Frankie reads 2017

[Little Pixie]

I really liked Lisa Lutz`s Spellman Investigations books ; looking forward to your review of The Passenger.

[chaliepud]

11 hours ago, frankie said:

The first third of the year is really terrible and depressing. I've only read 3 books per month! I picked up The Passenger by Lisa Lutz last week and I was reading it so quickly I thought maybe April would be a turning point and I might be able to read 4 books... but then it was the May Day and I was happily occupied with other things, and so I didn't finish the book    If I read 3 books per month, each month, I'll only have read 36 books this year! 

1/3 of 2017 summary

 

January

1. Risteily by Mats Strandberg 3/5 thoughts

2. The Twenty-Three by Linwood Barclay 4/5 thoughts

3. Kohtalokas merimatka by Lone Theils 2/5 thoughts

 

 

February

4. How to Find Love in a Book Shop by Veronica Henry 4/5 thoughts

5. Eligible by Curtis Sittenfeld 4/5 thoughts

6. The Couple Next Door by Shari Lapena 3/5 thoughts

 

 

March

7. The Loney by Andrew Michael Hurley 1/5 thoughts 

8. Pullopostia by Jussi Adler-Olsen 4/5 thoughts

9. I Let You Go by Clare Mackintosh 4/5 thoughts

 

 

April

10. Popcorn by Ben Elton (re-read) 4/5 something

11. Anna online by Stefan Nyman 1/5 something
12. Chart Throb by Ben Elton 2/5 review

 

 

Ratings: 

1/5 - 2

2/5 - 2

3/5 - 2

4/5 - 6

5/5 - 

 

Funny ratings, though. I'm happy that half of the books I've read have received 4/5, which is my top rating so far. 

At least you've enjoyed most of the books you've read, that stands for something, I have I Let You Go on my TBR, a friend gave it to me but I haven't felt the urge to try it yet, I'm wondering if it was rather over hyped?

 

As an aside, there are three types of Poodles, toy, miniature and standard, they come in numerous colours including white, cream, black (my favourite), apricot and fawn. I'm rather fond of Poodles and would love a black standard one day, my family are not keen though! 

[frankie]

On 1.5.2017 at 11:46 AM, Athena said:

It's a shame you haven't been able to read as much as you'd like . On a more positive note, at least you've been consistent every month .

I'm glad you read some nice 4 / 5 books, but I hope you'll find some 5 / 5 books later this year . Nice to read your summary !

 

I'll take consistency over reading 0 books, any time!  Yep, at least I've read really good books, too, so it's definitely not a wasted year.

 

 

On 1.5.2017 at 7:06 PM, Little Pixie said:

I really liked Lisa Lutz`s Spellman Investigations books ; looking forward to your review of The Passenger.

 

I'd never heard of Lutz before, I may have to take a look at her Spellman Investigations series  I really liked The Passenger! 

 

On 1.5.2017 at 10:01 PM, chaliepud said:

At least you've enjoyed most of the books you've read, that stands for something, I have I Let You Go on my TBR, a friend gave it to me but I haven't felt the urge to try it yet, I'm wondering if it was rather over hyped?

 

Yep, I'm happy I've read great books at least. It could be worse! 

 

I've somehow managed to avoid the hype around ILYG, so it didn't affect me in any way. I really liked the book and was really surprised by the twists, so it worked for me. I wouldn't say it's on my most favorite thrillers -list, though: there are far superior ones. But if you have a copy, why not give it a go when nothing else seems to tickle your fancy

 

Quote

 

As an aside, there are three types of Poodles, toy, miniature and standard, they come in numerous colours including white, cream, black (my favourite), apricot and fawn. I'm rather fond of Poodles and would love a black standard one day, my family are not keen though! 

 

Thanks for the info! I googled the different types. I think the relatives' poodle I was talking about was probably a miniature poodle. But I still felt like there's another category to poodles because some look more like normal dogs and some are just pure cotton candy... But is it really about the cotton candy ones getting the puffing treatment by their owners? Would they all look the same, curly but normal dog like, if they weren't puffed up by their owners?    You see I always thought .... Hm this makes so much sense!    I always thought there were two different types (and as I never really fancied poodles, I've never had any reason to investigate)    My relatives trimmed their dog. He growled throughout the process and I was so afraid if I was around when they were trimming him, because I felt like at any moment he might jump and go berserk and bite everyone. It was scary because I didn't tell anyone it was scary and I didn't ask anyone why it had to be done and everyone ignored it, as they knew to ignore it, and I just kept watching and I was scared. 

 

The dog was also really jealous if anyone got too close to the Mom of the family, and people were laughing about it and I thought it was weird and kinda scary. Nobody explained it to me. The dog also got a bit aggro when he got older and bit the two kids in the family, my cousins. 

 

So it's really the trimmed ones that I don't like, because I associate them with that particular dog. I don't mind the non-trimmed ones, and some of them actually look really nice

 

I hope you run into poodles on your daily walks with your dogs, so you can at least admire them from afar and up close, if you can't get one for yourself!

Edited May 7, 2017 by frankie

[frankie]

13. The Passenger by Lisa Lutz 

 

Blurb: In case you were wondering, I didn't do it. I don't have an alibi, so you'll have to take my word for it... 

 

With her husband's dead body still warm, Tanya Dubois has only one option: run. When the police figure out that she doesn't officially exist, they'll start asking questions she can't answer.  [...]

 

Thoughts: I picked this from the library's new books' section, it sounded like a decent thriller. I'd never heard of Lisa Lutz before, but apparently she's also written a book series about a private investigator. 

 

I really enjoyed the book! I can't remember reading another book where the main character is on the run and is constantly changing her identity. I was expecting to grow tired of it, but Lutz kept it really interesting, in my opinion. There was a storyline for every new identity, whether it was a short or a longer story. I think all the storylines were plausible and I was kind of sorry to have to say goodbye to all of them, as Tanya was getting into trouble and she was having to find a new identity yet again. 

 

It took a long time for the story to get to why Tanya was actually on the run. What could she have done? And was she a reliable narrator to begin with? All questions were answered in the end of course. 

 

I thought this was a very compelling read, but I've read many compelling thrillers, and after a few years they seem to melt into one Meaning, as much as I liked reading this book, it doesn't stand out like the true 5/5 thrillers I've read. 

 

4/5

[frankie]

I accidentally clicked something and found myself posting the contents of another post in this particular spot, and now I've removed them. It's early and I can't find anywhere how to delete this post so I will find something literary to put in this post instead. 

 

I will google random literary trivia and find a gem... 

 

The original title of Fahrenheit 451 was The Fireman.  Ray Bradbury and his publishers thought The Fireman was a boring title, so they called a local fire station and asked what temperature paper burned at. The firemen put Bradbury on hold while they burned a book, then reported back the temperature, and the rest is history.

Edit: This bit of info was brought to you by buzzfeed so I'm not sure it's 100% true, but it could be! 

Edited May 8, 2017 by frankie

[Athena]

I think the deleting of posts is no longer possible for members.

 

Interesting fact, though ! And a nice way to fill up a post.

I haven't read Fahrenheit 451, I don't own it either (I do own I think 2 other Ray Bradbury books). Have you read it, is it any good?

[Michelle]

frankie, if that happens again, simply hide the thread, and then use the Ask A Mod thread - someone will soon delete it for you.

[frankie]

6 hours ago, Athena said:

I think the deleting of posts is no longer possible for members.

 

Okay, good to know! 

 

6 hours ago, Athena said:

 

Interesting fact, though ! And a nice way to fill up a post.

I haven't read Fahrenheit 451, I don't own it either (I do own I think 2 other Ray Bradbury books). Have you read it, is it any good?

 

I read the book at least a decade ago so I don't remember all too much about it, but I did like it and gave it a decent rating. I think it's a thought provoking novel.

 

 

5 hours ago, Michelle said:

frankie, if that happens again, simply hide the thread, and then use the Ask A Mod thread - someone will soon delete it for you.

 

Thanks, I will   I know I could've done that with this one, as well, but as it happened in my own reading log, I didn't want to bother the mod team with such a trivial matter   

[Athena]

9 minutes ago, frankie said:

I read the book at least a decade ago so I don't remember all too much about it, but I did like it and gave it a decent rating. I think it's a thought provoking novel.

 

Thanks, that's nice to know .

 

9 minutes ago, frankie said:

Thanks, I will   I know I could've done that with this one, as well, but as it happened in my own reading log, I didn't want to bother the mod team with such a trivial matter

 

If it's just the deletion of a post or something like editing a topic's title, I honestly don't mind if you ask me about that . But I do think it's quite creative the way you decided to solve the issue by adding a literary fact .

[Little Pixie]

I`ve put The Passenger in my `buy soon` list.

[frankie]

3 hours ago, Athena said:

3 hours ago, Athena said:

 

If it's just the deletion of a post or something like editing a topic's title, I honestly don't mind if you ask me about that . But I do think it's quite creative the way you decided to solve the issue by adding a literary fact .

 

I know you guys don't mind     But like I said, as it was in my own thread I thought  there was no reason for any hassle

 

3 hours ago, Athena said:

1 hour ago, Little Pixie said:

I`ve put The Passenger in my `buy soon` list.

 

 

I hope it won't disappoint!   

 

[chaliepud]

On 7 May 2017 at 8:41 AM, frankie said:

Thanks for the info! I googled the different types. I think the relatives' poodle I was talking about was probably a miniature poodle. But I still felt like there's another category to poodles because some look more like normal dogs and some are just pure cotton candy... But is it really about the cotton candy ones getting the puffing treatment by their owners? Would they all look the same, curly but normal dog like, if they weren't puffed up by their owners?    You see I always thought .... Hm this makes so much sense!    I always thought there were two different types (and as I never really fancied poodles, I've never had any reason to investigate)    My relatives trimmed their dog. He growled throughout the process and I was so afraid if I was around when they were trimming him, because I felt like at any moment he might jump and go berserk and bite everyone. It was scary because I didn't tell anyone it was scary and I didn't ask anyone why it had to be done and everyone ignored it, as they knew to ignore it, and I just kept watching and I was scared. 

 

The dog was also really jealous if anyone got too close to the Mom of the family, and people were laughing about it and I thought it was weird and kinda scary. Nobody explained it to me. The dog also got a bit aggro when he got older and bit the two kids in the family, my cousins. 

 

So it's really the trimmed ones that I don't like, because I associate them with that particular dog. I don't mind the non-trimmed ones, and some of them actually look really nice

 

I hope you run into poodles on your daily walks with your dogs, so you can at least admire them from afar and up close, if you can't get one for yourself!

Sounds like a disagreeable little bugger dog! They are generally good natured but there is always the odd rogue!  The fluffier ones are generally show dogs as that is what is expected in the show ring. I generally prefer the clipped ones but not too short or I think they look a bit odd. I rarely see Poodles sadly, there was one at agility but unfortunately we haven't been for a while so I haven't seen him, he was grey and called Brillo, as his coat resembled a brillo pad! (Do you have those in Finland? If not you'll need to google or you won't get why it's funny!) 

[frankie]

On 9.5.2017 at 2:36 PM, chaliepud said:

Sounds like a disagreeable little bugger dog! They are generally good natured but there is always the odd rogue!  The fluffier ones are generally show dogs as that is what is expected in the show ring.

 

I guess my experience with that particular dog has affected me, just like I was scared of German Shepherds when I was a kid because I had a few bad experiences. I've recovered from the GS experiences and have liked and then loved the breed for at least a decade now (I consider it a great victory!) so I guess I should now work on this poodle thing. I should give the others a fair chance! Yes, I expect the fluffy ones are usually show dogs, and maybe some of them (because of their overly keen show Moms/Dads) are used to being pampered and loved and have a bit of an attitude. But that's not their own fault, is it. 

 

Quote

I generally prefer the clipped ones but not too short or I think they look a bit odd. I rarely see Poodles sadly, there was one at agility but unfortunately we haven't been for a while so I haven't seen him, he was grey and called Brillo, as his coat resembled a brillo pad! (Do you have those in Finland? If not you'll need to google or you won't get why it's funny!) 

 

Oh yes, I should write Poodle in capital, shouldn't I. I never remember you use capital first letter for dog breeds. We don't do that in Finnish. 

 

Such a coincidence, you talking about brillo!! I'm currently watching Gilmore Girls and brillo pads were mentioned in a recent episode, and it sounded like something I'd heard mentioned before on TV, but had no idea what a brillo pad was, but forgot to check it out. Now you've reminded me   Yes we have brillo pads in Finland! The most used brand is called Patapata, which is funny because 'pata' means 'pot' so basically it's 'potpot'  What a silly name. 

 

I hope you get to meet Brillo soon again!   

Edited May 14, 2017 by frankie

[Athena]

On 14-5-2017 at 11:25 AM, frankie said:

Oh yes, I should write Poodle in capital, shouldn't I. I never remember you use capital first letter for dog breeds. We don't do that in Finnish. 

 

Wow, I had no idea you wrote dog breeds with capitals in English and without a capital in Finnish! In Dutch we don't write capitals, unless the name or part of the name was derived from a geographic location (for example, it would be 'Duitse herder', German Shepherd in English). So most dog breeds are written without a capital. It never occured to me it was different, or the same, in other languages!

[frankie]

On 16.5.2017 at 1:39 PM, Athena said:

 

Wow, I had no idea you wrote dog breeds with capitals in English and without a capital in Finnish! In Dutch we don't write capitals, unless the name or part of the name was derived from a geographic location (for example, it would be 'Duitse herder', German Shepherd in English). So most dog breeds are written without a capital. It never occured to me it was different, or the same, in other languages!

 

We don't use a capital even for the location, for example saksanpaimenkoira, 'saksan' being German (or rather Germany's, to be exact. We say Germany's Shepherd :D). 

[Little Pixie]

Ooh, interesting. Saksan as in Saxon, from the knife Seax which the Germanic tribes were known for.

 

I always learn something from Auntie Frankie`s Finnish for Beginners.

[Athena]

14 hours ago, frankie said:

We don't use a capital even for the location, for example saksanpaimenkoira, 'saksan' being German (or rather Germany's, to be exact. We say Germany's Shepherd :D). 

 

That's very interesting! Thanks !

[frankie]

22 hours ago, Little Pixie said:

Ooh, interesting. Saksan as in Saxon, from the knife Seax which the Germanic tribes were known for.

 

Yes indeed    Saksa means Germany, Saksan means Germany's. 

 

22 hours ago, Little Pixie said:

 

I always learn something from Auntie Frankie`s Finnish for Beginners.

 

I can't help it, I'm a linguist at heart! I try to keep it to the things I think others might find interesting or funny. 

 

14 hours ago, Athena said:

 

That's very interesting! Thanks !

 

You're welcome Athena!

[Little Pixie]

Btw, my neighbour's daughter emigrated to Turku - with her cat- and loves it.

[frankie]

5 minutes ago, Little Pixie said:

Btw, my neighbour's daughter emigrated to Turku - with her cat- and loves it.

 

Oh wow!

 

I don't know if I should say this... but for some reason or another, Turku is considered the asshole of Finland I don't know why!!! I've never been there. I want to visit someday. I'm sure it'll be beautiful. But it's a place of its own. 

Edited May 20, 2017 by frankie

[Little Pixie]

1 hour ago, frankie said:

 

Oh wow!

 

I don't know if I should say this... but for some reason or another, Turku is considered the asshole of Finland I don't know why!!! I've never been there. I want to visit someday. I'm sure it'll be beautiful. But it's a place of its own. 

 

. How odd ! Still, the cat likes it, and that's what's important.

 

[frankie]

^ It's one way of measuring things, yes

 

 

Boss and I went to a flea market today, Boss bought 4 books and I settled for three. I bought two novels by Finnish authors, and How the Dead Live by Will Self. I've never read anything by him, and have always thought his books are too out there. That might still be the case, but I was intrigued by the blurb of this particular title. I've just checked my list and I'm happy to say it's on the 1001 Books list

 

I met a few friends and we went to have a picnic at a park (well, everyone bought something to drink and something to eat. It was not fancy at all.) and I was very pleasantly surprised when a friend of my friend mentioned a few books and I realized he was a reader. I've just started reading When the Professor Got Stuck in the Snow by Dan Rhodes, which is about Richard Dawkins, and I asked if anyone had read The God Delusion. The guy had read it! We talked about it a bit. I should've pushed him to read the Dan Rhodes book. But we started talking about infanticide and eugenics. A bit heavy for a picnic in my opinion, but I had such a great time! Considering I only knew two of the people and three were perfect strangers. They were all so nice and interesting! 

 

I reserved a copy of The God Delusion and it arrived at the library today. I hope to get to it soon. 

 

 

 

Edited May 23, 2017 by frankie

[Athena]

How nice you had a great time with your friends and had a nice conversation ! Books are one of my favourite things to talk about, and it's even better when you both like the same sort of books. I'm glad you had a great time .

 

I hope you enjoy your new books .

[frankie]

16. When the Professor Got Stuck in the Snow by Dan Rhodes 

 

 

Blurb: Everybody at the Women's Institute in the village of Upper Bottom is eagerly awaiting the arrival of a very special guest speaker: the world famous evolutionary biologist Professor Richard Dawkins. 

But with a blizzard setting in, their visitor finds himself trapped in the nearby town of Market Horten, with no choice but to take lodgings with the local Anglican vicar. Will the professor be able to abide by his motto cordiality always while surrounded by Christians? Will he ever reach Upper Bottom? And can his assistant, Smee, save the day?

 

Thoughts: I will freely and without any feelings of shame confess I didn't know this Richard Dawkins is a real person   I went into the novel thinking it's about made up people. It was Kylie's comment in the Book Activity section that made me realize I needed to google Richard Dawkins. I've heard of The God Delusion before, I know some on here have read the book, but I didn't know much about it, or the author. 

 

I liked the first third of the novel and got a few LOLs out of it. It did get a bit repetitive after a while, though. Dawkins kept on hammering people in the head with his opinions and I started to wonder what the point was, if there was any. I did enjoy the characters and the rural setting, but I think Rhodes could've done so much more with the religious vs atheist, or he could've at least approached it from different angles. 

 

Without the twist in the end, it would've been a rather dull book by the end, in my humble opinion. However, I can't say it was a brilliant twist, at least as far as I'm concerned. I hope it will work better for other Rhodes fans. 

 

Sad to give it a 2/5

Edited May 29, 2017 by frankie

[frankie]

17. The Best of Adam Sharp by Graeme Simsion 

 

 

Blurb: I was back home in Norwich, reading up on Pete Best, the Beatles' forgotten first drummer, when the email popped up in the bottom corner of my screen. 

 

From: angelina.brown@tpg.com.au

 

Hi

 

That was it. Hi. After twenty-to years without any contact at all, out of the blue, Angelina Brown, my Great Lost Love, decides to change the world and writes Hi. 

 

 

Thoughts: Being a big fan of Simsion's Don Tillman books, I had to try this new book by the author. I think I had high hopes for the book, but then I read Athena's thoughts of it and thought I'd have to be careful. 

 

It was a great book in that I found it unputdownable. I read it in three days and that's not something that's happened to me often this year. I read and read, and kept wanting to read it when I couldn't, because of work or sleep. The story flowed nicely and it was easy to read. 

 

However, the characters didn't really grow on me. For a while I was interested in how things would pan out for the protagonist, but after a certain point *  I got really annoyed by some of the characters and just wanted to finish the novel as quick as possible. 

 

Music plays an important part in the novel and songs are mentioned on every other page or so it seems, at least. I love music, but it was either too much for me, and too often, or maybe it was just that it wasn't my type of music. Apart from I Will Survive and a few Beatles songs I don't think I know any of the rest. Maybe it was just as well that it wasn't my type of music, because I didn't like the characters, either.

 

Rather disappointed with this one. 

 

*  Athena, you can read this spoiler if you're interested in more detailed thoughts:

Spoiler

I just thought the week with Adam, Angelina and Charlie was just soooo stupid.    Letting Adam sleep with his wife!! And when Angelina asked Adam if he'd be there for her, if Charlie doesn't want her. How selfish and needy are these people??  I was reading some of these parts in the subway and wanted to throw the book out the window!  I haven't felt like throwing a book out the window in a long time....   I didn't see what Adam and Charlie saw in Angelina. What a high maintenance woman. Good luck being in love with that type of person. Of course one can't help one's feelings, but it's just soooo stupid. 

 

2/5