Laurel’s Comments (group member since Dec 30, 2013)

Laurel’s comments from the All About Books group.

4. The Cuckoo's Calling
5 stars. I really liked this book. Mystery, suspense, humor, engaging characters, and a satisfying ending.

455 pages
Annual total: 1,340

I've added it too, for my "bird" theme challenge.

I don't know. Did you just laugh to yourself, or did you actually laugh out loud? ;-)

The Sound of a Wild Snail Eating

Life of Pee: The Story of How Urine Got Everywhere

January recap:
Only read three books, two for my Daytimer's book club, one random read.

Abandoned two: Wishin' and Hopin' was a group read for December. I barely started it, and finally decided I just wasn't in the mood to read it right now. Also Ulysses got postponed, perhaps indefinitely.

Currently still reading: Longbourn for the Nov/Dec recommendation swap. I know, I know, I'm behind. Also reading Whiskey Distilled: A Populist Guide to the Water of Life which I purchased at Christmas time.

Next up: To follow Longbourn I'd like to reread Pride and Prejudice along with Pride and Prejudice: The Scenes Jane Austen Never Wrote. I started these last January, but didn't continue with them. I intend to start over this year and finish them. I have H is for Hawk, a digital ARC from Edelweiss, but I have put this off so long, it may expire before I get to it. On order via ILL, I have Archaeology: A Very Short Introduction for my continuing series challenge. Also The Cuckoo's Calling on CD for my bird challenge. The Chaperone is next up for Daytimer's, and also fits my 1920s challenge. And I just purchased the His Dark Materials omnibus on Kindle. The Amber Spyglass is on my 12 + 4 challenge but it's been so long since I started it, that I need to reread the first two books.

3. Me Before You
4 stars. I thought the love story was nicely developed, but I had issues with the choices made. It ultimately wasn't believable.

369 pages
Annual total: 885

I'm doing a music theme, too, but mostly fiction about musicians, etc.

2. Miracle and Other Christmas Stories
A random read, because I wanted something Christmassy. 3 stars. Some interesting stories, but not particularly memorable. I kind of expected more from Connie Willis.

336 pages
Annual total: 516

I did read a couple of them a long time ago, and got so mad I quit. But I've always meant to come back to them, and I promised myself I would read them all before I reread The Lymond series (which I ADORE).

Probably not the whole series, but I'd like to read at least 2 or 3 of them.

You seem to have liked that one with 4 stars. I live in Minnesota, and I'm a birdwatcher, so I'm tempted by that series, but it hasn't had the best reviews.

Typical - I am spending more time thinking about and organizing my reading than reading actual books! I've decided I want to incorporate some mini-challenges into the mix of time periods and countries - that is, pick a couple of time periods and a few countries to focus on over the year. I was going to say "quarterly" challenges, but I don't know if I'm that organized. So I'm not assigning these to any particular three months, and hopefully these will be books already on my list, so that I'm not actually adding any books. I know that the Daytimer's is reading several books set in the 1920s (since I created the list for the group) as a mini-theme. My other time period will be the Napoleonic Wars. As for countries (and a state/province), these are not written in stone, but this is where I am at right now:

Mini-challenges for 2015:

1920s:
The Great Gatsby - read Jan. 2015
The Chaperone
The House at Riverton
The Other Typist

Napoleonic Wars:
Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell
War and Peace
His Majesty's Dragons
Napoleon's Pyramids

Iceland:
Independent People
Burial Rites
Last Rituals
something by Olaf Olafsson

New Zealand:
Cloud Atlas
The Colour
The Luminaries

Belgium:
Cloud Atlas
The Courage Consort
Niccolo Rising

Nebraska:
Sing Them Home
The Echo Maker
To Be Sung Underwater
The Swan Gondola

Greg wrote: "Hi Laurel, that formatting thing has happened to me too. I think the problem occurs sometimes when you have half of a book link or other control info but not all of it. If it happens again try dele..."

Ah, thanks Greg. I'll try and remember that!

Dorothy Dunnett is my all-time favorite author. Well worth the challenge!

Is that a hint, Robin? :-D I'll keep it in mind when I get around to reading this. LOL!

I'm interested in the Welsh connection, so I've just checked this out from 3M through the library. Don't promise I'll read the whole book, but I'm interested enough to take a look at it.

Yes, do let me know when you want to try it. I definitely think it's one you ought to read with others.

Ah, Maggie - one we agree on! I didn't care for The Silent Wife either.

I hated to do it --- but I feel SO much freer now. :-D My interlibrary loan copy (for the second time) of Annotated Ulysses was sitting on the floor with less than a month to get through its 650 pages while also reading Ulysses, and I just could not conjure up the energy for it, at the expense of everything else I want to read. I had it out before Christmas with great expectations of spending time with it and catching up on the Ulysses readalong, but that didn't happen. Now it was almost making me feel resentful, so it is in my bag to go back to the library. Congrats to all of you that finished Ulysses, but for me, it is going to have to wait for another time. I am happily curling up with Longbourn which was chosen for me in the Recommendation Swap for Nov/Dec. I'm only a LITTLE late finishing it....