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Claire's Book List 2017


chesilbeach

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On 06/09/2017 at 8:11 AM, Athena said:

When you've finished Ash and Quill could you tell me if it ends on a big cliffhanger? I honestly thought it was a trilogy and bought all three books in the series, but I am not good with cliffhangers, so if it ends on a huge cliffhanger I'd rather wait until the whole series is out.

 

On 07/09/2017 at 8:16 AM, chesilbeach said:

Finished AaQ this morning.  I love this YA series, it's a fantastic quest in a world where the Great Library controls all the books in the world. Unfortunately, I don't know when the next one will be published, but I'm guessing it'll be at least next year. @Athena, it does end on a cliffhanger - all the books in the series have so far.

 

I thought it was a trilogy too! I just started reading Ink and Bone, it's good to know you liked the other books @chesilbeach :)

 

Eight books in a week sounds like a good holiday to me :lol:

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5 hours ago, chesilbeach said:

I've got Autumn by Ali Smith (also shortlisted) and Home Fire by Kamila Shamsie (long listed but didn't make the shortlist) to read too, but that's because the first is Ali Smith and she's my favourite :D and the second because she's doing a talk with Ali Smith locally in November and I'm going along, so I thought it was only polite to have read the books they're talking about before I go! :lol:

 

Pretty much everybody I've heard or read reviewing Autumn has liked it, although several have said that they think she'll be a runner-up, so that's promising if you're a fan already!  Apparently, Smith herself has said she's pretty relaxed about winning (although what else can she say?), not least because Angela Carter never won either.  Which says a lot about the Man-Booker methinks.

 

 

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11 hours ago, willoyd said:

 

Pretty much everybody I've heard or read reviewing Autumn has liked it, although several have said that they think she'll be a runner-up, so that's promising if you're a fan already!  Apparently, Smith herself has said she's pretty relaxed about winning (although what else can she say?), not least because Angela Carter never won either.  Which says a lot about the Man-Booker methinks.

 

 

 

Yes, I've heard the same, that it's a good book, but people don't think it will win.  I have to say, having seen her talk twice, I can't imagine that she's bothered about prizes in general.  She's got an infectious enthusiasm about both writing and reading (and when she reads excerpts from her books, she brings them to life more than any other author I've heard talk), but I don't think she worries about literary criticism or being famous as such. She also doesn't do any sort of social media or court attention from any other type of media, and has a set pattern to her time for writing, publishing and promoting  and also taking time off from work.  To me, she comes across as an ordinary person who writes extraordinary books, and her feet are planted firmly on the ground. :D

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On 31/12/2016 at 5:43 PM, chesilbeach said:

E. H. YOUNG

 

Key:

Books I own in Italics

Books I have read in Bold

 

BOOK LIST:

 

1. A Corn of Wheat

2. Yonder

3. Moor Fires

4. The Misses Mallett

5. William

6. The Vicar's Daughter

7. Miss Mole

8. Jenny Wren

9. The Curate's Wife

10. Celia

11. Chatterton Square

 

Status: 3/11 books read = 27% complete

I found a copy of Chatterton Square today. It's not in italics but I vaguely remember you've got it? I'm in the Book Barn on my mobile and I haven't got good signal so I can't search your thread very well! 

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1 hour ago, Janet said:

I found a copy of Chatterton Square today. It's not in italics but I vaguely remember you've got it? I'm in the Book Barn on my mobile and I haven't got good signal so I can't search your thread very well! 

 

Thanks Janet, but I have already got it. It’s in italics on my phone, so might be just difficult to see? But bless you for looking! :flowers2:

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This thread has been seriously neglected for most of the year.  While my reading has gone well, I've had other things to deal with, so haven't been here as much as I normally am.  Hopefully next year will be better, although I'll probably give up worrying about reviews on this years books.

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On 01/12/2017 at 3:58 PM, chesilbeach said:

This thread has been seriously neglected for most of the year.  While my reading has gone well, I've had other things to deal with, so haven't been here as much as I normally am.  Hopefully next year will be better, although I'll probably give up worrying about reviews on this years books.

 

Looking at your book list, 'gone well' seems to be a bit of an understatement!  Seriously impressive rather.  I have enough problems keeping up with reviews, and I'm reading less than half the number you're completing.  I've decided I haven't got time to do full reviews on all my books, thus the greater prevalence of 'mini-reviews' collected in posts every now and again.  I've started to focus full reviews on books where I feel I've really got something I want to say about a book (good or bad!).

 

It's good, though, to see you back on board with your thread - it's one I've always followed with great interest.

 

 

Edited by willoyd
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Thanks @willoyd :)  I'll probably take a similar approach and mainly just post a few thoughts about books as I go along with the odd longer review in there if I feel like it.  I do like to keep my lists up to date, so I do keep the first page up to date, even if the rest of the thread looks forgotten.

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I was most of the way through listening to an audiobook version of Jenny Colgan's The Summer Seaside Kitchen so decided to finish that rather than start a Christmassy story instead while doing my wrapping today.  I've finished it this afternoon, so audiobooks will be Christmas ones for the rest of the month now! :xmassmile:

 

I'm halfway through How To Be A Heroine by Samantha Ellis and it's fantastic.  Will definitely be recommending it when I've finished. :D  

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On 12/1/2017 at 3:58 PM, chesilbeach said:

This thread has been seriously neglected for most of the year.  While my reading has gone well, I've had other things to deal with, so haven't been here as much as I normally am.  Hopefully next year will be better, although I'll probably give up worrying about reviews on this years books.

 

Same here....this year has been tough but I'm not sure why! I must be about 20 reviews behind, and I was trying to collect my thoughts on them over the last couple of days, but I'm really struggling. I hate to abandon this years reviews, but I may not have a choice. :wacko: Maybe I will try to do some mini-reviews, but even that will be difficult given how much time has passed since I finished some of these books!

 

Hopefully next year will be better for you.

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4 hours ago, bobblybear said:

 

Same here....this year has been tough but I'm not sure why! I must be about 20 reviews behind, and I was trying to collect my thoughts on them over the last couple of days, but I'm really struggling. I hate to abandon this years reviews, but I may not have a choice. :wacko: Maybe I will try to do some mini-reviews, but even that will be difficult given how much time has passed since I finished some of these books!

 

 

I often write my mini-reviews a month or two after the event - that's why I'm writing them rather than a full one, trying to catch up.  Just write what your abiding overall impression was, and if it was forgettable, say so! It's only a sentence or so, so it can stay very generalised, which it probably needs to be once at a distance.  I find I'm glad I did even that, as it still gives me something tangible to look back on, when you're recalling a book at an even greater distance!  Good luck with them anyway.

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Well I was a very lucky thing and received lots of books for Christmas!  However, my other half usually buys me a selection of children's books, but bless him, he's been so busy decorating that he didn't really have much time for shopping, so we agreed I'd just go out and get myself some today.  I actually had two full stamp cards and a lot of points on my reward card at Waterstones, so I got four books for no money whatsoever!  They didn't have a a couple of books I particularly wanted, so I also popped into my local indie bookshop who had one of them in stock, and bought that one and ordered the other, and also bought an impulse purchase too.

 

Received for Christmas:

1. 21st-Century Yokel by Tom Cox

2. Adventures in the Screen Trade by William Goldman

3. Corduroy by Adrian Bell

4. Hidden Nature by Alys Fowler

5. Letters of Note by Shaun Usher

6. Ma’am Darling by Craig Brown

7. The Secret Life of the Owl by John Lewis-Stempel

8. Watling Street by John Higgs

9. Father Christmas and Me by Matt Haig

10. The Bear and the Nightingale by Katherine Arden

 

Today, I bought myself these middle grade books:

1. Christmas Dinner of Souls by Ross Montgomery

2. The Explorer by Katherine Rundell

3. The Polar Bear Explorers’ Club by Alex Bell

4. The Scandalous Sisterhood of Prickwillow Place by Julie Berry

5. Sky Chasers by Emma Carroll

6. Sky Song by Abi Elphinstone

 

I've already finished The Bear and the Nightingale by Katherine Arden and The Secret Life of the Owl by John Lewis-Stempel, and am halfway through 21st-Century Yokel by Tom Cox.

 

There's only one problem with receiving all these wonderful books ... I want to read them all NOW!!! :D  There's just not enough hours in the day, even with being on holiday until the New Year.  I almost wish I could just open the books and absorb it through osmosis so that I can have read them all, as they all look fantastic.

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