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Your Book Activity - April 2018


chesilbeach

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A bank holiday to start the month means lots of reading for me!

 

I'm currently reading The Body in the Ice by A. J. Mackenzie for my book group, Quadrille by M. C. Beaton on my Kindle, listening to The Year of Taking Chances by Lucy Diamond and have Bookworm by Lucy Mangan lined up for later today.

 

What are you reading today?

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I finished both The Body in the Ice and Quadrille yesterday, and have immersed myself in Bookworm today, and as the author was born close to the same time as me, we seem to have have a lot of shared experiences of childhood reading, so I'm enjoying her memoir immensely!.

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I finished The Good Samaritan by John Marrs yesterday. Really enjoyed it, although it's pretty grim and bleak so I can understand why some people on Goodreads did not enjoy it. Am now reading The Liar's Girl, the second book by Cork-born Catherine Ryan Howard (her first one was partially set here in Cork, so bizzare to me!) So far, it's okay. I already suspect someone of being the baddie, but only time will tell if I'm right!

 

I also bought The Seven Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle and The Tattooist of Auschwitz as they sounded interesting/well-reviewed respectively. Also, both a bit different from the crime thrillers I tend to read!

 

I'm also trudging through Thirteen by Steve Cavanagh - it has great reviews and I love the premise, but I'm struggling to get into it. I've already abandoned one book this year, so reluctant to do it again.

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Finished Elizabeth Taylor's A View of the Harbour.  It remains a mystery to me why her books aren't better known - this is one of her best, and one of the best novels I've read in a while.  Started Battle Cry of Freedom by James M McPherson, a classic history of the American Civil War.  At 800+ pages it should keep me occupied for a while; I'm about 70-odd pages in, and so far it suggests I won't find the task too onerous!  I will also soon be starting H is for Hawk by Helen Macdonald, which I need to read for one of my book groups. For some reason, it's not one I've wanted to read before, so hope it exceeds my expectations.

 

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18 hours ago, willoyd said:

I will also soon be starting H is for Hawk by Helen Macdonald, which I need to read for one of my book groups. For some reason, it's not one I've wanted to read before, so hope it exceeds my expectations.

 

Just read first four chapters this morning - blown away.  Sooo frustrated at having to put it down!

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Finished Bookworm by Lucy Mangan last night - it was brilliant.  Unusually for me, it was a straight 5 star read.

 

Today I finished listening to The Year of Taking Chances by Lucy Diamond and I've started The Wicked Cometh by Laura Carlin, and although I'm only fifty pages in, I think it's going to be a very good read.

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3 hours ago, chesilbeach said:

Finished Bookworm by Lucy Mangan last night - it was brilliant.  Unusually for me, it was a straight 5 star read.

 

 

Interesting.  It's a book that superficially appeals a lot, although it's attracted rather mixed reviews.  Not that this has ever put me off reading a book, but it's good to know that you rate it so highly.  As you suggest, you don't give 5 stars away freely!

 

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20 minutes ago, willoyd said:

 

Interesting.  It's a book that superficially appeals a lot, although it's attracted rather mixed reviews.  Not that this has ever put me off reading a book, but it's good to know that you rate it so highly.  As you suggest, you don't give 5 stars away freely!

 

 

I think there’s a few factors for me. She’s only a couple of years younger than me, so all the cultural references match with my childhood, I’d read a lot of the books she talks about at around the age as her, and I could identify with life as a bookish child in the same way she describes it, which made it feel very personal to me :) 

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1 hour ago, chesilbeach said:

 

She’s only a couple of years younger than me....

 

You're a few years younger than me (a child of the late 50s) then!

 

1 hour ago, chesilbeach said:

....and I could identify with life as a bookish child in the same way she describes it....

 

now that I can identify with (the archetypal child bookworm).

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I got going with Thirteen by Steve Cavanagh again and finished it last night. I think it's a little overrated, but still enjoyed it. 

 

Alongside The Liar's Girl, I'm going to start The Seven Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle today too. It has a LOT of names at the beginning, and a layout of the mansion, so here's hoping I can keep up with it!

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I'm almost halfway through The Disappearance Boy by Neil Bartlett.  The writing is gorgeous, as (most) always with this author, but the plot is moving veeeeery slowly.  I'm curious to find out if anything will happen!  I think it'll be a 4/5 regardless, because I'm enjoying the atmosphere.

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I downloaded this book from the library tonight as it was recommended as one of their "reads".

 

Flat Broke With 2 Goats (A memoir) by Jennifer McGaha............review from Amazon:

 

When life gets your goat, bring in the herd

Jennifer McGaha never expected to own a goat named Merle. Or to be setting Merle up on dates and naming his doeling Merlene. She didn't expect to be buying organic yogurt for her chickens. She never thought she would be pulling camouflage carpet off her ceiling or rescuing opossums from her barn and calling it "date night." Most importantly, Jennifer never thought she would only have $4.57 in her bank account.

When Jennifer discovered that she and her husband owed back taxes—a lot of back taxes—her world changed. Now desperate to save money, they foreclosed on their beloved suburban home and moved their family to a one-hundred-year-old cabin in a North Carolina holler. Soon enough, Jennifer's life began to more closely resemble her Appalachian ancestors than her upper-middle-class upbringing. But what started as a last-ditch effort to settle debts became a journey that revealed both the joys and challenges of living close to the land.

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I've finished a few books over the last few days, The Secret Life of Cows by Rosamund Young on Kindle was a brilliant book from a farmer explaining the ethos behind their farming methods and recounting the observations she's made while farming cows.  I really enjoyed it.  Also finished listening to The Secrets of Happiness by Lucy Diamond and then today, I finally got a copy of Beyond The Odyssey by Maz Evans and I've devoured it already!

 

I also bought myself Swell: A Waterbiography by Jenny Ladreth and Storm Wake by Lucy Christopher.

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I finished Little Women a few days ago. Review to follow soon. :)

 

Since then, I've just been continuing on with The Dark Tower but I'm sort of itching to start another book to read alongside it. I had been using my kindle to read the DT books whilst at work as I had e-book versions of them

all too, but I might continue on just with the paperback (I'm finding the paperback strangely attractive as it's got one of the titchiest fonts I've ever come across :lol: ) and choose another e-book to read at work - perhaps another round robin classic novel. 

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On ‎4‎/‎9‎/‎2018 at 8:31 PM, poppy said:

Listening to The Enchanted April by Elizabeth von Arnim. I've been meaning to read her Elizabeth and Her German Garden, will try that next. I like her gentle and humorous style.

How did you rate the latest "Flavia" book?

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18 hours ago, muggle not said:

How did you rate the latest "Flavia" book?

 

Still reading it, Muggle. Enjoying Flavia ... and Dogger, of course ... very much. Just reading at a very slow pace at the moment and listening to audiobooks at times.

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I finished The Disappearance Boy.  Nothing much happened, but I liked it.  The main protagonist was compelling, and the descriptive passages of 1950s Brighton were wonderfully evocative.

 

I'm about to begin The Waves by Virginia Woolf.  Aieeeee!  Wish me luck.  This is the one I've heard.... things.... about.  :hide:

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