Aussie Readers discussion
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What Are You Currently Reading? (doesn't have to be an Aussie book)
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Tango
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Jul 24, 2012 02:00AM
Just started The Chemistry of Tears. It is good so far.
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Really enjoying this one! This guy is my main competition too... :0)
Deffo worth a read!
Mark wrote: "Jess - I'd never heard of this novel, but my complete ignorance piqued my curiosity (as to why, partly, it ought to form part of the prescribed secondary school curriculum in Australia), so I had a look at the GR reviews. It appears to have been liked by music-lovers, and cheerfully loathed by students compelled to read it as an assignment. Bimodal distributions of opinions usually betoken an interesting book, though, so I hope you find it enjoyable. What is it you're supposed to be comparing it to, anyway? " We have to compare it to that film about The Holocaust, 'The Pianist'.
Woohoo, just arrived in the mail today Between the Lines by Jodi Picoult and her daughter Samantha van Leer. Which is great because tomorrow I'm going to the Jodi Picoult literary lunch at the Sheraton in Sydney. I am reading as fast as I can.....and hoping to get an autograph!
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Yes, I took a day off work, which I hardly ever do. My sister suggested it, I thought, Oh, Thursday, I can't go, I have to work.......no wait, f... it, I'm gonna take a day off! Yes, I'm excited! I'm up to p 60 already and it's good.
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In your comment box, top RHS it says 'add book/author'. Click on that, put your book title in and hit 'search'. When the correct book shows, hit 'add', and there you will have it! If you want the cover to show, down the bottom of the box are your choices:) Good luck!
I just started Sonya Hartnett's The Midnight Zoo and am slowly working my way through Victor Hugo's Les Misérables (currently on Volume 3, Marius).
Brenda, you will never believe this! Jess was opposite me on the same table! We didn't realise until the end when we were talking about books and book sites and GoodReads............what's this in degrees of separation? Or coincidence. Anyway, the food was lovely, the interview was really good and it was well worth the money. Got 2 books autographed. I wonder if the interview will be on the ABC website, because Tony Delroy was the interviewer. (Is that a bad wig or his real hair???) I think I will go to more of these....
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Haha!! That's amazing Marianne! She messaged me on FB and told me she'd been chatting to you all through lunch, and hadn't realized who you were until near the end!! It's a small world, that's for sure! Glad you enjoyed the luncheon anyway, also the interview with Jodi:) Sounds like a lot of fun!
there must have been 300+ people there, so it really was amazingI also ran into a former neighbour there
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I also ran into a former neighbour there"
OMG!!! That is unbelievable! To be put at the same table, with that many people! And the neighbour too!!
@Mish I finished city of fallen angels.. I loved it, city of glass is still my favorite tho, but fallen angels is a must read so much stuff happens that will leave you completely gob-smacked and wanting to read city if lost souls so you can know what happens next. I'm currently reading city of lost souls :)
Wow, last I heard there were only 3 City of Bones books: looks like I've got some reading to do!
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Catch up time Heather;)
Heather wrote: "Wow, last I heard there were only 3 City of Bones books: looks like I've got some reading to do!"Yeah, I stopped after the third. Like, they were fun to read, but I was content where the story was finished. After reading so many negative reviews of the fourth book, it became apparent Cassandra Clare was just milking it. I didnt want to waste my time.
Fun fact: Cassandra Clare is milking the series the series further. Not only were there an extra three books added to it, as well as a prequel trilogy, now there will be a LA spin off.
Haha, can you imagine how much shit JK Rowling would get in if she wrote another four Harry Potter books, then a prequel trilogy about James + Lily's time at Hogwarts, then another series about random Hogwarts students.
I just wish Cassandra Clare would come up with some new ideas.
★ Jess wrote: "Heather wrote: "Wow, last I heard there were only 3 City of Bones books: looks like I've got some reading to do!"Yeah, I stopped after the third. Like, they were fun to read, but I was content wh..."
Huh, I wasn't aware of all that. It's been over 2 years since I read the books, so I can't really remember how it ended... I remember enjoying them, but not thinking they were great literature. Will have to do some research before making any purchases. Sometimes it's better just to leave a good thing alone.
@ Jess, ur missing out!! The fourth book is the best by far... Many books get bad reviews and are great! I've already purchased the prequel books and they sound heaps good cant wait to read them :)
I don't think Cassandra Clare is milking it at all...
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Nobody could possibly be named, "Cassandra Clare" (unless, perhaps, her last name were "Voyant"). Does anyone foresee a sequel or a new series: "Say, see bones!"
Katie wrote: "@Mish I finished city of fallen angels.. I loved it, city of glass is still my favorite tho, but fallen angels is a must read so much stuff happens that will leave you completely gob-smacked and w..."Oh wow thankyou Katie - I'll get onto it soon then :D
I think it depends a lot on motivation: you can generally tell whether an author was writing for money or due to inspiration based on how good the book is. I'm pretty sure John Marsden was milking it when he wrote The Ellie Chronicles, though, and while they're certainly not as good as the Tomorrow series, I enjoyed reading them; sounds like these books might be worth checking out, too. It's not like they were ever my favourite series so I won't be devastated if she ruined them.
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Review here: http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/...
Possibly the best book i have read this year. Yes its that ..."
Excellent review Michael...I'll definitely have to pick it up now:)
Brenda wrote: "Isn't it funny how people's opinions differ so much about one particular book/series (and other things of course). It's a good thing though...pretty boring if everyone liked the same thing! ;P"That's one of the bonuses about GR - you read a wide variety of opinions, and then if you choose to read the book, can make up your own mind, and add a review to addd to the on going discussion.
Marianne wrote: "Brenda, you will never believe this! Jess was opposite me on the same table! We didn't realise until the end when we were talking about books and book sites and GoodReads............what's this in ..."I heard an interview on Radio National "Conversations with Richard Fidler". The book sounded interesting.
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You're right there Maggie!
Katie wrote: "I don't think Cassandra Clare is milking it at all..."I would define milking as having finished a series, then going back and writing at least 9 more books, instead of moving on.
But yes, yay for differing opinion.
★ Jess wrote: "Katie wrote: "I don't think Cassandra Clare is milking it at all..."I would define milking as having finished a series, then going back and writing at least 9 more books, instead of moving on.
..."
It definitely seems like she's milking it; however, I don't know if going back to a story after you've finished it is necessarily milking. Some authors get caught up in fictional worlds inside their heads and just keep developing them. I don't think Tolkien was milking it when he kept writing about Middle Earth or Melina Marchetta when she wrote The Piper's Son. I'm not saying Cassandra Clare isn't milking it, but I don't believe finishing a series then deciding to write more necessarily equates milking it. These books have been pretty successful, so it's easy to assume she's milking it, but who's to say, maybe she's just caught up in their world.
Michael wrote: "I just finished this wonderful book. The Unlikely Pilgrimage Of Harold Fry.Review here: http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/...
Possibly the best book i have read this year. Yes its that ..."
I seriously contemplated reading this, but then I read the description and Michael's excellent review, and all I could think of was this (which I knew would vex me on every single page if I did commit to the book): A rational person who hears that a friend, for whom he cares deeply, is dying... does not delay his arrival at her deathbed for untold days or weeks and invite his own prospective demise by idiotically walking across the whole country utterly without preparation. No, he begs, borrows or steals whatever he has to to take a plane, or at worst, a bus, with the hope of arriving *before* the friend is dead. Also, absolutely irrespective of the state of the marriage, simply to walk out on your partner, without warning, notice or explanation, is unambiguously abusive in the extreme. Joyce's idea may be a great and creative literary conceit, but in the real world, Fry's actions are irrational and abusive. I gather the book must be gripping and superlatively well-written, but I could never get past the problem of the premise.
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Review here: http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/...
Possibly the best book i have read this yea..."
Well said Mark!! Just as well it's not non-fiction, isn't it;P
Brenda wrote: "Mark wrote: "Michael wrote: "I just finished this wonderful book. The Unlikely Pilgrimage Of Harold Fry....
Well said Mark!! Just as well it's not non-fiction, isn't it;P
Thanks, Brenda! It would be nice, at least with respect to the part about people abandoning their life-long partners without notice, if it were non-fiction. :( I guess this particular sore point is why the premise would make it particularly difficult for me to appreciate.
Still reading city of lost souls and loving it... I don't want this series to end and not looking forward to waiting to read the next book :( LOL at least I have the prequel series to read :)
I've just finished reading Promise It was very thought provoking and pointed out how easy it was for a preditor to get away. Quiet scary. Now I'm reading Water Witches A delightful change of pace
RIP Maeve Binchy died 30/7/2012 after a short illness, aged 72. Hubby Gordon Snell was by her side. I'm very sad to lose this wonderful author. I recently read Minding Frankie, Full House and A Week in Summer: A Short Story and I have to say, she had lost none of her literary ability: her plots, characters and dialogue were still spot on. There is still a book due to be published in October, A Week in Winter, so at least we have that to look forward to.
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Wow, that is sad, I've read a lot of her stuff. On another note, I've finished writing the short story anthology, so I'm relaxing with a guilty indulgence and re-reading the Harry Potter series. It's just so much fun and so well written, I love going back to this series.
Of course I also have my usual pile of books I have to read for Uni **little sigh** :)
I just finished Maestro, which was read for school. Tonight I start-and Im thus far loving-The Sandman, Vol. 1: Preludes and Nocturnes by an all time favorite author, Neil Gaiman. This will be the first graphic novel I've read :)
I really enjoy graphic novels Jess although it did take me a while to get into them. There are a lot of really great stories out there in graphic novel format. Enjoy!
The only graphic novels I've read were the Darkhorse ones following up on the Buffy the Vampire Slayer series (of which I was unduly enamoured because it was.. you know, Whedon), but they seemed to me extremely sparse on prose, and I'm left-brain dominant, so they didn't do much for me. Also, alas, you can't (for the most part) get graphic novels on kindle, and that's about my only mode of reading, these days. It annoys me, also, that I can't get any French novels on kindle ('cause there's some sort of territorial conspiracy), and I can't get any Danish novels because there... you know, aren't any, except on g.dk, which has practically none and only wants to ship the tree variety if you're not i København (the download option somehow goes away). Whine. Whine. :(
Almost finished Assassin's Quest, by Robin Hobb. Great series :)Likely to move onto Ship of Magic, the next trilogy that Robin Hobb wrote in that world, afterwards.
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