poppyshake Posted July 14, 2012 Posted July 14, 2012 I can't wait to see where you both are once you get to the stadium .. will VF just be entering it whilst Claire is crossing the finish line? .. or does he have a sprint finish? .. it's very exciting Quote
vodkafan Posted July 14, 2012 Author Posted July 14, 2012 28! You've finished three while I'm still on 14, and I'm only two thirds of the way through it. Thank goodness it's the weekend haha don't you have some baking to do Claire ? Quote
chesilbeach Posted July 14, 2012 Posted July 14, 2012 Not today! In fact, I've had a day out with two coffee shop stops and waiting between events which means I'm now 5 pages from the end of my book, and about to reduce my number by one. Quote
vodkafan Posted July 14, 2012 Author Posted July 14, 2012 Not today! In fact, I've had a day out with two coffee shop stops and waiting between events which means I'm now 5 pages from the end of my book, and about to reduce my number by one. Curses ! I have started reading one of my "doorstops" nearly 600 pages so that will slow me down a bit. Quote
chesilbeach Posted July 14, 2012 Posted July 14, 2012 I failed to mention that my next book is the 800 page doorstop that is Human Traces! Quote
vodkafan Posted July 15, 2012 Author Posted July 15, 2012 I have read 314 pages of my doostop. Gonna give it a break to write a few quick reviews. The Nightmare Chronicles Douglas Clegg This author was not known to me. Also this is not a genre (horror) is not one I usually read. It is a book of a dozen short horror stories linked together by another at the beginning to give it a sort of theme, although this can be ignored; the stories are not really connected. I found them , for me, pitched perfectly between thrilling , creepy horror and gore ( I guess the perfect mix for me is about 70/30, as I don't like too much gore). All the stories were interesting, if I had to pick out a favourite it would be Only Connect, which had scifi elements, and was nicely surreal too. A bonus was the afterword, where the author tells briefly where the ideas came for each story. I think you have to have a special sort of strange mind to write this sort of story, because those same inspirations to someone else would have resulted in a romance or a comedy/ something else. If I was invited/forced to sleep over at this author's house I would probably stay awake all night just to be on the safe side. Quote
vodkafan Posted July 15, 2012 Author Posted July 15, 2012 (edited) The Wench Is Dead Colin Dexter I was only vaguely aware that the TV series Inspector Morse was based on a character from a series of books. I picked this one up a while back from a charity shop. If this particular story had been made into an episode of the series then I had not seen it. Morse is laid up in a hospital due to a chronic illness brought about by his drinking habits. Of course I could only imagine John Thaw laying there as the grumpy patient. Quickly becoming bored fantasizing about the nurses and trying to sneakingly read a racy novel brought to him by his sidekick Sergeant Lewis, Morse stumbles across a documented murder case over 100 years old . Something about the case does not ring true with him and he decides to investigate it from his hospital bed with the aid of a woman visitor to another patient . This is a quite gentle story which I enjoyed. It was a quick read Edited July 15, 2012 by vodkafan Quote
vodkafan Posted July 15, 2012 Author Posted July 15, 2012 Beautiful Stranger A Memoir of an Obsession with Perfection Hope Donahue Hope is a girl who should have breezed through life, a California debutante of rich parents. But once outside of protection afforded by college life she has no self confidence or self esteem and becomes obsessed with her appearance. Despite , we assume (there are no photos ) having nothing wrong with her looks she opts for plastic surgery and soon is being talked into whatever surgery the surgeon wants her to have. Hope hits rock bottom before eventually finding the strength to realise her addiction. Although this story is about self obsession Hope did irritate me at first as in the beginning there are pages and pages of every sentence beginning with "I". Eventually I did begin to sympathise with her a little . Her father was a rather weak character and her mother was a nutcase. One of the things Hope did that I felt made her more of a real person to me, although it was a terrible thing to do, was her habit of going through her flatmates rooms looking at all their private things when they were out. She did this because she had no life of her own and in some way wanted to absorb theirs. This book was OK. She managed to save herself before she got totally messed up or dead or become a porn actress so kudos for that. Quote
chesilbeach Posted July 15, 2012 Posted July 15, 2012 Oddly, The Wench Is Dead is the only Morse book I've ever read! I remember enjoying it, but it was probably about twenty years ago now. They did film it - it was the penultimate episode in 1998, but I haven't seen it. We missed the last three episodes and have never managed to catch them, and I never remember to look out for them on television, but would love to watch them at some point. Morse and Lewis are two of the few detective series I watch, as I don't normally enjoy that type of television or book. Quote
vodkafan Posted July 16, 2012 Author Posted July 16, 2012 I am on my last 50 pages of my Dunkirk doorstop and will finish that tonight at work and start the next, will make a quick decision on what that will be in the next five minutes as I fly out the door! Quote
Michelle Posted July 16, 2012 Posted July 16, 2012 I have read 314 pages of my doostop. Gonna give it a break to write a few quick reviews. The Nightmare Chronicles Douglas Clegg This author was not known to me. Also this is not a genre (horror) is not one I usually read. It is a book of a dozen short horror stories linked together by another at the beginning to give it a sort of theme, although this can be ignored; the stories are not really connected. I found them , for me, pitched perfectly between thrilling , creepy horror and gore ( I guess the perfect mix for me is about 70/30, as I don't like too much gore). All the stories were interesting, if I had to pick out a favourite it would be Only Connect, which had scifi elements, and was nicely surreal too. A bonus was the afterword, where the author tells briefly where the ideas came for each story. I think you have to have a special sort of strange mind to write this sort of story, because those same inspirations to someone else would have resulted in a romance or a comedy/ something else. If I was invited/forced to sleep over at this author's house I would probably stay awake all night just to be on the safe side. Hmm.. you've peaked my interest with this one! Quote
vodkafan Posted July 16, 2012 Author Posted July 16, 2012 Hmm.. you've peaked my interest with this one! I can send it to you if you want Michelle I still have it. Do you like Angela Carter? Some of the stories are reminiscent of her stuff Quote
vodkafan Posted July 17, 2012 Author Posted July 17, 2012 (edited) I have finished Dunkirk - The Men They Left Behind and am now half way through Across The Universe. 27 books to go. Edited July 17, 2012 by vodkafan Quote
vodkafan Posted July 18, 2012 Author Posted July 18, 2012 Finished Across The Universe. OK for a YA book. 26 books to go. Next up is The Woman In Black. Quote
vodkafan Posted July 18, 2012 Author Posted July 18, 2012 Never read this fast since I was a kid. It is exhilarating. My mind is being pummelled by paragraphs like combinations of punches; my brain is reeling from the visions of word pictures from descriptions and the plots themselves. Loads of ideas for paintings. Quote
Kylie Posted July 18, 2012 Posted July 18, 2012 That's great, James. Is the race with Chesil inspiring you to read more/faster, or is it something else? Quote
vodkafan Posted July 18, 2012 Author Posted July 18, 2012 That's great, James. Is the race with Chesil inspiring you to read more/faster, or is it something else? Yes just the race with Chesil. It's not serious though it does not matter who wins. It is really helping me clear my backlog of books . Quote
Karsa Orlong Posted July 18, 2012 Posted July 18, 2012 I don't know how you take it all in, reading so fast. I don't even think my eyes could move that fast if I tried Or, at least, my brain wouldn't be able to keep up Quote
vodkafan Posted July 18, 2012 Author Posted July 18, 2012 Hi Steve it is a surprise to me too that I still have the capacity to read that fast. I haven't used that in years but I guess my two years on here have built me up to it. I have timed myself I can read at a rate of 50 pages in 35 minutes comfortably and retain all of it. So now I have been putting the bookmark in at 50 page intervals and reading it in chunks like that. Quote
poppyshake Posted July 18, 2012 Posted July 18, 2012 Or, at least, my brain wouldn't be able to keep up Heh-heh .. I'm tempted .... but I won't Quote
Karsa Orlong Posted July 18, 2012 Posted July 18, 2012 Heh-heh .. I'm tempted .... but I won't First time for everything, I suppose Quote
Kylie Posted July 18, 2012 Posted July 18, 2012 Heh-heh .. I'm tempted .... but I won't I was tempted too. He really made it too easy, didn't he? I think it's admirable that we showed such restraint. Quote
Karsa Orlong Posted July 18, 2012 Posted July 18, 2012 I was tempted too. He really made it too easy, didn't he? I think it's admirable that we showed such restraint. Oi! Quote
vodkafan Posted July 18, 2012 Author Posted July 18, 2012 I am so dreunk right now I dont know har you are all talking abouyt Quote
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