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Your Book Activity - May 2017


frankie

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May is finally here! :exc:

 

What are you reading today? Have you bought any books? Tell us all about your day's bookish activities! :)

 

I'm still reading The Passenger by Lisa Lutz. I hope to finish it today. 

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Happy May :)

 

I am currently reading Victoria by Daisy Goodwin. I have been reading it for a couple of weeks now but I am loving it! I am going to watch the drama series afterwards with Jenna Coleman. 

 

I am also reading It Aint No Sin which is a biography of Mae West by Simon  Louvish. It's okay but I've had it for more years than I can count. 

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On 29/04/2017 at 10:10 PM, willoyd said:

A week into The Mill on the Floss, and only about a quarter of the way through when I expected to have finished by now.  Loads of distractions, but have to admit that in spite of enjoying the writing itself, I'm struggling to settle down with it.  Not quite sure why, but think that it's partly because, whilst I don't know the plot, I know it's a tragedy, and just can't get myself going on it when it's such a big book.  Will persist!  I need to get a couple of good sessions under my belt - Victorian novels don't lend themselves to short stints and/or dipping.

 

I'm also 25% of the way through (reading on kindle). All I know about the rest of the plot is my Mum told me it was depressing. Gee, thanks, mum! 

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3 hours ago, Alexi said:

I'm also 25% of the way through (reading on kindle). All I know about the rest of the plot is my Mum told me it was depressing. Gee, thanks, mum! 

 

That's about as much as I know too.

 

Took a break today to get going on my reading group book for May, Anne Enright's The Green Road - we meet next Monday.  Am again about a quarter of the way through, and again I'm struggling.   Her writing is neat and clever, but what story there appears to be is unattractive, and I feel almost completely unengaged.

Edited by willoyd
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I finished The Passenger by Lisa Lutz, I really liked it :)  I then started Keisari Aarnio, which is a non-fiction book about the former narcotics police chief of Helsinki, who turned out not to be a heroic cop but a corrupt one, making money off drugs and starting a relationship with a prostitute who was a witness in one of his cases. People were stunned when they learned about his true nature, and the book on it was published in January. This is going to be an interesting one! 

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9 hours ago, willoyd said:

 

That's about as much as I know too.

 

Took a break today to get going on my reading group book for May, Anne Enright's The Green Road - we meet next Monday.  Am again about a quarter of the way through, and again I'm struggling.   Her writing is neat and clever, but what story there appears to be is unattractive, and I feel almost completely unengaged.

I have this on my TBR, it sounds a little depressing, maybe with some sardonic humour, that's what attracted me to it.

2 hours ago, frankie said:

I finished The Passenger by Lisa Lutz, I really liked it :)  I then started Keisari Aarnio, which is a non-fiction book about the former narcotics police chief of Helsinki, who turned out not to be a heroic cop but a corrupt one, making money off drugs and starting a relationship with a prostitute who was a witness in one of his cases. People were stunned when they learned about his true nature, and the book on it was published in January. This is going to be an interesting one! 

I'm not a big thriller fan but The Passenger looks interesting, have added it to my ever growing wish list! :) 

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I read The People At Number Nine by Felicity Everett. I..... did not like it. Not at all. I was expecting it to be a thriller and it turned out to be a subdued tale of pretentiousness and shallow people in the suburbs.

 

Halfway through Tattletale by Sarah J. Naughton now and really enjoying it.

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Was away for a few days last week so not much reading got done.  But I did manage to buy a few books.  Finally got the Essex Serpent.

 

Near the end of the Miniaturist by Jessie Burton - loving it - different to the stories I usually read

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12 hours ago, chaliepud said:

I have this on my TBR, it sounds a little depressing, maybe with some sardonic humour, that's what attracted me to it.

 

Well, I got to the end of the third chapter, just over 100 pages and about one-third of the way through, and have thrown in the towel.  I could possibly handle the lack of narrative development so far - each chapter has effectively been a separate short story, and I assume they will be all tied together later on, but only one of the chapters has interested me - but the punctuation is driving me bananas.  In particular, her use of commas is hopelessly inconsistent, and horribly distracting.  I appreciate that, in spite of what the powers have deemed for English language teaching in primary schools, comma useage is as much a matter of style as obeying certain rules, but whatever one does, it should at least be consistent.  Instead, Enright seems to adopt one rule in one sentence, then promptly break it in the next.  And some of the rules she adopts randomly are, IMO, horribly clumsy and disruptive to reading (for instance, splitting off a final adverbial phrase from the verb with a comma).  The result is that I'm constantly having to go back and reread sentences to make sure I've understood what she's trying to say, which means thatI can't establish any sort of rhythm or subconscious understanding, essential to any reading.

 

There is, I'm sure, a good story in here, and I did enjoy the content of one chapter, so I'll probably land up giving it 2 stars (it's one and a half!), but I really can't bring myself to read it to a conclusion in its current format.

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What a shame, Willoyd. I think that would irk me too.

 

I'm currently reading Diane Chamberlain - Keeper of the Light / Kiss River 3: Her Mother's Shadow. I've been meaning to read this book since March, but now I found myself in the mood for it. It's good so far.

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Finished Tattletale and thoroughly enjoyed it.

 

I also read Annihilation by Jeff VanderMeer, which could have been better (its biggest issue was the utterly dull main character, from whose perspective the story is told), but I still enjoyed it a lot and will likely continue the trilogy.

 

Now I am reading Good as Gone by Amy Gentry.

 

I also bought a couple of books in Waterstones the other day - I wanted to get Nothing On Earth by Conor Callaghan, a book which is getting rave reviews here, and since it was then half price I picked up Six Four by Hideo Yokoyama.

 

ETA: I also just got an email from Amazon telling me about 99p thrillers and ending up buying:

  • Watching Edie - Camilla Way (Been wanting to read this for a while now but it was always expensive, yay!)
  • Sometimes I Lie - Alice Feeney
  • Girl Number One - Jane Holland
  • Lock the Door - Jane Holland
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Finished The Italian Girl by Lucinda Riley, a new author to me but I thoroughly enjoyed it.

 

Will begin The Boy on the Bridge by M.R. Carey later today, the sequel to The Girl With All The Gifts, I've been looking forward to this one! :exc:

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I should hopefully finish Elephants Can Remember by Agatha Christie this weekend.  It's not one of her better ones; it feels uninspired, and the dialogue is repetitive.  It won't get more than a 2/5 from me.

 

Not sure what I fancy reading next.  Perhaps Holding by Graham Norton.

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I'm shamefully behind on reviews (19 books behind to be precise :blush:), but have just not felt very motivated lately. At least I'm still managing to read, so I should be thankful for that.

 

Last night I started Looking For Alaska by John Green, which I'm enjoying. I also recently finished Carrion Comfort by Dan Simmons (well, I had to skim the last 30% or so as it was just dragging on for too long. I recall having the same problem with The Abominable, so I shall probably just give up on his books). I also finished Reasons To Stay Alive by Matt Haig, which was a fairly interesting read.

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Today, a book I ordered two weeks ago arrived in the mail: the Everyman's Literary Pockets Poetry of Blake's poetry. I've already marked The Tyger and Auguries of Innocence (not with a marker, but with the bookmark lint). It's such a beautiful edition and I like it's so small I can take it with me everywhere.

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On Friday I finally finished The Killing 3 and started Rage of the Dragon by Margaret Weis & Tracy Hickman - one of my own books. Hurrah!  Now that I have received the fourth & final book for my birthday, I thought I'd crack on with book 3 (seeing as it's not that long since I read the previous two).

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I have had to give It Aint No Sin by Simon Louvish up. I was just moving my eyes over the words. 

I hate not finishing books but I just could not cope with this. So going to delete it of my shelves on goodreads and just pretend it never was. 

 

On a more positive note still really enjoying Victoria by Daisy Goodwin and also The Fault In Our Stars by John Green. 

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Still struggling with The Mill on the Floss.  I've now reached the end of my third week, and am still just over 300 pages in, with another 180 to go.  Admittedly, I've not been spending as much time reading lately as usual, as I've been taking advantage of the beautiful weather and time of year to get out birding a lot more, but I can't say I've been overly anxious to get back in when I do find time to read.  A little bit of mojo loss, and a little bit to do with the book itself.  Genuinely great writing, but depressing to read - maybe not the best choice at the moment (have recently had time off for work-related stress, and am still only on a part-time, phased return!).  Will try and make an effort to get on with it over the next few days though.

Edited by willoyd
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Oops, haven't posted in this thread yet. :blush:

 

I've had a pretty good start to May, and have really enjoyed reading about the Borgias in Blood and Beauty by Sarah Dunant for my library reading group.  On top of that, I've been catching up on some of the series I've been reading, and read a couple of Phryne Fisher Mysteries by Kerry Greenwood, an Amelia Peabody book by Elizabeth Peters and the third book in Genevieve Cogman's series about the Vanishing Library.  I've also listened to Love in a Cold Climate by Nancy Mitford read by Patricia Hodge, and I've started reading The Blessing by the same author this morning. :D

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