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Your Book Activity - January 2017


chesilbeach

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I didn't actually finish any books in December, though I'm working my way through three books, so my new aim is to get them done asap to give me a headstart in January.

 

As I also basically haven't been on the forum for the past month due to illness, moving house, and Christmas, I have a LOT of posts from the 2016 blogs to catch up on! I don't want to miss any potential new additions to my TBR! :giggle:

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Made a good start on Through the Mirror Door by Sarah Baker today - very good so far. :)

 

Bought myself The Princess Bride by William Goldman (which I've never actually read, despite loving the film and having read Cary Elwes book about the making of the film!) and Spill Simmer Falter Wither by Sara Baume, both of which are in the Kindle monthly deals offer. :smile2:

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Started a book I was bought just before Christmas, The Power of Habit by Charles Duhigg.

 

I've just picked this up on the Kindle Monthly Deals for only £1.99.

 

Bought myself The Princess Bride by William Goldman (which I've never actually read, despite loving the film and having read Cary Elwes book about the making of the film!) and Spill Simmer Falter Wither by Sara Baume, both of which are in the Kindle monthly deals offer. :smile2:

 

So glad you posted about the monthly Kindle deals. I always forget to check those! :doh:

 

I've bought The Power of Habit by Charles Duhigg, The Age of Wonder by Richard Holmes and Wild Swans by Jung Chang. There are a few others that I could have bought but I'm trying to show some restraint so early in the new year. :giggle:

 

I've nearly finished We Are All Completely Beside Ourselves by Karen Joy Fowler. If all goes to plan (ie. if I don't fall asleep) I should finish it tonight. It's very different to what I expected, and I'm not that keen on the descriptions of lab experiments on animals.  :wacko: 

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I finished a terrific book by Ian Kershaw on the history of Europe from 1914- 1949. Mammoth book. I read 230 pages yesterday!

 

Now I've started Everything I Never Told You by Celeste Ng.

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I didn't actually finish any books in December, though I'm working my way through three books, so my new aim is to get them done asap to give me a headstart in January.

 

As I also basically haven't been on the forum for the past month due to illness, moving house, and Christmas, I have a LOT of posts from the 2016 blogs to catch up on! I don't want to miss any potential new additions to my TBR! :giggle:

It's great to see you back!

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Starting the year with The Awakening of Miss Prim.  Initial reaction is that it's quirky, and a wee bit stilted, but still engaging, and easy to read.  Will leave the heavier stuff for a week or two at least.

 

Completed today.  Inital impressions stuck with this one.  Felt it was initailly attracitv, but something never quite added up enough for me, with a somwat artficial setting it's certinly not real!), and similar characters.

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Last night I finished We Are All Completely Beside Ourselves. It was good, but not great - felt like something was missing. I'm a bit surprised that it was shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize, as I didn't find it remarkable in any way. :dunno:

 

I've picked my next read somewhat at random: The Poisonous Seed by Linda Stratmann.

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Last night I finished We Are All Completely Beside Ourselves. It was good, but not great - felt like something was missing. I'm a bit surprised that it was shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize, as I didn't find it remarkable in any way. :dunno:

I found it rather underwhelming too, Bobs.   :)

 

I am about a quarter of the way through The Go-Between by L P Hartley which is the English Counties Challenge book for Norfolk.  I had it in paperback but the writing is so small that I struggled a bit, so I've bought it on Kindle and I'm getting on much better with it as a result.  :)

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I found it rather underwhelming too, Bobs.   :)

 

A lot of people seem to feel similar, going by Amazon reviews. Still, I'm glad I read it as it's one more off the TBR list. :D

 

The Poisonous Seed by Linda Stratmann is going well. It gets right into the story from page one, which is often a good thing. :smile:

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Last night I finished We Are All Completely Beside Ourselves. It was good, but not great - felt like something was missing. I'm a bit surprised that it was shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize, as I didn't find it remarkable in any way. :dunno:

 

It was?! I read this and thought it was okay, but I'm completely astonished that it was nominated for the Man Booker. :lol:

 

Very little reading done for me today. I'm very much enjoying On Beauty but just haven't had much time to sit down with it. Intended to read on commute to new job today but was a bit nervous about where I was getting off/less familiar surroundings, so couldn't concentrate and didn't bother. Will hopefully get a couple of hours to sit down with it tonight before bed.

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Hope you enjoyed your first day, Ben.

 

I started reading The White Princess today. I went on a walk on my lunch break and decided to go into a charity shop to browse the books. Only to browse til I saw an unopened boxset of the Cousins War series including The Other Boleyn Girl, The Boleyn Inheritance and The Constant Princess, all for £2.

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It was?! I read this and thought it was okay, but I'm completely astonished that it was nominated for the Man Booker. :lol:

 

Yeah, I know, strange isn't it? It was short-listed as well, so the panel must have seen something special in it. :dunno:

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I'm currently reading Blake Charlton - Spellwright 2: Spellbound. So far it's nice, I'm about a quarter of the way through. I haven't been reading lots though, because I've been doing other things and I felt less in the mood to read.

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I finished Through The Mirror Door by Sarah Baker yesterday evening, and I've now started The Snow Merchant by Sam Gayton (illustrated beautifully by Chris Riddle :wub:).
 
I've also picked up The Summer Before The War by Helen Simonson again on Audiobook after a bit of a break, and I'm really enjoying it, and Lucy Scott is an excellent narrator.  Would definitely consider buying an audiobook almost solely based on her narrations, she's that good! :D

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I've started an autobiography of Madeleine Albright's childhood living through WWII. It's 750 pages, but very good and I've admired her for a long time. I'm 200 pages in.

 

 

I'm also reading Everything I Never Told You by Celeste Ng. The writing is terrible!

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I've now started The Amazing Adventures of Cavalier & Clay by Michael Chabon; it took me a bit to really get into it but I think I'll like it a lot.

 

I noticed this on Goodreads and was thrilled you were reading this book! I totally loved it when I read it :smile2:

 

I have this one my Kindle, and I think it's on the Rory Gilmore challenge as well. I hope to read it this year, as I have only heard good things about it.

 

Haha, bobbly! :lol: You are already recalling books as ones being on the Rory list! :D I love it :D (I saw you asking me about it in my thread, I'll get to that soon!)  I would totally recommend the book, don't let the size intimidate you :)

 

The Amazing Adventures... is high up on my to-read list as well. Read his excellent new novel/memoir/mash-up Moonglow earlier this year and it was one of my favourite reads in 2016.Smith's On Beauty...

 

Glad to see TAAoK&C is high up on your to-read list! :smile2: I hope you will enjoy it! :)

 

It's definitely on the Rory Gilmore challenge, it's how I chose it  :smile: It has great reviews too, so I think it was a good choice from the list. The list has always scared me a bit with some of the reads, I can just see they're not my style!

 

Some of the books are definitely ones I wouldn't normally go for, either because I don't fancy them or haven't even heard of them... And there have definitely been a few duds. I don't expect to ever actually finish the list, but I'm having great fun going through it :)  And there have been a few really wonderful treats on the list, books I wouldn't have read otherwise :smile2:  Like The Amazing Adventures, and Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress, for example. 

 

I am about a quarter of the way through The Go-Between by L P Hartley which is the English Counties Challenge book for Norfolk.  I had it in paperback but the writing is so small that I struggled a bit, so I've bought it on Kindle and I'm getting on much better with it as a result.  :)

 

Aside from the tiny print, is the book hard to read? I added it on my wishlist some time ago but I was worried I might struggle with it, for some reason? 

 

Thanks - I am feeling better now. I keep thinking about that poor doggy. I'd love to rehome him but we don't have the space. When we move (hopefully next year) I keep joking (half-joking) that we will have dogs all over the house! :lol:

 

When I was reading your post about the dog, I did think that it would've been great if you could've adopted him, but I thought there was probably a reason why you didn't, and that it's really none of my business to ask why you didn't :D I hope you can make your dream come true this year and that you will get to move to a bigger house and make it seem so much smaller by adopting many wonderful doggies :D 

 

 

I'm currently re-reading The Woman Who Went to Bed for a Year by Sue Townsend, but I'm struggling with it. When I'm reading it, I'm enjoying it, but when I pick it up again the next day, I can hardly remember what I've read the previous day. And I get all the minor characters mixed. Something tells me I should put this book down and start another... I just fear that whichever book I choose, I have no mojo for it :(

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 Glad to see TAAoK&C is high up on your to-read list! :smile2: I hope you will enjoy it! :)

 

Thanks, Frankie. Amazingly Chabon had never really come to my attention before 2016's Moonglow which I reviewed as an ARC. I loved the way he writes and instantly made a promise to myself to explore his work further. So happy this is commented upon so highly by my fellow BCF-ers.

 

As for The Woman Who Went to Bed for a Year, I really can't remember when I read it now - a couple of years ago maybe? - but I wrote quite a strong review on how much I didn't like it. Not sure if I just didn't *get* it as such, but wasn't particularly enthused by any characters and I didn't really see what it was aiming at in the long-run. I also know a few people on here felt the same. :yes:

 

Not saying you should give it up if you don't want to... but there's so many other wonderful books to read. :P

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Aside from the tiny print, is the book hard to read? I added it on my wishlist some time ago but I was worried I might struggle with it, for some reason?

I would say no... except there are an awful lot of footnotes in it which, if I was reading the paper book, I would find frustrating. Some of them I've just ignored because they are explaining who people are and I haven't needed to read them, but there is a chapter were a lot of the dialogue is in French so I've needed them for that.  On the Kindle I just just click on them and the footnote pops up.  If you can, I would suggest looking at a library copy rather than buying it.  I hope that doesn't sound patronising - it's not meant to.  :)  The language is fine and you'd have no problems with that at all. 

 

I'm really enjoying the story though. 

 

I'm currently re-reading The Woman Who Went to Bed for a Year by Sue Townsend, but I'm struggling with it. When I'm reading it, I'm enjoying it, but when I pick it up again the next day, I can hardly remember what I've read the previous day. And I get all the minor characters mixed. Something tells me I should put this book down and start another... I just fear that whichever book I choose, I have no mojo for it :(

I tried that a few years ago but I hated it.  I wanted to slap the woman and tell her to get up!  :blush:

 

I've also picked up The Summer Before The War by Helen Simonson again on Audiobook after a bit of a break, and I'm really enjoying it, and Lucy Scott is an excellent narrator.  Would definitely consider buying an audiobook almost solely based on her narrations, she's that good! :D

I've downloaded that.  I need to get out walking again...

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Still reading The Letter by Kathyrn Hughes, should finish it tonight or tomorrow, it's ok but the writing is a little simplistic and not particularly inspiring. It isn't something I would abandon as suspect it is partly my mojo but looking forward do trying something else soon.

 

Also need to get cracking on my 2017 thread! I wasn't sure whether I would do one but think I will. It may inspire me to read more?! :)

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Still reading The Letter by Kathyrn Hughes, should finish it tonight or tomorrow, it's ok but the writing is a little simplistic and not particularly inspiring. It isn't something I would abandon as suspect it is partly my mojo but looking forward do trying something else soon.

I read that in 2015. I've just looked at my review and I was rather scathing!  It's a shame as it was a great idea, but was poorly executed.  I think maybe it was self-published and could have benefited from an editor, but I can't really remember enough about it to know if that's the case!

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I read that in 2015. I've just looked at my review and I was rather scathing! It's a shame as it was a great idea, but was poorly executed. I think maybe it was self-published and could have benefited from an editor, but I can't really remember enough about it to know if that's the case!

Ah! I'll have to read that review when I'm finished. I've seen lots of positive reviews but it is just a bit too bland for me, not helped I realise by reading only small chunks at a time but if it was a great book that wouldn't matter.

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