chesilbeach
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Posts posted by chesilbeach
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9 minutes ago, chaliepud said:
Also, I have a question for the grammarians out there...I am reading a non fiction book by a British man, he has twice in one page used a z rather than an s in realise which had annoyed me slightly, am I right to be annoyed?
The correct English spelling is with the z and if you search for realise in the OED, it will send you to the entry for realize. It’s a common misconception that the z is American and s is English.
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I've started off the new year with a bang, and finished two books this morning (I only had one chapter left in each to read, so it's not as impressive as it sounds).
21st-Century Yokel by Tom Cox is a mix of nature writing, walking, family memoir, self discovery, folklore and I don't think you can tie it down to a single category. Cox talks about walks from his home in Devon as well as walks in other places in England he's lived, particularly Norfolk, and those with his family in Northamptonshire. It's such a charming read, humorous and full of warmth as well as honesty, and with a sprinkling of magic with some of the tales of local folklore. I loved spending time with Tom in this book, and although I know he's now writing a novel, I hope there will be more books in this vein in the future.
At The Sign Of The Golden Pineapple by M. C. Beaton is a Regency romantic comedy, but as always, Beaton has a strong female character at the centre of the story. In this case, a heroine that is willing to give up her life as a gentlewoman, where she has a meagre sum of money to try and survive on in a small country town, and instead decides to go into trade and set up a confectioners business. Taking two friends (one widowed, the other the abused daughter of a country gentleman) and her companion, she moves to London and starts her business. The story is good fun, as I would always expect with Beaton, and I enjoyed it a lot.
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Happy new year!
Good luck with keeping that TBR down.
I'm looking forward to the Round Robin challenge too, and that might make a small dent in the TBR. 
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Happy new year, Noll!
Good luck with your reading this year, hopefully it'll be a good one for you. :)
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Nope, I definitely don't get restless either. In fact, it's the most restful time of the year as we spend time at home together and don't have work and stop work on jobs around the house, and the end of that means going back to work and then the house going back into chaos as the next job on the decorating/renovating starts working. The decorations stay up until at least I go back to work, if not to the traditional twelfth night.
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It's the last day of my holiday today, so back to the office tomorrow. I'm planning on a quiet reading day, and not much else!
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Wishing you a very happy new year, Michelle!
Hope you enjoy your reading in 2018.
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Happy new year, Karen!
Good luck with the Round Robin challenge ... I see you're starting with my choice. I'm planning to read all the books I choose for everyone else, so looking forward with interest to see how you like it.
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I'm definitely going to look up more Arnold Bennett, and Clayhanger and The Card look like two good starting points.
20 hours ago, willoyd said:I wonder if your TBR list is as big as mine (over 1400 now!).
No, thank goodness. It's around 70, but even that seems massive to me! I can't imagine having over 1400 books to read, I'd never know where to start. :D
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Happy new year, Alex!
Well done on the English Counties challenge ... only one book to go! I'm really looking forward to the Round Robin to replace it this year. I quite like having a challenge that others are doing at the same time, even if we're not all reading the same books.
Wishing you a very happy reading year in 2018.
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A mix of heavy rain showers then bright blue skies and sunshine, but not very warm
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I didn't have much reading time yesterday, but today is a different matter, and an early start this morning has seen me finish both 21st-Century Yokel by Tom Cox and also At The Sign Of The Golden Pineapple by M. C. Beaton. I'm also halfway through Sky Chasers by Emma Carroll and I've started Ma'am Darling by Craig Brown as my non-fiction, but this will be an at home read only, as it's a whopping great big hardback. It's fantastic so far though!
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Welcome 2018! Wishing you all a very happy new reading year.
What bookish activities are you starting the new year with?
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What are you up to today?
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10 minutes ago, Alexander the Great said:
The Quickening Maze review
I don't know. This book is beautifully written - but that's about where it ends.
The language is fluent and inviting, sucks you in and doesn't let you go. But there isn't much emotion in this book. We see the characters, but can't touch them, can't feel them. We stay too much on the surface for that. There also doesn't seem to be much of a point, much of a story. I don't mind a book not having much of a plot, but if the characters remain this superficial, not much is left. It's a shame, because this could have been a great book.
I don't regret reading it, and give it three stars for the language, but wouldn't recommend it.
I read this a few years ago, and remember loving it. I’ve just dug out my review and realised it was six years ago.
If you’re interested, here’s a link to it.
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Favourite read?
This is so difficult. I've actually filled out the answers to all the other questions before this one, but after deliberating it a bit longer, I've gone for The Good Immigrant edited by Nikesh Shukla, because it made me laugh, made me cry, made me angry but most importantly, made me think.Favourite author?
For this year only, I think I'd have to go with Katherine Mansfield this year, as I've read some of her short stories in two different books this year, and they blew me away. Admittedly, I'd have to put my all time favourite in a close second place, as I've read two Ali Smith books and saw her again in person, but I thought I'd make a break from tradition and pick someone else for a change.
Most read author?
For quite a few years in a row, it's been M. C. Beaton and this year was no exception. I've been reading my way through all her Regency and Edwardian romcoms, and I've done another batch this year. This will probably be my last year with her in this category though, as I only have four left to go.Favourite book cover?
This has to go to Storm In A Teacup by Helen Czerski, a book about everyday physics, but with an absolutely stunning hard cover.Book you abandoned (if there was more than one, the one you read least of)?
I don't think I've abandoned any books this year. I can't find any on my book list and I haven't come across any on the shelves either, but if I remember one, I'll add it in later!Book that most disappointed you?
Without doubt, it has to be Lincoln in the Bardo by George Sanders. I know lots of people who thought it was excellent and it did win the Man Booker Prize this year, but I found it a real chore to read. I didn't like the mixture of articles and speech, and the constant switching of voices between the various ghosts.Funniest book?
Probably Simply The Quest by Maz Evans. The second in a series of middle grade books about a young boy who is caring for a mother with dementia who comes into contact with the Greek Gods in modern day England, and was just brilliant. The author has written it with adults as well as children in mind, because as a parent she always wants to enjoy the books she reads with her children, and there are some fantastic jokes for all in here. My favourite was a restaurant critic called R. A. C. Bill (as opposed to the real life critic A. A. Gill).Favourite literary character?
I rarely choose a male character as I usually identify more with female characters, but this year, I'm actually going to go with Eamonn from Home Fire by Kamila Shamsie. The book is a modern retelling of the Greek play Antigone by Sophocles, but I thought in Home Fire, Eamonn was my favourite character in the book.Favourite children's book?
I've read a lot of middle grade this year, but my favourite was definitely Letters From The Lighthouse by Emma Carroll. A second world war evacuee story that was just wonderful.Favourite classic?
I've re-read a few this year, but I'm going to pick one of the books I read for the first time this year, and I think I'll go for David Copperfield by Charles Dickens. I'm being a bit choosy about which Dickens I read, but this was an audiobook narrated by Richard Armitage that I thought sounded good, and I wasn't disappointed.Favourite non-fiction book?
Unsurprisingly, this year I've chosen one from the Wainwright Prize, and it's The Running Hare by John Lewis-Stempel. I loved, loved, loved it. The perfect mix of agriculture, nature, history and literature, I thought it was a fantastic book.Favourite biography?
I've haven't read any biographies this year, but I have read some memoirs, so I'mg going to pick one of those instead. I've gone for My Family and Other Animals by Gerald Durrell. I can't believe I've never read this before! Completely charming and evocative of the period, it was a joy of a book to read.Favourite collection of short stories?.
The Montana Stories by Katherine Mansfield. I actually read a few collections this year, but the Katherine Mansfield book stood out for me. I read one of her stores in another collection, and then found this Persephone collection and was blown away. I can't believe I haven't read her before, and I will definitely be reading more in the future.Favourite poetry collection?
I haven't read any this year, although I have bought one (unusually for me), so maybe there'll be one o the list next year!Favourite illustrated book?
This would be The Story of Antigone written by Ali Smith and illustrated by Laura Paoletti. A retelling of Antigone aimed at younger readers. I bought it after seeing Smith giving a talk with Kamila Shamsie who wrote Home Fire which I mentioned above, and Smith's book was a great version of the classic play.Favourite publisher?
In a break from tradition, I'm calling it a tie between my beloved Persephone and the children's publisher Chicken House who have published some truly fantastic books this year.Favourite audiobook?
I'm going with Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë purely because of the fabulous narration of Thandie Newton. Loved it.Favourite re-read?
Over the last week or so, I've just re-read The Dark Is Rising by Susan Cooper as part of a Twitter read-a-long, and I have to say, reading it on the actual days the story is set was a brilliant idea. It adds so much to the atmosphere of the reading and made for a perfect Christmas read. -
It's that time of year when we start to hear about all the new books coming out next year, so here's a few round-ups:
The Guardian Best Fiction for 2018
The Observer Non-Fiction to look out for in 2018
The Irish Times Books to look out for in 2018
The Seattle Times Books to look forward to in 2018
The Sydney Morning Herald A selection of the big books on the shelves next year
There are an awful lot of authors I've read and enjoyed on these lists, and with new debut authors being published all the time, I think 2018 might be a very good book year!
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I read another chapter of 21st-Century Yokel yesterday, so one more to go. I'm halfway through Sky Chasers and loving it (a historical re-imagining of the first balloon flight by the Montgolfier brothers in the 18th century, written for children). Not sure how much time I'll have for reading today, so these might teeter over into 2018.
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Hi Mona, nice to see you back again. Hope you have a better reading year in 2018, and we see you here more often.
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Happy new reading year, frankie! Wishing you a year of good books in 2018.
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Hi @frankie, I'd like to challenge you to Miss Hargreaves by Frank Baker. I haven't seen this one before but I like old books being republished and this one sounds like a good read.
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18 hours ago, karen.d said:
Chesilbeach I challenge you to Winter by Ali Smith and Willoyd I challenge you to read 'I am Pilgrim', that's if you haven't been challenged already!
Thanks Karen! I only read Autumn a few weeks ago, but Ali Smith is one of my favourite authors, so I'm looking forward to following it with Winter shortly.
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Thanks Janet. I don't know why I decided to get so organised this year, I think it's just because seeing the TBR books in one long list looked really daunting as it's grown a lot over the last few months. I wanted to be able to easily pick out different types of books so that I can find something I feel like reading at that moment rather than missing something in the list and ending up buying another new one!
I'm also more focused on individual authors at the moment. I think it's probably to do with listening to Backlisted (I know, I keep mentioning it
) where they look at the work of one author in a bit more depth while focusing on one of their lesser known works.
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I'm at 155 at the moment, but with the rest of today to go, I'm close to finishing another two, possibly three, books I've still got on the go.
Claire's Book List 2018
in Past Book Logs
Posted
Have had a lovely afternoon in front of the fire, and have finished Sky Chasers by Emma Carroll. A fictionalised account of the first human flight in a hot air balloon by the Montgolfier brothers, using a young orphan and the son of one of the brothers to drive the story, written for a middle grade audience. Interestingly, the book is based on a the winning entry of a story idea competition held by the Chicken House publishers, who then commission Emma Carroll to write the book.
I thought it was an exciting and fun way to tell the story of the first human powered flight, and the main character, Magpie, was a brave but vulnerable heroine. It also gave a platform to show the attitudes to girls and women with regards to education. I really enjoyed it.