Vodkafan's book list 2013

[vodkafan]

I think it's Rhona that did a fabulous rant on I'm a Celebrity years ago! I must look for that on YouTube!

 

Yes that's the one. Her famous "sometimes" speech.

[Athena]

Yay for more books! I hope you enjoy them .

[vodkafan]

Here are the 10 books I got for £2 last week I didn't have a chance to list them till now:

 

 Cut Like Wound  Anita Nair (signed copy, paperback printed in India!)

Little Dorrit Charles Dickens

Slave Girl Sarah Forsyth  (autobiography)

The Man Who Loved Only Numbers Paul Hoffman (biography of Paul Erdos)

Highly Inappropriate Tales For Young People  Douglas Coupland/Graham Roumieu

The White Mists Of Power Kristine Kathryn Rusch

Blitz The Civilian War 1940-45 Jane Waller Michael Vaughn-Rees (war memoir)

The Martian Way Isaac Asimov

Last Man Down The Fireman's Story Richard Picciotto (twin towers 9/11 memoir)

The Woman Who Went To Bed For A Year Sue Townsend 

[vodkafan]

Trying to get Trollope finished by tonight as November will be Biography month!

[Athena]

Nice haul !

 

I have Little Dorrit on my shelf but I haven't read it yet. I haven't heard of Highly Inappropriate Tales For Young People but I have several books by Douglas Coupland on my shelf. I hope it's good! I think The Martian Way might be on my wishlist, but I'm not sure. If it's not, it should be! I've got several unread books by Isaac Asimov. The Woman Who Went To Bed For A Year might also be on my wishlist, I know it was at some point but I'm unsure if it still is or not (I do know I don't own it). Enjoy your books !

[vodkafan]

Got a few more books from Amazon, some research books I had to have and therefore need to read straight away; my biography month will have to wait.

But one fiction one I splurged a whole 1p on (plus postage) is Jonathon Strange And Mr Norrell ..have it here with me now, read the first two pages and it promises to be my sort of fantasy. 

[Athena]

I hope you enjoy it! I've had the book(s) (I have a boxset with three books) for quite some time now, they're still in the plasic . It sounds like such a great story, somehow I've just not got around to reading it yet though.

[vodkafan]

I hope you enjoy it! I've had the book(s) (I have a boxset with three books) for quite some time now, they're still in the plasic . It sounds like such a great story, somehow I've just not got around to reading it yet though.

 

I must have like an omnibus edition then ; I didn't realise it was 3 books. I just measured it it is nearly 2 inches thick.

[gardengirl]

Here are the 10 books I got for £2 last week I didn't have a chance to list them till now:

 

 Cut Like Wound  Anita Nair (signed copy, paperback printed in India!)

Little Dorrit Charles Dickens

Slave Girl Sarah Forsyth  (autobiography)

The Man Who Loved Only Numbers Paul Hoffman (biography of Paul Erdos)

Highly Inappropriate Tales For Young People  Douglas Coupland/Graham Roumieu

The White Mists Of Power Kristine Kathryn Rusch

Blitz The Civilian War 1940-45 Jane Waller Michael Vaughn-Rees (war memoir)

The Martian Way Isaac Asimov

Last Man Down The Fireman's Story Richard Picciotto (twin towers 9/11 memoir)

The Woman Who Went To Bed For A Year Sue Townsend 

Sounds like a good haul, I want to read the Sue Townsesnd one, how do you fit in your full time job VF? You should take a security job somewhere, I believe they sit and read a good deal!

[vodkafan]

Always a pretty good haul at the recycling plant. I read all the time at breaktimes. It helps to break up my workday. My job is easy but extremely boring. I don't mind. I have had good jobs in the past. I am coasting downhill now until my dementia gets a grip. 

[Alexi]

I looked at this when it was on offer, but I dithered and didn't buy it in the end.  Sounds like I should have!  Am I right that it's set in County Durham?

 

 

I read this several years ago (before BCF, I think) and thought it was great - I really enjoyed the honesty about it. 

Apologies for weird quoting, but Miss Appleby's Academy is currently 46p on kindle! I've just bought it based on James' review

[Janet]

Yes, I grabbed it too. 

[vodkafan]

Have you two ladies started reading it yet? I will be interested to read your thoughts on it. 

[Athena]

I must have like an omnibus edition then ; I didn't realise it was 3 books. I just measured it it is nearly 2 inches thick.

x

No, it's written as one book as far as I know. When I bought it, I didn't know much yet about the internet and how it worked, this was the version that the shop I used at that time, had. It's a box set with three books in them, all with the same title.

 

Here's a link to Amazon, I don't know if this is the same one but it looks the same (I didn't know Amazon at this point in time). Image to go with the link:

 

Edited November 9, 2013 by Athena

[vodkafan]

Very strange.

[Janet]

Have you two ladies started reading it yet? I will be interested to read your thoughts on it. 

No, not yet, but I will try to start it soon.

[vodkafan]

Oh My Gorsh...I am only 32 pages into Jonathon Strange And Mr Norrell and already I am captivated....the words in this book are so juicy the book is almost dripping...If I put it on the floor and stood on it it would squelch. Yet I know that if someone else can write a  book then so could I.

[Kidsmum]

Oh My Gorsh...I am only 32 pages into Jonathon Strange And Mr Norrell and already I am captivated....the words in this book are so juicy the book is almost dripping...If I put it on the floor and stood on it it would squelch. Yet I know that if someone else can write a  book then so could I.

 

So glad your enjoying this one. I read it years ago & loved it, i still have my copy as i want to reread it at some point , although it's a huge book i remember getting so drawn into the story that i flew through it 

[chesilbeach]

I loved it too!  Going back to the comments about the different editions - the single edition was the first, but I think there were some comments about how difficult it can be to read a single volume of such a large book, as it's a bit unwieldy, so the publishers then decided to release it as a three volume edition to make it easier to read.  It's still the same story, just split up into three easier to hold books

[Athena]

I'm glad to hear you're enjoying the book, James !

[poppyshake]

Very happy to hear you're enjoying JSAMN James .. hope that's still the case  I wish I had the three volume set .. I don't like reading or holding great big tomes  Susanna actually convinced me (with this book) that I couldn't write anything half so good so I might as well not try  .. but tbh my brain didn't have any ideas in it anyway  

I do need to re-read it though .. I have read it twice (that is I heard it once and read it once) but there's so much there that it could take numerous re-readings and still there'd be things to discover.

 

[vodkafan]

 Thanks Kidsmum, Claire, Athena and poppyshake.....It's always great to find a good book that you didn't previously know about yet other readers have and are enthusiastic about.

[vodkafan]

Not much reading being done except for research purposes.

[vodkafan]

Not a huge total for November.....apart from the Trollope book, the only other two I have read are both for research purposes for my story, but I rated them both very highly:

 

London In The Nineteenth Century  Jerry White 6/6
 

Gaslight Villainy; True Tales of Victorian Murder Grahame Farrell 5/6 

 

Sorry no time to write reviews right now. 9 books to go to make my target by end of December; but if I write a lot it may not happen.

 

Half way through Jonathon Strange and Mr Norrell.

[vodkafan]

Just bought 6 books all second hand from Amazon;

 King Solomon's Carpet  Barbara Vine

A Far Cry From Kensington Muriel Spark

Capital John Lanchester

Capital Maureen Duffy

Tom's All Alone Lynne Shepherd

Sweet Thames Matthew Kneale  

 

total £16.86 with postage, all books 1p each