chesilbeach

I finished The Giraffe's Neck last night, but still not much wiser by the end of it. Decided to try Lost on Mars by Paul Magrs next. I love the other books of his I've read, but this is very different so far. I've loved the humour in his other books, but this is the first YA book of his I've read, and it's just straight science fiction and I'm not enjoying it as much as I'd hoped. That said, I'm interested enough to keep going for now, but it needs to pick up a bit soon if I'm to finish.

Excellent! I'm really looking forward to this

Sounds good to me too! I wanted to try and match the end chapters of whatever we read with the original instalments, as they're written with cliffhangers or open endings so as to make you want to buy and read the next one, so as long as we match with that, I'm happy. When would you all be happy to start … I was thinking of starting at the end of next week, so we could say have read the first week by the end of Sunday 25th October? Gives me plenty of time to get a copy of the book and finish up some other books I wanted to read first, and still have time to read the first chapters. If you haven't taken part in a group read before, what we do is all read the chapters together, and then after the end date for that instalment, we then discuss the chapters we've read. We tend to discuss the plot and characters openly, which is why we wait until the end date before posting anything about what we're reading in that week … hope that makes sense!

I've got about 20 pages left in The Giraffe's Neck so hoping to finish tonight, even though I haven't really grasped what it's meant to be about, if I'm honest, and I haven't really enjoyed it! I read the fifth book of the Rivers of London series last weekend … I think they get better as the series goes on, so I envy you having the other books ahead of you!

Hope you're ok, Virgina. Here, the weather's turning, and a typical British day, a bit of rain and a bit chilly, but nothing to write home about!

Hope you're feeling a bit better today, Noll First day back at work, and it actually wasn't too bad. Lots to catch up on and the day whooshed by so before I knew it, it was time to go home!

We had a bit of a discussion earlier in the year about maybe reading A Tale of Two Cities as a group read which Janet reminded me of at the weekend. I was thinking we could start in a couple of weeks, and would break it up into weekly/fortnightly instalments to read. Ideally, we would read it in the same instalments as it was published, but I'm struggling to find anywhere that lists which chapters were published each week, so unless anyone else can find details from somewhere, we'll split up the chapters another way. Would anyone be interested in taking part?

I'm still reading The Giraffe's Neck by Judith Schalansky, but I'm not getting the humour despite the quote on the front that says "Remarkable is too small a word. It is very funny, desperately sad and real, and ultimately shocking". If I'm honest, I'm finding it a bit of a drudge at the moment, but it's only just over 200 pages, and I'm already 120 in, so I think I'll see it through to the end.

I finished Foxglove Summer this morning, so that was another 24 pages, plus I've started Giraffe Neck by Judith Schalansky and translated from the original German by Shaun Whiteside, and have read 47 pages of that.

I hadn't really come up with any options yet, but you've reminded me about the Dickens now - we were going to do A Tale of Two Cities, weren't we? If you want to do that one instead, I'll set up a thread in the main Group Reads board and see if anyone else wants to join in.

I read another 206 pages yesterday, so that was 253 pages in total of Foxglove Summer yesterday, and I have just one chapter left to read in that. Not sure what I'll read after that yet.

It's definitely taken a turn towards autumn today … a bit chilly and foggy this morning and been cloudy and cooler all day.

Anyone fancy another group read for the challenge? I've got quite a few on my Kindle now, and my TBR is waning now, so I was thinking of attacking the challenge again soon, and wondered if anyone else fancied joining me, perhaps starting in a couple of weeks time?

Halfway through Foxglove Summer now, and it's fantastic. Why have I waited so long to read it??? Although the next book, The Hanging Tree, isn't out until next June, so it's a long wait for the next instalment anyway.

Managed to squeeze in a bit more reading time yesterday, so in total I read exactly 100 pages of Foxglove Summer, plus another 47 pages so far this morning. Off to find somewhere with coffee for another session now.

The good thing is, you can live with it for a while and if you find you need a different organisation system, you can start all over again! I have to say, I like to keep my TBR books separately, just so I know where there are, but then we've got books everywhere not just in one bookcase, so it's sort of a necessity really.

Hello! Welcome to BCF Looking forward to reading your book blog

I started Foxglove Summer by Ben Aaronovitch this morning. I'm already loving it, after just two chapters!

I might be able to join in tomorrow and Sunday. I've been travelling this morning and then catching up with things at home, but should be free as a bird for the rest of the weekend. I did start Foxglove Summer this morning and have read two chapters, so that will be my first book to concentrate on.

Fantastic results on your book buying, Kylie! You should be very pleased with your efforts, and deserve a big pat on the back.

If I get into a slump, I sometimes go back and re-read something I know I'll enjoy and am familiar with. Perhaps you could try re-reading a favourite book?

Hope you're feeling better now chaliepud. The last weekend of my holiday before back to work on Monday, so hoping to make the most of it and relax!

We've had a lovely week of blue skies and sunshine, but not too hot. Considering it's October, it's another gorgeous day, although a little cooler, but very pleasant nonetheless.

You have better will power than me … I've just finished book 5! I didn't know there were short stories until I was reading book 4, so I thought I might as well finish all six books and then go back to the short stories afterwards. Just off to download the last book now.

I enjoyed reading your review of How To Be Both, Janet, and glad you stuck with it. I hope my book group might read it at some point, as I'd love to read it again and discuss it with them. We've never read an Ali Smith book there, but I bet it'd make for a great discussion!