Monthly Group Reads: Reading the Poll Losers Instead?

[Terri, Wyrd bið ful aræd]

I am finding it a 'jolly' read. Something about the way he has written it is really charming and lighthearted. :)

[Monica]

Terri wrote: "I am finding it a 'jolly' read. Something about the way he has written it is really charming and lighthearted. :)"

Agreed! Another good book selection from you...thanks!

[Terri, Wyrd bið ful aræd]

Well thankyou very much. :]
I will be reading more by this author, that's for sure.

[Monica]

Finished

Entertaining read...enjoyed it. Lots of chuckles in the second half of the book. Not sure Cicero would actually call Pompey (view spoiler)[a great booby (hide spoiler)]

[Monica]

Looks like I'm destined to stay in the losers thread. Neither of my group picks for April won. If anyone would like to join me in April, I'll be reading:

[Mark]

Monica wrote: "Looks like I'm destined to stay in the losers thread. Neither of my group picks for April won. If anyone would like to join me in April, I'll be reading:

"
i will be reading it.

[Monica]

Awesome, Mark! Get the coffee cake ready!

[Mark]

Monica wrote: "Awesome, Mark! Get the coffee cake ready!"

no a nice rich dundee cake for this one. ;)

[Monica]

Mark wrote: "Monica wrote: "Awesome, Mark! Get the coffee cake ready!"

no a nice rich dundee cake for this one. ;)"

I don't know what that is.

[Mark]

its a fruit cake. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dundee_Cake

[Monica]

Oh, that sounds much better than the variety we in the States tend to shy away from during the Christmas holidays.

[Mark]

i like that one as i dont like cherries.

[Terri, Wyrd bið ful aræd]

I'll be with you guys too. I voted for the Ellis peters one also.
I will read the two winners first and then I'll join you here for A Morbid Taste for Bones.

[Monica]

Yea! That will be fun. We'll be sure to leave you plenty of "spoilers" to wonder about until you catch up ;-)

[Terri, Wyrd bið ful aræd]

haha. Oh..you are so nice to me...;D

[Monica]

Oh NOOOOO! Bad news, my library system does not have this Ellis Peters book: A Morbid Taste for Bones ;-(

They do have an "audio" book version. But it's so old it's on cassette tapes! What? Who still has one of those around the house...I don't. So, looks like I won't be reading this book after all. No dundee cake! (Guess that makes me the biggest loser.)

[Terri, Wyrd bið ful aræd]

Oh no! Bad news indeed!
Maybe you could do a request to purchase with your library?
It is Brother Cadfael after all. A very popular series.

[Dawn]

It took me awhile but I have finally finished Niccolo Rising. I absolutely loved it. I spent most of the book wondering what was going on but the journey was very fascinating.

[Terri, Wyrd bið ful aræd]

It does seem like a fascinating book. As you say, the writing style makes it a little bewildering sometimes, but there was something about it.
I may have given up on it quickly because I had a lot of other books to move on with, but I will be coming back t it one day.

[Darcy]

I just took it back up. I'm still really enjoying it as well.

[Dawn]

Once you get to the end you figure out what's going on and then the writing doesn't actually seem to have been a problem at all but the story just isn't being completely told at the beginning.

[Lisa]

I'm almost finished with Niccolo Rising. It's a really enjoyable story, but not a quick read.

[Dawn]

I agree, not a quick read at all, I took more time with it as I didn't want to miss out on anything important

[Terri, Wyrd bið ful aræd]

Lisa, Dawn,
Will you continue with the series at some stage do you think?

[Anne]

I just could not get into it. Gave up after 125 pages.

[Terri, Wyrd bið ful aræd]

You are not alone, Anne. Some others were the same. i think I may have been one of them if I had had the time to keep reading the book.

[Monica]

I'm with Anne (and Terri)...I gave up after 100 pages. Too 'painful' to continue with her writing style.

[Darcy]

I think I will continue with the series, but won't get to them for some time. Maybe I'll make that a challenge for next year - catching up on all the series that I've either dropped due to time constraints and continue the new ones I've encountered.

[Dawn]

I'll definitely continue, I should get to the next one sometime this year. I'll have to buy some of the series as my library doesn't have them all.

[Lisa]

I'd like to continue with the series. My library only carries the first book, so I'll have to buy them. I'm not in a hurry since I feel like I have some other reading to catch up on since it took me so long to finish Niccolo Rising. Well... I will be finishing it tonight. ;)

I'm in the same boat with Dunnett's other series, the Lymond Chronicles. I read the first book - slowly - and plan to read the next one at some point.

[Terri, Wyrd bið ful aræd]

Not an easy book to rush through. (Niccolo) It is quite a big book. No wonder it took some people a while to finish it. :)

[Margaret]

Lisa wrote: "I'd like to continue with the series. My library only carries the first book, so I'll have to buy them. I'm not in a hurry since I feel like I have some other reading to catch up on since it took..."

I struggled with Niccolo Rising, but The Lymond series I loved and have re-read recently one after the other. (The best way to read them I think to really get the continuity of the story.)

I wish she had stuck to English (or Scots) though as I'm not good on French / Latin but otherwise great.

So for anyone who hasn't tried Lymond because of being put off by Niccolo I'd say give it a go. I really rooted for the characters especially Lymond, Philippa, and Sybilla. (Ultimate accolade to the series - I called one of the characters in my book Sybilla.)

[Darcy]

I know it's not meant to be until next month, but since it was just sitting there, and most of my other books are in cardboard prisons, I thought I'd start The Hippopotamus Marsh.

I'm liking the story so far, though not much has happened, but we do get a sense of the main character. I have on criticism though, and perhaps it's a preference more than anything, but the author doesn't distinguish the text in anyway from the third person narrative to the "thinking" character. Normally I see the latter in italics or at least a new paragraph or something, but not so in this book and it's a bit jarring. I suppose I'll get used to it in time.

[Terri, Wyrd bið ful aræd]

Well, considering it is a loser...we can start the losers whenever we want. :)

No 'thinking' in italics? That's a strange one. I don't think an author should ever do it without some kind of emphasis...such as italics.

[Darcy]

Nope, there's no distinction whatsoever, at least in the copy I have. Perhaps other printings were edit differently though?

[Terri, Wyrd bið ful aræd]

What editor would let that go to print without italics? tsk tsk. I wonder if the author doesn't like to emphasize 'inner thoughts'.

[Darcy]

Perhaps. I never thought if it that way. We'd have to find her and ask, or maybe I'll look to see if she's addressed that in an interview.

[Terri, Wyrd bið ful aræd]

Send her an email and demand to know!

[Darcy]

I admire her in a way; she's a subscriber to the old snail-mail method of communication. I believe I might just put pen to paper and send her a wee letter.

[Terri, Wyrd bið ful aræd]

A...ah..a what?..a letter?...I don't think anyone has said that word since, well, since the Model T Ford stopped being made.

[Lia]

Finished A Morbid Taste for Bones. Now I'll head over to Netflix to watch Brother Cadfael series.

[Monica]

Lia wrote: "Finished A Morbid Taste for Bones"

Lia, this book is not available through my library. Did you enjoy it? Will you continue on with the series?

[Lia]

@Monica: Yes, I do like it enough but I don't think I'll read the rest of the books. Too slow for my taste. However, I enjoyed The TV show that based on the series. I finished season one last night. :D

[Terri, Wyrd bið ful aræd]

My copy of Morbid is waiting at the library for me. I have no idea when I'll fit it in this month. It may have to go back unread in three weeks time.

[Bryn]

Oi, Terri. It's only a little book and I wanna read it in company.
I have mine, to read whenever anybody else does.

[Chris]

I'll be very interested to hear how people find Brother Cadfael: A Morbid Taste for Bones/One Corpse Too Many/Monk's Hood as I loved reading this series when it first came out, but am not sure how well they will have aged.

[Terri, Wyrd bið ful aræd]

I want to read it with somebody too. I have these first:


My big hurdle for the month will be Hawk Quest. It is a very long book. :\ If I can get it done in the month I will try for Morbid after that one. But don't hold your breath. lol

[Dawn]

I'll join in (if I can) when everyone else does, I love the TV series but have never gotten around to reading the books. I own the whole series so I can read them whenever.
Though I am also reading Hawk Quest so I'll be on more of Terri's time frame.

[Lia]

Just finished Imperium. It was very difficult for me to read the book because it combined two things that I don't like, ‘first person’ narrative and ‘court room drama’. I tolerated one or the other but usually not both of them in a same book. Regardless, this book still give the insight to the roman's political system and a window to Cicero's life without digging biography books about him. A solid 3 stars.

[Terri, Wyrd bið ful aræd]

Hi Lia,
I didn't like the way he split the book into two stories. Of the two stories. I enjoyed the fist one immensely and, like you, got much out of the insight into the Roman political system. But i did not like the second story.
I gave it 4 stars.