Judy's Jumbo Reads

[JudyB]

Think I might join this challenge as I picked up The Historian by Elizabeth Kostova on Saturday and it's over 500 pages long.

March: The Interpretation of Murder by Jed Rubenfeld

April: The Historian by Elizabeth Kostova

[Polka Dot Rock]

Hooray! *solo Mexican wave for Judy!*

I'm intrigued by The Historian as Dracula is one of my favourites - I'll be asking lots of questions! ;)

[Kell]

I really enjoyed The Historian when I read it last year with the reading circle - i think the general consensus was that it was pretty good, although many thought it had a bit of a slump in the middle (it's well worth reading past that though, so when you hit it, don't give up!).

[JudyB]

I picked it up firstly because one of our readers at the library suggested it to me - I've recommended a few novels to her which she's enjoyed and thought it might be nice to try one of her suggestions. I saw it while shelving on Saturday and my interest aroused by the reader mentioned above I had a quick look at it. Think I only got as far as seeing the word Dracula before I had tucked it under my arm to be taken home. Funnily enough the reader came into the library not long after I'd procured it and she told me it was slow to get into but well worth the read.

[JudyB]

The Historian -started it today - so far I'm gripped by it.

[JudyB]

May's Jumbo read is The Secret of Crickley Hall by James Herbert.

I'm hooked and getting a bit spooked!

[Nici76]

May's Jumbo read is The Secret of Crickley Hall by James Herbert.

I'm hooked and getting a bit spooked!

Oh! I do like James Herbert, but I haven't read this one; what's it about?

[JudyB]

Oh! I do like James Herbert, but I haven't read this one; what's it about?


This is actually my first James Herbert - a new genre for me. The story (without giving anything away) is about a family who move into Crickley Hall and discover strange things about it. Co-incidently (with what's happening at the moment) the mother lost her 5 year old son when she nodded off on a park bench so there's also the story about her guilt and hope of him returning to her running through it.

I got my copy from Tescos for £3.73 so looks like it's doing the supermarket rounds at the mo.

[Nici76]

Sounds good Judy! I will add it to my TBR pile!

[JudyB]

Chunky challenge for June will be The Book Thief by Markus Zusak. I've seen it at work a couple of times and it has had good reviews on the forum so will be picking it up on Thursday when I'm next at the library.


Summary taken from fantasticfiction
It's just a small story really, about among other things: a girl, some words, an accordionist, some fanatical Germans, a Jewish fist-fighter, and quite a lot of thievery. . . .

Set during World War II in Germany, Markus Zusak's groundbreaking new novel is the story of Liesel Meminger, a foster girl living outside of Munich. Liesel scratches out a meager existence for herself by stealing when she encounters something she can't resist - books. With the help of her accordion-playing foster father, she learns to read and shares her stolen books with her neighbors during bombing raids as well as with the Jewish man hidden in her basement before he is marched to Dachau.

This is an unforgettable story about the ability of books to feed the soul.


Will read it after A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini.

[Gyre]

I really hope you enjoy 'The Book Thief' as much as I did Judy, it was a wonderful read. :D

[JudyB]

I really hope you enjoy 'The Book Thief' as much as I did Judy, it was a wonderful read. :D


I finished it today and thought it was a wonderful read also - I'm so glad I read it.

Chunky challenge for July will be - A Spot of Bother by Mark Haddon

[JudyB]

July Chunky Challenge

A Spot of Bother by Mark Haddon
(blurb taken from Waterstones website)

George Hall doesn't understand the modern obsession with talking about everything. 'The secret of contentment, George felt, lay in ignoring many things completely.' Some things in life, however, cannot be ignored. At fifty-seven, George is settling down to a comfortable retirement, building a shed in his garden, reading historical novels, listening to a bit of light jazz. Then Katie, his tempestuous daughter, announces that she is getting remarried, to Ray. Her family is not pleased - as her brother Jamie observes, Ray has 'strangler's hands'. Katie can't decide if she loves Ray, or loves the wonderful way he has with her son Jacob, and her mother Jean is a bit put out by all the planning and arguing the wedding has occasioned, which get in the way of her quite fulfilling late-life affair with one of her husband's former colleagues. And the tidy and pleasant life Jamie has created crumbles when he fails to invite his lover, Tony, to the dreaded nuptials. Unnoticed in the uproar, George discovers a sinister lesion on his hip, and quietly begins to lose his mind. The way these damaged people fall apart - and come together - as a family is the true subject of Mark Haddon's disturbing yet very funny portrait of a dignified man trying to go insane politely.