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Your Book Activity - July 2015


Kylie

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Not quite as good as the first I don't think but it's still great - I keep reading for five minutes only to look up and find 50 pages have gone by :giggle2:

 

I love the world she's created and I already want to go straight on to book 3 but I think I shall savour them - there's a couple of "between the books" short stories too.

 

I'd agree.  I read both in fairly quick order earlier this year, and am taking a breather for the same reasons.  They are the sort of books that you know aren't particularly well written (in the literary scheme of things), demand a fairly substantial suspension of disbelief (even if you buy into the basic premise), but which are completely irresistible.  I think it's because they so appeal to some inate instincts/wants, and because they're so obviously written for the reader to have fun.  Anyway, must be ready to read the next volume soon!

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I was reading Passage to Juneau, but got a bit bogged down with the end of term rush.  Anyway, we broke up yesterday, and, having managed a morning's decent work, I picked up Desolation Island, the next in the Aubrey/Maturin series, this afternoon and have got stuck in fairly heftily - almost half way through tonight.

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I finished North and South last night, and I really liked it, but thought it ended too abruptly. But now, for the life of me, I can't settle on any one book to read. I must have started 4 different books last night. I thought I'd settled on Barchester Towers by Anthony Trollope, but the thought of going back to it today isn't very exciting. I have my Kindle with me, though, so I'll be taking another look...I have about 200 books on it that I've never read!

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Will read Paper Town by John Green  :smile: , and the prologue was gripping!

 

I hope you enjoy it :)!

 

Yay! I can't wait to hear what you think. :D

So far it's awesome :D! My only minor gripe is that the translation (from German to Dutch) is on occasion a bit odd. Sometimes the wrong past tense is used and on occasion there's a word missing (such as 'they' or 'he'), I'm pretty sure it isn't intentional. That minor gripe aside, the story is really good. I like the writing style, the characters, the plot twists, the stories-within-a-story, the illustrations.. Can you tell I'm enjoying it so far?! I've read subpart 1 of part 1 of the book (titled 'The Silver Thread' I think it would be in English? I'm on page 117 out of 745). I look forward to read more in it later today :D!!

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I did manage to start Campari for Breakfast yesterday afternoon, and I'm enjoying it so far, but have bought the Kindle edition, as the writing was too small for me in the paperback.  A mixture of low light and small typeface was too much for my old eyes! :lol:

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Getting there with the second Wayward Pines book. I can see why they squished the second two books into the second half of the series - I feel like basically nothing has happened in this book. Might skip out on the third one for a bit and read something else, once I'm done with this one.

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I am about 100 pages into The Memory Keeper's Daughter. It's not really holding my interest, and I'm wondering if I should put it aside. Has anyone else read it and did you like it? It seems far-fetched and over-dramatic to me.

 

I haven't read the book, but I do remember catching the made-for-TV movie a few years ago. It was alright, but definitely far fetched!  :smile:

 

I'm in a bit of a reading slump right now, so am keeping myself busy with other stuff until the mood lifts. There is no panic (I'LL NEVER READ AGAIN!) just yet, but I do hope I can mentally snuggle into another book soon. 

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I'm in a bit of a reading slump right now, so am keeping myself busy with other stuff until the mood lifts. There is no panic (I'LL NEVER READ AGAIN!) just yet, but I do hope I can mentally snuggle into another book soon.

I hope you'll have more fun reading soon.

 

I'm really enjoying Walter Moers - Zamonië 3: Rumo & De Wonderen in het Donker (Rumo & die Wunder im Dunkeln), must read more in it soon!

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I haven't read the book, but I do remember catching the made-for-TV movie a few years ago. It was alright, but definitely far fetched!  :smile:

 

I'm in a bit of a reading slump right now, so am keeping myself busy with other stuff until the mood lifts. There is no panic (I'LL NEVER READ AGAIN!) just yet, but I do hope I can mentally snuggle into another book soon. 

I'm still reading it. I'll probably finish it, as it's not terribly long, but I think I may have wished I hadn't. :D

 

I hope you get out of your reading slump soon. When I think I am in a reading slump, it's usually only because I haven't found the right book to read for whatever my current mood may happen to be. :smile:

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So far it's awesome :D! My only minor gripe is that the translation (from German to Dutch) is on occasion a bit odd. Sometimes the wrong past tense is used and on occasion there's a word missing (such as 'they' or 'he'), I'm pretty sure it isn't intentional. That minor gripe aside, the story is really good. I like the writing style, the characters, the plot twists, the stories-within-a-story, the illustrations.. Can you tell I'm enjoying it so far?! I've read subpart 1 of part 1 of the book (titled 'The Silver Thread' I think it would be in English? I'm on page 117 out of 745). I look forward to read more in it later today :D!!

 

That's great news! I'm so pleased you're enjoying it. :) You'll definitely have to read The 13 1/2 Lives of Captain Bluebear at some stage. I thought it was much better than Rumo. :)

 

I am about 100 pages into The Memory Keeper's Daughter. It's not really holding my interest, and I'm wondering if I should put it aside. Has anyone else read it and did you like it? It seems far-fetched and over-dramatic to me.

 

I read it years ago and didn't exactly love it. I disliked most of the characters and I agree with your other criticisms.

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I am about 100 pages into The Memory Keeper's Daughter. It's not really holding my interest, and I'm wondering if I should put it aside. Has anyone else read it and did you like it? It seems far-fetched and over-dramatic to me.

 

I read this a while ago, and I recall being disappointed by it after hearing all the hype. It certainly didn't live up to my expectations, but I can't exactly remember why.

 

I finished The Silence this morning. That was certainly an exciting read. :boogie: Soon I'll start The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society.

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I think I've decided to start on The Hound of the Baskervilles by Arthur Conan Doyle. The edition I have also includes The Valley of Fear.

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I'm in a bit of a reading slump right now, so am keeping myself busy with other stuff until the mood lifts. There is no panic (I'LL NEVER READ AGAIN!) just yet, but I do hope I can mentally snuggle into another book soon. 

:giggle2:

 

I'm only read of 12% of Paper Town, but love it  :smile:

Enjoying Angela Thirkwell's August Folly, it is pretty frothy stuff, but there is such a sting in her writing - very much a la E. F. Benson and Barbara Pym.

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I'm almost finished the second Wayward Pines book and if anyone asked me what had happened in the last 200 pages I couldn't tell you. Whole load of nothing.

 

Looking forward to starting something new today :)

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I don't think you do. This is the follow up to Vivien's Heavenly Ice Cream Shop which is the book I think you have.

x

Sorry, I missed this post! You are right, I must have misread, sorry :blush2:

 

That's great news! I'm so pleased you're enjoying it. :) You'll definitely have to read The 13 1/2 Lives of Captain Bluebear at some stage. I thought it was much better than Rumo. :)

Sounds good!

 

I think I've decided to start on The Hound of the Baskervilles by Arthur Conan Doyle. The edition I have also includes The Valley of Fear.

x

I hope you enjoy this :). I also have an edition with both of those.

 

I'm only read of 12% of Paper Town, but love it  :smile:

x

Yay :)!

 

I've made great progress with Walter Moers - Zamonië 3: Rumo & De Wonderen in het Donker (Rumo & die Wunder im Dunkeln), and I like it a lot. The translation errors can be a bit annoying and sometimes it's a bit too wordy and goes into too much detail without moving the overall story along. I like the book a lot though, it's very interesting and it's clear the author has a lot of imagination and creativity.

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Claire, would you say it is necessary to read the first book before the second? If so I'll need to buy it! :D

 

I always find it hard to answer that question, as I think most books that follow on from previous books should be able to be read as a stand alone, but I find that I prefer to read them in order, so that you already know the characters and where they've come from.  I'd probably recommend it, if I'm honest.  I think she does pretty well, in that for someone who hasn't read the first book, there will be enough for you to understand the characters and some of the references to story lines from the previous book, but if you have read the first book, she doesn't go overboard on rehashing story lines for newcomers.  Does that make sense, or help at all?  Probably not, sorry.

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I have finished American Psycho by Bret Easton Ellis.  On the one hand this was quite a brilliantly written and constructed book that held a damning critique of the American yuppie culture of the 80s.  As far as the storyline itself, however, I still wonder if the author deliberately left this open to interpretation.  Were we to trust Bateman's narration, or were all his 'acts' in his own head.  Having read horror as a genre since my early teens (and even from the age of 9 if you include Dracula), I have become somewhat desensitised to gore in fiction, and I found most of the violence so overblown as to be ridiculous - with one or two exceptions.  But there again, was this also intentional by the author?  Bateman is a fascinating character, nonetheless, if a repulsive one.

 

Having said all this, however, I have no real desire to expand my reading of Easton Ellis at the moment, but who knows.....

 

I am now cleansing myself with the final part of the First Law Trilogy.  Abercrombie's Glokta seems like Father Christmas after Patrick Bateman, and of course, he knocks spots off him for sardonic wit!

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I always find it hard to answer that question, as I think most books that follow on from previous books should be able to be read as a stand alone, but I find that I prefer to read them in order, so that you already know the characters and where they've come from. I'd probably recommend it, if I'm honest. I think she does pretty well, in that for someone who hasn't read the first book, there will be enough for you to understand the characters and some of the references to story lines from the previous book, but if you have read the first book, she doesn't go overboard on rehashing story lines for newcomers. Does that make sense, or help at all? Probably not, sorry.

Thanks, I shall put it on my ever expanding wish list! :D

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I have finished American Psycho by Bret Easton Ellis.  On the one hand this was quite a brilliantly written and constructed book that held a damning critique of the American yuppie culture of the 80s.  As far as the storyline itself, however, I still wonder if the author deliberately left this open to interpretation.  Were we to trust Bateman's narration, or were all his 'acts' in his own head.  Having read horror as a genre since my early teens (and even from the age of 9 if you include Dracula), I have become somewhat desensitised to gore in fiction, and I found most of the violence so overblown as to be ridiculous - with one or two exceptions.  But there again, was this also intentional by the author?  Bateman is a fascinating character, nonetheless, if a repulsive one.

 

Having read one other book by BEE, besides AP, I would say, of the two choices you say (whether it all happened or whether it was in his head), (and do not read on if you do not want to know which one I think it is. I'm not going to say anything about the particular plot of the other book, just whether I think it's the latter or the former with BEE): I think BEE writes things

that happen in one's head. The narrator's can't be trusted 100%. 

 

 

Hoping to catch up on my reading a little bit tonight... Where's the weekend gone??

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Having read one other book by BEE, besides AP, I would say, of the two choices you say (whether it all happened or whether it was in his head), (and do not read on if you do not want to know which one I think it is. I'm not going to say anything about the particular plot of the other book, just whether I think it's the latter or the former with BEE): I think BEE writes things

that happen in one's head. The narrator's can't be trusted 100%. 

 

 

Hoping to catch up on my reading a little bit tonight... Where's the weekend gone??

Thanks for your thoughts, Frankie.  I would definitely lean towards this interpretation.  I rented the film from iTunes over the weekend, and I think that supports the theory.

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