eyeseebooks Posted October 2, 2015 Share Posted October 2, 2015 (edited) As I've only just joined, and not wanting this 2015 log to be empty for too long, I decided to start off by listing some books read pre-membership. I read paper books provided they're not too heavy in the hands and the typeface is unfussy, big enough and dark enough, otherwise it's the Kindle so that I can arrange these aspects to my own satisfaction. Lengthy books I always prefer to listen to on ipod. Occasionally I buy both the audio and the kindle versions so that whichever version I have been using, when I turn to the other I'm at the place where I finished reading or listening. I think it's pretty nifty of Amazon to provide this facility in conjunction with their off-shoot Audible (sadly, I don't have shares despite my heavy investment in their success). Increasingly these days though, as you will see below, I use audio. Whichever method I employ, I still think of it as reading. One thing I have noticed with audio is that I have to look up the spellings of places and names if they are unusual, as not knowing for certain niggles away at me and is a distraction. I wonder whether other people who use audio feel the same. a = audio k = kindle p = paper A Short Walk from Harrods - Dirk Bogarde (bio) (a) Stoner - John Williams (a) Breathing Lessons - Anne Tyler (a) The Woodlanders - Thomas Hardy (a) The Return of the Native - Thomas Hardy (a) A Spool of Blue Thread - Anne Tyler (a) The Old Wives' Tale - Arnold Bennett (a) The Accidental Tourist - Anne Tyler (a) Kafka on the Shore - Haruki Murakami (a) 11.22.63 - Stephen King (a) The Thread - Victoria Hislop (a) Winter Journal - Paul Auster (bio) (a) Heloise and Abelard: A Twelfth-Century Love Story - Jim Burge (non-F) (k) Journey of a Thousand Miles - Lang Lang and David Ritz (bio) (k) The L-Shaped Room - Lynn Reid Banks (a) Experience - Martin Amis (bio) (p) A Very Easy Death - Simone de Beauvoir (bio) (p) One Cretan Evening and Other Stories - Victoria Hislop (p) Father Dancing - Nick Papandreou (p) A Postillion Struck by Lightning - Dirk Bogarde (bio) (a) Edited October 13, 2015 by eyeseebooks Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vodkafan Posted October 2, 2015 Share Posted October 2, 2015 Good mix there eyesee. I have the two Thomas Hardys on my kindle TBR and I started 11.22.63 some while back but left it for something more exciting at the time- it seemed to be taking ages to get to the point. I wasn't really interested in all that Kennedy stuff, I only wanted to read the time travel elements . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
woolf woolf Posted October 2, 2015 Share Posted October 2, 2015 What did you think of Stoner? I once was very close to buying it, but discarded it for another. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kylie Posted October 3, 2015 Share Posted October 3, 2015 Welcome to the forum, Eyesee. I'm also interested to hear your thoughts about Stoner. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eyeseebooks Posted October 3, 2015 Author Share Posted October 3, 2015 Good mix there eyesee. I have the two Thomas Hardys on my kindle TBR and I started 11.22.63 some while back but left it for something more exciting at the time- it seemed to be taking ages to get to the point. I wasn't really interested in all that Kennedy stuff, I only wanted to read the time travel elements . I think you'll enjoy the Hardys, I preferred Return of the Native and Woodlanders to Jude and Far From the Madding Crowd and intend reading more Hardy sometime soon. Seems we approached 11.22.63 with different desires. I was drawn to it because of the era and the politics of the time in America. I did enjoy the time travel aspect and thought it was well done, but expect someone really into sci-fi would find it quite tame. I lost interest quite a lot during the last third of the book and also really disliked the introduction of so much gory violence in that section, which of course I had to endure more than once as the main character had to keep travelling back to get over that particular hurdle to ultimately accomplish his task. What really surprised and impressed me was the very clever way King embedded Lee Harvey Oswald into the novel so successfully as a character. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eyeseebooks Posted October 3, 2015 Author Share Posted October 3, 2015 What did you think of Stoner? I once was very close to buying it, but discarded it for another. Welcome to the forum, Eyesee. I'm also interested to hear your thoughts about Stoner. Hello woolf and kylie. I loved Stoner and re-read it within weeks of the first time. It called me back - I don't know why really, I'm still trying to work that out. On the face-of-it, nothing much happens; it's just a story tracing the career and marriage of a man who works in academia. At first I thought it was going to be a little dull, but I was sucked in quite quickly then couldn't put it down and finished it in a day. If I could pinpoint why I found it so affecting that it lingered in my mind until I read it again, and how the author achieved it, I'd write one too. I guess it's just one of those reads (for me at any rate) that we all hit now and again that affects us on an emotional, sympathetic level. And now that you've both asked my opinion, I think I shall be dipping into it again very soon. I have wondered just how personal the character's feelings are to the author as he, too, was an academic teaching literature, but I haven't tried to explore that avenue yet. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chaliepud Posted October 4, 2015 Share Posted October 4, 2015 I very much enjoyed The Thread, have you read any more of Hislop's work? I would also rate The Island but I wasn't keen on The Return. I have The Sunrise on my TBR but have tried to read it once and it didn't draw me in, I will try again though! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eyeseebooks Posted October 5, 2015 Author Share Posted October 5, 2015 (edited) I very much enjoyed The Thread, have you read any more of Hislop's work? I would also rate The Island but I wasn't keen on The Return. I have The Sunrise on my TBR but have tried to read it once and it didn't draw me in, I will try again though! Hi chaliepud. I thoroughly enjoyed The Thread too. A long time ago I spent a year at the university in the city where the story is located, so I had the added pleasure of being able to walk the streets along with the characters. Funny how you remember some places in detail, yet others pass you by! I have The Island and am saving it for a wintery 'down in the dumps' day. I'm sure we'll get a few of those! I did read a lovely book of short stories by Victoria Hislop, One Cretan Evening and Other Stories. I think it's out of print as it is only available on Kindle, just 99p at the moment. Good luck with The Sunrise! If you like Greek settings, you might enjoy Father Dancing by Nick Papandreou. It's beautifully written, there's a real sense of place through sensual description of everyday things, it's amusing but with a backdrop of political upheaval. It's partly autobiographical, part fiction. The author is the son of Georges Papandreou, past prime-minister of Greece. He (Nick) says in the dediction: "Certain members of my family thought that this book was about them, but when they read it, barely recalled a thing. Perhaps it's because creative memories have their own stories to tell." I like that! It's one of my go-to books and I've read it several times over the years. Edited October 5, 2015 by eyeseebooks Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
woolf woolf Posted October 5, 2015 Share Posted October 5, 2015 (edited) I loved Stoner and re-read it within weeks of the first time. It called me back - I don't know why really, I'm still trying to work that out. On the face-of-it, nothing much happens; it's just a story tracing the career and marriage of a man who works in academia. At first I thought it was going to be a little dull, but I was sucked in quite quickly then couldn't put it down and finished it in a day. If I could pinpoint why I found it so affecting that it lingered in my mind until I read it again, and how the author achieved it, I'd write one too. I guess it's just one of those reads (for me at any rate) that we all hit now and again that affects us on an emotional, sympathetic level. And now that you've both asked my opinion, I think I shall be dipping into it again very soon. I have wondered just how personal the character's feelings are to the author as he, too, was an academic teaching literature, but I haven't tried to explore that avenue yet. Then I may have made a mistake in not bringing it. However, I once bought My Struggle:1 - A Death in the Family by Karl Ove Knausgaard because I read some of it in the bookshop and really liked it. I was enticed by all the talk of it in the european media. Have you read it, if so how is it compared to Stoner? Edited October 5, 2015 by woolf woolf Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eyeseebooks Posted October 5, 2015 Author Share Posted October 5, 2015 Then I may have made a mistake in not bringing it. However, I once bought My Struggle:1 - A Death in the Family by Karl Ove Knausgaard because I read some of it in the bookshop and really liked it. I was enticed by all the talk of it in the european media. Have you read it, if so how is it compared to Stoner? I'm sorry, I haven't read it so can't really compare. I hope you enjoy it! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Athena Posted October 13, 2015 Share Posted October 13, 2015 Nice to see another reading log . Happy reading ! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eyeseebooks Posted October 13, 2015 Author Share Posted October 13, 2015 (edited) Thank you Athena. It's dark here already (whatever happened to the summer that never arrived?) so there will be plenty long dark nights ahead for reading! I'm already getting stuck in. We don't put the clocks back here until the end of October, have you already done yours in the Netherlands? Edited October 13, 2015 by eyeseebooks Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Athena Posted October 14, 2015 Share Posted October 14, 2015 We put our clocks back I believe in the weekend of the 25th of October (my birthday!), so I think it's the same as in the UK? It's quite dark here too, it gets light around 7 in the morning and dark around 7 in the evening, currently. I was in the UK on holiday a week ago and I noticed it's slightly different than here, it gets light earlier but darker earlier too, when I was in London. At the moment it's quite cold here too . I hope you at least have plenty of nice reading times ahead though ! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kylie Posted October 15, 2015 Share Posted October 15, 2015 Thanks for your comments on Stoner. Intriguing! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eyeseebooks Posted October 16, 2015 Author Share Posted October 16, 2015 (edited) We put our clocks back I believe in the weekend of the 25th of October (my birthday!), so I think it's the same as in the UK? It's quite dark here too, it gets light around 7 in the morning and dark around 7 in the evening, currently. I was in the UK on holiday a week ago and I noticed it's slightly different than here, it gets light earlier but darker earlier too, when I was in London. At the moment it's quite cold here too . I hope you at least have plenty of nice reading times ahead though !Did you go on any of the dungeons or haunted places walking tours in London? They are better in the winter though when you are wet and cold as well as scared! I think being a member of BCF is already starting to mess with my mind! I don't usually read sci fi or fantasy but have been reading some of the book reviews on here, then when I read your reply about turning the clocks back a strange thought entered my mind: wouldn't it be fun if someone got stuck in time at the very moment the clocks went back? Edited October 16, 2015 by eyeseebooks Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
woolf woolf Posted October 16, 2015 Share Posted October 16, 2015 Did you go on any of the dungeons or haunted places walking tours in London? They are better in the winter though when you are wet and cold as well as scared! Is there any you recommend? I wouldn't like anything artificial or with jumpscares, but something real. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Athena Posted October 19, 2015 Share Posted October 19, 2015 Did you go on any of the dungeons or haunted places walking tours in London? They are better in the winter though when you are wet and cold as well as scared! I think being a member of BCF is already starting to mess with my mind! I don't usually read sci fi or fantasy but have been reading some of the book reviews on here, then when I read your reply about turning the clocks back a strange thought entered my mind: wouldn't it be fun if someone got stuck in time at the very moment the clocks went back? No, I don't like to be scared . That might make for an interesting book. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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