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Your Book Activity - November 2014


chesilbeach

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I am in total agreement SunnyShadows. I kept reading in the hope of some amazing development later in the book which would bring it all together and blow my mind. Sadly it did not happen. I'm just not a fan. I particularly hated the middle story. I have not read The Tenant of Wildfell Hall but was not a particular fan of the other Bronte sisters work.

 

Nothing really happened in it as far as I got. I found it difficult to connect with the characters as well, but maybe that was because it kept changing every 75 pages or so. My least favourite part was the middle, too. I gave up at 'Sloosha's Crossin' an' Ev'rythin' After' (all those apostrophes drove me crazy!), but I didn't like 'An Orison of Sonmi ~ 451' either. I enjoyed the start, but the dystopian future was way overdone.

 

  

Definitely worth a visit - but make sure it's not during the tourist season, as all atmosphere disappears under the crush. Best time is mid-winter, on a stormy/gloomy day, midweek. We're lucky in that it's fairly close (I can see Haworth from the hills the other side of Keighley when I drive into work), so were able to pick the time, but it is worthwhile. Quite uncanny standing in the dining room (the first room you visit) and thinking that this was where so much was written, and where Emily died.

Ah, I'll take that into consideration if I go. I'm not a big fan of going when there's a lot of people. I imagine it must be quite an amazing place to visit!
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I just downloaded "For Whom The Bell Tolls" by Ernest Hemingway. I don't believe I have previously read this book but will soon find out. :) One of my favorite books was The Old Man And The Sea by Hemingway.

 

I have 6 books on hold at the library and hopefully they will start becoming available soon.

 

My top 5 of all time for sure, if not my top 3.  :smile:

I can't believe that, at my age :), I haven't read this book. I am about 5% into it and it is "knocking my socks off" it is so good. I am ecstatic that I have this book to read.

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I just downloaded "For Whom The Bell Tolls" by Ernest Hemingway. I don't believe I have previously read this book but will soon find out. :) One of my favorite books was The Old Man And The Sea by Hemingway.

 

I have 6 books on hold at the library and hopefully they will start becoming available soon.

 

I loved The Old Man and the Sea (and my Dad was very fond of the movie). It's the only Hemingway I've read to date, but I must rectify that! I really want to read A Farewell to Arms. Have you read it?

 

Finished Moonfleet, and now on to The Innocence of Father Brown. Ploughing through it, but not quite sure why as it's very disappointing - really dull, all the short stories pretty much the same plot: somebody gets killed, something odd happens/goes with it, everybody guesses wrong, Father Brown sees it and immediately solves the problem with a solution that would be highly unlikely (and sometimes nigh on impossible) in real life.

 

Oh dear, that's not promising! I've had The Complete Father Brown on my TBR pile for a while now. Maybe I should just try a couple of stories at a time. Did you watch the recent Father Brown series?

 

Nothing really happened in it as far as I got. I found it difficult to connect with the characters as well, but maybe that was because it kept changing every 75 pages or so. My least favourite part was the middle, too. I gave up at 'Sloosha's Crossin' an' Ev'rythin' After' (all those apostrophes drove me crazy!), but I didn't like 'An Orison of Sonmi ~ 451' either. I enjoyed the start, but the dystopian future was way overdone.

 

   Ah, I'll take that into consideration if I go. I'm not a big fan of going when there's a lot of people. I imagine it must be quite an amazing place to visit!

 

I agree about Sloosha's Crossin'. That part was such a struggle! Although the Somni-451 section was my favourite (probably because I love dystopians anyway). Cloud Atlas is definitely not an easy read. I finished it but had very mixed feelings about the whole thing!

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The Rabbit Back Literature Society by Pasi Ilmari Jaaskaleinen

 

I hope you will enjoy The Rabbit Back Literature Society! :smile2: 

 

I finished reading Rebuilding Coventry by Sue Townsend last night, and moved on to a Finnish novel by Niina Hakalahti, a book called Sydänystävä. It's been great so far. I've been pleasantly surprised by how many Finnish novels I've read this year, and I don't think I've come across a dud so far. 

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My eyes are burning I've been reading The Scorch Trials so long!  It's good, but I must retire at Chapter 42... til tomorrow my friend.  :P  :readingtwo:  Good night, all.  :smile:

Edited by Anna Begins
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Oh dear, that's not promising! I've had The Complete Father Brown on my TBR pile for a while now. Maybe I should just try a couple of stories at a time. Did you watch the recent Father Brown series?

No I didn't. I've just finished it, and rate it two stars: basically silly plots with silly solutions, several of which just weren't believable, even if some were quite clever ideas. This was also part of a complete collection, but I'm not going any further with it. 2/6 as some of the writing is quite readable.

 

 

I hope you will enjoy The Rabbit Back Literature Society! :smile2:

Started it last night. Certainly a bit different to my usual fare - I bought it as it was part of a deal in the local Waterstones shop: £10 for a coffee, cake and book from their Reading Club list. Thought it worth a try, and it's definitely intriguing.

 

I've been pleasantly surprised by how many Finnish novels I've read this year, and I don't think I've come across a dud so far.

Any available in English that you'd particularly recommend? (I'll go and have another browse through your blog at some stage too). Looking through my LibraryThing list, this appears to be my only current book originally written in Finnish. Edited by willoyd
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Books acquired recently (spending birthday book tokens!):

The Saint-Fiacre Affair by Georges Simenon

The Savage Storm by David Andress

The Long Shadow by David Reynolds

The English and their History by Robert Tombs[/font]

Germany, Memories of a Nation by Neil Macgregor

The Rabbit Back Literature Society by Pasi Ilmari Jaaskaleinen

I hope you enjoy all your new books :)

 

I've been pleasantly surprised by how many Finnish novels I've read this year, and I don't think I've come across a dud so far.

That's really nice! I stand by Willoyd's question, any translated into English (or Dutch?) that you'd particularly recommend I put on my wishlist?

 

My eyes are burning I've been reading The Scorch Trials so long!  It's good, but I must retire at Chapter 42... til tomorrow my friend.  :P  :readingtwo:  Good night, all.  :smile:

You got pretty far :)!

 

I'm at chapter 54, page 261 (~75%) of James Dashner - The Maze Runner 0: The Kill Order. I should have it finished soon but I feel too tired to do anything (even reading).. I want to finish it though!

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I loved The Old Man and the Sea (and my Dad was very fond of the movie). It's the only Hemingway I've read to date, but I must rectify that! I really want to read A Farewell to Arms. Have you read it?

 

 

Yes, I have read Farewell To Arms but it was many years ago. I do remembering that I did enjoy the book but my favorite was still  The Old Man and the Sea. I will let you know my final thoughts on For Whom The Bell Tolls when I finish it. Hemingway was such a good writer.

Edited by muggle not
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Hello! Look who's back! :D

I didn't have much time to read lately, but I managed to read a couple of good books: Neil Gaiman's Fragile Things and The Man who Laughs, Victor Hugo. I found the latter a little disturbing here and there, and I admit I shed some tears too.. one of the best book I've read so far. Highly recommended.

Edited by Eleonora
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Now it's on to Revival by Stephen King.

I hope you enjoy this :)

 

Hello! Look who's back! :D

I didn't have much time to read lately, but I managed to read a couple of good books: Neil Gaiman's Fragile Things and The Man who Laughs, Victor Hugo. I found the latter a little disturbing here and there, and I admit I shed some tears too.. one of the best book I've read so far. Highly recommended.

Welcome back :D!

 

I finished James Dashner - The Maze Runner 0: The Kill Order, will probably start a new book later today or tomorrow.

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I am taking a short break today from The Scorch Trials to go back and perhaps finish Matt Haig's The Humans.  I got to 60% during November's read a thon (I did terrible), but gave it up for the Maze Runner read.  I'm happy to be back to it, I so enjoyed what I had read so far.

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I can't believe that, at my age :), I haven't read this book. I am about 5% into it and it is "knocking my socks off" it is so good. I am ecstatic that I have this book to read.

Just saw you on, briefly... have you finished For Whom the Bell Tolls yet?  Are you liking it?

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Only about 1/4 left of The Tenant of Wildfell Hall, so I'm wondering what to read next. I tend to read a classic novel and then a modern one, so I don't get sick of the styles.

 

For my next modern novel to read, I was thinking either Cat's Eye by Margaret Atwood or The Tenderness of Wolves by Stef Penney . I got them both at a charity shop a while ago, but still yet to read them.

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I'm currently reading Stephanie Perkins - Anna and the French Kiss 3: Isla and the Happily Ever After. I wanted to finish off this series (though the stories can be read as standalones and are all kind of seperate), and I wanted to read something less actiony and more sweet after finishing The Maze Runner books. So far it's enjoyable but not yet brilliant. I look forward to see where the story will go. I'm really liking Isla's friend Kurt, because he has autism so I recognise some things of myself in him.

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Started it last night. Certainly a bit different to my usual fare - I bought it as it was part of a deal in the local Waterstones shop: £10 for a coffee, cake and book from their Reading Club list. Thought it worth a try, and it's definitely intriguing.

Oh you've started it already, exciting! :exc:

 

 

Any available in English that you'd particularly recommend? (I'll go and have another browse through your blog at some stage too). Looking through my LibraryThing list, this appears to be my only current book originally written in Finnish.

 

 

That's really nice! I stand by Willoyd's question, any translated into English (or Dutch?) that you'd particularly recommend I put on my wishlist?

I'm afraid the only book that's been translated into English of the ones I've read this year and would recommend is The Rabbit Back Literature Society :shrug:   There's one Finnish novel that I always recommend to everyone who's interested in Finnish literature, and it's Sofi Oksanen's Purge. I absolutely loved it, and it's been translated into English and has become quite a success abroad, too. At least on a Finnish scale. Another Finnish favorite of mine which I know has been translated into English is The Unknown Soldier by Väinö Linna. It's a war novel, though, and I know not everyone likes to read those. 

 

 

For my next modern novel to read, I was thinking either Cat's Eye by Margaret Atwood or The Tenderness of Wolves by Stef Penney . I got them both at a charity shop a while ago, but still yet to read them.

 

I really enjoyed The Tenderness of Wolves, I hope you shall enjoy it too! :) We did a reading circle on it last year, if you want to take a look at the thread after finishing the novel, you can find it here :)

 

 

I finished Sydänystävä last night, it was really great :smile2: Don't know what to read next..

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I'm afraid the only book that's been translated into English of the ones I've read this year and would recommend is The Rabbit Back Literature Society :shrug:   There's one Finnish novel that I always recommend to everyone who's interested in Finnish literature, and it's Sofi Oksanen's Purge. I absolutely loved it, and it's been translated into English and has become quite a success abroad, too. At least on a Finnish scale. Another Finnish favorite of mine which I know has been translated into English is The Unknown Soldier by Väinö Linna. It's a war novel, though, and I know not everyone likes to read those.

I'm not a big fan of war novels but Purge sounds interesting, thanks :)!

 

I hope you find a nice new book to read next :).

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Got stuck into Triptych by Karin Slaughter last night and ended up blitzing through it well into the early hours of this morning. That's the problem with crime thrillers in this vein: they're just impossible to put down.

 

I enjoyed this one. It had a unique way of building up the plot and characters with a satisfying - if somewhat expected dénouement. Good stuff. :yes:

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I was thinking either Cat's Eye by Margaret Atwood

Oooh- are you an Atwood fan??  Have you read any of her other novels?

 

I will be returning to The Scorch Trials today, because curiosity is killing the cat over here.  I've just got to find out what happens.  But now I am curious about the end of The Humans as well!  Such a dilemma, reading two fab books at once!

Edited by Anna Begins
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Finished Whitethorn Woods and 16 Tara Road by Maeve Binchy.

What did you think of these? I've read two books by Maeve Binchy (they were in one omnibus) and have more on my TBR.

 

I will be returning to The Scorch Trials today, because curiosity is killing the cat over here.  I've just got to find out what happens.  But now I am curious about the end of The Humans as well!  Such a dilemma, reading two fab books at once!

That's always difficult! If I really want to read both, I tend to read a few chapters or parts in one, then a few in the other (but it's a bit confusing). It depends on how long the chapters and parts are though, of course. With the short chapters of The Scorch Trials, I don't recommend switching every chapter, that would be way too confusing!

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That's always difficult! If I really want to read both, I tend to read a few chapters or parts in one, then a few in the other (but it's a bit confusing). It depends on how long the chapters and parts are though, of course. With the short chapters of The Scorch Trials, I don't recommend switching every chapter, that would be way too confusing!

Ya, I could do that, I might switch off, but I am so into the series (Maze Runner).  I don't want to get thrown off track!  Then again, I don't have much of The Humans left... see?  I'm all in a confused mess :P I should've never switched yesterday :giggle2:

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For my next modern novel to read, I was thinking either Cat's Eye by Margaret Atwood or The Tenderness of Wolves by Stef Penney . I got them both at a charity shop a while ago, but still yet to read them.

 

The Tenderness of Wolves is a brilliant read - very atmospheric and moving. Like Frankie says, we did a Reading Circle on it last year and had quite a few things to discuss.

 

I read Cat's Eye many years ago, but unfortunately can't remember much about it. I know it's not one of my favourite Atwood's but I don't recall disliking it either.

 

I'm about 10% through Revival. It started a bit slow but things are picking up now. :smile:

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