Just finished/Just started (what book are you reading now?) 2015

[Orinoco Womble (tidy bag and all)]

T4bsF wrote: "I think there were quite a lot of curiosity buys - mine included. I wasn't at all disgusted - not with the subject matter anyway! It was just so poorly written and old fashioned & Mills & Boonish..."

They weren't disgusted in a prudish way, but at themselves for wasting their money.

[Nabse]

Just finished Baking Cakes in Kigali (have written review - in short, did not like!) and am now starting Season of Migration to the North. All Our Names is on the go too (am liking a lot).

[Suze]

Just read your review Nabse, thanks for letting us know you'd written it. I read the sample last week, and was still undecided if I liked it or not, so just 'put it to one side' until a later date. I probably won't bother with it now.

[Orinoco Womble (tidy bag and all)]

I posted a review too. Nabse's right, it was pretty darn condescending (the book, I mean).

[Suze]

Thanks Ori, I definitely won't bother now. If 2 people are telling me it's so bad and I wasn't sure after reading the sample then it's not for me. The only thing which attracted me in the first place was because one of the characters made cakes.

[Michael]

I've just finished reading Jim Webster's excellent sci-fi thriller 'Justice 4.1':

http://thecultofme.blogspot.co.uk/201...

I'm now onto 'Recidivist Paradox' by Mike Freeman.

[Orinoco Womble (tidy bag and all)]

Struggling a bit with The Cuckoo Tree. It feels like a reworking of Nightbirds on Nantucket--Dido facing down baddy adults, helping an immature YA, and taking care of an injured older man. Her "mockney" and the "country speech" of the other characters is unrealistic and just annoying.

[Nabse]

Sorry bit behind and only just realised comments were directed at me!! You're welcome re review. I like writing them; it makes me articulate my vague impressions which is a very useful exercise. There seem to be quite a few reviewers with the same reaction as me to BCIK; conversely some people seem to love it. I guess that's why reading is such an interesting pastime and it's great to be able to discuss here. Hope you're all having a good weekend!

[Michael]

I've just finished reading 'Edge of End' by Suren Fant and it's an ok read, but needed a bit more development:

http://thecultofme.blogspot.co.uk/201...

[T4bsF (Call me Flo)]

Just finished

The Moment Keeper by Buffy Andrews

and gave it 4*

Just started

To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee

[Orinoco Womble (tidy bag and all)]

Just finished The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie. Very much a first novel.
Also, Totto-chan: The Little Girl at the Window.
Off to post reviews.

[David]

Just finished didn't get passed chapter 4 as it was boring me to sleep.

Now reading

which I'm enjoying.

[Orinoco Womble (tidy bag and all)]

I've been trying to read The Face of a Stranger, but I'm not sure about it. Basic premise: Peeler policeman gets head injury in carriage accident, loses memory. Yeah, I know it happens. But he doesn't even seem to know whether he likes the pictures in his lodgings or not. Several times he asks himself if such and so a thing is his own taste or someone else's. Surely even if you don't know who you are etc, you know if you like something or not? I mean, you still react in the same way, positively or negatively? I honestly think that even if someone bopped me hard enough to give me amnesia I would still hate the colour orange, because I don't have any traumas related to it, it simply sets my teeth on edge. Chartreuse does the same.

[Clodagh]

T4bsF wrote: "Just Finished


Mrs. Mike by Benedict Freedman

Just Started

Sister by [author:Rosamund Lupton|3..."

I tried to get the St Mary's book you recommended out of the library but they didn't have it anywhere in all the local libraries. Am currently reading the Book of Lost Things that was also a recommendation. Do you know a relatively easy way to remember who recommended a book to you on GR. Short of trawling through all your friend one by one and trying to find old messages? Or am I being dim. Hope you are well.

[Orinoco Womble (tidy bag and all)]

Trying to read The Lord Is My Shepherd but I'm not sure. The language says "cozy mystery" but it's about a serial killer who copies events in the Passion. Um. And the characters are kind of flat.
(And I know there are shallow, hypocritical people who are pastors/church workers, but not ALL of them are. One gets tired of the trope.)

[T4bsF (Call me Flo)]

Clodagh wrote: Do you know a relatively easy way to remember who recommended a book to you on GR. Short of trawling through all your friend one by one and trying to find old messages?

If you go to the grey band at the top of this page - to the right hand side of this band you will see your profile picture. The third icon to the left of this is a "g". If you click on this, it lists all your notifications and recommendations. Happy hunting!

[Nabse]

Just finished All Our Names by Dinaw Mengestu (trying to get head together to write review - in short I liked it a lot!) and Extreme Medicine by Kevin Fong (also liked a lot). Still reading Season of Migration to the North by Tayeb Salih (fabulous but slow going as you need to concentrate) and My Fathers' Daughter by Hannah Pool (a fast read - not to be confused, however, with trite). I seem to have hit a good patch! Sorry no links as posting from phone which doesn't seem to do them.....

[T4bsF (Call me Flo)]

....I always wondered why I stick to my laptop for posting comments..... I know why now!! lol

[Nabse]

Wise move - I can't even 'like' your comment ;-)

[T4bsF (Call me Flo)]

Ha - that's only on Facebook, but we were thinking of starting a petition to get a "like" button on here!! lol

[mrbooks]

In stead of a like button, try smiley face and a sad face and an angry face and so on and so on... AKA emoticons.

[Emma Victoria]

I'm reading Catcher In The Rye at the moment :)

[mrbooks]

Let me know what you think when you are done.

[T4bsF (Call me Flo)]

I read it years ago and can't really remember much about it - it didn't really enthral me.

[Emma Victoria]

I can see why, I'm not really into it either :/

[Emma Victoria]

mrbooks wrote: "Let me know what you think when you are done."

I will do :)

[mrbooks]

I thought it was suppose to be a classic, well not a classic but well you know what I mean

[T4bsF (Call me Flo)]

It is viewed as a classic, and I sometimes wonder just how some of these books manage to get that label. One of the few books I totally gave up on was also said to be a classic - Ernest Hemingway's "For whom the Bell Tolls". It was so dull, I don't think I got past chapter 2.

[Emma Victoria]

I know, I've got through the first three chapters of Catcher, and I have seriously been wondering why it's been called a classic.

[mrbooks]

I had to read it in school, didn't think much of it either but unlike you I had no choice.

[Orinoco Womble (tidy bag and all)]

Emma Victoria wrote: "I can see why, I'm not really into it either :/"

We had to read it in highschool. Growing up working class in a small rural town in the Midwest, none of us could even remotely relate to the emo angst of a spoiled rich kid from NYC or wherever, who went to boarding school. We had the same problem with A Separate Peace--it meant just nothing to us. We used to call it Separate Pieces.

Then somebody wised up and gave us stuff like The Outsiders and Inherit the Wind. We enjoyed The Outsiders because it was so different to what we were being fed. And as for ITW, small-minded smalltown people--now that we knew about!!
In that place at that time, books were still being banned from the school library. I remember one teacher got in all kinds of mess for having kids read Go Ask Alice as a sort of paralell reading project.

[Michael]

I've just finished reading the third book in Mike Freeman's 'Contact' series - 'Recidivist Paradox' and it's a cracking military sci-fi adventure with some pleasing depth. Check out my review here:

http://thecultofme.blogspot.co.uk/201...

I'm now onto The Cabinet of Dr Blessing by Jack Rollins.

[Michael]

I've just finished reading Dylan J Morgan's excellent sci-fi adventure 'The Dead Lands'. You can read my review here:

http://thecultofme.blogspot.co.uk/201...

[Michael]

I've just finished reading 'The Cabinet of Dr Blessing' by Jack Rollins a must read for fans of Victorian horror:

http://thecultofme.blogspot.co.uk/201...

I'm now onto The Elder Unearthed: Tales of NasNoroth and the Cult of the Elder by Michael W. Garza

[T4bsF (Call me Flo)]

To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee


Just finished TKAMB and I have to say I wasn't overly impressed. It wasn't that it was bad, but it just didn't live up to my expectations. I've lived with how wonderful this book is for years, only to read it and not find anything that would mark it as 'special' enough to bear the title of 'Classic'. The ending annoyed me too, with lots of little questions I wanted answered and some loose ends. I know there are a myriad of books explaining differing opinions on the meaning of the analogous content - but that sort of thing just goes over my head. I like things straight forward and not to be left guessing what meanings to tag on to things.

[Orinoco Womble (tidy bag and all)]

Murder On A Midsummer Night

I don't know what I'll do when I've eaten them all.

[Michael]

I've posted my review for The Elder Unearthed: Tales of NasNoroth and the Cult of the Elder by Michael W Garza and it's an excellent read and definitely one for Lovecraft fans to check out:

http://thecultofme.blogspot.co.uk/201...

I'm now onto 'Duallists' by David Wailing and I'm enjoying it so far.

[T4bsF (Call me Flo)]

Elyse wrote: "Wow... And I loved everything about that book. I think I've read it at least 4 or 5 times ... But now I really do need to get to my pool,,,, we have our community Thurs. afternoon group coming. ..."

I wasn't saying that I didn't like the book - I did - but found it quite ordinarily likeable, and not something super dooper that I was expecting from the build up it had been given

[Linda]

Just finished . The Sugar Men. Brilliant story and will stay with me for a long time.

Started . Maternal Harbor.

[mrbooks]

Just finished the Long Walk by Stephen King and now starting the stand, one of my all time favorite SK books. Also reading Speaker for the Dead by Orson Scott Card.

[Suze]

mrbooks wrote: "Just finished the Long Walk by Stephen King and now starting the stand, one of my all time favorite SK books. Also reading Speaker for the Dead by Orson Scott Card."

I love The Stand and it was my first kindle read. I also downloaded it in audio, mainly because it was a decent length - 48 hours - and enjoyed it just as much as reading it.
I like almost all of Stephen Kings books written before his accident, but not many since as I find them a little too heavy and dark.

[Michael]

Another fan of The Stand here, although I think IT is my favourite King book - despite the ending :-)

[mrbooks]

Suze, all his books are dark. His later books are just a good although written in a different style. I think his writing pattern has changed since his accident but it is to be expected.

[Michael]

I've just finished reading David Wailing's excellent science fiction tale 'Duallists'. As well as being a fantastic read it's available for free as well so you have no excuse for not checking it out!

http://thecultofme.blogspot.co.uk/201...

I'm now onto 'Message in a Bottle' by Kath Middleton and it's of to a cracking if rather emotional start.

[Suze]

mrbooks wrote: "Suze, all his books are dark. His later books are just a good although written in a different style. I think his writing pattern has changed since his accident but it is to be expected."

Yeah, I just don't like them as much as the ones before.

[Suze]

Michael wrote: "Another fan of The Stand here, although I think IT is my favourite King book - despite the ending :-)"

I loved IT, and wish it would be available on Audible. I quite liked Insomnia but think I'm one of the few who did.

[mrbooks]

Oh know your not I like it to, As a matter of fact I just finished listening to it on you tube at work. If you look on you tube you might be able to find It. Actually I just found It and am listening to It.

[Suze]

mrbooks wrote: "Oh know your not I like it to, As a matter of fact I just finished listening to it on you tube at work. If you look on you tube you might be able to find It. Actually I just found It and am liste..."

Oh brilliant thank you. I didn't think to use YouTube for audio books.

[mrbooks]

I got the idea from someone else, supposedly we aren't suppose to use it at work, but they haven't said no yet. I've listened to all of the harry potter Insomnia Edgar Allen Poe Enders game and a few others.

[mrbooks]

Try reading Terry Brooks sword of Shannara series. Started out as trilogy but I think he is up to 10 or more now.