bobblybear Posted December 26, 2012 Share Posted December 26, 2012 (edited) I'm going to set myself a loose goal of 52 books this year. I really need to get through my TBR pile. I purchased upwards of 80 books (I think, I'm actually too scared to count them) in 2012 but of those I probably haven't even read a quarter (again, too scared to count, but I know it's dismal ) I suppose I could set myself a limit of books to purchase in 2013, but not quite sure what is reasonable. One a month? Two a month? Or (god forbid) none until I get through my current haul? Nah, that's just cruel and unachievable. I'll settle for 2 a month, so a yearly limit of 24. I found rating out of 10 quite difficult, so I'm going to somewhat simplify it and score out of 6. (I've pinched that idea from someone on here - sorry, can't remember exactly who, Willoyd maybe?) My score of 1 - 5 will be based on the Goodreads system (thanks Frankie - pinched the idea from your blog), and the 6/6 will be for those rarities that are flawless: 1/6: I didn't like it 2/6: It was okay 3/6: I liked it 4/6: I really liked it 5/6: It was amazing 6/6: Simply outstanding - on my 'best of all time' list I think in the past I've been too generous with my scoring, and I'm sure I rated too many books 10/10. I'm going to attempt to be a bit more critical this year. Onwards and upwards!!! Edited December 26, 2012 by bobblybear Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bobblybear Posted December 26, 2012 Author Share Posted December 26, 2012 (edited) Books Read This YearJanuaryPopCo - Scarlett ThomasThree Men In A Boat - Jerome K. JeromeHomicide: A Year on the Killing Streets - David SimonThe Drowning Pool - Syd MooreSix Seconds - Rick Mofina February Treasure Island - Robert Louis Stevenson Off With Their Heads: All the Cool Bits in British History - Martin Oliver More Blood, More Sweat and Another Cup of Tea - Tom Reynolds Elizabeth Street - Laurie Fabiano We Bought A Zoo - Benjamin Mee Small Steps - Louis Sachar The Golden Acorn - Catherine Cooper The Woman In Black - Susan Hill March Zombie Fallout - Mark Tufo Dangerous Liasions - Pierre Choderlos (unfinished) Playing it Safe: Crazy Stories from the World of Britain's Health and Safety Regulations - Alan Pearce Instructions for a Heatwave - Maggie O'Farrell Bridget Jones's Diary - Helen Fielding April The Rats - James Herbert Wolf Hall - Hilary Mantel (unfinished) Human Remains - Elizabeth Haynes The Big Necessity: Adventures in the World of Human Waste - Rose George May The Crimson Petal and the White - Michel Faber A 1950's Childhood: From Tin Baths to Bread and Dripping - Paul Feeney June Pure - Julianna Baggott Worm - Mark Bowden (unfinished) The Devil Wears Prada - Laura Weisberger Now Then Lad: Tales of A Country Bobby - Mike Pannett World War Z - Max Brooks The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry - Rachel Joyce The Secret Diary of Adrian Mole Aged 13 3/4 - Sue Townsend Safe House - Chris Ewan July Hyperion - Dan Simmons Summer - Edith Wharton Plague - Lisa C Hinsley The Sisters Brothers - Patrick DeWitt August While We're Far Apart - Lynn Austin Gone Girl - Gillian Flynn Case Histories - Kate Atkinson NW- Zadie Smith (unfinished) Where'd You Go, Bernadette - Maria Semple Megacatastrophes! - David Darling & Dirk Schulze-Makuch The Snow Child - Eowyn Ivey Tex - S.E. Hinton The Tommyknockers - Stephen King September The Crime of Julian Wells - Thomas H Cook Under The Dome - Stephen King October Walden on Wheels: On The Open Road From Debt To Freedom - Ken Ilgunas A Long Way Down - Nick Hornby The Kraken Wakes - John Wyndham Divergent - Veronica Roth Chicken, Mules, and Two Old Fools - Victoria Twead Just Henry - Michelle Magorian The Jungle Book - Rudyard Kipling November The Grapes of Wrath - John Steinbeck The Enemy - Charlie Higson Want To Play? - PJ Tracy December The Hundred-Year Old Man Who Climbed Out of the Window and Disappeared - Jonas Jonasson A Tale of Two Cities - Charles Dickens Gulp: Adventures on the Alimentary Canal - Mary Roach The Secret History - Donna Tartt Inferno - Dan Brown Edited December 29, 2013 by bobblybear Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bobblybear Posted December 26, 2012 Author Share Posted December 26, 2012 (edited) Books Purchased This YearThe Happiness Trap: Stop Struggling, Start Living - Russ HarrisThe Reality Dysfunction - Peter F. HamiltonFirst and Only - Peter FlanneryThe Big Necessity: Adventures in the World of Human Waste - Rose GeorgeIncoming! Or Why We Should Stop Worrying and learn to Love the Meteorite - Ted NieldSworn Secret - Amanda JenningsNothing to Envy: Real Lives in North Korea - Barbara DemickThe Lost Daughter - Diane Chamberlain1493: How the Ecological Collision of Europe and the Americas Gave Rise to the Modern World - Charles C. MannCapital - John LanchesterWhite Fang - Jack LondonDeceived Wisdom: Why What You Thought Was Right Is Wrong - David BradleyUncle Tom's Cabin - Harriet Beecher Stowe Great Apes - Will Self Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason - Helen Fielding Boneshaker - Cherie Priest Dangerous Liasions - Pierre Choderlos (unfinished) Playing it Safe: Crazy Stories from the World of Britain's Health and Safety Regulations - Alan Pearce The Phoenix Conspiracy - Richard Sanders The Woman In Black - Susan Hill The Virgin Suicides - Jeffrey Eugenides Human Remains - Elizabeth Haynes Instructions for a Heatwave - Maggie O'Farrell Good Strategy/Bad Strategy: The Difference and Why it Matters - Richard Rumelt World War Z - Max Brooks Extinction Point - Paul Antony Jones You Are Not So Smart: Why Your Memory is Mostly Fiction, Why You Have Too Many Friends On Facebook, and 46 Other Ways You're Deluding Yourself - David McRaney Z 2134 - Sean Platt and David W. Wright The Distant Hours - Kate Morton On Books and the Housing of Them - W E Gladstone The Martian - Andy Weir Born Liars: Why We Can't Live Without Deceit - Ian Leslie The Korean War - Max Hastings The Beach - Alex Garland Flowertown - S G Redling Kiss River - Diane Chamberlain The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry - Rachel Joyce Snow Crash - Neal Stephenson The Dog Stars - Peter Heller The End of Your Life Book Club - Will Schwalbe Au Revoir, Europe: What If Britain Left The EU? - David Charter Summer - Edith Wharton The Shining - Stephen King Where'd You Go, Bernadette - Maria Semple Walden on Wheels: On The Open Road From Debt To Freedom - Ken Ilgunas The Uninvited - Liz Jensen After Tomorrow - Gillian Cross Bang! The Complete History of the Universe - Patrick Moore, Brian May, Chris Lintott The Emergence of Judy Taylor - Angela Jackson Divergent - Veronica Roth The Undercover Economist - Tim Harford And Still I Rise - Doreen Lawrence Tex - S.E. Hinton Under The Dome - Stephen King The Great Tax Robbery: How Britain Became a Tax Haven for Fat Cats and Big Business - Richard Brooks The Millionaire Next Door - Thomas J Stanley (unfinished) Galapagos - Kurt Vonnegut Sharp Objects - Gillian Flynn Dark Places - Gillian Flynn The Secret Life of Bees - Sue Monk Kidd The Kraken Wakes - John Wyndham The Crow Road - Iain Banks Wild: A Journey From Lost To Found - Cheryl Strayed QI The Book of the Dead - John Mitchinson, John Lloyd Carrion Comfort - Dan Simmons We Need to Talk About Kelvin: What Everyday Things Tells Us About The Universe - Marcus Chown Misery - Stephen King Pet Semetary - Stephen King How Do We Fix This Mess? - Robert Peston The Complete Soldier Son Trilogy - Robin Hobb The Glass Guardian - Linda Gillard Great Expectations - Charles Dickens Gulp: Adventures on the Alimentary Canal - Mary Roach The Goldfinch - Donna Tartt Homeland: Carrie's Run - Andrew Kaplan A Monster Calls - Patrick Ness Inferno - Dan Brown Dark Eden - Chris Beckett Stuffed and Starved: From Farm to Fork - Raj Patel All Hell Let Loose: The World at War: 1939 - 1945 - Max Hastings Half of a Yellow Sun - Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie Them: Adventures with Extremists - Jon Ronson Edited December 29, 2013 by bobblybear Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bobblybear Posted December 26, 2012 Author Share Posted December 26, 2012 (edited) As I mentioned in my opening post, I've bought far too many books in 2012 and read far too few of them. Soooo....as I read my way through them, I'm going to highlight them red, and hopefully by the end of 2013 I will have worked my way through most of them.Edit: I figure I may as well add books purchased prior to 2012 (mainly Kindle) and add those I haven't read yet. I'm sure there are many. Books Purchased Last YearSupersense - Bruce HoodWhat's Wrong With Eating People - Peter CaveThe Little Friend - Donna TarttWritten In Stone - Brian SwitekQI: The Book of General Ignorance - The Noticeably Stouter Edition - John Lloyd and John MitchinsonBroadmoor Revealed: Victorian Crime and the Lunatic Asylum - Mark StevensOff With Their Heads: All the Cool Bits in British History - Martin OliverQuantum - Manjit KumarThe Golden Acorn: The Adventures of Jack Brenin - Catherine CooperThe Moonstone - Wilkie CollinsCursed: A Jack Nightingale Short Story - Stephen LeatherFire and Ice (Liam Campbell #1) - Dana StabenowCompromised - Derek KeyteQI: The Second Book of General Ignorance - John Lloyd and John MitchinsonSmall Steps - Louis SacharMirage Men - Mark PilkingtonThe Secret River - Kate GrenvilleThe Book of Human Skin - Michelle LovricThe 7 Habits of Highly Effective People: Powerful Lessons in Personal Change - Stephen CoveyThe Complete Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy - Douglas AdamsWorm: The Story of the First Digital War - Mark BowdenThe Selfish Gene: 30th Anniversary Edition - Richard DawkinsThe Elephant Whisperer - Graham Spence and Anthony LawrenceThe Girl On The Wall - Jean BaggottHow to Raise the Perfect Dog: Through puppyhood and beyond - Cesar MillanThe Key To Rebecca - Ken FollettAre We Nearly There Yet?: A Family's 8000 Miles Around Britain in a Vauxhall Astra - Ben HatchThe Misremembered Man - Christina McKennaFarmer Buckley's Exploding Trousers : And other odd events on the way to scientific discovery - Stephanie PainAre You Smart Enough to Work at Google? - William PoundstoneThe Making of Modern Britain - Andrew MarrAs The Crow Flies - Jeffrey ArcherThe Happiness Equation: The Surprising Economics of Our Most Valuable Asset - Nick PowdthaveeGolden Lies - Barbara FreethyAround the World in 80 Days Junior Edition - Jules VerneMegacatastrophes! - David Darling & Dirk Schulze-MakuchMr. China - Tim ClissoldAn Atlas of Impossible Longing - Anuradha RoyWe Bought a Zoo - Benjamin MeeDaddy-Long-Legs - Jean WebsterThe Earth Hums in B Flat - Mari StrachanInflight Science: A Guide to the World from your Airplane Window - Brian CleggRequiem - Ken McClureNight Waking - Sarah MossThe World's Greatest Idea - John FarndonThe Etymologicon: A Circular Scroll through the Hidden Connections of the English Language - Mark ForsythOne Million Tiny Plays About Britain - Craig TaylorAlmost French: A New Life In Paris - Sarah TurnbullA Discovery of Witches - Deborah HarknessThe Eleventh Commandment - Jeffrey ArcherRevenge of the Tide - Elizabeth HaynesOnly Time Will Tell - Jeffrey ArcherZombie Fallout - Mark TufoThe First Time: The True Tales of Virginity Lost and Found - Kate MonroAsh - James HerbertSarah Thornhill - Kate GrenvilleVIII - H M CastorThe Joy of Sin: The Psychology of the Seven Deadly Sins - Simon LahamThe Heat of the Sun - David RainThe Dummy Line - Bobby ColeThe Hills is Lonely - Lillian BeckwithThe Thoughts and Happenings of Wilfred Price, Purveyor of Superior Funerals - Wendy JonesThe Lewis Man - Peter MayWinter of the World - Ken FolletYesterday's Gone: Season Two - Sean Platt and David WrightDeath and the Devil - Frank SchatzingPure - Julianna BaggottThe Rats - James HerbertThe Secret Diary of Adrian Mole Aged 13 3/4 - Sue TownsendTimes Echo - Pamela HartshorneTrojan Horse - Mark RussinovichHow Not To Worry: The Remarkable Truth of How a Small Change Can Help You Stress Less and Enjoy Life More - Paul McGeeDirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency - Douglas AdamsThe Hundred-Year Old Man Who Climbed Out of the Window and Disappeared - Jonas JonassonThe Dead Women of Juarez - Sam HawkenWant to Play - P J Tracy1,227 QI Facts To Blow Your Socks Off - John Lloyd, John MitchinsonSafe House - Chris EwenPlague - Lisa C HinsleyLes Miserables - Victor HugoThe Final Winter: An Apocalyptic Horror Novel - Iain Rob WrightThe Secret Garden - Frances Hodgson BurnettThe Devil Wears Prada - Laura WeisbergerThe Grass Is Singing - Doris LessingPicture Perfect - Jodi PicoultThe Horologicon: A Day's Jaunt Through The Lost Words of the English Language - Mark ForsythThe History of the World In Bite-Sized Chunks - Emma MarriottThe Snow Child - Eowyn IveyCompany of Liars - Karen MaitlandThe English Monster - Lloyd ShepherdDark Lord: The Teenage Years - Jamie ThomsonReamde - Neal StephensonThe Millenium Trilogy - Stieg LarssonThe Invisible Ones - Stef PenneyA Long Way Down - Nick HornbyA History of 20th Century Britain - Andrew MarrA 1950's Childhood: From Tin Baths to Bread and Dripping - Paul FeeneyBridget Jones's Diary: A Novel - Helen FieldingThe Mess We're In: Why Politicians Can't Fix Financial Crises - Guy Fraser-SampsonYesterday's Country Customs: A History of English Folk Traditions - Hentry BucktonThe Sisters Brothers - Patrick DeWittBright Young Things - Scarlett ThomasThe Enemy - Charlie HigsonThe Crime of Julian Wells - Thomas H CookA 1960's Childhood: From Thunderbirds to Beatlemania - Paul FeeneyViva La Revolution!: The Story of People Power in 30 Revolutions - Derry NairnBooks Purchased Pre-2012PopCo - Scarlett ThomasThe Observations - Jane HarrisThe Fire Gospel (Myths) - Michel FaberDracula: A Mystery Story - Bram StokerKidnapped - Robert Louis StevensonCK - 12 Biology 1 - HonorsCK - 12 Earth Science Honors for Middle SchoolMore Blood, More Sweat and Another Cup of Tea - Tom ReynoldsThe Legend of Sleepy Hollow - Washington IrvingGrimm's Fairy Stories - Jacob and Wilhelm GrimmGulliver's Travels - Jonathan SwiftTreasure Island - Robert Louis StevensonThe Adventures of Sherlock Holmes - Sir Arthur Conan DoyleElizabeth Street - Laurie FabianoHomicide: A Year on the Killing Streets - David SimonWojtek the Bear: Polish War Hero - Aileen OrrKilling the Messenger - Christopher WallaceNow then Lad: Tales of a Country Bobby - Mike PannettA Carpet Ride to Khiva: Seven Years on the Silk Road - Christopher Aslan AlexanderGuiness World Records: 2012The Epigenetics Revolution: How Modern Biology is Rewriting our Understanding of Genetics, Disease and Inheritance - Nessa CareyIntroducing Neurolinguistic Programming - Neil ShahDo Polar Bears Get Lonely? - New ScientistJust Henry - Michelle MagorianAncestor Stones - Aminatta FornaSapper Martin - Richard van EmdenHeart of Darkness - Joseph ConradWhile We're Far Apart - Lynn AustinHyperion - Dan SimmonsThe Drowning Pool - Syd MooreDavid Copperfield - Charles DickensA Tale of Two Cities - Charles DickensWuthering Heights - Emily BrontePets in a Pickle - Malcolm WestermanSix Seconds - Rick MofinaThe Last Man - Mary Wollstonecraft Shelly50 Facts That Should Change The World - Jessica WilliamsThe Lord of the Rings - JRR TolkienThree Men In A Boat - Jerome K JeromeExtraordinary Popular Delusions and the Madness of Crowds - Charles MackaySinema: The Northumberland Massacre - Rod GlennThe Count of Monte Cristo - Alexandre DumasThe Reluctant Traveler - Bill LumleyThe Jungle Book - Rudyard KiplingChicken, Mules, and Two Old Fools - Victoria TweadDiary of a Nobody - George GrossmithOrigin - Randolph Lalonde Edited December 18, 2013 by bobblybear Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
willoyd Posted December 28, 2012 Share Posted December 28, 2012 I found rating out of 10 quite difficult, so I'm going to somewhat simplify it and score out of 6. (I've pinched that idea from someone on here - sorry, can't remember exactly who, Willoyd maybe?) Yes, me! I'll be interested to see how you get on with it. Here's to some great reading in 2013! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nollaig Posted December 28, 2012 Share Posted December 28, 2012 There are a good few books on there I've either read or have to read (I have Quantum by Manjit Kumar on my TBR, too!) I've read PopCo by Scarlett Thomas - I wasn't very keen on it, but I loved another one of her books, The End Of Mr. Y. I'd definitely recommend it if you haven't read it already. Happy reading in 2013! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bobblybear Posted December 28, 2012 Author Share Posted December 28, 2012 Yes, me! I'll be interested to see how you get on with it. Here's to some great reading in 2013! Thanks, and to you. I thought it was you as you were the only one I could find who scored out of 6. But I couldn't find the recent post you did where you explained the reasoning behind it, so I wasn't sure. There are a good few books on there I've either read or have to read (I have Quantum by Manjit Kumar on my TBR, too!) I've read PopCo by Scarlett Thomas - I wasn't very keen on it, but I loved another one of her books, The End Of Mr. Y. I'd definitely recommend it if you haven't read it already. Happy reading in 2013! Thanks Nollaig. Unfortunately for the majority of books on my TBR list, I can't specifically remember anything about them except that I must have either been recommended them, or really liked the blurb about them. I think that's going to make it very hard deciding which ones to read first. Thanks for the recommendation of The End of Mr. Y. I've added it to my wishlist. Happy reading to you to! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
willoyd Posted December 28, 2012 Share Posted December 28, 2012 There are a good few books on there I've either read or have to read (I have Quantum by Manjit Kumar on my TBR, too!) Me too! (Agree about the TBR list too!). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
~Andrea~ Posted December 30, 2012 Share Posted December 30, 2012 The Little Friend - Donna Tartt Quantum - Manjit Kumar Three Men In A Boat - Jerome K Jerome I loved all of these. I'll be interested to read your thoughts on them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Devi Posted December 31, 2012 Share Posted December 31, 2012 (edited) Oooooh so many books I would like to read in your lists! Happy reading in 2013! I'll be following your reading journey! The Earth Hums in B Flat - Mari Strachan - This title alone has me intrigued. Edited December 31, 2012 by Devi Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chesilbeach Posted December 31, 2012 Share Posted December 31, 2012 I've read a few on your TBR, but nice to see you have both of these to read: The Earth Hums in B Flat - Mari Strachan The Thoughts and Happenings of Wilfred Price, Purveyor of Superior Funerals - Wendy Jones I loved both of them, and interesting that they have a similar setting and feel to them. I lent them both to one of my friends and she adored them too, and has since been giving them away as Christmas presents to her friends. Hope you enjoy them too. Happy reading in 2013! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nollaig Posted January 1, 2013 Share Posted January 1, 2013 The Earth Hums in B Flat - Mari Strachan The Thoughts and Happenings of Wilfred Price, Purveyor of Superior Funerals - Wendy Jones I loved both of them, and interesting that they have a similar setting and feel to them. Ooh, really? I love the sound of the Strachan one, though I haven't read it yet. I'll have to look up that other one. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brian. Posted January 1, 2013 Share Posted January 1, 2013 Of the books on your TBR 2 things jumped out at me, The Millennium Trilogy and The Dead Women of Juarez. I found The Millennium Trilogy a great series of books and it's a huge shame that no others will be coming. The Dead Women of Juarez was ok if not spectacular. Best of luck for 2013. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chaliepud Posted January 1, 2013 Share Posted January 1, 2013 How to Raise the Perfect Dog: Through puppyhood and beyond - Cesar Millan I'm not a fan of many of Cesar's methods, try You Tubing him and Alan Titchmarsh for a taster of what I mean... Would highly recommend Sheila Booth's Purely Positive Training if you are able to get hold of a copy, I've had mine about 10 years and it is one of my favourite dog training books, along with The Perfect Puppy by Gwen Bailey but I think you're past that stage with Reuben now.. A Discovery of Witches - Deborah Harkness Oh yes!!! The Snow Child - Eowyn Ivey Fantastic! The Invisible Ones - Stef Penney I must move this to the top of my wish list, I hope it's as good as A Tenderness of Wolves.. Have a fantastic 2013 BB! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bobblybear Posted January 4, 2013 Author Share Posted January 4, 2013 Of the books on your TBR 2 things jumped out at me, The Millennium Trilogy and The Dead Women of Juarez. I found The Millennium Trilogy a great series of books and it's a huge shame that no others will be coming. The Dead Women of Juarez was ok if not spectacular. I read the first two books of the Millenium Trilogy but wasn't overly impressed. However as they were so cheap I thought I should get them. I plan on re-reading them at some point to see if I was missing something. I do remember finding the plot from the first one very detailed and well planned, but Lisbeth Salander didn't strike me as a believable character. She was more of a caricature rather than someone I could relate to. The Earth Hums in B Flat - Mari Strachan - This title alone has me intrigued. Happy reading to you this year, too! If I recall correctly, it was a Kindle Daily Deal. I thought it sounded interesting, but I haven't actually gone back and read the blurb since I bought it so I have no idea what it's about. The Earth Hums in B Flat - Mari Strachan The Thoughts and Happenings of Wilfred Price, Purveyor of Superior Funerals - Wendy Jones I loved both of them, and interesting that they have a similar setting and feel to them. I lent them both to one of my friends and she adored them too, and has since been giving them away as Christmas presents to her friends. Hope you enjoy them too. Happy reading in 2013! Thanks chesilbeach! Thanks for the endorsement of these books - perhaps I shall bump them up my TBR list. They certainly have interesting titles, and I've head high praise for the Wendy Jones one. All the best for your reading in 2013. How to Raise the Perfect Dog: Through puppyhood and beyond - Cesar Millan I'm not a fan of many of Cesar's methods, try You Tubing him and Alan Titchmarsh for a taster of what I mean... Would highly recommend Sheila Booth's Purely Positive Training if you are able to get hold of a copy, I've had mine about 10 years and it is one of my favourite dog training books, along with The Perfect Puppy by Gwen Bailey but I think you're past that stage with Reuben now.. I don't mind Cesar Millan; I know he gets a lot of flak and people deem some of his methods questionable, but I do think other parts of his training (from what I've seen on TV) are quite effective. I think you almost have to take different parts of various authors and use a bit of your own judgement as well. I read one of Ian Dunbar's books about raising a puppy - my goodness, it was so depressing. At one point, he said something along the lines of your puppy will end up in a coffin if he isn't raised correctly!! It was unnecessarily harsh! I've got The Perfect Puppy - that's the main one we used when training Reuben, and it's so good I've lent it out to a few people who have been able to use it for training their grown dogs. A Discovery of Witches - Deborah Harkness Oh yes!!! The Snow Child - Eowyn Ivey Fantastic! The Invisible Ones - Stef Penney I must move this to the top of my wish list, I hope it's as good as A Tenderness of Wolves.. Have a fantastic 2013 BB! I'm really looking forward to these three. I've read great things about the first two, and I'm keen on The Invisible Ones because I loved The Tenderness of Wolves so much. Her books tend to divide opinion quite strongly, but that can only be a good thing, eh? Hope you have a great 2013, Chaliepud! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bobblybear Posted January 4, 2013 Author Share Posted January 4, 2013 Me too! (Agree about the TBR list too!). I loved all of these. I'll be interested to read your thoughts on them. Re: Quantum by Manjit Kumar, it looks like it is very highly rated, which hopefully means it's accessible for the average person. I do like reading science books, but sometimes they can be so difficult to understand it takes any enjoyment out of it! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
willoyd Posted January 4, 2013 Share Posted January 4, 2013 Re: Quantum by Manjit Kumar, it looks like it is very highly rated, which hopefully means it's accessible for the average person. I do like reading science books, but sometimes they can be so difficult to understand it takes any enjoyment out of it! Currently in the Twelve Days of Kindle sale - around £1. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bobblybear Posted January 4, 2013 Author Share Posted January 4, 2013 ^ Yeah, it was in last years 12 Day of Kindle sale as well. In fact I've noticed a couple that have been repeated like that. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
frankie Posted January 4, 2013 Share Posted January 4, 2013 Broadmoor Revealed: Victorian Crime and the Lunatic Asylum - Mark Stevens I'm jealous you have this, I really need to go and order a copy! I hope you enjoy The Secret Diary of Adrian Mole Aged 13 3/4 - Sue Townsend The Hundred-Year Old Man Who Climbed Out of the Window and Disappeared - Jonas Jonasson The Secret Garden - Frances Hodgson Burnett A Long Way Down - Nick Hornby Bridget Jones's Diary: A Novel - Helen Fielding Dracula: A Mystery Story - Bram Stoker A Tale of Two Cities - Charles Dickens These are all great novel, although in very different ways. I hope you have a really great reading year in 2013, bobblybear! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nollaig Posted January 4, 2013 Share Posted January 4, 2013 Re: Quantum by Manjit Kumar, it looks like it is very highly rated, which hopefully means it's accessible for the average person. I do like reading science books, but sometimes they can be so difficult to understand it takes any enjoyment out of it! I started reading it last year and had to stop because I just wasn't in the right frame of mind. It's quite dense (at the beginning, anyway) in the sense that it's name-dropping important names, events, discoveries and relations all over the shop and you do need to concentrate to really absorb the information - but it's definitely not difficult to understand, just a bit dense. I don't know about the rest of the book, though I'm jealous you have this, I really need to go and order a copy! I hope you enjoy I have that on my laptop Kindle, pretty sure I got it for free last year. I started reading it but never finished it (through no fault of the book's). I wonder would the file load on my Kobo... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kylie Posted January 11, 2013 Share Posted January 11, 2013 Ooh, you have loads of great books there, Bobblybear! Well, I have many of them on my wishlist/TBR pile, so I assume they will be great. I recently added The Happiness Trap to my own wishlist. The Happiness Equation sounds pretty interesting, and I would like to read Kate Grenville's books, particularly because they're set during a period of Australia's history that I love reading about, and they're set quite close to where I live (well, the first one is; I'm not sure about the others). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bobblybear Posted January 13, 2013 Author Share Posted January 13, 2013 I hope they're great, as I'm determined to get through a lot of them this year instead of buying new ones. I've just had to look up those two books on Happiness as I didn't realise I even owned them, but clearly I do. I don't normally read self-help, but The Happiness Trap seems to have many positive reviews that there must be something in it! The Happiness Equation sounds very interesting as well! I must have picked that up as a Daily Deal maybe. Sooooo many books, it's very daunting! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bobblybear Posted January 13, 2013 Author Share Posted January 13, 2013 (edited) PopCo - Scarlett Thomas Alice Butler is a twenty-something girl working in the Ideation and Design department at PopCo, a large toy manufacturer. She considers herself a bit of a loner at PopCo, an “outsider despite being firmly on the inside” and shies away from any form of popularity. PopCo staff are sent to Hare Hall in Dartmoor for a conference and Alice (among others) is selected by PopCo management to join a select group of staff to create a product which will enable them to get a foothold in the elusive market of teenage girls. At Hare Hall Alice begins receiving anonymous notes written in code, and she begins to attempt to decipher who they are from. The story alternates between current Alice and young-Alice who went to live with her grandparents from the age of ten. You get a pretty good background of her life story and there is detail both on her grandparents obsession with code-breaking, and also Alice's attempts to fit in with her peers at school. PopCo started off promisingly and I took to it immediately. I loved the code and crypto puzzles and it was explained thoroughly – all the different tools cryptoanalysts use, the most commonly used letters, the importance of prime numbers, etc. There were some really fascinating things here. But then it began to go off on a bit of a tangent. It started with Alice using homoeopathy to combat a flu and the onerously detailed descriptions which seemed to go on forever began to feel like an agenda. It was almost as though the story was put on hold to revel in the benefits of homoeopathy (maybe she should read Bad Science by Ben Goldacre ). There were also constant hints about veganism. Never mind, the story was still good so I paid no heed and carried on. Then towards the end (about 80% through), the story took a completely different tone and one of the characters began a huge diatribe about the evils of large-corporations, how we should all go vegan, and an education in how cows produce milk that was so obviously agenda-pushing that I would have given up on the book if I hadn't been so far into it. As a way of getting back at the evil corporations, this character is promoting graffiti, shoplifting and vandalism – wow, great ways to make a point! How knocking over cartons of eggs in a small corner shop gets back at the large-corporation is beyond me. Or when Alice vandalises the packaging on a PopCo product in a small independent toyshop, and walks away feeling smug like she has done her part against PopCo, I just can't believe the lack of thinking behind this. No Alice, you've done your part against the small independent businesses you are trying to protect (you stupid cow!). The author also alleges via a character that “If someone worked out how to predict primes, the Internet would crumble in a day.” and “I know for a fact that big banks and credit-card companies employ people specifically to watch what is going on in the mathematical community” and that if you were on the verge of a breakthrough of prime-number research, you’d probably end up with a bullet in your head. Yawn. I like conspiracy theories, but give me a break. She has the juvenile attitude that it would be fantastic to ‘shut the world down’, transferring millions into housing projects in poverty-stricken towns, making huge donations to worker’s pension funds and paying them out immediately, workers deleting company’s files and losing passwords, shredding documents and closing down public transport. The sentiment is nice but the idea that this will achieve what she wants is utterly stupid. On the positive side though she did mention two books which have piqued my interest: Obedience to Authority – Stanley Milgram Woman on the Edge of Time – Marge Piercy I own Woman On The Edge of Time (had it for years), but one of those I’ve never got around to reading. I think if Scarlett Thomas had stuck to the code-breaking and left the politics out of it, this would have been a 4/6 book, but I just can't get past the amateurish No Logo rip-off (with half the intelligence and thought of Naomi Klein). I can see why she shoehorned this agenda of hers into a novel, because in a stand-alone book it would be a poor, ignorant effort. (Writing this has made me quite irritable, can you tell?! ) 2/6 Edited January 13, 2013 by bobblybear Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bobblybear Posted January 19, 2013 Author Share Posted January 19, 2013 Finished my second book of the year: Three Men In A Boat. Both of them, and the one I'm currently reading are from pre-2012 purchases, so I'm pleased to start reducing that list down finally. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bobblybear Posted January 20, 2013 Author Share Posted January 20, 2013 Three Men In A Boat - Jerome K. Jerome It starts with the author having a moment of hypochondria in which he diagnoses himself with every illness from cholera to typhoid fever (except housemaid’s knee). He and his two buddies, Harris and George decide that their illnesses are brought upon by overwork and so decide to take a boat trip along the Thames. The opening chapters were the best, with some very funny moments such as packing for their trip, or the author’s recollection of transporting some smelly cheese. It slowed down a bit on the journey, where the author mentioned many historical details about the various places they visited. Apparently it was initially intended to be written as a serious travel guide. The book was more like a series of connected anecdotes, rather than a linear tale, and I found it a bit disjointed. The historical trivia about various points at their journey did have me nodding off a bit, as I didn’t have any interest in those places or hadn’t heard of most of them. I probably would have viewed these sections differently if I were planning to do a trip along the Thames. Having said that, there were still extremely funny parts along their journey, such as the Plaster-Of-Paris trout and the frustration of opening a tin of pineapples with no tin-opener. I rather stupidly didn’t realise the story was autobiographical, and I kept wondering if we would ever get to know the narrators first name. He was referred to occasionally as J., and I puzzled over it not putting together that he was Jerome K. Jerome until reading the Wikipedia page. Talk about facepalm. This was a Kindle freebie, and there were some formatting errors throughout. It was clearly based on an illustrated version, but though the illustrations were missing the description of them remained. So the beginning of some paragraphs have a little description, before starting the text, such as: “Man reading book I remember going to the British Museum one day….” It threw me to begin with, but after a while it stopped bothering me, though I think the illustrations would be quite nice. There is an illustrated version for the Kindle, which costs £1.32. It was written in 1889 and surprisingly the book comes across as quite current and undated. There are a few references which are obviously of that time, and not relevant now, but these are far and few between. 3/6 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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