bobblybear
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Posts posted by bobblybear
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Great review! What did you think of the ending? I thought it ended kind of as expected....couldn't have ended any other way really. I enjoyed it, but I was so glad when it was over.
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I'm about 100 pages into Prodigal Summer and it's picked up a bit after a shaky start.
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I have Ready Player One in the stacks somewhere.....I was anxious to read it, but somehow it slipped away from me. I must locate it.
I want to read it as well. I keep looking at it in Amazon but just can't make up my mind.
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I went to the library after work today to borrow This Must Be The Place by Maggie O'Farrell. It's her most recent book, only released this month, so I was chuffed to be able to borrow it. I also borrowed Chocolate Wars by Deborah Cadbury, which is about Kraft's takeover of Cadbury's.
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So far loving Electric Sheep, not finding overly complex. Never seen Blade Runner! If you have any recommendations for PKD books you think are particularly good, they'd be warmly welcomed! Must dig out his bibliography on Goodreads and make a list.
I'm probably not the best one to make recommendations for his books because I find them quite daunting.
But, I did enjoy The Penultimate Truth which I read very recently. I have about 4 of his books on my shelf, which took me by surprise. For some reason, I thought the only one I had was Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?I'm reading two books at the moment. After Dark by Haruki Murakami. It's going well, pretty short so I may finish it tonight. And Being Mortal: Illness, Medicine and What Happens in the End by Atul Gawande. It's basically about growing old, and I have to say I'm finding it depressing and scary.
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Thanks.
I just have to make sure I keep on top of them now! -
Grey and dull. Just ready for Monday after a week off.
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Omigosh, I'm nearly all caught up with reviews.
I just have one left to write - Columbine by Dave Cullen - which I'm still thinking about. I haven't been this up to date in ages. 
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The Doll Maker - Richard Montanari
Richard Montanari writes serial killer thrillers set in Philadelphia, featuring Jess Balzano and Kevin Byrne as his key detectives. I thought I had read all of the 'Byrne and Balzano' series, but I'm surprised to find there are 9 in total and I think I have only read 4.
It looks as though my library has most of the series in the catalogue but a lot of them are out on loan which explains why I haven't seen them on the shelf.
Anyway, back to the book.....
A teenage girls body is found posed on a bench outside a disused train station. Beside her is an envelope with an invitation to tea in seven days. Seven days later, the body of two young boys are found, with again another invitation to tea.
So begins the latest mystery to haunt Philadelphia.
This is an overpopulated genre, and I know that these books are always a reliable and satisfying read. They are never over-complicated with too many plot twists, and they still deliver a solid and decent thriller.
Recommended, along with the others (well, the ones I have read) in the series.
4/6
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Coldbrook - Tim Lebbon
This was an extremely fast paced end-of-the-world book with a bit of a twist.
After more than a decade of failed attempts, Jonah Jones has finally opened a 'breach' between Earth and it's parallel dimensions. This all takes place deep underground in a secret government laboratory called Coldbrook. When the breach is opened, scientists simply observe creatures/insects from the other side. When these creatures pass the breach, they are killed (by getting an electromagnetic shock which ends their life without destroying the tissues). Soon though, a bipedal creature passes through the breach into our world, and the you-know-what hits the fan.
I enjoyed it. If you are in the mood for a fun, not-too-serious action filled read then this is for you. It's a hefty book – the paperback is over 600 pages – but reads quickly, and it only took me a couple of days to read it.
It dragged a little bit towards the end, and some parts could have been trimmed to keep everything moving at the earlier pace, but overall it was a fun read. I don't think I enjoyed it as much as The Silence - which seemed a bit 'leaner and meaner', but I'm still glad I read it.
4/6
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Yeah, it's lucky to get that many.
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Sleeping Giants - Sylvain Neuvel
Twenty years ago, an eleven year old Rose Franklin came off her bicycle in the woodland and was knocked unconscious. An hour or so later, she wakes up surrounded by emergency workers all staring down at her. It turns out she had fallen and landed on top of a massive sculpture of a human hand.
Rose is now a scientist, and in charge of the project to seek out more of these giant pieces of anatomy, and to determine who put them there and why.
I wanted to like this book, as the premise sounded interesting, but I struggled with it a lot. Mostly, it was the format that didn't agree with me. The story is told solely through a series of interviews which are conducted by a nameless and unidentified government official. This format meant that we don't ever get to go into enough detail about the characters or the project. The format also fails in it's attempts to build a story about the romantic lives on the characters, and this part comes across very poorly. It just didn't work for me, and the result was a very weak and amateurish story.
World War Z was told in a similar fashion and that worked a lot better, even though I didn't actually like that book. But I remember it being very detailed and looking at the zombie outbreak from various perspectives, whereas this one falls flat.
Not recommended.
2/6
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I hope you both enjoy it, if you get around to reading it.
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I've started Orange Is The New Black. I've only watched 2 episodes but I like it so far.
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Blade Runner. Not as complicated as I remember it, but very dark (visually) which I don't enjoy.
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Creedence Clearwater Revival - Walk on the Water
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The Penultimate Truth - Philip K Dick
In this book, the majority of the worlds population have been forced to live underground in vast 'ant-tanks', with the belief that WWIII is raging overhead, and has been for the last 15 years. However, this is not the case. The war ended after less than 3 years, but the myth was perpetuated (and continues to be communicated via fake videos) to keep the earth's surface for the elite. Those living underground are forced to build their quota of robots ('leadies'), which they are told are fighting the war on the surface. In fact, the 'leadies' are servants and workers for the above-ground elite.
It's a fairly short read at just under 200 pages. As is typical with Dick he throws you right in the story with no overt description of some of the words he is using. Most of them are obvious and easy to figure out but some you have to pause to work out what he means. It has the effect (on me at least
) of throwing you out of the story as you try to understand what he means. This wouldn't be a problem in a longer book, but because the book is so short, you are having to decipher too many things before you can lose yourself in the flow of the story.I find his stories hit and miss, but on the whole I enjoyed it. I wish the ending was a bit clearer, but that could just be me missing the subtleties.
4/6
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The Road to Little Dribbling - Bill Bryson
Twenty years ago Bill Bryson wrote Notes From A Small Island, about his first impressions of England when he visited here in his twenties.
Now, he revisits his journey, albeit via a different route. He draws a line between Bognor Regis and Cape Wrath (which he dubs The Bryson Line), and uses that as his guide although I think he seems to be wandering all over the place.
I thoroughly enjoyed it, more so than Notes From A Small Island. But then again I enjoy virtually everything he writes. He has just the right amount of humour, coupled with a genuine interest in people, places, and history and it all balances out into a informative read. It's clear that he loves the English countryside and going for long exploratory walks; he is very passionate about the environment and has a real hatred of littering, and this comes through in his writing. He has definitely done his research on the areas and backgrounds of places he visited.
I've read some reviews of this book online, and he has been criticised of being a bit of a grumpy so-and-so, but in many cases I think he is justified, and I didn't find it dampened my enjoyment of the book. In fact it is often quite amusing when he goes off on one.
It's quite a big book, but surprisingly it's not as long as it looks and it only took me a few days to finish it. Recommended.
4/6
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I'm so close to finishing The Doll Maker. I was reading in bed for ages last night, and I'm up to a really good bit but I was so tired, and ended up going to sleep.
Next up is either After Dark by Haruki Murakami or Prodigal Summer by Barbara Kingsolver. Not sure which one yet.
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Station Eleven was one of my favourite reads of last year.
I think Bird Box is on my wishlist, as I recognise the title. I need to read Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children at some point. I'm not a massive fan of YA, which is why I have hesitated, but I'm sure I will read it at some point.
Shame you didn't like Me Before You. I loved it, even though it's not normally a genre I read.
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There's another one her books at my local library, but I can't remember the name of it. I've picked it up and read the back of it, but put it back on the shelf because it didn't appeal to me.
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Sorry, I've had to kill some emoticons!
Oh dear - I loved "Curious" but wasn't impressed with "A Spot of Bother". I was hoping that was just a case of second book blues, but it doesn't sound like it.
Yeah, I won't rush out to read his other books, but if I see them at the library I may give it a try. With The Red House, I think he was trying to hard to be creative and clever, and it just didn't work.
Some great reviews, BB.
. Glad to hear the Rowling is good, sorry about Pettigrew! I have both in the stack, so will get to them....sometime. /sigh/
I might have judged Major Pettigrew's Last Stand a bit on the harsh side, but it just didn't grab me like I hoped it would. I know others have raved about it, so different strokes for different folks and all that. A lot of people were lukewarm about the Rowling, but I definitely loved that one!
Yay, you've been keeping busy, loads of reviews to read!
Yeah, I'm finally catching up. I still have 4 reviews to write, but at least I'm not as far behind as I was!
I'm so psyched! Wohoo for liking the book so much! I don't dare to say a bad word about your friend... I'll just say I'm sure s/he has a marvelous taste in books but I'm so glad you didn't trust his/her judgment on this book series!! And again, so happy that you're going to the library and that you were able to read the first book for free to see if it was for you or not. Libraries rule!!
Yah - I love libraries! My local ones have certainly served me well this year.
Yeah, my friend loves serial killer thriller books, but just wasn't taken with Dexter (though she enjoyed the TV series).
The other books in the series have nothing to do with the TV series: they have very different storylines altogether. Only the first one was the same as in the TV series, but even that had a very different ending as you now know. So you'll be in for many new Dexter stories! I've loved all the books I've read so far (5), apart from the third book which I didn't like as much. But the others have been really great, and the fifth was soooo brilliant and funny =D
I'm pretty sure my library has all the series. I'm lucky in that I have 4 local libraries (all part of the same group), so if a book I want isn't at one library, it's usually at one of the other branches. I borrowed the next Dexter book, and nearly borrowed the third one as well, but I think I would have been at my borrowing limit.
I've seen the movie, but I didn't follow it very closely... It was so tumultuous and depressing and I had angst watching it
So, without having read the book, I can say that yes, the movie managed to be very very depressing. I don't know if it was as depressing as the book, but boy, it was like watching a car crash in slow motion. Very heart wrenching!I ended up buying it (Revolutionary Road) on Blu-Ray coz it was only £1.39 brand new on Amazon. It arrived today but I think I will wait until I'm in the right mood to watch it. The trailer makes it look very painful, which means it follows the book pretty closely!
Wohoo for being ahead of your normal book reading pace, this year!
That's really something... In awe of that, you should almost forget about not being able to tackle the TBR pile all too successfully... I mean, who could resist the library's new acquisitions!!Yeah, the way I see it, is that I can read my Kindle books whenever I want. But with library books....I should borrow them when they are available, otherwise someone else will borrow it. Case in point - last time I was at the library I decided to borrow 1Q84 by Haruki Murakami. Typically, someone else has now borrowed it, even though it has been on the library shelf all year.
I really really dislike the cover, too
But as it was J. K. Rowling, I never let it bother me, I wanted to read the book. I remember us talking about it in the thread. I loved how there were so many different characters to the story! Sure, it was difficult at first to make all the connections and remember who was who, but it was so satisfying in the end. Although I have to say, I think I expected it to be more funny and quaint, in an almost romantic sort of little town -thing. But was very happy with this version, too Yeah, it was pretty gritty wasn't it? I think that's what shocked people most, that JK Rowling could swear and write about sex.
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Hello
Finally I can see this forum again Hello again! Good to see you on here.
Finished A Little Life. It was fantastic. I had issues with it - it was overwritten at times, some characters started out getting a lot of attention and then faded into the background, and the sheer volume of horrendous things that occur is a bit much, but somehow none of that mattered in the end. A book that will definitely stay with me.
Started Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?, my first foray into the works of PKD, and I suspect I'm going to start Yanagihara's other novel, The People In The Trees (allegedly described as a book about abusers, where A Little Life is a book about the abused), today too.
So glad you liked A Little Life. It definitely has it's flaws but it is still a very good read.
I watched Blade Runner (which is loosely based on Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?) last night. It wasn't as complex as I remembered, so maybe it was the book I struggled with. I have it on my bookshelf and want to give it a re-read at some point, but I need to leave big gaps between PKD books as they can be a bit intense. He tends to just dump you in the middle of the story, and you are left to decipher the words he uses to describe various futuristic things. It can be a bit much.
Not saying I need my books spoon-fed to me, but sometimes it helps. I haven't actually thought about reading Yanagihara's other book, so I look forward to reading your thoughts.
I'm halfway through The Doll Maker by Richard Montanari. I like a good straight-forward detective novel and it's been a few years since I've read one of his.
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Thanks, Athena. My library has a few Diane Chamberlain books; I went with this one because it seemed a bit more interesting, but like you, I have liked all of her books that I have read.
Your Book Activity - June 2016
in Past Book Logs
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^ I've heard of The Velveteen Rabbit, but don't know anything about it. It was the favourite book of one of the Friends characters (can't for the life of me remember which one!
).