JudyB Posted January 14, 2007 Share Posted January 14, 2007 From the library I have borrowed: Home by Julie Meyson (hoping to finish this soon. It's good but am getting restless with it. I feel guilty that I'm not enjoying it as much as I thought I would because I am very conscious of the work and research that's gone into making the story and it is very interesting. Possibly you can never really get truly excited about someone else's family tree or house tree - in the case of this book). The Lovely Bones - Alice Seebold Lady Catharine's Necklace - Joan Aitken (the character of Lady Catharine is taken from Pride and Prejudice) I've been eyeing this up in the library for nearly a year now but only just got round to taking it out). Giving Up on Ordinary - Isla Dewar (a lady I visit and I have got into Isla Dewar. Secrets of a Family Album was my favourite and I was going to stop after two of her novels and then try some more later in the year. However this came highly recommended so it's on my pile). For 2007 I hope to continue reading through the Rougon-Macquart cycle by Emile Zola - The Earth is next. I've also got a couple of Dickens and a couple of Charlotte Brontes on my bookshelf. Plus plenty on the shelves at work! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Purple Poppy Posted January 14, 2007 Share Posted January 14, 2007 Judy said; The Lovely Bones - Alice Seebold I would be interested to hear what you make of The Lovely Bones. A very mixed reaction here on the forum. PP Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
everydayxangels Posted January 15, 2007 Share Posted January 15, 2007 Judy said; I would be interested to hear what you make of The Lovely Bones. A very mixed reaction here on the forum. PP Agreed. Incredibly mixed. I personally didn't enjoy it all that much. It was okay, but there are more wonderful books I'd rather enjoyed. I personally liked her own memoir of her rape, Lucky, much better. that sounds incredibly sadistic, I'm sure. but the writing was much better. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
everydayxangels Posted January 15, 2007 Share Posted January 15, 2007 Plus plenty on the shelves at work! Where do you work? I dont mean specifically where, but what kind of place that would have lots of books on the shelves. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JudyB Posted January 15, 2007 Author Share Posted January 15, 2007 In a library - I discover a lot of books when I'm shelving. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
everydayxangels Posted January 15, 2007 Share Posted January 15, 2007 In a library - I discover a lot of books when I'm shelving. that's pretty sweet! if I didn't get the job at my bookstore, I would have tried to get one at the library. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JudyB Posted January 16, 2007 Author Share Posted January 16, 2007 Additions to reading list - I'd forgotten that I'd noted some books down in my diary. Educating Alice - Alice Steinbach Two Lives - Vikram Seth Sunday Night Book Club (short stories) The Five People You Meet in Heaven - Mitch Albom I'd also like to have a try at Bookcrossing though I need to find a book I can let go of - I like to keep all my books. Apologies for spelling mistakes on last list - spelt both Alice Sebold's and Julie Myerson's names wrong. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Janet Posted January 16, 2007 Share Posted January 16, 2007 I'd also like to have a try at Bookcrossing though I need to find a book I can let go of - I like to keep all my books. I'm registered... but I have the same problem as you! I might try to find a book to release on Saturday - I'm going to the theatre at Straford-Upon-Avon. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JudyB Posted January 16, 2007 Author Share Posted January 16, 2007 I'm registered... but I have the same problem as you! I might try to find a book to release on Saturday - I'm going to the theatre at Straford-Upon-Avon. Have you released any so far? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Janet Posted January 16, 2007 Share Posted January 16, 2007 Have you released any so far? No. I caught one a while ago (in a charity shop in Penrith), but I couldn't finish it. Actually, I found it the other day - I could release that one. I really should make more of an effort, but I hate parting with books. Are you registered? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JudyB Posted January 21, 2007 Author Share Posted January 21, 2007 Finished The Lovely Bones this morning. I thought it was okay and found it quite compelling; I think mainly because I wanted to know what happened to Mr Harvey. Liked the perspective of having Susie in heaven and find that quite thought provoking. I would love my gran to know how often I think of her since she passed away 15 years ago. Have now moved on to Moving Away From The Ordinary by Isla Dewar. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JudyB Posted February 16, 2007 Author Share Posted February 16, 2007 Finished This Book Will Save Your Life by A M Homes yesterday - it took me a while to get into it (p150) but from that point on (which was very funny) I really enjoyed it. I've now moved on to Half of a Yellow Sun by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie. I have been updating my To Be Read list on LibraryThing (link below) - all books in that list are tagged TBR. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Renniemist Posted February 16, 2007 Share Posted February 16, 2007 Judy I would be interested to know how you get on with Half a Yellow Sun. I read Purple Hibiscus by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie last year and really enjoyed it. Half a Yellow Sun is on my wish list which is getting longer and longer. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Polka Dot Rock Posted March 9, 2007 Share Posted March 9, 2007 I've now moved on to Half of a Yellow Sun by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie. Ah I got this from a, erm, supermarket last weekend (my mum bought it for me - how kind!). Have you finished it Judy? What did you think? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JudyB Posted March 11, 2007 Author Share Posted March 11, 2007 Ooops just realised that I've severly neglected my own thread! Here are my thoughts about Half a Yellow Sun (from LibraryThing) - I 'enjoyed' this novel particularly the fact it was written from three perspectives. As events unfurled I was curious to read the various viewpoints. It's not an easy read in that it deals with the awfulness of civil war and it's shocking to see so many lives ripped apart. As I suspected though the novel let me in on a world I would otherwise have not learnt about. Events took place during the decade I was born so I have had to read up a little on the situation and in turn have learnt something from it. Since reading the above I've also read The Interpretation of Murder:- I was gripped by this from the beginning. The opening paragraph about happiness was very profound. I liked everything about this novel - the setting was particularly interesting and added to the atmosphere of the novel. The mystery kept me guessing to the very end and the narrative from differing perspectives added to this. I'm now reading The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafon. Richard and Judy will be discussing Half of a Yellow Sun this Wednesday as part of their book club. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JudyB Posted March 27, 2007 Author Share Posted March 27, 2007 Review of The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafon. I really enjoyed this and was gripped by the mystery surrounding Julian Carax and his novels. I thought the characterisation was good and the plot twisted and turned before coming to a conclusion. My knowledge of Spanish history was non-existant so for the purpose of putting The Shadow of the Wind into some sort of context I read up on it - so I also had a good read and learnt something new! I've now moved on to The Five People You Meet in Heaven by Mitch Albom (Summary taken from book) On his eighty-third birthday, Eddie, a lonely war veteran, dies in a tragic accident trying to save a little girl from a falling cart. With his final breath, he feels two small hands in his - and then nothing. He awakens in the afterlife, where he learns that heaven is not a lush Garden of Eden but a place where your earthly life is explained to you by five people who were in it. These people may have been loved ones or distant strangers. Yet each of them changed your path forever. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JudyB Posted April 1, 2007 Author Share Posted April 1, 2007 I've read The Five People You Meet in Heaven by Mitch Albom and quite enjoyed it. Have also read - this week - Case Histories by Kate Atkinson which I really enjoyed - I'd forgotten how much I enjoyed Kate Atkinson's writing. Her characters were brilliant and I was gripped to the end. I've now moved on to The Historian by Elizabeth Kostova - it's compelling reading so far. (This is my chunky challenge for April). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JudyB Posted April 6, 2007 Author Share Posted April 6, 2007 Still really enjoying The Historian - so glad that lady recommended it to me. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Louiseog Posted April 6, 2007 Share Posted April 6, 2007 I liked the Historian. Never managed Half of a Yellow Sun which I thought I would enjoy as my parents were there at the time! The type was too small Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JudyB Posted April 15, 2007 Author Share Posted April 15, 2007 Have just started Kept: A Victorian Mystery by D J Taylor - birthday present from my daughter. Summary taken from WHSmith Egg-stealing in the Scottish highlands, fraud and felony on the streets of London, and strange goings-on in the fens. Captivating and ingenious, full of suspense and teeming with life, "Kept" is a Victorian mystery about the extreme and curious things men do to get what they want. It is August, 1863. Henry Ireland, a failed landowner, dies unexpectedly in a riding accident, leaving a highly-strung young widow. Not far away, lives Ireland's friend James Dixey, a celebrated naturalist who collects strange trophies, a stuffed bear, a pet mouse, and a wolf that he keeps caged in the grounds of his decaying house, lost in the fog on the edge of the fens. The poachers, Dewar and Dunbar, with their cargo of pilfered eggs; Esther the observant kitchen maid, pining to be re-united with her vanished admirer; the ancient lawyer Mr. Crabbe made careless by snobbery; John Carstairs, in search of his cousin, the elusive widow; an enigmatic debt-collector, busily plotting an audacious robbery; various low-life henchmen; and Captain McTurk of Scotland Yard, patiently investigating the circumstances of the Mr. Ireland's death and many other things besides- all are drawn into a net of intrigue with wide and sinister implications. Ranging from the lochsides of Scotland to the slums of Clerkenwell, and from the gentlemen's clubs of St. James's to the Yukon wilds, "Kept" is a gorgeously intricate novel about the urge to possess, at once a gripping investigation of some of the secret chambers of the human heart and a dazzling re-invention of Victorian life and passions. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JudyB Posted April 22, 2007 Author Share Posted April 22, 2007 Just finished Kept: A Victorian Mystery by D J Taylor. I enjoyed this and could see the influences of the Victorian writers in it. I love a good Victorian mystery and this certainly had the feel of a real Victorian novel. Found myself confused at times by the jumping around of characters - would forget who was who at times. However the description of the Great Train Robbery was brilliant and it was interesting to see how it would all come together. Up until now I was unaware of the Great Train Robbery so benefitted from learning something new from this novel - always a bonus. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Polka Dot Rock Posted May 22, 2007 Share Posted May 22, 2007 Judy! I see you are reading Daphne du Maurier's Julius at the moment - how is it so far? I still have that on my TBR shelves B) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JudyB Posted May 22, 2007 Author Share Posted May 22, 2007 I've had quite a good read of it today so am really into it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JudyB Posted June 5, 2007 Author Share Posted June 5, 2007 Enjoyed Julius - wrote a short review for LibraryThing:- It's been a long time since I've read Daphne Du Maurier and I found Julius to be a good read. Wasn't sure where it was leading so was left guessing until the end. It's quite a shocking tale. ( ) Next on the list was One Good Turn by Kate Atkinson. I was a massive fan of Behind the Scenes of the Museum but was disappointed by Human Croquet. It's good to read her novels again and I think she writes crime well. My LibraryThing review is below:- Really enjoyed this - it kept me guessing all the way through although it got confusing at times with all the different viewpoints/characters. I think Kate Atkinson writes crime well - here's hoping there's another one on the way. ( ) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JudyB Posted June 5, 2007 Author Share Posted June 5, 2007 Currently reading:- The Good Husband of Zebra Drive (No 1 Ladies Detective Agency 8) by Alexander McCall Smith Summary (taken from book) In the life of Precious Ramotswe – a woman duly proud of her fine traditional build – there is rarely a dull moment, and in the latest instalment in the universally beloved No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency series there is much happening on Zebra Drive and Tlokweng Road. Mma Ramotswe is experiencing staffing difficulties. First, Mr J.L.B. Matekoni asks to be put in charge of a case involving an errant husband. But can a man investigate such matters as successfully as the number one lady detective can? Then, Mma Ramotswe has a minor falling out with her assistant Mma Makutsi, who decides to leave the agency, taking her near-perfect secretarial skills with her. Along the way, Mma Ramotswe is asked to investigate a couple of tricky cases. Will she be able to explain an unexpected series of deaths at the hospital in Mochudi? And what about the missing office supplies at a local printing company? These are the types of question that Mma Ramotswe is uniquely well suited to answer. In the end, whatever happens, she knows she can count on Mr J.L.B. Matekoni, who stands for all that is solid and true in a shifting world, and there is always her love of Botswana, a country of which she is justifiably proud. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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