MobileRead Book Challenges discussion
2019 Individual Challenges
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Rumpelteazer's 2019 Reading Challenge
The Waters of Eternal Youth by Donna Leon.Despite the slow start for me I really enjoyed this book. I like the newish character Claudia Griffoni.
Ten by Gretchen McNeil.A nice book. A quick read. As others have written on GR reviews it's basically a YA rewriting of Agatha Christie's And The There Were None.
Speaks the Nightbird by Robert R. McCammon.A very enjoyable book, added this series to my active list. It took me longer to read than normal because I was in a creative mood last week and spend time which I normally spend reading making jewelry and sketching.
I also love the Cat Who series although I'm only up to book 5.
Stephanie wrote: "I also love the Cat Who series although I'm only up to book 5."My mother and I used to read them in Dutch. I can remember buying the book I've recently finished around the time of my secondary school/high school exam. I read quite a bunch of those during that period.
They're nice books to read when you don't know what to read or when you're in the mood for something easy and entertaining.
Kill Creek by Scott Thomas.Entertaining, though at the start of the book Thomas was a bit enthusiastic with his descriptions, especially of woman. Saying one of the characters stroked her hair as if it was a pet was giggle-worthy, though. The reason why this house is haunted is a new one for me and actually an interesting premise. I also liked how about halfway through the story he hints at what type of ending the story will get.
A Great Reckoning by Louise Penny.A good book. I've slowed down, not so much a slump as a dip, I hope.
Next week temperatures will reach ridiculous heights (above 30C, possibly even 35C), so it'll either be a good reading week (don't have to move to read) or it will be disastrous (too hot to do anything but have long siestas).
Forgotten Men by Bill Thompson.Not as good as the first in the Bayou Hauntings series. Somehow it felt a bit messy. But the story itself was interesting. I've also learned that there are noisy granola bars (paraphrasing): "He spread out a blanket and put his tablet down, he muted his phone and granola bars."
Yesterday I read about 30 pages of The Cabin at the End of the World by Paul Tremblay. But I realized it wasn't for me. I didn't like the atmosphere of the book and it felt claustrophobic to me. Maybe I'll get back to it, maybe not. Since I didn't get far I'm not counting the pages towards for my challenge.
The Stranger Diaries by Elly Griffiths.Very entertaining. A mystery with a ghost story link. I love her Ruth Galloway series, this is the first book I read by her that wasn't part of that series. She's got another series and one stand alone book. Those have definitely moved higher up my TBR list.
Night Flights by Philip Reeve.Meh, but then I don't really like short stories which are part of a series.
But it means another series for my challenge is finished. Just two more series to go, each have 3 books left (one to be released in August).
I'm now starting a novella, the 7.5th book of Ben Aaronovitch's Peter Grant series. Normally I would be able to read that on a Sunday, but tomorrow I've got to go to a family gathering. I hope I can still finish it and count it towards my June total.
The October Man by Ben Aaronovitch.Fun novella. Maybe, hopefully, the start of a new (sub) series. But at the very least a prequel to the characters of this book featuring in the next full novel of the Peter Grant series.
I really like the Peter Grant series. After this year, I'll start it over again and catch up on the 4 books (and novellas) I haven't read yet.
The Last Widow by Karin Slaughter.The latest book in the Will Trent series. Wow, that was a wild ride from the start. It was hard to put this book down. Definitely my favourite book so far this year.
Oh dear. I keep finding myself looking at the Pocketbook Touch HD 3. I love my latest generation Kindle Paperwhite. But I do like the look of setting the colour temperature.I don't need a new eReader, I don't read multiple books at the same time, I carry around my Paperwhite without problem. Also, all non-Kindle eReader I've had, a Sony and a Kobo, had serious problems. The Sony had the tendency to lose it's charge overnight and the Kobo's firmware unstable and the screen sensor broke.
I will need to do more research. But I might get one anyway. I just need a new toy.
Bianca wrote: "Oh dear. I keep finding myself looking at the Pocketbook Touch HD 3. I love my latest generation Kindle Paperwhite. But I do like the look of setting the colour temperature."Oooh! It's cute! :) I can see why you're interested in it.
I think the new Voyage has color temp setting, so I wouldn't be surprised if the next PW gets it, if you hold out for it.
I like the copper version. But I've decided against getting the Pocketbook.First of all the lay-out of the touch screen won't really work for me. The page back area is a narrow strip on the left (like with the Kindle) and the page forward area is a narrow strip on the left (on the Kindle it's the rest of the width of the screen). I often read whilst holding my reader in my left hand. I wouldn't be able to reach the page forward area that way. That's a biggie.
However, even bigger is the off/sleep option. Default is that when not used a certain amount of time the Pocketbook will go into sleep mode, after a while it will switch off. That's similar to the Kindle. However, starting it from off takes over half a minute! That's just too long. You can change it in settings that it won't switch off, that way the battery will last not as long, but I would be okay with that. But, I've read several complaints that when automatic switching off is turned off that the reader loses it's charge overnight occasionally. I've had that happen with my first reader, a Sony, and that's a dealbreaker for me.
So I'm now looking at the Kobo Clara HD. It's got the adjustable colour temperature and I just love the reading statistics on the Kobo. There are three drawbacks:
The first is that you can't easily use folders or categories on the Kobo, you can with a plug-in in Calibre but it isn't straight forward. Now I don't have a lot of book on my reading, though I do like to keep the books of my active series separate. I can probably do that with the plug-in. So not a deal breaker.
On my Kindle the screen is flush with the bezel, no crumb catcher. The Kobo has a crumb catcher. A mild annoyance at best.
The Kobo Clara HD isn't waterproof. It was the reason I bought the latest Paperwhite (or so I told myself to justify it). But we don't have a bath, I don't hang around pools or on the beach. So it's only a problem when going on vacation somewhere that has a bath or when house sitting for friends. In those situation I could just bring my Paperwhite.
So none are deal breakers, even when added up.
I could way for a new PW, but I'd like to have an ePub reader. It looks like my library is slowly offering more English ebooks and there's now the online library with a fair selection of English ebooks. It would be nice to be able to use that. Also, again, I'm a sucker for reading stats.
I won't be buying one immediately. In the coming weeks some payments are coming up, on the 18th it's my sister's birthday and my sister and I are going on a day trip to Leiden on the 15th. However, I'm going house sitting for just over three weeks from the 21st and when I'm there I usually treat myself to something fun. A new eReader would be appropriate since I always do a lot of reading during my summer house sitting gig.
Bianca wrote: "I'd like to have an ePub reader. It looks like my library is slowly offering more English ebooks and there's now the online library with a fair selection of English ebooks. "That's definitely a solid reason. Before Kindle books became available at libraries here in the US, I was using an epub reader about half the time, I think. I can't even imagine how much money I've saved over the years by using the library.
There aren't a huge amount of English ebooks, but until quite recently there were none except for some classic you can get for free anyway. So, hopefully, the English library will expand quickly.I wish Amazon would offer Kindle Unlimited in the Netherlands (though on their website they say they plan to expand to other regions). Since I read a lot of self publish horror that would be even better for me than when the library offers more English ebooks, which will mostly be popular books.
Contest by Matthew Reilly.The description didn't mention the aliens. I'm not really into aliens, so if I would have know it I probably wouldn't have started this book. But it was a fun read, and super quick.
Bianca wrote: "White Lies by Jeremy Bates.For some reason I just couldn't get into this story."
This one was weird for me. It went quickly for me and I enjoyed it, but it felt like one of those cheesy 1980s horror movies where it's fun but nothing really makes sense and everyone just makes really dumb decisions. I ended up giving it 4 stars but I think I was being generous because I really like Jeremy Bates. This one just wasn't the quality I've come to expect from him.
Christa wrote: "This one was weird for me. It went quickly for me and I enjoyed it, but it felt like one of those cheesy 1980s horror movies where it's fun but nothing really makes sense and everyone just makes really dumb decisions. I ended up giving it 4 stars but I think I was being generous because I really like Jeremy Bates. This one just wasn't the quality I've come to expect from him. "When I read it it read fast, but I had a hard time getting myself to read. It didn't help that on Sunday and Monday I read only a couple of pages (went to my sister's on Sunday and on Monday we went on a trip all day). It seems to be one of Bates' first books, but I agree that not much made sense.
It did set me back for this month a bit. But next week it'll too hot to do much than sit still in front of a fan, in fact on Wednesday I'm taking the day off because it'll be 32C-36C. So I have extra reading time and hopefully catch up a bit. And I'm starting my 3 week house sitting gig on Sunday, and I tend to read more and watch less tv than when I'm at home. Though I do plan to do some sketching and watercolouring.
The bill I thought was due next week isn't due for another month. So I've decided to order a Kobo Clara HD and sleep case. Instead of having it send to me and getting it on Monday, I've decided to pick it up in the local store. The store's en route between my friends' place and my sister's apartment. So I'm going to pick it up on the way back. It'll be a nice incentive for catching up on my reading during the next three weeks.
I've just picked up my Kobo Aura HD and set it up. It looks like I was lucky and the screen looks good, though I think any problems are best seen when it's dark, so I'll still have to wait until later tonight to be sure.I like the software. The only thing is that I use the plugboard to automatically add the number of the book within a series to the title when sending it to the device. And that doesn't work with the Kobo. Not the biggest problem, just a minor thing.
Another small thing is that I use the sleep cover. It isn't a book cover but a fold-over cover. It's got a little flap at the bottom with the magnet in it, keeping it closed. But that flap block access to the USB port. So you can't charge it when it's fully closed. Which I think is a bit weird.
The Haunting of Pitmon House by Michael Richan.Fun little ghost story. I read the first five books in Richan's The River series, but stopped since I didn't like the main characters. I was afraid the same would happen with this book, but I liked it. There is a bit of an open end, so I wouldn't be surprised if it turns out to be the first in a series.
The Queen of Bedlam by Robert R. McCammon.A good story, took a while to get going though.
Thanks to the exceptionally hot weather at the moment I have extra reading time; it's no use for me to work in the store when it's over 35C, so I've got 3 extra days off. Even inside with all the doors, windows and blinds closed it's 30.5C (outside, in the yard it was over 40C). So the only thing I was able to do was to sit very still in front of my little fan and read.
Me too. Too hot outside and I had to give my Roku to my Mom, whose Roku has failed. Therefore, books and audiobooks. And a little surfing.
The Nursery by Bill Thompson.Okay ghost story.
According to my Kobo I've read 36.6 hours in six and a half days (couldn't sleep last night, so I read most of the time).
Now it's time for a reread. It's been two years since I've read Stephen King's It, I must have read it at least a dozen times by now. But the second part of the film is coming out soon, and it is summer (for some reason It is a summer book to me).
Stephanie wrote: "Me too. Too hot outside and I had to give my Roku to my Mom, whose Roku has failed. Therefore, books and audiobooks. And a little surfing."I have my Chromecast, so I could have been able to watch Netflix or anything on my laptop. But that was just too much effort. Especially on Friday. Even though it was a little bit cooler than on Thursday it felt a lot worse and I couldn't concentrate and was really cranky because of a bad night sleep and the heat.
Yesterday was still hot and humid, but at least there was a breeze from mid afternoon started to cool things down. Early even we had a short thunderstorm which also helped a bit. It's now bearable.
About a year and a half to two years ago I made notes of most books I read. I did enjoy this process, but for whatever reason I stopped. I still have my notebook and lately I've been thinking of picking up the note taking again.I've decided that to motivate myself I'm going to get a nice fountain pen (Lamy Safari in mint) and some fun coloured inks, because blue, red and black are boring. My scrapbook store sells them, I could order online, but I've been wanting to visit again (harder now they've move outside cycling distance). I've already asked my father if he wouldn't mind taking me to the store, and he didn't (he loves nosing around and always ends up buying things himself), now I just have to see when he can go (tomorrow?).
Oooh! I love fountain pens! I don't have a Lamy (yet) but I have a few Wing Sungs, two Jinhao 51As and a Monteverde Everest from their Mountains of the World series. One of my 51As came from a seller on Etsy that customizes the nibs on them and it's my favorite. https://www.etsy.com/listing/64527284...I bought all of mine online but I would LOVE to visit a store where I can look at them in person and use their demonstration pens.
I know pretty much nothing about fountain pens. Most Dutch pupils learned to write write with Lamy fountain pen ( this one, in red). It was a prized possession when you your writing was good enough for you to get your Lamy. So getting a Lamy is pure nostalgia.The scrapbook store only has the Safari with the medium nib, they only sell calligraphy nibs separately. With the handwriting I use in my book notebook I will probably order the extra fine nib. If the store has it in stock when I go there I'll also get bottles of the T53 ink, the benitoite and the amazonite colours. I like being able to switch.
There's one local store selling fountain pens, they sell all kinds of stationary, the practical kind mostly. From what I can remember in the fleeting glace of their fountain pen display it had a lot of browns and golds in it. I'm more of a silver, blue, green and dark red kind of girl.
If I like the fountain pen I might get one with a nib and (waterproof) ink that I can use for my arts and craft.
BTW, I just remembered the biggest frustration of the Lamy ABC was that the cap didn't fit on the back of the pen, you had to be careful not to lose it.
The extra fine nibs are nice because you can write on more types of paper without worrying about bleed. I keep one of my Wing Sung EFs inked up for that purpose. My Jinhao is kind of between a Fine and a Medium and is kind of wet so I only use it in my journals where the paper can handle it.The new Lamy Studio pens look really nice - they have a nice, almost vintage "space age" styling to them.
My handwriting also looks better with finer points (I'm currently using Hi-Tec Coleto's, I have three with in total 10 colours, but they run out of ink quickly and are not readily available in the Netherlands). At the moment I use a Moleskine dotted notebook and the space between the lines is small. I'm now thinking of replacing the Moleskine with a Leuchtturm1917 bullet journal, which is slightly bigger. My scrapbook store also sells those. There's a fair chance my father has time tomorrow to go to the store, keeping my fingers crossed.
Thinking about how I want to set up my reading bullet journal.After the index page there are several pages called Future Log. There I want to keep a list of books, authors and series that might interest me and I need to look into more. After that I want to keep a list of all my active series; the title of the series, with below it number for each book, I cross out the number of the book when I've read it.
I was debating what to do about books part of series I only sometimes I read a book from, like The Cat Who series. And with series I had been up to date with but a new book is released. I think I'm not going to make a list for those, that would be too complicated.
Meanwhile I'm now making notes on a piece of scrap paper for my current book, Stephen King's It. I've decided to also include thoughts about the TV series and the new films, mostly in comparison with the book. For instance I hate how the TV series portrayed adult Beverly as a timid woman who needs a MAN/MEN in her life to help her with everything. In the book she starts out that way, but once she has freed herself of her abusive partner she isn't a timid, helpless being, at least not as I read it.
Still making my way through Stephen King's It. I hope to get half way today, I'm enjoying the slow read through.I also must say that the Kobo Clara HD has a long battery life, longer than my Kindle Paperwhite or Voyage.
Bianca wrote: "Still making my way through Stephen King's It. I hope to get half way today, I'm enjoying the slow read through.I also must say that the Kobo Clara HD has a long battery life, longer than my Kind..."
I'm hoping to get to "It" sometime in the winter. I have the audiobook, so plan to knit or quilt while listening. Glad to hear that your battery is lasting longer. I thought of getting a Kobo but decided to get a couple of refurbished Voyages instead. I'm such a gadget fiend.
To me It is a summer book. I'm not sure if that's because when I first read it or because it's set in summer. Probably a bit of both. It's funny how some books are connected to a season to me (The Secret Garden is a autumn book and The Shining is a winter book).My Kindle's battery life wasn't bad at all. I'm just surprised that the Kobo's even better. I also like the comfort light, though I have yet to try it out properly, I don't read much after dark at the moment (next week when I'm home I will try it out properly). I loved my Voyage, but it developed some "spotlights" in places that were hard to ignore.
It by Stephen King.It took me almost two weeks, but I've finished It, again. This was, however, the first time I took notes whilst reading. I made me think more about the book and I noticed things I never noticed before (as far as I can remember).
Since it's the last day of house sitting for me, my friends are returning today or tomorrow depending on the traffic, it's now time to start thinking about what I want to read during my own vacation. Traditionally I read a couple of fun and quick horrors, but there are also some book coming out between now and late September I'm interested in.
How many charges did it take you get get through It? Just wondering on the battery life. Currently reading Reality Dysfunction by Peter F Hamilton and it's a doorstop much like It.
Stephanie wrote: "How many charges did it take you get get through It? Just wondering on the battery life. Currently reading Reality Dysfunction by Peter F Hamilton and it's a doorstop much like It."I've read it on my Kobo Clara HD and I could have easily done it on one charge. Last week I loaded a couple of other books on the Clara and then left it on the USB whilst I was playing a game, so it got charged.
This is with several days where I have my Kobo on but read not a lot. In summer I read between customers in our store when there aren't any other chores to take care of. Last week was fairly busy so there weren't a lot of page turns, but the lights were on between 20-25% most of the working day. I do keep wifi off unless I want to sync or update.
Goodreads is acting up; I can't seem to change the status of my current read. Neither on the home page, nor in the My Books page. I first blamed my new mouse, but when I tried it on my tablet it didn't work either.Glass Houses by Louise Penny.
A good story. Most, if not all, of the characters change throughout the series in a way I can appreciate. Enjoyed it very much. Just two to go in this series.
The Haunting of Penvill Prison by Carrie Bates.Okay shorter story. Some weird word choices and sentence structures. One reason why the main character sees the ghosts isn't fully explored. Could have been fleshed out more.
My sixth book so far this year where the title starts with "The Haunting of", LOL.
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It has been almost three years since I read the previous The Cat Who book. But I was finally in the mood to read the 20th book of the series. Fun and quick. Only nine more to go to finish this series, though it might take me years.
Daughters of the Lake by Wendy Webb.
Another release I had missed. It was a good story, though a bit too melodramatic for me at times.