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Your Book Activity - August 2022


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1 hour ago, timebug said:

Have no 'new' books to hand at the moment, so in the past month I have re-read all of the Colin Dexter 'Morse' novels, a couple of Dick Francis' thrillers and a Desmond Bagley that was always a particular favourite! Must get hold of something new that I want to read......

Are you saying that you don't have a TBR, a virtual TBR (also known as a wishlist) or an e-book TBR? *faints dead away in astonishment*

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On 8/17/2022 at 7:14 PM, Chrissy said:

 

Glad you are recovering. Covid seems to be sneaking up on people at the moment. 

I read the James Herriot books decades ago, and to this day there are scenes and events that I recall with complete clarity. 

In a reading slump AGAIN. So keeping busy with other things until that changes. 

 

Thanks Chrissy 😊

I first read them yonks ago too, but have re-read them several times. The original TV series is replaying on TV here so have been enjoying that too. 

Really hope you get over your reading slump 😘

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I have finished a few books over the last week or so. At the weekend I finished A Storm of Swords by George R. R. Martin which I enjoyed more than the previous book even if it did take me a while to get going with it. After that I read Concorde by Jonathan Glancey which I really didn't like very much. It's not terrible. It does contain some decent informtaion, but it's a mess and the author goes on rambling tangents far too often. Finally I finished 2666 by Roberto Bolano yesterday. I'm still trying to get my thoughts together on this book as I've not read anything quite like it before.

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I'm reading two books at once at the moment because I've been lent The Secret Life of Trees and I'm very very careful with other people's books so I only pick it up when I know I'll keep it clean and the spine unbroken, and the The Witness of the Dead by Katherine Addison is on the Kobo for when I'm in the bath or doing the sort of routine knitting that involves laying a a paper book flat on the table with something weighing down the pages so I can keep two hands on the needles.

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16 hours ago, Brian. said:

I've picked my next bunch of books to read.

  • Churchill by Andrew Roberts
  • Death is Forever by John Gardner
  • Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens

 

Let us know what you think of the Churchill book, I'd like to read a biography about him. And Where the Crawdads Sing is one of my favourite books, hope you enjoy it.

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37 minutes ago, poppy said:

 

Let us know what you think of the Churchill book, I'd like to read a biography about him. And Where the Crawdads Sing is one of my favourite books, hope you enjoy it.

 

Will do. It's a pretty huge book so I imagine it will take me some time to get through it but I should finish it before the end of the year.

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I’m making quick progress with Where the Crawdads Sing and if it wasn’t for the Liverpool match later I would probably finish it by tonight. Hopefully I have a few quiet hours at work tomorrow to finish it. 

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Just finished 'And Away....' the autobiography of Bob Mortimer. Comes axcross as a decent chap, with no artifice about him, but I was slightly disappointed to find that despite a number of friends and family telling me it was the 'funniest book' they have read, I did not think so. I have read books that I have found far more comical, but still, a decent enough book.

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Put Hope For the Best aside temporarily, as it's on my Kindle and after seeing the synopsis for Triflers Need Not Apply by Camilla Bruce I managed to get it as an ebook from the library. Based on the true story of the adventures of serial killer Belle Gunness.

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I'm finished with Where the Crawdads Sing. I really enjoyed it but I'm not sure if its a 4 or 5 star yet, I'll have to think a little longer about it. My next book will be something completely different, a football tactics book, The Immortals by Arrigo Sacchi.

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9 hours ago, Brian. said:

I'm finished with Where the Crawdads Sing. I really enjoyed it

 

Glad you did - I'm one of a small minority who felt rather differently!  I hesitate to say this, given the disparity in our views there, but Andrew Roberts is always a good read, so hope you enjoy Churchill.  I've got it on the shelves, but it's still TBR.

 

Just finished reading Chris Mullin's A Very British Coup for one of my book groups.  We all agreed, that the best word to describe this was 'pedestrian'.  It was a pleasant enough light read, but I found it both cliched and very predictable.  2 stars (out of 6).  Am currently reading Andrea Wulf's The Invention of Nature as a follow-up to Daniel Kehlmann's Measuring the World  (which I thoroughly enjoyed - 5/6), and it's proving highly readable.

 

Having said that, have been definitely struggling to get going with my reading lately - the biggest dip I've had in over a decade.  Just can't settle to it.  Seems to have manifested itself the last couple of months, and don't really know why.

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13 hours ago, willoyd said:


Am currently reading Andrea Wulf's The Invention of Nature as a follow-up to Daniel Kehlmann's Measuring the World  (which I thoroughly enjoyed - 5/6), and it's proving highly readable.

 

Having said that, have been definitely struggling to get going with my reading lately - the biggest dip I've had in over a decade.  Just can't settle to it.  Seems to have manifested itself the last couple of months, and don't really know why.


I have the Wulf on TBR and am interested in what you think of it once you're finished.

 

Sorry about your reading slump, I hope that it improves soon

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I finished The Immortals by Arrigo Sacchi and while it was a decent read I was left wanting more from a tactical standpoint. After that I decided to go back to a familiar character, Harry Hole, and start Knife, the 12th book in the series.

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Brief break from The Invention of Nature to read Diana Athill's Somewhere Towards The End for one of my book groups.  It's a short, mere 178-page, read that took an evening to complete.  I've been looking forward to this as I've heard a lot about her writing without having tried it out myself, although the theme (that of experiencing old age) is not one I relished - in my early 60s it's not something I really want to linger on as it'll happen quickly enough (it might even be in some eyes that I'm experiencing it already!).  In the event, I found it, surprisingly, a disappointment: a series of ruminative short essays (chapters), some on aspects of old age but many more focused on reminiscence, that ultimately proved rather tedious and not especially illuminating.  That could, of course, be down to my lack of perspicacity: put it down to old age.  2 stars out of 6.

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I have been ABSOLUTELY OBSESSED with Musicals these last couple of months. I finished Cats and then watched ALL the accessible adaptations of it and now am poring over Les Miserables!! and can't wait to get to all the adaptations of it that I can get my hands on

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