lauraloves Posted August 21, 2011 Share Posted August 21, 2011 I want to start reading Lord of the Rings next, but I'm a bit nervous. I've tried it before and couldn't get on with it, though I loved the films. :sos: I really enjoyed LOTR, having seen the films before reading the books I thought I wouldnt be able to get into them, but I really enjoyed them! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bobblybear Posted August 29, 2011 Author Share Posted August 29, 2011 The Fellowship of the Ring - JRR Tolkien Everyone knows the storyline of The Lord of the Rings, so I'll skip the synopsis. I loved this book. I had attempted to read it maybe 10 years ago, and had to give up on it, but I honestly don't know why! OK, I have to admit, I skipped the verses and the singing, but the story had me hooked. The movie follows the book quite closely, so I knew where the story was going but that didn't detract from reading it. There's something so appealing about ordinary, peace-loving folk like Hobbits being the heroes of the story. I watched the movie (and The Two Towers) again yesterday too. Great stuff! 5/5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
anisia Posted August 29, 2011 Share Posted August 29, 2011 I want to start reading Lord of the Rings next, but I'm a bit nervous. I've tried it before and couldn't get on with it, though I loved the films. :sos: I managed to read LOTR after two tries a while back. I always thought the first book was great and I loved it, it's after that I had trouble with. Such long descriptions! I saw you read The Fellowship of the Ring and enjoyed it, hope you like the rest just as much Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bobblybear Posted August 29, 2011 Author Share Posted August 29, 2011 Thanks, Anisia. I hope I find the other two as good as the first, though I do have to take a break in between them. They are a bit full on! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lauraloves Posted August 29, 2011 Share Posted August 29, 2011 The Fellowship of the Ring - JRR Tolkien Everyone knows the storyline of The Lord of the Rings, so I'll skip the synopsis. I loved this book. I had attempted to read it maybe 10 years ago, and had to give up on it, but I honestly don't know why! OK, I have to admit, I skipped the verses and the singing, but the story had me hooked. The movie follows the book quite closely, so I knew where the story was going but that didn't detract from reading it. There's something so appealing about ordinary, peace-loving folk like Hobbits being the heroes of the story. I watched the movie (and The Two Towers) again yesterday too. Great stuff! 5/5 Yay! Glad you enjoyed The Fellowship of the Ring I did skip some of the songs too though! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Weave Posted August 30, 2011 Share Posted August 30, 2011 The Hunger Games - Suzanne Collins I loved this book!! How can you not love a story with such a great main character - vunerable, but strong teenage girl. Briefly, the book is set in an indeterminate time in the future (I think following some kind of great war?), in what was formerly North America (now called Panem). Panem is divided into 12 districts, and every year 2 children are selected from each district to compete in The Hunger Games. I was only a quarter of the way through this book, when I had to immediately buy the two sequels on Amazon (they were on offer too ). It's such a fantastic adventure story, kind of in the vein of The Running Man - but for teenagers. The pace just did not let up, but it wasn't only an action based book, it had a pretty reasonable story behind it was well. 5/5 I'm really pleased bobblybear you enjoyed 'The Hunger Games' and I know you will enjoy the rest of the series. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bobblybear Posted September 2, 2011 Author Share Posted September 2, 2011 Catching Fire (Hunger Games: Book 2) - Suzanne Collins While I enjoyed this, I didn't enjoy it as much as the first book, which had a real sense of originality and excitement about it. It was a fairly quick read, but by the time the story really got going, I was already halfway into the book. I didn't like the fact that they had to go back into the arena for another round of Hunger Games. I was expecting the book to go into a completely different direction that the first one, but I felt a good quarter of the book was almost the same as the first one. Someone here (can't remember who) said that they found Katniss irritating, and I have to admit starting to feel the same way towards the end of the book. Still, it's a series well worth reading, and I shall read the last book in the series soon. I have a feeling the third one will be a bit different, given how the second book ended. 3.5/5 Yay! Glad you enjoyed The Fellowship of the Ring I did skip some of the songs too though! Yeah, I think if I had to read all those verses it would have put me off a bit. I'm really pleased bobblybear you enjoyed 'The Hunger Games' and I know you will enjoy the rest of the series. I am enjoying them, but I have a feeling the first will be the best of the series. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bobblybear Posted September 18, 2011 Author Share Posted September 18, 2011 The Dark Tower 1: The Gunslinger - Stephen King This book was such a struggle for me. It was a re-read (because I want to read the whole DT series again), and to be honest, I don't know how I read it through the first time. I know it wasn't one of the first King books I've read, and thank goodness or I wouldn't have picked up any others. I just found it clunky, uninspiring, and so so difficult to get into. I think it has one of the greatest opening sentences of all time, but it's downhill from there. Apparently, King wrote this book over a period of 12 years, and maybe that's why it just seems so disjointed. To me it felt like I was starting a book part-way through the series, where the characters and story line was already well-defined, and I was left to flounder and wonder what was going on. I know the series gets a lot better (but then goes downhill after the fourth book, IMO) so I still have those to look forward to. 2/5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Isandriena Posted September 18, 2011 Share Posted September 18, 2011 The Hunger Games - Suzanne Collins I loved this book!! How can you not love a story with such a great main character - vunerable, but strong teenage girl. Briefly, the book is set in an indeterminate time in the future (I think following some kind of great war?), in what was formerly North America (now called Panem). Panem is divided into 12 districts, and every year 2 children are selected from each district to compete in The Hunger Games. I was only a quarter of the way through this book, when I had to immediately buy the two sequels on Amazon (they were on offer too ). It's such a fantastic adventure story, kind of in the vein of The Running Man - but for teenagers. The pace just did not let up, but it wasn't only an action based book, it had a pretty reasonable story behind it was well. 5/5 I LOVED this book as well. The story was amazing and I really loved the characters. This was THE best book I have ever read and I highly recommend it to people who have never read it. You WON'T be disappointed. Catching Fire (Hunger Games: Book 2) - Suzanne Collins While I enjoyed this, I didn't enjoy it as much as the first book, which had a real sense of originality and excitement about it. It was a fairly quick read, but by the time the story really got going, I was already halfway into the book. I didn't like the fact that they had to go back into the arena for another round of Hunger Games. I was expecting the book to go into a completely different direction that the first one, but I felt a good quarter of the book was almost the same as the first one. Someone here (can't remember who) said that they found Katniss irritating, and I have to admit starting to feel the same way towards the end of the book. Still, it's a series well worth reading, and I shall read the last book in the series soon. I have a feeling the third one will be a bit different, given how the second book ended. 3.5/5 Well, I really enjoyed the second one too, it was the 3rd one that I struggled with, I hope you don;t have this problem too since I feel that if you don;t enjoy the second one, you have no chance with the 3rd. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bobblybear Posted September 25, 2011 Author Share Posted September 25, 2011 ^Oh no, that's not what I want to hear! I shall still give the third one a go, as they are quite easy reads. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chaliepud Posted September 25, 2011 Share Posted September 25, 2011 Don't worry BB, I am many others have LOVED all the books, hope you do too! Get reading and let us know!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bobblybear Posted September 25, 2011 Author Share Posted September 25, 2011 After You'd Gone - Maggie O'Farrell This is a re-read for me, and simply stunning the second time around. Alice Raikes travels up to Scotland on an impulse to visit her family. But while she is up there, she sees something which shocks her so much she takes the next train back home to London. Once back home, she steps into the path of an oncoming car, and falls into a coma. Her story and what has driven her to make this decision is slowly revealed throughout the length of the book. Maggie O'Farrell has such a talent for weaving a story around multiple characters and timelines, very slowly drip feeding you with clues throughout the book, so that nothing is fully revealed until the end. She constantly gives tidbits about major plot points, but takes her time to luxuriously reveal small bits of the story that tie it all together. Early on it was revealed that John and Alice were not together at the time she was in her coma, but it's not until the end that you find out the truth, so the whole time you are reading about their relationship and how in love they are, you know it's not going to last but you can't see why. It's quite suspenseful, but at the same time it doesn't feel rushed or make you feel tense. I do wonder how long it must take her to write her books, as they are so detailed and carefully written, with each reveal being done so deliberately. I've read all of her books, and this is one of the top three. She's one of the few authors whose books I will purchase as soon as they come out, regardless of cost. She's so amazing. If you've not read her, you are missing a real treat. 5/5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bobblybear Posted October 16, 2011 Author Share Posted October 16, 2011 Swan Song - Robert McCammon America and Russia are at the brink of war, and the US President, not wanting to back down, makes the decision which sets off a nuclear war and subsequent fallout. There are several survivors, key to the story, and the book follows them until their inevitable meeting. This book is so similar to Stephen King’s The Stand (probably my favourite novel of all time), the main difference being that instead of a superflu wiping out the population, it is nuclear war that does the trick. There is the inevitable division of the remaining characters between good and evil, with one figurehead for each group that people are drawn to. I love the post-apocalyptic feel of the story. There’s something about it that just appeals – it’s like a cleansing of the world, and starting from scratch, and I really love the image that conjures up in my mind (only in fiction, of course!!). It’s one of the main reasons I love The Stand, although in that book the characters were much better fleshed out, which is one of the reasons that I preferred it to Swan Song (though it’s always a bit unfair to compare books, they are too similar that it would be odd not to!) Not quite a 5 star read, only for the fact that I kept comparing everything to The Stand, and it fell just slightly short of that gem. 4.5/5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bobblybear Posted October 16, 2011 Author Share Posted October 16, 2011 Mockingjay - Suzanne Collins This is the third and final book in The Hunger Games trilogy, and I have to say, my least favorite. It just seemed to drag, with too much detail some areas, but then far too little detail in other areas - almost like it would jump forward a few steps and you had to think about what had gone on. Katniss got on my nerves a lot as well, maybe she was just too much of a typical teenager, but I wanted her to snap out of it and quit her whining. Contrary to a lot of reviews I read on Amazon, I actually felt it redeemed itself in the end. I liked that she ended up with Peeta, and not Gale, and that Gale may have been responsible (partly) for Prim's death; it was just a bit of a twist that the book needed. But I didn't like that Gale just seemed to disappear off the face of the earth and was just relegated to a few lines mentioning he was off in District 3 doing other things!! The book just misses the excitement and adrenaline of the first one (and partly the second). You really wanted Katniss to win in the beginning, but in the third book, I didn't particularly care. 2.5/5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bobblybear Posted October 17, 2011 Author Share Posted October 17, 2011 Red Leaves - Thomas H Cook How freakin' amazing was this book? I bought it on a whim - for some reason it caught my eye on Amazon - and it has turned out to be one of the best books I've read in a long time. I love finds like that! Briefly, Eric Moore is living the seemingly perfect life. He is happily married, has a secure job, and a teenage son - the ideal American life I presume. But when a local child goes missing, and his son is the prime suspect, he begins to question everything about his family and his life before it. It's the inevitable question: Do you ever really know anyone? This book is classified as crime, but it's focus isn't on the crime that occurred but the impact of the suspicions and accusations. It reminded me a bit of Nineteen Minutes by Jodi Picoult, just in the themes and feel of the story. And the way it ended....talk about knots in my stomach.... I can't just give it 5/5 because it's better than my other 5/5's this year (maybe I need to rethink my scoring and not be so generous? ) 6/5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bobblybear Posted October 21, 2011 Author Share Posted October 21, 2011 A Short History of Nearly Everything - Bill Bryson I've read this book several times before and never tire of it. This time around though I read the illustrated version, which is gorgeous. It has to be one of the most easily accessible and understandable science books out there, and because it covers so many topics there is something in there for everyone. It is always fascinating and never hard-going, thanks to Bryson's inimitable writing style. The book covers pretty much every science topic you can think of, from the Big Bang, geology, evolution, biology, natural disasters, and is peppered with little trivial bits of information about some of key people in science. A must-read for curious minded folks. 5/5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bobblybear Posted October 21, 2011 Author Share Posted October 21, 2011 Eleven - Mark Watson This was another impulse purchase from Amazon, and a pretty good one at that. I haven't heard of Mark Watson before, but apparently he is quite a well known comedian here in the UK. Xavier Ireland is a radio DJ doing the late night midnight to 4am shift, with a few loyal and constant listeners. He is originally from Australia, having moved to the UK several years earlier to escape a monumentous life-changing event, which is revealed a fair way into the book. Aside from his relationship with his radio-sidekick, Murray, he pretty much keeps himself to himself, and everyone at arms-length. Then one day, he attempts to intervene in the bullying of young lad on the street, and this action sets off a chain-reaction which impacts 11 other people in some pretty dramatic ways. This book was so engaging and easy to read. Xavier is the main character, whose life path the book follows, although it does occasionally and briefly (sometimes just a paragraph) describe the chain-link reactions that have impacted the other characters. But it does so almost like an after-thought, so you don't ever lose track of whose story this is, rather than getting swamped by countless other characters. It's written in a very warm and wry manner, and there are a few parts that really took me by surprise. The subject matter is quite a heavy topic, but it is written in a light-hearted way and so doesn't become one of those depressing emo-like reads. 5/5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tunn300 Posted October 23, 2011 Share Posted October 23, 2011 Eleven - Mark Watson This was another impulse purchase from Amazon, and a pretty good one at that. I haven't heard of Mark Watson before, but apparently he is quite a well known comedian here in the UK. Xavier Ireland is a radio DJ doing the late night midnight to 4am shift, with a few loyal and constant listeners. He is originally from Australia, having moved to the UK several years earlier to escape a monumentous life-changing event, which is revealed a fair way into the book. Aside from his relationship with his radio-sidekick, Murray, he pretty much keeps himself to himself, and everyone at arms-length. Then one day, he attempts to intervene in the bullying of young lad on the street, and this action sets off a chain-reaction which impacts 11 other people in some pretty dramatic ways. This book was so engaging and easy to read. Xavier is the main character, whose life path the book follows, although it does occasionally and briefly (sometimes just a paragraph) describe the chain-link reactions that have impacted the other characters. But it does so almost like an after-thought, so you don't ever lose track of whose story this is, rather than getting swamped by countless other characters. It's written in a very warm and wry manner, and there are a few parts that really took me by surprise. The subject matter is quite a heavy topic, but it is written in a light-hearted way and so doesn't become one of those depressing emo-like reads. 5/5 I read this book over the summer and fully agree. To be honest I wasn't expecting too much as I only knew Watson as a comedian but I was pleasently surprised with his writing. He is currently on a national tour and would recommend seeing him if he visits anywhere near you. He is such an intelligent and funny guy. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bobblybear Posted October 23, 2011 Author Share Posted October 23, 2011 ^ Yes, it was a brilliant read. I shall definitely be looking into more about him; hopefully he will have some clips up on YouTube so I can see what he is like. Stand-up comedians do make me nervous - I get worried for them incase no one laughs. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bobblybear Posted October 23, 2011 Author Share Posted October 23, 2011 Into The Darkest Corner - Elizabeth Haynes Catherine Bailey suffers from OCD, brought on by the violence of a past relationship. She struggles to get by in her day to day life, and perhaps move on to another relationship, but can't move beyond the events of her past. Every day is a chore - she has to compulsively check the flat door (turning the door knob six times one way, then six times the other...just to make sure), the windows, the cutlery in the cupboard, the curtains. She never goes home the same way two days in a row; everything in her behavior is to ensure she is 100% safe or with an escape route. This is one of the best psychological thrillers I have read in a long time. We know from the outset that Cathy's relationship was beset by domestic violence, but the book reveals very slowly how the violence and control entered her life in a way she wasn't even aware of, until it was too late. It has two timelines (current and several years ago at the start of the relationship), which did confuse me at first - I was about 12% of the way through the book before I realised this, and it did clear a few things up. It was such an eye-opener to both OCD and domestic violence. It is easy to see how people get trapped in these relationships and can so slowly be manipulated and controlled for months before physical violence occurs. The story takes you through almost a day-by-day account of the relationship, and how so subtly her partner began to take over her life. A lot of reviews on Amazon complained about the repetitiveness of her OCD being mentioned, but I thought that was so important to the story. It's such an integral part of her character, and cannot be ignored , especially when some nights it takes her 2 hours just to check that the flat is locked up securely. I was a tiny bit disappointed in the end. I just thought that Lee's letter to her, revealing the location of Naomi's body was a bit far-fetched, though I did keep wondering if Naomi's body was ever going to be found. 4.5/5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chrissy Posted October 23, 2011 Share Posted October 23, 2011 I have got to stop reading your thread for the sake of my bank balance! Your reviews have a way of sneaking into my mind and lurking there until I next visit Amazon or a bookshop, and those reviews come forth and say "That one, buy that one!" Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tunn300 Posted October 23, 2011 Share Posted October 23, 2011 I too have added 'Into the Darkest Corner'to my wish lift after reading your review. Think it may well be me next purchase but after buying James Cordon's autobiography yesterday I shall try to resist buying it for a while. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vodkafan Posted October 23, 2011 Share Posted October 23, 2011 Red Leaves and Eleven are going on my purchase list Bobblybear. Just stop reading such enticing books will you? There's a good fellow... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bobblybear Posted October 23, 2011 Author Share Posted October 23, 2011 Terribly sorry. I have been very lucky this year with the number of really good books I have read. Usually I'm lucky to read 3 or 4 really good books in a year, but this year I think the majority of them have been 4 star and above. BTW, Vodkafan, I'm not a fellow, I'm a gal... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vodkafan Posted October 23, 2011 Share Posted October 23, 2011 BTW, Vodkafan, I'm not a fellow, I'm a gal... Apologies! I suppose it was your avatar that made me think that you were a geezer. That's twice today I have got somebody's gender wrong on here! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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