Kylie Posted June 10, 2009 Author Share Posted June 10, 2009 I bought two books today: John Christopher: The Death of Grass Yevgeny Zamyatin: We I hope to finish Lost in a Good Book tomorrow. It's going pretty well. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lexiepiper Posted June 10, 2009 Share Posted June 10, 2009 John Christopher: The Death of Grass Ooo Gyre gave me this too read a few weeks ago, it looks really good Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kylie Posted June 10, 2009 Author Share Posted June 10, 2009 It was largely on Gyre's recommendation that I bought the book. Thanks Gyre! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kylie Posted June 16, 2009 Author Share Posted June 16, 2009 I finished reading Lost in a Good Book by Jasper Fforde last week. I really enjoyed it, although I can't help but have a little problem with the book characters, like Miss Havisham. There's a little part of me that thinks it's akin to sacrilege to use the characters in such a way, but I try to get past it and enjoy it for what it is. 8/10 I've now moved on to Vanity Fair by William Makepeace Thackeray. It's a very long novel, so I'll be reading this one for a while. I've made a slow start on it, partly due to lack of reading time, and partly due to a couple of slightly dull chapters. I think they're just about behind me though, and I'm sure the story is about to pick up (the narrator has been promising me this, after all!) I also started How to be an Alien by George Mikes last night. It's a very short book and I anticipate finishing it today. It's like a foreigner's guide to England, first published in the mid 1940s. It's not a bad little read so far; it's quaint and a light read. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chesilbeach Posted June 17, 2009 Share Posted June 17, 2009 I'm so pleased you liked Lost In A Good Book, Kylie. I know what you mean about the use of well known characters in literature, but it's all done with such warmth for the source material, and is for those of us that love books, so I can forgive the author. Plus, I went to a reception at a bookshop where he gave a talk, and he really does love the characters, the books and the authors, even if he is a little irreverent in his dealing with them! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BookJumper Posted June 17, 2009 Share Posted June 17, 2009 I know what you mean about the use of well known characters in literature, but it's all done with such warmth for the source material, and is for those of us that love books, so I can forgive the author. Plus, I went to a reception at a bookshop where he gave a talk, and he really does love the characters, the books and the authors, even if he is a little irreverent in his dealing with them! ... am I then the only one for whom the bringing to life of literary characters is the best part of Jasper's series, not something to be forgiven? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kylie Posted June 17, 2009 Author Share Posted June 17, 2009 You're probably not the only one, BJ. I just have a little trouble adjusting to the fact that Miss Havisham is suddenly running around at book sales and talking about modern things. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
paperplane Posted June 19, 2009 Share Posted June 19, 2009 I bought two books today: Yevgeny Zamyatin: We Ooh that's on my TBR list! Let me know how it goes Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kylie Posted June 19, 2009 Author Share Posted June 19, 2009 I bought three more books yesterday. I was particularly pleased to find Sarah's Quilt, which I didn't think I'd be able to find anywhere, and Bogus to Bubbly, which I'd been looking at in other bookshops, but I found it for less than half the price yesterday! Nancy Turner: Sarah's Quilt Charles Webb: Home School Scott Westerfeld: Bogus to Bubbly Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kylie Posted June 21, 2009 Author Share Posted June 21, 2009 I went on a 'book-crawl' yesterday and came home with the following: Malorie Blackman: Noughts & Crosses James Blish: Cities in Flight Ray Bradbury: The Illustrated Man John Brunner: The Jagged Orbit Roald Dahl: The Collected Short Stories Sara Gruen: Water for Elephants Stephen King: The Bachman Books Madeleine L'Engle: A Swiftly Tilting Planet Jeff Lindsay: Darkly Dreaming Dexter Terry Jones (Douglas Adams): Starship Titanic Alexander McCall Smith: Morality for Beautiful Girls Paul Stewart & Chris Riddell: Beyond the Deepwoods Paul Stewart & Chris Riddell: Midnight Over Sanctaphrax John Wyndham: Chocky I was very happy with a lot of those finds Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nollaig Posted June 21, 2009 Share Posted June 21, 2009 How did you even carry them all Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kylie Posted June 21, 2009 Author Share Posted June 21, 2009 After the first two shops, we went to my partner's house and dropped some off, then continued on to the last store, which was huge. My arms got tired from carrying all the books so I'd just dump them on top of another pile of books and come back for them after a while (it was one of those huge secondhand stores with books crammed into every nook and cranny, and boxes of books on top of each other). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lopeanha Posted June 21, 2009 Share Posted June 21, 2009 Sara Gruen: Water for Elephants That one's on my tbr list Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kylie Posted July 1, 2009 Author Share Posted July 1, 2009 I thought I'd do a summary of what I've read so far this year and what I want to read before the year ends. I've read 29 books so far, with 1 book unfinished because I lost it. This is a little over my aim of 1 book per week so I'm pretty happy with that. Three of the books were re-reads. At the beginning of the year I calculated my TBR pile at 383. It is now at 470. I'm hoping to make serious inroads into my TBR pile in the next couple of months by reading a whole lot of young adult fiction I have laying around. It seems to be cheating a little, but I really need to get the pile down a little, especially before I go to a giant bookfair in September. I'm determined not to let my TBR pile get to over 500! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DanC_84 Posted July 1, 2009 Share Posted July 1, 2009 I thought I'd do a summary of what I've read so far this year and what I want to read before the year ends. I've read 29 books so far, with 1 book unfinished because I lost it. This is a little over my aim of 1 book per week so I'm pretty happy with that. Three of the books were re-reads. At the beginning of the year I calculated my TBR pile at 383. It is now at 470. I'm hoping to make serious inroads into my TBR pile in the next couple of months by reading a whole lot of young adult fiction I have laying around. It seems to be cheating a little, but I really need to get the pile down a little, especially before I go to a giant bookfair in September. I'm determined not to let my TBR pile get to over 500! ROFL. This really isn't surprising considering that you seem to be puchasing books pretty much every day. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kylie Posted July 1, 2009 Author Share Posted July 1, 2009 I'll have you know that I haven't bought a book in 11 days! I'm starting to think that it really is an addiction though because I've been starting to think a lot about book shops in the last couple of days. It's like I need another 'fix'. And I keep reasoning to myself that because I have a little over $50 in vouchers to spend it's not like I'd be using my own money. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DanC_84 Posted July 1, 2009 Share Posted July 1, 2009 I'll have you know that I haven't bought a book in 11 days! I'm starting to think that it really is an addiction though because I've been starting to think a lot about book shops in the last couple of days. It's like I need another 'fix'. And I keep reasoning to myself that because I have a little over $50 in vouchers to spend it's not like I'd be using my own money. Yeah, I think I may have a slight problem with buying too many books but you definately have some serious issues there, lol. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ben Posted July 1, 2009 Share Posted July 1, 2009 You been to see someone about this? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kylie Posted July 10, 2009 Author Share Posted July 10, 2009 Do you think I need to, Ben? You lot aren't much help with all your wonderful recommendations! I finished Vanity Fair last week and really enjoyed it, despite the lack of any likeable characters. Of the entire cast, the only one I could really like was Dobbin, and he was a little pathetic most of the time. I knew that Becky wasn't going to be particularly likeable but I thought there would be something to redeem her. I didn't really find anything though. I eventually grew to like her husband, Rawdon Crawley, a little, and I started feeling very sorry for him, and indeed for most of them, for the terrible choices they had made. There was so much misery and so little happiness! I like the narrator, who often speaks as though he is having a conversation with the reader, and he very much influences the reader's opinion throughout the book. I did, however, find it hard to get a grip on a lot of the characters. At the beginning of the story, Rawdon Crawley was portrayed as a very shady and unlikeable character. Eventually he became more likeable but there would still be moments when I began to doubt him again. I gave it a 9/10. It won't be on my list of favourite books, maybe because it was a little long-winded at times, but I did get very much absorbed in the book and the fates of the characters. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kylie Posted July 10, 2009 Author Share Posted July 10, 2009 I've read two Trixie Belden books recently in an effort to get my TBR pile down. I think I still have 15 more to go. It's nice to know that these quick and light reads are there when I need them. It'll be sad when I finish the series though, knowing there are no more new books to read. So, Trixie Belden. The 13-year-old sleuth who uses expressions like 'Jeepers!' and has brothers and friends who are sickeningly sweet It's so much fun to get back to a simpler time. I discovered the books quite a number of years ago and have been slowly building up my collection. There are 39 in all and I'm only missing about 3 or 4. The latter books are quite rare so I'll have to fork out a bit of money for them. I also finished reading The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency by Alexander McCall Smith, another nice and light read, and I look forward to reading the rest of the series eventually. I guess they're a little similar to Trixie Belden in that they're not even close to being hardcore crime thrillers. They both have an innocence about them that is charming to behold. Today I've started reading The Thief of Always by Clive Barker, which was pretty highly recommended on this forum at some stage, as I recall. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kylie Posted July 15, 2009 Author Share Posted July 15, 2009 I finished The Thief of Always the other day. It was pretty good; a little creepy as young adult books go. I gave it 8/10. I'm back to reading PG Wodehouse's The Man with Two Left Feet and I hope to finish it tomorrow. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Weave Posted July 15, 2009 Share Posted July 15, 2009 I finished The Thief of Always the other day. It was pretty good; a little creepy as young adult books go. I gave it 8/10. I am glad you enjoyed 'The Thief of Always' I always found it a bit creepy too Kylie, especially Mr. Hood & Rictus, I remember reading it and loving the idea of all the cats Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kylie Posted July 20, 2009 Author Share Posted July 20, 2009 I finished The Man with Two Left Feet by PG Wodehouse last week. It was an excellent collection of humorous short stories, one of which had a great twist at the end. 8/10 I've also read (or looked at) Animalia and The Waterhole by Graeme Base, a brilliant Australian illustrator of children's books. His artwork is beautiful and he very cleverly hides many objects within his art so what seems to be a very short picture book can take hours to pore over as you examine every little detail. A 10/10 each. I just finished reading The Wind in the Willows by Kenneth Grahame. I thought it was a brilliant little book, full of adventure and charming descriptive writing. I didn't find Toad very likeable though although you can't help but laugh at him. Another 10/10. Now I'm reading Jasper Fforde's The Big Over Easy in time for the August reading circle. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
paperplane Posted July 20, 2009 Share Posted July 20, 2009 I've also read (or looked at) Animalia and The Waterhole by Graeme Base, a brilliant Australian illustrator of children's books. His artwork is beautiful and he very cleverly hides many objects within his art so what seems to be a very short picture book can take hours to pore over as you examine every little detail. A 10/10 each. I remember those books when I was in Primary school! There's always something new to spot each time you looked through it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kylie Posted July 20, 2009 Author Share Posted July 20, 2009 I don't remember looking at Animalia in so much detail when I was younger. I think I can appreciate it more now that I'm 'grown up'. Did you read The Eleventh Hour? That was my favourite of his and I think I'll read that one next. I got 4 of Graeme Base's books in a pack which I was thrilled with because the cost of the 4 books was the same as what I nearly paid for just 1 in the bookshop! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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