Jump to content

Poppyshake's Reading Year 2015


poppyshake

Recommended Posts

  • Replies 868
  • Created
  • Last Reply

Top Posters In This Topic

Well done on reading 113 books last year!  :clapping:  That is no mean feat!! I'm cheerily witnessing another triumph for female authors over male authors :giggle2: 
 

I bought 47 books in total, and managed to read 42 of them so that's pretty decent. At the beginning of 2015, my TBR was 232 books, and at the end of the year, it's 209 .. whoopee doo!! I've fiendishly managed to knock it down to 188 though .. just by a bit of judicious pruning 


My head is exploding... I mean my brain is. You bought 47 books, of which you read 42! That's awesome! And what's similarly awesome is that your TBR went down by so many titles! But what's hurting my brain is you saying somewhere else that you didn't read as many books off the TBR list as you acquired new books... Which I understand, because buying and acquiring are two different things, but then you managed to go down in your TBR pile! This to me is like a Lincoln Rhyme novel: so many twists I can hardly keep up :D I'm so slow... I'm not meaning to nit-pick, I'm just confused! :blush: 
 
 

Thank you. I will try and employ it again. It's a bit dusty  and I'm looking on it with suspicion but surely it will be kind if I give it another chance? It didn't throw CBtD at me .. so it wasn't really that mean! 

 

:lol: Imagine if it were to spit out CBtB at your feet the very first time this year you went for the Jar? 

 

Yes, by all means .. that would be great as I could definitely do with the encouragement (or a great big shove in other words) .. but yes .. when we feel like it .. and there's a full moon and the wind is in the East etc etc. Plus we must start on a Tuesday and finish on a Friday .. at 3pm  

 

Yes, sounds about right :D I like those odds!!

 

 

There are much better books out there. It was one of those that passes the time well enough and is pleasant and all but really it's not offering anything new and it's not the best of its type. I still have to read The Mysteries of Udolpho which Catherine was talking about (is THAT on the 1001? .. maybe we can synchronize on that one day? .. oh pooh! No it's not!  ) It's on my shelf upstairs. I think it's the book that's been on my TBR the longest    Is 2016 the year to find out what is behind the black veil?   I hope it's not CBtD 

 

I've still yet to read TMoU, too, as well as The Monk. I've started the Udolpho book a few times but it's so bloody slow going and descriptive, I don't know if I'll ever read it! I might if it was shorter, but it's a bloody slog, too! :D The book is on the Rory Gilmore list so as least I've got that incentive going for me, but you... You don't have that to fall back on! But it might be a relief for you... It might be a sign you don't ever have to read it!! Lucky barstard... :D 

 

Haha I'd forgotten about the black veil :D CBtD behind it? Nooooo :D (That reminded me... someone posted Bowie's list of 100 favorite books in the thread (RIP), and do you know what. He'd listed Madame Bovary. !!!!) 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Shamelessly stealing my layout!!!! :lol:  It sounds like you had a fantastic reading year in 2015, Kay, although I know what you mean about trying to find out whether the author was male or female ... I blame J.K. Rowling for the seemingly huge increase in initialed writers. :D

 

Love your top five books ... especially as two of them were from me, not to mention the others in the special mentions section. :giggle2:

 

Here's hoping for a great 2016 to follow  :cows:  :cows:

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Well done on reading 113 books last year!  :clapping:  That is no mean feat!! I'm cheerily witnessing another triumph for female authors over male authors :giggle2:

:thanx:  Yes! Let's hear it for the girls  :yahoo:  :D

My head is exploding... I mean my brain is. You bought 47 books, of which you read 42! That's awesome! And what's similarly awesome is that your TBR went down by so many titles! But what's hurting my brain is you saying somewhere else that you didn't read as many books off the TBR list as you acquired new books... Which I understand, because buying and acquiring are two different things, but then you managed to go down in your TBR pile! This to me is like a Lincoln Rhyme novel: so many twists I can hardly keep up :D I'm so slow... I'm not meaning to nit-pick, I'm just confused! :blush:

Sorry .. I made a pigs ear of writing it down  :blush2: I'll write down some more figures now .. they wont make any more sense but at least I'll have tried :D 

TBR was 232 .. of which I read 32 .. making it a nice round 200 :D I acquired 70 books (47 of which I bought myself) and read 61 of them (42 of the ones I bought) .. that left 9 unread .. added to the 200 made 209 which should have been the figure I carried forward to 2016 but in January I took a look at my shelves and took away all of the books which I didn't think I'd read. They are in boxes actually so not gone entirely but if I don't look at them or think about them for another year then I'll pass them on to the charity shop. I may take them out in dribs and drabs and read a chapter or two first to see if anything catches fire! Anyway ... there are 21 books boxed up (though not sealed and still accessible .. at the moment!) which leaves 188 books not read on the shelves.

 

I'm happy enough with reading 32 off the old TBR .. it's not brilliant but it's reasonable but I'm not that happy that I bought 47  :blush2: I should have tried to limit myself a bit more (especially when there was 232 on the TBR!) I think I'll do better this year with buying but not perhaps as well with reading so .. it's swings and roundabouts. I'm already fretting .. arghhhhh! 

Edited by poppyshake
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Shamelessly stealing my layout!!!! :lol:

Sorry Claire :blush2:  :D:hug: It led me up the garden path though because it called for an organised brain and well ... I was in all sorts of trouble as soon as I started. Never have you seen a more confused person then me trying to work out if I'd read the paperback or hardback version  :giggle: 

It sounds like you had a fantastic reading year in 2015, Kay, although I know what you mean about trying to find out whether the author was male or female ... I blame J.K. Rowling for the seemingly huge increase in initialed writers. :D

There's that .. and there's Japanese writers and then people called Robin or Pat .. which could go either way  :D

Love your top five books ... especially as two of them were from me, not to mention the others in the special mentions section. :giggle2:

Here's hoping for a great 2016 to follow  :cows:  :cows:

A testament to your extremely good taste I think Claire  :D Hope you have a great 2016 too :hug:

Link to comment
Share on other sites

:lol: Imagine if it were to spit out CBtB at your feet the very first time this year you went for the Jar?

:o It wouldn't be so evil .. would it!?!  :o

I've still yet to read TMoU, too, as well as The Monk. I've started the Udolpho book a few times but it's so bloody slow going and descriptive, I don't know if I'll ever read it! I might if it was shorter, but it's a bloody slog, too! :D The book is on the Rory Gilmore list so as least I've got that incentive going for me, but you... You don't have that to fall back on! But it might be a relief for you... It might be a sign you don't ever have to read it!! Lucky barstard... :D

 

Haha I'd forgotten about the black veil :D CBtD behind it? Nooooo :D (That reminded me... someone posted Bowie's list of 100 favorite books in the thread (RIP), and do you know what. He'd listed Madame Bovary. !!!!)

Bless him .. I'll forgive him! He's in good company with Kylie! :wub:

I'm exactly the same with Udolpho ... it loses me with all it's descriptions of the landscape etc. I nod off! Fiction must have been so tame back then if Catherine was thrilled by this but then .. I've not got to the good bits probably. Just my luck! When I next read it, it'll be the fourth time probably that I've read the first few chapters  :Zzzz:  I definitely need a cheerleader! :D:cows:  

Link to comment
Share on other sites

(That reminded me... someone posted Bowie's list of 100 favorite books in the thread (RIP), and do you know what. He'd listed Madame Bovary. !!!!) 

 

Bless him .. I'll forgive him! He's in good company with Kylie! :wub:

 

I knew I loved Bowie for a reason. ;) (Other than his awesome music.)

 

Hmm, I see that CBtD has been mentioned above...does that mean it survived the recent cull? ;)

 

Congrats on an awesome reading year in 2015. :)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I knew I loved Bowie for a reason. ;) (Other than his awesome music.)

 

Hmm, I see that CBtD has been mentioned above...does that mean it survived the recent cull? ;)

 

Congrats on an awesome reading year in 2015. :)

Thanks Kylie :hug: 

I wouldn't dare cull CBtD! :D How would Alan be able to (literally) bash people over the head with it if it wasn't still in the cabinet right next to his armchair!? I think there's something wrong with me (must be getting soft) as I'm actually feeling more well disposed towards the book and wouldn't mind if it came out of the book jar soon  :o:D 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

brokenwheel.jpg
The Readers of Broken Wheel Recommend by Katarina Bivald

Synopsis:
Sara is 28 and has never been outside Sweden - except in the (many) books she reads. When her elderly penfriend Amy invites her to come and visit her in Broken Wheel, Iowa, Sara decides it's time. But when she arrives, there's a twist waiting for her - Amy has died. Finding herself utterly alone in a dead woman's house in the middle of nowhere was not the holiday Sara had in mind. But Sara discovers she is not exactly alone. For here in this town so broken it's almost beyond repair are all the people she's come to know through Amy's letters: poor George, fierce Grace, buttoned-up Caroline and Amy's guarded nephew Tom. Sara quickly realises that Broken Wheel is in desperate need of some adventure, a dose of self-help and perhaps a little romance too. In short, this is a town in need of a bookshop.

Review: Yay! That synopsis is the best isn't it? :smile:
 What with that and the cover this was a dead cert to find its way into my shopping bag. A book about books and bookshops is too much potential pleasure to overcome. It did happily, for the most part, live up. Sara is every much the bookworm you want her to be .. loving the smell and feel of books and believing in the power of stories to heal the broken people of Broken Wheel. I like reading about small towns .. where everybody knows everyone else .. warts and all but where some secrets are kept.

Amy, though dead when we meet her, remains alive in the book through her letters which we read in retrospect. We get to know her and the inhabitants of the town but, like all letter writers, she's not quite given the true picture .. some things have been left unsaid and Sara finds she only knows half the story.

The only thing that slightly spoiled it for me was the romance in the story. It's not that I'm unromantic .. but I didn't feel it was necessary here and it all seemed a bit too convenient and not particularly plausible (or necessary). It got in my way ... I wanted to know more about the books!! :D But this was only a slight niggle. Sara's way of prescribing books for broken down people was just a delight (though prescribing Bridget Jones to a recovering alcoholic might not be exactly ideal .. still .. he loved it  :D)

Great read. Liked it!  

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Great review :). This sounds like a great book! It shall go on my ever-expanding list of books I'm interested in :).

Thanks Gaia  :DI know the feeling! I seem to add about ten books a day to my wishlist  :blush2: I only ever write a fraction of it out on here .. because it looks greedy otherwise and unfocused (which it is :D

Link to comment
Share on other sites

jeevesandthewedding.jpg
Jeeves and the Wedding Bells by Sebastian Faulks

Synopsis:
Bertie Wooster is staying at the stately home of Sir Henry Hackwood in Dorset. He is more than familiar with the country-house set-up, he is a veteran of the cocktail hour and, thanks to Jeeves, his gentleman's personal gentleman, is never less than immaculately dressed. On this occasion, however, it is Jeeves who is to be seen in the drawing room while Bertie finds himself below stairs - which he doesn't care for at all.
His predicament is, of course, all in the name of love.

Review: I love Wodehouse and the Jeeves and Wooster books in particular so was a little sceptical about this and worried whether Faulks could write a decent homage to those beloved stories but I was excited and also curious. I knew it was written with the blessing and authorisation of the Wodehouse estate so they obviously had faith in him and the reviews (or the ratings anyway) were good so I took my courage in both hands and bought it (well .. the cover was lovely .. I took that as a sign! :D)

By and large I do think Sebastian caught the right tone (and it's clear .. he knows these characters and this world like the back of his hand). I laughed my way through as I normally would at soppy old Bertie and wiser than wise Jeeves .. but there was something just a little off .. a little too modern. It was very fast paced which Wodehouse could be but it didn't quite have his relaxed style and there were too many Woosterisms .. they were raining down like bullets. I had to take shelter occasionally .. it lacked Wodehouse's light touch. Plus I wasn't convinced about the outcome .. not sure that was quite in keeping. Thinking of how disastrously bad it could have been though, I'm inclined to think that the job's a good 'un. It's a tough ask after all and one that could easily have been disastrous. It's a great tribute to the books and much, much, better than a lot of the other pastiches I've read. Not quite top hole but almost  :DLiked it!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Great review. :) I recently removed this book from my wishlist because I figured I should read all of Wodehouse's books first, and that's going to take a long, long time!

Thanks Kylie :) I thought that and then changed my mind. I would rather save all the lovely Wodehouse stories for later .. they are treats to look forward to. This didn't spoil anything or ruin any plots .. the plot that Sebastian did put forward I'm not going to consider  :D .. that is not how the pair of them end up as far as I'm concerned. Wodehouse will have the last word on that! :D

This was like hearing a Beatles song sung by someone else. It might be good but it's not the Beatles! :no:  

 

This puts me in mind of the news that Kanye West is going to do a David Bowie tribute album!! :o Actually, I think it is only speculation by the tabloids (mischief making probably) but there's been a campaign to stop him and they've already got 22,000 signatures  :D :D :D

Link to comment
Share on other sites

This isn't the first time Faulks has written in the style of another author ... he also wrote a James Bond book (which I thought was pretty good), and I also read a book called Pistache, which was a collection of spoofs written in the style of other authors such as Dickens and Hardy as well as contemporaries such as Dan Brown.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Yes! Let's hear it for the girls  :yahoo:

I confess: I didn't remember at first what this was in connection to, and first thought was 'boobs?'. Had to go and re-read some stuff :D 

 

Sorry .. I made a pigs ear of writing it down   I'll write down some more figures now .. they wont make any more sense but at least I'll have tried  

TBR was 232 .. of which I read 32 .. making it a nice round 200 I acquired 70 books (47 of which I bought myself) and read 61 of them (42 of the ones I bought) .. that left 9 unread .. added to the 200 made 209 which should have been the figure I carried forward to 2016 but in January I took a look at my shelves and took away all of the books which I didn't think I'd read. They are in boxes actually so not gone entirely but if I don't look at them or think about them for another year then I'll pass them on to the charity shop. I may take them out in dribs and drabs and read a chapter or two first to see if anything catches fire! Anyway ... there are 21 books boxed up (though not sealed and still accessible .. at the moment!) which leaves 188 books not read on the shelves.

I'm so sorry to have bugged you into writing the whole thing down. To make you break it down to me as if I was five :blush: I'm not sure I still get it. I feel like I'm taking the SATs or something and it's maths! I mean this could easily be one of those really tricky math problems!!  Going back to the older post...

 

"I bought 47 books in total, and managed to read 42 of them so that's pretty decent. At the beginning of 2015, my TBR was 232 books, and at the end of the year, it's 209 .. whoopee doo!! I've fiendishly managed to knock it down to 188 though .. just by a bit of judicious pruning"

 

You see, I thought you were left with 5 unread TBR books, and so at the beginning, with 232 books... you'd have to add that 5 books and then it should've been 237. But now I realized, that you were only talking about the books you bought that particular year and that you read. You were also reading books off the previous years' purchases list but I didn't take that into account!  :doh:   I'm such a nitwit. Sorry to have troubled you :blush: Just remember next year that if I ask the same thing, just post a link to this particular conversation :blush:

 

I'm exactly the same with Udolpho ... it loses me with all it's descriptions of the landscape etc. I nod off! Fiction must have been so tame back then if Catherine was thrilled by this but then .. I've not got to the good bits probably. Just my luck! When I next read it, it'll be the fourth time probably that I've read the first few chapters    I definitely need a cheerleader! 

 

 I undertand how the descriptions of landscapes were all the rage back in the day, but by jolly, there's a limit as to how much a person can take!!! I wonder if it's a case of the people having more vivid imaginations in those days. What with not having all the modern technology doing things for them. They had the time to imagine all things, and they never had the talkies to spend their time on. I wonder if one spent two months in isolation, could one then easily read Udolpho?

 

(I feel like borrowing a Finnish copy... But that would feel like cheating, because I bought an English copy so many years ago. It was actually one of the very first books I ordered online, ever!!)

 

Hmm, I see that CBtD has been mentioned above...does that mean it survived the recent cull? 

 

 I'm sure Alan's antennae would've notified him of such attempt and he would've come to the rescue :D

 

 

I wouldn't dare cull CBtD! How would Alan be able to (literally) bash people over the head with it if it wasn't still in the cabinet right next to his armchair!? I think there's something wrong with me (must be getting soft) as I'm actually feeling more well disposed towards the book and wouldn't mind if it came out of the book jar soon  

 

  :o I think maybe he's bashed you in the head with it a few too many times! :o:lol:

 

The Readers of Broken Wheel Recommend by Katarina Bivald

 

The only thing that slightly spoiled it for me was the romance in the story. It's not that I'm unromantic .. but I didn't feel it was necessary here and it all seemed a bit too convenient and not particularly plausible (or necessary). It got in my way ... I wanted to know more about the books!! But this was only a slight niggle. Sara's way of prescribing books for broken down people was just a delight (though prescribing Bridget Jones to a recovering alcoholic might not be exactly ideal .. still .. he loved it  )

 

 Great review! I agree with it 100%. All the book talk was great, and I liked learning about the different people, but the romance stuff was just boring and useless. Personally I would've preferred to read more about the recovering alcoholic and his books and future life :D  (I loved it that he was given BJ to read and he enjoyed it :D )

 

 

This puts me in mind of the news that Kanye West is going to do a David Bowie tribute album!! Actually, I think it is only speculation by the tabloids (mischief making probably) but there's been a campaign to stop him and they've already got 22,000 signatures  

 

Oh lord have mercy!! 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

This isn't the first time Faulks has written in the style of another author ... he also wrote a James Bond book (which I thought was pretty good), and I also read a book called Pistache, which was a collection of spoofs written in the style of other authors such as Dickens and Hardy as well as contemporaries such as Dan Brown.

That's impressive stuff. I haven't read any of his own books yet .. fiction books that is. I've dipped into his Faulks on Fiction which is a good read (though I don't necessarily agree with his choices :D) He's very versatile though.  

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I confess: I didn't remember at first what this was in connection to, and first thought was 'boobs?'. Had to go and re-read some stuff :D

Your first thought is always 'boobs'  :giggle2: 

I'm so sorry to have bugged you into writing the whole thing down. To make you break it down to me as if I was five. I'm not sure I still get it. I feel like I'm taking the SATs or something and it's maths! I mean this could easily be one of those really tricky math problems!!  Going back to the older post...

 

"I bought 47 books in total, and managed to read 42 of them so that's pretty decent. At the beginning of 2015, my TBR was 232 books, and at the end of the year, it's 209 .. whoopee doo!! I've fiendishly managed to knock it down to 188 though .. just by a bit of judicious pruning"

 

You see, I thought you were left with 5 unread TBR books, and so at the beginning, with 232 books... you'd have to add that 5 books and then it should've been 237. But now I realized, that you were only talking about the books you bought that particular year and that you read. You were also reading books off the previous years' purchases list but I didn't take that into account! I'm such a nitwit. Sorry to have troubled you. Just remember next year that if I ask the same thing, just post a link to this particular conversation :blush:

Not at all. I'm just not clear or methodical (or organised) .. I borrowed Claire's system without having her analytical mind .. so I winged it really and came up with my own statistics which made sense to no-one .. not even me! :D If anyone can tell me what I actually read in 2015 .. I'd be very grateful :lol: 

I undertand how the descriptions of landscapes were all the rage back in the day, but by jolly, there's a limit as to how much a person can take!!! I wonder if it's a case of the people having more vivid imaginations in those days. What with not having all the modern technology doing things for them. They had the time to imagine all things, and they never had the talkies to spend their time on. I wonder if one spent two months in isolation, could one then easily read Udolpho?

 

(I feel like borrowing a Finnish copy... But that would feel like cheating, because I bought an English copy so many years ago. It was actually one of the very first books I ordered online, ever!!)

Yes .. reading was very high on their list of entertainments. They weren't all great travellers either so I suppose they liked to hear all the descriptions of landscapes etc that they probably would never see. I was talking to Al the other day about how, back in Jane's day, young girls would have had drawing tutors (the well to do ones anyway) .. and they would all be pretty proficient at drawing flowers and butterflies etc (and portraits) .. they probably took a lot more notice of nature and the things around them than we do today. We walk from A to B (when we do walk) .. in a rush usually hardly noticing anything with a mind full of inconsequentials  :blush2: 

I'm sure Alan's antennae would've notified him of such attempt and he would've come to the rescue.

I think it is technically my book .. so I do have certain rights over it :D

I think maybe he's bashed you in the head with it a few too many times! 

:D So that's his ploy .. it's working :unsure::D

Great review! I agree with it 100%. All the book talk was great, and I liked learning about the different people, but the romance stuff was just boring and useless. Personally I would've preferred to read more about the recovering alcoholic and his books and future life  (I loved it that he was given BJ to read and he enjoyed it :D )

Yes .. much more of that would have been great! Ah .. books are almost always never quite perfect. They can head towards it and drop out of sight in an instant and then suddenly come back into view again (where am I going with this?? I have no idea! :D

Oh lord have mercy!!

Quite! We've suffered enough :D 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

That's impressive stuff. I haven't read any of his own books yet .. fiction books that is. I've dipped into his Faulks on Fiction which is a good read (though I don't necessarily agree with his choices ) He's very versatile though.  

 

I have a copy of Faulks on Fiction and I was so eager to read it when I got it for Christmas two years ago, but then I was looking through the pages, I realized I couldn't read it through without him spoiling the plots of certain books for me  :doh:   :lol: And I'm really bad at reading only certain parts of a book and then leaving the rest for later... 

 

Your first thought is always 'boobs' 

 

:lol: Boobs or chippies. Sometimes dogs. Boobs are fun! It's no coincidence they are called funbags :D 

 

 

Not at all. I'm just not clear or methodical (or organised) .. I borrowed Claire's system without having her analytical mind .. so I winged it really and came up with my own statistics which made sense to no-one .. not even me!  If anyone can tell me what I actually read in 2015 .. I'd be very grateful 

 

:lol: I wonder if you offered to bake a cake for Claire, would she do a nice and rational end-of-the-reading-year summary for you :D I remember this one year when I did mine, and mentioned the number of 1/5 and 2/5 etc etc ratings of all the books I read. I'd also calculated what the average rating was. Then Claire swooped in and she noticed that the number of ratings didn't match with the number of books I'd read :blush: She has a keen eye!! But I couldn't be bothered to go through the list again to make it right :giggle: I appreciated her comment but I was too lazy to do anything about it :giggle:

 

Yes .. reading was very high on their list of entertainments. They weren't all great travellers either so I suppose they liked to hear all the descriptions of landscapes etc that they probably would never see. I was talking to Al the other day about how, back in Jane's day, young girls would have had drawing tutors (the well to do ones anyway) .. and they would all be pretty proficient at drawing flowers and butterflies etc (and portraits) .. they probably took a lot more notice of nature and the things around them than we do today. We walk from A to B (when we do walk) .. in a rush usually hardly noticing anything with a mind full of inconsequentials  

 

That's a very good point re: the majority of people not traveling that much and therefore gobbling up all the nature descriptions and stuff like crack addicts! I didn't think of that. 

 

I think it is technically my book .. so I do have certain rights over it

 

:lol: I suppose I'd forgotten you had your own copy... Or, didn't you in fact have a mini bookcase with two shelves full of copies of the very same book? I think Alan posted a picture about it in April... :giggle2: He probably bought them all in case you 'accidentally' lost one... (Or maybe he got a discount on them because they weren't selling well otherwise :lol: )

 

 

Yes .. much more of that would have been great! Ah .. books are almost always never quite perfect. They can head towards it and drop out of sight in an instant and then suddenly come back into view again (where am I going with this?? I have no idea! ) 

 

But this really reminds me of a book that in my humble opinion was perfect in that there was book talk and a plausible and enjoyable romance storyline! Namely, The Storied Life of A. J. Fikry. That book was simply marvellous! :wub: 

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.


×
×
  • Create New...