bobblybear

Just noticed The Cuckoo's Calling by Robert Galbraith is only £0.99 on Kindle.

The Slap is getting on my nerves now. I'm finding it so offensive, in so many different way. I'm hoping it's for the author to make some kind of point, and that's the only reason I'm sticking with it.

I'm only up to the third chapter. It's ok, but one I'm glad I have borrowed rather than bought. It has many mixed reviews and I can see how it has divided people because of the content. It's the sort of thing everyone has an opinion on. Sorry you are not enjoying Dracula as much as you'd hoped. Hopefully your next read will be better.

Great review! I've added it to my wishlist as I have heard many things about it lately. Must be good if it made you forget your bag. Lucky you got off at the right station!

I think the reason I don't enjoy them, is because I don't find them easy and I feel a bit self-conscious when I'm writing them. I just can't get my words to flow, and sometimes I can spend about a week trying to make a review sound informative. It's very daunting when they pile up, and I start to feel quite stressed about it (which is probably a bit silly ).

Well, I liked the first section of it, and at least it's off my TBR pile, so not a total loss.

The Final Winter: An Apocalyptic Horror Novel - Iain Rob Wright Set on the night of a massive snowstorm (about 19 inches fall overnight), the story follows a group of people trapped together by the snow in a pub in England. Soon, their mobiles and landlines begin to lose power, the temperature drops even further, and a few of them begin to see hallucinations. When a group of them go outside to see if they can make their way to safety, they come across something that makes them realise that things are a bit more sinister than a simple snowstorm. I was a bit disappointed by this, as I thought it be a straight end-of-the-word story, similar to The Day After Tomorrow (which, funnily, is actually referenced in the book). Instead, it was a supernatural horror story, which wasn't what I was expecting or hoping to read. A lot of it didn't ring true, in the actions and dialogue of the characters. It's one of those books where everyone manages to make witty asides to their friends, even while their other friends are being butchered in horrific ways in front of them. That kind of thing annoys me in books; if horrific things are happening, then most people would have a shock-induced response. Also, in a couple of parts of the book, the characters went off on rants about foreigners and people on benefits. To me, it didn't fit in with the character and felt like it was the author pushing his view point. Those criticisms aside, it was a quick and easy read, but also ultimately forgettable. 2/6

A Monster Calls - Patrick Ness Conor is a thirteen year old boy whose mother is dying of cancer. He begins having dreams in which the yew tree in the neighbouring churchyard comes to life. The yew tree breaks into his bedroom and tells him a series of stories over several nights, and in return Conor must confess the truth – his real nightmare - which he cannot admit to anyone, even himself. The stories the yew tree tells are moral fables of sorts. Each tale shows the contradictions inherent in humans, and the central message in the book is that it doesn’t matter what you think, as the human mind constantly contradicts itself. It’s only what you do that counts. I thought this was an interesting point....it's basically saying to not feel too much guilt over your thoughts as your mind changes many, many times and often finds a way to try to punish you for thinking these thoughts. While I liked it, I don’t think it had a massive emotional impact on me like it had on some others, but I’m not sure why. Maybe because I was steeling myself to it, as I’d heard a lot about it. I found it quite sad, but it didn't have me in a heap like some other books have done. It’s a slim book. My version says 240 pages, but I read it in a day or so, so it felt like it was shorter. There is an illustrated version (mine wasn't), which is spoken quite highly of as well, so if you really enjoyed it, it might be worth keeping an eye out for that version. 3/6

The Fifth Element is on in the background.

Dune - Frank Herbert Set many thousands of years into the future, the planets/colonies are ruled by families, who are in turn all ruled by the Emperor. Two of the main families in this story - the Atreides and Harkonnen - have been at odds for a long time. The ruling Emperor grants the House of Atreides control of the planet Arrakis to begin mining for melange, a rare and valuable ‘spice’. However it is suspected that this move is a trap. The Atreides move to Arrakis, and make plans to protect their planet and their newly-won 'spice' mining capabilites. However, a betrayal by one of their own, leads to the group being split and ultimately being pushed out into the dangerous desert of Arrakis. I found Dune to be very complex, and I know I struggle with complexity when it is coupled with a completely different world/time/environment. There were some sections of the book I really enjoyed (mostly about the Atriedis family, and then later on about the Fremen), and others that I was bored by (the Harkonnen - I just wasn't interested in them). I struggled a bit with definitions in the beginning and only realised too late that there is a glossary at the back on the book, which would have helped much earlier on. The detail in the book is quite overwhelming, and you most definitely need to be 100% focused while reading it. It's not a book where sections can be skim-read, and I think that's where I struggled. The parts that didn't interest me, made me want to skim through them, but in doing so I knew I'd get lost later on, so I had to pay attention, even in areas I didn't want to. (Sounds like I didn't enjoy it at all, but I did, honest! It's just that only one of the storylines really interested me). It had some large jumps in time that I found distracting, and my mind did wander on occasion while I was reading. Even writing this, I’ve had to read the Wiki entry to refresh my memory. It's the kind of book that would benefit with a re-read, but to be honest I don't know if I'd have the energy. 2.5/6

She must have written it fairly quickly, as The Thoughts and Happenings..... was only published in 2012. I wonder if it was originally meant to be one volume, and then she (or the publisher) decided to make it into two.

I am enjoying it a lot. Much, much better than I was expecting it to be, based on what I thought about it the first time I read it. I think I was probably in my mid-teens when I read it, and so couldn't fully grasp the real horror of it. On reviews, I have a Word document with notes about all the books I need to review, but it's somehow putting them in review format that I struggle with. Borrowed my first book from the Kindle Owner's Lending Library: The Slap by Christos Tsiolkas. I've been meaning to read this for a while (but somehow forgot all about it), so I'm glad to get it for free.

I like your idea of heaven. I read The Five People You Meet In Heaven many years ago. I don't recall the details, but I remember being a bit disappointed with it. I had high hopes, due to the many positive reviews it has received.

Nice review. I have added it to my wishlist, even though I plan on reading all of Jodi Picoult's books eventually. I've yet to read one I didn't like.

Thanks Athena. It's quite different from the film....I think I prefer the book, but then again I usually do.

Spent ages reading Pet Sematary. At this pace I will finish it tonight. I really want to catch up on my reviews (5 behind ), but reading is more fun than writing them.

I'm six reviews behind, and it's a bit of a struggle to catch up. The Shining - Stephen King Jack Torrance is a recovering alcoholic with a bad temperment. After losing his job as a high school teacher (due to assaulting a student), he successfully applies for the job of caretaker at the Overlook Hotel in Colorado during it’s winter shutdown. He is vaguely aware of it's colourful history, and feels it would be the ideal place to work on his writing, as well as repair his fragile marriage and re-bond with his five year old son, Danny. Danny has what is later referred to as 'the shining' - a psychic ability - which enables him to see and feel the gruesome history of the hotel, and the increasing grip it has on his father. Soon after the arrival of winter, they become snowed in, and the hotel's supernatural influence begins to overpower Jack, and threaten to destroy Wendy and Danny. This was a re-read for me. (I’m in a Stephen King kind of mood recently and I’m re-reading Pet Sematary at the moment). The Shining was much scarier than I remembered, or maybe I was too young to understand it enough to be scared by it. There are some genuinely creepy sections - mostly around the hedge animals, and room 217. My interest waned slightly towards the end, as some parts seemed to drag out for a bit too long. At 450 odd pages, it's not exactly a short novel, but it didn't take me too long to read it, as it's a pretty easy read. The only thing that didn't really ring true was Danny; his thoughts and behaviour were far older than a 5 year old. Even though this is obliquely referred to in the novel, it still didn't ring true, and I found it a bit distracting. I shall get to the sequel, Doctor Sleep, some time this year, and hopefully it will be just as good as this one (if reviews are anything to go by, I have little to worry about). 4/6

Great review. I admit to not knowing a great detail about Darwin, except for his contribution to evolutionary theory. I have The Origin of Species on my Kindle, but a biography of his life sounds like a better place to start. I've also looked up This Thing of Darkness, which looks like a great read. I've added both to my wishlist.

Thanks Marie. I had no idea there was a sequel, so I'm glad that you mentioned it. It didn't even occur to me to look for one. I've just read the blurb on Amazon, and like you say, it follows both Wilfred and Grace, so hopefully it ties up some loose ends. I will definitely be reading it, as the main thing I didn't enjoy was the open-endedness of the first book.

Thanks, Athena!

Dark Lord: The Teenage Years - Jamie Thomson (unfinished) This is another case of me buying a book which received rave reviews, instead of actually considering whether I would like the story. I think I managed about 50% of it, before having to give up. I could have finished it, because it wasn’t that I hated it or anything. It just didn’t interest me, and was a bit immature for my tastes. Basically, the Dark Lord is transported into the form of a teenage boy, and finds himself unconscious in a supermarket parking lot. Put into a foster home, he then has to deal with teenage issues such as fitting in at school, and trying to convince his very few friends really who he is and how to get him back where he belongs. This won the 2012 Roald Dahl Funny Prize. Don’t know if that’s much of an accolade, but I don’t recall laughing much. However, more people like it than dislike it, but they seem to be mostly young children (early teens and a bit younger). 1/6

The Thoughts and Happenings of Wilfred Price, Purveyor of Superior Funerals - Wendy Jones Wilfred Price is a young aspiring funeral director, who out on a picnic one day with a close childhood friend gets overwhelmed by her yellow dress and decides to propose marriage. Grace accepts his proposal, but shortly after, Wilfred realises it was an impulsive mistake and then has to extricate himself without offending all those concerned, which by now include Grace's parents as well as many people in the town. This is further complicated by Wilfred meeting someone else – Flora - who he really does feel a strong connection with, and wants to begin a relationship with. It started off with gentle humour, and I was quite amused by Wilfred in his situation and thought the book would be a comedy of sorts. In a way, it was quite comedic - I particularly enjoyed the advice given to Wilfred by his mentor, about what things must not be done in front of a corpse. However, soon the story took a big dark twist, which really surprised me and changed the tone of the book. I did feel a bit short changed at the end of the book because I thought Grace’s story was far more interesting and deserved more time than it was given. It was a very odd twist and I still can't quite understand the reason for it. It changed it from a light and fluffy book, to something much more serious and heavy. Coming in at just under 300 pages, it was reasonably quick and easy to read. I did enjoy it aside from what what I said above, that I would have liked to hear more about Grace's story. 4/6

We never ended up buying a hot drinks machine. We got a bit bamboozled by all the choices, and in the end gave up.

Hi there, and welcome to the forum. Mr. Penumbra's 24-hour Bookstore is on my wishlist.

I'm another one who loved Gone With The Wind. I was hesitant to read it because I thought it would just be a silly love story, but it's not that at all.