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Karen.d's Reading List 2019


karen.d

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16 hours ago, willoyd said:

 

Good summary.  Pretty much exactly reflects my thoughts at the time I read it. Like you, I had no inclination to try for the follow-ons.

Thanks! I'm glad I'm not the only one who doesn't enjoy this book.

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'Queen Camilla'- Sue Townsend

 

I remember reading 'The Secret Diary of Adrian Mole' when I was a teenager and really enjoying it. So when I saw this book, I was looking forward to reading this.

This novel is based on what would happen if the institution of the Royal Family was in exile and were living on a council estate. Britain is divided into many different zones, depending on your social standing and no one can cross zones without an I.D card. Also the police know your every move, thanks to cameras which are installed everywhere and they can access all information about the residents, using the Vulcan computer system.

Firstly, I liked how Sue Townsend characterized the members of the Royal family, they are all very likable characters, funny characters. I also liked that we got the perspectives of the royal pets too, on what was going on.

However, I found a few things wrong with this book. I personally like the British Royal Family, but, even though this book is funny, I could tell that the author wasn't entirely in favour of them and so I felt that at times, the jokes were a bit cutting and were laughing at the Royal Family, rather than laughing with them.

Secondly, at the beginning of the book, I felt like this was making some interesting observation on modern British life. However, as the book progressed, what could have been a humorous insight into these issues, turned into a bit of a mess.

Thirdly, the construction of the plot was very sloppy. The plot didn't seem to focus on one specific thing. What was a book about the Royal Family and the illegitimate son of Prince Charles and Camilla Parker Bowles , randomly turned into a farce about the dogs in the area. The comedy with the dogs at the beginning was funny, as I said before,, but it escalated into farce. 

 Also, plot line involving a police officer having a crush on one of the lower class women in 'Slapper Valley', one of the exclusion zones, never got an resolution at all.. 

Finally, the ending for me, was very poor. It ended quite abruptly and was quite frankly, bizarre and unsatisfying.

I started out really enjoying this book, but in the end, it turned into a bit of a mess. This was occasionally funny, but overall, a very disappointing read.

 

My Rating ** 1/2

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14 hours ago, Athena said:

What a shame it was an overall disappointing read! It had a good premise. Great review :)!

Yes, it was extremely disappointing. I seem to be reading a lot of disappointing books at the moment. However, I'm reading 'Shadow of the Wind' at the moment and I really like it so far.

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  • 2 weeks later...
On 7/17/2019 at 10:48 AM, Madeleine said:

I loved Shadow of the Wind, definitely a keeper, hope you like the rest of it.

I've just finished reading 'The Shadow of the Wind'  absolutely loved it. It's probably the best book I've ever read. I will post my full review soon!

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On 26/07/2019 at 11:15 AM, karen.d said:

I've just finished reading 'The Shadow of the Wind'  absolutely loved it. It's probably the best book I've ever read. I will post my full review soon!

Yay! I probably said this already but I really love that book. The others in the series are also very good, although nothing ever beats the magic of the first book :)

 

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'The Shadow of the Wind'- Carlos Ruiz Zafon

 

I was recommended this book by a friend who has read this book, and its follow up books, many times.

When I first started reading this, I thought that it was going to be a fantasy novel. It isn't, but it's a lot more than that.

Firstly, I thought that the writing was fantastic. This novel was originally written in Spanish, but the English version I read was very well translated. It was poetic and beautiful. This story is a brilliant mixture of suspense, humour and intrigue, which has vivid, almost noir depictions of Barcelona which I loved. I loved how the plot weaved, twisted and turned and still remained understandable. Occasionally the plot slowed a little, but actually, I liked that, because it meant that you could really take in the atmosphere, the writer was creating. In fact, I slowed down whilst reading this, so that it wouldn't end.

I loved the characters in this novel. Even though Daniel is the main protagonist in this novel, for me Fermin, was better. I loved his humour and, even though he is a homeless person, he was still portrayed as incredibly intelligent.

I've read a lot of books in my time, but by far, I think this is the best book I've ever read. I think this is going to be a book that I'll read again and again. I am looking forward to reading the rest of the novels in this series.

 

My Rating *****

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2 hours ago, Hayley said:

Yay! I probably said this already but I really love that book. The others in the series are also very good, although nothing ever beats the magic of the first book :)

 

I agree it's the best book I've ever read. Part of me wants to read the next book in the series, but I'm worried that it's going to be disappointing, compared to 'The Shadow of the Wind'.

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I loved them all, if that makes you feel better! The book that's technically second in the series, 'The Angel's Game,' is very different to the other books though. It's a lot more creepy-gothic, and it's about David Martin, rather than Daniel. You could definitely skip it and go straight to The Prisoner of Heaven, but The Angel's Game does give you some intriguing background about Martin and his book...

 

You've made me want to re-read them now :lol:

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44 minutes ago, Hayley said:

I loved them all, if that makes you feel better! The book that's technically second in the series, 'The Angel's Game,' is very different to the other books though. It's a lot more creepy-gothic, and it's about David Martin, rather than Daniel. You could definitely skip it and go straight to The Prisoner of Heaven, but The Angel's Game does give you some intriguing background about Martin and his book...

 

You've made me want to re-read them now :lol:

If 'The Angel's Game' is even more gothic and creepy, then I'm probably going to love it! If you re-read these books, I'd be interested to see if you enjoy them just as much as the first time!

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7 minutes ago, Hayley said:

Oh you definitely need to read it then! I can't wait to see what you think of the others now!

I'm currently reading 'IT' by Stephen King, but when I eventually finish this, I will read 'The Angel's Game'.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Hi! Sorry I haven-t been around in ages! I-ve been busy reading 'It' by Stephen King. This is my 2nd time reading it and I'm enjoying it a lot more this time around. Anyway, I just popped on to talk about 'The Disability Read-a-thon, that I'm really excited to be taking part in, which runs 1st-31st October. See www.disabilityreadathon.com. During the month, there are challenges to do which are as follows:

 

The Disability Readathon Challenge

 

CATEGORY ONE:

Read a non-fiction book.

 

 

Read a book with your favorite color on the cover

'People assume my girlfriend is my nurse'- Shane Burcaw

The cover is purple

 

Read a poem (must be own voices)

 

Read a book with a character or by an author who has a mental illness

 

'The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night Time'- Mark Haddon

 

CATEGORY  TWO:

Read a comic book

 

Read an autobiography or memoir -

 

'My Left foot'- Christy Brown

 

Read a book with queer characters 

 

Read a mystery or thriller 'The Bone Collector' Jeffery Deaver

 

CATEGORY THREE:

Read a book set in a country

different from your own- 

 

Read a book set in the future'-

'The Last Book in the Universe' by Rodman Philbrick,

 

Read a book featuring physical disability 'Accessing the Future'-Djibril Al-Ayad and Kathryn Allan

 

Read a Twitter thread

Disney on Wheels

 

CATEGORY FOUR:

Read three blog posts by disabled people (different blogs for each)

 

Read a book by a person of color

 

Read a romance 

 

Read a book featuring chronic illness 'The Girl in Between' Laekan Zea Kemp

 

CATEGORY FIVE:

Listen to a podcast episode or read its transcript -

 

BBC 'Ouch Podcast

 

Read a historical fiction book

 

Read a book featuring an animal -

 

Read a children’s book (middle school or younger)

 

BONUS CHALLENGES:

Read 10 books/texts (choose two from each category)

Read a book with over 500 pages 

Make a booktube video with your TBR and tag with #DisabilityReadathon

Instagram your TBR with #DisabilityReadathon

 

I'd really love to hear your suggestions as to what I can add to my TBR

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We were just talking about Shadow of the Wind here at work, as someone's son is currently in Barcelona, and we both said we're scared to read any of the other books, as Shadow was so good! 

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1 hour ago, Madeleine said:

We were just talking about Shadow of the Wind here at work, as someone's son is currently in Barcelona, and we both said we're scared to read any of the other books, as Shadow was so good! 

I know what you mean! My friend has read all of the books in the series and she said every book is just as good as 'Shadow of the Wind'. I hope she's right!

 

Just a quick reading update, I'm 838 pages into 'It' now and it's a lot better than I remember.

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I wish you good luck with the Disability-Read-A-Thon, what a great idea!! I would love to see more attention for disabilities in books and reading.

 

As a side question, I checked out your blog today, and I don't know if it's my new Windows version or not, but for the life of me I can't find how to comment on your recent blog post on the Patrick Ness book. Your blog looks different too than it used to. Is it just me? I managed to 'Like' the blog post but I don't see a comment box anywhere, would have commented otherwise. I thought your review was really good :).

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38 minutes ago, Athena said:

I wish you good luck with the Disability-Read-A-Thon, what a great idea!! I would love to see more attention for disabilities in books and reading.

 

As a side question, I checked out your blog today, and I don't know if it's my new Windows version or not, but for the life of me I can't find how to comment on your recent blog post on the Patrick Ness book. Your blog looks different too than it used to. Is it just me? I managed to 'Like' the blog post but I don't see a comment box anywhere, would have commented otherwise. I thought your review was really good :).

 

Thank you! It would be nice to read some books with characters who have different disabilities included! I'm slowly putting together my TBR list. I'm not sure how many of the challenges I will get done though.

 

Thank you for bringing the comment problem with my blog to my attention. For some reason, the comment option wasn't turned on :huh: Not sure how that happened, but comments should be allowed now. If you get that problem again, let me know!

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27 minutes ago, karen.d said:

Thank you for bringing the comment problem with my blog to my attention. For some reason, the comment option wasn't turned on :huh: Not sure how that happened, but comments should be allowed now. If you get that problem again, let me know!

 

It works now :D!! I'll let you know if it happens again :).

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On 12/08/2019 at 3:26 PM, karen.d said:

Read a book featuring chronic illness 'The Girl in Between' Laekan Zea Kemp

This is an interesting idea, I might get involved with this. :)

In fact, I've just got a free UK Kindle of this book, if anyone who might be interested in it.

 

Hope you enjoy The Disability Read-a-thon. :) There are quite a few of interesting categories, I hope to dip in during October.

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