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Andrea's 2010 reads


~Andrea~

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Maybe one of the wishlist then, thanks to your glowing recommendation. As for the reading, thanks, I'm sure it should pick up soon - this is my best time period for getting through some novels, usually at the start of the year I'm too busy with school.

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Finished Alice in Wonderland last night. Cracking little book, completely bonkers. My edition was so old the price on it was 2'6 and it had a little sticker with "war costs" printed on it!

 

I'm going to carry on with The Quantum Universe next.

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The Quantum Universe is fab. It's a great book, fairly accessible (sometimes!) with lots of pictures and diagrams. It's certainly improved my understanding of lots of areas and taught me new things. For instance:

- I now have a much better understanding of the electron orbitals in atoms (they are not like planetary orbits at all, as I was taught in school)

- I now know the difference between fermions (electrons, protons etc) and bosons (photons etc) and understand (tenuously :() why fermions are matter-like and bosons are energy-like

- I've understood wave-particle duality in greater detail

- I've been refreshed on many areas of physics I'd forgotten about, electromagnetism, neutron stars etc

- I've learned new things and been introduced to many of nature's oddities, such as superfluids and the strange behaviour of liquid helium at very low temperatures. Honestly, it really is very surprising and quite wondrous!

 

I've almost finished this book and have enjoyed every minute of it (even though it's had me scratching my head in places)

 

Looking forward to finishing it now, and reading more on the subject in the future :)

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I finished the quantum universe on the weekend and enjoyed it immensely. It's kind of quantum physics for lay people, although they cram a LOT of information in there so some of it I had no hope of grasping. It made me laugh when in many places they would say things like - now from here it's pretty obvious where this leads to, that's right - blah blah. I'd be screwing up my face thinking - what? obvious? But all in all it was very good. I learned a lot, and just had to accept that a lot of it I simply had to let wash over me - since I had no chance of absorbing everything. Some of it is pretty tricky :roll:

I also had to do a bit of background reading on wikipedia etc to expand on some bits because they just cram so much into a small space.

 

Anyway - very much worth a read. I'm particularly chuffed to have read it since it's been on my shelf for about fifteen years (having made it to about chapter 2 at my last attempt)

 

Next: Strangers on a Train by Patricia Highsmith.

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  • 4 weeks later...

I finished Strangers on a Train on Saturday. I didn't enjoy it as much as some of her other books, the story seemed slower somehow, however it was still an excellent read! I think Patricia Highsmith is becoming a favourite author. She writes very intelligently, creating extremely tense worlds. I loved Bruno's character. Dangerous and Insane though he is, he is one of those characters you just love to watch (or rather read).

 

This was Highsmith's first novel which she wrote at the age of 30 and I find myself incredibly envious of her talent.

 

Last night I started Justin Cartwright's a promise of happiness which I began without much enthusiasm. I only managed a couple of pages and I can't yet tell if it was just my mood, or the book iteslf hindering my enjoyment. (I was extremely fed up and stressed out by the end of yesterday so it was probably just me :) )

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Gave up on The Promise of Happiness last week only a few pages in. Started Ender's Game last Thursday and took it away with me to Scotland. Much more engaging. I think I'll emjoy this one :)

 

I've had Ender's Game on my TBR pile for ages. I can't wait to hear your thoughts. :)

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Gave up on The Promise of Happiness last week only a few pages in. Started Ender's Game last Thursday and took it away with me to Scotland. Much more engaging. I think I'll emjoy this one :)

Ender's Game is an excellent book. If you enjoy it, Speaker For The Dead is just as good, if not better, in my opinion.

I think the other books in the Ender's series go downhill from there, though.

I would love to hear your thoughts. :)

Edited by Pixie
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  • 3 weeks later...

I really enjoyed Ender's Game. I thought the book had a lot of interesting ideas.

 

The twist really surprised me at the end. The scene where he does his final test - that was a highlight.

 

One thing I didn't like though - "Buggers" as a name for the alien enemy race! They may as well have been called the "little blighters" or the "pains in the neck". Perhaps bugger isn't a commonly used word in the US though like it is in the UK.

 

Next I've started reading "Great Turning Points of British History" from the BBC History magazine people. So far so good. It seems quite readable and hopefully will prove educational.

Edited by ~Andrea~
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The history book is quite good, but a little dry for bedtime reading. I'm not sure I can face another chapter tonight to I'm going to pick up Chris Evans - It's Nnot What You Think to interweave with it. Hopefully that'll be a lot more readable. I'm not very good at absorbing facts when I'm tired.

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Well I loved Chris's autobiography. He really is a dynamic character and his book is fast-paced, funny and very interesting. He comes across as a warm, enthusiastic individual with a real zest for life. He eats plenty of humble pie in this book, and is very honest about his mistakes, and actually comes across as someone of great depth. I always liked/wanted to like chris evans, but found his huge ego really annoying. In this book his ego is somewhat deflated, and I found myself liking him as much as I'd hoped I would.

 

All in all a thoroughly enjoyable read.

 

Now I am in a bit of a dilemma for my next book. I had hoped to acquire a borrowed copy of Les Mis by now but unfortunately my plans didn't quite work out and I probably won't be able to get it until next weekend. So do I start another book in the meantime? Les Mis will be a long read, so if I half-read something, there will be a huge gap before I come back to it. I suppose I could carry on with Turning Points of british history and maybe some short stories in the meantime.

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I've actually been reading some Guy de Maupassant short stories that I've had on my shelf for years. I've been pleansantly surprised. The first, "On the River" was actually quite a spine-chiller which I wasn't expecting, (I don't know why not because I knew very little about the author)

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