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Kylie

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Posts posted by Kylie

  1. Acquired in 2018

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    Books acquired:

    2018: 96

    2017: 125
    2016: 165
    2015: 42
    2014: 143
    2013: 281
    2012: 427
    2011: 543
    2010: 400
    2009: 290
    2008: 199

    I've marked books that I've read and books that I'm currently reading. The numbers after the dates do not include any books marked as (n.a.).

    January (0)

    :angcat:

     

    February (51)

    Canberra Book Fair—Fiction (25)

    Margaret Atwood Hag-Seed
    Paul Beatty The Sellout
    Mikhail Bulgakov The Master and Margarita (50th anniversary deluxe edition) (n.a.)
    Mikhail Bulgakov A Young Doctor's Notebook
    Agatha Christie The Sittaford Mystery
    Agatha Christie Three Act Tragedy (n.a.)
    Antoine de Saint-Exupery The Little Prince (n.a.)
    Hugh Edwards Islands of Angry Ghosts
    Joseph Heller Closing Time (n.a.)
    Joseph Heller Something Happened (n.a.)
    ETA Hoffman Tales of Hoffmann
    Andrey Kurkov The President's Last Love (n.a.)
    John le Carré The Russia House
    John le Carré The Spy Who Came in From the Cold
    Ann M Martin Stacey McGill, Super Sitter
    JD Salinger The Catcher in the Rye (n.a.)
    John Scalzi Lock in
    Natasha Solomons The Song Collector
    Emily St John Mandel Last Night in Montreal
    Jeff VanderMeer Acceptance
    David Walliams Gangsta Granny
    PG Wodehouse Doctor Sally
    PG Wodehouse The Little Nugget
    PG Wodehouse Love Among the Chickens
    PG Wodehouse The Man Upstairs and Other Stories
    PG Wodehouse Tales of St Austin's

    Canberra Book Fair—Non-Fiction (24)

    Richard Bradford Literary Rivals
    James Bradley The Penguin Book of the Ocean
    Bill Bryson A Short History of Nearly Everything (Illustrated) (n.a.)
    Rachel Carson Silent Spring
    Brian Cox Wonders of the Universe
    Richard Dawkins The Blind Watchmaker (n.a.)
    Tim Flannery The Birth of Melbourne    
    AC Grayling The Age of Genius
    J Mellentin Haswell Manual of Mosaic
    Henry Hitchings Browse
    David Hunt True Girt
    Naomi Klein This Changes Everything
    Helen Macdonald H is for Hawk
    Simon Sebag Montefiori The Romanovs
    Diana Mosley The Pursuit of Laughter
    Robert J Nemiroff The Universe: 365 Days
    Edward W Said Orientalism: Western Conceptions of the Orient
    Carl Sagan Billions and Billions
    Carl Sagan The Varieties of Scientific Experience
    Dava Sobel The Glass Universe
    Don Watson Bendable Learnings
    Don Watson Watson's Dictionary of Weasel Words
    Oscar Wilde Oscar Wilde: A Life in Letters
    John Wright The CSIRO Home Energy Saving Handbook

    Post Book Fair (2)

    Christopher de Hamel Meetings with Remarkable Manuscripts

    Jasmine Desclaux-Salachas The Art of Cartographics

     

    March (15)

    100 x 100: The Best of Everything

    Nikolai Gogol The Collected Tales of Nikolai Gogol

    Jennifer Lynch The Secret Diary of Laura Palmer

    Mary Westmacott (Agatha Christie) The Rose and the Yew Tree

    Mary Westmacott (Agatha Christie) A Daughter's a Daughter

    Sam Harris The End of Faith

    Lawrence M Krauss A Universe from Nothing

    John Allen Paulos Irreligion

    Oliver Sacks Seeing Voices

    Rose Shepherd Sherlock Holmes's London

    Stephen Fry Mythos

    Alan Bradley Flavia de Luce #8: Thrice the Brinded Cat Hath Mew'd

    Alberto Manguel Packing My Library

    H Munro Saki: The Complete Short Stories

    Ben Aaronovitch Rivers of London #7: The Furthest Station

     

    April (0)

    :angcat:

     

    May (1)

    Alberto Manguel Curiosity

     

    June (8)

    Patrick Hamilton The Gorse Trilogy

    Terry Pratchett, Neil Gaiman The Long Cosmos

    Charles Beaumont Perchance to Dream

    Patricia Highsmith The Glass Cell

    Richard Dawkins Science in the Soul

    Steven Pinker The Sense of Style

    Christopher Morley Parnassus on Wheels & The Haunted Bookshop

    Richard Dawkins A Devil's Chaplain

     

    July (0)

    :angcat:

     

    August (6)

    F Scott Fitzgerald Flappers and Philosophers

    David Crystal Making Sense

    Fyodor Dostoyevsky Notes from a Dead House

    John Steinbeck Of Men and Their Making

    Ben Tarnoff The Bohemians

    Oliver Tearle The Secret Library

     

    September (10)

    Mary Beth Keane Fever

    Ursula Le Guin The Earthsea Quartet (n.a.)

    Jeff Lindsay Dexter #8: Dexter is Dead

    Joseph Mitchell Up in the Old Hotel

    Ben & David Crystal You Say Potato

    Hunter Davies The Beatles Lyrics

    Elaine Foreman & Claire Pollard CBT: Cognitive Behavioural Therapy

    Christopher Fowler The Book of Forgotten Authors

    Jeff Guinn The Road to Jonestown

    Mary Roach Grunt

    Rosemary Sassoon Improve Your Handwriting

     

    October (3)

    Bram Stoker Dracula's Guest and Other Weird Tales

    Alan Bradley Flavia de Luce #9: The Grave's a Fine and Private Place

    Boris Akunin Erast Fandorin #11: All the World's a Stage

     

    November (0)

    :angcat:

     

    December (1)

    Matt Haig The Truth Pixie

     

    Not Sure (1)

    Gail Honeyman Eleanor Oliphant Is Completely Fine

  2. Read in 2018
     
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    Books read:

    2018: 38

    2017: 26
    2016: 43
    2015: 48
    2014: 56
    2013: 25
    2012: 29
    2011: 50
    2010: 116
    2009: 88
    2008: 58

     

    TBR as at 1 January 2018: 2210 (1497 fiction, 713 non-fiction)
    TBR as at 8 March 2018: 2202 (1943 fiction, 709 non-fiction) (8 from TBR, 1 re-reads, 0 ebooks | 0 acquired)

    January (5)

    Matt Haig Father Christmas and Me 9/10

    Krista Halverson Shakespeare and Company: A History of the Rag & Bone Shop of the Heart 8/10

    Richard P Feynman and Ralph Leighton Surely You're Joking, Mr Feynman! 8/10

    Neil deGrasse Tyson Astrophysics for People in a Hurry 9/10

    Vincent Bugliosi Helter Skelter 10/10

     

    February (4)

    Stephen King IT 8/10

    Patrick Hamilton Rope 8/10

    Alan Bradley Flavia de Luce #4: I Am Half-Sick of Shadows 8/10

    Antoine de Saint-Exupéry The Little Prince 10/10

     

    March (3)

    Ann M Martin BSC Super Special #14: BSC in the USA 7/10

    Michael and Susan Parker Sex Please We're Sixty 5/10

    Goodale Brothers Jeeves & Wooster in Perfect Nonsense 9/10

     

    April (1)

    Alberto Manguel Packing My Library

     

    May (3)

    Matt Haig How to Stop Time 8/10

    Gail Honeyman Eleanor Oliphant Is Completely Fine 9/10

    Sinclair Lewis It Can't Happen Here 7/10

     

    June (1)

    Hannah Nordhaus The Beekeeper's Lament 9/10

     

    July (4)

    Sophie Divry The Library of Unrequited Love 6/10

    Chip & Joanna Gaines The Magnolia Story 8/10

    MRC Kasasian Gower Street Detective #4: The Secrets of Gaslight Lane 4/10

    Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra The Glass Licentiate 7/10

     

    August (2)

    Andrew Solomon The Noonday Demon: An Anatomy of Depression 10/10

    L Frank Baum The Wizard of Oz 8/10

     

    September (2)

    Ben Elton Blind Faith 6/10

    Becky Chambers The Long Way to a Small Angry Planet 8/10

     

    October (3)

    Rachel Hoffman Unhmmm Your Habitat 6/10

    Alain de Botton Status Anxiety 9/10

    Jeff Guin The Road to Jonestown 10/10

     

    November (6)

    David Hunt Girt: The Unauthorised History of Australia 6/10

    Jane Austen Pride and Prejudice 10/10

    Poppy Z Brite Exquisite Corpse 3/10

    Shaun Bythell The Diary of a Bookseller 7/10

    Bret Easton Ellis Less Than Zero 2/10

    MR Carey The Girl with All the Gifts 8/10

     

    December (4)

    Augusten Burroughs You Better Not Cry 8/10

    Jane Austen Northanger Abbey 10/10

    Judith Lucy Drink, Smoke, Pass Out 8/10

    Matt Haig The Truth Pixie 9/10

     

    :readingtwo:

     

  3. Kylie's Literary Adventures in 2018 :readingtwo:
     
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    Previous reading blogs: 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017

    -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Quick Links to 2018 Posts
     
    2018 Reading:
    Books Read | Books Acquired | Selected Wishlist

    TBR Fiction:
    A–B | C | D–F | G–HI–LM–OP–R | S–VW–Z

    TBR Non-Fiction:
    Biographies | Letters, Diaries, Essays | Books About Books | Language |

    History & Travel | Science, Economics & Politics | Psychology & Philosophy | The Rest

    Reading Challenges:
    Priority Reads | Gilmore Girls | 1001 | 1001 Children | 501 | Frankie and Poppyshake
     
    Other Links:
    TBR Books on Multiple Lists | My Favourite Books | Pics of My Library
     
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    Goals for 2018
    Read 15 Priority Reads (link)
    Read 5 authors that I’ve never read before (link)

    Possible Challenges
    Complete 30 days of questions (link)
    The Literary Art of Conversation (link)

  4. Matt Haig has a new book out: How to Stop Time.

     

    Synopsis from Book Depository: 'I am old. That is the first thing to tell you. The thing you are least likely to believe. If you saw me you would probably think I was about forty, but you would be very wrong.' Tom Hazard has a dangerous secret. He may look like an ordinary 41-year-old, but owing to a rare condition, he's been alive for centuries. From Elizabethan England to Jazz-Age Paris, from New York to the South Seas, Tom has seen a lot, and now craves an ordinary life. Always changing his identity to stay alive, Tom has the perfect cover - working as a history teacher at a London comprehensive. Here he can teach the kids about wars and witch hunts as if he'd never witnessed them first-hand. He can try to tame the past that is fast catching up with him. The only thing Tom must not do is fall in love.How to Stop Time is a wild and bittersweet story about losing and finding yourself, about the certainty of change and about the lifetimes it can take to really learn how to live.

  5. On 22/07/2017 at 8:26 PM, bobblybear said:

     

    I read this earlier in the month and thought it was so fascinating. It's a bit depressing as well when you realise the destruction humans have caused to other animals. :angry:

     

     

    Yes, indeed @bobblybear! It's very sad.

     

    On 23/07/2017 at 11:05 PM, Marie H said:

    Started reading Jane Austen's Persuasion last night. I have seen the film version a few times, but now I'm trying the book. :)

     

    Finished The Case of the Gilded Fly (Gervase Fen #1) by Edmund Crispin. A Golden Age of Crime Mystery, first published 1944.

    Really enjoyed this book, so the Gervase Fen #2 will be next from the library. :)

     

    I hope you're enjoying Persuasion. I dearly love all of Austen's books and really want to re-read one soon.

     

    So glad you enjoyed TCotGF. I bought it last year but haven't read it yet (or anything else by Crispin).

     

    In my last piece of book activity for July, I finished reading The Gruen Transfer, which I've been dipping in and out of for many months. Quite an interesting look at the advertising industry.

  6. I started and finished Al Gore's An Inconvenient Truth over the past weekend or so (lots of pictures; small amounts of text). I've had this book for a while and was inspired to push it up the TBR pile when I saw an interview with Gore on TV last week. Very interesting read, although it's a little dated now that it's 10 years old. Apparently the term 'global warming' was still used instead of 'climate change' back then, and obviously all the stats were missing 10 years' worth of data. I wonder if he'll update the book now that he's made a sequel to the original documentary? Oh, I just looked it up and the answer is 'yes'. :D

     

    That led me to read Elizabeth Kolbert's The Sixth Extinction, which I've heard great things about. I started it yesterday and have read around 50 pages. It's a fascinating read so far.

  7. It sounds like those of us who don't love social interactions should get together for a Silent Reading Party. :D

     

    I've been having a woeful reading year, but I've managed to pick it up a little in the past few weeks by rereading The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy and The Restaurant at the End of the Universe by Douglas Adams. At least, I thought I'd read the second book before, but none of it was familiar. I'm now reading Life, the Universe and Everything by the same author. I'm also not sure if this is a reread—I thought I had read at least part of it before, but again, nothing seems familiar. :rolleyes: I know I definitely haven't read the next two books though, so I'll be continuing on with them next.

  8. On 30/06/2017 at 2:11 AM, frankie said:

    Michael Nyqvist, the great Swedish actor, died of lung cancer two days ago :(   He was my favorite Swedish actor. So talented and so handsome. He was friends with a certain Finnish movie director, and the movie director's said Nyqvist is (was) such a nice, down-to-earth guy, who liked to come to Finland to meet his friends (his wife is Finnish Swedish, so she's from here). 

     

    He was only 56 years old :(

     

    Very sad, and such a young age. :(

  9. The first Harry Potter book was published 20 years ago (yesterday...I'm a little late!)

     

    To celebrate, I thought we could get a discussion going about the books and movies...it has been too long since we had a good HP discussion! :D

     

    Favourite and least favourite Harry Potter books?

    Favourite and least favourite Harry Potter movies?

    Which house do you think you would be sorted into?

    Which house did Pottermore sort you into?

    Favourite and least favourite characters?

    Favourite and least favourite professors?

    What would your patronus be (have you received details from Pottermore, or do you have your own idea)?

    What would your wand be made of? (Pottermore)

    Favourite spell?

    Favourite subject at Hogwarts?

    Favourite thing/s about Hogwarts?

    What would your post-Hogwarts occupation be?

    Was anything left out of the movies that you really wanted to see?

    Was anything you would cut out (or down) in the movies?

    Favourite shop in Diagon Alley?

    Favourite place in the wizarding world?

     

    Feel free to expand the list!

  10. I recently finished watching this series and loved every minute of it! Very thought-provoking.

     

    Apparently Charles Brooker is going to publish three 'Black Mirror' volumes of novellas written by different people. These will go on my wish list for sure.

     

     

  11. I think it's bizarre that you (David James) could think anyone would think weirdly of someone reading Lolita near a school, or of reading a book about a serial killer in public, even a recently deceased killer. In the latter case, the subject would obviously be of interest to people at the moment because it's currently in the news. Do you think that somehow means someone reading a book about Brady actually condones what he did? Because that's the only logical conclusion I can come to when reading what you wrote. That's laughable and ridiculous.

     

    For the record, I once read Lolita on public transport. I can't be bothered Googling the cover to include it here, but it has a cartoonish image of a young girl in a bikini. Not the most provocative Lolita cover out there, I'm sure, but it was distinctive. I had the book sitting on my lap (front cover up) while I was doing something else, and a gentlemen next to me engaged me in conversation about the book. He turned out to be a big fan of Nabokov and a few days later he arrived on the train with a couple of spare copies of other Nabokov books and gifted them to me. We ended up becoming great friends and stayed in touch for several years, discussing art and books (he remains the most well-read person I've ever met). At the time I was in my mid 20s and he was probably in his early/mid 60s. Based on what you've said, you would probably have thought him some kind of sicko and advised me to stay well away. Luckily I'm not so judgmental!

  12. On 19/05/2017 at 5:11 AM, frankie said:

    I've started reading  When the Professor Got Stuck in the Snow by Dan Rhodes. Only a few pages in so I have no opinion. 

     

    I'm interested in your thoughts on this. I know it's about Richard Dawkins, who I have great admiration for, but I'm not sure if the book just makes fun of him?

  13. Are you a member of Goodreads? If so (or even if you're not a member), you might be able to find an answer there. Someone might have addressed it in a review, or you can post a question on the page of the relevant book and someone might be able to answer it.

  14. I got The Girl With the Seven Names by Hyeonseo Lee on the Kindle monthly deals yesterday, I read In Order to Live last year and really enjoyed it, I'm really interested in the situation in North Korea and I hope I'll enjoy this one too.

     

    Have you read Escape from Camp 14 by Blaine Harden? That's quite a good one about North Korea.

     

    I have so much to say about my last read - It Can't Happen Here by Sinclair Lewis. I believe it is being/has been republished given current political situations.

     

    I've had this on my TBR pile for years and finally picked it up the other day because I've seen it in the news so much. :) I've probably only read half a dozen pages so far, and it seems good, but I'm not sure I'm in the right mood for it at the moment. I'll keep going for a while.

    SaveSave

  15. I would much rather they just took their favourite book to school to tell their friends about it and get others interested that way. That would be much more book-focused than dressing up as superheroes and Disney princesses. Giving each child a few minutes to tell the rest of the kids in the class about their favourite book is a surefire way to get them interested, whereas dressing up is just yet another day to stress out parents about getting a costume ready.

     

    I think that's an excellent idea, and for the reasons you mentioned.

     

    We have a similar day here, but I'm not sure when it is. I only know because my ex is a teacher and he went as a hobbit one year. :) I can't remember if we did Book Week at school, but I do remember dressing up as the Little Match Girl once, so I guess it would have been for that.

     

    As for World Book Day, I never remember the day in time...I usually find out on Facebook from various US/European people/pages, and by that time the day is already over here. :( 

  16. The date of publication for Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban has been announced! It will be published on 3 October 2017.

     

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    I love them, but can't quite justify the price.

     

    I now have the first two books. :) I was able to buy the first one for a ridiculously cheap price on a local book site (it turned out the price was an error, but they honoured the price for those who had purchased it). I received the second book from my Mum for Christmas, so I guess the rest of the books will be going on future Christmas wishlists too. :)

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