Vodkafan's Reading Adventure 2014

[vodkafan]

Welcome to my  2014 reading blog!  Like last year, no reading challenges just a mass of books on my TBR to get through. Reviews are found buried in the folowing pages: sorry if that is confusing to anybody, I haven't mastered the link thingy yet.

(k) denotes kindle ebook

® denotes book read primarily for research purposes

Simplifying my rating system this year:

1/5: I didn't like it
2/5: It was okay
3/5: I liked it
4/5: I really liked it
5/5: It was amazing
 

Books read in 2014

 

January

The True Deceiver Tove Jansson 4/5

Running With Scissors Augusten Burroughs 5/5

The Rise And Fall Of The Victorian Servant  Pamela Horn 3/5 ®

The Duties Of Servants    2/5 ®

Arise Sir Michael Caine  William Hall   2/5

Letters To Alice On First Reading Jane Austen  Fay Weldon 4/5 

Tom-All-Alone's  Lynn Shepherd 4/5

The Odd Women  George Gissing  5/5

Notes From A Small Island  Bill Bryson 3/5

 

February

Capital Maureen Duffy    4/5

In The Cage Henry James 3/5

Long Time Coming  Edie Clarke 1/5

City Of A Thousand Suns  Samuel R. Delaney 3/5

Postal Pleasures: Sex Scandal and Victorian Letters  ® Kate Thomas  3/5

 

March

Hard Eight  Janet Evanovitch  2/5

Habits Of The House (Love and Inheritance book 1)  Fay Weldon 4/5

Highly Inappropriate Tales For Young People Douglas Coupland/Graham Roumieu 4/5

The Victorian Internet Tom Standage ® 4/5

Wired Love- A Romance Of Dots And Dashes  Ella Cheevor Thayer 3/5

My War Killing Time In Iraq  Colby Buzzell  1/5

The Unclassed George Gissing 5/5

 

April

American Fascists The Christian Right and The War on America Chris Hedges 3/5

BZRK Michael Grant 4/5

Quantum Theory Cannot Hurt You  Marcus Chown (reread) 4/5

 

May

The Nether World  George Gissing 4/5

A Visitor's Guide To Victorian England Michelle Higgs  4/5 ®

 

June

The Time Of My Life  Patrick Swayze and Lisa Niemi     1/5

How To Be A Victorian  Ruth Goodman             5/5 ®

Surpassing The Love Of Men  Lilian Faderman     4/5 ®

 

July

1888-London Murders In The Year Of The Ripper   Peter Stubley  5/5 ®

The Violent Century  Tove            2/5

 

August

Singled Out  Virginia Nicholson 4/5

Secret Ceremonies Deborah Laake 4/5

The Ruins Of Time  Ben Woolfendon 3/5

 

September

The Warwickshire Scandal   Elizabeth Hamilton   4/5

Lurulu     Jack Vance 3/5

Marune Alastor 993          Jack Vance 4/5

Trullion Alastor 2262         Jack Vance  4/5

Black By Design    Pauline Black        abandoned 0/5

 

October

Victorian England   LCB Seaman   4/5 ®

Edward VIII The Last Victorian King  Christopher Hibbert 3/5 ®

 

November

Araminta Station Jack Vance  5/5

Ecce And Old Earth  Jack Vance 5/5

 

December

In The Year Of Jubilee George Gissing 5/5

Throy   Jack Vance 4/5

Edited December 16, 2014 by vodkafan

[vodkafan]

Books Bought in 2014:

I have decided not to add these to my existing TBR ( next post) but instead will just strike them out as I read them; in effect this is a second TBR pile. Running total of how much spent is here:

                   Running Total £15.42

 

 

American Fascists: The Christian Right and The War On America

                                                                    Chris Hedges          £3.71  incl. postage Amazon

London The Biography                                Peter Ackroyd           £2.81 incl. postage Amazon

Air                                                            Geoff Ryman            30p

Choke                                                       Chuck Palahniuk      30p

There But For The                                      Ali Smith                  30p

Nice To See It To See It Nice                      Brian Viner              30p

Liar Birds                                                   Lucy Fitzgerald        30p

My War Killing Time in Iraq                          Colby Buzzell           30p  

 

A Life's Morning

The Crown Of Life

Veranilda

Eve's Ransom

Our Friend The Charlaton

Will Warburton

The Private Papers Of Henry Ryecroft

The Emancipated

The Whirlpool

The Paying Guest

Denzil Quarrier

The Town Traveller

Born In Exile

Demos                                                          all above by

The House Of Cobwebs and other stories     George Gissing  free for kindle

The Poor Gentleman                                     Hendrick Conscience     free for kindle

Wired Love                                                   Ella Cheevor Thayer        99p kindle

The Victorian Internet                                     Tom Standage                £2.81 incl postage Amazon

Two On A Tower      

The Return Of The Native

A Laodician

A Pair Of Blue Eyes

Jude The Obscure

The Woodlanders

Far From The Madding Crowd                         all above by

The Mayor of Casterbridge                             Thomas Hardy            free for kindle

Post Haste                                                    RM Ballantyne            free for kindle

Autobiography Of Anthony Trollope

Lady Anna

Miss Mackenzie                                                4 above by

The Way We Live Now                                  Anthony Trollope        free for kindle

Twelve Years A Slave                                    Solomon Northup          49p kindle

Letters Of Two Brides                                       Balzac                    free for kindle

Birds Of Prey

Charlotte's Inheritance

Run To Earth A Novel

The Doctor's Wife

Lady Audley's Secret                                    Mary Elizabeth Braddon    free for kindle

Edited October 15, 2014 by vodkafan

[vodkafan]

TBR pile (in no particular order)

 

It's A Small Medium And Outsize World  John Taylor

 Cut Like Wound  Anita Nair (signed copy, paperback printed in India!)

Little Dorrit Charles Dickens

The Mill On The Floss

Madame Bovary

Connections

Rules For Virgins

Tess of The d'urbervilles

Lady Susan

Out Of Time-Five tales of Time Travel

The Rise And Fall Of The Victorian Servant

The Life And Loves Of A She Devil

Letters To Alice On First Reading Jane Austen

Habits Of The House (Love and Inheritance)

The Passion Of New Eve

The Duties Of Servants

 

The Haunted Hotel

Ten Interesting Things About Human Behaviour

The Diary Of A Nobody

Strange Loops

Equality

Looking Backward 2000-1887

The Time Travel Megapack

Thoughts On The Education Of Daughters

The Last Man

Maria, Or The Wrongs Of Woman

North And South

Vindication Of The Rights Of Woman

The Perpetual Curate

The Strange Case Of Dr Jekyll And Mr Hyde

Slave Girl Sarah Forsyth  (autobiography)

The Man Who Loved Only Numbers Paul Hoffman (biography of Paul Erdos)

Highly Inappropriate Tales For Young People  Douglas Coupland/Graham Roumieu

The White Mists Of Power Kristine Kathryn Rusch

Blitz The Civilian War 1940-45 Jane Waller Michael Vaughn-Rees (war memoir)

The Martian Way Isaac Asimov

Last Man Down The Fireman's Story Richard Picciotto (twin towers 9/11 memoir)

The Woman Who Went To Bed For A Year Sue Townsend 

Freedom (The Rake And The Recluse Part One)

I Think I'm OK

Undercover: The True Story Of Britain's Secret Police

Victorian Slang: Spunk Fakers, Slap Bangs and Tipping The Velvet

The Submissive Scullery Maid  Abandoned, rubbish

Under A Cloud-Soft Sky

The Singing Winds

Shelter From The Storm

Snow Angels

In The Year Of Jubilee

The Nether World

New Grub Street

The Unclassed

The Odd Women

King Solomon's Carpet  Barbara Vine

A Far Cry From Kensington Muriel Spark

Capital John Lanchester

Capital Maureen Duffy

Tom's All Alone

Sweet Thames Matthew Kneale  

Good Behaviour  Molly Keane
The Green Brain Frank Herbert
The Steampunk megapack (26 stories)
Viridis
Lady Of Devices A Steampunk Adventure
Steampunk Erotica
The Siege Of Krishnapur J.G. Farrell
Miss Peregrine's Home For Unusual Children - Ransom Riggs
Oryx and Crake - Margaret Atwood
Sense and Sensibility - Jane Austen
Balti Britain - Ziauddin Sardar
Stephanie Plum series 9-20 - Janet Evanovitch
The Memory Game Nicci French
Forgotten Voices of the Blitz Joshua Levine
One Day David Nichols
The Victorians AN Wilson
Victorian London Liza Picard
Geisha Liza Dalby
In The Heart Of The Sea Nathanial Philbrick
Spycatcher Peter Wright
Best New SF 25
The Midnight Palace Carlos Ruiz Zafon
Ways Of Seeing John Berger
Gunners On Tour Maurice Court
Mother Tongue Bill Bryson
The Almost Moon Alice Sebold
Rivers Of London Ben Aaronovitch
The Horse Whisperer Nicholas Evans
The Women Who Lived For Danger Marcus Binney
The Unbecoming Of Mara Dyer Michelle Hodkin
The German Invasion Of Norway Geirr H Haarr
Raj Lawrence James
Accidents In The Home Tessa Hadley
Devoted Ladies Molly Keane
A Fine Balance Rohinton Mistry
Of Mice and Men John Steinbeck
The Adventures Of Sherlock Holmes Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
Lord Of The Flies William Golding
Rebecca Daphne Du Maurier
Untying The Knot Linda Gillard
The Picture Of Dorian Grey Oscar Wilde
Nicholas Nickleby Charles Dickens
The Legend Of Sleepy Hollow Washington Irvine
Meeting At Infinity John Brunner
Little Women Louisa May Alcott
One of Our Thursdays Is Missing,
Thursday Next First Among Sequels,
Something Rotten,
The Well Of Lost Plots,
Lost In A Good Book,
The Eyre Affair Jasper Fforde

The Dark Of The sun - Wilbur Smith
Smokescreen -Dick Francis
Lurulu - Jack Vance
Emphyrio - Jack Vance
Life Of Pi - Yann Martel
The Hundred Year Old Man Who Climbed Out Of The Window And Disappeared - Jonas Jonasson
Pure - Andrew Miller
Who Dares Wins
The Age of Revolution 1789-1848
The Age Of Capital 1848-1875
The Age Of Empire 1875-1914
Shirley
The Puzzle Of God

Alone In Berlin
Perfume
The Terror
Bleak House 
The Strange Case Of Dr Jekyll And Mr Hyde
The Moonstone
The Woman In White
Ruth
The Importance Of Being Earnest
Basil
Les Miserables
Wuthering Heights
Mrs Oliphant
Shout At The Devil 
Thieves' Kitchen
The Lost Continent
The Crowded Street
Round the Bend
A Special Relationship
Hayfever  (Parragon health guide)
The Selfish Gene Richard Dawkins
Two Eggs On My Plate Oluf Reed Olsen
Slavery A New Global History Jeremy Black
The Warrior Queens Antonia Fraser
Redemption Stanley Tookie Williams 
Infidel Ayaan Hirsi Ali 
Nerd Do Well Simon Pegg
Mrs P's Journey
Forensic Clues To Murder Brian Marriner 
Confessions Of An English Opium Eater Thomas De Quincey 
Farnham's Legend Helge 
Bad Blood Lorna Sage 
I Know My Own Heart Anne Lister 
The Voyage Out Virginia Woolf 
D-Day Stepehen Ambrose 
The Book Of The Dead
Of All Possible Worlds William Tenn 
The Makeshift Rocket Poul Anderson 
Life The Universe and Everything
More Than Super-Human AE VAN Vogt 
The Blue World
City Of A Thousand Suns

Testament Of Youth                                        Vera Brittain

Arise Sir Michael Caine               

Journey Through A Small Planet                    Emanuel Litvenoff

Notes From A Small Island           

The Other Side Of The Dale                            Gervaise Phinn

Foundation                                                       Isaac Asimov

The Naked Sun                                                 Isaac Asimov

Why Don't Penguins' Feet Freeze                  Edited by Mick O'Hare

The Road To Samarcand                                 Patrick O'Brian

 

Edited September 13, 2014 by vodkafan

[vodkafan]

184 books on my TBR pile. Not happy about this. Without buying any more, that equates to TWO YEARS full reading till January 2016.  And these are just the books I consider noteworthy. In addition I have about another 30 self-published books on kindle of the freebie type.

[julie]

James

 You certainly have a whopping big book pile . Here are the ones I've read  :

 

 

The Strange Case Of Dr Jekyll And Mr Hyde

Miss Peregrine's Home For Unusual Children - Ransom Riggs

Sense and Sensibility - Jane Austen

A Fine Balance Rohinton Mistry
Of Mice and Men John Steinbeck
Rebecca Daphne Du Maurier
The Picture Of Dorian Grey Oscar Wilde

Nicholas Nickleby Charles Dickens
Little Women Louisa May Alcott
Life Of Pi - Yann Martel

The Moonstone
The Woman In White
The Lost Continent

Notes From A Small Island                             

 

Out of the above, I'd have to vote top prize for A Fine Balance , Rebecca coming in 2nd .

 

 

I have, but not read --
In The Heart Of The Sea Nathanial Philbrick
The Siege Of Krishnapur J.G. Farrell
Bleak House 

I certainly understand your comment about being surprised by the number of books you have accumulated, and how long it'd take you to polish off the list. I have over 300 on mine ,and refuse to list them or even LOOK at the list . I keep only my current read on my main kindle, everything else is floating on my Cloud . I'm not sure how much longer the Cloud will be able to hang up there before it lets loose . It bothers me to see a huge pile of unread books, so I "hide" them .  



 

[bobblybear]

184 books on my TBR pile. Not happy about this. Without buying any more, that equates to TWO YEARS full reading till January 2016.  And these are just the books I consider noteworthy. In addition I have about another 30 self-published books on kindle of the freebie type.

 

Mine will keep me busy for 4+ years! You have many books on your list that I have never heard of, but 2 I really enjoyed were The Horse Whisperer by Nicholas Evans and Life of Pi by Yann Martel.

[Signor Finzione]

You'll really enjoy Bleak House, I think. Rebecca and Oryx and Crake are both great, too.

[Marie H]

Wow, that is a whopping TBR list  .  Lord of the Flies is wonderful, and Life of Pi I loved to pieces, but that one is a marmite-thing   .  Good luck for 2014 reading .  

[Janet]

 Simplifying my rating system this year:

1/6: I didn't like it

2/6: It was okay

3/6: I liked it

4/6: I really liked it

5/6: It was amazing

Should these either be out of 5 - or is 6/6 missing?  

[vodkafan]

Should these either be out of 5 - or is 6/6 missing?  

 

Oh my yes. Thanks Janet well spotted. That's what comes of copy and pasting without paying attention. Now sorted.

Edited December 15, 2013 by vodkafan

[vodkafan]

Tidying up piles of books I just found another dozen tree books I had forgotten about that are not on the TBR

Edited December 15, 2013 by vodkafan

[julie]

Wow, James

 Me and you both have some reading to do to get those big piles chopped down a bit in the coming year ! Even if I'm in a Reading Slump, I never go into a buying slump .. That upsets the balance a bit when I keep hauling them in and not removing any !

[chaliepud]

Tess of The d'urbervilles

Miss Peregrine's Home For Peculiar Children - Ransom Riggs

One Day David Nichols

The Midnight Palace Carlos Ruiz Zafon

Rebecca Daphne Du Maurier

 

These were all brilliant in my opinion so I hope you like them too. I have a few of them on my TBR shelf too so we can compare notes at some point!

Have a great 2014! 

[Alexi]

Hi James

 

I shall be reading your thread with interest. You have a few books on your TBR list that are also on my shelves and ive picked up some great recommendations in here before too.

 

Personally, I am dreading counting my TBR pile - I suspect it would keep me busy for at least 3 years! Yet I can't stop buying

[Athena]

Hey James, I hope you have a good reading year in 2014.

 

Here are some comments on your TBR books:

 

On my TBR too:

Little Dorrit Charles Dickens

The Mill On The Floss

Madame Bovary

Tess of The d'urbervilles

The Diary Of A Nobody

The Last Man

North And South

The Strange Case Of Dr Jekyll And Mr Hyde

Sense and Sensibility - Jane Austen

The Horse Whisperer Nicholas Evans

Of Mice and Men John Steinbeck

The Picture Of Dorian Grey by Oscar Wilde

Nicholas Nickleby Charles Dickens

Little Women Louisa May Alcott

Something Rotten,

The Eyre Affair Jasper Fforde

Emphyrio - Jack Vance

Life Of Pi - Yann Martel

The Terror

Bleak House 

The Moonstone

The Woman In White

Les Miserables

Wuthering Heights   

The Voyage Out Virginia Woolf 

Life The Universe and Everything

Foundation  by Isaac Asimov

 

On my wishlist:

Lord Of The Flies William Golding

Rebecca Daphne Du Maurier

The Hundred Year Old Man Who Climbed Out Of The Window And Disappeared - Jonas Jonasson

 

I haven't actually read any of your TBR books I'm afraid . I hope you enjoy them, though!

x

Mine will keep me busy for 4+ years!

x

Ouch! I know mine would keep me busy for quite some time too, I'm ashamed to even calculate how long .

x 

Even if I'm in a Reading Slump, I never go into a buying slump ..

x

It's the same here!

[vodkafan]

James

 You certainly have a whopping big book pile . Here are the ones I've read  :

 

 

The Strange Case Of Dr Jekyll And Mr Hyde

Miss Peregrine's Home For Unusual Children - Ransom Riggs

Sense and Sensibility - Jane Austen

A Fine Balance Rohinton Mistry

Of Mice and Men John Steinbeck

Rebecca Daphne Du Maurier

The Picture Of Dorian Grey Oscar Wilde

Nicholas Nickleby Charles Dickens

Little Women Louisa May Alcott

Life Of Pi - Yann Martel

The Moonstone

The Woman In White

The Lost Continent

Notes From A Small Island                             

 

 

 

 

 

Hey Julie, you have a surprising number of very English 19th century writers there.. what was the attraction for you?

Also were they from a much previous time? As ever since I have known you you have been into much more local (American) crime mystery sort of books. 

[vodkafan]

Wow, that is a whopping TBR list  .  Lord of the Flies is wonderful, and Life of Pi I loved to pieces, but that one is a marmite-thing   .  Good luck for 2014 reading .  

 

Yeah...for some reason I am really edgy about reading Life Of Pi..

[vodkafan]

Hi James

 

I shall be reading your thread with interest. You have a few books on your TBR list that are also on my shelves and ive picked up some great recommendations in here before too.

 

Personally, I am dreading counting my TBR pile - I suspect it would keep me busy for at least 3 years! Yet I can't stop buying

 Ah Alexi likewise I have seen some goodies on your previous blogs..I shall look out for your 2014 one. Thanks for looking in.

About the TBR..go on count it I dare you...

[julie]

Hey Julie, you have a surprising number of very English 19th century writers there.. what was the attraction for you?

Also were they from a much previous time? As ever since I have known you you have been into much more local (American) crime mystery sort of books. 

James

I've always read a fairly wide assortment. I get in kicks where I read lots of true crime ,but I also enjoy lots of other types of books. I don't do romance or sci-fi but will try pretty much anything else, depending on my mood .Sadly or oddly, I tend to read true crime when life gets rough and I have many challenges to face. I need something really riveting  ,true and shocking to keep my mind on reading instead of my own problems,  so I have read lots of true crime for quite a long while, but have branched out lately into some other books, so maybe I am coming off another rough patch .. I have lots of other issues in my life that dont pertain at all to health problems.. Let's just say that books are my only escape at times, and I need things that really shock my system enough to remove  me from my problems. Reading anything made up and fictional just doesn't cut it during times of sadness . It sounds weird, but it's how my brain works .

 

As for the list, let me try to remember when and why I chose the books I did :

 

The Strange Case Of Dr Jekyll And Mr Hyde--this would have been around 1990 -- because I read the book by Valerie Martin called Mary Reilly,which was a story about Jekyll and Hyde told by their housekeeper's perspective. I found it so good, I read the original book after that .

 

Miss Peregrine's Home For Peculiar Children - Ransom Riggs --another stupid reason and big letdown. I was sold on this by the old photos . I'm a sucker for old photos, but really didn't care much for the story .It  was ok, but that's about as good as it gets with this one. not my cup of tea ..

 

Sense and Sensibility - Jane Austen

Sorry, folks .. Also not my cup of tea. I read it because i HADN'T yet and thought I needed to try it so I sampled some of the classics. Another one that was way too sappy for me.. I just don't get on too well with the sappy ones if they dont have a more ACTION in them. Sorry to anyone who loves these as I know lots of you do, but I don't do SAP .

 

 

A Fine Balance Rohinton Mistry

This, funny enough was an Oprah pick way back when .. I think maybe 13- 15  years ago ? I chose it because of that. A lot of the books she chose back then were books I'd either just read or really loved,so I went out on a limb with this one. I would probably never have picked it on my own, and would have never finished it if I hadn't shelled out the money to BUY it . I seem to feel more pressure to complete a book if I pay big money for it,so I read it . Laid it down, picked it up ,read some more. Heartbreaking book, but SO worth  it .. One of my favorites EVER .

Of Mice and Men John Steinbeck

I chose this because of Steinbeck.alone. Not the subject matter . I had read East of Eden and Grapes of Wrath,and one day stumbled across this one. Quick read, but each page was a real challenge for me . I don't do well reading about fictional accounts of mentally-challenged people and the treatment they recieve ,so this one was rough . Writing was good ,subject awful .I read One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest when I was a senior in nursing . ( Right about the time the movie came out  Jack Nicholson I think ( sorry, I'm not a movie person, so really don;t know many of the actors) ..Anyhow, I went to the movie , right AFTER working in a home for mentally ill patients as part of our training. I led a pretty sheltered life and had never seen people like the ones in this home .. the conditions were horrid, it was like a human zoo. They closed the place down shortly afterwards and no wonder. It was HORRID. So I don't do well reading fiction books about these places and people, but I could probably read and handle the nonfiction versions better .

Rebecca Daphne Du Maurier --- I can closely guess the time frame I read this . Our kids were about half-grown,so it would have been about 20 years ago.. roughly. I remember which house we lived in ,so it would have been around that time. I THINK I picked up the red paperback of this at a yard sale or something . Had heard of it but never even attempted reading it before . Once I read the first page, I was hooked .. REALLY a good book and so different than anything I'd read before ,where the main character never gets a name ,,you always wonder what her name was, felt sorry for her because she never seemed to live up to everyone else's expectations .. Just a plain good book !

The Picture Of Dorian Grey Oscar Wilde

Dorian Grey got chosen mainly for the author . I was intrigued by Wilde's life ,so wanted to read something by him and chose Dorian as maybe the most well known I had heard of . I thin Earnest may be fairly well known too, but  I don't have interest in reading books written as plays,so it was Dorian instead. I was a bit puzzled by the story .. maybe a bit disappointed in the length, wished it would have had more "meat" to it, but also thought it was very clever ,so in a way it was good,as far as an interesting idea for a story, but the length may have put me off. I like longer books where you get to know the characters better. This may not have worked with that theme though. Not many characters, so how long can you drag out the story ? I read this quite a few years back. All these are guesses as I never once kept records of books read on particular years until this past year in the group,so most are shots in the dark.

 

 

Nicholas Nickleby Charles Dickens

Nickleby --as mentioned below (in the Wilkie section ), it's Dickens !  I love his long-winded telling of tales , descriptions of people. I first read David Copperfield ,then Great Expectations. Nicholas was next ,then Pickwick Papers .. I kinda go in streaks, if I find one author I like, I will sometimes read several in a row by the same person ..I wasn't nearly as taken with Nicholas, but it was ok .. Still a Dickens !!

Little Women Louisa May Alcott

Little Women -- Sappy .....too namby-pamby sickly sweet .. Didn't like this whatsoever. I read it maybe 5 years ago .It was one of those : I never read this as a girl ,so should read it now to see what all the hype is about . I thought maybe it'd be good, but found it too sappy for my taste. Pull out a gun and at least shoot a bullet through the curtain or something ..Another YEK .

Life Of Pi - Yann Martel

Life of Pi gets black ,as that is the color I'd give it .Sorry to anyone who liked it, but I got nothing out of it and probably would have liked to use it as kindling to get a campfire started. I chose it (stupidly , due to all the hype at the time ..It was back after it first came out ( long before the movie .. good grief, I cannot imagine sitting through a movie of the thing .. so that's my excuse for choosing that one. Not a good one, and won't be reading any more by Martel .  YEK .

 

The Moonstone

The Woman In White

The  Wilkie books probably because I love the Dickens style of writing so much and Wilkie reminds me a lot of him. They both had the long-winded thing ,plus the glimpses of humor throughout their descriptions of people ,so I really enjoy them . I wasn't quite as into the "mystery or detective end of Wilkie's stories as much as his descriptions of the people .I probably would have read these a good 10 years ago ? It's been awhile back .. I guess that's when I got into the Dickens books and discovered Wilkie not long after .I also liked the Atmosphere in these books ,kind-of ghostly ,foggy, mildly spooky, big old creaky houses... I like that type of atmosphere in these books.

The Lost Continent

Notes From A Small Island                             

The 2 Brysons ,just because I love him and have been a fan for many years after first reading The Lost Continent. I like travel narratives and his was so funny ,talking about he places over here he had been to, so he had me hooked after that . I liked reading about his travels over there, though they were harder for me to follow, only because I'm not familiar with place names and such like I would be here .

 

 

 

So, to make a long story longer , I read where my moods take me . I used to read a much more varied list of books ,but as said previously, when my personal life gets difficult, I tend to lean more in the nonfiction area, and the more gripping ,the more I can keep focused on the book. In times life is happier and less stressful I can read and keep focused on fiction . Our librarian commented once that she wished she could enjoy as many different genres as I did at the time, but sadly those have narrowed a lot lately . I'm trying HARD to keep myself away from those issues that can't be helped . There's a lot of sadness in my family that has nothing to do with the health crap. ..

 

Anyhow, I've written YOU a book tonite . Sorry.. I tend to ramble a bit ..

[willoyd]

Sense and Sensibility - Jane Austen

Sorry, folks .. Also not my cup of tea. I read it because i HADN'T yet and thought I needed to try it so I sampled some of the classics. Another one that was way too sappy for me.. I just don't get on too well with the sappy ones if they dont have a more ACTION in them. Sorry to anyone who loves these as I know lots of you do, but I don't do SAP .

Sappy? Jane Austen?

 

I agree that Jane Austen goes for happy endings, and that she's not about action (thank goodness!) but for me, one of the great joys of Austen is that she's anything but over-sentimental, being one of the sharpest writers in the English language. She would certainly have been horrified at the possibility. Now, if you'd cited Dickens as too sappy I don't think I could have disagreed, even though I love his books too; nobody does sappy like Mr Dickens! (And I do agree about Little Women!).

 

James - love your TBR list; looks like some great reading coming up. If it's of any interest, these are some brief comments on those I've read.

 

Madame Bovary - a bit of a marmite book, but I loved it!

The Diary Of A Nobody - loved by many, but not by me! Depends whether you get off on the humour. You'll know in the first few pages.

The Strange Case Of Dr Jekyll And Mr Hyde - classic Stevenson. If you like him, you'll probably like this.

King Solomon's Carpet - Yowser! Loved this - quirky, different, well written. Top notch 'London' book.

A Far Cry From Kensington - typical Muriel Spark, good London atmosphere of the time

Capital John Lanchester - enjoyable potboiler.

Capital Maureen Duffy - one of the classic, quirky London fiction genre. Loved it.

Tom All Alone's - stonker, but best read once you've completed Bleak House at least (also pulls on other classics, but the references to Bleak House definitely enhance enjoyment).

Sense and Sensibility - unlike Julie, I absolutely adored this: one of my all-time favourite books. Not widely regarded as Austen at her best, but I liked the contrasts of the two sisters, the humour (Austen has a wicked tongue!) and some of the twists thoroughly engaging.

One Day - hmmm. Not my sense of humour.  Others would disagree (and did in my book group!).

The Victorians - very readable, can be read chapter by chapter.

Victorian London - equally readable, Picard's very solid on this sort of social history.

Mother Tongue - I'm not a fan of his travel books, the humour again, but he's good on language and science. Some fascinating insights and facts, pulled together in really readable fashion.

Rivers Of London - quirkly and thoroughly addictive. First in a great series.

Raj - if you're interested in this subject (and I am!), James is a good read, if a touch dry in places.

The Adventures Of Sherlock Holmes - fun!  One that can be read in short bursts, a story at a time.

Lord Of The Flies - I hated this as a child, but reread a couple of years ago, with thoroughly different results. Definitely an adult book - just about children, not for them! Golding packs a big punch in a very short space.  Not pleasant but powerful.

Little Women - OK, but agree with Julie: a bit too sentimentl for my taste.

The Eyre Affair and subsequent books - another wonderfully quirky series, but make sure you read them in order, as it does matter!

Life Of Pi - a bit of a slow burner for me: grew on me even after I'd finished it.

Pure - my favourite fiction read of 2012. Evokes 18th century Paris brilliantly.

Alone In Berlin - a book of extremes in my book group. I hated it, others loved it. Definitely one to try for yourself!

Bleak House - another one of my all-time favourites. Of the Dickens I've read, comfortably his best, but maybe not the first one of his to read.

The Moonstone/ The Woman In White - great Victorian classics. Both kept me absolutely enthralled to the end, especially TWIW - totally gripped.  Count Fosco is one of THE great villains.

Wuthering Heights - another amazing, intense book on your list, but then I live close by, and can see these moors everyday driving to work. Definitely of the place. Nothing else like it in the English language that I've come across.

The Selfish Gene - science writing at its best. Certainly the best Dawkins I've read, and he's good!

It's Not About The Bike - interesting in the light of subsequent confessions.

The Voyage Out - a good early Woolf, if not amongst her greatest. More straightforward than some of her later stuff, so might be a decent intro if this is the first.

D-Day - I found it hopelessly biased, and much preferred others on the same subject (Keegan, Hastings, Beevor for instance).

Life The Universe and Everything - Douglas Adams, nothing else need be said!

Foundation - classic SF, I found this unputdownable when I read it as a teenager

Why Don't Penguins' Feet Freeze - a fun set of essays. Good for dipping into, which is how I read it.

 

Looking forward to your own comments  as you crack into the list!  Have a great year's reading.

Edited December 19, 2013 by willoyd

[Brian.]

That's a mammoth TBR James, you've got your work cut out for you. I've read a few of the books on there but the one which jumps out at me is Alone In Berlin because it's my favourite book.

 

Good luck for the coming year.

[julie]

Sorry , Will .

I figured that opinion wouldn't go over very well in here , since I know lots of people love Austen .

 

I don't quite know how to explain it without making it sound even worse . I guess it just doesn't do much for me . We each have different things we search for in a book ,and for me, this book doesn't have what I am searching for . Sorry for using the word Sappy .. it's just the word I use for books that don't have the "meat" in them I am looking for .

 

Let's compare it this way :

Say I like a good cheeseburger . If that's my preferred meat, compared to a book, I'd say Mosquito Coast by Paul Theroux, or Owen Meany by John Irving would be cheeseburgers. Lots of MEAT in their stories. Some heartbreakingly sad moments, but some that will make you chuckle. Some that bring back good memories in your life, and some that make you learn and feel what the character is feeling .Some parts are tragically sad and rip your heart out . THOSE books are my cheeseburgers. I need lots of substance in my books. A Rubik's Cube, that can be read and re-read and each time you flip that Cube, you will learn or see something you didn't before . I know people say they can do that with Austen, she just doesn't do it for me .

 

I'm sure those of you who love Austen would say that her books are your cheeseburgers and that you can see and feel the things I have just explained when you read her books. They just don't touch me in that way . So, Sappy may have been the wrong word ... Maybe I just should have said I don't care for them ..

 

It doesn't bother me at all if you think Dickens is Sappy . I like him .I like his rambling on and on, his humor, his descriptive explanations of people and their quirks . I don't know how or why I like him more .  Hard to say where the difference lies . Maybe because I tend to like more male authors ? They have a different view of life sometimes than females do .. Maybe that's it ? I'm really not sure where the difference would be between he and Jane, other than to say I like his books better .

 

Sorry if it offended you or anyone else .As said before ,we are all reading and searching for different answers through our books, We read them for enjoyment, to learn, to apply parts of them to our own lives sometimes. I just can't find those things I am looking for in Austen . I'm very glad that so many others DO love her ,she's just not for me .

Does that explain it a bit better ?

[willoyd]

Julie

 

Nothing you said offended me - I'm never offended by people offering their opinions on books, whatever I think of the book myself!  We don't all like the same authors (thank goodness, especially looking at Brian's and my views on Alone in Berlin!), and I certainly see no reason why Jane Austen should be any different. I was simply challenging the specific comment, whether one likes Austen or not, that she, or more specifically Sense and Sensibility, is  mawkishly over-sentimental (which is my understanding of the word 'sappy', having had to look it up!). As you expect, personally I think there is plenty of 'meat' in Austen - she is for me one of the most incisive writers on character, and the social mores of her time, with plenty to say about human interactions today.  But I can fully see that she won't float everybody's boat (after all, I'm the person who is not the greatest fan of twentieth century American literature, aren't I?! - Actually, a lot of British twentieth century literature too!), and one man's meat, after all, is another man's poison, to use a rather cliched proverb.

 

As I said, I love Dickens - but I think even his biggest fans would accept that on occasions he can out Mills-and-Boon pretty much any classic author, especially with some of his female characters!  But, like you, I love the 'rambling' - they might seem wordy, but the pictures he creates are something else - his humour, and his characters - some of the greatest ever created.  I think, on balance, I prefer Austen, but I would absolutely hate to have to choose - the world would be a massively poorer place without either.  After all, if I had to list my all time top 5 writers, they'd both be in there.

 

BTW, if you are a Dickens fan, the biography I'm close to finishing, by Claire Tomalin, is an excellent read: I do feel I understand the man so much better.  Can't say I like him, but a genius with the written word.  Your comment on male authors is an interesting one - by far the majority of my favourite writers tend to be women!

 

Apologies vodkafan for somewhat taking over your thread over the past few posts!

Edited December 19, 2013 by willoyd

[vodkafan]

Thanks for all the feedback everybody! 

Julie that that was quite remarkable you going back in time to remember each of those books thanks for that.

No problem willoyd, it was an interesting little discussion. Dickens described as Mills and Boony? Love it

Edited December 19, 2013 by vodkafan

[vodkafan]

I just had an idea....going to go through all my past book blogs and retrospectively rate them all  so that I can compile a short list of the very best books I have read in the last 4 years since being on here (I didn't use a rating system till this year) I will announce my results soon