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Andrea's reading in 2019


~Andrea~

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Previous logs:

 

2018  (14)

2017  (10)

2016  (9)

2015  (10)
2014  (19)
2013  (21)
2012  (19)
2011  (17)
2010  (19)
2009  (23)
2008  (26)
2007  (21)

 

Completed:

Secrets in the Dark - Frederich Buechner

The Memory Game - Nicci French

The Philosopher and the Gospels - Keith Ward

Rachel's Holiday - Marian Keyes

Introducing Psychology, a graphic guide - Nigel Benson

High Hopes - Ronnie Corbett

Introducing Psychotherapy a graphic guide - Nigel Benson, Borin Van Loon

Gentleman Jim - Raymond Briggs

Vortex Butterflies (a Dr Who graphic novel with David Tenant's doctor)

Locke and Key, Head Games (book 2) - Joe Hill
Pride and Prejudice - Jane Austin

Cassandra Darke - Posy Simmonds

Back when we were Grown-ups - Anne Tyler

Renegade Magic - Robin Hobb

Gemma Bovary - Posy Simmonds

The Well - Catherine Chanter

Frenchman's Creek - Daphne Du Maurier

The Fault in our Stars - John Greene

 

Currently reading:

Christian Theology: An Introduction - Alistair McGrath

 

Edited by ~Andrea~
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Acquired pre 2018

  1. Minnette Walters - The shape of snakes
  2. Logic - A very short introduction
  3. Wilkie Collins The Woman in White
  4. Chaucer - The Canterbury Tales (modern translation)
  5. The Essential tales of Chekhov
  6. A Winter's tale
  7. Othello
  8. The Merchant of Venice
  9. Julius Caesar
  10. Twelfth night
  11. Collected works of Tennyson
  12. The Four Loves - C S Lewis
  13. Pilgrim's Progress - John Bunyan
  14. The Trial - Franz Kafka (audio)
  15. Philosophy of Mind: Classical and Contemporary Readings - Edited by David Chalmers
  16. Ian Rankin - Watchmen
  17. Charles Dickens - A Tale of Two Cities
  18. JoJo Moyes - The Girl You Left Behind
  19. The Road Less Traveled

  20. My Favourite Wife - Tony Parsons
  21. C J Sansom : Dark Fire
  22. Joanne Harris - Five quarters of the orange
  23. Ronnie Corbett - High Hopes
  24. Robin Hobb - Renegade's Magic

 

Books acquired 2018:

  1. The Philosopher and the Gospels - Keith Ward
  2. The Memory Game - Nicci French

  3. Rachel's Holiday - Marian Keyes

  4. This Charming Man - Marian Keyes

 

Books acquired 2019:

  1. Christian Theology: An Introduction - Alistair McGrath
  2. The adventures of Sherlock Holmes - Arthur Conan Doyle
  3. Introducing Psychology a graphic guide - Nigel Benson

  4. Introducing Psychotherapy a graphic guide - Nigel Benson, Borin Van Loon

  5. The Psychology Book - Nigel Benson

  6. Cassandra Darke - Posy Simmonds

  7. Gemma Bovary - Posy Simmonds

  8. The Well - Catherine Chanter

  9. Frenchman's Creek - Daphne Du Maurier

 

 

 

Edited by ~Andrea~
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The Wish List
Aaronovistch, Ben - Rivers of London recommended

Ambrose, David - Superstition

Alexander, Denis - creation or evolution: do we have to choose?
Beah, Ishmael - Memoirs of a Boy Soldier
Bradbury, Ray - Farenheit 451
Bradbury, Ray - Something Wicked this way comes
Barker, Clive - Weaveworld

Brother Lawrence - The Practice of the Presence of God

Buechner, Frederich - The Book of Bebb
Bugan, Carmen - Burying the Typewriter
Burton, Fiona - The Widow recommended

Challis, Sarah - Footprints in the sand
Chamberlaine, Diane - The Midwife's confession recommended
Cohen, Jeff - The Question of the Missing Head recommended

Conran, Shirley - Savages
Coupland, Douglas - Microserfs/JPod

Coben, Harlan - Six Years recommended
Du Maurier, Daphne - Rebecca
Du Maurier, Daphne - The House on the Strand
Dunant, Sarah - Transgressions (recommended)
Dick, Philip K - A Scanner Darkly

Faber, Michael - The Crimson petal and the White recommended

Foster, Richard - Celebration of Discipline

Gaarder, Jostein - Sophie's World

Green, John - Turtles All the Way Down recommended

Greene, Grahame - Brighton Rock
Greene, Grahame - The Third Man & The Fallen Idol

Haig, Matt - How to Stop Time recommended

Haugen, Gary (IJM) - Just Courage
Highsmith, Patricia - The Talented Mr Ripley
Hinton, Susan - Rumble Fish

Hobb, Robin - Fool's Assassin

Hobb, Robin - Fool's Quest

Hobb, Robin - Assassin's Fate

Hodgson, Burnett Frances - The Secret Garden
Hodkin, Michelle -The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer
Humphries, Alistair - Microadventures recommended

Jerome, Jerome K - My Life and Times

Jefferson Farjeon, J - Mystery in White recommended

Kasasian, M.R.C. - The Mangle Street Murders recommended (read by Emma Gregory)

Krauss, Nicole - Man walks into a Room recommended
Koontz, Dean - The Mask
Koontz, Dean - From The Corner Of His Eye
Koontz, Dean - False Memory

Lennox, John - God's Undertaker: Has Science Buried God?

Lennox, John - Seven Days that Divide the World.

Lewis, C S - Till we have Faces

London, Jack - White Fang

Mandel, John - Station Eleven recommended

Marion, Issac - Warm Bodies recommended
McKinley, Robin - Sunshine
Mercer, Jeremy - Books, Baguettes & Bedbugs
Mitchell, Margaret - Gone With the Wind
Moran, Caitlin - How to be a Woman recommended

Moss, Sarah - Night Waking recommended
Moyes, Jojo - The Last Letter From Your Lover recommended
Neville, Adam - Apartment 16

Scott, Fitzgerald F - recommended

Semple, Maria - Where'd you go Bernadette - recommended
Phillips, Caryl - A Distant Shore (recommended)

Penny, Stef - The Tenderness of Wolves recommended

Pye-Smith, Charlie - Land of Plentrecommended
Rayner, Jay - The Oyster House Siege

Sachar, Louis - There's a Boy in the Girls' Bathroom - recommended

Taylor, Jodie - Just One Damned Thing After Another - recommended

Tremayne, S.K - The Ice Twins recommended

Trueman, Terry - Stuck in neutral
Trigell, Jonathan - Boy A

Verne, Jules - Journey to the Centre of the Earth - recommended

Wheatley, Dennis - The Haunting of Toby Jugg

Winter, Tom - Lost and Found recommended
Wyndham, John - The Kraken awakes
Watson, S J - Before I go to sleep
Ruiz Zafon, Carlos - The Shadow Of The Wind
Ruiz Zafon, Carlos - The Angel's Game
Ryan, Carrie - The Forest Of Hands & Teeth
Wroblewski, David - The story of Edgar Sawtelle

Zevin, Gabrielle - The Storied Life of A. J. Fikry recommended

Edited by ~Andrea~
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  • 2 weeks later...

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Secrets in the Dark by Frederick Buechner

 

This is a wonderful little book that I've been dipping in and out of for the past year or so. It's a book of sermons, which sounds tedious, but these are quite wonderful, beautifully written, warm, gentle, inclusive and non-preachy little gems of spiritual hope and light. I've loved dippng into this book by this Pulitzer prize nominated author whose writing in this book is an absolute delight.

 

Edited by ~Andrea~
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516oNgIje+L._AC_US218_.jpg

 

The Memory Game by Nicci French

 

When preparations for a new summer house in the Martello family's estate unearth the skeletal remains of the family's youngest daughter who disappeared twenty-five years ago, her childhood best friend, recently divorced from the deceased's brother, becomes obsessed with digging up the past and trying to solve the mystery of who killed her.

 

I enjoyed this. It had a slowish pace and certainly wasn't a page-turning thriller but I quite liked that about it. I enjoyed getting to know the characters as the story unfolded. There was a lot of psychology in the book as the main character goes through therapy to get over her divorce and talk about the discovery of her childhood friend's body and I enjoyed that aspect of it.

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I have read and enjoyed most of the books by Nicci French, but am yet to read this one. They write some good slow burners. I have the book (with real pages - not a kindle version!) on my shelf. Based on your review it looks like I am going to have to nudge it up the reading list. :)

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  • 2 weeks later...

I really am so glad you love the prize! Since the winner's completely random (I use an online name picker) it did cross my mind that it would be awful if the winner hated Sherlock Holmes :giggle2:

 

'The Memory Game' sounds really interesting, I like the idea of it being more psychological than the usual thriller. I've never heard of Nicci French before so I'll have to look at what other books they have too!

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I picked up a couple of second hand Marian Keyes' books last year. I'd never read anything by her before and always assumed it would be a bit light and fluffy, romantic and possibly twee which is not my cuppa so never bothered with her. However I heard her on radio 4 and she said her book covers annoy her because they give exactly the impression I described above, and that's not what she writes at all. That's why I picked up a couple of her books.

 

I started one (Rachel's Holiday) a couple of days ago and it's great! Full of cheeky humour and not twee at all. I'm not far in yet but I'm really enjoying it. It's been a while since I read anything funny and I this has really grabbed my attention. I'm looking forward to going to my reading time in a way I haven't done for ages. And hopefully I've discovered a new author to enjoy!! Yay!

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Wow, how nice to hear she doesn't like her own book covers! I too think some of those book covers give off that fluffy feeling (some of the newer covers are nicer in my opinion). I've only read one book by her so far, This Charming Man, and I loved it. But it's definitely not light and fluffy. I hope you like Rachel's Holiday :). I have more books by her on my shelf so I look forward to read more of her work, hopefully later this year.

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My lovely Sherlock Holmes book arrived last week that I won in the monthly prize draw (thanks again @Hayley ). I meant to post pics sooner but I've been ill all week. Anyway - it really is a beautiful book, a real treat considering my usual books are beaten up old paperbacks from charity shops! Excuse my blurry camera work for the shot of the cover!!

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Rachel's Holiday by Marian Keyes


Rachel Walsh is a girl about town living it up in New York City, and she sure likes to party, so much so that after a mishap on a night out (all a terrible misunderstanding) she ends up in rehab. She only agrees to go for the saunas and health spas (which is surely what rehab is all about) and to get her family off her back. Her little holiday however turns out to be somewhat different to what she was expecting.

 

This is the first Marian Keyes novel I've read and I absolutely loved it! We follow Rachel's time at rehab, and also (through recollection) along the path that got her there. It's funny, warm, insightful, a bit naughty and very easy to read. It's not fluffy chick-lit by any stretch. Even though it's written with a good deal of humour it covers serious topics in a sensitive yet entertaining way. The main character Rachel, even though deeply flawed, still manages to be likeable and I enjoyed spending time with her and following her on her journey of self-discovery. This book made me laugh out loud on many occasion, and it made me cry too. Fabulous stuff.

 

Edited by ~Andrea~
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23 hours ago, ~Andrea~ said:

My lovely Sherlock Holmes book arrived last week that I won in the monthly prize draw (thanks again @Hayley ). I meant to post pics sooner but I've been ill all week. Anyway - it really is a beautiful book, a real treat considering my usual books are beaten up old paperbacks from charity shops! Excuse my blurry camera work for the shot of the cover!!

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ooh! What a lovely book! Congratulations.

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Congratulations on winning the book, Andrea :)!

 

I'm glad you enjoyed Rachel's Holiday. I've read one Marian Keyes book, called This Charming Man, and I really liked it. I have Rachel's Holiday on my TBR, so I'm glad to hear you liked it :). Great review!

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I'm glad the book got there safely :) 

 

Great review of Rachel's Holiday. I've always avoided Marian Keyes for the same reason as you, I assumed they were going to be twee romance novels, mainly based on the covers. It's a shame, really, that she doesn't have more say in the cover designs, because they obviously are putting off potential readers.

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22 hours ago, Hayley said:

I'm glad the book got there safely :) 

 

Great review of Rachel's Holiday. I've always avoided Marian Keyes for the same reason as you, I assumed they were going to be twee romance novels, mainly based on the covers. It's a shame, really, that she doesn't have more say in the cover designs, because they obviously are putting off potential readers.

 

I would defiitely recommend this book Hayley. I was very pleasantly surprised. This is proper grown up comic fiction - not twee at all. It really is a shame about the covers.

 

4 hours ago, Chrissy said:

The book is gorgeous. I hope you enjoy it. 

 

Thanks Chrissy :)

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High Hopes by Ronnie Corbett

 

I've always been a big fan of Ronnie Corbett. I loved him in the Two Ronnies (especially the chair monologues) and in Sorry! He's always made me laugh and struck me as a nice chap so I was looking forward to reading this. The reviews on Amazon were a bit mixed though so I wasn't sure what to expect. Having read it I can understand some of the criticism. There are a LOT of anecdotes and name-dropping and I sometimes felt that he was talking more about other people than he was himself. The first half of the book focuses a lot on his early career in cabaret and vaudeville and there were so many people and anecdotes and incidents that I found my head spinning a bit. I think I'd have preferred a gentler, more flowing and personal narrative with some self-refection. I mean there is some of that but not as much as I would expect in an autobiography. Perhaps he is just not a particularly open person and prefers not to wear his heart on his sleeve. I enjoyed it more as it went on however and found the second half where he talks about The Two Ronnies and Sorry better somehow (whether it was that I'd settled into the book's style by then, or that he'd found his flow as an author, I can't say). He has a quite incredible memory for detail though and has led an interesting life in the theatre and he seemed very much to fit in with that show-business lifestyle. I enjoyed it overall, it made me chuckle in places and I found it a pleasant read.

 

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