katie.r

Finished The Strange Last Voyage of Donald Crowhurst tonight. Interesting stuff, a bit too much technical boat-y stuff for my liking but the story of Crowhurst has always fascinated me, so it was a winner from the start really!

Thanks for your replies everyone, you've all got me so excited about reading these books! On a slight tangent from my TBR list (does anyone actually stick to those?!), I picked up Linda Gillard's Emotional Geology for just £1.90 on my Kindle! Couldn't resist reading it after seeing some of the reviews on here and I'm glad I did! Although the characters were living a completely different life to one I am familiar with, being much older and with real issues haunting them, I found myself connecting with them completely. The island of North Uist was described so beautifully that I'm now planning how on earth I can afford to take a trip there from my dreary home in South London! The story had me sobbing uncontrollably at times, and I rarely cry at books. I've just bought House of Silence and I'm looking forward to reading her others! And Ben, A Clockwork Orange is now top of my list, I'm going to start reading tonight! I held off watching the film because I always like to read the book first so I can imagine the characters for myself. I've heard the film is a bit intense though!

Thanks to this tip-off I also bought this yesterday, I couldn't believe it was only £1.90! Such a beautifully written book, and so completely absorbing that I had to tear myself away just to write this. I feel closer to all of the characters than I have done whilst reading for a long time, I'm going to finish reading and buy all of her other books now! Thanks for the heads up on a brilliant read Chrissy

Thanks! Well in that case, my mojo has been in overdrive today! I'm really enjoying The Master and Margarita, some parts are a little tough to get through and I have to read them twice, but I'm enjoying the story. I'm also trying not to be tempted to start another book at the same time, I only got my kindle about a week ago and I'm still a bit click-happy with impulse buying books! I have about 30 already, and now I'm definitely going to have to buy some of Linda Gillard's too!

Ooh let me know what you think of House of Silence. Have you read her other books? I keep seeing her name pop up on here and my Kindle but I've never read any of hers before. Also, I'm new around here and curious: what is mojo?!

Hmm...interesting topic! I'm very jealous of some of your huge collections! I really have no idea how many I have. They're scattered throughout my parents house, my living room, bedroom and study. I'd guess at about 600ish. I really want to count them all now, perhaps a task for a rainy day!

When I was growing up, both of my parents read all the time, and encouraged me to do so too. I'm certain this is where I got my love of reading from, in my house we rarely watched TV and books were just what I would turn to when I was bored! My boyfriend's parents didn't read at all, and because he just wasn't around books he never really developed an interest in them. He only read Shakespeare at school so has been scared away from reading ever since! He has only really just started to pick up a book every now and again but he really struggles with concentrating. It's a shame because I read so many books I know he'd enjoy but he just isn't interested! Not many of my friends read either. One or two will read the Twilight/Harry Potter books but not much else!

The Secret History by Donna Tartt This has shot straight up to being my favourite book. I think it is quite incredible that the author can share with us in the preface that a character has been killed, and even who killed them, yet still leave me itching to read more. I literally did not put this book down, it completely gripped me right from the start and had me hooked every step of the way. I felt like I got to know each of the characters intimately, and however insane and out of control their actions became, I completely understood why they were doing what they were. The amount of detail in the book was really interesting too, especially some of the Greek and Latin phrases - I found myself doing a lot of googling to understand them but I'm glad I did as they were important to the story. Overall a really thrilling read and one I'd love to read again.

The Great Gatsby By F. Scott Fitzgerald I really enjoy reading books set in this era (the 20's) and this was definitely no exception. I found the storyline to be well paced and by the end I truly cared about the characters, my feelings towards Gatsby in particular changed so much throughout the book. It was quite a quick read and I found the ending to be satisfying (though my boyfriend read it just before me and thought the ending felt rushed). I would read the book again, perhaps not for a while, and probably take even more from it the second time.

I only joined the site a few days ago so I'm starting halfway through the year, but ah well! I really just wanted to start this list so I can keep count of how many books I'm reading and perhaps to jot down some thoughts about each of them. June: The Secret History by Donna Tartt The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald Emotional Geology by Linda Gillard Currently Reading: The Master and Margarita by Mikhail Bulgakov Books to Read: To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee Emma by Jane Austen A Clockwork Orange by Anthony Burgess The Catcher in the Rye by J. D. Salinger The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath Lolita by Vladamir Nabokov On The Road by Jack Kerouac Naked Lunch by William S. Burroughs Slaughterhouse-Five by Kurt Vonnegut Great Expectations by Charles Dickens Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro House of Silence by Linda Gillard

First ever post in the book activity thread and I'm having a pretty good reading day! Finished off The Great Gatsby today. I felt really uneasy while reading it, but I suppose that's probably exactly how Fitzgerald wanted the reader to feel. It's the kind of book I'd like to read again, I think I'd get even more from it on a second reading, but not for a while. I've also started The Master and Margarita by Mikhail Bulgakov. Only about 11% in on my kindle and finding the biblical parts a bit strange. I'm not sure how I feel about it yet but I've been wanting to read this book for a while so I'll definitely stick with it.

I'm terrible with breakfast during the university term. I'll usually just have some grapes on the way out of the door! I'm never hungry early in the morning but then as soon as I'm sitting in the lecture hall, my tummy will start rumbling. I should really get up earlier so I can have a proper breakfast. However, at the moment it's the summer holidays so I've been enjoying lazy mornings! I'll usually have a croissant, a grapefruit and yoghurt. In the winter I love porridge too.

This happens to me quite a lot. I like it though, it makes the second reading much more exciting! It happens to me Chuck Palahniuk's books. I recently re-read Invisible Monsters and I'd forgotten every single twist and turn in the plot, I couldn't even remember some of the characters!

Hi everyone! Just joined today so thought I'd say hello! I'm Katie, 21, 3rd year BA Photography student in London. I've always loved reading since I was a little girl and can usually be seen struggling under the weight of my backpack full of books! My favourite book is The Secret History by Donna Tartt (so under appreciated!) though I was very disappointed by her other book, The Little Friend. I've just recently started getting into the classics and have recently enjoyed Pride and Prejudice and Great Expectations. I'm currently reading The Great Gatsby (loving it so far!) and attempting Anna Karenina, though I'm about 30 pages in and struggling! I love hearing about what people are reading and sharing my opinions about books I've read. In fact I think my friends are getting sick of my constant recommendations, so I'm thrilled to have found this site!