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Jessi

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  1. I did : ) I have something to start with now – anything better than 146 is a win : )

     

    The Sign of Four – Arthur Conan Doyle (4/5)

     

    Once more I loved my Sherlock fix. Doyle weaves the same brilliant web as he did in A Study of Scarlet, giving us a little information here and there, before bringing us to a tight and satisfying conclusion. The mixture of great characters, past intrigue and supreme logical makes for a great read. I have gone pretty much straight on to The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes!

  2. February Read-A-Thon

     

    Friday: 11 pages of War and Peace - 36 pages of Out of the Hitler Time

     

    Saturday6 pages of War and Peace - 37 pages of The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes -17 pages of Out of The Hitler Time

     

    Sunday: 15 pages of Out of The Hitler Time - 24 pages of The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes

     

    Total: 146 pages!

     

    So these are my stats for my first Read-a-thon. I must admit, I had hoped to do a little better, but considering I worked one day, visited a relative another and a friend the third, I can't complain! I will add up tonight, but I am still really glad I took part. If I hadn't I wouldn't have got this much under my belt with all the running around. I also got to the end of the 1950s housewife on my kindle (not sure how many pages!) so there is that too : )

  3. Friday: ........30 pages of How To Look for a Lost Dog by Ann M. Martin

     

    Saturday: ....52 pages of How To Look for a Lost Dog by Ann M. Martin (finishing the novel) 

    ....................181 pages of Christmas on Nantucket by Elin Hilderbrand

     

    Sunday:........76 pages of Christmas on Nantucket by Elin Hilderbrand (finishing the novel) 

     

     

    Well done everyone on your totals.  :)

     

    Here are mine for the weekend.

     

    Friday

    The Blue Lagoon by Henry De Vere Stacpoole - Chapters ? to end - 150 pages (I wrote down the number of pages on Friday but not where I started - I started the book on Thursday)

    Meadowland by John Lewis-Stempel - January and February (it's in months instead of chapters) - 35 pages

    The Rabbit Factory by Marshall Karp - Chapters 1 to 23 - 135 pages

     

    Total - 320 pages

     

    Saturday

    The Rabbit Factory by Marshall Karp  - Chapters 24 to 115 (end) – 497 pages

     

    Total 497 pages

     

    Sunday

    Hard Times by Charles Dickens – Book 1, Chapters 1 to 16 and Book 2, Chapters 1 and 2 – 118 pages

     

    Total – 118 pages

     

    Grand total Friday to Sunday = 935 pages

     

    I am *so* chuffed with this! :D I think I’ll find it impossible to emulate because I’ve been poorly, and therefore have been stuck indoors where I would usually be out and about.  I am feeling slightly better today and did some household chores, hence my smaller total today.

     

    That's good going guys! How did you enjoy Hard Times, Janet? Hope you carrying on feeling better!

  4. My progress for yesterday:

     

    Saturday 06-02-2016

    20 mins, 128 pages, Geronimo Stilton - Geronimo Stilton 34: Ik Ben Geen Supermuis! (Non Sono un Supertopo!)

    30 mins, 160 pages, Geronimo Stilton - Geronimo Stilton 65: Een Magische Kerst (La Magica Notte degli Elfi)

    45 mins, 224 pages, Geronimo Stilton - De Avonturen van Tom Sawyer (Le Aventure di Tom Sawyer)

    1h 25 mins, 384 pages, Geronimo Stilton - Reis door de Tijd 5 (Viaggio nel Tempo 5)

    1h 5 mins, 384 pages, Geronimo Stilton - Fantasia III (Terzo Viaggio nel Regno della Fantasia)

    Total: 4h 5 mins, 1280 pages

     

    I didn't read as long as I thought I did. I could have read more time-wise, but I was too tired :(. Still, I got through most of the books I had planned for today (there is one leftover, I will read it today instead, though it probably does mean I won't be able to read all the books I planned to read today). I did enjoy myself though, while I was feeling okay enough to read.

     

    Hope you're feeling better today! That is some good going, Athena!

  5. Thanks, Athena! I just could not remember/work out how to do that this morning lol!

     

    They are great, aren't they? I got them at the end of studying, hoping they'd make history fun again and they did!  :) Yeah, I bed they are great read-a-thon books! I am hoping to take part for the first time this weekend - I can't decided whether to try and read one big book or a few smaller ones! I like your tactic though - it must make the transitioning between the books much easier! He he, I am glad it is not just me either :) I almost think they are more fun to read as an adult!!! It was a particularly gruesome one - I don't think I will re-read it any time soon, despite giving it a good score! 

  6. Barmy British Army - Terry Deary (4/5)

     

    I am not going to lie. In spite of being in my mid twenties now, I do still love a good Horrible History! I just think they are a great way into history for kids, give them loads of information while never understating the seriousness of the topic which some of them cover and yet still find the way to, at times, be genuinely funny. 

    This book on the British Empire was no exception. It covered the rise of the British Empire to the later Victorian years and highlighted the slavery and the terrible cost at which it came. The cruelty on which the empire was built was the resounding message of the book (rightfully so) to the extent I actually skipped a few pages (about hunting)  at one point as I just knew I did not want to know. That makes me somewhat of a coward I know but this book turned my stomach a couple of times - which means it did its job. It was really engaging and I feel like I learnt something from it.

    I still have 7 Horrible Histories to read this year I think - I am looking forward to them (and hoping they will not be quite so horrible as this one)!

  7. SPOILERS FOR NORTH AND SOUTH AHEAD...

     

     

    "How shall I ever tell Aunt Shaw?" she whispered, after some time of delicious silence.

    "Let me speak to her."

    "Oh, no! I owe to her, — but what will she say?"

    "I can guess. Her first exclamation will be, 'That man!' "

    "Hush!" said Margaret, "or I shall try and show you your mother's indignant tones as she says, 'That woman!' "

     

    Oh I loved, loved, loved the ending :) I must admit part of me was waiting for the train station scene from the BBC miniseries, but this was just beautiful...

  8. January  :coolsnow: 

    (I saw a couple of others had done a monthly summary - what a great idea! I wanted to play, so here is mine...)

     

    TBR January 1st: 303

    Read: 10
    Brought: 

    Best books: The Three Musketeers - Alexandre Dumas and The Invisible Woman - Claire Tomalin
    TBR February 1st: 298 

     

    So I haven't done too bad looking at my goals. The main thing is my TBR pile has gone down and, for the most part, stayed down. Of the five books I brought in January, I have begun 2 and I don't feel too bad as I was waiting for The Romanovs and Doctor Turners Casebook since I found out they were being published. I woke up Thursday, knowing I could finally get them, like a kid at Christmas lol! As long as I keep going like this I could have 250 books on my pile at the end of the year - not great, but considerably better than right now lol! That said, I should not count my chickens yet - looking back over the past few years, January is a good reading month for me. Its keeping the momento going through the second half of the year I struggle with! 

    I do need to pick up the pace with reviewing my books though! 

  9. The Invisible Woman - Claire Tomalin (4.5/5)

     

    This may very well be my favorite book of the year so far. I can only thoroughly recommend it.

     

    The first reason for this is just the fact Tomalin is such a wonderful writer. She really knows how to tell a story – and she does so beautifully. She brought a woman who could have so easily disappeared from history all together back into view in a fascinating way – and she comes back as so much more than Charles Dickens’ mistress. Nelly jumped off the page, at no mistake, as did her entire family. The way Tomalin builds the Ternan’s world was brilliant, fascinating and at times heartbreaking.

     

    The second reason – and as a past history student, I really appreciated this - is that Tomalin makes it crystal clear what is fact and what she has had to piece together from the fragments of evidence she has. Being upfront and honest – ‘this what I am speculating’ – really lets us consider what she is saying and draw our own conclusions and allows us to trust her judgment. What she states was just so plausible and well argued – and well researched.

     

    Needless to say I plan to read more of her work!

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