Alexi

I'm back from an extended honeymoon absence, with a million reviews to catch up on! Latest book finished is A Little Life by Hanya Yanagihara. Incredible piece of work, but one I am glad to reach the end of. 700 pages of misery. Not sure what is next, maybe a return to the counties challenge.

I read it two and a half years' ago now, but perhaps if you could post the last bit in spoilers we could attempt to help that way? (I got my copy out of the library!)

Thank you all for the kind messages. I'm excited and terrified in one!

I enjoyed The Secret Race, Anna Lance Armstrong does not come out well at all. A bit underwhelmed by The Shipping News. Have now moved onto The First Fifteen Lives of Harry August by Claire North.

Haven't updated for ages! But my excuse is I get married in under two weeks. I've still been reading, although not as much, which means I have two months worth of reviews to sort! Hmm.

Sounds a very exciting time for you Brian! Hope you enjoy To Kill a Mockingbird. I'm eyeing Go Set a Watchman with some trepidation after enjoying the former so much.

I'm halfway through The Shipping News by Annie Proulx. Found it slow to start but getting into it more now.

I'm about to finish my last Sherlock Holmes. I've read all the short stories and now have a couple of chapters to go of the last novel (The Valley of Fear). I intend to finish it today. The Hound of the Baskervilles is definitely my favourite, but the short stories are better worked than the other three novels I think. The Valley of Fear has been enjoyable, but I think could have worked as a short story without the very detailed back story in which I'm currently swimming - the format is the same as A Study in Scarlet.

Haha, I'm getting "I swear I shall not get so far behind again" on my gravestone! Great reviews as ever J. I'm very nervous about Lady Chatterley but I'm determined to get to it before the year is out. There haven't been too many misses on the counties challenge list (so far), and it least it ticks off another 1001 at the same time.

Wow, how interesting! I will have to get my hands on the biography

Just seen this - I've been super busy lately. I haven't read Love in a Cold Climate but I do intend to! I really enjoyed the Pursuit of Love, I rated it as a 4 but I think it lost half a mark simply because I read Emma afterwards. I loved every second of that read. Just finished At the Sign of the Sugared Plum which was a welcome easy read this week and halfway through A Child Al Confino, which is about a Jewish boy and his mother in Nazi Europe. I had no idea that Italy isolated their Jewish population in such a way.

Mrs Dalloway by Virginia Woolf Synopsis: Mrs. Dalloway is a novel by Virginia Woolf that details a day in the life of Clarissa Dalloway, a fictional high-society woman in post-World War I England. It is one of Woolf's best-known novels. Created from two short stories, "Mrs Dalloway in Bond Street" and the unfinished "The Prime Minister," the novel addresses Clarissa's preparations for a party she will host that evening. With an interior perspective, the story travels forwards and back in time and in and out of the characters' minds to construct an image of Clarissa's life and of the inter-war social structure. (From Goodreads) Thoughts: I'm not really sure how review this. I have never tried any Virginia Wool before, but as I feel I should try her, it's on the 1001 list and was one of my replacements on the English Counties Challenge it all seemed to fit in rather nicely. But I approached this with trepidation. I am indeed afraid of Virginia Woolf! The writing is gorgeous and if nothing else, I'm glad I read it for the sheer literary delight of this novel. It's only short but boy does Woolf pack a lot in - even if this is character, rather than plot led, as a day in the life of Clarissa Dalloway. We are introduced to a range of characters and the novel feels wonderfully rich, and tight. Radclyffe Hall could have learned a thing of two! This is not a book to be read in snatches, it needs proper thought and digestion. Ultimately, this was unlike anything I normally read and although I will try Woolf again I don't think she will become a favourite. With this, I felt like I'd gone for a lazy, meandering walk but came to the end wondering how I got to the end of the path I was on. I enjoyed the read and felt like I was getting a lot out of it as I was reading it, but having finished it I struggled to formulate my thoughts on it and gather my wits about what I had just read. I found it nearly impossible to rate! 3/5 (I liked it)

Copied from my book log: I had never heard of this novel before embarking on the English Counties Challenge but it's something different from what I would normally read and therefore I was happy to pick it up as part of that. Unfortunately, it took me a long time to get through and I had to read other books alongside it, as I found it such a slog. It's so, so, so depressing. I realise that is the point, as to be a lesbian in this period was no easy feat, but unfortunately it made the book feel like wading through treacle. I read plenty of books where the main characters don't have an easy time and death and tragedy are major themes, but with this it was one thing after another that was quite samey so it lost any resonance. By the end of it I just wanted to slap everyone silly. The writing is poor which doesn't help and needed some serious editing both for style and length. It went and bleeding on and I ended up skimming the last portion. 2/5 (Not my cup of tea) Just to add: Willoyd, the pace did not pick up and I don't think you missed much by skipping 100 pages!

The Well of Loneliness by Radclyffe Hall Synopsis: First published in 1928, this timeless portrayal of lesbian love is now a classic. The thinly disguised story of Hall's own life, it was banned outright upon publication and almost ruined her literary career. (From Goodreads) Thoughts: I had never heard of this novel before embarking on the English Counties Challenge but it's something different from what I would normally read and therefore I was happy to pick it up as part of that. Unfortunately, it took me a long time to get through and I had to read other books alongside it, as I found it such a slog. It's so, so, so depressing. I realise that is the point, as to be a lesbian in this period was no easy feat, but unfortunately it made the book feel like wading through treacle. I read plenty of books where the main characters don't have an easy time and death and tragedy are major themes, but with this it was one thing after another that was quite samey so it lost any resonance. By the end of it I just wanted to slap everyone silly. The writing is poor which doesn't help and needed some serious editing both for style and length. It went and bleeding on and I ended up skimming the last portion. 2/5 (Not my cup of tea)

Fear and Loathing in La Liga by Sid Lowe Synopsis: Fear and Loathing in La Liga is the definitive history of the greatest rivalry in world sport: FC Barcelona vs. Real Madrid. It’s Messi vs. Ronaldo, Guardiola vs. Mourinho, the nation against the state, freedom fighters vs. Franco’s fascists, plus majestic goals and mesmerizing skills. It’s the best two teams on the planet going head-to-head. It’s more than a game. It’s a war. It’s El Clásico. (From Goodreads) Thoughts: I'm a sports nut, and read quite a lot of sporting non fiction - but I shy away from the more 'traditional' reads. You won't find my shelves bulging with footballer autobiographies - although there are a couple in that genre worth reading. This is something a little different. Sid Lowe writes about Spanish football for the Guardian and various others, and he's an excellent writer. Here, he tells us the story of the two biggest clubs in Spain, and their unique rivalry. But this isn't just a list of football games - although they obviously do play their part! We see the rivalry through the prism of Spanish society itself, and this is where it is such a hit for me. I'm a history geek, so to see how this fits into the civil war, Francoism, World War II, and the question of Catalan identity is fascinating. Lowe is a historian himself as well as a football fan and writer, and it shows. 4/5 (I really enjoyed it)

I watch very little on my TV except live sport - of which there is an awful lot watched in this household! Outside that though I struggle to remember to watch a series every week, so I go through binges on Netflix but I'm so far behind everyone else. I'm currently on season 2 of Big Bang Theory and very much enjoying it

I read this recently but... Have not got around to reviewing it! I think I rated it 3/5 though. It's very different to my usual fare.

Finished The Pursuit of Love which I loved and dove straight into Emma by Jane Austen - wow, loving this! Only a few chapters to go.

Just to clarify; I wasn't meaning Nursenblack's original post and I think it's an interesting subject for discussion - as emphasised by the amount of responses! It got me thinking overnight about the books I do/don't count. Last year, I added Swallows and Amazons to my list - a reread from my childhood, last read when I was about 11 I think. However, I haven't counted my Sherlock Holmes ones (except the new to me ones) because I read them about 3/4 years ago. While that made sense in my own head, to most people it's probably a totally arbitrary distinction.

Brilliantly put. I have recently started listening to audiobooks on the commute, but have only listened to 3 (? I think) that are *new to me* books. I'm currently working my way through the complete Sherlock Holmes (57 hours worth) and only one novel is new to me. But I find it more enjoyable than listening to the radio. So sue me. I have counted the books I've read because like Willoyd, it takes me longer to listen than to read and honestly I feel I have more important things to worry about in life. I much prefer reading and now I'm starting a new job in the same city in which I live I will probably cease listening to audiobooks. However, I don't pretend to tell others that listening to audiobooks doesn't "count". I think it's rather bad form to judge others, and whether people mean them to or not I feel there are posts in this thread that have come across as judgemental and a bit snobby if I'm honest. *shrug*

I'm about to start The Pursuit of Love by Nancy Mitford today. Really looking forward to this one.

Ugh, agreed. Do these people not get someone honest to proofread? All fiction is fantasy to some degree of course, but people's actions and motivations should make sense both to their characters and the world they live in. Otherwise it's pointless investing in it.

I'm so far behind that one of my reviews has become irrelevant - a book detailing the UK in the EU I haven't read (or listened to) this particular Christie, but like you I shall get to them all eventually. I'm taking a slight break because my least favourite was my last - although that was simply because of a lack of a sidelined Poirot rather than fatigue I think.

I never know what to mark those sort of books as Noll! I'm halfway through Time and Again by Jack Finney and loving it - the only problem is I'm getting no time to read!

They were written 100 years ago - the books do unfortunately reflect how society was then. But every black person is described as "savage". Ugh. It's probably not mentioned much because non-whites very rarely pop up. I'm currently listening to The Adventures of, which is a revisit from a while ago and bar an indirect brush with the Ku Klux Klan, we haven't really come across anyone else from other races. (Although I did find it interesting that the initials KKK wouldn't have been an immediate clue to the mystery in 1902!). In that story one of the victims is clearly racist, but it isn't a view overtly mentioned by any of the other characters so it doesn't jar as much - a Florida landowner in the 1800s was most probably racist, it is the descriptions put forward by Conan Doyle that reveal his own racism that turns the stomach.