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

[Pam]

Finished and posted a review of The Woman who Loved the Moon and Other Stories by Elizabeth Lynn, who wrote the Chronicles of Tornor that I read recently.

[Jud]

Pam wrote: "Agreed Jud, just didn't make sense in the context of what had previously been almost an abusive relationship based on threats against Rothen (and she thought he might do something to her aunt's fam..."

Exactly! I

[Pam]

Started Black Maria by Diana Wynne Jones and A Dirty Death by Rebecca Tope.

[Pam]

Finished A Dirty Death which I found a real page turner.

[Pam]

Started Churchill's Black Dog and Other Phenomena of the Human Mind by Anthony Storr. Thought I'd vary my reading with a little non-fiction.

[Pam]

Finished the Storr and posted a review .

Now started a Daphne Du Maurier novel from her late period, The House on the Strand. So far intriguing and I like the bits set in the 14th century which have good atmosphere.

[Pam]

Still reading Diana Wynne Jones' Black Maria, which I'm enjoying a lot, and also dipping into Charles Platt's Who Writes Science Fiction, a collection of interviews back in the day when a lot of the greats of classic SF were still alive.

[Pam]

Posted a review of The House on the Strand which I am afraid I found a bit disappointing.

Now started Solar Lottery by Philip K Dick.

[Pam]

Posted a review of Who Writes Science Fiction .

[Pam]

Posted a review of Philip K Dick's first SF novel, Solar Lottery

[Jim]

Pam wrote: "Posted a review of Philip K Dick's first SF novel, Solar Lottery"

Read the review and do like the idea of 'public assassins'
A bit like BuSab the Frank Herbert came up with

[Pam]

OK, finished Black Maria , which misses out on 5 stars because of the final few chapters.

[Pam]

Started Bones of the Moon by Jonathan Carroll, and The Wild Hunt of Hagworthy by Penelope Lively.

[Pam]

Picked this up yesterday in a charity shop, a quick read which only took a couple of hours but decided to keep it as the pictures are stunning and it is also an interesting outline of the lives of medieval people and how they used plants - Medieval Flowers.

[Pam]

Finished and reviewed Bones of the Moon.

[Pam]

Just started the next Jonathan Carroll, Sleeping in Flame.

[Pam]

Finished and reviewed Sleeping in Flame which I didn't think much of I'm afraid.

Still reading The Wild Hunt of Hagworthy, which is quite an interesting read, an early 70s children's book. Has a great sense of place, evoking the countryside of the period.

[Jud]

I'm still reading the same 2 books in the time it has taken you to read about 20!

You must be haring through your list

[Pam]

Jud (Disney Diva) wrote: "I'm still reading the same 2 books in the time it has taken you to read about 20!

You must be haring through your list"

;-) To be fair none of them are particularly long books. If I start on the Robin Hobb I've been putting off that will slow me down considerably!

[Pam]

I have decided to try the next Jonathan Carroll in the sequence - A Child Across the Sky.

[Pam]

Having been pretty disappointed with the previous ones, especially the last one, if this one doesn't work out I may decide to put the last 2 I have straight into the out box.

So far I'm not convinced because a) the protagonist is the minor film director character from 'Bones of the Moon' who was a sleeze in that one and b) the protagonist from BotM is in this and has issued the book as her autobiography and it turns out it was a best-seller!

[Jud]

I've started doing that, if I read a book in a series and don't enjoy it I'm "binning" the subsequent ones or at least starting the next one with the mind of binning it if it doesn't grab me.

[Desley (Cat fosterer)]

Jud (Disney Diva) wrote: "I've started doing that, if I read a book in a series and don't enjoy it I'm "binning" the subsequent ones or at least starting the next one with the mind of binning it if it doesn't grab me."

Yeah, I do the same

[Pam]

Yes I think that is starting to be my policy now. I'm generally not buying series now - made an exception last week with a Kindle one but that was on a special deal with each part 99p.

Well, this Carroll novel is working out better. Don't know if he'll wreck it all - I find all his endings rushed/unconvincing - but the story so far is more interesting despite being mostly by the minor film director with some other stuff thrown in by someone who's dead and is now being shown to be an unreliable narrator.

[Pam]

It would've been 4 stars if not for that ending but Carroll's endings have been poor in all the 5 read to date - Review .

[Pam]

Right, for a change I'm going to read a mystery I picked up a little while ago. Apparently it's number 2 in a series, but never mind - The Weed that Strings the Hangman's Bag by Alan Bradley.

[Pam]

Enjoying the Alan Bradley at present. Has an eleven year old girl as the protagonist, who is really into chemistry and poisons, especially unusual as this is set in 1950. The series consists of 7 books with number 8 coming out this September.

[Desley (Cat fosterer)]

Pam wrote: "Enjoying the Alan Bradley at present. Has an eleven year old girl as the protagonist, who is really into chemistry and poisons, especially unusual as this is set in 1950. The series consists of 7 b..."

Sounds interesting

[Pam]

Yes I'm finding it an enjoyable read. Just got up to the murder.

[Pam]

Really enjoyed The Weed that Strings the Hangman's Bag .

[Pam]

Finished The Wild Hunt of Hagworthy by Penelope Lively and now reading Outside the Dog Museum by Jonathan Carroll.

[Pam]

Finished Outside the Dog Museum .

[Pam]

Now on The Eyre Affair by Jasper Fforde.

[Pam]

Reviewed The Eyre Affair and the sequel Lost in a Good Book and now reading book 1 in Jasper Fforde's other series about detectives who are more geared around writing their cases up for Amazing Crime Stories than actual crime solving apart from 'loser' Jack Spratt who runs the small and done-down Nursery Crimes Division - The Big Over Easy.

[Pam]

Finished The Big Over Easy . Not quite as wearing as how the Thursday Next series became, but the book drags a bit in the second half. Not going to be bothering with any more Jasper Fforde.

Still reading the collection of short stories by Jonathan Carroll, The Panic Hand.

[Pam]

Finished The Panic Hand .

Started The Ghost of Thomas Kempe.

[Pam]

Still reading and enjoying The Ghost of Thomas Kempe, but quite a way into a book I started yesterday, 3rd in the Flavia de Luce series by Alan Bradley, A Red Herring without Mustard, and so far enjoying it as much as book 2 in the series (The Weed that Strings the Hangman's Bag).

[Pam]

Finished and reviewed A Red Herring without Mustard which I enjoyed as much as The Weed that Strings the Hangman's Bag.

[Pam]

So much so that I ordered 3 more as 2nd hand copies on Amazon (I managed to get A Red Herring and book no. 6 in the series from the library but as the stories 'build' and I've gathered events sometimes lead on from one book to another, I want to read 4 & 5 first). It is also that annoying thing on Amazon where you have to order £10 worth to get the free postage so I thought might as well order book 1 while I was at it!

[Pam]

I'm now reading Val McDermid's Forensics, true crime for a change. Saw it in the library and although I don't think I've read any of her crime novels, I know her reputation so thought I would try it. It's quite interesting and has a chapter on each facet of forensics, with real life cases talked about, quite often famous UK ones.

[Pam]

Finished and reviewed Forensics by Val McDermid. Quite a good read though it had an irritatingly obvious number of typos and words missed out, and this is a traditionally published book.

[Pam]

Now reading another library find, Jambusters, the book by Julie Summers which inspired the Home Fires TV series.

[Pam]

Finished The Ghost of Thomas Kempe and gave up on Elizabeth Lynn's The Sardonyx Net . I don't often do that with books, I think the last one was Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell by Susanna Clarke, so about 10 years ago.

[Pam]

Still reading Jambusters, but also now on the next Bryant and May in the series, Bryant and May off the Rails.

[Pam]

Finished Bryant and May off the Rails and the next in the series, Bryant and May and the Memory of Blood .

Now on volume 10, Bryant and May and the Invisible Code.

[Pam]

And also started a re-read of a Diana Wynne Jones favourite, the first Dalemark book, Cart and Cwidder.

[Pam]

Right, finished both Bryant and May and the Invisible Code and Cart and Cwidder.

[Pam]

Started A Cotswold Killing, first in a cozy crime series by Rebecca Tope.

[Pam]

And also started a historical novel for children by Mollie Hunter, A Pistol in Greenyards about the last Highland clearances in 1854.

[Pam]

Finished A Cotswold Kiling .