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Your Book Activity - August 2016


Athena

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President Obama has released his summer reading for his vacation on Martha's Vineyard:

 

The Underground Railroad by Colson Whitehead (this one is on Oprah's book list)

Barbarian Days: A Surfing Life by William Finnegan (memoir about growing up in California and Hawaii)

The Girl On the Train by Paula Hawkins

H is for Hawk by Helen MacDonald

Seveneves by Neal Stephenson (sci- fi)

 

Last year's books included

All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr

and

Between the World and Me by Ta- Neshisi

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President Obama has released his summer reading for his vacation on Martha's Vineyard:

Martha's Vineyard was mentioned in We Were Liars by E. Lockhart, which I recently finished. I thought they made up the name, but apparently it's a real thing! I didn't know. Thanks for mentioning that, you learn something new every day.

 

I'm currently reading Becky Albertalli - Simon vs the Homo Sapiens Agenda. It's good so far, I'm only on page 30 though.

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I just finished Apple Tree Yard by Louise Doughty. Brilliant writing, underwhelming plot, but I'm still giving it four stars just for being such a pleasure to read.

 

Still slowly working my way through Some Kind of Happiness.

 

Not sure what's next, either a Stephen King of some kind or some other horror, as I'm in the mood for something dark and scary :D

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I finished Philippa Gregory's Three Sisters, Three Queens which was a great read. Now I'm on to Antonia Fraser's Marie Antoinette, which I've been wanting to read for years. It's close to 550 pages :P

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I'm currently reading Amie Kaufman and Jay Kristoff - The Illuminae Files 1: Illuminae. So far it's nice. I like the way it's written: through logs, files, interviews, letters, e-mails, etc. The design of it is really nice. The story is interesting so far (I'm on page 30 at the moment, out of 599).

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I've started The Hills Is Lonely by Lillian Beckwith. I've had it on my Kindle since 2012 :o . I'm not sure why I bought it - maybe a recommendation from this site? - but I'm enjoying it! :D  I've only read the first chapter, but it's good so far.

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Ooh, there's a blast from the past.  My Mum read some of her books in the 1970s - I remember the pretty covers.  I hope you enjoy it.  :)

 

Edit:  I've just added her About my Father's Business to my Wish List!  :D

Edited by Janet
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Wow even Obama is reading The Girl on the Train. I must move it up my reading list. I hope all this hype is worth it. 

 

I have a feeling you won't like it much, even those of us who love it admit it has a few flaws :P

 

I've read very little in the last few days due to stress (and now having restarted Pokémon Leaf Green hehe) but I'm reading Dark Matter by Blake Crouch.

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Oh dear, I wandered into Waterstones on Monday, and bought 3 paperbacks  :o  :blush2:

The Silk Road: A New History of the World by Peter Frankopan

In the Unlikely Event by Judy Blume 

The Man in the Queue (Inspector Alan Grant #1) by Josephine Tey

 

I finished Ham on Rye by Charles Bukowski this morning. Loved it! 

Oh, I've always been too skittish of Bukowski's novels   :hide: , (so far anyway) but I do love his poetry! Ham on Rye is on the wishlist now  :smile:

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The Man in the Queue (Inspector Alan Grant #1) by Josephine Tey

Having studied Shakespeare's Richard III for A level I want to read her book The Daughter of Time but it's the fifth in that series and I'm not sure I want to read them all.

 

I hope you enjoy your books.  :)

 

I'm listening to The Trouble with Goats and Sheep by Joanna Cannon on audio book and reading The Girl of Ink & Stars by Kiran Millwood Hargrave.  I'm also trying to catch up on some reviews!  I'm on number 42 of 60 books read, so I'm not doing very well!  :doh:

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Even though I'm in the middle of about half a dozen books, I decided I needed something different, so I picked up Meet Mr Mulliner by PG Wodehouse. I read a couple of chapters and was thoroughly enjoying it, but when I logged on to Goodreads to update my status, I noted that apparently I've already read this book. :( Bloomin' typical. I have 41 unread Wodehouse novels, and I managed to pick up one I've already read.  :doh: I could've sworn I hadn't read any of the Mulliner books yet! I've decided to keep reading it because I'm enjoying it so much, but it won't be one off the TBR pile.  :banghead:

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BFinished The Girl On The Train early this morning and loved it! Glad I stepped out of my usual fare. Probably won't review it, as I don't think I can with out giving anything away!

 

Cool! :smile2: 

 

I also borrowed This Is Life by Dan Rhodes, which I think you gave a rave review recently?

 

Oh yeah, my most fave read of the year by far :wub: It's not for everyone, I hope you shall like it :D 

 

I finished Ham on Rye by Charles Bukowski this morning. Loved it! Not sure what is up next though. I may try to sneak a Kindle book in before tackling my next library read.

 

Awesome! :D Not your average read, was it... :D What next? Maybe This Is Life :giggle2: 

 

Wow even Obama is reading The Girl on the Train. I must move it up my reading list. I hope all this hype is worth it. 

 

I would recommend it! :smile2: 

 

 

I have a feeling you won't like it much, even those of us who love it admit it has a few flaws :P

 

:D What? So even though you loved it, you don't think someone else would? Personally, I didn't find any flaws in the book :shrug: I thought it was a great thriller. 

 

I have maybe 50 pages left of Charlotte Street by Juliette Mead. It's so boring and so not worth my time. :rolleyes::D 

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Oh dear, I wandered into Waterstones on Monday, and bought 3 paperbacks  :o  :blush2:

The Silk Road: A New History of the World by Peter Frankopan

 

I've got that to read too - looks really promising.  It's finding time though, as it's a big book!

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Oh, I've always been too skittish of Bukowski's novels   :hide: , (so far anyway) but I do love his poetry! Ham on Rye is on the wishlist now  :smile:

 

This is the only one I have read, and apparently it's the most autobiographical of his books. I enjoyed it, but I have no idea how it compares to his other books.

 

Oh yeah, my most fave read of the year by far :wub: It's not for everyone, I hope you shall like it :D

 

It will be my next read, after I finish The Hills Is Lonely. :boogie:

 

Ooh, there's a blast from the past.  My Mum read some of her books in the 1970s - I remember the pretty covers.  I hope you enjoy it.  :)

 

The cover on my Kindle version is very dull, but the cover on the Kindle app on my phone is quite pretty. Not sure why they are different though. Maybe my phone has the latest cover as the books only download when you select them to read. :dunno:

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:D What? So even though you loved it, you don't think someone else would? Personally, I didn't find any flaws in the book :shrug: I thought it was a great thriller. 

 

 

Based on his other posts and the kinds of books he's seemed interested in, yeah, I don't. I'm not saying 'don't read it coz you'll hate it', I'm just throwing my two cents out there as plenty of other people on here do for me all the time to steer me towards or away from various books they think I would or wouldn't like, which I appreciate.I don't think he'd like Twilight either and I loved that too :lol: I thought the ending was a bit b-movie ish, and I've heard several other people comment on the ending similarly.Should have said 'some of us'.

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Even though I'm in the middle of about half a dozen books, I decided I needed something different, so I picked up Meet Mr Mulliner by PG Wodehouse. I read a couple of chapters and was thoroughly enjoying it, but when I logged on to Goodreads to update my status, I noted that apparently I've already read this book. :( Bloomin' typical. I have 41 unread Wodehouse novels, and I managed to pick up one I've already read.  :doh: I could've sworn I hadn't read any of the Mulliner books yet! I've decided to keep reading it because I'm enjoying it so much, but it won't be one off the TBR pile.  :banghead:

Awww :(.

 

I wasn't feeling in the mood for many books yesterday but out of all the ones I considered there were two that interested me. I can't read two books at once though so in the end settled on A. S. King - Everybody Sees The Ants. I plan to read Peter F. Hamilton - Great North Road after I finish Everybody Sees The Ants, if I still feel in the mood for it.

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:D What? So even though you loved it, you don't think someone else would? Personally, I didn't find any flaws in the book :shrug: I thought it was a great thriller.

That makes sense to me: Nollaig and others have thoroughly enjoyed books in the past, but when I've been involved in discussing them, they've said they suspected I wouldn't like them, knowing my previous likes and dislikes. They're often right!

 

Personally, I couldn't abide Girl on a Train, and came to skim read to what I thought was a thoroughly predictable development.

Edited by willoyd
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It will be my next read, after I finish The Hills Is Lonely. :boogie:

 

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

 

Based on his other posts and the kinds of books he's seemed interested in, yeah, I don't. I'm not saying 'don't read it coz you'll hate it', I'm just throwing my two cents out there as plenty of other people on here do for me all the time to steer me towards or away from various books they think I would or wouldn't like, which I appreciate.I don't think he'd like Twilight either and I loved that too :lol: I thought the ending was a bit b-movie ish, and I've heard several other people comment on the ending similarly.Should have said 'some of us'.

 

My mistake: for some reason I thought your 'you' was more of a general 'you', and not a specific 'you' aimed at MrCat. Meaning, I thought you'd think most other people wouldn't enjoy the book. I didn't realize you were as in tune to MrCat's tastes in books that you would know what s/he might like. My apologies! :)  I now realize I'm not very knowledgeable in many other people's book tastes on here... I feel like my 'book game' is slipping and I need to up my game :D 

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That makes sense to me: Nollaig and others have thoroughly enjoyed books in the past, but when I've been involved in discussing them, they've said they suspected I wouldn't like them, knowing my previous likes and dislikes. They're often right!

 

Personally, I couldn't abide Girl on a Train, and came to skim read to what I thought was a thoroughly predictable development.

 

That does not surprise me! :lol:

 

My mistake: for some reason I thought your 'you' was more of a general 'you', and not a specific 'you' aimed at MrCat. Meaning, I thought you'd think most other people wouldn't enjoy the book. I didn't realize you were as in tune to MrCat's tastes in books that you would know what s/he might like. My apologies! :)  I now realize I'm not very knowledgeable in many other people's book tastes on here... I feel like my 'book game' is slipping and I need to up my game :D

 

I don't know a huge amount about MrCat's interests in books, I'm really just gleaning from his posts I've read about other books, and if I'm wrong I'm wrong, I trust my opinion would never stop someone from trying a book they wanted to try. Be interesting to see now what he thinks of it.

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That does not surprise me! :lol:

I didn't think it would, but I thought I ought to at least try! :smile:

 

Personally, I'm struggling to settle down with a read at the moment.  I've started The Stars Look Down, but it hasn't grabbed me yet after a dozen or so chapters - again it's feeling just a bit predictable, although I suspect it wasn't at the time it was written.  It's also huge (750+ pages), and I really don't feel in the mood to plough my way through what looks like a bit of a saga; a pity, as it's part of the English Counties list.  I'm also half-way through Alan Clark's diaries, In Power, (for another challenge) which, whilst entertaining, is again feeling a bit of a large wadge.  But then, I can't really settle to anything else either........   Aaaaaagh!

Edited by willoyd
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I'm still reading The Hills Is Lonely. It's a short book but it seems to be taking me forever. :doh:

 

I went to the library today and borrowed:

 

The Book of Strange New Things - Michel Faber

Cell - Stephen King (a re-read but I haven't seen it at the library before, so figured I'd give it another go)

Flight Behaviour - Barbara Kingsolver

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