paperplane

I no longer have a physical TBR pile as I'd never have enough room in our house! I do however have what I feel is massive to me a Kindle/Goodreads TBR list, 176 are waiting to be read. Sadly I've only managed to read 8 so far! I somehow have to fit in 44 more by the end of the year.

I don't have all that many books (2 rows in a bookcase) but I have them organised by colour. I love seing a rainbow of books! It doesn't include any cookbook, coffee table books though.

Apart from icky squished bugs I once found someoone had written in the margin in blue pen saying they thought the book was rubbish and went on insulting the author. I was so riled up after that! No right.. self entitled so and so!

I read Kafka on the Shore earlier this year and still can't decide if I really liked it or not.. it was quite an odd one. It reminded me of a Studio Ghibli-esque film or one of those bizarre foreign movies you come across channel flicking at 1am on SBS.

I like to think I read a lot but I tend to go through phases of reading one book straight after the other and then needing a long break, having said that, between my partner and I, I am most definitely the main reader. My sister and mum however are always reading something.

Thank you everyone! Happy reading to you all as well Have been super busy at work at the moment however I will be dusting off the kindle tomorrow to see what's on there!

Hello everyone!! Thanks to a colleague of mine this morning, I remembered by beloved to be read list! I haven't read in what seems a long long long time, November last year maybe? READ: Kafka on the Shore - Haruki Murakami Roberta Williams: My Life Small Sacrifices - Ann Rule But I Trusted You - Ann Rule Practice to Deceive - Ann Rule Sleep Tight - Rachel Abbott Wayward - Blake Crouch The Last Town - Blake Crouch CURRENTLY READING: The Quiet Earth - Craig Harrison TO BE READ: #123 13: Story of the Most Notorious Superstition - Nathaniel Lachenmeyer A: Abandon - Blake Crouch Adrift: 76 Days Lost at Sea - Steven Callahan And the Sea Will Tell - Vincent Bugliosi Angel Baby - Richard Lange Await Your Reply - Dan Chaon B: Beauty Queens - Libba Bray Between a Rock a Hard Place - Aron Ralston Bloody Countess: The Atrocities of Erzebet Bathory - Valentine Penrose Blue Lenses & Other Stories - Daphne Du Maurier Box Man - Kobo Abe Bully - Jim Schutze Butter - Erin Jane Lange C: Countess Dracula - Tony Thorne Cracked - K.M Walton Cult Killers - Frank Moorhouse D: December - Elizabeth Hartley Winthrop Devil in White City - Erik Larson Don Quixote - Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra Dream Story - Arthur Schnitzler E: Earth Abides - George R Stewart F: Fall of the Citizens - Eric Thomas Frenchman's Creek - Daphne Du Maurier G: Gangland North West and South - Jason Morton Gardner Heist: The True Story of the Worlds Largest Unsolved Art Theft - Ulrich Boser Ghost in the Wires - Kevin Mitnick H: Hard Bite - Anonymous 9 Haunted Heartland - Beth Scott High Rise - J.G Ballad Honeymoon Dive: Death of Tina Watson - Lindsay Simpson How Late it Was, How Late - James Kelman I: J: Janet Frame: An Autobiography - Janet Frame K: Killer Clown: John Wayne Gacy Murders - Terry Sullivan King's General - Daphne Du Maurier L: Labrador Pact - Matt Haig Looking for Alaska - John Green Love Her to Death - M William Phelps M: Madapple - Christina Meldrum Mary Anne - Daphne Du Maurier Metropole - Ferenc Karinthy Monkey Grip - Helen Garner Multiple Effects of Rainshadow - Thea Astley MWF Seeking BFF: My Yearlong Search for a New Best Friend - Rachel Bertsche My Cousin Rachel - Daphne Du Maurier Myrtles Plantation - Frances Kermeen N: No Second Chance - Harlan Coben Numbers - Rachel Ward O: Observatory Mansions - Edward Carey One Bloody Thing After Another - Joey Comeau Other Boylyn Girl - Philippa Gregory Out - Natsuro Kirino P: Papillon - Henri Charriere Parapsychology: The Controversial Science - Richard S. Broughton Parasites - Daphne Du Maurier People Who Eat Darkness - Richard Lloyd Parry Post Office - Charles Bukowski Procession of the Dead - D.B Shan Provenance: How a Con Man and a Forger Rewrote the History of Modern Art - Laney Salisbury Psychopath Test: A Journey Through the Madenss Industry - Jon Ronson Q: R: Radleys - Matt Haig Reamde - Neal Stephenson Rebecca's Tale - Sally Beauman Red Necklace - Sally Gardner Rendezvouz & Other Stories - Daphne Du Maurier Rules for Disappearing - Ashley Elston Run - Blake Crouch S: Shining - Stephen King Shrine of Jeffrey Dahmer - Brian Masters Slammed - Colleen Hoover Snowbound - Blake Crouch Son - Jack Olsen S.O.S Spirit of Survival - The Costa Concordia - Valerie Joy Speak - Laurie Halse Anderson Strangers On A Train - Patricia Highsmith Strapless - Deborah Davis Strong Poison - Dorothy L Sayers T: The Demon - Hubert Selby The Thirteenth Tale - Diane Setterfield This is Not Chick Lit - Elizabeth Merrick To Catch a Theif - David Dodge To Kill a Mockingbird - Harper Lee U: Unbelievable: Investigations into Ghosts, Poltergeists, Telepathy & Other Unseen Phenomena - Stacy Horn Under the Knife - Diane Fanning V: Vanishing Point - David Markson Vertigo - Narcejac Boileau Vlad the Impaler - M.J Trow Vodka Doesn't Freeze - Leah Giarratano Voodoo Doll - Leah Giarratano W: Watch the World Burn - Leah Giarratano Watership Down - Richard Adams We - Yevgeny Zamyatin Will Grayson, Will Grayson - John Green X: Y: Z: Still lots more to add....

I like cooking on weekends but hate it during the weekday. During the week I try to make it quick with minimal work so it's usually a matter of sticking something in the oven and chopping and cooking some vegies. I have finally mastered the art of fried rice which took me a few weekends to perfect, same with potato salad. I used to bake lots of cakes, slices and biccies but I no longer eat sugar and other yummy things.

I hate hate hate spiders! I'm petrified of them, venomous or not, small or big they scare me. A few weekends ago, my boyfriend had his front bumper bar off his car pulled off in our backyard for a week, I went to pick it up to move it and a big hairy huntsman brushed my fingertips. They kind of make me feel sick, even looking at a picture of them with their black beady little eyes and spindly hairy legs! Blahhh gives me shivers just thinking about it!!

Just bumping up an old thread... I hope that's okay! I work for an insurance broker in fact I've been here for just over 3 years. Not entirely boring, we are kind of a niche broker, we specifically do the insurances for strata/apartment buildings.

^^ Yup, it's always been paperplane I finished Perfect Chemistry last night, it's the first young adult book I've read in quite a while and I really liked it! For those that enjoyed Twilight (shhush! ) you would probably like this as it takes you back to that same 'oh my godddd he likes meeee!' butterflies-in-tummy-teen-girl-crushing feeling, without all the unbelievable vampire mumbo-jumbo of course. Its about a typical blonde blue eyed girl, Brittany who falls in love with the cute but oh so dangerous gang member, Alex Fuentes who is from the 'other' side of town. They pretty much hate each other from the moment they are assigned to be lab partners with each other, from there the story develops into something quite interesting that makes you want to keep reading on. I love that about books. Word of caution, there are a few cheesy lines and steamy scenes thrown in there but that is to be expected from a romance novel! I gave it a 4/5. I also finished Epilogue by C.J Roberts last night as well, the final installment of the Dark Duet series. I skim read it really.. Whilst I really liked the first two books, I really really wish the author left it at number two. It kind of ruins it really. I think she was pestered into writing the Epilogue by her fans though. I gave that a 3/5.

I'm pretty boring when it comes to fruit.. The only fruit I find myself eating whole and by themselves are bananas, mango, coconut, rockmelon and raspberries. When it comes to other fruit like apples and peaches for example I can never just peel/chop them and gobble them up. They need to be in something like a slice or cake. My most hated would be watermelon, grapes, oranges and strawberries! Can't stand the texture of any of them.

I know... not a lot of people like vegemite! I love it, in small doses though.

Finished 'The Man in the Rockefeller Suit' yesterday afternoon. Was a good read however I felt it got a little long so I skimmed over the last few chapters. Whilst it's still a true account, it didn't really focus on 'crime/murder', it's about a 17 German boy who hated his small German town and wanted to live the American Dream. He managed to fool and trick his way into a high flying life in New York city, kind of reminiscent of 'Catch Me if You Can'. He continuously lied, lost his accent, went by different names, claimed he was descended from royalty and managed to get high ranking positions at global financial companies simply by schmoozing up to and manipulating the right people. Even though he eventually got convicted of murder and fraud in 2008(?), I have never even come across this story before! I've always wondered what it would be like to drop everything, run and change your identity completely! I gave it a 4/5.

Finished 'Child of God' by Cormac McCarthy last night, I put a review on my Goodreads so I will post the same here.... I was originally going to give this book one star but since completing it, it gradually crept up to 3 stars. The story line began to grow on me but I have major issues with the writing style. I mean, I get it. I get why he writes his novels they way he does but I find it really off putting and I imagine a lot of other people would struggle with it too. Example A. He sits and dries the rifle and ejects the shells into his lap and dries them and wipes the action and oils it and oils the receiver and the barrel and the magazine and the lever and reloads the rifle and levers a shell into the chamber and lets the hammer down and lays the rifle on the floor beside him. Was 13 'ands' really that necessary? It's probably the most painful sentence I've ever come across, if fact it would be easy to mistake it for a sentence written by a child. Would it kill him to put a comma in there somewhere? Other that the writing issue, the story line is dark, squeamish at times and will probably stick with me over the next few days. Have now started on 'The Man in the Rockefeller Suit' by Mark Seal, so far so good!

Congratulations Kell! So cute!

He was jailed for 3 years and acquitted early last year...I remember around the time of his release he was interviewed on 60 minutes. After watching the interview its all a bit 'up in the air' for me now as he was very convincing.. I guess we'll never really know what happened to her sadly

Not sure if it's been mentioned already, 'Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy'. Didn't find it hilarious at all that it's made out to be, not even a slight giggle but a lot of eyerolling, I gave up just before half way.

I'll let you know when I start it Julie as I have a few others I want to read first.. Finished Worth More Dead yesterday and was another good read, have decided to give Ann's books a rest for the moment. I started Child of God by Cormac McCarthy very late last night so only managed to get through a few pages before I fell asleep, will hopefully get more done later today.

My List would be... Favourite Fiction: Girl with the Dragon Tattoo - Steig Larsson (entire series) Rebecca - Daphne Du Maurier 2001: A Space Odyssey - Arthur C Clarke No Country for Old Men - Cormac McCarthy The Messenger - Markus Zuzak Raw Shark Texts - Steven Hall Picnic At Hanging Rock - Joan Lindsay Lolita - Vladimir Nabokov Nightwork - Thomas Glavinic Paranoid Park - Blake Nelson The Dumas Club - Arturo Perez-Reverte Favourite True Crime: Green River Running Red - Ann Rule Stranger Beside Me - Ann Rule Murder in Italy: Amanda Knox - Candace Dempsey Zodiac - Robert Graysmith The Killing of Caroline Byrne - Robert Wainright Helter Skelter - Vincent Bugliosi Australia's Serial Killers - Paul B Kidd Midnight in the Garden of Evil and Good - John Berendt The Nightstalker - Philip Carlo Favourite Auto/Bio/Misc The Bell Jar - Sylvia Plath Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas - Hunter S Thompson Little Girl Lost - Drew Barrymore Reference: Sweet Poison - David Gillespie

I try every year to read exactly 52 books (1 book a week) and fail miserably each time . I've only read 14 books this year and would have to squeeze 38 books in from now until the end of December which clearly isn't going to happen. I put this down to going through phases of reading and other life events that get in the way. Sometimes I find myself going on Amazon or Goodreads when I'm in my 'not-reading-at-all-for-a-while' phase and like to add more and more rather than actually reading them. When I'm on a roll however I can read 2 books a week, 1 the next, 3 the next and then suddenly stop altogether for a month. All depends on the length of the book though.

That's okay Devi! I've reorganised my TBR into alphabetical order so it's easier to read and have added quite a few from my Goodreads list. I also added, And the Sea Will Tell on your recommendation Julie!

Devi, I did hear about the Sarah Cafferky case, only happened just recently from what I remember, she was so pretty. Same with Jill Meagher.. Never mind Julie, it's always nice to have another true crime enthusiast on this forum as I know a lot of people tend to avoid this genre. I just find the unexplained, unknown and real events so fascinating and interesting yet scary at the same time.

I'll have to look into that Julie! I knew she had a new book coming out soon but wasn't sure when. I read Picnic at Hanging Rock a few years ago except I don't think it was an actual true account, however the way it was cleverly written does/did give me that creeped out eerie feeling you get from reading true account/crime books. From what I remember, the ending was never really explained and was left up to the reader to decide what happened, I assume they entered some magnetic portal that took them to some other dimension. If you also ever get the chance to see the film, (although made in the 70's) it's worth watching, I still got that creeped out vibe! I have heard of the Beaumont case however have only come across it in books where it also has a lot of other cases.. My most favourite (if a true crime book can be that?) book is 'The Killing of Caroline Byrne'. It's about a Sydney model who was pushed off a cliff 'The Gap', which was also a notorious suicide spot by her boyfriend Gordon Wood back in 1995. I was only about 7 years old at the time but remember it being all over the news as there were so many things that just didn't add up. Her boyfriend was also the chauffeur/run-around-person for a very high profile businessman, Rene Rivkin who was later convicted of insider trading. Some say she jumped others say she was pushed...some theories surrounding her death was she may have known or was told too much by Gordon about a pending fraudulent arson insurance claim to do with one of Rene's businesses. It just hits so close to home because she grew up in a suburb (Camden) where I grew up and then lived in a rather infamous Sydney apartment building, 'The Connaught' which I pretty much walk past to get to work every day. Another that comes to mind was also 'Mr Rent-A Kill' aka Christopher Dale Flannery who is almost always in Australian true crime books that feature lots of stories. He also lived in the Connaught and was suspected of many Sydney murders from the 1970's and 80's. Apparently he was last seen entering a police car of the basement car park of the building and was never seen alive again. Creepy.... I will definitely have a look at the others you have mentioned, I love adding books to my TBR list!

I used to read 'Teen Power Inc' books by Emily Rhodda when I was younger, there was about 26 or 27 of them? I absolutely loved loved loveeeeddd the series and will always remember the story lines. I think the series name has however changed to 'Raven Hill Mysteries', they are clean, easy to read and don't at all centre around paranormal. They were about a group of 6 teenagers who formed together to do odd jobs around the town to make pocket money together and always ended up in some mystery of some sort. The author is Australian so I'm not sure whether the books would be relatively available in the US?