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Vodkafan's 2011 reading list


vodkafan

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(k) denotes Kindle e book

 

January:

 

Darkness Under The Sun - Dean Koontz (k)

Soul Identity - Dennis Batchelder (k)

Out of India - Ruth Prawer Jhabvala

The Whole Lesbian Sex Book - Felice Newman (k)

William Walker's First Year of Marriage - Matt Rudd (k)

 

February:

 

Perdido Street Station - China Mieville (k)

Future Freaks - Shiela Reading (k)

The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo - Stieg Larsson

Incidents In The Life Of A Slave Girl Written By Herself - Harriet Ann Jacobs (k)

Haven - Justin Kemppainen (k)

 

March:

 

The Help - Kathryn Stockett (k)

The Men Return - Jack Vance (k)

She Looks Just Like You - Amie Klempnaur (k)

The Girl Who Played With Fire - Stieg Larsson (k)

Galaxy Unknown book 1 - Thomas DePrima (k)

 

April:

 

Vanity Fair - William Thackery Makepeace (k)

 

May:

 

Norway 1940 - Francois Kersaudy

My Horizontal Life-a collection of one-night stands - Chelsea Handler (k)

Fear and Loathing In Las Vegas - Hunter S. Thomas (k)

Factoring Humanity - Robert J. Sawyer (k)

Band Of Brothers - Richard Ambrose (k)

 

June:

A Case Of Knives - Candia McWilliam

The Greatest Show On Earth - Richard Dawkins (k)

 

July:

Dreamcatcher - Stephen King (k)

American Gods - Neil Gaiman (k)

Never Let Me Go - Kazuo Ishiguro (k)

Sharpe's Rifles - Bernard Cornwell (k)

Dead Until Dark - Charlaine Harris (k)

After The Affair (Relate Guide) - Julia Cole

The Girl Who Kicked The Hornet's Nest - Stieg Larsson (k)

The Graveyard Book - Neil Gaiman (k)

Handling The Undead - John Ajvide Lindqvist (k)

 

August:

The Slap - Christos Tsiolkas (k)

Before I Go To Sleep - S J Watson (k)

 

September:

Citizen Soldiers - Stephen E. Ambrose

Stardust - Neil Gaiman (k)

The Drought - Steven Scaffardi (k)

Are There Closets In Heaven? - Carol Curoe/Bob Curoe (k)

 

October:

It - Steven King (k)

Emotional Geology - Linda Gillard (k)

The Jester at Scar (Dumarest Saga #5) - EC Tubb (k)

The Cloud Walker - Edmund Cooper (k)

House Of Silence - Linda Gillard (k)

The Forever War - Joe Haldeman (k)

Crocodile On The Sandbank (Amelia Peabody #1)- Elizabeth Peters (k)

Nymph-The Singularity - JE Lansing (k)

The Murder Of Roger Ackroyd - Agatha Christie (k)

The Seedling Stars - James Blish (k)

The Margarets - Sheri S. Tepper (k)

 

November:

 

Uniform Justice - Donna Leon

Death Comes To Pemberely - PD James (k)

Unbearable Lightness - Portia de Rossi (k)

Vandals Of The Void - Jack Vance (k)

A Woman Like That - Joan Larkin (k)

 

December:

 

The Hunger Games - Suzanne Collins (k)

Hunger Games 2 Catching Fire - Suzanne Collins (k)

Hunger Games 3 The Mockingjay - Suzanne Collins (k)

The Winter King - Bernard Cornwell (k)

The Milk Of Human Kindness - Lori Lake (editor) (k)

The Angel's Game - Carlos Ruiz Zafon

The Bloody Chamber and other stories - Angela Carter

 

 

TBR pile

Papillon

South the story of Shackleton's 1914-17 expedition

The legend of Sleepy Hollow

Jayne Eyre

Room

Across The Universe

A Certain Shaft Of Light

Good Omens

 

 

 

Wish List recommended by BCF friends

Red Leaves

Restless

On Chesil Beach

A Spot Of Bother

Flowers For Algenon

Next

London Belongs To Me

Everything is Illuminated

Edited by vodkafan
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Happy new year!!!

 

 

Hope you have some wonderful reads this year James!

 

Thanks Vinay you too. I have downloaded a few classics onto my kindle so will be tackling those first. Don't seem to have any time for reading at the moment my routine is all out of whack. Start work again tonight, the christmas decs have to come down today and I have also entered a painting competition which I may or may not get time to do .

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I am getting back into reading again, both on my kindle and some old fashioned paper things we used to call books haha.

Currently reading 3 at once depending on which location I am at. (the physical books are at my workplace)

I must admit I am liking the kindle very much for its "readability". I find it easier than holding a physical book which takes two hands , as you need to turn pages, and some books are awkward and heavy. I have never noticed this until I had an alternative. I guess it is like not realising how crappy the quality of VHS tapes were until I saw DVD.

I find I read much more at one sitting on my kindle.

Edited by vodkafan
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I am getting back into reading again, both on my kindle and some old fashioned paper things we used to call books haha.

Currently reading 3 at once depending on which location I am at. (the physical books are at my workplace)

I must admit I am liking the kindle very much for its "readability". I find it easier than holding a physical book which takes two hands , as you need to turn pages, and some books are awkward and heavy. I have never noticed this until I had an alternative. I guess it is like not realising how crappy the quality of VHS tapes were until I saw DVD.

I find I read much more at one sitting on my kindle.

 

I'm doing pretty much the same at the moment using my Song Ereader (great readability imo and easy to handle I found kindles a bit more awkward) to read one book while communting and a paperback for at home.

 

You have to let me know how you get on with the Dean Koontz, I love him but I'm on a self imposed strike until he finally writies the 3rd Christopher Snow!

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I'm doing pretty much the same at the moment using my Song Ereader (great readability imo and easy to handle I found kindles a bit more awkward) to read one book while communting and a paperback for at home.

 

You have to let me know how you get on with the Dean Koontz, I love him but I'm on a self imposed strike until he finally writies the 3rd Christopher Snow!

 

Hi Cosychair, the Dean Koontz was very short but very gripping. First story of his I have read. What's Christopher Snow about?

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I finished Soul Identity yesterday. Hmm.! Reading Vanity Fair now, also on my Kindle. The difference in the language was a bit of a brainstep but I am into it now. Although she is supposed to be the villain (I think) I am enjoying the character of Rebecca Sharp very much.

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Hi Cosychair, the Dean Koontz was very short but very gripping. First story of his I have read. What's Christopher Snow about?

 

They are about Christopher snow he has xeroderma pigmentosum disorder and can only go out at night due to it, he lives in a fairly strange small town with a milatray base and odd things keep happening (animal experiments) along with some violence/murders which Christopher, his Girlfriend Sara (who turns out to be rather mysterious too) his dog who is super smart and his best mate who he surfs with at night.

Koontz hasn't finished the 3rd book yet and frankly I have no idea whats going on which is why I love it. :lol:

 

Koontz for me can be fairly hit or miss, I prefer his early books to later but most people seem to prefer his more recent books.

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They are about Christopher snow he has xeroderma pigmentosum disorder and can only go out at night due to it, he lives in a fairly strange small town with a milatray base and odd things keep happening (animal experiments) along with some violence/murders which Christopher, his Girlfriend Sara (who turns out to be rather mysterious too) his dog who is super smart and his best mate who he surfs with at night.

Koontz hasn't finished the 3rd book yet and frankly I have no idea whats going on which is why I love it. :lol:

 

Koontz for me can be fairly hit or miss, I prefer his early books to later but most people seem to prefer his more recent books.

 

I am a newbie to Koontz. Christopher Snow sounds readable. Thanks

 

We recently had a reading circle on Vanity Fair. Be sure to check it out and add your thoughts (after you've read the book - there may be spoilers). :)

 

OH OK will do.

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Glancing up at my shelf I can see that I have 10 Dean Koontz books, all of which I enjoyed to various degrees, and I would happily buy more. The earliest I have is False Memory, from 1999. I used to be a big Stephen King fan but thought he had lost his form for quite a long time and enjoyed Clive Barker and Dean Koontz instead, although I have enjoyed some of King's writing in the last few years again.

 

I find Dean Koontz "easy to read horror" if that makes any sense at all!

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Quick update:

I have sort of got kindle fever. Don't know how else to describe it. I downloaded another 20 books onto my device. Some were freebies and a couple I paid for. Trouble is I keep flicking from one to another. I am reading lots but not of any one book. This is wrecking my reading plan for January :irked:

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Kindle Fever, I'm sure I've read about that in the doctor's waiting room. Apparently they have support groups across the country & a twelve step programme you have to follow but the first step is admitting you've got a problem in the first place so there is hope for you VF :wink:

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Kindle Fever, I'm sure I've read about that in the doctor's waiting room. Apparently they have support groups across the country & a twelve step programme you have to follow but the first step is admitting you've got a problem in the first place so there is hope for you VF :wink:

 

At my fingertips so many stories all so juicy what is a guy to do?

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Review: Out of India by Ruth Prawer Jhabvala

 

I enjoyed this collection of short stories immensely. Not a very good analogy I know, but if life in India was a big cucumber then these are like little slices of that cucumber, each one acutely observed . The writing is a joy and the author does not shy away from any difficult subject of human interaction; in fact most (but not all)of the stories are about illicit sexual relationships of one kind or another. This was very interesting to me right now, as I know from recent experience that women do not believe marriage to be the invioable contract I always thought it was.

I would read anything written by this lady in the future.

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Ah, vodkafan, you've found one of my favourite writers. I have a penchant for books set in India, and Ruth Prawer Jhabvala's rank among the best; I would definitely recommend Heat and Dust. Did you also know she is an Oscar winning screenwriter? She wrote the best of the screenplays for Merchant Ivory films, and won Oscars twice, with A Room With A View and Howards End (and was also nominated for The Remains of the Day). A wonderful writer, and I'm glad you've enjoyed her work :smile2:

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Ah, vodkafan, you've found one of my favourite writers. I have a penchant for books set in India, and Ruth Prawer Jhabvala's rank among the best; I would definitely recommend Heat and Dust. Did you also know she is an Oscar winning screenwriter? She wrote the best of the screenplays for Merchant Ivory films, and won Oscars twice, with A Room With A View and Howards End (and was also nominated for The Remains of the Day). A wonderful writer, and I'm glad you've enjoyed her work :smile2:

 

 

Thanks Chesilbeach. I will certainly look for more of her work.

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:irked::irked::doh:

I just spent a whole hour writing a massive review of another book and intended to copy it just in case so I did not lose it; then pressed control v instead of control c and the whole thing disappeared. :motz::motz:

 

I am sulking now so going to do some reading...

Edited by vodkafan
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Quick update:

I have sort of got kindle fever. Don't know how else to describe it. I downloaded another 20 books onto my device. Some were freebies and a couple I paid for. Trouble is I keep flicking from one to another. I am reading lots but not of any one book. This is wrecking my reading plan for January :irked:

 

I had to giggle when I read this :blush: Hope your getting over it now!

 

I'm finding it hard to tear myself away from my kindle (never thought I'd hear myself say that!) I've read 3 books on it in quick succession so now I'm going to force myself to read a 'proper' book, might have to hide the kindle first though. :(

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  • 2 weeks later...

Review: The Whole Lesbian Sex Book by Felice Newman

 

First of all, this is NOT a porn book which is why I am not embarrassed to add it to my reading total. I read a quote which said: "if you want to know how a car works, talk to a mechanic; if you want to know how a woman's body works, talk to a lesbian."

This is more in the nature of a how-to manual.

 

So, basically I was looking for tips. That's my excuse anyway, and I'm sticking to it.

It was quite a quick read because I was able to ignore all the extensive bibliography and lists of resources; I won't need to read further into the subject.

It was all very educational, I felt I gained a good insight into a woman's brain processes and what they want. And some good tips.

It did bang on an awful lot about masturbation. Which makes me think females do this a lot more than we give them credit for.

 

William Walker's First Year of Marriage by Matt Rudd

 

This was a quick lighthearted read. I would call this genre "guy lit" as the direct equivalent of "chick lit" . I have read a couple of books in this category and they quickly get boring for me, the humour and situations are virtually all the same. However, this one was saved by actually having a simple but interesting plot which stopped it becoming too predictable so I wanted to see how it played out.

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Reading Perdido Street Station on my kindle at the moment. This is completely blowing me away. Thank you thank you all the peeps who bigged this one up for me on here, I can't remember who told me about it first.

I have no clue where the story is going it is great ! :readingtwo:

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Glad you're enjoying it I read it last year and am a big fan of Mieville currently I am trying to read Iron Council, have you read any of his other books?

 

Hi pickle no first one. Actually I thought China Melville was a woman. I will certainly seek out his other books now. Unless the book takes a drastic turn for the worst that is, but I doubt that's gonna happen.

Edited by vodkafan
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