vodkafan Posted June 8, 2013 Author Share Posted June 8, 2013 I am reading steadily. Just finished the Philosophy primer. Not had much time to come on here though. I do miss reading other folk's blogs. Got a few reviews to catch up on. Reading some Frank Herbert now. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Athena Posted June 8, 2013 Share Posted June 8, 2013 Which one are you reading? I really like Dune but as a teenager I couldn't get into some of the other books (in Dutch in the library). I might give them a go again since I did like the film and TV series' story. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vodkafan Posted June 8, 2013 Author Share Posted June 8, 2013 Hi Athena I am reading The Heaven Makers. Should finish it today. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vodkafan Posted June 8, 2013 Author Share Posted June 8, 2013 Inventing The Victorians 4/6 Matthew Sweet In this book the author cycles back and has another look at the Victorians. The thrust of his work is to show us not how different they were- as is the case with almost every other book about the era- but to make us realise that we are essentially the same. All the things we assume make us modern- advertising, aggressive marketing ploys, sensational tabloid newspapers, conspicuous consumption, home shopping, personal dating, unconventional sexuality of all kinds, people worrying about society breaking down, food additives - these were all already alive and well 150 years ago. This approach was very refreshing. I enjoyed this book and will keep it as a counterbalance for some of my other Victorian books to refer to again. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vodkafan Posted June 8, 2013 Author Share Posted June 8, 2013 The Seven Curses Of London 2/6 James Greenwood This is a genuine Victorian book written by a sort of undercover reporter who wrote the book originally as a series of articles for his brother's newspaper. It is a mixture of essential information and his own opinions. Unfortunately for me it was written in the popular style of the time after Thackery where the author breaks off the narrative and addresses the reader. This was torture for me it was like reading Vanity Fair all over again. Which is why I only rated it as a 2. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vodkafan Posted June 8, 2013 Author Share Posted June 8, 2013 Survival Of The Fittest 2/6 Jonathon Kellerman This was a detective murder mystery featuring a criminal psychologist teamed up with a misfit detective on the trail of a serial killer. I have read a couple very similar in this genre now and am rapidly tiring of the formula. However, there was nothing wrong with the story, it was an easy read which flowed pretty well; it did not go overboard with gory details and the rationale behind the killings was more interesting than the other stories of this type I had read. I find I am marking on the hard side at the moment so I only gave it an "OK" rating. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vodkafan Posted June 8, 2013 Author Share Posted June 8, 2013 Philosophy 100 Essential Thinkers 2/6 Philip Stokes The title explains it all really, I bought this as a "who's who" and thought it might be useful to my daughter who is about to study philosophy. I was a little bit disappointed as the couple of pages on each individual does not go into their theories sufficiently in my opinion to be really useful. Thankfully though, the author has placed them historically which does at least show the progression of ideas, rather than alphabetically, which would have rendered it meaningless. The most useful part of the book is the listing at the beginning which groups them into the different schools of thought. That gives a place to start for further reading. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vodkafan Posted June 12, 2013 Author Share Posted June 12, 2013 (edited) The Heaven Makers 3/6 Frank Herbert This was a re-read for me prompted by a discussion about Frank Herbert. I had fond memories of it but I had forgotten most of it. The Chem are a race of aliens that, through science, have been able to make themselves immortal by periodically rejuvenating their bodies. The flip side of this is that they are on a constant knife -edge of falling into madness induced by boredom. To combat this they conceived the "story ships" by which they manipulate lesser races to tell stories for the amusement of the Chem race. Director Fraffin runs the most successful story ship ever. His ship is submerged under one of Earth's oceans. All of Earth's human history, it's wars and disasters, it's religions are all Fraffin Productions. His crew are completely loyal. It is suspected that Fraffin is up to something very illegal on planet Earth and Investigator Kelexel intends to find out what. But four previous Investigators have been somehow compromised by Fraffin before Kelexel. What is Fraffin's big secret? And if Kelexel stops him what will become of the Chem without Fraffin's films? Just as when I was a teenager, I found the ideas in The Heaven Makers quite thought provoking and I enjoyed Herbert's no frills straightforward writing style.This is considered one of Herbert's minor stories and not highly regarded by critics. I enjoyed it though. Edited June 12, 2013 by vodkafan Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Athena Posted June 12, 2013 Share Posted June 12, 2013 This sounds quite interesting, I'm putting it on my wishlist. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vodkafan Posted June 12, 2013 Author Share Posted June 12, 2013 (edited) Love-Act 4/6 M.E. Austen This was a debut novel (written in the 80's) I picked up from a charity stall. In that visceral way that first novels often have this was very original. It just grabbed me and I could not put it down. (as the blurb promised) Shirley is a young part-time prostitute. She is not a bad person. She mainly has sex with people because she is bored. In search of something new, she answers a newspaper advert from Mr Fox asking for an actress.... This was a very original and unusual book I have never read anything quite like it. Couple things I liked about this book was that it was from an England before mobile phones, and like that "other Austen " The story was paced around letters. I would have given it a 5 but I am still a tiny bit confused by the ending. That's not a bad thing though. Edited June 12, 2013 by vodkafan Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vodkafan Posted June 12, 2013 Author Share Posted June 12, 2013 This sounds quite interesting, I'm putting it on my wishlist. Probably you will only find it second hand on Amazon or maybe for kindle/readers though. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vodkafan Posted June 13, 2013 Author Share Posted June 13, 2013 Reading another book about America now: Confederates In The Attic by Tony Horwitz. Started off a little dry for me but I am really into it now. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vodkafan Posted June 15, 2013 Author Share Posted June 15, 2013 Finished Confederates In The Attic. Now reading Doris Day. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
julie Posted June 15, 2013 Share Posted June 15, 2013 James I loved Confederates in the Attic . Really an interesting book about the Civil War re-enactors . How they want to be as authentic as possible in their clothing and food items . I like reading books about that time period . I'm glad you ended up enjoying it too . I think the same author wrote another about the Voyages of Capt. Cook ? Not positive that he's the author, but I think he is ... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vodkafan Posted June 19, 2013 Author Share Posted June 19, 2013 Doris Day Her Own Story 2/6 A.E. Hotchner The blurb on the back declares: " The myth shattered" .Hardly! At the beginning of the book all the intimations were that this would blow away her apple pie virginal image. Unfortunately for me it just reinforced it. Her outlook on life was completely conventional and boring. She says over and over again that all she wants is to get married and have children, that was her only ambition. However she always picked the worst possible men and let them tread all over her, her last husband keeping her working non stop and away from her son. She was not a very good mother. Her son did not live with her till he was seven and then she left all disciplinary matters to her husband, even allowing him to send the boy away to military school. Interspersed with Doris' story the best bits of the book for me was the little bits by her son and other actors who knew her well. These are what kept me reading. I really liked the strength of character of her son Terry. I had to get as far away from Doris as possible so am now reading another autobiography The Sexual Life Of Catherine M, who's philosophy of life is a tad different. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vodkafan Posted June 19, 2013 Author Share Posted June 19, 2013 James I loved Confederates in the Attic . Really an interesting book about the Civil War re-enactors . How they want to be as authentic as possible in their clothing and food items . I like reading books about that time period . I'm glad you ended up enjoying it too . I think the same author wrote another about the Voyages of Capt. Cook ? Not positive that he's the author, but I think he is ... Maybe he wrote the Capt. Cook one after as it is not mentioned in my copy of Confederates In The Attic.....I found it very interesting too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vodkafan Posted June 26, 2013 Author Share Posted June 26, 2013 June is turning out to be a good month. 10 books read and still time to get another 2 books in. Reading Moondust now about the Apollo astronauts. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
willoyd Posted June 26, 2013 Share Posted June 26, 2013 June is turning out to be a good month. 10 books read and still time to get another 2 books in. Reading Moondust now about the Apollo astronauts. Found it fascinating: looking forward to your review. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vodkafan Posted June 28, 2013 Author Share Posted June 28, 2013 Found it fascinating: looking forward to your review. Will try to catch up my reviews at the weekend. Reading Small Island now. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vodkafan Posted June 29, 2013 Author Share Posted June 29, 2013 Just finished Small Island. Awesome book. For July I have decided it will be a SF month. So I have lined up the following treebooks off my shelf: Up The Line Robert Silverberg The Duelling Machine Ben Bova The Rituals Of Infinity Moorcock Flowers For Algernon Daniel Keyes The Mad God's Amulet The Sword Of The Dawn The Runestaff (all Moorcock) The Martians Kim Stanley Robinson if I get any more time I have some steampunk on my kindle Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Athena Posted June 30, 2013 Share Posted June 30, 2013 I quite liked Flowers for Algernon, I hope you like it too. I also hope you like all the other books . I've read books by Kim Stanley Robinson, the Mars series, when I was a teenager and liked it. I've bought the books (in English) this year and hope I'll like reading them again (tbh I don't remember a lot from it). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vodkafan Posted June 30, 2013 Author Share Posted June 30, 2013 Thanks Athena, a lot of people have told me that Flowers For Algernon is a goodie , it's been sitting in my TBR over a year. Kim Stanley Robinson is an author that has slipped by me , I haven't read anything by him. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
~Andrea~ Posted July 1, 2013 Share Posted July 1, 2013 Flowers for Algernon is a fantastic book. I think you'll like it. I loved it Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vodkafan Posted July 6, 2013 Author Share Posted July 6, 2013 Amazing but true, I have read 6 books in the last 6 days! Don't know how long I can keep this up....also it is giving me no time to write reviews or look at anybody else's posts and reading logs...but it is fun. Flowers for Algernon is about to be started. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Athena Posted July 6, 2013 Share Posted July 6, 2013 That's some amazing progress! I hope you enjoy Flowers for Algernon! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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