Jud's what's left of 2015 challenge

[Jud]

I'm going to try and get through as many of these free books as I can, I downloaded them all in 2011 and they have sat on my kindle idling since then. I have just stopped reading one at 50% (I had to convince myself to leave it halfway through), there are better books out there to be read! If anyone has any recommendations of ones to read or, more importantly, ones to not read please let me know!


1. The Scarlet Letter
2. Shatter (The Children of Man, #1)
3. Black Beauty
4. The Story of Pocahontas
5. Villette
6. The Swiss Family Robinson; or Adventures in a Desert Island
7. Light of Eidon (Legends of the Guardian-King, Book 1)
8. The Unsuspecting Mage (The Morcyth Saga)
9. Septimus Heap, Book One: Magyk Free with Bonus Material
10. The Iliad
11. The Half-Brothers
12. The Man Who Would Be King
13. The Legends of King Arthur and His Knights
14. Kidnapped
15. The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse
16. Doctor Marigold
17. Wreck of the Golden Mary
18. Lair of the White Worm
19. The Rime of the Ancient Mariner
20. Diary of a Nobody
21. Allan Quatermain
22. A Book of Nonsense
23. The Raven
24. When Darkness Falls: Free eBook Part 1
25. Riven
26. Heroes, or Greek Fairy Tales for My Children
27. No Thoroughfare
28. When Darkness Falls: Free eBook Part 2
29. The Uncommercial Traveller
30. Adam Bede
31. Daniel Deronda
32. The Return of the Native
33. Under the Greenwood Tree
34. South Sea Tales
35. On Dark Shores: The Lady
36. The Fashion Police (Amber Fox Mystery No 1)
37. Spalding's Scary Shorts
38. Rattling Bones (a collection of short stories)
39. Tyburn (The Highwaymen)
40. The Black God's War (Splendor and Ruin, Book I)

[Jud]

Did not finish

1. Painless - was promising at times but I had to give up at 50% I just couldn't go on.
2. The Scarlet Letter - boring
3. The Fashion Police - just can't get in to it, I think I'm too tired and grumpy at the moment!
4. Raven - a 13 year old girl who's parent don't speak to her and who lock themselves up in a spare room all day go missing, she has no friends so doesn't realise this isn't normal. I didn't get past the first couple of pages, it is just too ridiculous.
5. The Story of Pocahontas just no.
6. Shatter I wanted to like this one, I really did but after 13% I've had enough.
7. When Darkness Falls: Free eBook Part 1 I like the idea of a blind negotiator, I even thought a millionaire homeless person was believable but what bugged me was that because the homeless man asked to speak to the mayors daughter he must have been a stalker and even when evidence proved it wasn't him they still blame him. I'm really disappointed because the reviews were really good.
8. When Darkness Falls: Free eBook Part 2 see above. The 3rd part isn't on the list but I will be discarding it as well, obviously.

[Jud]

Finished

1. Under the Greenwood Tree nothing much happens but I loved it.
2. Black Beauty I loved this one too, it's so much more emotional than I expected.
3. The Raven I think this is the book I meant to read and not that other drivel named Raven.
4. The Diary of a Nobody I loved this! It was really funny, poor old Pooter
5. The Light of Eidon this book was brilliant! It got a bit tedious in one aspect because you knew what would happen eventually but it was taking a while to get there. It was worth the wait though. I highly recommend this book if you like fantasy.

[Michael]

I read that Painless book when it was free!

I managed to finish it, but it was hard work.

[Jud]

I got it when it was free too, thankfully!

[Joo]

I restarted my challenge from last year, sort of. I'm trying to get rid of my 2011 books.
From your list
I reasonably enjoyed Diary of a Nobody.
I liked Fashion Police (and all the following stories) Spalding's Shorts has a fab killer hedgehog story
I binned Allan Quartermain.

I have the Illiad but am not brave enough to start it.

[Jay-me (Janet)]

Apart from Black Beauty which I read years ago, the only one from your list that I have read and enjoyed is The Fashion Police (which has been re titled as
Fashion, Lies, and Murder ).
And I read Spalding's Scary Shorts, but that one I did note rate at all.

[Jim]

The Iliad is hard work. A large cast, a lot of whom die painfully in the paragraph they're introduced :-)

I read a lot of the Allan Quartermain stores many years ago. This was back in the days when you could find them in libraries. At the time I enjoyed them

[Desley (Cat fosterer)]

A couple of the non classics sound familiar but I'd have to check to see

[Will]

Very impressive achievement! Read the Iliad years ago. I seem to remember enjoying it, but not enough to want to go back to it. Nowadays it would be mind-polluted by thoughts of Brad Pitt in a leather mini skirt.

I suppose the burning question is ... which of these would you recommend?

[Rosemary (grooving with the Picts)]

I read Black Beauty as a child and was quite affected by it! The Iliad I only read because I wanted to read the Odyssey and they came as a pair, it is heavy going and the Odyssey has much better stories. Depends on which translation it is too...

I'm sure I have read The Man who Would be King but my memory of it is now coloured by the Caine/Connery/Huston film. It's a good story though.
Kidnapped is great, can't beat RLS! Have reread it and the sequel Catriona a few times. (incidentally, Catriona is set on the coast around where I live - and my daughter went to school with a girl from the local farming family Dale who are mentioned in the book)
King Arthur stories to my mind are also well worth reading.
A book of nonsense (Edward Lear?) we had that in the house when I was little and I just thought it was stupid.
I read Diary of a Nobody fairly recently (probably got it free too!) and quite enjoyed it.
I started the Black God's War and gave up.

[Jud]

I considered not adding the Iliad when I came across it, I downloaded it just to have a look as it is such a well known (yet probably well unread) book. Thoughts of Brad Pitt in a leather mini skirt do give me the inclination to give it a go.

I'm pretty sure I have read Black Beauty as a child but I'll read it again, maybe and I shall approach Allan Quartermain with tentativeness.

[Jim]

If you want to read 'The man who would be king,' it might be worth diverting into http://www.amazon.co.uk/Josiah-Great-...

Josiah the Great: The True Story of the Man Who Would Be King

I picked up a paperback copy in the Works, it's by far the cheapest way to get it :-)

[Desley (Cat fosterer)]

Jud (Disney Diva) wrote: "I considered not adding the Iliad when I came across it, I downloaded it just to have a look as it is such a well known (yet probably well unread) book. Thoughts of Brad Pitt in a leather mini ski..."

I also downloaded it but not been brave enough to read

[Kath]

LOVE the Arthurian legends. Shatter wants a load of help in terms of proofreading and editing. It was one of the first Kindle books I read. Nearly put me off but it might have been fixed by now. Never got on with Spalding.

[Jud]

Finally found a book from this list that I am enjoying, Under the Greenwood Tree!

[Jim]

Your choice reminded me of a book to look out for to read to little one :-)

The Magic Faraway Tree

[Jud]

A whole month to read a relatively short book! Disasterous.

I'm now reading Black Beauty, I've read it before but it isn't the book I thought it was. I think I was thinking of the Horse Whisperer

[Jud]

Pick the Diary of a Nobody next, I'm enjoying it. Poor Pooter, he is a bit of a laughing stock, the blustering old codger.

[Desley (Cat fosterer)]

Jud (Disney Diva) wrote: "Pick the Diary of a Nobody next, I'm enjoying it. Poor Pooter, he is a bit of a laughing stock, the blustering old codger."

I vaguely remember reading that, not read Black Beauty since I was a kid, might not enjoy it quite so much now.

[Jim]

Jud (Disney Diva) wrote: "Pick the Diary of a Nobody next, I'm enjoying it. Poor Pooter, he is a bit of a laughing stock, the blustering old codger."

I remember hearing Pooter in 15 minute slots on the radio 4
Enjoyed them then :-)

[Pat ()]

Jud (Disney Diva) wrote: "A whole month to read a relatively short book! Disasterous.

I'm now reading Black Beauty, I've read it before but it isn't the book I thought it was. I think I was thinking of the Horse Whisperer"

Read and enjoyed both of these. Have you read The Loop by the auther of the horse whisperer? I got about half way, could see what was coming and had to stop. Found it too upsetting.

[Jud]

I haven't even heard of it. I maybe won't bother if you had to stop reading it.

[Pat ()]

Yes, I found it upsetting, very cruel. Just wondered if you had read it. I wouldn't recommended it if you like animals at all, but it is well written. Just over the top.

[Jud]

I'm getting through the list rightly now :o)

I'm getting more ruthless, it is quite liberating discarding a book I'm not enjoying. I should have started doing it years ago!

[Jim]

Jud (Disney Diva) wrote: "I'm getting through the list rightly now :o)

I'm getting more ruthless, it is quite liberating discarding a book I'm not enjoying. I should have started doing it years ago!"


“It is not a book to be lightly thrown aside. It should be thrown with great force.”
—Sid Ziff in Los Angeles Mirror-News :-)

[Patti (baconater)]

That's a Dorothy Parker quote, I believe, Jim.

A very quotable lady of fine wit, in my opinion.

http://www.notable-quotes.com/p/parke...

[Jim]

I agree entirely about the wit of Dorothy Parker, but when I went to check one of the quote sites traced it to the chap I mentioned

http://quoteinvestigator.com/2013/03/...

I genuinely don't know, as I assumed it was her and was purely checking out of habit

[Patti (baconater)]

As Abraham Lincoln said, 'never trust anything you read on the internet'

[Jud]

I@m reading Villette now and enjoying it so far although it looks like a long one so I don't know if I'll get it finished before the end of the year!

EEEEEeeeeeeeeeeep

IT'S NEARLY CHRISTMAS

[Anita]

Jim wrote: "Your choice reminded me of a book to look out for to read to little one :-)

The Magic Faraway Tree"

You must read it to Kitty when she gets a bit older Jud. Evie and I read this earlier this year, it's wonderful ! I remember reading it to her Mum too. We moved onto the Wishing Chair and Naughty Amelia Jane more recently. I'm sad to say most of her friends have never heard of Silky and the slippery slip.

[Jud]

I'm only halfway through Villette. Time to start a new challenge but what shall I base it on? I'd like to get through more old freebies but I don't want to get behind on my paid for books...

[Pam]

Anita wrote: "Jim wrote: "Your choice reminded me of a book to look out for to read to little one :-)

The Magic Faraway Tree"

You must read it to Kitty when she gets a bit older Jud. Evie and I re..."

One of my favourites when I was about 7. Must have read it about 50 times!

[Jim]

Yes, I loved them as well. Like you I read them innumerable times

[Jud]

I've never read the Magic Faraway Tree...

I'll have to get it to read to Kitty

[Jim]

you will :-)