What have you just read? Opinions, recommendations & reviews Showing 4,551-4,600 of 12,687

[Leslie]

@John -- I didn't much like Hard Times either!

[Bionic Jean]

John - re Hard Times - "this does not mean we have to pretend an unsatisfactory novel is a masterpiece, just because it favours our side. . ." sounds like very fair comment. I do value the opinions of J.B. Priestley.

All can really remember is the storyline, and the fact that it is short and dour! My next one will be Martin Chuzzlewit which I'm starting in a few days' time. Will approach Hard Times with trepidation now though :(

[John]

I read Hard Times before Bleak House because I hadn't read/finished it before, so at least it's out of the way!

I loved Chuzzlewit, although I see some people don't like the structure. The first three chapters of Bleak House, started this afternoon, are just superb. I'm almost jealous that I've fewer to read now than you! Including your next one, David Copperfield.

[GeneralTHC]

Just finished Coben's latest:The Stranger.It was terrific! He really is the king of the suburban thriller. No way this won't be at the top of best sellers lists soon.

[[deleted user]]

Jean wrote: "John - re Hard Times - "this does not mean we have to pretend an unsatisfactory novel is a masterpiece, just because it favours our side. . ." sounds like very fair comment. I do value ..."

Oh dear John, that is quite a damning review.

I am due a Dicken's read soon but Martin Chuzzlewit is very long! Have 4 books out of the library at the moment but if I get through them I may pop by your thread

[Bionic Jean]

Pop in any time, Heather! ;) You don't have to be reading one ... In fact I like people to contribute Dickens-related stuff there. It doesn't have to be just about the book I happen to be reading, especially now I've linked the parts to the first message.

I am very envious of you reading Bleak House at the moment, John. I happen to think that is his greatest work. But I'm definitely sticking to my plan to read them in order. I wouldn't have discovered the treasure in Barnaby Rudge, had I not revisited it. And I have great hopes for Martin Chuzzlewit too, as yet again all I can really remember is the story and the fact that the American scenes ... went on a bit.

By the way, Dombey and Son is next after M.C. Not for a while for me though. "The Pickwick Club" is currently reading David Copperfield, if you hadn't noticed.

Don't be glum, John! There's all the bits and pieces, some of which you've already enjoyed, (and for which I am very grateful!) - and anyway what's to stop you reading them all again?

[John]

Heather,

Found this!

A Dickens of a list

For some time now I've been wanting to know what the comparative lengths are of Dickens's novels. Your guess is as good as mine as to why I've been wanting to know this, but yesterday, thanks to @DickensDaily on Twitter, I was made aware of the ranking by word count that I reproduce below:

1. David Copperfield: 357,489
2. Dombey and Son: 357,484
3. Bleak House: 355,936
4. Little Dorrit: 339,870
5. Martin Chuzzlewit: 338,077
6. Our Mutual Friend: 327,727
7. Nicholas Nickleby: 323,722
8. The Pickwick Papers: 302,190
9. Barnaby Rudge: 255,229
10. The Old Curiosity Shop: 218,538
11. Great Expectations: 186,339
12. Oliver Twist: 158,631
13. A Tale of Two Cities: 137,000
14. Hard Times: 104,821
15. The Mystery of Edwin Drood: 96,178 (first 6 of 12 parts only)


I reckon Oliver Twist is probably the best good shortish one to choose!

[John]

Jean,

Thank you, I'll bear up! Of the Dickens to come, I've not read Great Expectations or Our Mutual Friend, or Edwin Drood before, so lots of joy to come? But when I've finished the Dickens novels, I'm going to read/re-read the Trollope Barsetshire and Pallister twelve, then the few Hardys I haven't read. And some more Bronte and Wilkie Collins. Plus Sterne, Fielding, Smollett, Richardson. Plus loads of Whodunnits, lots of English 1900 to 1960 novels, and all the serendipity finds from GR conversations. Makes me tired to think of it.

Just read chapter 5 of Bleak House, where Esther and the wards visit Krook's house crowded with old documents, furniture, rags, with the old lady, close to the Law Courts. Simply superb.

[LauraT]

Leslie wrote: "@John -- I didn't much like Hard Times either!"

I liked it quite! Strange book for "Dickensian" standars I admit, but "The turtle soup" stuck in my mind

[John]

Laura, yes, the worst of Dickens (for me) still had a fair few sparks. An event involving an abandoned mine-shaft had lots of verve and rural characters, for instance.

[[deleted user]]

Thanks for posting that, John. I have read Oliver Twist and enjoyed it but it still felt like a long read! In fact, it appears I am yet to tackle a long Dickens with Nicholas Nickleby being my longest of his novels!

[John]

Heather, I've never thought about this, but it seems from Wikipedia that a typical novel might vary from 60k words to twice that. With lots of bigger ones, of course. It looks like the biggest I have read is Vikram Seth's brilliant A Suitable Boy at 550k. There were several genuine novels listed at over 1m. Life's too short, I reckon!

[Bionic Jean]

I'm wondering what Ann Radcliffe's The Mysteries of Udolpho comes in at. I seemed to be reading that at a rate of knots, bored out of my mind at all the sentences which went on and on (like this one) and all the tramping about in the Italian mountains. Since I was reading it on Kindle, and it seemed to be stuck at 4% and still 40-odd hours to go, I gave up (for now) after a quarter of it.

I'm also wondering what Charles Dickens himself would make of the list. Pleased that his favourite book got top place by a mere 5 words, perhaps? The one which surprised me was Our Mutual Friend, which I had remembered as longer.

Any chance of you posting the list on my Dickens challenge thread please, John?

[John]

Jean - will post as you ask, if my expertise holds up!

By the way, Udolpho is only 290,369 (courtesy of feedbooks.com). Just a novella!

[Bionic Jean]

Thanks - and thanks! My internet connection drops out on average about 3 times per post at the moment! It's driving me up the wall!!! It's a Yorkshire service provider too ... ;)

I guess it just wasn't my sort of thing then, to "feel" such a long read.

[John]

But if you've read about 75k Udolpho words, I think you should just read the last 5k and say fini. But I know you hate doing that.

But think what else you could read with the 210k 'freed'!

[Bionic Jean]

John - I'm a bit befuddled by your numbers there. It gets complicated ...

I knew "Mysteries" was in four books and that I'd read the first one. So when my kindle said 4%, I was puzzled it wasn't higher - say about 25% - and ordered an Everyman version from the library just to check that all 4 were about equal in length. It finally arrived, I brought it home - to find they had just sent me volume 2, which contained just books 3 and 4!! Aargh!! Doesn't anyone check anything nowadays?!

Back to the Kindle, and after about half an hour's fiddling, I managed to discover the 4% was through a collection of books, of which "Udolpho" was only one. I was actually about 24% through. I may return to it ... but on the other hand I could read other stuff!

I do naturally read at a fast pace - I'm sometimes envied for it - and have to deliberately slow down! Plus my natural instinct is actually to be completist about things, but I am resisting it. Life's too short to read books you don't want to, isn't it?

[John]

Jean, yes to your last point, unless one has an objective, say the study of works of an author or period. In an earlier comment I said I wanted to read Samuel Richardson. But I see that Clarissa is 970,000 words. Hmm!

Re e-books, yes, the one drawback of collected works e-books is the % read figure. If I can be bothered, I note the %s at the beginning and end of a novel before I start, or the location numbers. But, a bit of a bore.

[Chrissie]

I wasn't blown away by Casanova in Bolzano. Everybody praises the author, but.....maybe this is just not one of his better books?

My review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

[Shirley]

I have just read The String Diaries, by Stephen Lloyd Jones. I heard about it on the radio, and then won it in a giveaway. It was difficult to put down - very good storyline and well written thriller, although it was a bit bloodthirsty towards the end for my liking!

[Bionic Jean]

Good idea John. The location numbers never seem to stick in my mind otherwise. But on my app there's an awful lot of fiddling about needed anyway :(

Back strictly on topic, the last book I finished was The Ocean at the End of the Lane by Neil Gaiman and my review is here .

Before that was I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou. My review for that one is here.

[Colleen]

@Petra -

So glad to hear you liked Peace Like a River! I have that book around here somewhere that I picked up from somewhere and you have convinced me to move it "up the list". Now I gotta find it and schedule it in.

[A]

Just read Cinder, the first of the Lunar Chronicles, and loved it! I think it'll be my last YA book for a while, though. I've decided that if I were to recommend just one YA series to anyone, it would be this one.

[Tom]

Finished The Guest Cat by Takashi Hiraide. 4 Stars

[Shirley]

Tom wrote: "Finished The Guest Cat by Takashi Hiraide. 4 Stars"

I think you enjoyed this more than me, Tom. I enjoyed it, but felt I was somehow missing something? What was it you liked about this book?

[Tom]

I did like the writing, even though I thought the translation now and again wasn't able to precisely capture the Japanese original.

(view spoiler)[ I did enjoy his characterization of Chibi - while the book is about her and the couple that grow to love her, it's not sickly sweet, sentimental or cute. I also liked how Chibi lived in two different worlds where she was a different cat in each. And of course the neighbors who "owned" the cat and their reaction to finding out that the narrator and his wife had been taking care of her too. The ending was good too I thought in that it reinforced that Chibi was indeed a guest cat to the narrator - that he would never know what actually became of her, at least in his own mind. He could take what the neighbor had said as truth, but that's unlikely given the seed of doubt planted at the end of the book. In the end, no-one really owns Chibi, she just presents different faces to different people. (hide spoiler)]

[Monica]

For anyone interested in cultural tales (folklore) I recommend the public domain book Old Peter's Russian Tales. Very enjoyable to read, and some great titles: The Stolen Turnips, the Magic Tablecloth, the Sneezing Goat, and the Wooden Whistle. And a very short funny one: Who Lived in the Skull? My brief review (with link to free book on Project Gutenberg) here: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

[Amber]

I finished The Queen of the Tearling and it was a pretty good read. Here's my review:

Review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

[Shirley]

Tom wrote: "I did like the writing, even though I thought the translation now and again wasn't able to precisely capture the Japanese original.

[spoilers removed]"

That's interesting, I think I would agree with you and I liked the book for the same reasons as you. It is quietly unassuming, not sentimental. I think it would really appeal to someone who is a cat owner.

[Alannah]

Finished Affinity by Sarah Waters last night and The Bone Clocks by David Mitchell this morning. I really enjoyed both.

[Angela M]

Finished A Little Life . 5 stars . My review :https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

[Overbooked ✎]

Angela M wrote: "Finished A Little Life . 5 stars . My review :https://www.goodreads.com/review/show..."

Thanks for the review Angela, looks like an awesome book, I've added it to my TBR

[Diane S ☔]

Finished Delicious Foods
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

[Angela M]

Kiwi, it's a brutal read but I think worth it .

[GeneralTHC]

I just finished My Sunshine Away. It was so good. It just got better and better until the end. You all should read it.

[Angela M]

Chuck, I looked at this but never got it . Sounds like I should .

[GeneralTHC]

Angela M wrote: "Chuck, I looked at this but never got it . Sounds like I should ."

I thought it was fantastic. I'm sure people will call this a coming-of-age tale, but I'm not sure that's entirely correct. I mean, yeah, a great deal of it involves the realizations of a person who is growing up. But a lot it are the ruminations of a person who's lived long enough to understand what things really were key in shaping his outlook and the path of his life and whatnot, if that makes any sense. It's a recounting of all that. I think a lot of people probably have a nonfiction version of a book like this in 'em.

[Diane S ☔]

I read that one Chuck. Gave it four stars but fell behind in my reviews. It won a kirkus star and it was a very real story. Different, but very well written, reminded me of the old neighborhood I grew up in. May be why I am having trouble writing a review, touches a little close to home.

[Canadian Jen]

I think I put my review in the wrong spot so will replot it here! Finished Me Before You...5 stars https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

[LauraT]

Jen wrote: "I think I put my review in the wrong spot so will replot it here! Finished Me Before You...5 stars https://www.goodreads.com/review/show..."

I liked it Jen, but not as much as you - and almost everybody else! - have.
I find these are too complicated subjects to be discussed in a "light" book, after all!

[Shirley]

Jen wrote: "I think I put my review in the wrong spot so will replot it here! Finished Me Before You...5 stars https://www.goodreads.com/review/show..."

I loved this when I read it, I think I also gave it 5 stars. Definitely not a light, chick lit book - this one made me cry.

[Shirley]

I've just finished reading The Girl on the Train which was compelling reading for a few days - I couldn't put it down yesterday! I did guess "whodunnit" quite early on, but not exactly how it happened. It was actually better than I thought it was going to be. I'm not sure whether to give it 3 or 4 stars - probably nearer 4.

[Canadian Jen]

Shirley wrote: "I've just finished reading The Girl on the Train which was compelling reading for a few days - I couldn't put it down yesterday! I did guess "whodunit" quite early on, but not exact..."

I gave it a 4 just as it was a good, fast paced read and enjoyable. You are better at sleuthing than I - I didn't know it was a 50/50 draw!

[Shirley]

Jen wrote: "Shirley wrote: "I've just finished reading The Girl on the Train which was compelling reading for a few days - I couldn't put it down yesterday! I did guess "whodunit" quite early o..."

I can't help myself - I have to try to work it out!! I believe it's going to be made into a film? That might be interesting...

[Tom]

Finished Sourcery by Terry Pratchett. 4 Stars

[Amber]

here's my review of Sirius enjoy!

Review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

[Leslie]

I finished (finally) the sci fi omnibus I started in February, Miles Errant. The omnibus contained one novella and two novels from the Vorkosigan series which shared a common theme of identity -- what makes us who we are & how do we maintain that identity under pressure. These 3 were definitely darker than the other books in this series I have read (the novella is set on a prisoner-of-war planetoid and one of the novels has some fairly graphic torture scenes) but despite my discomfort for some of it, Bujold kept me reading - and thinking. I do hope the next book (Memory) is a little lighter though!

[dely]

I have finished Monkey: The Journey to the West by Wu Cheng'en and liked it. I didn't know if giving it 3 or 4 stars so I gave 3,5.
It is the adventurous journey of Tripitaka, a Buddhist monk, who must go from China to India to take the Holy Scriptures. In this journey he has three disciples who help him and one of these is Monkey, a real troublemaker but he is also brave and it's thanks to him if Tripitaka arrives in India.

[Lee]

Sounds like a wonderful book!

[dely]

Lee wrote: "Sounds like a wonderful book!"

It is. I don't know why I gave it less than 4 stars; perhaps because in this last period I'm stressed and it seems to me that I can't enjoy a book like in the past, I don't have the right concentration to read because my head thinks about other things.