chaliepud
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Posts posted by chaliepud
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Watched Only The Brave last night, based on real life fire fighters in Arizona...great film!
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I loved Eleanor, I think there is a little bit of her in all of us. I have found it hard getting into other books since though!
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On 20 February 2018 at 5:19 PM, frankie said:
I watched It's Complicated today. It was good.
A friend and I watched this at the cinema when it came out years ago...the scene where he is posing on the bed naked with the laptop in fromt of him, we nearly wet ourselves laughing!
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Finished Still Me by Jojo Moyes (loved it) and now starting The Tattooist of Auschwitz by Heather Morris.
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Yep, fed up with this weather too, not helped by having a dog that loves muddy puddles and the ponds!!
Thankfully we have booked to meet Steve in Dubai for half term with the kids so looking forward to a bit of sunshine! ☀️
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2 hours ago, Ben said:
Right, sorry for the delay folks, here are my challenges as follows. Enjoy!
@willoyd: I'm going to go for La Belle Sauvage by Philip Pullman. I thought I remembered you saying you enjoyed the His Dark Materials books, so checked your ratings and I see you're a fan of Northern Lights. I thought this was a really enjoyable addition to the series - prequels, 'equals', whatever he wants to call them - and am looking forward to seeing what he has to offer with the rest of The Book of Dust novels.
@Madeleine: Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel. Has been on my list for, well, ages, and it seems like one that's easy to bypass when it comes to the old TBR lists. I'm hoping that this may prompt me to get to it as well during 2018.
@chesilbeach: Hi Claire, was going for The Essex Serpent until I saw that Alexi had made that terrific choice. I reckon you'll love it. As for my choice, I'll go with Hotel du Lac by Anita Brookner simply because I've been meaning to read it to, and this might tempt me into action.
@karen.d: I was going to pick Ulysses but I don't think I have it in me.
So, I'll go with Bram Stoker's Dracula. Enjoy. (Great list by the way, can't go far wrong with a lot of those choices...)
@Alexi: The Beach by Alex Garland. I've heard good things about this and will read myself now I'm making you.
@chaliepud: Right you, time to read some Steinbeck. I'm going with East of Eden because it's a masterpiece... but I deliberated for a long time and you have a lot of great books on that TBR of yours, not just by Steinbeck.
@Little Pixie: Don't see your list of challenges in the main thread, so I hope nobody has suggested this already... but, The House on the Strand by Daphne du Maurier. Mainly because Rebecca is an all-time favourite of mine and I still haven't read anything else by her. (Unforgivable!) I will read this as well. If you need a different suggestion, drop me a message.
@frankie: I'm going to go with Sebastian Faulks' Birdsong but if it has already been suggested, Human Traces. (I'll read too, in that case.)
@More reading time required: So glad Frankie has suggested East of Eden, can't wait to see how you get on. I'll go with Hardy's Far from the Madding Crowd and again I'll join you with it.
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If anyone needs different suggestions for any reason, let me know! Happy reading, all.
Thanks @Ben, my second Steinbeck nomination, good job one of my resolutions is to read more classics this year.
Very pleased to see yourself and maybe @frankie will be reading Human Traces, still one of the best books I have ever read!
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Watched the second Kingsman film, The Golden Circle, not a patch on the first film and goodness knows what they were thinking putting Elton John in it!
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Thanks @Ben for your challenge to read 11.22.63.
I’ve been putting this off for too long due to its size, but no more! My Dad will be pleased too as he is a big King fan and had always been a little disappointed that I’ve only read one of his books. (Under the Dome).
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7 hours ago, Janet said:
The Witchfinder's Sister by Beth Underdown
The 'blurb'
'The number of women my brother Matthew killed, so far as I can reckon it, is one hundred and six...'
It has been waiting in the dark, Matthew's history - our history. But now I must turn over the stone: that you might see it, wriggling to escape...
When Alice Hopkins' husband dies in a tragic accident, she returns to the small Essex town of Manningtree, where her brother Matthew still lives. But home is no longer a place of safety. Matthew has changed, and there are rumours spreading through the town: whispers of witchcraft, and of a great book, in which he is gathering women's names.
To what lengths will Matthew's obsession drive him?
And what choice will Alice make, when she finds herself at the very heart of his plan?
Arguably the Salem witch trials are the most famous trials of their type, but many years before they took place something similar was happening in England. This book is based on the career of Matthew Hopkins, self-styled Witchfinder General in the East of the country who is believed to have been responsible for the death of hundreds of women accused of witchcraft in the mid sixteen-hundreds.
When Alice's husband dies she is forced to return to her hometown of Manningtree in Essex to accept the charity of her brother Matthew. Relations between the siblings have been strained since Alice married the adopted son of their former servant – a union that Matthew felt to be beneath her. Now, Matthew has taken on the role of Witchfinder and he has a list of women's names in his book who he believes are witches – and Alice is coerced into accompanying Matthew as he travels around the area testing women to see if they are guilty of witchcraft. As neighbour turns on neighbour, old family secrets come to light and even Alice finds herself in peril…
Although Matthew Hopkins is a real person there is no evidence that he had a sister. However, Beth Underdown writes a convincing story with convincing characters. I very much enjoyed this – it was fairly fast moving and I liked the history element of it. It's one of those books that makes one want to read more about the subject. It's laughable these days that anyone could consider a woman (in some cases, a man) to be a witch - and therefore a threat - just because of the way they chose to live, and yet in the 17th century this was a very real and serious threat. This book is Beth Underdown's debut novel – I'm looking forward to seeing what she comes up with next.
The paperback edition is 384 pages long and is published by Penguin. It was first published in 2017. The ISBN is 9780241978054. 4/5 (I really liked it) (Finished 11 May 2017)
I haven’t read your review too closely as I bought the book yesterday, at Windsor Waterstones, but it is good to see you enjoyed it, hopefully I’ll get to it soon!
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I hope everyone is having a week, it’s cold and dreary here but the daffodils are poking through so that gives me a glimmer of hope that Spring isn’t too far away!
Obviously we have been pretty sad over the loss of our old dog but we are coming out the other side now and thinking of all the good times we had with him, of which there were plenty!
I had had a nice catch up with my best friend in Windsor today with a nice lunch in Bills and of course the obligatory trip to Waterstones. I did buy three new books, not because I needed them but because they make me feel happy!
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16 minutes ago, Janet said:
Hmm. I might start a thread. My blog is linked in my signature.
I haven't been to Kingston. We've only done a few in the South East so far. Dorking and Redhill are the only ones we've done in Surrey so far.
Did you not do Guildford? I thought I remembered you saying you had been there?
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58 minutes ago, Janet said:
@chaliepud - I'm so sorry - I don't know how, but I missed this post.
We have been to the Amsterdam one before, but long before this challenge (thanks again for the inspiration
) - and the Woking one (it was nicer than I thought (the town) but not somewhere I would have rushed back to if it wasn't for this challenge!). I will definitely let you know when we come to one of those locations - it would be lovely to meet you. You’ll need to create your own Waterstones thread with all the piccies and reviews in it!!
Have you been to the Kingston one in the Bentalls Centre? It’s not a nice building but the shop itself is large and well stocked.
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Hi Ben, welcome to the party! I would like to challenge you to read The Nightingale by Kristin Hannah, one of my favourites of the last couple of years.
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Hi Janet, the Amsterdam one is ok but not amazing and please don’t get excited about the Woking one! If you come to the Camberley one let me know and I’ll take you for coffee! Likewise the Windsor or Guildford ones, neither are too far from me. Woking is pretty close too but I don’t go there out of choice!
Oh, and I think Bracknell may have one in their new shopping centre too!
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47 minutes ago, willoyd said:
My feelings too. Just concerned that I don't want to reach the stage where some people feel the challenge is too much of a challenge or dominates reading too much. We all have different levels where that kicks in!
Maybe stop it at 10 people? It’s not too bad for me as I’m not expecting to read many of the books I have challenged others to read, in fact I have read a fair few already, but it will be harder for those of you that are reading both.
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Why don’t you try another John Green book? Paper Towns was a very good read.
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20 hours ago, frankie said:
chaliepud: Cannery Row by John Steinbeck - This was a bit of a quirky read, I really liked it! I hope you will too
Thank you, frankie...I’ve been putting off the Steinbecks, I think I’m wary that none of them can match up to Of Mice and Men, it’s now time to find out!
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A really sad start to 2018 for my little family; we lost our old dog, Obi, today, aged 14 years and 2 months. He was a truly special boy, he didn't like many people but those he did like, he LOVED! He was hard work at times which meant we had to work hard with him, this only increased our bond further. He was loyal to the end and was still following me up and down stairs out of sheer determination and love this morning. He will be so so missed.
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A loud and stormy night here, high winds, rain and hail from Storm Eleanor, I dread to think what it was like further north and west!
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Happy New Year Ian, I hope you read as many 5* books in 2018 as you did in 2017.
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Happy 2018 Alexander!
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18 hours ago, chesilbeach said:
The correct English spelling is with the z and if you search for realise in the OED, it will send you to the entry for realize. It’s a common misconception that the z is American and s is English.
Thanks Claire, I did google something to that effect though they did also say that the z has been less used over the last 100 years or so. I prefer the s, it seems less harsh. Thankfully for the world, I am not a writer so I won't be upsetting anyone!
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18 hours ago, willoyd said:
Thank you!
On the Elton, If you have liked other books by him, then I would think you're more likely to enjoy this one. I've found after a number of goes that I thoroughly dislike his books. This was an honourable attempt to write a piece of fiction about something that was very close to his heart, as it derives from family experience. Unfortunately, I (and other members of the group) felt that he'd heavily overwritten it, feeling the need to explain everything - we felt we were being preached and lectured at. Now, I find this with most of Elton's work but others hadn't. I came to thoroughly dislike his stand-up comedy because I disliked being shouted at, and feel that he does the same with his writing; subtlety, IMO, is not his strong point. There are quite a few other aspects I didn't like about the writing itself, which is why I couldn't finish it, but this is probably the heart of the problem for me. I hope you find otherwise!
I hope so too. Time and Time Again was the first of his I've read, and I have never watched him on TV for the reasons you state above so thankfully I couldn't hear his voice. I found Time and TIme Again a steady read but maybe Two Brothers will be different...I'll let you know!
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14 hours ago, karen.d said:
Wow! That's some progress you've made already!
Ha! That did make me sound like a super quick reader, but sadly not, they are all books I have read over the last few years.
Karen.d's Reading List 2018
in Past Book Logs
Posted
Karen, I received A Map of Days in the post today and I can confirm that Jacob and friends are in the fourth book, although from the blurb it looks like it is going off on a different tangent.