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Andrea's books 2015


~Andrea~

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Previous logs:

 

2014

2013

2012

2011

2010

2009

2008

2007

 

Read:

 

Gone Girl - Gillian Flynn (05/01/14)

Damaged - Cathy Glass (12/01/14)

The Trial - Franz Kafka (audio) unfinished

The Golden Fool - Robin Hobb (26/02/14)

King Solomon's Carpet - Barbara Vine (24/03/15)

The Girl on the Train - Paula Hawkins (05/04/15)

Sharp Objects - Gillian Flynn (28/06/15)

A Seaside Affair - Fern Britten abandoned

The Asylum - John Harwood (07/15)

Dark Places - Gillian Flynn (30/12/15)

 

Currently reading:

 

Philosophy of Mind: Classical and Contemporary Readings

Godric - Frederick Buechner

The Book Thief - Marcus Zusak

The Road Less Traveled

Edited by ~Andrea~
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Unread books on the bookshelf:

Acquired pre 2009

1 Minnette Walters - The shape of snakes
2 Logic - A very short introduction
3 Wilkie Collins The Woman in White
4 Chaucer - The Canterbury Tales (modern translation)
5 Damaged - Cathy Glass
6 The French Lieutenant's woman
7 The Essential tales of Chekhov

8 A Winter's tale
9 Othello
10 The Merchant of Venice
11 Julius Caesar
12 Twelfth night

Begin year size: 12
End year size: 11

Acquired 2009

1 Collected works of Tennyson

Begin year size: 1
End year size: 1

Acquired 2011

1 Clean Code - Robert Martin
2 Blodwen Jones a'r aderyn prin - Bethan Gwenas (a novel for welsh learners

Begin year size: 2
End year size: 2

Acquired 2013:

 

1. The Four Loves - C S Lewis

2. Pilgrim's Progress - John Bunyan

3. The Trial - Franz Kafka (audio)

 

Begin year size: 3
End year size: 3

 

Acquired 2014:

 

1. King Solomon's Carpet - Barbara Vine

2. Philosophy of Mind: Classical and Contemporary Readings - Edited by David Chalmers

3. The Asylum - John Harwood

4. Gone Girl - Gillian Flynn

5. Godric - Frederick Buechner

 

Begin year size: 5
End year size: 2

 

Books acquired 2015:

  1. The Girl on the Train - Paula Hawkins
  2. Gillian Flynn - Sharp Objects
  3. Gillian Flynn - Dark Places
  4. Ian Rankin - A Cool Head
  5. Ian Rankin - Watchmen
  6. Fern Britten - A Seaside Affair
  7. Pam Rhodes - Letting Go
  8. Susan Hill - The Various Haunts of Men
  9. Charles Dickens - A Tale of Two Cities
  10. JoJo Moyes - The Girl You Left Behind
  11. The Book Thief - Marcus Zusak

  12. The Road Less Traveled

End year size: 8

 

Total Begin year size: 23

Max size: 29
Min size: 22
Current Size: 27
End year size: 27

Edited by ~Andrea~
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The Wish List
Ambrose, David - Superstition

Alexander, Denis - creation or evolution: do we have to choose?
Beah, Ishmael - Memoirs of a Boy Soldier
Bradbury, Ray - Farenheit 451
Bradbury, Ray - Something Wicked this way comes
Barker, Clive - Weaveworld

Brother Lawrence - The Practice of the Presence of God
Bugan, Carmen - Burying the Typewriter
Challis, Sarah - Footprints in the sand

Chalmers, David J - Philopsphy of Mind - Contermporary and Classic Readings
Chamberlaine, Diane - The Midwife's confession recommended
Chesterton, G K - Orthodoxy
Conran, Shirley - Savages
Coupland, Douglas - Microserfs/JPod

Coben, Harlan - Six Years recommended
Du Maurier, Daphne - Rebecca
Du Maurier, Daphne - The House on the Strand
Dunant, Sarah - Transgressions (recommended)
Dick, Philip K - A Scanner Darkly

Faber, Michael - The Crimson petal and the White recommended

Foster, Richard - Celebration of Discipline

Gaarder, Jostein - Sophie's World
Greene, Grahame - Brighton Rock
Greene, Grahame - The Third Man & The Fallen Idol
Haugen, Gary (IJM) - Just Courage
Highsmith, Patricia - The Talented Mr Ripley
Hinton, Susan- Rumble Fish
Hodgson, Burnett Frances - The Secret Garden
Hodkin, Michelle -The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer
Humphries, Alistair - Microadventures recommended

Jerome, Jerome K - My Life and Times

Jefferson Farjeon, J - Mystery in White recommended

Kasasian, M.R.C. - The Mangle Street Murders recommended (read by Emma Gregory)

Kempis, Thomas - The Imitation of Christ

Krauss, Nicole - Man walks into a Room recommended
Koontz, Dean - The Mask
Koontz, Dean - From The Corner Of His Eye
Koontz, Dean - False Memory

Lennox, John - God's Undertaker: Has Science Buried God?

Lennox, John - Seven Days that Divide the World.

London, Jack - White Fang

Mandel, John - Station Eleven recommended

Marion, Issac - Warm Bodies recommended
McKinley, Robin - Sunshine
Mercer, Jeremy - Books, Baguettes & Bedbugs
Mitchell, Margaret - Gone With the Wind
Moran, Caitlin - How to be a Woman recommended

Moss, Sarah - Night Waking recommended
Moyes, Jojo - Me Before You
Moyes, Jojo - The Last Letter From Your Lover recommended
Neville, Adam - Apartment 16

Semple, Maria - Where'd you go Bernadette - recommended
Phillips, Caryl - A Distant Shore (recommended)
Pargeter, Edith - The Heaven Tree

Penny, Stef - The Tenderness of Wolves recommended
Rayner, Jay - The Oyster House Siege

Sachar, Louis - There's a Boy in the Girls' Bathroom - recommended

Taylor, Jodie - Just One Damned Thing After Another - recommended

Tolkein - LOTR 

Tremayne, S.K - The Ice Twins recommended

Trueman, Terry - Stuck in neutral
Trigell, Jonathan - Boy A

Wheatley, Dennis - The Haunting of Toby Jugg

Winter, Tom - Lost and Found recommended
Wyndham, John - The Kraken awakes
Watson, S J - Before I go to sleep
Ruiz Zafon, Carlos - The Shadow Of The Wind
Ruiz Zafon, Carlos - The Angel's Game
Ryan, Carrie - The Forest Of Hands & Teeth
Wroblewski, David - The story of Edgar Sawtelle

Zevin, Gabrielle - The Storied Life of A. J. Fikry recommended

Edited by ~Andrea~
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Happy reading in 2015, Andrea! My book blogs go back to 2007 too. :) I love that you organise your books according to when you bought them.

 

You have a lot of great books on your wish list. I particularly love Gone with the Wind, The Talented Mr Ripley, The Book Thief and The Shadow of the Wind.

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Thanks both :)

 

Haha I sometimes think I enjoy organising my book list more than actually reading from it :D

 

Well I finished Gone Girl and really enjoyed it. I wasn't overly keen on the ending though.

 

 

I loved the initial part of the story where you weren't sure whether Nick did it or not. I loved the twist. And I was hooked right up until the last page. But the ending - well it left me a little cold. I would much have preferred it if Amy had had her come-uppance. I loved the characters - well I enjoyed them without really liking them, although I warmed to Nick as the story progressed. Yea - but that ending? A bit disappointing.

 

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Well I finished Gone Girl and really enjoyed it. I wasn't overly keen on the ending though.

 

 

I loved the initial part of the story where you weren't sure whether Nick did it or not. I loved the twist. And I was hooked right up until the last page. But the ending - well it left me a little cold. I would much have preferred it if Amy had had her come-uppance. I loved the characters - well I enjoyed them without really liking them, although I warmed to Nick as the story progressed. Yea - but that ending? A bit disappointing.

 

 

I know what you mean. I would've preferred the same ending as you. But hey, at least it wasn't predictable :D 

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Thanks everyone. 

 

I'm currently reading Damaged by Cathy Glass - one of those misery memoirs. I've only read one other - Ugly by Constance Brisco which I found a really powerful (and difficult) read but it made a real impact on me. I bought this one soon after but it has been languishing on my shelf for years - probably because I knew the subject matter would be even harder this time (this is very severe sexual abuse involving a paedophile ring). It is a harrowing read but it's also fascinating (I don't mean the details of the abuse but the story of the child's psychological issues and recovery). So I'm glad I decided to finally read it. I'm about two-thirds through.

 

I know a lot of people don't like these kind of books (and the way the genre has blossomed over the last decade or so doesn't sit comfortably with me, as they are not IMO entertainment reads) but I do think they have value (at least those I've read) to help understand what kinds of things happen in our society. Sexual abuse of children is one of those horrors that angers people (rightly so) but that they don't want to think about. But the thing is - it happens, people have to live with the consequences, and other people have to go in and face the monumental task of picking up the pieces. And the people who have gone through it walk among us living with this terrible taboo that nobody wants to talk about or face except to vent anger on the perpetrators. I wonder if we were less squeamish and willing to understand more it would lead to more willingness to understand those people in society - or our own lives - who are difficult or have issues, because we don't know what they have gone through. I don't know, books like this one certainly make me think twice about judging people anyway, because you never know what a person has gone through to make them what they are.

Edited by ~Andrea~
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I read My Dad's A Policeman by Cathy Glass, which I think was based on a true story. I've got a couple of those kinds of books (as the one you're reading) on my TBR, though I haven't read any lately. They are indeed harrowing, I guess I haven't been in the right mood for them. But I read a few a few years ago and found them interesting.

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Andrea, I completely agree with everything you said. I have to admit though, I haven't read many books in that vein. I should really try. Might look into Cathy Glass in general, as she seems to have written a couple.

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Yea hers are interesting because she's a foster carer so they're written from her point of view rather than that of the child. I expect I'll read some more of hers at some point.

 

Gaia yes they are definitely books you need to be in the right mood for!

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Have you read the Dave Pelzer books, Andrea?   I read them many years ago - they're difficult reading, especially the first one.  I suppose they're the sort of book one should read from time to time but I'm afraid they're not the type of book that appeal to me now. 

 

I hope you have a good reading year in 2015.  :)

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Personally I thought Anya Peters - Abandoned was an impressive book. I haven't read a lot of other ones so I can't quite compare, but out of those few I've read, this one has stuck in my head the most. Just in case you wanted a recommendation :P.

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I know a lot of people don't like these kind of books (and the way the genre has blossomed over the last decade or so doesn't sit comfortably with me, as they are not IMO entertainment reads) but I do think they have value (at least those I've read) to help understand what kinds of things happen in our society. Sexual abuse of children is one of those horrors that angers people (rightly so) but that they don't want to think about. But the thing is - it happens, people have to live with the consequences, and other people have to go in and face the monumental task of picking up the pieces. And the people who have gone through it walk among us living with this terrible taboo that nobody wants to talk about or face except to vent anger on the perpetrators. I wonder if we were less squeamish and willing to understand more it would lead to more willingness to understand those people in society - or our own lives - who are difficult or have issues, because we don't know what they have gone through. I don't know, books like this one certainly make me think twice about judging people anyway, because you never know what a person has gone through to make them what they are.

 

Well said, and I agree with all that you've said. 

 

I've also read Ugly by Constance Briscoe and as it happens, I've actually borrowed the sequel from the library. I remember liking Ugly a great deal and I always wanted to know what happened next, when I found out there's a sequel. Have you ever read it? 

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Thanks everyone. 

 

I'm currently reading Damaged by Cathy Glass - one of those misery memoirs. I've only read one other - Ugly by Constance Brisco which I found a really powerful (and difficult) read but it made a real impact on me. I bought this one soon after but it has been languishing on my shelf for years - probably because I knew the subject matter would be even harder this time (this is very severe sexual abuse involving a paedophile ring). It is a harrowing read but it's also fascinating (I don't mean the details of the abuse but the story of the child's psychological issues and recovery). So I'm glad I decided to finally read it. I'm about two-thirds through.

 

I know a lot of people don't like these kind of books (and the way the genre has blossomed over the last decade or so doesn't sit comfortably with me, as they are not IMO entertainment reads) but I do think they have value (at least those I've read) to help understand what kinds of things happen in our society. Sexual abuse of children is one of those horrors that angers people (rightly so) but that they don't want to think about. But the thing is - it happens, people have to live with the consequences, and other people have to go in and face the monumental task of picking up the pieces. And the people who have gone through it walk among us living with this terrible taboo that nobody wants to talk about or face except to vent anger on the perpetrators. I wonder if we were less squeamish and willing to understand more it would lead to more willingness to understand those people in society - or our own lives - who are difficult or have issues, because we don't know what they have gone through. I don't know, books like this one certainly make me think twice about judging people anyway, because you never know what a person has gone through to make them what they are.

Very well said .. I totally agree with you.

 

Hope you have a great reading year in 2015 Andrea :)

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