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What have you just read? Opinions, recommendations & reviews
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Shirley
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Dec 15, 2013 07:13AM
They both sound interesting, John, I shall search for them on kindle.
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John wrote: "Having wanted to achieve my 2013 Reading Challenge of 104 books - now just done - I have found myself reading shorter books rather than modern books or older three volume novels. Cheat!Two good o..."
Congrats on reaching your goal John!
Leslie wrote: "John wrote: "Having wanted to achieve my 2013 Reading Challenge of 104 books - now just done - I have found myself reading shorter books rather than modern books or older three volume novels. Cheat..."Thank you - I think I'll go for 76 next year, and read some long Palliser novels, some Russian classics, and some Elizabeth Bowen and Ivy Compton Burnett (my real favourites) at a more leisurely rate! With Simenon, Ngaio Marsh, Marjorie Allingham as light relief.
John wrote: " I think I'll go for 76 next year, and read some long Palliser novels, some Russian classics, and some Elizabeth Bowen and Ivy Compton Burnett (my real favourites) at a more leisurely rate! With Simenon, Ngaio Marsh, Marjorie Allingham as light relief...":) Well, you are welcome to join me in War and Peace or The Brothers Karamazov... And, as you probably already know, I like your light relief authors! My light relief mysteries for 2014 are going to focus on Michael Innes and Rex Stout but I would like to read a Simenon or two also.
Leslie - yes, happy to join you in War and Peace, which I read for the only time in 2005 when Penguin Classics published a new translation by Anthony Briggs which flowed very well. I loved it, but it's the only Russian novel I've read apart from lots of shorter novels by Turgenev, and some Tchekov short stories. So, Brothers Karamazov would be nice, too. I have read every Michael Innes (getting the last few books by post from the American firm House of Stratus a few years ago) but they're too familiar to be read again for a few years yet. Great stuff, particularly the early ones, as with so many authors, I suppose.
I've only ever read one Nero Wolfe book, years ago (the Silent Speaker, or something like that), but by chance bought an omnibus from a charity shop yesterday, with The Doorbell Rang, The Second Confession, More Deaths Than One in it. I will enjoy starting that in the New Year.
But, for now in the run up to Xmas, I'm going to re-read the Collected Ghost Stories of M R James. Haven't read them for forty years so they should surprise and scare me again! Thirty of them, so three a day. The BBC are doing The Tractate Middoth at Xmas from this collection, and it should be great with a coal fire and the lights turned off here in the Derbyshire Peak District countryside!
Just as an aside, John, I don't know if you remember but quite a few of those M R James short stories were dramatised by the BBC - one every Christmas. They are now available on DVDs, each of 3 or 4 stories/episodes. Today I watched "The Stalls of Barchester Cathedral" from 1971 and was very surprised to see that one of the main characters, a researcher, was played by Clive Swift. Yes, the very same actor who later played Bishop Proudie in the wonderful adaptation of Anthony Trollope's "Barchester Towers" in 1982! Just a coincidence? Or had some casting director connected the two completely unconnected works?
And you are making me homesick for the Peak District, near where I grew up... :)
Jean - thank you, I remember them well, and will get them in time for Xmas. Great.
Mod
I was wondering!!!!
John wrote: "But, for now in the run up to Xmas, I'm going to re-read the Collected Ghost Stories of M R James. Haven't read them for forty years so they should surprise and scare me again! Thirty of them, so three a day. The BBC are doing The Tractate Middoth at Xmas from this collection, and it should be great with a coal fire and the lights turned off here in the Derbyshire Peak District countryside! ..."I'm really looking forward to watching the Tractate Middoth on Christmas Day! Love MR James...I might have to re-read it as well!
On a totally different note, I've just finished reading The Well of Ascension by Brandon Sanderson which is the 2nd book in his Mistborn series. Didn't like it as much as the first one to start with but the 2nd half of the book really took off and the ending was great - am desparate to read the 3rd books but trying to leave it for a little while to get some of my group reads and library books read but it's a battle I will probably lose...
I just finished The Mysterious Benedict Society. This was a really fun middle grade novel and I enjoyed winding down a crazy, crazy weekend with it. Looking through the reviews for this book, I noticed that this book is really hit or miss---some people love it and others just simply have no use for it, many referring to it as too similar (but not as good) as the Lemony Snicket series.I haven't read that series yet, so I can't comment on that aspect, but I did really enjoy it. It was really neat seeing how different personalities, all very bright, solved problems and issues quite differently. I'll admit though, that suspension of disbelief is quite necessary, lol. I'd recommend it for what it is...a fun, kids' book. This isn't great or groundbreaking literature; if you don't try to make it into something its not, it should be a fun ride.
Just finished The Solace of leaving early. It was really good but I felt the ending was rushed and it took away some of the wonderful things about it as a whole.
@Laurel - I have only read one short book by Sanderson, but I liked it. I am tempted to add the Mistborn series to my TBR mountain :)@Theresahpir - I listened to most of The Mysterious Benedict Society with my niece and nephews while on vacation last summer - all the kids were very into the story. Unfortunately, I missed the beginning so I didn't get as interested as I could have been.
@Tracey - I hate it when the end of a book doesn't match the rest.
I read a holiday novella yesterday Christmas at Thompson Hall: A Mid-Victorian Christmas Tale, which I enjoyed a lot. I am pleased, as the other holiday short story I finished over the weekend, Holiday Sparks, was more erotica than I had anticipated - good thing that I was listening using ear buds, or it could have become embarrassing!
Just read 'The Death of Ivan Ilych'. Very powerful. Accessible Russian literature!
Mod
I do agree!
Finished The Snowman and reallyu liked it!!!! If you like mystery is the book for you!
I finished The English Patient yesterday. I didn't always enjoy reading it, but I thought it was good overall. It's difficult for me to say if I would recommend it. I would recommend it to certain readers that I know, but I don't think I would universally recommend it. I think I will watch the movie adaptation if I can get a copy at the library. It has left me a little confused...
Golgothaby Saul Tanpepper was a pretty good zombie horror story. I requested it from his official website as a read4review request and it was pretty good. It was about an experiment that goes horribly wrong on reanimating the body and it forces the government to act. Check it out.
LauraT wrote: "Finished The Snowman and reallyu liked it!!!! If you like mystery is the book for you! ..."I agree, Laura. I really enjoyed The Snowman. I want to start this series from the beginning (when the books are more accessible in English).
Theresahpir wrote: "I just finished The Mysterious Benedict Society. This was a really fun middle grade novel and I enjoyed winding down a crazy, crazy weekend with it. Looking through the reviews for th..."
I enjoyed the series, Theresa. It's a little young and a little goody-two-shoes but it's also a lot of fun and the characters are interesting. It's a good series for kids, I think.
I've just finished reading Barney's Version I wouldn't recommend it at all, I found it pretty confusing especially in the first part and the main character definitely unpleasant and annoying. Reading some comment here in Goodreads I had great expectations, but I really found it disappointing.
Giacomo wrote: "I've just finished reading Barney's Version I wouldn't recommend it at all, I found it pretty confusing especially in the first part and the main character definitely unpleasant and a..."Too bad :( I hope that your next book is better!
I reread a short story by Fyodor Dostoyevsky which I read in February, The Christmas Tree and the Wedding… I liked it just as much this second time around!
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I agree, Laura. I really enjoyed The Snowman. I want to start this series from the begin..."
Thinking the same!!!
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Didn't know it; I'll give a look...
LauraT wrote: "Leslie wrote: "Giacomo wrote: "I've just finished reading Barney's Version I wouldn't recommend it at all, I found it pretty confusing especially in the first part and the main charac..."It is in White Nights and Other Stories, which I read in Feb. but it is also in a collection I got from Project Gutenburg called Best Russian Short Stories (or something like that). So seeing it in this second collection, I read it again! It isn't very holiday-related except for the action taking place during a holiday party...
Mod
I don't think I have it at home. I'll see if I can find it in my library ... Or else download it from Gutenberg in english, even if I find it strange to read an author "translated" into english!
Leslie wrote: "@Laurel - I have only read one short book by Sanderson, but I liked it. I am tempted to add the Mistborn series to my TBR mountain :)I would definitely recommend them for anyone who likes fantasy!
I've just finished Hogfather which was as Hilarious as I remember it being - I love discworld!
Laurel wrote: "...I've just finished Hogfather which was as Hilarious as I remember it being - I love discworld!..."To any of you Discworld fans:
I spent some time at the library looking at the Terry Pratchett books today. How important is it to read them in some sort of order? I have only read Hogfather and Guards! Guards!, both of which I enjoyed. My library has Night Watch but not Men at Arms - should I request Men at Arms by interlibrary loan or just skip it and read Night Watch?
I've read less Pratchett than you Leslie, but Chris (my husband who writes comic fantasy in a similar vein) has read nearly all of them, so I asked him.He says they fall somewhere between series novels and novels which can be read independently. So that means it's perfectly possible to enjoy reading odd ones, as you have done, but you may miss out on some of the character development. For instance, he says there is a character - a policeman called Vines - who develops a lot during the series. In one book he meets another character, and later on in the series he is married to her. (But personally I think this often happens in, for example, crime series novels doesn't it? It doesn't usually put me off.)
The downside of reading them all in order, Chris says, is that you will be starting with the weakest ones first. Both The Color of Magic and The Light Fantastic are not nearly as funny as the later ones - including the ones you've read.
Although I've said I would perhaps skip about, with crime novels, Chris always prefer to read Pratchetts in order if it's possible. It just personal preference I think. He also says Night Watch is brilliant!
Not sure we've answered your question, but hope this helps :)
Night Watch is awesome! But I agree with Jean's husband - they can be read independently and you don't need to start at the beginning of the whole series but I would read the one's about a certain group of characters in order (i.e.) start the guards/watch series with men at Arms, as you can follow the story either way but you might get some small spoilers by reading them out of order - hope that helps!
I agree, The Discworld Novels can be read out of order. You might miss small plot details but in general the books can be read as standalone novels, mini-series as Laurel mentioned above or from start to finish.
Mod
Wow, three times in a year! Maybe I should check it out
Thanks Jean, Laurel, Heather... despite my Mount TBR challenge I think I will request Men at Arms through interlibrary loan sometime this winter.
Alannah wrote: "I finshed Delirium for the third time this year. I love it, I'm still shocked every time I read or listen to it. (as I have the audiobook and the kindle version)"I really liked that book. Have you read the rest of the series? I read the second in the trilogy, but haven't gotten to the final book yet.
I finished two books yesterday, Shakespeare Wrote for Money and Unexpected Gifts. I can't say I'd recommend either. I liked The Polysyllabic Spree and I think Nick Hornby is funny, but Shakespeare Wrote for Money didn't cover many books that I'm interested in. And Unexpected Gifts isn't the kind of book that I normally read, so I don't have much to say about it. I basically read these books because they are short, and there are only 12 reading days left in 2013. Three more to go!
Mod
The sounds interesting to me!
Coming in a bit late on the Discworld discussion. The books fall into kind of mini-series and are definitely better, in my opinion, if read in order within these. So for example there's a series featuring the Ankh-Morpork Watch, another with the Witches up in the mountains, another with Death etc. Small Gods is a completely stand-alone one.
Joy wrote: "Coming in a bit late on the Discworld discussion. The books fall into kind of mini-series and are definitely better, in my opinion, if read in order within these. So for example there's a series fe..."I think Guards! Guards! is the start of the mini-series about the Watch, which is why I was wondering about Men at Arms vs. Nightwatch. Thanks for your input - I am going to try to read this mini-series at least in order.
A side note: I am finding it a teensy bit funny that two of the books I want to read this winter have the same name - Men at Arms! One by Terry Pratchett (discussed here) and the other by Evelyn Waugh (the first book of his Sword of Honor trilogy)!
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But I liked it nonetheless, it left itself read easily. And now I want to see how it goes on...
I just finished Krampus: The Yule Lordand it was a pretty good read. Check out my review here: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
I've just finished Cold Comfort Farm and can't understand why it's so well known. I found it fairly amusing in parts but not the comic novel I was expecting from the Sunday Times quote on the front cover 'funniest book you'll ever read.'
I agree, no laughs for me, but maybe this wiki intro gives the clue:Cold Comfort Farm is a comic novel by English author Stella Gibbons, published in 1932. It parodies the romanticised, sometimes doom-laden accounts of rural life popular at the time, by writers such as Mary Webb. Gibbons was working for the Evening Standard in 1928 when they decided to serialise Webb's first novel, The Golden Arrow, and Gibbons was given the job of summarising the plot of earlier instalments. Other novelists in the tradition parodied by Cold Comfort Farm are D. H. Lawrence, Sheila Kaye-Smith and Thomas Hardy; and going further back, Mary E Mann and the Brontë sisters. In 2003, the novel was listed at number 88 on the BBC's survey The Big Read.[1]
Maybe some of the lesser-known novelists above wrote terrible stuff worth parodying including DHL, but it seems a bit silly to include Hardy and the Brontes.
John wrote: "I agree, no laughs for me, but maybe this wiki intro gives the clue:Cold Comfort Farm is a comic novel by English author Stella Gibbons, published in 1932. It parodies the romanticised, sometimes..."
Oh but I found the parody of Hardy's descriptive passages some of the most amusing parts! The sections where Flora is working on her own novel ("the golden orb..." etc.).
Have you seen the film? I think it was very well done...
No, but I remember enjoying a television version back in the past (1960s?), then reading the book. Perhaps I was too young to appreciate it, but it's been in my bookcase since then and is now in my hand. Perhaps I'm old enough now to appreciate it. Now my next read - good old Goodreads. Thank you Leslie.
I remember being bored stiff by that dramatisation, John, which I think was in the mid-1970's. Listening to a radio serialisation later on I got a glimmer of why it's supposed to be so funny. Clearly poking fun at Mary Webb's Gone to Earth and perhaps also the apparent dourness in some Bronte, the apparent bucolic episodes in Thomas Hardy, the apparent navel-gazing in D H Lawrence...Now don't take me to task people. I enjoy those authors far more than what I've heard of Cold Comfort Farm so far! It seemed a bit too over the top for me. But I'm willing to give it a proper try some day...
Mod
It's on my TBR list for next year ...
I have finished Norwegian Wood by Haruki Murakami and I recommend it (though not now during the Christmas time!).I started it whithout knowing the plot or the main theme. It is not easy to talk about the plot because the important thing of this book are the feelings you have while reading it. It is a first person narration and the narrator is Watanabe. He tells about his life from when he was 17 years old till his 20 years: his first girlfriend, his best friend at highschool, then the years at university and his friends of this time.
But we have all his thoughts, all his feelings, how he observes people around him and tries to understand them. All these things are very detailed and profound and this is the strenght of this book also because the main theme of the book is youth suicide.
It was a very gloomy and melanconic read. I also think this is one of those books I will continue to think about it for a long time because something remains in the reader.
LauraT wrote: "Joy wrote: "I've just finished Cold Comfort Farm and can't understand why it's so well known. I found it fairly amusing in parts but not the comic novel I was expecting from the Sunday..."Me too - in fact I was going to read it this year, but didn't get around to it!! Maybe we could have a readalong?
dely wrote: "I have finished Norwegian Wood by Haruki Murakami and I recommend it (though not now during the Christmas time!).
I started it whithout knowing the plot or the main theme..."
I read this a few weeks ago, very gloomy but wonderfully written and yes, lots to think about
I started it whithout knowing the plot or the main theme..."
I read this a few weeks ago, very gloomy but wonderfully written and yes, lots to think about
Mod
Good Idea!
When can we squeeze it? February or March?
LauraT wrote: "Shirley wrote: "LauraT wrote: "Joy wrote: "I've just finished Cold Comfort Farm and can't understand why it's so well known.... Me too - in fact I was going to read it this year, but d..."Maybe February?
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