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Your Book Activity - February 2018


Athena

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2 hours ago, Nollaig said:

I finished The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas and it was really great. A book about the reality of the Black Lives Matter movement, written accessibly for white folks. I'm a lower middle class white girl in a very safe city in an insignificant country, and it really got through to me what the reality is like for a lot of folks of colour.

 

It's pretty amazing when a book can do that. I have the book on my TBR.

 

6 minutes ago, frankie said:

I will be shelving about 30 or so books today, I've kept them in a cardboard box or two for a few months. Poor books! They are books I've bought in the past 3-4 months. 

 

I hope you have fun :).

 

I started reading Francesca Zappia - Made You Up (YA contemporary about a teenage girl who is sometimes having delusions) and Daniel Levitin - A Field Guide to Lies and Statistics (non-fiction).

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17 hours ago, More reading time required said:

I'm still to finish Fool's Quest even though I'm really enjoying it, but I also started Song of Susannah by Stephen King the other day, mainly in an effort to increase my reading capacity by reading it on the kindle at work during lunchtimes.

 

I've got a sort of deadline to finish the Robin Hobb books by mid March as my husband is going up north to visit his best mate who's just had a baby and will also see his other friend who lent me these books last year, so it'd be nice to be able to hand them back all finished. At my current speed, it won't happen, so I need to channel my past reading self and reserve some full evening reading sessions, or something like that. :D  

 

Just have takeaways and don`t do cleaning or laundry for a while ? ;)

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3 hours ago, Athena said:

I hope you have fun :).

 

 

It was fun till I noticed my bookcases were mighty dusty and started coughing and decided to give up for the day :D I'm on sick leave and I'm not feeling too robust so I'll continue some other day. 

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15 hours ago, frankie said:

It was fun till I noticed my bookcases were mighty dusty and started coughing and decided to give up for the day :D I'm on sick leave and I'm not feeling too robust so I'll continue some other day. 

 

I hope you will feel better soon :)!

 

So far I'm liking both books I'm reading, Made You Up and A Field Guide to Lies and Statistics. I'm about a quarter into both of them.

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Now I have to reschedule my reading plans, as I have Three Things About Elsie by Joanna Cannon, only three weeks from the library, as lots of people requested the book.

 

Going very well so far, and It reminded me of Alan Bennett’s Talking Heads, the episode A Cream Cracker Under The Settee with Thora Hird. 

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I've been trying to avoid spending too much time on the computer and other devices at home this week, so although I've been reading the forum, I haven't been posting, so it's been almost a week since I mentioned what I've been reading!  I've finished The Year of Reading Dangerously by Andy Miller and A Spoonful of Murder by Robin Stevens.  I'm halfway through listening to Tipping the Velvet by Sarah Waters and I've got a couple of chapters left in Corduroy by Adrian Bell, so hoping to finish that one today.

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I finished Violet to Vita.  It was the equivalent of a high-altitude plane with one of its wings working loose.  4/5

 

Now to finish up Mrs Dalloway (which is going to be a 5/5), and then... I'm not sure what next.  Probably another Virginia Woolf, because I seem to be in that headspace right now.

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I finished Corduroy by Adrian Bell yesterday, and I've also now finished The Explorer by Katherine Rundell.

 

The Waterstones Children's Book Prize shortlists were announced this week, and I think I might try and read them all again.  I don't think I've ever succeeded in finishing both the younger and older fiction lists, but I'm going to give it a bloomin' good try.  I bought A Place Called Perfect by Helena Duggan, Nevermore: The Trials of Morrigan Crow by Jessica Townsend and The Goldfish Boy by Lisa Thompson yesterday, and I've already read Who Let The Gods Out? by Maz Evans, so that's a good start on the younger fiction.  I have The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas on my shelf already, but I'll need to get reading fast to make my way through both lists, so I'd best get off here and get on with it! :lol:  

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I finished Witching You Were Here by Amanda M. Lee. This is book #3 in the series Witches of the Midwest. This was my favorite of the 3 that I have read. The personality of Aunt Tillie is coming more and more to the forefront and the series has a lot of hilarious moments. There is also some hanky-panky occurring by the cousins.....Bay, Thistle, and Clove. :) I am getting a better understanding of the "Winchester" family of witches and how they practice their magic.

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^^ Hurray ! :)

 

I`m currently on a Frances Crane binge read, looking to start The Applegreen Cat today.  They were written from the 30`s onwards. They`re called the `Jean and Pat Abbott` series ; Patrick is the private detective and Jean goes along on his cases. It`s written from Jean`s POV ; it`s difficult to say what`s so fun about them, when Jean hangs around watching Pat search things and do detecting work, but the books just have something so readable about them. :)

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I've started To the Lighthouse by VW.  Only a few pages in, and it's already wonderful.  Woolf is the kind of author that you need to read slowly to best appreciate -- which means we're a match made in heaven, because I read at a snail's pace!

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I finished The Essex Serpent last night, and thought it was fantastic, a really satisfying read, and the third book I've finished from my Round Robin challenge list.  

 

Today, I've finished Nevermore: The Trials of Morrigan Crow by Jessica Townsend, one of the Waterstones Children's Book Prize shortlist, and I've started A Place Called Perfect by Helena Duggan from the same list. :) 

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I have finished Letters From Lighthouse Cottage by Ali McNamara. This is the second book I have read by the author, and she is fast becoming one of my favourites. 

 

This story follows Grace, as she receives letters to guide her through life from her teenage years in the 1980s to her forties. The characters were very well made and I enjoyed the plot line very much. The ending was admittedly very predictable, but I think it worked well. 

A good 5 star for me! I think I will be reading another of Ali’s books very soon.

 

I have also started Eleanor Of Aquitaine by Alison weir. I am not far in so can’t really day much about it, but I do know it’s one I’m going to have to read without any distractions and take my whole concentration. 

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 Finished Three Things About Elsie by Joanna Cannon.  I loved most of the book, but towards the end......

Spoiler

the plot was too far fetched, for me 😕 Too many coincidence!!

 

To read next: The Sealwoman’s Gift by Sally Magnusson 

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Finished my third book from the Waterstones Children's Book Prize shortlist today, A Place Called Perfect by Helena Duggan.  Another good book, although doesn't match up to my favourite so far, which is still Who Let The Gods Out? by Maz Evans.

 

Used my credit and downloaded a couple of audiobooks, both of which I have on Kindle already and will be using the WhisperSync to read and listen when I can - The Ashes of London by Andrew Taylor and The God of Small Things by Arundhati Roy. :) 

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During the last few weeks I've tried to read as wide a range of genres as possible - currently half-way through Margaret Thatcher's The Downing Street Years - brings back memories of my earlier years and the major episodes going on at that time.  It's, for me, trying to see what makes people like her tick!  Ironic that I caught myself reading about the miner's strike in a Morrisons' car park which now covers  the pit exactly where the year long miner's strike began!! Can't say I'm that happy with what I'm reading from Thatcher's point of view!

A couple of others I've really enjoyed recently are The Belle Fields and the relatively recently published sequel Ashes of Roses written by Lora Adams.  A couple of books which took me into another world of my grandparents and both ends of the social spectrum of that time - pure escapism - would really recommend!

Yet another - The Lonely Leader - Monty 1944-1945 written by Alistair Horne with Montgomery's only son David.  A very good insight into his eventful but perhaps very sad life?  On reflection I would put Montgomery into my top 5 of people who got us there in 1945 - I reckon along with Churchill, Harris, Turing etc.

Good reading if you try any of these:)   

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I finished The Bone Collector and quite enjoyed it, but not enough to continue with the series.

 

I also read The Visitors by Catherine Burns which started out at 5 stars, but due to the way it was paced and reveals were done, it dropped down to 3 by the end. I did enjoy it though.

 

Not sure what to read next.

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1 hour ago, Nollaig said:

I finished The Bone Collector and quite enjoyed it, but not enough to continue with the series.

 

Is this by Jeffery Deaver? Glad you liked it, but I'm sad to hear not enough to continue with the rest! I loved the first book, and have read the second and it's even better, at least it was for me. 

 

I was busy last weekend and now I've caught yet another bug, so I've not felt like reading Helter Skelter, as it's too dark for me at the moment. I started reading Dumplin' by Julie Murphy. I didn't realize this was YA when I borrowed the book from the library. 

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16 hours ago, frankie said:

 

Is this by Jeffery Deaver? Glad you liked it, but I'm sad to hear not enough to continue with the rest! I loved the first book, and have read the second and it's even better, at least it was for me.

 

Indeed, the characters just felt a bit flat for me. :unsure: Have you read any of the Maeve Kerrigan or Kim Stone series (they're the main characters names, not authors)? I love those, and while a lot of it is I do enjoy the murder mystery element, I adore the characters and that's what keeps me reading.

 

I've started reading Broken Bones, the 7th Kim Stone novel, but I just realised I skipped one! I skipped the 5th book and went straight to the 6th! Whoops! Going to go back now :blush:

 

I'm also reading No One Gets Out Alive by Adam Nevill.

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