bobblybear Posted December 31, 2010 Share Posted December 31, 2010 (edited) January At Home - Bill Bryson Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone - JK Rowling Ella Minnow Pea - Mark Dunn The Stand - Stephen King Blood, Sweat and Tea - Tom Reynolds The Hundred and Ninety-Nine Steps - Michel Faber Harry Potter and The Chamber of Secrets - JK Rowling Winnie-The-Pooh - A.A.Milne The Fire Gospel - Michel Faber February Room - Emma Donoghue The Zombie Survival Handbook - Max Brooks Flowers In The Attic - VC Andrews Nineteen Minutes - Jodi Picoult The Eyre Affair - Jasper Fforde March Ice Station - Matthew Reilly The Rembrandt Secret - Alex Connor Ubik - Philip K Dick The Help - Kathryn Stockett Truth Dare Kill - Gordon Ferris April IT - Stephen King Affluenza - Clive Hamilton A is for Alibi - Sue Grafton May The Life and Times of the Thunderbolt Kid - Bill Bryson The Lacuna - Barbara Kingsolver (Unfinished) The Checkout Girl - Tazeen Ahmad The General's Daughter - Nelson DeMille June Harry Potter and The Prisoner of Azkaban - JK Rowling The Redbreast - Jo Nesbo The Business of Dying - Simon Kernick Mindhunter - John Douglas July The Hobbit - JR Tolkien Watchers - Dean Koontz The Brotherhood of the Rose - David Morrell The Greatest Show on Earth - Richard Dawkins Holes - Louis Sachar The Shadow of the Wind - Carlos Ruiz Zafron Shadow - Michael Morpurgo August Before I Go To Sleep - SJ Watson A Kiss Before Dying - Ira Levin The Hunger Games - Suzanne Collins Remarkable Creatures - Tracy Chevalier The Fellowship of the Ring - JRR Tolkien September Catching Fire - Suzanne Collins The Dark Tower 1: The Gunslinger - Stephen King After You'd Gone - Maggie O'Farrell Swan Song - Robert McCammon October Mockingjay - Suzanne Collins Red Leaves - Thomas H Cook A Short History of Nearly Everything - Bill Bryson Eleven - Mark Watson Into The Darkest Corner - Elizabeth Haynes A Christmas Carol - Charles Dickens Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire - JK Rowling November The Picture of Dorian Gray - Oscar Wilde 11/22/63 - Stephen King December The Divide - Nicholas Evans A Visit From the Goon Squad - Jennifer Egan A Pale View of Hills - Kazuo Ishiguro Florence and Giles - John Harding Last Light - Alex Scarrow Salem's Lot - Stephen King Edited December 31, 2011 by bobblybear Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bobblybear Posted January 3, 2011 Author Share Posted January 3, 2011 At Home - Bill Bryson First one of the year, though technically I read more of it in 2010, than in 2011. I've been reading this one since July 2010, although I don't know why it has taken me so long to read it as it is one of the more compelling non-fiction books I've read in a while. If you have a curious mind and have an interest in useless bits of information, then this will probably be right up your alley. It covers vast amounts of information about the history of houses in England (more specifcally based on Bryson's old Church of England rectory), room by room, but goes off on so many wonderfully interesting tangents that it is really about anything to do with the way of life over the past couple of centuries. I was so overloaded with information - nearly every page holds some bit of fascinating trivia - that I wish I could remember a lot more than I actually do. I love Bill Bryson's books; there is always a bit of humour in there that give me a good chuckle every now and then. It makes me want to re-read A Short History of Nearly Everything, another one that I loved. 5/5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bobblybear Posted January 3, 2011 Author Share Posted January 3, 2011 Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone - JK Rowling I recall trying to read this book several years ago, when Harry Potter hype was in full swing, and I just couldn't get into it. This time around though, I really enjoyed it. I'm definitely going to read the others in the series, but I will try to space them out so I don't get sick of them. 4/5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bobblybear Posted January 8, 2011 Author Share Posted January 8, 2011 Ella Minnow Pea - Mark Dunn A real surprise treat of a book is this one. I've never quite read anything as original and as linguistically clever. Briefly, the story tells of a little island (I think just off the coast of America), whose only claim to fame is that the creator (a chap called Nollop) of the sentence: The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog, lived there. They had built a statue with that sentence, in honour of him. Then one day, one of the letters falls from the statue. The Council members have a meeting, and decide it is Nollop contacting them from the grave urging them to stop using this letter immediately. So they pass a law banning use of this letter, but over time the other letters begin to drop, and their use is subsequently banned from the island. The book is told in a series of letters, so over the course of the novel, the letters become more and more..."interesting"...as these people attempt to communicate with fewer and fewer letters. It's only a short novel - probably 200 pages, but it packs a lot into those pages. 5/5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bobblybear Posted January 20, 2011 Author Share Posted January 20, 2011 The Stand - Stephen King This is one of my favourite books of all time, and probably the one I have read and re-read most. You'd think after about 10 re-reads, there would be little left to keep me hooked, but I still loved it. It was good revisiting the old characters - Stu Redman, Larry Underwood, and the others - and the story which just never gets old. It's one of those books that I think my life would be a bit emptier if I'd never discovered it. M-O-O-N, that spells 'Great!', Laws yes!! 5/5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bobblybear Posted January 21, 2011 Author Share Posted January 21, 2011 Blood, Sweat and Tea: Real Life Adventures in an Inner-City Ambulance - Tom Reynolds I got this book free on my Kindle, otherwise I probably would not have bought it, being of the squeamish (yet still oddly curious ) type. As the title says, it is written by a London paramedic and is actually edited blog entries. Not bad, and certainly a bit of an eye-opener, but I would have preferred a bit more detail. 3/5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
poppyshake Posted January 21, 2011 Share Posted January 21, 2011 At Home - Bill Bryson First one of the year, though technically I read more of it in 2010, than in 2011. I've been reading this one since July 2010, although I don't know why it has taken me so long to read it as it is one of the more compelling non-fiction books I've read in a while. If you have a curious mind and have an interest in useless bits of information, then this will probably be right up your alley. It covers vast amounts of information about the history of houses in England (more specifcally based on Bryson's old Church of England rectory), room by room, but goes off on so many wonderfully interesting tangents that it is really about anything to do with the way of life over the past couple of centuries. I was so overloaded with information - nearly every page holds some bit of fascinating trivia - that I wish I could remember a lot more than I actually do. I love Bill Bryson's books; there is always a bit of humour in there that give me a good chuckle every now and then. It makes me want to re-read A Short History of Nearly Everything, another one that I loved. 5/5 Great review bobbly .. I loved 'At Home' too but I must admit that 'A Short History of Nearly Everything' was just too clever for me. I picked up bits and pieces but most of it went right over my head (you've only got to say the words particle physics to me and I'm lost.) I love Bill's writing though and his sense of humour. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kylie Posted January 22, 2011 Share Posted January 22, 2011 I'm glad you enjoyed Ella Minnow Pea as much as I did, Bobblybear. It is indeed a very clever book! I'm waiting for At Home to come out in paperback. Sounds like another great read from the great Bill Bryson. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bobblybear Posted January 23, 2011 Author Share Posted January 23, 2011 I loved Ella Minnow Pea - so original, I've never read anything like it. Mark Dunn has written another book called IBID, which is told via footnotes. Unfortunately it hasn't received very good reviews, so I think I'll hold off on that one. At Home is brilliant, like pretty much anything Bill Bryson writes. If it had been written by anyone else, I probably wouldn't have picked it up, but because I love his writing style, I knew I'd enjoy it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kylie Posted January 23, 2011 Share Posted January 23, 2011 Mark Dunn has written another book called IBID, which is told via footnotes. Unfortunately it hasn't received very good reviews, so I think I'll hold off on that one. Thanks for bringing this to my attention. I looked it up and read the bad reviews, but I don't think I'll let that put me off. It seems that everyone complains about the footnotes but I don't understand why because they all seem to know that's what it was composed of! Anyway, I can see how the idea could fail, but I'm going to find out for myself. Thanks again! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bobblybear Posted January 23, 2011 Author Share Posted January 23, 2011 The Hundred and Ninety-Nine Steps - Michel Faber This is more like a short story, rather than a full length novel you can really sink your teeth into. It is set in York, and follows a studying archaeologist on a dig, for a few weeks. I thought it was a bit of an odd book, and don't really know how to describe it. It's part budding-romance, part psychological "something", and part drama. It was just odd, but then again, I've never been a huge fan of short stories. I prefer something quite drawn out and quite deep. This seemed to have a lot to it, but at the same time it was quite shallow. I loved The Crimson Petal and the White, so was kind of hoping for something similar, but I guess that was unfair on my part, given the difference in book lengths. 3/5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Weave Posted January 23, 2011 Share Posted January 23, 2011 Great reviews bobblybear, happy reading Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bobblybear Posted January 23, 2011 Author Share Posted January 23, 2011 Thanks, Weave. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Weave Posted January 23, 2011 Share Posted January 23, 2011 Thanks, Weave. No problem bobblybear, I am a big fan of 'The Stand' too Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ladymacbeth Posted January 24, 2011 Share Posted January 24, 2011 I've just read your comment on Ella Minnow Pea - will add this to the wishlist. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bobblybear Posted January 27, 2011 Author Share Posted January 27, 2011 It is well worth a read, ladymacbeth. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bobblybear Posted January 28, 2011 Author Share Posted January 28, 2011 Harry Potter and The Chamber of Secrets - JK Rowling I'm quite getting into these Harry Potter books, though I do need a break in between them to go and read something else. I love how imaginitive these books are, and I know I would have absolutely devoured them if they'd been around when I was a child. I've only seen bits of the movies, and have not really heard about where the stories go or end up, so I'm really looking forward to see what happens at their conclusion. 4/5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
I'mRose Posted January 28, 2011 Share Posted January 28, 2011 Harry Potter and The Chamber of Secrets - JK Rowling I'm quite getting into these Harry Potter books, though I do need a break in between them to go and read something else. I love how imaginitive these books are, and I know I would have absolutely devoured them if they'd been around when I was a child. I've only seen bits of the movies, and have not really heard about where the stories go or end up, so I'm really looking forward to see what happens at their conclusion. 4/5 I must say I am a bit jealous that you have all the wonderful Harry Potter books left. They were such an important part of my teenage years and I don't regret reading them for anything. But a tiny part of me wishes that I had something so wonderful left to read. I do hope you enjoy them and wish you happy reading! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bobblybear Posted January 28, 2011 Author Share Posted January 28, 2011 I must say I am a bit jealous that you have all the wonderful Harry Potter books left. They were such an important part of my teenage years and I don't regret reading them for anything. But a tiny part of me wishes that I had something so wonderful left to read. I do hope you enjoy them and wish you happy reading! Thanks, I'mRose. I feel that way about some of my favourites, and wish I could capture that feeling of reading them for the first time again. Such a good feeling when you finish a really great book. Wow at all the books you have read allready. I'm bound to slow down at some point. As boring as it sounds, I'm trying to make sure I stick to a routine during the week, where I'm in bed by 9 - 9.30pm, so I have at least half an hour to an hour to do nothing but read. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bobblybear Posted January 30, 2011 Author Share Posted January 30, 2011 Winnie-The-Pooh - A.A.Milne I'd never actually read any of the Pooh stories, or heard all that much about Pooh before I downloaded the book from Amazon. For whatever reasons, it didn't quite grab me the way I thought it would, though I did enjoy the later chapters/stories than the earlier ones. I think it's because I couldn't quite figure them out, and they almost read like a fable, so rather than just enjoying the stories, I was over-thinking it (over-thinking Pooh! ) 3/5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Janet Posted February 1, 2011 Share Posted February 1, 2011 I'm sorry it didn't grab you. Winnie The Pooh and The House at Pooh Corner were two of my absolute favourite books when I was a child, but perhaps if I'd first read them as an adult they wouldn't appeal so much. I don't know - I just find them utterly charming. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
poppyshake Posted February 1, 2011 Share Posted February 1, 2011 Yes, perhaps you need to be a child to not over-think them. Though I listened to them recently being read by Alan Bennett and enjoyed them a lot ... he really brings them to life. I am extremely jealous that you still have Harry Potter's left to read Bobbly .. and next is arguably the best of all 'Prisoner of Azkaban' .. perfect story and hadn't quite reached the housebrick size of those that were yet to come so more comfortable to hold too Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pickle Posted February 1, 2011 Share Posted February 1, 2011 Winnie-The-Pooh - A.A.Milne I'd never actually read any of the Pooh stories, or heard all that much about Pooh before I downloaded the book from Amazon. For whatever reasons, it didn't quite grab me the way I thought it would, though I did enjoy the later chapters/stories than the earlier ones. I think it's because I couldn't quite figure them out, and they almost read like a fable, so rather than just enjoying the stories, I was over-thinking it (over-thinking Pooh! ) 3/5 I think you need to have a dad who does a great eyeore impression which he still does on occasion and I am 38 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bobblybear Posted February 3, 2011 Author Share Posted February 3, 2011 I think I must need to find my inner-child again. Poppyshake, I'm looking forward to my next Harry Potter book; I was wondering when they became brick-sized, as the two I have read haven't been too big. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kylie Posted February 3, 2011 Share Posted February 3, 2011 Book 4 is a bit hefty, and book 5 is huge. Then they get (just a little) smaller again. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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