karen.d Posted January 1, 2016 Posted January 1, 2016 Happy New Year everyone! I was pretty rubbish at updating my book log last year, so one of my reading resolutions for 2016 is to keep on top of updating this year's one. I'm also aiming to read 30 books this year. It will be a little difficult, but I'm confident that it can be done. I hope that 2016 is a great reading year for us all :-) Quote
karen.d Posted January 1, 2016 Author Posted January 1, 2016 (edited) Ratings***** Loved it**** Liked it*** It was OK** Didn't like it* Hated itJanuary(Started in 2015) ' The Truth' - Terry Pratchett **** 'Gone Girl'- Gillian Flynn ***** 'The Catastrophic History of you and me'- Jess Rothenberg *** 'Driving over Lemons'- Chris Stewart ***February 'Girl Interrupted'- Susanna Kaysen 'We need to Talk about Kevin'- Lionel Shriver **** '102 Minutes- The Untold Story of the fight to survive inside the Twin Towers'- Jim Dwyer and Kevin Flynn ****March 'Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone'- J.K Rowling (Currently Reading)AprilMayJuneJulyAugustSeptemberOctoberNovemberDecember Edited March 11, 2016 by karen.d Quote
chesilbeach Posted January 1, 2016 Posted January 1, 2016 Hope you have a good reading year, Karen Quote
chaliepud Posted January 1, 2016 Posted January 1, 2016 Have a great 2016 Karen and good luck keeping up with your blog too, that is also my aim! Quote
Nollaig Posted January 1, 2016 Posted January 1, 2016 Oooh I love all the pretty colours. Happy reading in 2016 Karen Quote
karen.d Posted January 1, 2016 Author Posted January 1, 2016 Hope you have a good reading year, Karen Thanks, the same to you! Have a great 2016 Karen and good luck keeping up with your blog too, that is also my aim! Good luck with keeping up with your book blog too! Oooh I love all the pretty colours. Happy reading in 2016 Karen Glad you like the different colours Noll! Happy reading to you too. Quote
Inver Posted January 1, 2016 Posted January 1, 2016 Hi Karen..I like you haven't given myself a stupid total...30 too, and I still haven't managed to reach it...maybe this year... Quote
frankie Posted January 1, 2016 Posted January 1, 2016 I hope you have an amazing reading year! And I hope that you can reach that reading target Quote
bobblybear Posted January 2, 2016 Posted January 2, 2016 Hope you have a great reading year, Karen. Quote
Athena Posted January 2, 2016 Posted January 2, 2016 Hey Karen! Happy New Year, and happy reading in 2016 . Quote
karen.d Posted January 2, 2016 Author Posted January 2, 2016 Hi Karen..I like you haven't given myself a stupid total...30 too, and I still haven't managed to reach it...maybe this year... I still think that 30 books a bit of a challenge (I failed my Goodreads challenge of reading 25 books last year ), but it's a do-able task. I hope you have an amazing reading year! And I hope that you can reach that reading target Thanks Frankie I hope you have a great reading year too. Hope you have a great reading year, Karen. Thanks! You too! Hey Karen! Happy New Year, and happy reading in 2016 . Thanks Athena! Quote
karen.d Posted January 2, 2016 Author Posted January 2, 2016 I've finsihed my first read of 2016! Well, technically I started 'The Truth' by Terry Pratchett in 2015 but it still counts, right? Will put up a review on it soon. Quote
Athena Posted January 2, 2016 Posted January 2, 2016 That definitely counts! I look forward to the review. The Truth is one of the Discworld books I haven't read yet. Quote
karen.d Posted January 2, 2016 Author Posted January 2, 2016 That definitely counts! I look forward to the review. The Truth is one of the Discworld books I haven't read yet. Thanks! Quote
Kylie Posted January 8, 2016 Posted January 8, 2016 Good luck meeting your reading goal this year, Karen! Looks like you're already doing well, having read two books. Quote
karen.d Posted February 15, 2016 Author Posted February 15, 2016 Whilst I haven't posted my thoughts on any of the books I have read this year (my bad!), I feel compelled to say something about 'We Need To Talk About Kevin'. Whilst I don't like the writing style of this novel, I still find this compelling. I just don't know what to make of Kevin or his mum! What does everything think of this ? (No spoilers just yet please, I haven't quite finished!) Quote
Janet Posted February 15, 2016 Posted February 15, 2016 I read this back in 2006 and I know what you mean about it being compelling. When you've finished I'll say a bit more (in tags) - I don't remember exactly when events happen so I don't want to accidentally spoil things! Quote
bobblybear Posted February 16, 2016 Posted February 16, 2016 I haven't read it, but it is on my wishlist. I know many people have mixed reviews of it....they either love it or hate it. I've seen the movie, and found it very disturbing, but I don't know how it compares to the book. Quote
Nollaig Posted February 17, 2016 Posted February 17, 2016 I tried reading it once, but didn't get very far. Quote
karen.d Posted February 27, 2016 Author Posted February 27, 2016 Happy Reading in 2016 ! Thanks! Quote
karen.d Posted February 27, 2016 Author Posted February 27, 2016 (edited) 'We need to talk about Kevin' by Lionel Shriver Firstly, forgive me if this review is a bit all over the place. It has been about a week since I finished reading this novel and I still haven't been able to exactly pinpoint my thoughts on this! Warning though, this review has spoilers. The story is told through the letters of Eva Khatchadourian, a woman whose son Kevin is in prison after murdering several of his class members, a teacher and a janitor in the school gym. The story plot from the point where Eva meets her husband, through to motherhood and finally the present day. The reasons why I can't pinpoint whether I enjoyed this novel, are varied. Firstly, I wasn't too keen on the writing style. At times the writing seemed forced and too formal. Considering the fact that the book was supposed to be constructed in an informal letter style, in my opinion each chapter would start almost in letter form and then jump into regular prose. However, I felt like the writing improved during the novel. Secondly I couldn't understand some of Eva's decisions. For example, she was adamant that she didn't want children, yet suddenly, she decides to trick her husband and get pregnant. Why did she do that?! I didn't really like the main character Eva. She was cold, selfish and in some ways, just as bad as her son...I think. I was possibly supposed to feel sorry for Eva after what her son did, but I couldn't. For example, It felt like she was actually proud of the fact that her son was such a weirdo. When her second child comes along and she is no trouble, it's like she couldn't be bothered with her. At times, this felt wrong to even be reading this book, both main characters were twisted and the subject matter, dark. However, some of the psychology highlighted in this novel was fascinating. As I said at the beginning of this review, my thoughts on this are messy. 'We need to talk about Kevin' isn't exactly the most enjoyable book I've read this year, but it's the most interesting and thought provoking. I would love to know if anyone else felt as conflicted when they read this book. Also, due to a bit of backtracking on Eva's part, did you believe Eva's account of things? Edited February 27, 2016 by karen.d Quote
karen.d Posted February 28, 2016 Author Posted February 28, 2016 'The Truth' By Terry Pratchett Before reading this novel I had only read one of the ‘Discworld’ novels, so wasn’t entirely sure whether 1. I was going to enjoy this 2. Having jumped out of the sequence of ‘Discworld’ novels (‘The Truth’ is 25th in the series), whether I was going to understand anything. I was pleased to find that this novel can be read as a stand-alone book and I really enjoyed it. The world where these books are based is concise and well rounded, and the characters are believable; considering the fact that there are vampires, wolves and talking chairs in this! The plot was engaging, although did get a little too silly towards the end. The main attraction for me, was the writing style in itself. It’s so deliciously quirky, that I chuckled through a lot of the book. The play on words and satire of the media industry, made for a refreshing change. This doesn’t take itself too seriously and is so much fun to read. If you don’t have a silly sense of humour, don’t read this book. If you want to read something fun, read ‘The Truth’. I’m looking forward to reading more ‘Discworld’ novels in future. My Rating **** Quote
karen.d Posted March 3, 2016 Author Posted March 3, 2016 Happy World Book Day! How are you all celebrating? There are no events going on in my town (boo!), but I have decided to re-read 'Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone'. I am still reading '102 Minutes- The untold Story of the fight to survive the Twin Towers', but as I'm finding this book really heavy going, I've decided to read something light along side it. I almost never read two book in one go! Quote
Athena Posted March 3, 2016 Posted March 3, 2016 I'm glad you enjoyed the last two books you read . I have both of them on my TBR. I hope you enjoy re-reading Harry Potter! Quote
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