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Your Book Activity - August 2015


frankie

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 Also halfway through The Phantom Tollbooth by Norton Juster - very funny in places, but not really my thing.

 

You're not alone.  I thought it somewhat overrated - and the children in my class have, over the space of a couple of years trying, been sufficiently unenthusiastic for me to pull it out of a pressed-for-space class library.

Edited by willoyd
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I'm still reading Brandon Sanderson - The Mistborn Trilogy 3: The Hero of Ages. I've been doing other things so I haven't read a lot in it in the past few days. I'm enjoying it though and I hope to read some more in it later today.

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I'm currently reading Elizabeth Is Missing, which seems to be one of those forum favorites among quite a few. 

 

I quite enjoyed it, I wasn't too keen on the plot but the writing and portrayal of dementia I thought was excellent.

 

I hesitated about halfway through Cuckoo Song by Frances Hardinge, but I'm glad I pushed on because it didn't quite go down the route I expected. It is incredibly original and so multi-faceted, it's wonderful. Hoping to finish it tonight, and I must get on and review both I've read by her.

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I have a couple of books by Frances Hardinge on my wish list, Noll - The Lie Tree and Verdigris Deep (which Amazon tells me I added to my wish list on Added 7 July, 2010!  :o ).  I'm glad you enjoyed Cuckoo Song.

 

I finished How to be Both by Ali Smith last night!  Hurrah! :D

 

I've been listening to Dumb Witness by Agatha Christie today as I did two x one-hour long bus journeys!  Cheerful.gif

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Finished listening to South Riding, read by the incomparable Carol Boyd.  It's hard to say how much is down to the excellence of her reading - she really is one of the best, and there are nowhere near enough books read by her - but this has turned out to be one of the best of the year, earning a full 6 stars..

 

As I'm busy setting up my classroom for the new term (it takes about a week!), I'm getting plenty of listening done.  Have now moved on to Lady Susan, read mainly by Harriet Walter, another big favourite (both actor and reader!).

 

Interesting that, on the whole, I prefer women's voices for listening to audiobooks.

Edited by willoyd
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I have a couple of books by Frances Hardinge on my wish list, Noll - The Lie Tree and Verdigris Deep (which Amazon tells me I added to my wish list on Added 7 July, 2010!  :o ).  I'm glad you enjoyed Cuckoo Song.

 

I finished How to be Both by Ali Smith last night!  Hurrah! :D

 

I have The Lie Tree ready to go. I adore her. She's such a unique writer, and I'm going buying as pretty a hardback of Fly By Night and its sequel as I can find online this weekend after payday.

 

Congrats on finishing that book with the crazy writing in half of it :lol: Was it worth it?

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I really enjoyed part 2 (which was nothing like the first part) and part 1 grew on me.  I wouldn't have continued with it if it wasn't for my book club, but I'm glad I did. I gave it 3/5. :)  I'm intrigued as to what the other members of the group thought (one definitely won't have finished it - if she has I'll eat my hat!  :P  ).  

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Are you enjoying it? I thought it was pretty decent. Felt so sorry for Maud. :(

 

 

I quite enjoyed it, I wasn't too keen on the plot but the writing and portrayal of dementia I thought was excellent.

 

Nollaig's pretty much summed up my thoughts for me, unfortunately! The writing was good and the narrative was so well structured and Maud was <3 But I just couldn't get myself to be interested in the Sukey case :( I don't do halves so I only gave it a 2/5, officially, but it's more like 2½ for me. I really wanted to like the book but didn't happen :(

 

Have started reading Small Steps by Louis Sachar (I'd forgotten that it's a sequel to Holes! :D Yay!) and this one I'm really enjoying :) 

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I finished The Curse of the House of Foskett yesterday.  I did enjoy it, but I'm not as enamoured of the series as I was hoping to be.  There's something about both March and Sidney that doesn't quite ring true for me, but I'm not quite sure why.  I might read the next one and see how it goes, but I've got plenty of other books to read as well as on my wish list that I'd want to read more that the third book of the series, so it might be a while before I think about it.

 

I've gone back to the Amelia Peabody series now, and I'm reading The Hippopotamus Pool by Elizabeth Peters and loving it!  I wish I'd bought the entire series when they were all 84p each on Kindle :(

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I'm still reading Brandon Sanderson - The Mistborn Trilogy 3: The Hero of Ages. I've been doing other things so I haven't read a lot in it in the past few days. I'm enjoying it though and I hope to read some more in it later today.

I really enjoyed the Mistborn trilogy when I read it, several years ago now. It felt like quite a fresh concept in the fantasy world.

Annoyingly, I haven't read any Sanderson since, though.

 

As I have not long moved house and all my books are stored in boxes in the garage :o, I've been limited to Kindle, where I decided to go for an old classic - The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck. I also picked up a book from the shops the other day - Mr Mercedes by Stephen King to read alongside that, as GoW seems a bit heavy going for me at the mo. :D

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I really enjoyed the Mistborn trilogy when I read it, several years ago now. It felt like quite a fresh concept in the fantasy world.

Annoyingly, I haven't read any Sanderson since, though.

 

As I have not long moved house and all my books are stored in boxes in the garage :o, I've been limited to Kindle, where I decided to go for an old classic - The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck. I also picked up a book from the shops the other day - Mr Mercedes by Stephen King to read alongside that, as GoW seems a bit heavy going for me at the mo. :D

I've just finished it, I loved it too! I've liked all the books by Sanderson I've read so far, so I'd definitely recommend reading more of them, seeing as you really enjoyed the Mistborn books.

 

I hope you enjoy your two books :).

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Finally finished New York by Edward Rutherfurd. What an absorbing read, that flew along for 500 years of rich history. Wonderful stuff, that has left me chomping at the bit for my flight to JFK in 2 weeks.

 

Now starting Love in the Time of Cholera by Gabriel Garcia Marquez.

Edited by Alexi
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Finally finished New York by Edward Rutherfurd. What an absorbing read, that flew along for 500 years of rich history. Wonderful stuff, that has left me chomping at the bit for my flight to JFK in 2 weeks.

 

Now starting Love in the Time of Cholera by Gabriel Garcia Marquez.

Oooh- I've always wanted to read Marquez.  And I'm glad you liked New York.  I tried Russka after you picked up NY and just couldn't get into it, but I did take a once- in- a while peek at some reviews and they said New York and Sarum were his best.  So I don't know if it was the reviews that put me off, or I just wasn't in the mood!  Anyway, I will wave to you from the West Coast!

 

I really enjoyed the Mistborn trilogy when I read it, several years ago now. It felt like quite a fresh concept in the fantasy world.

Annoyingly, I haven't read any Sanderson since, though.

 

As I have not long moved house and all my books are stored in boxes in the garage :o, I've been limited to Kindle, where I decided to go for an old classic - The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck. I also picked up a book from the shops the other day - Mr Mercedes by Stephen King to read alongside that, as GoW seems a bit heavy going for me at the mo. :D

 lol I love it- Grapes of Wrath is heavy going, but Mr. Mercedes isn't :D I hope you enjoy both books, I liked them.  I'm sure you know already, but Mr. Mercedes will be a trilogy.  Based on the synopsis, I am not excited for Finder's Keepers, but I hear it is good and ties in well.

 

I will be finishing Lauren Oliver's Delirium today and then reading a new Jack Reacher Kindle Single, Small Wars, which includes an excerpt from his (by me) much anticipated full length Make Me (Jack Reacher #20).  Also reading BBC Magazine, about Anne of Cleves. 

 

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Oooh- I've always wanted to read Marquez. And I'm glad you liked New York. I tried Russka after you picked up NY and just couldn't get into it, but I did take a once- in- a while peek at some reviews and they said New York and Sarum were his best. So I don't know if it was the reviews that put me off, or I just wasn't in the mood! Anyway, I will wave to you from the West Coast!

 

 

That's interesting! I was intrigued by the ones he's done on Ireland but maybe Sarum is the one to go for.

 

Wave when I'm in San Francisco the following week - I will be closer ;)

Edited by Alexi
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 lol I love it- Grapes of Wrath is heavy going, but Mr. Mercedes isn't :D I hope you enjoy both books, I liked them.  I'm sure you know already, but Mr. Mercedes will be a trilogy.  Based on the synopsis, I am not excited for Finder's Keepers, but I hear it is good and ties in well.

 

Actually I had no idea it was a trilogy. I have no idea what it's even about. I just picked it up cos I like Stephen King. :lol:
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I finished reading The marks of Cain by Tom Knox last night. There were some stomach churning moments but was quite a good read. Makes me want to look into the subject matter more which is always the sign of a good book. I will be looking into the other books written by this author in the future. Moving onto something more light and frothy with The selection stories The prince and The guard by Kiera Cass

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