SaraPepparkaka Posted November 18, 2009 Author Share Posted November 18, 2009 Long books = perfect beach/poolside reading. The boys are good swimmers so I only have to keep the occasional eye on them, and husband was diving so I had no need to be social either. "Moby Dick" FELT long, but with "World without end" I just kept on turning pages never really noticing how many pages I actually turned Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SaraPepparkaka Posted November 27, 2009 Author Share Posted November 27, 2009 Reading has been on low priority, and all kinds of activities and Christmas cleaning and and and.. has been on high priority. But now all the scouting badges are sewn onto the brand new scout shirt, the present for the birthday party tonight is wrapped, we actually have food in the fridge, babysitter arranged for tonights visit to the cinema, I bought fabric for new Christmas curtaind to the kitchen and my Mom promised to make the curtains, busy busy busy with a million things. I read a few romantic Christmas short stories. I guess it will be time for Dickens soon. Not yet, but soon. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SaraPepparkaka Posted December 3, 2009 Author Share Posted December 3, 2009 I've lost count of the short stories I've read this week where a well-placed mistletoe gives the "happily ever after" -ending.. I also read a book about bandits on Sicily, Sardinia and Corsica, by Maud Webster. A non-fiction, but it was short and only touched the subject on the surface. Anyway- it was THE nonfiction book that completed my non-fiction category, and the whole challenge, in my librarything 999 challenge (nine books in nine categories, read in 2009). Now I've started on an Andy McNab book that I found in a second hand bookstore. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SaraPepparkaka Posted December 13, 2009 Author Share Posted December 13, 2009 Finished the Andy McNab, it was called "Deep Black". Not the kind of book I've been reading lately, and also very pessimistic. Not a bad read. The I read "Persepolis" by Marjane Satrapi, a real surprise from my Secret Santa. I found it interesting. I picked up "The lies of Locke Lamora" by Scott Lynch, started over and read all of it this time. It was an uneven book, sometimes it was brilliant, and at other times I almost fell asleep. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SaraPepparkaka Posted December 20, 2009 Author Share Posted December 20, 2009 Another bunch of books read. "Living with the dead" by Kelley Armstrong- yeah, I still like Women of the Otherworld. Nothing spectacular or surprising. Janet Evanovich "Visions of Sugarplums"- did not like, even if I 've read a few of the Stephanie Plum books and liked them. No plot as I could see, and a random new guy thrown in just to confuse things. Caitlin Kittredge "Street Magic"- good solid urban fantasy, a promising start to a series. "Already dead" Charlie Huston. Now, I didn't appreciate the storyline, and some of the writing rubbed me the wrong way. But I have a weak spot for wiseguys, so I enjoyed myself just the same. "Heart of Stone" C E Murphy. And what genre? Why, urban fantasy, of course. Better than "Street Magic" and "Already dead", interesting plot, the main character is strong and knows what she wants. There was a (fairly central to the story) moment where I felt that the gargoyle Alban acted totally out of his character, but other than that I thought it had everything. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SaraPepparkaka Posted January 7, 2010 Author Share Posted January 7, 2010 I'm really trying to remember what I have read since Christmas.. The best one was Carlos Ruiz Zaf Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
frankie Posted January 8, 2010 Share Posted January 8, 2010 I'm really trying to remember what I have read since Christmas.. The best one was Carlos Ruiz Zaf Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SaraPepparkaka Posted January 8, 2010 Author Share Posted January 8, 2010 Yes, I think I will try to find "The Angel's Game". Is it just as good? Similar in style? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
frankie Posted January 8, 2010 Share Posted January 8, 2010 Yes, I think I will try to find "The Angel's Game". Is it just as good? Similar in style? I haven't actually read it yet and I don't know many (if any?) people who have read it either so I don't know yet But it's the prequel to the Shadow of the Wind and I'm thinking it's supposed to be the same kind of style. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SaraPepparkaka Posted January 12, 2010 Author Share Posted January 12, 2010 I visited the trusted local library this weekend, and found some very interesting reading material. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SaraPepparkaka Posted January 31, 2010 Author Share Posted January 31, 2010 Well, I still haven't been reading so much. Mostly coughing and sneezing. I went "winter-swimming" yesterday, and I really think I left the flu in the water, I'm feeling so good today. I expandend my horizons and read a graphic novel- "Death- the high cost of living" by Neil Gaiman. Since I love what Neil Gaiman writes, I guess it wasn't that much of a new thing, though. I sure liked the story. I've also read "A thousand splendid suns" by Khaled Hosseini. I wasn't prepared for it to be so melodramatic, but an OK read and lots of new things to learn, it's not like I knew all that much about Afghanistan. I was inspired by my Secret Santa gift ("Persepolis"- Marjane Satrapi), and will try to do a challenge to read a book from every country in the world. OK, so I settled for every country that is a member of the United Nations, and a writer who's born in that country. It will be a long-term challenge, but still nice to have a reason to look for new authors that otherwise wouldn't cross my path. By the way, if anyone knows any good Albanian writers, do tell me. I've also read "Demon bound" by Caitlin Kittredge, and I recommend the "Black London"-series to fans of Harry Dresden. And I read the first book in the trilogy about Damiano Delstrego by R A Macavoy (called "Damiano")- thank you very much Bookmooch for that trilogy, and the person from New Zealand who found it in his/her heart to send those books around the world. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SaraPepparkaka Posted February 12, 2010 Author Share Posted February 12, 2010 I just finished "Anansi Boys" by Neil Gaiman, and I enjoyed it very much, no surprise there. I think my least favourite Neil Gaiman book is "American Gods". I've also read "Dissolution" by C J Sansom, a historical mystery (murders in a monastary- yay!). I thought the main character Matthew Shardlake was very sympathetic, and I have ordered more books in this series, since it really seemed to fit my reading taste right now. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
frankie Posted February 12, 2010 Share Posted February 12, 2010 Glad you enjoyed Dissolution so much Sara, I happened to find the whole series in a secondhand bookstore and just because the books were so pretty I had to read the blurbs and they sounded really intriguing. I haven't read them yet but I expect I shall enjoy them a lot. It's always nice to find a great new series isn't it, and there's actually a fifth book coming later this year Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SaraPepparkaka Posted February 12, 2010 Author Share Posted February 12, 2010 Always glad to have informed insights- it seems I have ordered the rest of the series now if there are only four books. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SaraPepparkaka Posted February 17, 2010 Author Share Posted February 17, 2010 I've read two mysteries, one by Robert Goddard that I can't find an English title for just now- funny enough since it must be written originally in English. Anyway- a guy finds out that his uncle isn't dead as he was always told, but rather has been in jail in Ireland for over 30 years. The uncle is mysterious of course and won't tell why he's been in prison and the adventure takes us to Antwerpen and involves paintings and diamonds. And then "Taste for death" by PD James. I can't say if I've read any other Adam Dalgliesh-mystery, but it's certainly a police I've heard of. I found the book to be on the slow side. On the other hand I have all the time in the world to read right now. And if you want to know why I have that- check my personal thread. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SaraPepparkaka Posted February 19, 2010 Author Share Posted February 19, 2010 So, books read since last time: R A Macavoy, "Damiano's lute" and "Raphael", books two and three in a fantasy trilogy about Damiano Delstrego, a witch (male) from Italy. I tend to enjoy RA Macavoy's books, and have to say that book #1 in the trilogy was the least interesting of the three. And there's nothing standalone about these books, they need to be read in order. A good reading experience. I have also read a Danielle Steel-book, "Lone Eagle", but unfortunately it was as I suspected, that I would have been better off not going back to Danielle Steele since I'm way past my teens. So, what makes RA Macavoy so much better than Danielle Steele in my opinion is that the former has her characters grow and change and develop, while in this DS book at least, there was no character development after the first few pages, when it was established that the main character was just perfect in every single way. Rich, beautiful, self-confident, funny, clever.. you get the picture. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SaraPepparkaka Posted February 21, 2010 Author Share Posted February 21, 2010 I've read a Norwegian police story, "The Redeemer" by Jo Nesbo. Norwegian mystery/detective/police stories might not be as famous as the Swedish ones, but I find them quite similar in style. This was a Croatian hit man, but the true criminal was in the Salvation Army. Quite a complex story. For some reason Swedish books are quite cheap to buy in Finland,so I have some Swedish mysteries unread as yet, and also another Norwegian. I'll be allowed home for a short visit this afternoon, so I'll take the opportunity to bring some books from the decreasing TBR pile. The thought- I might actually be totally without a TBR pile of books if this goes on. I found "The Lovely Bones" by Alice Sebold on the bookshelf here in the hospital, a pleasant surprise since I had planned to read it at one point but not gotten around to it. So, now I have. A very original idea, and if I were to write a book like that there would certainly be a lot of bitterness, but I'm glad this book didn't have that element of bitterness. Instead it painted a lovely picture of what connects people to each other and also what separates them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BigWords Posted February 22, 2010 Share Posted February 22, 2010 I keep hearing good things about The Lovely Bones, so it's creeping to the top of my TBR pile. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
frankie Posted February 22, 2010 Share Posted February 22, 2010 Surprisingly many people on this forum have found Lovely Bones to be a bad read and I've only noticed a very few members to have liked it (I belong to the latter group). I think it's because in other countries this book has been hyped so much that people were expecting the most miraculous book ever. Over here it hadn't been hyped at all when I quite randomly chose to read the book and found it amazing. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SaraPepparkaka Posted February 22, 2010 Author Share Posted February 22, 2010 (edited) I have to say that I read the "The lovely bones" also without hearing so much about it, only that it might be worth looking at. It's not even close to Markus Zusak, but it's a small-scale lovely story. Today I've read "In Edited February 23, 2010 by SaraPepparkaka spelling Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SaraPepparkaka Posted February 23, 2010 Author Share Posted February 23, 2010 Today's book is read. A Swedish mystery, Camilla L Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SaraPepparkaka Posted February 24, 2010 Author Share Posted February 24, 2010 (edited) Now for my reading today. Another Swedish book, this time by Per Anders Fogelstr Edited February 24, 2010 by SaraPepparkaka spelling Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SaraPepparkaka Posted March 8, 2010 Author Share Posted March 8, 2010 I've been reading "Dark Fire" by C J Sansom, off and on, one chapter at a time basically, but I finally finished it this morning. There was a lot more action than in the first book, but I have to say that the mystery was clever, I didn't know how it would end. And for good measure I read the one book by Markus Zusak that I hadn't read before- Fighting Ruben Wolfe. It was a short YA, so it was a fast read. I liked it, but it's the one of his books that I liked the least. I realize I'm very far from the target audience for this book.. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SaraPepparkaka Posted March 12, 2010 Author Share Posted March 12, 2010 For my Librarything challenge (one book for every UN memeber state) I've read Ismail Kadare Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SaraPepparkaka Posted March 19, 2010 Author Share Posted March 19, 2010 I've read a really interesting book: "Half of a yellow sun" by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie. I cared for the characters very much, especially the two twin sisters and their very complicated relationship to each other. I also found the book to be very educational, since Nigerian history and Biafra is something very new to me. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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