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Your Book Activity - March 2020


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It's March already!  Hoping for slightly warmer weather than we've been having -- and less rain.  :ph34r:   What's everyone reading this month?

 

I'm still reading my Harold Lloyd biography.  Not too far off finishing it.  I think I might read a Buster Keaton bio next.  I'm all re-enthused about silent film!

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I'm reading these right now:

 

Peter F. Hamilton - The Void Trilogy 1: The Dreaming Void (re-read)

Candice Carty-Williams - Queenie

Tomi Adeyemi - Legacy of Orïsha 2: Children of Virtue and Vengeance

Libby Scott and Rebecca Westcott - Can You See Me?

Sharon M. Draper - Out of My Mind

Deb Caletti - A Heart in a Body in the World

Sigrid Landman - Moederen met Autisme

Dorothy Koomson - The Flavours of Love

Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman - Good Omens

Philip Pullman - His Dark Materials 2: The Subtle Knife (buddy read)

 

Happy reading in March!

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20 hours ago, Onion Budgie said:

I read Good Omens last year, @Athena, and had fun with it, although I didn't find it laugh-out-loud funny.  Are you enjoying it as much as the TV series?

 

No, I actually find the TV series funnier. I'm quite far into the book now, but I feel it's kind of dated. There are some racist and sexist jokes in it, which just isn't okay nowadays (back in 1990 though you didn't hear as much about it). I'm really glad the TV series added more characters of colour and more female characters, the jokes were changed too. There is even a non-binary character in the TV series, whereas in the book the character is a man. I also find things funnier with actors saying the funny lines so well, whereas in a book some of that effect is lost.

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5 hours ago, Athena said:

 

No, I actually find the TV series funnier. I'm quite far into the book now, but I feel it's kind of dated. There are some racist and sexist jokes in it, which just isn't okay nowadays (back in 1990 though you didn't hear as much about it). I'm really glad the TV series added more characters of colour and more female characters, the jokes were changed too. There is even a non-binary character in the TV series, whereas in the book the character is a man. I also find things funnier with actors saying the funny lines so well, whereas in a book some of that effect is lost.

 

I agree with you; it has definitely dated.  I did appreciate how Neil Gaiman developed Aziraphale and Crowley's relationship in the TV series, and opened it up a little further to interpretation.  You can tell how much MS and DT relished playing around with the nuances of that!  (I far prefer the TV series.)

 

~~~

Edited to add:

I just finished the Harold Lloyd bio, and thoroughly enjoyed it.  Now on to Buster Keaton: Tempest in a Flat Hat by Edward McPherson.

Edited by Onion Budgie
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On 04/03/2020 at 11:23 AM, Onion Budgie said:

I agree with you; it has definitely dated.  I did appreciate how Neil Gaiman developed Aziraphale and Crowley's relationship in the TV series, and opened it up a little further to interpretation.  You can tell how much MS and DT relished playing around with the nuances of that!  (I far prefer the TV series.)

 

I just finished Good Omens yesterday, and totally agree! I much prefer the TV series too.

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The Last Battle by C S Lewis

I am really glad to have finished this series. I really enjoyed the first 3 to 4 books, but seriously got bored of the last few. 

 

Harry Potter and The Chamber of Secrets by J K Rowling

I am loving this series. 

 

I plan on reading Blubber by Judy Blume next, after that I am really not sure. 

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18 hours ago, Lau_Lou said:

The Last Battle by C S Lewis

I am really glad to have finished this series. I really enjoyed the first 3 to 4 books, but seriously got

bored of the last few. 

 

I've heard a friend of mine recently say that too. I read them when I was a kid, I plan to re-read them in English some time. Shame the last few books in the series weren't as good as the first few.

 

18 hours ago, Lau_Lou said:

Harry Potter and The Chamber of Secrets by J K Rowling

I am loving this series. 

 

So glad you're loving this series!!

 

18 hours ago, Lau_Lou said:

I plan on reading Blubber by Judy Blume next, after that I am really not sure. 

 

I've heard okay things of this book, I haven't read it myself though so can't comment.

 

I finished Queenie by Candice Carty-Williams yesterday, a good read. I'm still reading the other books I was reading (see my earlier post in this thread).

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Just finished A Gentleman in Moscow by Amor Towles.  Read as a book group read.  I almost certainly wouldn't have read it otherwise, but loved it, as did the rest of the group.  5/6 (Excellent). 

 

Yet to finish both Emma and The Luminaries.  Have a stack of library books to read too, so plenty to go at. 

 

On 06/03/2020 at 1:28 PM, Lau_Lou said:

Harry Potter and The Chamber of Secrets by J K Rowling

I am loving this series. 

 

Great literary fiction it may not be, but Rowling has the wonderful skill of being a really good storyteller. My son and I loved reading this series side by side pretty much all the way through his late primary and early teenage years.  I found it quite sad that, more recently as a primary teacher, I found fewer and fewer children were able to handle her books simply because they couldn't handle the length of her books, even her earlier ones - just hadn't got the attentional skills.  Those that did had an equally wonderful experience.

 

On 07/03/2020 at 7:35 AM, Athena said:

I finished Queenie by Candice Carty-Williams yesterday, a good read.

Definitely on my reading list!

 

Edited by willoyd
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9 hours ago, willoyd said:

Definitely on my reading list!

 

I hope you like it when you get to it :).

 

I finished off all the books I started in February and am ready to start some new books today. I'm planning to read the next Haunted Guesthouse book by E. J. Copperman, and I want to read some manga and graphic novels and graphic memoirs, because I didn't read them for the March read-a-thon. I at least want to read Deathnote Volume 3 because the series has 12 volumes and I read one a month to then be finished with it in December. I also feel in the mood to re-read some graphic memoirs, so I may do that.

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On 14/03/2020 at 10:05 PM, willoyd said:

Just finished A Gentleman in Moscow by Amor Towles.  Read as a book group read.  I almost certainly wouldn't have read it otherwise, but loved it, as did the rest of the group.  5/6 (Excellent). 

I love it when this happens. 

Reading a book you wouldn't necessarily pick up and enjoying it. 

 

I have finished You're The One That I Don't Want by Alexandra PotterThis follows Lucy and her quest to get rid of 'The One.' It was a fun, easy read and I thoroughly enjoyed it. Will be on the look out for more books by this author.

 

Currently reading Darkest Before Dawn by Katie Flynn. I am only on the first chapter, but good so far. 

 

Hope everyone is continuing to enjoy their reading. 

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Just finished Buster Keaton: Tempest in a Flat Hat.  I didn't enjoy it quite as much as the Harold Lloyd bio; I felt it was just one endless description of film plot after film plot, and not enough info on Keaton's life -- you know, the details that make up a biography.  :rolleyes:  I didn't learn anything new about Keaton, that's my main gripe.

 

What with all the misery and hoohah currently going on in the world, I desperately need a good comfort read, and for me that's Agatha Christie.  I'm about to make a start on Appointment with Death.

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I finished The Girl Who Took and Eye for an Eye by David Lagercrantz, the 5th book in the Millenium series. It was merely ok and it felt like a bit of a mess if I am totally honest. I really like the characters of Lizbeth Salander and Mikael Blomkvist but they are very under utilized in this book.

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I've only read one of Lagercrantz books in this series and I found it really disappointing so haven't read further.  It didn't have the depth Larsen's books had.  Do you think it's worthy my reading the others?  I loved the Larsen books, one of my favourite series and I plan to re-read at some point.

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8 hours ago, bookmonkey said:

I've only read one of Lagercrantz books in this series and I found it really disappointing so haven't read further.  It didn't have the depth Larsen's books had.  Do you think it's worthy my reading the others?  I loved the Larsen books, one of my favourite series and I plan to re-read at some point.

 

I wouldn't bother. I may read the final Lagercrantz book at some point in the future only because I am a bit of a completist. I think my biggest issue with his books compared to Larsson's is that Larsson has Lizbeth as the focus, the person everything works around and Lagercrantz uses her as an aside. With Larsson I felt that underneath her anti-social demeanour Lizbeth had love for the few people she really trusted, especially Holger. In the last book she just comes off as someone who hates everyone which just doesn't sit right with what we know about her so far.

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I finished The Backpacker by John Harris yesterday, an entertaining but limited book. This morning I have made a start on The 7th Function of Language by Laurent Binet and I'll also probably make a start on Snow Crash by Neal Stephenson later this afternoon as well.

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Appointment with Death was a fun read, and I didn't guess the culprit, so well done Aggie, for tricking me.

 

I'm now attempting a re-read of Ready to Catch Him Should He Fall by Neil Bartlett.  This was one that I DNF'd halfway through a few years ago, because every single character irritated the heck out of me.  Bartlett is one of my favourite authors, however, so I felt that I should give it a second chance.  

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