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Your Book Activity - July 2017


Athena

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11 hours ago, bobblybear said:

The Bone Clocks - David Mitchell

The Pillars of the Earth - Ken Follett

American Psycho - Bret Easton Ellis

Stephen King Goes to the Movies (collection) - Stephen King

The Second Coming - John Niven

The Passage - Justin Cronin

 

No idea when I am going to read these books; my TBR pile is just ridiculous! :lol:

 

I could swore you already read The Pillars of the Earth and that you really liked it? Did you read a paper copy or library copy, or am I just misremembering?

I hope you enjoy all of your new books :D.

 

8 hours ago, Little Pixie said:

Reading one book's pretty good, I think - especially when it's an effort. :)

 

Ooh, what do you think the dream signifies ? I generally get a lot of breakthroughs in dreams ; I had one recently which was about deadlines . I realised  when I woke up that I could do with setting some, instead of having this attitude of ' things will miraculously sort themselves out in the  future, like my dining room table TBR or other book piles, etc'. 

 

I was doing quite well, then the table just got out of control... ;)

 

Thanks :). That's interesting, about your dream about deadlines! I think mine might signify that I'm worried about not reading much (in comparison to the other months of this year), or perhaps that I would like to read more but somehow feel unable to, or that maybe I should 'get a move on' with reading so I end up reading more than 3 books in July. I did though, in July, read the July chapter of The Happiness Project, so there was that. That's 1/12th-ish of a book, right :P.

 

Haha :D.

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I finally finished Gently By the Shore by Alan Hunter.  It was terrible!  Lazy, predictable plotting, and the writing was so dated and weak.  1/5

 

Now on to The Story of Mr. Sommer by Patrick Suskind, which I'm sure will be much better, because I love Patrick Suskind. :)

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10 hours ago, Athena said:

 

Thanks :). That's interesting, about your dream about deadlines! I think mine might signify that I'm worried about not reading much (in comparison to the other months of this year), or perhaps that I would like to read more but somehow feel unable to, or that maybe I should 'get a move on' with reading so I end up reading more than 3 books in July. I did though, in July, read the July chapter of The Happiness Project, so there was that. That's 1/12th-ish of a book, right :P.

 

 

 :giggle2: That`s true - those chapters add up. :D 

 

How are you liking the Gretchen Rubin book ? :)

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On 07/07/2017 at 7:35 AM, willoyd said:

Finished All Our Wrong Todays - this month's book group read.  Interesting premise, but it all felt rather thin - on character and on science (I'm no physicist, so may have some of this wrong, but the logic didn't work  for me).  Too plot driven for my taste, and the plot felt wobbly.  2/6 stars.

 

 

Followed by Adam Nicolson's The Seabird's Cry.  Just completed the first chapter - outstanding!

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15 hours ago, Little Pixie said:

 :giggle2: That`s true - those chapters add up. :D 

 

How are you liking the Gretchen Rubin book ? :)

 

I quite liked most of the chapters :). They contained some interesting tips and also some things not for me, but it was still interesting to read how they affected Gretchen. I did think that sometimes she was putting in a lot of work whereas the people around her didn't, which didn't seem fair to me. I thought the cleaning up / decluttering tips were particularly interesting. I enjoyed reading most of the chapters :).

 

The only chapter I didn't like was the June chapter, about making friends. I didn't like how the author put that it would be good for everyone to make more friends and connect with strangers in real life and such (not online). It's possible that the research said it would be good for most people, but for me with my autism it doesn't work that way and I do not agree with her that it's good for everyone to connect to lots of people. If she had written "most people" instead of "everyone", I wouldn't consider it a problem, but as she wrote "everyone", I simply do not agree with her and I feel she doesn't take mental illness and my conditions into account. I'm glad it worked for her, but that's just not how it works for me, and so that chapter really irked me.

 

I believe everyone has need of a certain amount of contact with others, a certain level of contact at which they are most happy and most comfortable. For me, that level isn't as high as it would be for someone who is an extreme extrovert. I am happy with the friends I have (including BCF!) and the family I have, and I don't have the energy to connect much to strangers or new people in real life. It costs me a lot of effort to socially communicate, and it would, in most cases, cost me more energy than that I would get positive energy out of it. Communicating online is much easier for me than communicating in real life, too, since there is no body language and voice intonations etc., to take into account.

 

Communication is easier if there is, what I call, a certain protocol to be followed, ie. I buy something in a shop. There is then a set amount of things that the cashier might say to me, "it's 10€.", "please", "thank you for your purchase", "have a good day" etc. As soon as anything falls outside those boundaries I have taught myself, I get confused and it costs me much more energy (because I don't know what to expect the other person to say or how to respond to it). Communicating with someone when there is no set protocol, is extremely hard for me, and I don't like doing it and it costs me more energy than that it gives me energy (or happiness). I get tired just from going to the supermarket (and communicating with the cashier in the 'shopping' protocol), I get tired from spending half an hour or an hour with my family (I can predict the kind of things they might say), I would get extremely tired if I have to talk to a stranger in real life without any set rules in place. And it takes a special person to really understand me, to be honest, most people don't really understand me, at least not without a huge effort from me to tell them lots of things about myself. It costs me a lot of energy just to communicate with my family for a little while - I struggle with my energy levels as is. i would much rather have 5 close friends than 20 acquaintances.

 

Okay, rant over :P. I quite liked the other chapters, though, and it's interesting to read about Gretchen's life :). I certainly don't regret buying or reading the book, so no worries there :).

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Yesterday I finished 'Billy and Me' by Giovanna Fletcher and I have to say, it wasn't as predictable as I had first though. I don't usually read this type of book, but I enjoyed it. I would like to read more of Giovanna Fletcher's books in the future.

 

Now, I'm about 55 pages into 'My Sister's Keeper' by Jodi Picoult. So far, it's good.

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Finished reading A Sky Full of Stars from the Wainwright long list, and had a mooch around the bookshops in Bridport, and came away with another Wainwright book, The Nature of Autumn by Jim Crumley which I've started reading already, and because he's one of the presenters from one of my favourite podcasts, Backlisted, I snapped up a second hand copy of The Year of Reading Dangerously by Andy Miller as well. :smile2: 

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I've been reading more again today. I'm reading Library of Souls by Ransom Riggs and I'm at this really interesting part where a new light is unexpectedly shed on important events in the history of the trilogy. It's very interesting, terribly exciting - and then my dad asks me to drive behind him because he has to drop off a car and I need to take him home... it should be illegal to interrupt a person's reading. 

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13 hours ago, Athena said:

 

I quite liked most of the chapters :). They contained some interesting tips and also some things not for me, but it was still interesting to read how they affected Gretchen. I did think that sometimes she was putting in a lot of work whereas the people around her didn't, which didn't seem fair to me. I thought the cleaning up / decluttering tips were particularly interesting. I enjoyed reading most of the chapters :).

 

The only chapter I didn't like was the June chapter, about making friends. I didn't like how the author put that it would be good for everyone to make more friends and connect with strangers in real life and such (not online). It's possible that the research said it would be good for most people, but for me with my autism it doesn't work that way and I do not agree with her that it's good for everyone to connect to lots of people. If she had written "most people" instead of "everyone", I wouldn't consider it a problem, but as she wrote "everyone", I simply do not agree with her and I feel she doesn't take mental illness and my conditions into account. I'm glad it worked for her, but that's just not how it works for me, and so that chapter really irked me.

 

I believe everyone has need of a certain amount of contact with others, a certain level of contact at which they are most happy and most comfortable. For me, that level isn't as high as it would be for someone who is an extreme extrovert. I am happy with the friends I have (including BCF!) and the family I have, and I don't have the energy to connect much to strangers or new people in real life. It costs me a lot of effort to socially communicate, and it would, in most cases, cost me more energy than that I would get positive energy out of it. Communicating online is much easier for me than communicating in real life, too, since there is no body language and voice intonations etc., to take into account.

 

Communication is easier if there is, what I call, a certain protocol to be followed, ie. I buy something in a shop. There is then a set amount of things that the cashier might say to me, "it's 10€.", "please", "thank you for your purchase", "have a good day" etc. As soon as anything falls outside those boundaries I have taught myself, I get confused and it costs me much more energy (because I don't know what to expect the other person to say or how to respond to it). Communicating with someone when there is no set protocol, is extremely hard for me, and I don't like doing it and it costs me more energy than that it gives me energy (or happiness). I get tired just from going to the supermarket (and communicating with the cashier in the 'shopping' protocol), I get tired from spending half an hour or an hour with my family (I can predict the kind of things they might say), I would get extremely tired if I have to talk to a stranger in real life without any set rules in place. And it takes a special person to really understand me, to be honest, most people don't really understand me, at least not without a huge effort from me to tell them lots of things about myself. It costs me a lot of energy just to communicate with my family for a little while - I struggle with my energy levels as is. i would much rather have 5 close friends than 20 acquaintances.

 

Okay, rant over :P. I quite liked the other chapters, though, and it's interesting to read about Gretchen's life :). I certainly don't regret buying or reading the book, so no worries there :).

 

Thanks Gaia. :) I'm glad you're enjoying ( most of ) the book. Thanks for sharing on the way you communicate ; would you find it easier to meet someone if they submitted a list of questions beforehand, so you wouldn't be caught off guard ? :)

 

Btw, I much prefer having a few really great friends too, rather than an entourage of semi-friends. :)

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18 hours ago, karen.d said:

Yesterday I finished 'Billy and Me' by Giovanna Fletcher and I have to say, it wasn't as predictable as I had first though. I don't usually read this type of book, but I enjoyed it. I would like to read more of Giovanna Fletcher's books in the future.

 

Now, I'm about 55 pages into 'My Sister's Keeper' by Jodi Picoult. So far, it's good.

 

It's good to hear Billy and Me was enjoyable :). I hope you enjoy My Sister's Keeper, it was the first Jodi Picoult book I read and it was the book that got me started on her as one of my favourite authors.

 

8 hours ago, frankie said:

I finished the Finnish chick-lit book I was reading today, and started reading The Lies We Tell by Diane Chamberlain

 

I hope you enjoy this one :).

 

6 hours ago, Little Pixie said:

Thanks Gaia. :) I'm glad you're enjoying ( most of ) the book. Thanks for sharing on the way you communicate ; would you find it easier to meet someone if they submitted a list of questions beforehand, so you wouldn't be caught off guard ? :)

 

Btw, I much prefer having a few really great friends too, rather than an entourage of semi-friends. :)

 

What kind of questions do you mean? More information would probably help, the more I know about them, that makes things easier :).

Nice to hear you prefer having a few really great friends too :).

 

I haven't read much in the past few days. Instead I've been busy cataloguing and carrying books to my room / library. Today I plan to really start with the re-organisation.

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On 2017-7-7 at 7:59 AM, Athena said:

 

I could swore you already read The Pillars of the Earth and that you really liked it? Did you read a paper copy or library copy, or am I just misremembering?

I hope you enjoy all of your new books :D.

 

You've remembered correctly. :D I have read The Pillars of the Earth a couple of times, but the paper copy (second hand when I bought it) I had fell apart and had to be binned. The Kindle version I bought was only £0.99 which is a bargain for such a big book, and I know I will want to read it again in the near future.

 

20 hours ago, frankie said:

I finished the Finnish chick-lit book I was reading today, and started reading The Lies We Tell by Diane Chamberlain

 

I don't think I have read this one by Diane Chamberlain. I hope you enjoy it. :)

 

I finished End of Watch by Stephen King....overall it was disappointing. Now I'm reading The Sixth Extinction by Elizabeth Kolbert.

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16 hours ago, bobblybear said:

You've remembered correctly. :D I have read The Pillars of the Earth a couple of times, but the paper copy (second hand when I bought it) I had fell apart and had to be binned. The Kindle version I bought was only £0.99 which is a bargain for such a big book, and I know I will want to read it again in the near future.

 

Whew, glad I remembered that correctly :). That makes sense, £0.99 is a great deal for such a big book.

 

16 hours ago, bobblybear said:

I finished End of Watch by Stephen King....overall it was disappointing. Now I'm reading The Sixth Extinction by Elizabeth Kolbert.

 

Shame End of Watch was disappointing :(.

 

I'm currently reading Dave Eggers - De Cirkel (The Circle), a Dutch translation I borrowed from my parents. So far I'm liking the book. On occasion I do wish I was reading the English version, but other than that the story is interesting so far.

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What a lovely weekend for reading. 

 

Finished The Vintage Summer Wedding - Jenny Oliver

The Womens War, The House Husband and Private Gold - Bookshots -   James Patterson

 

Moved onto:

A Leap of Faith - Trisha Ashley and

The Cheltenham Square Murder - John Bude

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On 09/07/2017 at 6:08 AM, Athena said:

 

What kind of questions do you mean? More information would probably help, the more I know about them, that makes things easier :).

Nice to hear you prefer having a few really great friends too :).

 

I haven't read much in the past few days. Instead I've been busy cataloguing and carrying books to my room / library. Today I plan to really start with the re-organisation.

 

Hmm, I`m not sure ; maybe like talking points, so you`d know what to expect - favourite things to do ? :)

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On 08/07/2017 at 9:02 AM, Athena said:

 

I quite liked most of the chapters :). They contained some interesting tips and also some things not for me, but it was still interesting to read how they affected Gretchen. I did think that sometimes she was putting in a lot of work whereas the people around her didn't, which didn't seem fair to me. I thought the cleaning up / decluttering tips were particularly interesting. I enjoyed reading most of the chapters :).

 

The only chapter I didn't like was the June chapter, about making friends. I didn't like how the author put that it would be good for everyone to make more friends and connect with strangers in real life and such (not online). It's possible that the research said it would be good for most people, but for me with my autism it doesn't work that way and I do not agree with her that it's good for everyone to connect to lots of people. If she had written "most people" instead of "everyone", I wouldn't consider it a problem, but as she wrote "everyone", I simply do not agree with her and I feel she doesn't take mental illness and my conditions into account. I'm glad it worked for her, but that's just not how it works for me, and so that chapter really irked me.

 

I believe everyone has need of a certain amount of contact with others, a certain level of contact at which they are most happy and most comfortable. For me, that level isn't as high as it would be for someone who is an extreme extrovert. I am happy with the friends I have (including BCF!) and the family I have, and I don't have the energy to connect much to strangers or new people in real life. It costs me a lot of effort to socially communicate, and it would, in most cases, cost me more energy than that I would get positive energy out of it. Communicating online is much easier for me than communicating in real life, too, since there is no body language and voice intonations etc., to take into account.

 

Communication is easier if there is, what I call, a certain protocol to be followed, ie. I buy something in a shop. There is then a set amount of things that the cashier might say to me, "it's 10€.", "please", "thank you for your purchase", "have a good day" etc. As soon as anything falls outside those boundaries I have taught myself, I get confused and it costs me much more energy (because I don't know what to expect the other person to say or how to respond to it). Communicating with someone when there is no set protocol, is extremely hard for me, and I don't like doing it and it costs me more energy than that it gives me energy (or happiness). I get tired just from going to the supermarket (and communicating with the cashier in the 'shopping' protocol), I get tired from spending half an hour or an hour with my family (I can predict the kind of things they might say), I would get extremely tired if I have to talk to a stranger in real life without any set rules in place. And it takes a special person to really understand me, to be honest, most people don't really understand me, at least not without a huge effort from me to tell them lots of things about myself. It costs me a lot of energy just to communicate with my family for a little while - I struggle with my energy levels as is. i would much rather have 5 close friends than 20 acquaintances.

 

Okay, rant over :P. I quite liked the other chapters, though, and it's interesting to read about Gretchen's life :). I certainly don't regret buying or reading the book, so no worries there :).

Thanks for this Athena . 

I have no diagnosis, but I do actually find casual conversations with strangers to be rather tiresome. 

Not tiring, tiresome, mainly because of the fact that I feel that small talk is pointless. 

Also I dislike the possibility of low level, casual, prying into my life. No need. 

If you encountered. me, we would both be ensconced in a book and hoping that no conversation was attempted. 

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1 hour ago, itsmeagain said:

Thanks for this Athena . 

I have no diagnosis, but I do actually find casual conversations with strangers to be rather tiresome. 

Not tiring, tiresome, mainly because of the fact that I feel that small talk is pointless. 

Also I dislike the possibility of low level, casual, prying into my life. No need. 

If you encountered. me, we would both be ensconced in a book and hoping that no conversation was attempted. 

Can I join you?  I don't like large gatherings either, and I agree about small talk - it's just a way of passing the time, and neither party is probably that interested anyway.

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I finished The Sixth Extinction, which was a fascinating read, albeit very depressing.

 

Now I've moved on to Last Night In Montreal by Emily St. John Mandel. I loved her Station Eleven so hopefully I will enjoy this one. 

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1 hour ago, Ooshie said:

Just finished A Spool of Blue Thread by Anne Tyler, and just started Fraud by Anita Brookner :-)

 

I keep meaning to try her ; I have one of her books in my TBR. 

 

Currently reading another of May Sarton's journals, called After the Stroke. I'm dipping in and out, with Frances Crane' s The Turquoise Shop as my main read. :)

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On 10-7-2017 at 8:36 PM, Little Pixie said:

Hmm, I`m not sure ; maybe like talking points, so you`d know what to expect - favourite things to do ? :)

 

That sounds nice :).

 

23 hours ago, itsmeagain said:

Thanks for this Athena . 

I have no diagnosis, but I do actually find casual conversations with strangers to be rather tiresome. 

Not tiring, tiresome, mainly because of the fact that I feel that small talk is pointless. 

Also I dislike the possibility of low level, casual, prying into my life. No need. 

If you encountered. me, we would both be ensconced in a book and hoping that no conversation was attempted. 

 

That sounds great :)! I'm also not fond of small talk.

 

22 hours ago, Madeleine said:

Can I join you?  I don't like large gatherings either, and I agree about small talk - it's just a way of passing the time, and neither party is probably that interested anyway.

 

Nice to meet someone else who's also not keen on large gatherings :).

 

I'm still reading Dave Eggers - De Cirkel (The Circle). It shouldn't be too long before I've finished it, depending on how much time I spend reading.

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It sounds like those of us who don't love social interactions should get together for a Silent Reading Party. :D

 

I've been having a woeful reading year, but I've managed to pick it up a little in the past few weeks by rereading The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy and The Restaurant at the End of the Universe by Douglas Adams. At least, I thought I'd read the second book before, but none of it was familiar. I'm now reading Life, the Universe and Everything by the same author. I'm also not sure if this is a reread—I thought I had read at least part of it before, but again, nothing seems familiar. :rolleyes: I know I definitely haven't read the next two books though, so I'll be continuing on with them next.

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