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More reading time required for 2016


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Ooh, lots of books read.:) Shame there wasn`t anything that you thought was brilliant though. :(

 

How`s the household doing ? :D

Not nearly as many as you! :) Long ago are the days when I was competing with you on reaching 100 books for the year. ;) Nothing brilliant this year yet, but I have a few options for my next book, including The Shepherd's Crown if I can bear to start it. :(

 

The household is all good. I can't believe Ellie will be 11 months tomorrow and James has his last summer at nursery before he starts school. :o

 

The animals are fine too. We thought we'd lost Clara after our holiday as the neighbour that was feeding her hadn't seen either cat but the food was going. She didn't turn up until 11.30pm on Tuesday (after we'd arrived home late Sunday) acting as if nothing was amiss. :rolleyes:

 

How are you & your kitty? :)

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Edge of Eternity by Ken Follett

 

It was nice to finish of the series but it was definitely the weakest of the three books as there wasn't as much interesting history in this period, however it was good to read more about the Berlin Wall - its effect and the reasons behind it. I remember the wall coming down in the 80s and how important that was, but I never really understood why it was there in the first place. I did get completely lost with the family tree in this one, so I gave up trying to follow it in the end. This volume did seem to be more concerned with the character's romances rather than anything else, with everyone having affairs all over the shop. At least the sex scenes aren't as embarrassingly graphic as they were in his medieval books. ;)

 

3/5

Good to know!

 

Ya, the sex scenes in Pillars :o

 

 

 

Bones of the Dragon by Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman

 

It's no Dragonlance, but I enjoyed it on the whole. However, I[/size]'ve never read a book where I found the lead character to be such a d*ck. :mad: He irritated me so much throughout the story and I wanted to strangle him. Still, by the end of the story it sounds like he's come to his senses and he might be better going forward.[/size]

 

3.5/5[/size]

:D

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Not nearly as many as you! :) Long ago are the days when I was competing with you on reaching 100 books for the year. ;) Nothing brilliant this year yet, but I have a few options for my next book, including The Shepherd's Crown if I can bear to start it. :(

 

The household is all good. I can't believe Ellie will be 11 months tomorrow and James has his last summer at nursery before he starts school. :o

 

The animals are fine too. We thought we'd lost Clara after our holiday as the neighbour that was feeding her hadn't seen either cat but the food was going. She didn't turn up until 11.30pm on Tuesday (after we'd arrived home late Sunday) acting as if nothing was amiss. :rolleyes:

 

How are you & your kitty? :)

 

Xiao-Xiao`s just turned 5 ! Can`t believe that James is already that old. :o  Once you get them both off to University, your reading will pick up again. ;)

 

Naughty Clara.  :doh:  Phew that she reappeaared. :D

 

I`ve got The Shepherd`s Crown and the last Discworld still to read. I might read them this Xmas. Or just keep them for another year. ;)

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The Fires of Heaven by Robert Jordan

 

I can't remember what happens in this one - they all sort of merge into one after a while. :giggle: Anyway, it's all ticking over nicely and I need to keep plugging away with this series so I can catch up to where I'd got up to (book 8) and then read the volumes I haven't previously started.

 

4/5

I'm glad you enjoyed reading this book. I hope you enjoy reading the new-to-you books in the series. I quite liked the last few books in the series, there were just a couple in the middle I liked less (but I still enjoyed them), I also really liked the first few. Not so many people on this forum are reading this series, I'm always happy to see someone reading it :D

 

The Winter of the World by Ken Follett

 

On the whole, I enjoyed it. There were lots of compelling twists & turns for the characters and it kept me wanting to know what was going to happen next. I did prefer the characters and plot of book one though and again, I was least interested by the Russian storyline.  Scarily, the beginnings of Nazism bears some worrying parallels with the world today.   :unsure:[/size]

 

3/5

 

I have this series on my TBR, I'm glad you liked it (though it's a shame it wasn't great).

 

The Monogram Murders by Sophie Hannah[/size]

 

It seemed contrived to start with, as if it was trying too hard. It was almost like a school kid writing a story after having plucked out one of her favourite literary characters to feature in it. However, I found myself sucked in & racing through it to see what happened (as I tend to do with Christie's) and I even started reading Poirot's words in my head in his accent, so I guess in the end, it actually worked.

Shame this wasn't as good as it could've been. I've only read one book by Sophie Hannah (so far), called Pictures or It Didn't Happen. I liked that one.

 

Revival by Stephen King

 

Not one of his best. There was some interesting build up story but then it goes a bit bonkers. I found myself grudgingly finishing it for a sense of completion rather than of enjoyment.

 

2/5

Shame this wasn't one of his best. I don't own this one myself (yet).

 

Finders Keepers by Stephen King

 

I enjoyed the story, though it did seem a bit pointless to have Hodges in it.  He was very much a secondary character and it seemed like he was shoehorned in just to force this into a trilogy.[/size]

 

3/5

 

I own this one but I haven't read it yet.

 

Bazaar of Bad Dreams by Stephen King

 

Usual mixture of some good, some not so good, some very weird short stories.

 

3/5

Which Stephen King books are your favourites? 

 

Edge of Eternity by Ken Follett

 

It was nice to finish of the series but it was definitely the weakest of the three books as there wasn't as much interesting history in this period, however it was good to read more about the Berlin Wall - its effect and the reasons behind it. I remember the wall coming down in the 80s and how important that was, but I never really understood why it was there in the first place. I did get completely lost with the family tree in this one, so I gave up trying to follow it in the end. This volume did seem to be more concerned with the character's romances rather than anything else, with everyone having affairs all over the shop. At least the sex scenes aren't as embarrassingly graphic as they were in his medieval books. ;)

 

3/5

I'm happy to hear the sex scenes weren't as graphic as in the medieval books. I read The Pillars of the Earth and World Without End, and I didn't like those sex scenes at all, they were too graphic for me (gladly the rest of the books definitely made up for it).

 

Bones of the Dragon by Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman

 

It's no Dragonlance, but I enjoyed it on the whole. However, I[/size]'ve never read a book where I found the lead character to be such a d*ck. :mad: He irritated me so much throughout the story and I wanted to strangle him. Still, by the end of the story it sounds like he's come to his senses and he might be better going forward.[/size]

 

3.5/5

Sorry to hear about the lead character! I've read some of the DeathGate cycle by these authors, but I haven't yet read Bones of the Dragon (I do own it).

 

Not nearly as many as you! :) Long ago are the days when I was competing with you on reaching 100 books for the year. ;) Nothing brilliant this year yet, but I have a few options for my next book, including The Shepherd's Crown if I can bear to start it. :(

 

The household is all good. I can't believe Ellie will be 11 months tomorrow and James has his last summer at nursery before he starts school. :o

 

The animals are fine too. We thought we'd lost Clara after our holiday as the neighbour that was feeding her hadn't seen either cat but the food was going. She didn't turn up until 11.30pm on Tuesday (after we'd arrived home late Sunday) acting as if nothing was amiss. :rolleyes:

Yeah :(.

 

I'm glad everything is fine with you and your family and animals :).

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It almost seems like it's my life quest to finish TWOT. :lol: Looking at Wikipedia, I must have started it about 20 years ago with books 1-7.  I recall thinking there was an age to wait before book 8 came out at which point I had forgotten what had happened, found it difficult to follow, so I parked it until the series was done (little did I know I would be waiting so long). However, looking at the dates, it was just over 2 years between books 7 & 8, which is hardly George RR Martin pace. :lol:  Still, I read a lot more in those days, so there was probably about 200 other books in between volumes. ;)

 
My fave Stephen King's are the ones with more of a fantasy element to them like The Dark Tower series, The Stand, The Talisman & The Black House (with Peter Straub) and Rose Madder, though I do like his classic horrors too.
It's a much shorter list to say which of his I most dislike. ;) Revival would fit into the same category as Dreamcatcher, Cell and Lisey's Story, though it's still probably not as bad as any of those.
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  • 3 weeks later...
Secret of the Dragon  by Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman

 

This was improved by the fact that the main character, Skylan, was far more of a hero type in this rather than the whingy adolescent he was in the first book. The story moved along at a reasonable pace and even though I can't remember all that much of it now :D, I know it was good fun. I was tempted to carry on with book 3, but decided to hold off for now as the final volume (book 4) isn't out in paperback until January.

 

4/5

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My Booky Wook 2 by Russell Brand

 

This was a pretty amusing read that I managed to get through quite quickly. It follows on from Russell's exploits in My Booky Wook and covers his rise in popularity, his break in Hollywood and such events as the MTV video awards and the infamous Radio 2 phone calls to Andrew Sachs. Whether you enjoy this or not basically comes down whether you like Russell Brand.  The book also has an unfortunate dedication: "To Katy. This is my past, you are my future." Errmmm, not for long. :lol:

 

3.5/5

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Trigger Warning by Neil Gaiman

 

I don't get on as well with short story collections as I do with proper novels (so I am not sure why I have read two of them in my last 6 books :lol:) so it's not really a reflection on this book that I'm not marking it super highly, however I don't think it's quite as good as some of his other short story collections.  There are some fairly good stories contained in here though and they generally have some kind of twist in the tail or dark undertones.

 

3/5

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Nice reviews :). I'm glad the Weis & Hickman book was nice. I'm also not the biggest fan of short story collections, I prefer novels. I do read short stories every once in a while though. Which Gaiman book(s) would you recommend?

 

I've read a couple - The Ocean at the End of the Lane, Coraline and Fortunately, the Milk... and liked all three of these. I own but haven't read yet: The Graveyard Book, Good Omens (together with Terry Pratchett), American Gods 2: De Bende Van Anansi (Anansi Boys), Stardust (Ster) (Stardust) and I own a couple of short story collections which contain 1 short story by Neil Gaiman each.

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Nice reviews :). I'm glad the Weis & Hickman book was nice. I'm also not the biggest fan of short story collections, I prefer novels. I do read short stories every once in a while though. Which Gaiman book(s) would you recommend?

 

I've read a couple - The Ocean at the End of the Lane, Coraline and Fortunately, the Milk... and liked all three of these. I own but haven't read yet: The Graveyard Book, Good Omens (together with Terry Pratchett), American Gods 2: De Bende Van Anansi (Anansi Boys), Stardust (Ster) (Stardust) and I own a couple of short story collections which contain 1 short story by Neil Gaiman each.

 

I haven't heard of Fortunately, the Milk! :o  I really enjoyed Ocean at the End of the Lane and The Graveyard Book. Good Omens is great because well, Terry, and Stardust is a really sweet story (plus an excellent film). I can't really remember too much of his other novels apart from that I liked them: Neverwhere, American Gods & Anansi Boys.

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I haven't heard of Fortunately, the Milk! :o  I really enjoyed Ocean at the End of the Lane and The Graveyard Book. Good Omens is great because well, Terry, and Stardust is a really sweet story (plus an excellent film). I can't really remember too much of his other novels apart from that I liked them: Neverwhere, American Gods & Anansi Boys.

Fortunately, the Milk... is I think written for children (middle grade?) but I found it a very enjoyable read. Thanks for those recommendations :).

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  • 6 months later...

In an effort to finish off the year, just a few quicky reviews:

Emma by Jane Austen

 

As I think I said in the book activity post, I didn't really get on with this. Not a lot seemed to happen and it made me think that Jane Austen is not for me!  There were some interesting aspects of the story but it may have been a combination of reading it over a long period of time and trying to skim through it so I kept getting confused with all the characters & this may have made me enjoy it less. Maybe I'd like the film version better. ;)

 

2/5

 

Lord of Chaos (TWot6) by Robert Jordan

 

Ok, so I can't really remember what happened in this one now. :D I know it was enjoyable when I was reading it, but perhaps not as compelling as earlier volumes as I kept having long sabbaticals from reading it.

 

3/5

 

Preacher (volumes 1-9) by Garth Ennis & Steve Dillon

 

A re-read inspired by the tv version I was watching over the summer. It had been a good few years since I'd read this, so I decided to revisit it and see how close it came to the show (conclusion: a lot had changed, but it shared the same spirit of the comic). This is a hilarious (albeit sick & wrong) story about a Preacher of a small town called Jesse who gets "possessed" with the power of Genesis - a creature born from the relationship between an angel and a demon. If it sounds weird, it is! There are a multitude of intriguing supporting characters such as his old girlfriend Tulip, an Irish vampire called Cassidy and a boy aptly named "Arseface". There are so many times where you don't quite believe what you are reading, but it is a truly entertaining read. 

 

However, if you are religious in any way, I would suggest avoiding this as you may find it rather blasphemous. :giggle2:

 

4/5

 

The Long War by Terry Pratchett & Stephen Baxter

 

Another one where I can't really remember what happened now but I know I enjoyed it. :D  The Long Earth series is no Discworld but they are entertaining enough, and the fact that it took me only 2 weeks to read (which was very good considering last year's reading pace) shows that it kept my attention.

 

4/5

 
Revolution by Russell Brand
 
Some interesting ideas were put forward, but I doubt any of it would actually happen!
 
3/5
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Yes it was my first, we had to read it for A Level which probably didn't help when you have to study something intricately, we also did Persuasion which I liked a bit better, and do intend to re-read.  I've since read Pride and Prejudice and Sense and Sensibility, both of which I enjoyed, and Mansfield Park and Northanger Abbey, both of which I was bored by.  Not sure how Emma would fare on a re-read!

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