Self Challenge - Pam's 2016 Read-a-100-books

[Elle]

Oh yes - never even thought about how you would rate an omnibus o.O


You are flying.

[Desley (Cat fosterer)]

Interesting - I rarely read omnibus's, but on the rare occasion I have I have used the omnibus edition rather than the individual ones. i do have a few to read this year, some are 6 books by different authors so wouldn't necessarily read in one go, will have a think about that.

[Pam]

Haven't finished the last novel yet, but posted reviews for the other three: Doctor Mirabilis, Black Easter, and The Day After Judgement.

[Jud]

Looks like you are making good progress!

[Pam]

Thanks!

Have just posted what is probably the longest review I've done to date on GR - A Case of Conscience .

[Elle]

Great review Pam!

I think my longest reviews are for the books I always have major issues with and get my lowest ratings. I find it hard to review a book I actually like.

[Pam]

Elle wrote: "Great review Pam!

I think my longest reviews are for the books I always have major issues with and get my lowest ratings. I find it hard to review a book I actually like."

Yes, it's easier to say what doesn't quite work.

[Elle]

Pam wrote: "Elle wrote: "Great review Pam!

I think my longest reviews are for the books I always have major issues with and get my lowest ratings. I find it hard to review a book I actually like."

Yes, it's ..."


Also: do love a good rant :p

[Jim]

It does everything a review should, tells me whether I want to read it or not :-)

[Pam]

Jim wrote: "It does everything a review should, tells me whether I want to read it or not :-)"

Thanks Jim!

[Patti (baconater)]

I'm pathetic at posting what I read on Goodreads.

I just delete it off my kindle and move on to the next book.

[Desley (Cat fosterer)]

I find it really hard to write reviews, so only do it for books that don't have many, unless there is something I really like / dislike

[Pam]

Well, I've just posted another one ;-)

Here's the Amazon link - Voice of Our Shadow by Jonathan Carroll

And here's the review

Turned out another long one. I don't usually reiterate so much of the plot (I used spoilers for the stuff that isn't given away by the book's blurb), but I felt I needed to in this case because the denoument of the book was to me completely off the wall and unconvincing in view of what had gone before.

[Elle]

Patti (baconater) wrote: "I'm pathetic at posting what I read on Goodreads.

I just delete it off my kindle and move on to the next book."

My little organised brain shrivels at the thought.

[Jud]

I have collections to put books in as I finish them.

[Pam]

Started another Carroll, Land of Laughs.

[Kath]

Jud (Disney Diva) wrote: "I have collections to put books in as I finish them."

I have - but I don't use them! I'm theoretically organised!

[Desley (Cat fosterer)]

I have collections for unread, but read get deleted after I've done a review

[Elle]

I have a collection for read but they are removed so technically it's empty but can see how many books are in the cloud in it...

You unorganised people are heathens.

[Desley (Cat fosterer)]

Elle wrote: "I have a collection for read but they are removed so technically it's empty but can see how many books are in the cloud in it...

You unorganised people are heathens."

I just don't have the time!

[Jim]

Life's too short to keep records :-)

[Elle]

Heathens.

[Pam]

Quite!

Finished and posted a review of The Land of Laughs. I have other Jonathan Carroll novels, but I'm going to take a break with something lighter next.

[Pam]

Now reading Ben-Harran's Castle by Louise Lawrence, a YA novel.

[Elle]

Look at you go!

[Desley (Cat fosterer)]

Wow, you are doing well

[Pam]

Thanks folks!

[Jud]

I'm only on my second book of this year, 33% in.

[Pam]

But you're reading, and that's what counts.

Just finished and posted a review ofBen-Harran's Castle .

Now on The Scapegoat by Daphne Du Maurier.

I've just found out that if you click the 'Search' link on an Amazon page, it presents a box (if you're not logged in) that you can copy a shorter form of the link from, one that doesn't have all the extra stuff to delete on the end before adding the '&tag=ethings-21' bit. However, I can't get that to work at present, because Amazon says it isn't a valid link even though they provide it!

There's another good reason I've discovered for getting rid of the long text on an Amazon search URL, because it includes a qid element that represents the number of seconds since some date in 1970 at which you did your search. If you search for your own book and copy the link and use all that stuff, then if people click your link to go to Amazon, and buy the book, Amazon apparently registers that the search date and purchase date don't tie up and they will subsequently delete any review that the purchaser is kind enough to post. Just thought I would flag that up as something worth knowing.

[Elle]

Pam wrote: "But you're reading, and that's what counts.

Just finished and posted a review ofBen-Harran's Castle .

Now on The Scapegoat by Daphne Du Maurier.

I've just ..."

Not sure how that would work given how people link up books to people constantly? sounds fake

[Pam]

Yes, does sound that way, but I have seen people on various forums in Goodreads saying they don't understand why reviews were removed from their accounts. Just throwing it out there for anyone who knows better to comment! ;-)

[Jud]

Pam wrote: "But you're reading, and that's what counts..."

Thanks :o)

[Pam]

Finished and posted a review for The Scapegoat and am now on a re-read of book 2 in the Bryant and May detective series, The Water Room.

[Pam]

Really enjoyed it and have now posted a review for The Water Room by Christopher Fowler. Breaks all the rules of not head hopping and not feeding in backstory as 'tells'; Fowler continually tells you things about characters, and yet it works.

Am going to read the next in the series The Seventy Seven Clocks which I have not read before, so hope it lives up to book 2. I didn't enjoy book 1 of the series unfortunately, so it was lucky that I came across and read The Water Room first.

[Pam]

Finally finished Mandrake by Susan Cooper, a bit of a disappointment though initially the ideas were interesting.

[Pam]

I tend to have at least two books on the go, the one I take out with me to read in coffee shops, or in gardens in the summer, being a light, thin volume, and another to read at home, being a thicker book or even a hardback. The Bryant and May is my current home book, but I haven't decided yet what one will become the outdoor book.

[Elle]

i have so many more than 2 aha. i never used to but now i'm awful for it :)

great going pam!

[Desley (Cat fosterer)]

I average 3, never used to

[Anita]

Pam wrote: "Currently reading Thomas Cromwell: The Untold Story of Henry VIII's Most Faithful Servant
by Tracy Borman
I hope I've got that right as it's my first attempt at formatting an Amazon link with the..."

I really enjoyed the Tracy Borman Pam, have you read any of her others ?

[Pam]

Elle wrote: "i have so many more than 2 aha. i never used to but now i'm awful for it :)

great going pam!"

Thanks! I actually used to read more than 2 at once which is why I said at least, but I've managed to cut it down to the 2 I've explained. That way I actually do read them and they don't languish for ages.

[Pam]

Desley (Cat fosterer) wrote: "I average 3, never used to"

Yes, I crept up too ... in theory I do have more than 3 because of a couple of unfinished ones on Kindle, but I'm not counting those at present because they are the kind you have to suspend until you get to that stage of self publishing and I'm still editing the first MS right now. So I'm keeping to two paperbacks at present.

[Pam]

Anita wrote: "Pam wrote: "Currently reading Thomas Cromwell: The Untold Story of Henry VIII's Most Faithful Servant
by Tracy Borman ..."

This is the only one I've read so far, Anita. Afraid I found it a bit disappointing in places, maybe because I've read a lot of books about the Tudor court and the various characters. There is meant to be another biog of TC coming out at some point, produced by a respected historian so I shall no doubt try that when it appears.

[Pam]

Finished the third Bryant and May, not as good as book 2, and posted a review of The Seventy Seven Clocks.

Meanwhile, have been reading Dragons: An Introduction to the Modern Manifestation, a fictional work in the form of a scientific monograph, written as if dragons have become a modern day (as of this first 1980 edition) serious problem.

[Pam]

I've also started Ten-Second Staircase, fourth in the Bryant and May series.

[Pam]

Finished and posted a review for The Ten-Second Staircase . As with its predecessor, for me this doesn't come up to the standard of The Water Room.

[Anita]

Pam wrote: "Anita wrote: "Pam wrote: "Currently reading Thomas Cromwell: The Untold Story of Henry VIII's Most Faithful Servant
by Tracy Borman ..."

This is the only one I've read so far, Anita. Afraid I foun..."

I'm sorry to hear that Pam, I did enjoy it. Still good job we all like different things isn't it.

[Pam]

Now reading book 5 of the Bryant and May series, White Corridor.

[Pam]

Finished and posted a review for White Corridor. Pleased to see that the series picked up again with this one; it's a lot better than the last two and I actually didn't guess the outcomes of the various plot strands. They were actually good twists. Not quite up to the standard of The Water Room, but good nonetheless.

[Pam]

Will get back to the weird fictional non-fiction history of the modern day dragon 'infestation' I guess ... I may give Bryant and May a rest having read five in a row, although my problem is that I have quite a few more on the shelves plus a few out of the library and the library ones are late on in the series and I don't want to keep renewing them.

[Pam]

I started reading an old hardback of mine, second novel by the late lamented Jan Mark, Divide and Rule. Unusual YA fantasy about a young man who is chosen to be the ritual Shepherd at the temple for a year and who is increasingly forced to deal with alienation, bullying, and deterioration of his eye sight.