Your Book Activity - May 2017

[Lau_Lou]

Graham Norton as in the Graham Norton? 

[Madeleine]

Yep, I saw it in Waterstone's the other day and it's had some good reviews, although I'm always wary of "celebrity" authors, as most of them wouldn't stand a snowflake's chance in hell of getting published if they weren't well-known.

[Onion Budgie]

1 hour ago, Madeleine said:

I'm always wary of "celebrity" authors

 

Me too, usually, but the Guardian review swayed me to give this one a chance, and I'm glad that I did.  It's markedly different to what you might expect.

[Lau_Lou]

I am going to have a look 

I do rather like him. 

[Janet]

 

9 hours ago, Onion Budgie said:

I'm a third of the way through Holding by Graham Norton.  Really enjoying it so far!  It's a murder-mystery set in Ireland, and it has a soft melancholy tone that I'm finding particularly appealing.  Would recommend.

That's good to know - I have it on my wish list. 

 

 

[Little Pixie]

I'm reading the last 1/4 of But enough about me : Jancee Dunn, a memoir of a woman from New Jersey who worked for Rolling Stone. It's as much about her family as it is about her; completely endearing and very funny.

[Nollaig]

I personally wasn't crazy about Norton's book - it was okay, but I do feel his celebrity status had a lot to do with its publishing/success.

 

I'm reading Girl Number One by Jane Holland. It's silly but I'm thoroughly enjoying it, these kinds of thrillers are a guilty pleasure! Nearing the end of it now.

[Janet]

I've just started The Road to Wigan Pier Revisited by Stephen Armstrong.  I am at work in an open plan office and it's hard to concentrate sometimes, but I found some 'relaxing rain' on YouTube and so tried that in the background and it worked beautifully, enabling me to switch off completely from the noise!   

 

We have a new member of staff - he's sitting opposite me.  He looks a bit like Benedict Cumberbatch!   

[willoyd]

On 13/05/2017 at 1:41 AM, willoyd said:

Still struggling with The Mill on the Floss.  I've now reached the end of my third week, and am still just over 300 pages in, with another 180 to go........Genuinely great writing, but depressing to read - maybe not the best choice at the moment (have recently had time off for work-related stress, and am still only on a part-time, phased return!).  Will try and make an effort to get on with it over the next few days though.

 

And finished it tonight.  It definitely rewarded sustained reading, and I got much more out of it as a result.  I knew I would, but found it hard to settle both because of the book itself and because of other circumstances.  As a result, it's a very difficult book to rate.  In terms of enjoyment, I would say the first two-thirds merited about 3/6.  The last third kicked up to around 5/6.  The writing is superb, so powerful - Eliot is one of THE greats.  So how to rate it?  Anything less than 5/6 strikes me as a disservice, but there was no doubt in my mind that I found prior knowledge of the book (even if scant) inhibiting, and I really didn't get into it until very late.

 

Whatever I come up with though, there is no doubt in my mind that Maggie Tulliver is one of the great heroines in literary fiction.

Edited May 16, 2017 by willoyd

[More reading time required]

On returning a book and following my toddling daughter around, I got sucked back into the world of library books.  I wasn't even looking and I ended up picking out Caitlin Moran's Moranifesto, David Mitchell's (the comedian) Thinking About It Only Makes It Worse and Matt Haig's Reasons to Stay Alive. Then whilst I was there, I decided to read up on what I might be letting myself in for with Ellie and got Steve Biddulph's Raising Girls (I'd read Raising Boys previously).

 

I started Reason's To Stay Alive alongside my other book as it seemed like it'd be a quick read.

[chesilbeach]

I'm still reading The Blessing by Nancy Mitford, although reading time is going to be limited this week, so I doubt I'll be finishing it any time soon  

[Nollaig]

I finished Girl Number One by Jane Holland, and it was pretty bad. I decided to tear through the other book I'd bought cheaply by her, Lock The Door, and it was actually a good bit more enjoyable. Her ridiculous villains with utterly implausible motives seem to be a running theme, but right up until the end of Lock The Door it was cheesy/unlikely but enjoyable.

 

Just bought a few more on Kindle now, including Ararat by Christopher Golden, which is one I'd been looking forward to coming out, so I might read that next.

[Athena]

After reading quite a bit for the past while, I find myself not really in the mood to read, even though I have several library loans left to read and they're due soon. I might just take a break from reading for a few days or something, and just hand in the loans. I don't quite feel in the mood for them at the moment.

[Lau_Lou]

5 hours ago, Athena said:

After reading quite a bit for the past while, I find myself not really in the mood to read, even though I have several library loans left to read and they're due soon. I might just take a break from reading for a few days or something, and just hand in the loans. I don't quite feel in the mood for them at the moment.

I feel the same way! I have a few books I want to finish then think I might join you and take a break for a week or two. I have had a great reading month. 

[Athena]

3 minutes ago, Lau_Lou said:

I feel the same way! I have a few books I want to finish then think I might join you and take a break for a week or two. I have had a great reading month. 

 

I'm glad you had a great reading month and I hope the break helps you .

[chesilbeach]

I'm still short on reading time at the moment (although I could be reading now instead of posting on the forum! ) but I've managed another couple of chapters of The Blessing and I'm enjoying it enormously.  I was lukewarm with The Pursuit of Love, but enjoyed listening to Love in a Cold Climate, so glad I persevered with Nancy Mitford's books.

[Little Pixie]

On 16/05/2017 at 2:04 PM, More reading time required said:

On returning a book and following my toddling daughter around, I got sucked back into the world of library books.  I

 

You think you`re out... then they pull you back in again.

[Lau_Lou]

7 hours ago, Athena said:

 

I'm glad you had a great reading month and I hope the break helps you .

thank you  and you too. 

 

[Athena]

15 hours ago, chesilbeach said:

[...] (although I could be reading now instead of posting on the forum! ) [...]

 

Been there, done that, haha.

 

15 hours ago, Little Pixie said:

You think you`re out... then they pull you back in again.

 

Been there, done that too!

 

9 hours ago, Lau_Lou said:

thank you  and you too.

 

Thanks !

 

So far I'm not really feeling like reading, but I do plan to look at my books later and see if anything inspires me.

[More reading time required]

I finished Reasons to Stay Alive (I knew it'd be a quicky read!) yesterday. As someone who's suffered from depression in the past, it was quite an insightful read and I could empathise with what the author went through, though it's not a book that really gives you any help as to how to battle it, if you are going through it. I think it'd be more useful for someone to read who is having to live with someone with depression.

[Little Pixie]

2 hours ago, More reading time required said:

I finished Reasons to Stay Alive (I knew it'd be a quicky read!) yesterday. As someone who's suffered from depression in the past, it was quite an insightful read and I could empathise with what the author went through, though it's not a book that really gives you any help as to how to battle it, if you are going through it. I think it'd be more useful for someone to read who is having to live with someone with depression.

 

[frankie]

On 2.5.2017 at 11:24 AM, chaliepud said:

I'm not a big thriller fan but The Passenger looks interesting, have added it to my ever growing wish list!  

 

Cool! I hope you'll like it once you get to it

 

I've started reading  When the Professor Got Stuck in the Snow by Dan Rhodes. Only a few pages in so I have no opinion. 

[chesilbeach]

Managed to fit in quite a bit of reading time yesterday afternoon and today, and I've finished The Blessing (which I loved) and also read the whole of On The Black Hill by Bruce Chatwin which I found utterly compelling.  It's also another book on my English Counties list, so I only have 4 left to go now to finish the challenge. 

[Sabitica]

I’m trying to read some more non-fiction books, so I just got ‘Lean In’ by Sheryl Sandberg through the post yesterday, which is proving to be a great and inspiring read so far! (and is teaching me a lot about feminism) 

[chesilbeach]

I've picked up The Stars Look Down by A J Cronin again but I'm going to just read one or two chapters at a time alongside other books, as I'm struggling with it a bit. Also started Spandex and the City by Jenny T Colgan.