and I'm rattling through it pretty quickly. Don't know if this is a common theme with Mitchell, but this is very... readable. It's only short anyway, but it's very easy-going at the moment. Although I am a finding it a bit disjointed in places. In any case, for those of you who don't know what it's about: Synopsis Keep your eyes peeled for a small black iron door. Down the road from a working-class British pub, along the brick wall of a narrow alley, if the conditions are exactly right, you’ll find the entrance to Slade House. A stranger will greet you by name and invite you inside. At first, you won’t want to leave. Later, you’ll find that you can’t. Every nine years, the house’s residents — an odd brother and sister — extend a unique invitation to someone who’s different or lonely: a precocious teenager, a recently divorced policeman, a shy college student. But what really goes on inside Slade House? For those who find out, it’s already too late... Spanning five decades, from the last days of the 1970s to the present, leaping genres, and barreling toward an astonishing conclusion, this intricately woven novel will pull you into a reality-warping new vision of the haunted house story—as only David Mitchell could imagine it. -- So far, it's as suitably creepy as it sounds.
  5. In the meantime, I've "acquired" a couple more books today, although one was an ARC so that hardly counts, right? *laughs* A Natural by Ross Raisin. Kindly sent by a good friend at my favourite publisher Vintage. Not out until March but looks like my kind of read. The Beach by Alex Garland. Spotted this at work on sale for £0.75 (for charity) and couldn't resist. So much for not acquiring many books this year. Looks like that went out of the window in well, mid-January. *In terms of my TBR, I'm just keeping my acquired books on a separate list for a while until I decide what to do with the master TBR list. I'll add them eventually, of course, but at the moment it needs a proper cull and tidy up before I make changes.
  6. Do any of the moderators fancy having a go at fixing the quotes two posts up? Had an absolute nightmare. :lol:
  7. That's good to know that you read it without realising. I imagine I'll have to get the first one and read that first to satisfy my OCD, but the second and third I already have ready to go. Glad you're excited about so many of my list - hope we have lots to share and talk about during 2017. I did indeed. Will review properly at a later date - full of man flu this week and really don't feel like writing reviews right now *laughs* - but I definitely enjoyed it. Typical witty, hilarious Pratchett. I know the wizards are beloved in the Discworld series but the witches in my eyes are definitely up there! Thanks Noll, I'm much better now - was a bit of a fright and a lot of pain for a few days, but at least it's settled down and there wasn't any lasting damage. Eee, falling sucks! Good to know it won't get any easier. Aye, the Rebus wasn't bad at all. Thinking of earmarking them when I'm in the need for a nice, quick crime thriller to pick the mojo up.
  8. At least I admit it and I'm comfortable with the fact I'll probably never get it down to 0. As for my leg, much better thank you. It was pretty bad for a few days but seems I've recovered now. This has been on my list for ages but something about The Handmaid's Tale - and Atwood more generally - always puts me off. *shrugs* You know when you just feel like you know everything about a book and that there's not much point in reading it? I'm sure my mum read this to me when I was younger so it probably feels like I already know it too well, but do actually still want to read it... Interesting, I know this has been on a lot of BCF members' lists for a long time, and it's been sat waiting to be read forever on mine. I read her other one - The Muse last year and really enjoyed it, so not sure what the problem is. Will let you know how I do get on with it, though. Know practically nothing about this one - book or author - and indeed can't even remember where I picked it up, so it's good to know you enjoyed it. Read three Dickens last year and fully intend to explore his oeuvre further, SOON. Jasper is being read this year I promise. Interesting because I tried to find this a few years ago and didn't get that far, but at the time I think it was mood rather than the book. In a similar way that Alone in Berlin couldn't grab me the first time around. Hope I have better luck this time. Another one I'm looking forward to! Haven't remembered the film at all so should be fresh for me...
  9. ... luckily I think Vintage might kindly send me an ARC of A Natural - so that's something to look forward to. Quiet weekend reading-wise. Girlfriend has had a few weekends off from studying so have been spending a bit more time with her and reading less, but I'm still chipping away. Making decent progress with Alone in Berlin - a long-term read that I don't expect to finish pronto - and I also have less than a hundred pages left of Pratchett's Wyrd Sisters. Hopefully get the latter finished tonight then I - or the OH - can pick something else!
  10. Ben

    Sherlock

    Oh my gosh this is *so* good...
  11. Added another book to my wishlist this morning. I've made a conscious effort to not increase the TBR as much and to try keep the wishlist down, but John Self has been gushing about A Natural by Ross Raisin this morning on Twitter, and it sounds very much up my street. It's about football - cue groans - and the synopsis doesn't get me overly excited, but I'm going to trust Mr. Self's opinions and keep an eye out for it on release March 2. Synopsis Tom has always known exactly the person he is going to be. A successful footballer. A man others look up to. Now, though, the bright future he imagined for himself is threatened. The Premier League academy of his boyhood has let him go. At nineteen, Tom finds himself playing for a tiny club in a town he has never heard of. But as he navigates his isolation and his desperate need for recognition, a sudden and thrilling encounter offers him the promise of an escape, and Tom is forced to question whether he can reconcile his supressed desires with his dreams of success. Leah, the captain’s wife, has almost forgotten the dreams she once held, for her career, her marriage. Moving again, as her husband is transferred from club to club, she is lost, disillusioned with where life has taken her. A Natural delves into the heart of a professional football club: the pressure, the loneliness, the threat of scandal, the fragility of the body and the struggle, on and off the pitch, with conforming to the person that everybody else expects you to be. -- So it's obvious this one isn't going to capture everyone's attention but apparently the prose is beautiful and it's high early praise is enough to put it on my radar.
  12. I can see why people would probably feel A Gathering Light to be a bit underwhelming - it's one of those solid, easy reads that doesn't quite blow you away. That's interesting re: Rebus. Would you not be tempted by being a Scot? I'd be interested to know how Scots actually get on with his books, whether they feel they're accurate, etc. As for giving away while clearing out, that makes sense! They seem like the type of read-once-give-away crime thriller/police procedurals we all like to read once in a while. Thanks Brian, it definitely must have been the mood I was in and my surroundings last time around. Only about a hundred pages in this time but enjoying it immensely. I think it's the humour and warmth that have taken me by surprise - I wasn't expecting it to be so light and funny (in places).
  13. As mentioned above, I've decided to read Sir Terry Pratchett's Wyrd Sisters (the sixth Discworld novel, as that is where I am up to) alongside Hans Fallada's Alone in Berlin - that way I'll have something a bit lighter to break it up for reading before bed. Problem is, I can see this now: I'm totally going to bomb through the Pratchett and leave poor Hans hanging. Synopsis Things like crowns had a troublesome effect on clever folks; it was best to leave all the reigning to the kind of people whose eyebrows met in the middle. Three witches gathered on a lonely heath. A king cruelly murdered, his throne usurped by his ambitious cousin. A child heir and the crown of the kingdom, both missing. The omens are not auspicious for the new incumbent, for whom ascending this tainted throne is a more complicated affair than you might imagine, particularly when the blood on your hands just won't wash off and you're facing a future with knives in it... Sounds suitably silly and just the perfect counterpart to Alone in Berlin...
  14. Ah, I'll be okay, think I might have pulled a muscle in my left leg as it hurts like nobody's business, but we'll have to see... I love the fact you have described my TBR pile as 'great' rather than 'extensive' or 'impossible to get through' or any other negative, depressing, truthful comments. *laughs* What books did you love from it? (If you get time to post.) I personally love that there's such a big selection for me this year. It needs a bit of a cull but that'll have to wait for a little bit I think... Glad you're keeping an eye out for Knots and Crosses - Rebus was a pleasant surprise in a year that, you're right, has started well books-wise. Rather content with my total and the standard of books that I've read so far, and actually, it's funny you should mention Pratchett, because I'm going to read Wyrd Sisters alongside the Hans Fallada novel. (Best way of breaking it up, I think, will give me something lighter for bedtime...) Right back atcha' on the well wishes for 2017 anyway, hope the next 12 months are kind to you both reading-wise and not.
  15. Honestly really enjoying Alone in Berlin and honestly can't remember why I didn't get far with it the first time. (The more I think about it, reading a big heavy modern classic - heavy in subject matter and weight, that is - sitting by the pool in the sunshine probably wasn't the best place for it...) Now, however, I'm a good 100 pages in simply from commute time reading today. Which is decent going. Sadly I haven't been in the mood for reading at all tonight after having a fall earlier on the way home from work, but at least the book is going well and I'm not getting bogged down in it at all. Happy days!
  16. Fingers crossed. Those 'Five...' books have really been a great success haven't they? Immensely popular. I haven't read any yet, but rather fancy the Five Go to Brexit Island one.
  17. Disappointing that you've had to abandon, Gaia, I hope your next read is a better one. I'm currently reading Alone in Berlin and getting along with it nicely after reading both too and from work today. Really haven't felt in the mood tonight though (probably to do with having a fall on the way home from work), which is a shame because Friday night/Sunday's are my main days I get to spend a few hours with a good book. Perhaps I'll try a few more chapters later this evening. *shrugs*
  18. I miss Raven, anyone know where he's gone/what happened?
  19. I really like the fact everyone's book-buying has got back on track.. only took us all a couple of weeks.
  20. I really struggled with Kolymsky Heights when I tried to read it last year... barely got 50 pages through it and was very disappointed considering my copy had a glowing reference from Phillip Pullman on the front (not that they mean anything!). Saying that, it is supposed to be very good so maybe I just didn't get into it properly. *shrugs* I hope you have better luck with it than I did.
  21. Hi Frankie, just a quick one on your review of Blood Cruise... I know it didn't blow you away but it actually sounds very interesting and up my street. Sadly, I think it's not published over here until 2018 (by Quercus). Sigh... might need reminding nearer the time.
  22. This is an interesting one for me, because I'd love to just say that the length of a book doesn't affect me at all - because I don't believe it should, unless it's for health reasons. I dislike the fact that so many people are reluctant to read a 800/900 page novel because of reading targets or the like. It should be about quality and if that means reading one book over a month instead of 10, I don't think people should hold back from taking on the big beasties. That being said, it does affect me. Last year, in September, I was 11 books behind my target for the year. I deliberately read a number of 200-page books to get myself back in the swing. Luckily, I actually picked out a lot of rewarding/fantastic reads, but it's easy to pick just on size alone and I am making a conscious effort not to do that during 2017. If a book captures my attention over the next 12 months, and there is no reason why I shouldn't read it, I'm going to go ahead and pick it up regardless of size. I think I owe that to the author. If they feel like that's how many pages it took to tell their story, then I should give it the attention it deserves.
  23. I hate snow. Couldn't get to work this morning, despite the roads really not being that bad. Sure, we had a lot of snow in the early(ish) hours but because I live in a bit of an awkward area (high up!) the buses are a pain. Took 'till lunchtime to get to work, which they were really quite understanding about considering, but it was still frustrating... To top it all off I'm not having a good week. Have a really sore foot from where my shoes have rubbed - I'm not used to doing as much walking as I am with this new job. I also slipped on some black ice coming home and think I've pulled something in my leg. Got some bumps, bruises and scrapes down my arm/right-side and my shoulder aches. Never been happier for the weekend. Lots of limping around and moving as little as possible I think.
  24. KAY. I've missed you and your book reviews. Good to 'see' you back and with a new blog. Will be following closely and I hope you have a fabulous 2017 - both reading and otherwise.
  25. I think a lot of people have reviewed it favourably on here - including Brian and Kay (?). To be fair, I think I was enjoying it, but it wasn't really a relax-by-the-pool kind of read, so that's why I struggled... will report back after I've giving it the attention it probably deserves. Hi Chrissy! You too. Hope you have a fantastic 2017 filled with some fabulous books.
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