~Andrea~ Posted December 26, 2011 Share Posted December 26, 2011 (edited) Previous logs 2011 2010 2009 2008 2007 Books completed in 2012: The Secret of Crickley Hall - James Herbert (terrible) To Kill a Mockingbird - Harper Lee/Sissy Spacek (audio) - wonderful Turning Points in British History Futurama - The Time Bender Trilogy (graphic novel) I Partridge - Alan Partridge (audio) Shakespeare's landlord - Charlaine Harris God of Surprises - Gerard Hughes Sherlock Holmes short stories - audio book Silver Birches - Adrian Plass Assassin's Quest - Robin Hobb Think - Simon Blackburn The Martian Chronicles - Ray Bradbury Questions of Truth - John Polkinghorne and Nicholas Beale More than Matter - Keith Ward Hens reunited - Lucy Diamond The Elegance of the Hedgehog - Muriel Barbery Search Dogs and Me - Neil Powell The Great Divorce - C S Lewis The Historian - Elizabeth Kostova Abandoned: From the Holy Mountain - William Dalryple Brighton Rock - Grahame Greene (audio narration was just too irritating) Current books: The Making of Modern Britain - Andrew Marr A Wrinkle In Time - Madeleine L'Engle Edited December 30, 2012 by ~Andrea~ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
~Andrea~ Posted December 26, 2011 Author Share Posted December 26, 2011 (edited) Unread books on the bookshelf: Acquired pre 2009 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 From the Holy Mountain - William Dalrymple 6 Alice through the looking glass - Lewis Carrol 7 Joanna Trollope - The men and the girls 8 Damaged - Cathy Glass 9 The Essential tales of Chekhov 10 Othello 11 The Merchant of Venice 12 Julius Caesar 13 Twelfth night 14 A Winter's tale 15 Middlemarch (audio) 16 The French Leuitenant's woman Begin year size: 16 End year size:14 Acquired 2009 1 The Soldier's return - Melvyn Bragg 2 The Rime of the Ancient Mariner - Coleridge 3 Collected works of Tennyson 4 The Secret of Crickely Hall - James Herbert 5 The Great Turning points of British History 6 The Making of Modern Britain - Andrew Marr Begin year size: 6 End year size:4 Books acquired 2010: 1 Arthur C Clarke - A Fall of moondust (Feb) 2 Tess Gerritson - The Apprentice (4 Dec) 3 Ray Bradbury - The Martian Chronicles (16 Dec) 4 Elizabeth Kostova - The Historian (25 Dec) Begin year size: 4 End year size: 0 Books acquired 2011 1 Clean Code - Robert Martin 2 Shakespeare's Landlord - Charlaine Harris 3 I Partridge - Alan Partridge (audio) 4 To Kill A Mockingbird - Harper Lee/Sissy Spacek (audio) 5 More Than Matter - Keith Ward 6 Hens reunited - Lucy Diamond 7 Search dogs and me - Neil Powell 8 Silver Birches - Adrian Plass 9 Six easy pieces - Richard Feynmann 10 Think, a compelling introduction to philosophy - Simon Blackburn 11 The everlasting man - G K Chesterton 12 The great divorce - C S Lewis 13 Brighton Rock - Grahame Greene (audio) 14 The adventures of Sherlock Holmes volume 1 - Arthur Conan Doyle (audio) 15 Blodwen Jones a'r aderyn prin - Bethan Gwenas (a novel for welsh learners 16 Questions of Truth - John Polkinghorne, Nicholas Beale Begin year size: 16 End year size: 4 Books acquired 2012 1 Flowers For Algernon - Daniel Keyes 2 The Elegance of the Hedgehog - Muriel Barbery 3. A Wrinkle In Time - Madeleine L'Engle 4. A Monster Calls - Patrick Ness (xmas) 5. The Thoughts and Happenings of Wilfred Price, Purveyor of Superior Funerals - Wendy Jones (xmas) 6. Chocky - John Wyndham Audio: 7. The adventures of Sherlock Holmes - vol 2 and 3 (read by David Timson) (xmas) 8. Metamorphosis - Franz Kafka (xmas) 9. Miranda Hart - Is it just me? (read by Miranda Hart) (xmas) 10. The House at Pooh Corner - A A Milne (read by Alan Bennett) (xmas) 11. The Uncommon Reader - Alan Bennett (read by Alan Bennett) (xmas) 12. The woman who went to bed for a year - Sue Townsend (read by Caroline Quentin) (xmas) Begin year size: 0 End year size: 11 Total Begin year size: 42 Max size: 42 Min size: 26 Current Size: 32 End year size: 32 Edited January 11, 2013 by ~Andrea~ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
~Andrea~ Posted December 26, 2011 Author Share Posted December 26, 2011 (edited) The Wish List (will there ever be time?) Ambrose, David - Superstition Beah, Ishmael - Memoirs of a Boy Soldier Bradbury, Ray - Farenheit 451 Bradbury, Ray - Something Wicked this way comes Barker, Clive - Weaveworld Bugan, Carmen - Burying the Typewriter Challis, Sarah - Footprints in the sand Chesterton, G K - Orthodoxy Conran, Shirley - Savages Coupland, Douglas - Microserfs/JPod Du Maurier, Daphne - Rebecca Du Maurier, Daphne - The House on the Strand Dunant, Sarah - Transgressions (recommended) Dick, Philip K - A Scanner Darkly Greene, Grahame - Brighton Rock Greene, Grahame - The Third Man & The Fallen Idol Harwood, John - The Asylum Haugen, Gary (IJM) - Just Courage Highsmith, Patricia - The Talented Mr Ripley Hinton, Susan- Rumble Fish Hodgson, Burnett Frances - The Secret Garden Hodkin, Michelle -The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer Jerome, Jerome K - My Life and Times Keyes, Daniel - Flowers for Algernon Koontz, Dean - The Mask Koontz, Dean - From The Corner Of His Eye Koontz, Dean - False Memory Koontz, Dean - Odd Thomas London, Jack - White Fang Neville, Adam - Apartment 16 McKinley, Robin - Sunshine Mercer, Jeremy - Books, Baguettes & Bedbugs Milne, A. A. Winnie the Pooh - complete short stories and poems Mitchell, Margaret - Gone With the Wind Moran, Caitlin - How to be a Woman Moyes, Jojo - Me Before You Niffenegger, Audrey - The Time Travellers Wife Pargeter, Edith - The Heaven Tree Rayner, Jay - The Oyster House Siege Tolkein - LOTR Trueman, Terry - Stuck in neutral Trigell, Jonathan - Boy A Wheatley, Dennis - The Haunting of Toby Jugg Wyndham, John - Chocky 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 Zusak, Markus - The Book Thief Edited December 26, 2012 by ~Andrea~ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
~Andrea~ Posted December 26, 2011 Author Share Posted December 26, 2011 (edited) Authors to try: Nicholas Evans Edited December 3, 2012 by ~Andrea~ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
~Andrea~ Posted December 26, 2011 Author Share Posted December 26, 2011 (edited) This year I'm aiming to knock off a few of the older books from my TBR, read more generally, and finally, actually bring the TBR down!!! On my hit list: From the Holy Mountain - William Dalrymple (has been on my shelf for years now, one of those books I think I'll enjoy but never feel like starting) Great Turning Points in British History (I started this last year and am determined to get it finished this year) Assassin's Quest - Robin Hobb (not listed on my shelves as this is one of OH's books I'll be borrowing. Book 3 of a trilogy and I'm determined not to leave such a gap this time as I did between the first 2 books) Clean Code (A book I bought for work that I really ought to read) God of Surprises - Gerard Hughes (this is another one I started last year. I really must learn to finish books! lol) A HIstory of Modern Britain - Andrew Marr. I've had this for a while now. It's a bit of a tome. If I could just make a good start on it this year - like get at least half way through, I think I'd be happy with that. I imagine I will have to read it in stages, as I can't generally do too much heavy non-fiction in one go Edited July 14, 2012 by ~Andrea~ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chesilbeach Posted December 27, 2011 Share Posted December 27, 2011 Good luck with reducing your TBR list Andrea! Happy reading in 2012 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ben Posted December 27, 2011 Share Posted December 27, 2011 This year I'm aiming to knock off a few of the older books from my TBR, read more generally, and finally, actually bring the TBR down!!! Ah, to bring the TBR down, my nightmare aim for the year. Best of luck with the 2012 reading Andrea, hope you have a good one. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
~Andrea~ Posted December 29, 2011 Author Share Posted December 29, 2011 Thanks both Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
julie Posted January 7, 2012 Share Posted January 7, 2012 Hi Andrea Good luck this year ,and I hope you enjoy Woman in White. If you like Dickens, you should also like Wilkie. He reminds me a lot of Dickens . I think they are both great . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
~Andrea~ Posted January 10, 2012 Author Share Posted January 10, 2012 Thanks Julie. Well I knocked a couple of books off of the TBR - I took them to a charity shop. The Tess Gerritson I had picked up second-hand but discovered it was the sequel (or second part in a series) that came after a rather gruesome book, which I decided was not for me after all so I got rid of it. The Arthur C Clarke I felt I was just never going to get around to reading as it just didn't excite me enough. It was a second-hand freebie so it's no drama Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Inver Posted January 10, 2012 Share Posted January 10, 2012 I'm trying the TBR thing too Andrea...have it under a 'challenges' section....lol. Be interesting to see how far I get with it. Good luck....reducing the TBR pile to a charity shop sounds like a plan too. I have books I have bought years ago and I know I will never read them! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
~Andrea~ Posted January 11, 2012 Author Share Posted January 11, 2012 Good luck with your challenge too Inver Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
~Andrea~ Posted January 12, 2012 Author Share Posted January 12, 2012 (edited) So I finally finished The Secret of Crickley Hall. What a load of utter tosh. This book is the worst written, most cliche-riddled pile of rubbish I have read in a long time. Right from the start I found the writing awful. I hoped it would pick up, but no. It's almost as if James Herbert deliberately tried to drop every writing clanger in the book, just to see if he could get away with it. It has it all: cliched themes, boring characters, badly written local dialect, info-dumping, outrageously villainous villains with no redeeming qualities at all, to name a few. The writing is amateurish and repetetive, the story predictable and it's not even scary. I even spotted a couple of continuity errors. It fails on all counts. The atrocious writing aside, the story itself is predictable (did I mention that?) and downright unpleasant in parts. The child abuse aspects are written without a scrap of sensetivity and are pure sensationalism, which is unforgiveable. A horrible book, badly written. A total waste of time. I have now picked up Think by Simon Blackburn, which is an introduction to philosophy. So far so good. Edited January 12, 2012 by ~Andrea~ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chrissy Posted January 12, 2012 Share Posted January 12, 2012 So I finally finished The Secret of Crickley Hall. What a load of utter tosh. This book is the worst written, most cliche-riddled pile of rubbish I have read in a long time. Right from the start I found the writing awful. I hoped it would pick up, but no. It's almost as if James Herbert deliberately tried to drop every writing clanger in the book, just to see if he could get away with it. It has it all: cliched themes, boring characters, badly written local dialect, info-dumping, outrageously villainous villains with no redeeming qualities at all, to name a few. The writing is amateurish and repetetive, the story predictable and it's not even scary. I even spotted a couple of continuity errors. It fails on all counts. The atrocious writing aside, the story itself is predictable (did I mention that?) and downright unpleasant in parts. The child abuse aspects are written without a scrap of sensetivity and are pure sensationalism, which is unforgiveable. A horrible book, badly written. A total waste of time. It's a shame that you have been unable to express what you feel about this book Andrea! Your review may be damning, but it is brilliant written. Great stuff. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chaliepud Posted January 12, 2012 Share Posted January 12, 2012 So I finally finished The Secret of Crickley Hall. What a load of utter tosh. This book is the worst written, most cliche-riddled pile of rubbish I have read in a long time. Right from the start I found the writing awful. I hoped it would pick up, but no. It's almost as if James Herbert deliberately tried to drop every writing clanger in the book, just to see if he could get away with it. It has it all: cliched themes, boring characters, badly written local dialect, info-dumping, outrageously villainous villains with no redeeming qualities at all, to name a few. The writing is amateurish and repetetive, the story predictable and it's not even scary. I even spotted a couple of continuity errors. It fails on all counts. The atrocious writing aside, the story itself is predictable (did I mention that?) and downright unpleasant in parts. The child abuse aspects are written without a scrap of sensetivity and are pure sensationalism, which is unforgiveable. A horrible book, badly written. A total waste of time. I have now picked up Think by Simon Blackburn, which is an introduction to philosophy. So far so good. You didn't like it then? Think I'll give it a miss! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vodkafan Posted January 12, 2012 Share Posted January 12, 2012 Lol Andrea most entertaining review I have read yet this year. I don't think I will read this book. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
~Andrea~ Posted January 12, 2012 Author Share Posted January 12, 2012 Haha - thanks everyone. You got that I didn't like it, right? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ben Posted January 13, 2012 Share Posted January 13, 2012 I laughed out loud reading that review - think I too won't be trying this one. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
~Andrea~ Posted January 16, 2012 Author Share Posted January 16, 2012 I really ought to add that I usually like James Herbert (well the 2 others I have read) so I was pretty surprised and disappointed with the quality of this one. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
~Andrea~ Posted January 20, 2012 Author Share Posted January 20, 2012 (edited) In between chapters of 'Think' I've been reading chapters from 'Turning Points in British History' which I started last year and really want to get finished soon. However, between the two books my brain is suffering from information overload, so I have also picked up 'God of Surprises' by Gerard Hughes which again I started but didn't finish last year (can you see a pattern emerging? ) which is slightly lighter. I'm really looking forward to getting to some light fiction once I'm done with those three. Edited January 20, 2012 by ~Andrea~ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ruth Posted January 20, 2012 Share Posted January 20, 2012 (edited) This year I'm aiming to knock off a few of the older books from my TBR, read more generally, and finally, actually bring the TBR down!!! Good luck with reducing your TBR list Andrea! Happy reading in 2012 That is my one resolution every year - to get the TBR down. So far I have never managed it, but will keep trying! So I finally finished The Secret of Crickley Hall. What a load of utter tosh. This book is the worst written, most cliche-riddled pile of rubbish I have read in a long time. Right from the start I found the writing awful. I hoped it would pick up, but no. It's almost as if James Herbert deliberately tried to drop every writing clanger in the book, just to see if he could get away with it. It has it all: cliched themes, boring characters, badly written local dialect, info-dumping, outrageously villainous villains with no redeeming qualities at all, to name a few. The writing is amateurish and repetetive, the story predictable and it's not even scary. I even spotted a couple of continuity errors. It fails on all counts. The atrocious writing aside, the story itself is predictable (did I mention that?) and downright unpleasant in parts. The child abuse aspects are written without a scrap of sensetivity and are pure sensationalism, which is unforgiveable. A horrible book, badly written. A total waste of time. I have now picked up Think by Simon Blackburn, which is an introduction to philosophy. So far so good. The Secret of Crickley Hall may not be an entertaining book, but your review definitely is entertaining! I bought that book ages ago - goodness knows why, because it every time I see it, I think "No, don't fancy reading that yet." I think I may just send it to the charity shop, and be done with it. Edited January 20, 2012 by Ruth Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kylie Posted January 23, 2012 Share Posted January 23, 2012 Great review of Crickley Hall, Andrea! I've been curious about this book for years, but I think I'll wipe it off my wish list once and for all! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nollaig Posted January 23, 2012 Share Posted January 23, 2012 Haha wow, that's some review of Crickley Hall. I've actually read it too, and though I remember being underwhelmed, I don't remember it being THAT bad... it's a hefty book and I made it to the end at least which for me usually means some bit of enjoyment was had... but maybe I should shut up, I may be risking my reputation for having good taste Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
~Andrea~ Posted January 25, 2012 Author Share Posted January 25, 2012 Hehe - thanks guys. I'm glad my review has been such a hit lol! The most enjoyable bit of the book was getting to write that review! To be fair Noll, the book isn't totally without merit, but I just found it so amateurish coming from a writer such as James Herbert that I found I couldn't be in any way forgiving. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nollaig Posted January 25, 2012 Share Posted January 25, 2012 That's a fair point - I've only read that and Haunted by him so I don't really have an extensive knowledge of the highs and lows in his work, or any comparison between the two. Suffice it to say thought that neither book really stayed with me, I barely remember the plots.... actually I don't remember them, lol! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.