Claire's book list 2014

[Kidsmum]

I'm impressed Claire only 1 book bought this month, your the very model of restraint 

 

I went to a quilting class years ago but i didn't stick with it , i still have the fat quarters in a bag at the back of the wardrobe  Are you using a machine or doing it by hand ?

[chesilbeach]

I'm impressed Claire only 1 book bought this month, your the very model of restraint 

Thanks - I'm impressed with myself!

 

I went to a quilting class years ago but i didn't stick with it , i still have the fat quarters in a bag at the back of the wardrobe  Are you using a machine or doing it by hand ?

The class is all hand sewing, partly because lots of it is very small piecing, but also the teacher thinks for learners it's better and you spot mistakes earlier, and it's easier to unpick if necessary. I do intend to do some machine patchwork in the future, but I have to build up the nerve to try using my machine again.   

[Kidsmum]

 

The class is all hand sewing, partly because lots of it is very small piecing, but also the teacher thinks for learners it's better and you spot mistakes earlier, and it's easier to unpick if necessary. I do intend to do some machine patchwork in the future, but I have to build up the nerve to try using my machine again.   

 

I would have preferred a hand sewing class, i think it's easier to find the time to pick up & do a bit of work than when you've got to get the machine out & set all up...... more enjoyable too 

[chesilbeach]

You're right, I think people who have the space to set aside for their machine so that it doesn't have to be set up again every time they want to use it, would probably get on much better with that method, but I do enjoy hand sewing.  I will definitely try to have a go with my machine at some point though.

[chesilbeach]

It was rather strange reading All Creatures Great and Small by James Herriot as I felt I already knew all the characters and stories because the television series had been a staple of our home viewing when I was little.  I wondered whether the adaptation would spoil my reading, but actually, it felt like I was visiting old friends and learning more about their lives before I knew them.  The book is actually two and a half of the original series of memoirs, and takes us from meeting James just after he has qualified as a vet, through his first meeting and interview with Siegfried, and his first years at the practice, and meeting his future bride, and ends on their honeymoon.
 
I read this as part of the English Counties challenge, and I absolutely loved it.  I did learn new things about James - he's actually Scottish, and not English as portrayed in the television series - but I also got more of Siegfried's eccentricities, Tristan's fun loving nature and the inflammatory nature of their relationship.  But what is also glorious, and perfectly suited to the Challenge, is that there is a wonderful sense of place in the writing.  You get to know the people, the society and the landscape, while hearing tales of unreliable cars, treating sick animals, beautiful and treacherous weather, and all centred around the county of North Yorkshire.
 
Lovely book, and I would probably never have read it if it hadn't been for the challenge, so it's proving itself worth the effort!

[pontalba]

Oh, I loved both the TV series, and the books too!  Some of the few stories that can make me cry.

 

We had a peke, and I sort of named him after Tricky Woo......ours was Mickey Moo. 

[Athena]

I haven't seen or read anything by James Heriot, but my grandma has been talking about him for a while now. I don't remember if she likes the TV series or the books or both, but she's always very positive about his work. I might give the book a go at some point.

[chesilbeach]

Been a bit absent from here recently, but just an update on some recent book acquisitions ...
 
I found two more books for my English Counties challenge in the Oxfam bookshop - The Pursuit of Love by Nancy Mitford and The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes by Arthur Conan Doyle.  I've started The Pursuit of Love (although I put it aside as it wouldn't fit in my bag, but have picked it up again today), and I'm enjoying it so far!
 
A couple of Kindle books I had on pre-order have been published and wound their way onto my Kindle - The First Rebellion by M. C. Beaton and Wild Things by Chloe Neill.
 
I've bought another couple of M. C. Beaton books on the Kindle Daily Deal - Banishment and The Scandalous Lady Wright.
 
Finally, I've been given some books as presents over the last couple of weeks - Kay kindly sent me a Persephone book - Miss Ranskill Comes Home by Barbara Euphan Todd   and my OH treated me to four of the Waterstone's Children's Book Prize 2014 shortlist at the weekend when we were browsing in the Bridport shop - The Last Wild by Piers Torday, Rooftoppers by Katherine Rundell, Shiverton Hall by Emerald Fennell and The School for Good and Evil by Soman Chainani  
 
Lots of acquisitions, but not very much money spent, so it's been a good month so far!

[Athena]

I hope you enjoy your new books !

[Weave]

Happy reading

[poppyshake]

 I've started The Pursuit of Love (although I put it aside as it wouldn't fit in my bag, but have picked it up again today), and I'm enjoying it so far!

Very happy to hear this Claire  

 

Sounds like you've got some great books to read .. I noticed Rooftoppers when I last went in to Waterstone's .. very eye catching cover with the Eiffel Tower on it if I'm not mistaken .. I'm intrigued already  Have you heard of/read The London Eye Mystery? .. again the cover caught my eye .. I've looked it up since and the reviews are good so I'm tempted.

[chesilbeach]

Thanks Kay, I'm going to pick up The Pursuit of Love again when I go back to work, as it'll fit in my bag then!

After I've read Rooftoppers, I'll put it in the pile for books to lend you, as I think it's going to be good.  I hadn't heard of The London Eye Mystery but I remember you pointed it out to me in Waterstone's on Thursday - I've added it to my wish list, and it's only £2.99 on Kindle, so it's not going to break the bank.  I've never read any Siobhan Dowd, but she's the author who had the original idea for A Monster Calls but died before she could write it, so Patrick Ness was asked by Dowd's agent. I'd like to try some of her books, so this is as good a place as any, I guess.

[chesilbeach]

As at the start of 2014
TBR: 34 books (excludes any books I own on my challenge lists)
Jane Austen reading list: 18/24 books read = 75% complete
J. L. Carr reading list: 3/8 books read = 38% complete
E. H. Young reading list: 0/13 books read = 0% complete
Persephone reading list: 6/104 books read = 6% complete
English Counties Challenge: 7/48 books read = 15% complete
 
 
Current status as at end of February
Books purchased: 10
   3 pre-order (£4.67)
   3 Kindle daily deals (£2.97)
   4 second-hand for English Counties challenge (£9.96)
Books received as presents: 6
Books read: 15
Abandoned books: 0
TBR: 34 books
Jane Austen reading list: 18/24 books read = 75% complete
J. L. Carr reading list: 4/8 books read = 50% complete
E. H. Young reading list: 0/13 books read = 0% complete
Persephone reading list: 7/104 books read = 7% complete
English Counties Challenge: 11/48 books read = 23% complete

Edited March 2, 2014 by chesilbeach

[Athena]

Great progress ! Did you enjoy most of your reads?

[Weave]

Well done Claire

[chesilbeach]

The Rook by Daniel O'Malley opens with a letter - Myfanwy Thomas is reading the first one of two she has found in her pocket when she wakes up in a London park with no memory of who she is.   She's surrounded by a ring of motionless bodies all wearing latex gloves, with no idea what has happened.  The letter tells her the body she is inhabiting is the one that used to belong to another Myfanwy Thomas, and she gradually learns that the previous Myfanwy was a Rook, a member of the Checquy - a secret organisation that deals with supernatural society in the UK, and that she is in great danger from an unknown threat.
 
The story follows her as she learns all about this new life she has found herself in, as she investigates who is trying to kill her, and what the threats to the Checquy are.  Her previous self has left her a vast written history in letters, and this technique is how the author tells the history of this fantastical society and develops the world he wants to build.  What I found was this lead to almost the whole of the first two thirds being about description and development of the world, before he could get to the nuts and bolts of the story.  While I was reading it, I was really wishing that I could somehow have all that information implanted into my head so that I could just get to the story, but when the story explodes into the thriller that it really is, it starts to move at a fair old pace.  After I'd finished reading all the development, I realised I'd actually been completely involved it, and I really felt that I knew where I was in the story.
 
Unfortunately, when the plot kicks in, I was actually a bit disappointed.  Up until then, it had felt fantastical (I know I've already used that word, but I can't think of another that better suits it) but kind of believable.  The final third, though, suddenly becomes more and more removed from reality, with some gruesome events, and it lost me a bit then.  It's not that it's bad, it's just that it's not my cup of tea, and it moved away from what I was hoping for.
 
It's the first book that the author has written about the Checquy, but is planning more, and after having developed the world so well, he'll be able to jump head first into the plot for future stories.  I liked his writing style, and the tone on the whole, and I certainly never felt like I'd give up on it, but I just think that for me, it's just not the sort of story I enjoy and would want to read more of.

[chesilbeach]

My book group chose to read Dark Matter by Michelle Paver for our February book, and it's Paver's first adult book.  I've read all but one of her children's books and absolutely loved them, but this book is a ghost story, and not something usually within my comfort zone.

 

The book is starts in early 1937, and Jack is offered a place on an Arctic expedition to work as the wireless operator.  The rest of the group are wealthy and privileged, and Jack initially he feels his class would be a barrier between him and the rest of the group, but with talk of war hanging in the air, he decides he must go.  The group of five leave for the Arctic, with their eight huskies, but when the Norwegian ship's captain changes his mind on route to Gruhuken, the bay that will be their home for the next year, saying he won't take them all the way saying the bay is bad, leaving the men on edge but they forge on regardless.

 

As the Arctic summer turns to the winter, when the polar night falls for months on end, different woes befall the group, and Jack's diary recounts the story with and increasing sense of menace, and the ghost story takes hold.

 

What I love about Paver's children's books is her descriptions of landscape and nature, and the place that people have in them, and she uses this to great effect in Dark Matter too.  I really felt like I could picture the Arctic bay, the experience of the elements around the men, and the all pervading darkness of 24-hour nighttime.  She builds the sense of menace of the ghostly presence, and you really feel the growing terror of Jack.  

 

Now, as I've already said, I'm not a great reader of ghost stories, but I'll spoiler tag my thoughts on it, just to be on the safe side …

 

I assume that there is always an element of ambivalence about the reality of the ghost in a ghost story, and those who believe in ghosts can believe that there is a presence in the bay, and those who don't can believe that this is a psychological trick that the mind has played on Jack in this desolate landscape and the situation he finds himself in.  I personally believe that this is all in his mind, and that as an unreliable narrator who experiencing such isolation from human contact and in a world of almost constant darkness, that the nuggets of the ghost stories that have been suggested by the ship's captain play on Jack's mind and he believes in the ghostly manifestation as a result.

 

I loved reading Paver's writing in this book, but I would say that because I'm not a fan of ghost stories, I didn't enjoy it anywhere near as much as her children's books, although they too, have spiritual and ghostly elements, though I would definitely recommend reading it for the descriptions alone.

[Athena]

Great reviews ! I haven't read either of the two books. It's a shame you were disappointed by The Rook.

[Devi]

I have Dark Matter sitting on my shelf.

 

I went and picked it up and flicked through it, might have to push it up the pile.

[bobblybear]

Nice review of Dark Matter. It has been on my radar for a little while, and I thought I had bought it, but apparently not. It wasn't even on my Amazon wishlist (well, it is now ), which surprised me as well as I thought I'd added it a while back.

[willoyd]

I'm no big aficionado of ghost stories either,  but really enjoyed Dark Matter too.  In my teens I spent a few weeks on a deserted part of the Icelandic coast up in the north west peninsular and, whilst it wasn't as spooky, it brought memories of those weeks flooding back, it was so 'of the place'.  And then there was the ghostly aspect which, unusually, did grab me! 

Edited March 17, 2014 by willoyd

[chesilbeach]

I came across this YouTube interview on the R&J Book Club with Michelle talking about Dark Matter and was surprised to find that as far as she's concerned ...

 

 

There is no ambivalence about the ghost - it's a real manifestation of a ghost, and not in Jack's mind.

 

 

It's only 10 minutes, and quite interesting to hear her talk about the book, if anyone's interested, but I would recommend watching after reading the book, if you intend to read it!

[chaliepud]

That's how I read it Claire, so I'm glad Michelle said that! I'm not a fan of ghost stories either but I enjoyed this as I always enjoy atmospheric and descriptive books.

[vodkafan]

Thanks for your review Claire, I think I have this one waiting on my kindle.....seems worth a look anyway.....I didn't read your spoiler.

[frankie]

I'm very late to this thread (I've been very late to most reading logs this year ), I hope you have a wonderful year of reading in 2014!

 

 

Despite reading more books in 2013 than in any previous year (which wasn't intentional, it just sort of happened!), it was actually a bit of a damp squib, with very few top rated reads, and most of the ones I did have were re-reads.  I was entertained with some easy reads, but on the whole, I think I need to take a more considered approach to my book choices in order to improve the reading experience this year.  My plan, therefore, is to try and concentrate on the books either already on my TBR, or in the book lists in the above posts.

Isn't that just such lovely thing to happen?

 

I'm sorry the quality of your reads wasn't quite up to par with the quantity, though. But you don't seem the sort to dwell on that, I like it that you instead try and learn from it and make things different this year

 

Of course, none of my reading plans usually come to fruition, so I'm not going to beat myself up about this, I just want to enjoy my reading as usual.  I've got a few other projects on the go at home so reading time may be limited, but I have no intention to try and read a particular number of books this year, and I don't care if I read much lower numbers than in previous years.  Having said that, if I'm inspired, you never know, I might still be up there when I come to look back at the end of December.

I applaud your cool calm, I think ^ that is the best way to go about one's reading year

  

There's a TV adaptation with Richard Armitage????  I have to see that!  North and South officially bumped up the TBR list.

Four question marks for Richard Armitage? I don't know who he is but I definitely had to google after that He does not hurt my eyes...

Edited April 9, 2014 by frankie