What Are You Currently Reading? Showing 351-400 of 1,966

[Sandysbookaday (taking a step back for a while)]

60% through A Time to Run by J.M. Peace. This is an excellent Australian crime - thriller.

[P.D.R.]

Just started
Child 44


Strikes me as a gloomy read so far.

[P.D.R.]

Just enjoying Coffin Road



Peter May is reliably good!

[P.D.R.]

Child 44 okay. A bit cliched in plot.

[Erica]

My sister picked up The Story of Edgar Sawtelle at a second-hand book sale last weekend so will be interested to hear what you end up thinking of it Kathleen - or if you dnf it.

I'm currently reading The Rehearsal by Eleanor Catton. I have to say I'm loving it. I think The Luminaries was a bit divisive in the book community but I think this novel is far move accessible but still incredibly beautifully written and so clever! Can't believe it's her debut novel and can't wait to see what she comes out with next.

[Erica]

Pity you didn't enjoy it Kathleen. I'll probably still check it out sometime - what's not someone's cup of tea might be right up another person's alley. Hopefully you've found another book to read that's more enjoyable for you :)

[P.D.R.]

Just unloading the last of my books to the new shelves. Found all my Rosemary Sutcliffe novels. 'Flame Coloured Petticoat' sent me smiling to sleep and now I'm rereading 'Frontier Wolf'. I love the way she takes you into the world without back story, careful explanations or other hindrances. She writes the world and the history through her characters. And I wish I had her skill to make the words dance!

[Carol She's So Novel꧁꧂]

I'm reading The Far Pavilions which is a very uneven read for me - but when it's good it's quite wonderful.

& apparently it's Banned Books week next week, so I'm reading Into the River by Ted Dawe

[P.D.R.]

Now half way thro' 'The Essex Serpent', not sure what to say. I'm thinking about it. I quite enjoyed parts of it. Find the heroine irritating.

The Essex Serpent

[Kirsten]

Erica wrote: "This weekend I started what must be one of the longest novels every written! haha. I'm 100 pages into A Suitable Boy. I'm finding the characters really fun and the story really enga..."

Have to say that A Suitable Boy is on my list of my top 10 favourite books. Loved it. Still do.

[Kirsten]

I bought a copy of The Psychology Workbook for Writers by Darian Smith at the NZ Book Festival on the weekend. It looks promising. Will start it tonight, and report back! I'd meant to also buy the large book about NZ comics which was at the festival too, but ran out of time, and now can't remember what it was called or who it was by. Wanted to buy it as a Christmas gift.

[P.D.R.]

Got a whole load of ebooks on loan, dread to think what some of them are like but I have started our Antony Millen's 'The Chain '

Antony Millen
The Chain

[Sandysbookaday (taking a step back for a while)]

Just starting The Hanging Club by Tony Parsons

[Erica]

I'm about half way through Fates and Furies by Lauren Groff. It's quite a compelling read so far. The first half is written from the perspective of a husband and the second half, I understand, is written from the perspective of the wife.

[P.D.R.]

Lost my ebooks on the cloud. Amazon puts them there and I can only get at them via my PC. Don't like reading on my PC! I hate technology!!!!

Been reading a lot of old favourites as I do the final edit of Bittersweet. Am in the middle of WInd in the Willows and all my Mary Stuarts.

[Carol She's So Novel꧁꧂]

Kathleen wrote: "
I own both a Kindle and a Kobo - but I get frustrated with having to charge their batteries. IF I go travelling anywhere I MIGHT take one of them, simply because of the quantity of books they hold versus the weight of books in my luggage.

I preferred the Kobo as a reader, but I don't know why! But Amazon is certainly better than the clunky Kobo interface (at that time)

I have been told a couple of tricks for battery life. One is to turn the wifi off when not using it, the other is to not keep too many books on the reader, but store in the cloud. I don't follow that, but I did remove the e cookbooks as I realised I was unlikely to read them. & I remove all books as soon as I have done my reviews. :)

[Sandysbookaday (taking a step back for a while)]

last night I started Nocturnes by John Connolly, a collection of short stories that, 29 pages in, is giving me goosebumps. Listening to Cavendon Hall by Barbara Taylor Bradford and about to start The Secrets of Gaslight Laneby M.R.C. Kasasian on my Kindle.

[P.D.R.]

Sandy, You are doing a ton of reading!

Am reading Runner
Have a few of these modern/contemporary thrillers to review. Not sure about this one yet.

[Sandysbookaday (taking a step back for a while)]

Just started Snapshots from My Uneventful Life by David I. Aboulafia

[Sandysbookaday (taking a step back for a while)]

P.D.R. wrote: "Sandy, You are doing a ton of reading!

Am reading Runner
Have a few of these modern/contemporary thrillers to review. Not sure about this one yet."

I am lucky in that I can listen to books on my I-pod for at least an hour during my working day. *:D

[P.D.R.]

Now reading for reviewing
To Tell the Truth

Quite like this.

[Erica]

I'm currently reading The Butcher's Hook by Janet Ellis. It's historical fiction. Really enjoying it so far.

[P.D.R.]

Title puts me off, Erica. Sounds bloody and gruesome!

[P.D.R.]

Back to old favourites.
Going back through my Terry Pratchett novels.

Raising Steam

[Mahalia]

Reading Mansfield Park by Jane Austen.

[P.D.R.]

Just going to rest up for a bit with:

When The Music's Over


Good old Peter Robinson such a reliable writer of good UK police procedurals.

[Carol She's So Novel꧁꧂]

Hope you are recovering well.

I'm reading Marching Powder: A True Story of Friendship, Cocaine, and South America's Strangest Jail It is like a parallel universe. I'm also working my way through a collection of Miss Marple stories.

[P.D.R.]

Just started 'Chaos' by Patricia Cornwell.

I do hate this bloody silly system on GR. I cannot get Chaos to come up cover or title. Nor can I move it from the Cornwell author page to here. SIih!

[Lesley]

P.D.R. wrote: "Just started 'Chaos' by Patricia Cornwell.

I do hate this bloody silly system on GR. I cannot get Chaos to come up cover or title. Nor can I move it from the Cornwell author page to here. SIih!"

Good to see you back, P.D.R.

You can only insert the book title/cover/author here by using the add book/author located above the comment box. Because every other book written by every other author has the word chaos somewhere in it, then you have to limit the search and results by searching for title and author, but leaving out words like 'by' - so in this instance you would search for chaos cornwell -
Chaos Patricia Cornwell

It is the same for searching for you newest work, Bittersweet. Many books by/with that word in the title, so the search has to be limited by adding author name if you don't want to scroll through pages, and pages ...

[Carol She's So Novel꧁꧂]

If you are just wanting to find a book (as opposed to linking here) it can be easier to google

goodreads chaos patricia cornwell. (just a tip that has saved me a lot of aggravation)

I've now got a third book on the go The Secret Diary of Lizzie Bennet I normally hate the modernised books of Austen's work, but I loved the you tube shows & am finding the diary so far fresh & funny.

[P.D.R.]

Ah ha! Thank you Lesley. Now I know how to avoid the miles of irrelevant titles. title and surname! Got it!

No time to google, Carol, Spend a lot of time lying painfully and quietly on my bed reading old favourites or one of the new stack the library have sent me. Bless them I got four big book bags full.

I hate fan fiction and the people who climb onto a real writer's back and steal their work! It's a way to make money but is dishonest writing.

[Carol She's So Novel꧁꧂]

P.D.R. wrote: "Ah ha! Thank you Lesley. Now I know how to avoid the miles of irrelevant titles. title and surname! Got it!

No time to google, Carol, Spend a lot of time lying painfully and quietly on my bed read..."

The ones I have liked have started (or I first saw them) in another medium.

[P.D.R.]

Plodding my way through:

A Dangerous Place



It's the one I missed and catches me up on Maisie's bad patch.

[P.D.R.]

Am reading a book I would never have allowed to be published under Writer's Choice. Yet the series is so popular. I want to scream at the writer 'Show don't Tell! and 'Stick to your POV and don't head hop.' and finally 'Please include sensory details.'

Hardcastle's Mandarin

[P.D.R.]

Woken up at 1 a.m. by 6 explosions which sounded like detonators going off in a neat sequence. Sounded outside my bedroom so I get up and look around the house and garden. All quiet! No one else stirring. Strange as this was very noisy, but police not interested and no one seems to know what it was BUT it means I sat up reading a pile of old favourites to calm my nerve.
Children of Green Knowe and Cherryh's Peacemaker. Old favourites are very soothing.

[Darkpool]

Yay!! the latest by Danielle Hawkins! So good to read something set in NZ, so when it says somebody had a farm somewhere between and Taumarunui and Whangamomona, my brain says "we know where that is!" Besides, she's so much fun.

[P.D.R.]

Just started 'Rubbernecker'. Weird so far!

Rubbernecker

[P.D.R.]

A large box of books has arrived from my writer pal in Norsewood. It's mainly mysteries and I'm trying this one:

Ghastly Business
Ghastly Business

Seems okay so far!

[Natalie]

Reading Falling Kingdoms at the moment. I'm about 75% done and I'm still not sure how I feel about it XD

Falling Kingdoms

[P.D.R.]

Trouble with that kind of fantasy is that it is really hard to find something which is original and not just another copy on the theme.

[P.D.R.]

Roaring through a pile of old whudunits and police procedurals sent to keep me happy whilst I am still housebound.
Chuckling my way through 'Missing Link':

Missing Link

[Kirsten]

My copy of Nabokov's Favorite Word Is Mauve: What the Numbers Reveal About the Classics, Bestsellers, and Our Own Writing arrived in the post last week. I'm loving it so far. The insights in adverbs are eye opening, as are the author's research into the gender bias attached certain words used by both classical authors and modern authors.

[P.D.R.]

I'm in two minds about reading that Kirsten. Who is the author? What qualifications does he have to dissect the books? It isn't a nasty bunch of spite by a 'would be if he could only write' is it?

[Kirsten]

P.D.R. wrote: "I'm in two minds about reading that Kirsten. Who is the author? What qualifications does he have to dissect the books? It isn't a nasty bunch of spite by a 'would be if he could only write' is it?"

Not at all nasty. It's purely a dissection of words. Words by various authors. He talks about how he picked the books. In one part he dissects the classics. It's by Ben Blatt.

Only a third through it, but he has analysed the use of adverbs, the use of the word 'scream', how different genders use the words 'he' and 'she' and how they're used. Utterly fascinating. He mentions the outliers of course. And he uses a slew of bestsellers as well to add to the mix.

Well worth a read I think. I will report back.

[P.D.R.]

Ah! Will put it on the long long must read list!!!!
Still want to know his background though because American ideas of literature are not always ones I am comfortable with!

[P.D.R.]

My Easter present arrived. the next in the Foreigner series.

book:Convergence|31522448]


Lovely wet weather read.

[Angie]

Recently finished The Rules of Backyard Cricket - probably the best book I've read so far this year. Finished Room yesterday. It was OK. I don't think it's a book I'd recommend.

[P.D.R.]

The Harrowing
The Harrowing


A version of the Canterbury Tales - well no I mean it's the same idea only the people are not pilgrims.

Not sure about it yet.

[P.D.R.]

The Harrowing was just that!

Now starting 'The Wife's Tale'
The Wife's Tale

AND
the reliable Peter May's new one

Cast Iron

[P.D.R.]

Starting two books on falconry.
T H White's is an old friend from long ago. I bought it when I was indulging in a little falconry back in the 60s.
The Goshawk


This one is new.
H is for Hawk
H is for Hawk