Jump to content

Recommended Posts

Posted (edited)

I am currently reading and am 70% finished with "The Left Hand of Darkness by Ursula K. Le Quin. Le Quin and the book deserve its honors.

 

if anyone is interested, Rebecca Yarros has released book 3 of the Emoyrean Series. The first 2 books in the series were blockbusters.

 

Onyx Storm (Standard Edition) (The Empyrean, 3): Yarros, Rebecca: 9781649377159: Amazon.com: Books

Edited by muggle not
Posted

Since last posting here, have finished So Long, See You Tomorrow by William Maxwell, my book for Illinois in the Tour of the US - really enjoyed it (5 out of 6 stars), followed by The Ministry of Time by Kaliane Bradley, and Elspeth Barker's collection of essays and short stories Notes From the Henhouse, neither of which quite hit the mark for me for different reasons, both 3 stars, although I loved Barker's writing.  Will be starting Orbital tomorrow, a reread for one of my book groups.  It was a 6-star read last time out in September, and am looking forward to exploring it further.

Posted

I was disappointed by The Ministry of Time, everything about it sounded so good yet though it was OK it didn't grab me in the way I was expecting.

Posted (edited)

Reading The Snow was Dirty, Georges Simenon. Not Maigret! Fits nicely with the current group read subject of Winter. And it’s very different to his Maigret books

Edited by lunababymoonchild
Posted

Just finished a quick read (an afternoon), A Sunday in Ville-d'Avray by Dominique Barberis.  Picked up in a bookshop on a whim a few days ago.  A reasonably decent read - beautifully written - but didn't really live up to the blurb, quoted reviews on back cover or initial browse. Wryly funny?  Really? 3 stars.

Getting stuck into this month's 'big' read, The Burgundians by Bart van Loo.  A Christmas present from a couple of years ago that for some reason I've long intended/wanted to read but have always seemed to have been deflected from.  Very promising start.

Posted

I am currently reading Sparkles by Louise Bagshawe which unfortunately is very dull. There is a lot of business jargon that I find very hard to follow, repetition and descriptions of what every character is wearing in vivid detail. The book is nearly 500 pages long and without the latter been so descriptive could easily be cut down by almost 200 pages. 

 

Also one of the characters has been described as having grey eyes for over half the book now she's suddenly got brown eyes 🙄

 

I have already rated a book one star this year and this will likely be the second which doesn't bode well for so early in the year. 

 

Also reading The Woman In The Window which I am also finding quite boring but very early days on that so may change. Still onwards and upwards. 

Posted

Oh that's an old one! I really enjoyed it, bit different to du Maurier's usual books.

  • Like 1
  • 2 weeks later...
Posted

My recent reads were

  • David Cooper. Existentialism. This saved me the bother of reading Heidegger or Sartre, but did not persuade me to reject Iris Murdoch's verdict that it was a mixture of Byronic romanticism and intellectual snobbery!
  • Ronald Hutton. Queens of the Wild. He examines the tales of Mother Earth, the Fairy Queen, the Mistress of the Night, and the Cailleach — fascinating figures but not "pagan survivals" as so many claim.
  • Linda Farrar. Ancient Roman Gardens.
  • The Oxford Book of Classical Verse in Translation.
  • Benjamin Lipscomb. The Women are up to Something. A collective biography of Elisabeth Anscombe, Mary Midgley, Iris Murdoch, and Philippa Foot.

Next will be Scott's Bride of Lammermoor — it will be interesting to see how close the opera is to the original.

  • 2 weeks later...
Posted

I've made another attempt with Wolf Hall and this time I am making better progress. This time I am consuming the audiobook instead of the paperback. I'm still not loving it but I am finding it a bit easier to get along with.

 

I've also made a start on Windswept & Interesting by Billy Connolly and so far I'm really enjoying it.

  • Like 1
Posted
30 minutes ago, Brian. said:

I've made another attempt with Wolf Hall and this time I am making better progress. This time I am consuming the audiobook instead of the paperback. I'm still not loving it but I am finding it a bit easier to get along with.

 

I've also made a start on Windswept & Interesting by Billy Connolly and so far I'm really enjoying it.

Would like to know how you get on with both 

Posted

I'm halfway on the Sherlock Holmes book 1. The cases and the writing has been so good so far. Will come back for an update later

Posted
On 3/7/2025 at 5:25 PM, lunababymoonchild said:

Would like to know how you get on with both 

 

I have finished both. I felt that Wolf Hall never really got going for me. From the halfway point I was kind of done with it but I stuck it out as its much easier to do that with an audiobook. I won't be picking up anymore books in the series but I may watch the TV series that has come from it. Windswept and Interesting was a much better experience and I loved it. I've always liked Billy Connolly's standup and TV shows and this book is an extension of these. It took me no time to read this book and it had me laughing out loud on numerous occasions. I never knew that he was a very accomplished folk musician until I read the book.

  • Like 1
Posted

Thank you @Brian. I appreciate that. 
 

I have Wolf Hall in paperback. When I read it at first, when it came out, I had no idea what was going on.  The TV series is very good, no problem following that.

 

As for Billy Connolly, I grew up listening to him and knew that he started out in folk music with Gerry Rafferty as The Humble-Bums. I just wondered what his book would be like. I’ll probably read this.

Posted
2 hours ago, lunababymoonchild said:

As for Billy Connolly, I grew up listening to him and knew that he started out in folk music with Gerry Rafferty as The Humble-Bums. I just wondered what his book would be like. I’ll probably read this.

 

I'll happily post you my copy if you would like it, its only going to a charity shop otherwise.

  • Like 1
Posted

I’m just about to start a book I’ve wanted to read for a long time, The Fall of Yugoslavia by Misha Glenny.

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

×
×
  • Create New...