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Laurel's Reading 2015
Well, I felt I had to give it something for the gorgeous prose, and it wasn't as bad as I thought it would be! :-D
Well I felt pretty bad giving Swann's Way by Marcel Proust two stars, but for me the book was only OK. That was my true feeling for the book. I DO know what you mean.
I agree, I was underwhelmed by Gatsby, partly because it's really just a novella. I like something with more "meat" to it. I thought I had read it in high school, but when I actually did read it a couple years ago, I didn't recognize anything. So either I didn't read it or I totally forgot, which are both possible!
2.
Miracle and Other Christmas StoriesA random read, because I wanted something Christmassy. 3 stars. Some interesting stories, but not particularly memorable. I kind of expected more from Connie Willis.
336 pages
Annual total: 516
3.
Me Before You4 stars. I thought the love story was nicely developed, but I had issues with the choices made. It ultimately wasn't believable.
369 pages
Annual total: 885
January recap:Only read three books, two for my Daytimer's book club, one random read.
Abandoned two: Wishin' and Hopin' was a group read for December. I barely started it, and finally decided I just wasn't in the mood to read it right now. Also Ulysses got postponed, perhaps indefinitely.
Currently still reading: Longbourn for the Nov/Dec recommendation swap. I know, I know, I'm behind. Also reading Whiskey Distilled: A Populist Guide to the Water of Life which I purchased at Christmas time.
Next up: To follow Longbourn I'd like to reread Pride and Prejudice along with Pride and Prejudice: The Scenes Jane Austen Never Wrote. I started these last January, but didn't continue with them. I intend to start over this year and finish them. I have H is for Hawk, a digital ARC from Edelweiss, but I have put this off so long, it may expire before I get to it. On order via ILL, I have Archaeology: A Very Short Introduction for my continuing series challenge. Also The Cuckoo's Calling on CD for my bird challenge. The Chaperone is next up for Daytimer's, and also fits my 1920s challenge. And I just purchased the His Dark Materials omnibus on Kindle. The Amber Spyglass is on my 12 + 4 challenge but it's been so long since I started it, that I need to reread the first two books.
4.
The Cuckoo's Calling5 stars. I really liked this book. Mystery, suspense, humor, engaging characters, and a satisfying ending.
455 pages
Annual total: 1,340
Mod
The Cuckoo's Calling5 stars. I really liked this book. Mystery, suspense, humor, engaging characters, and a satisfying ending."
I'm about to read the second of the series
5. Longbourn5 stars. I liked it, but with some reservations. Probably should have been 4 stars, but I'm trying to even out my 3,4, and 5 star reads. Here's my review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
332 pages
Annual total: 1,672
Laurel wrote: "4. The Cuckoo's Calling5 stars. I really liked this book. Mystery, suspense, humor, engaging characters, and a satisfying ending."
Glad you liked this one, I might have to try it one day :)
February recap:Only read two books, The Cuckoo's Calling and Longbourn, so I am falling behind for the year. Didn't get to the March Daytimer's read yet because I wanted to follow up The Cuckoo's Calling with The Silkworm.
Currently reading: The Silkworm, Archaeology: A Very Short Introduction, The Winter Witch, and over the long term - War and Peace and Natasha's Dance: A Cultural History of Russia.
Next up: Will read The Chaperone (audio book in car) as soon as I finish The Silkworm. Just received an ARC of Dead Wake: The Last Crossing of the Lusitania which I can't wait to start. Our program for our annual St. David's luncheon was on Margaret Mackworth (Lady Rhondda) and the Lusitania, so this is very timely! Would like to get to Wolf Hall before the TV series is broadcast. Yes, I still plan to read the P&P scenes and H is for Hawk, but probably won't get to them this month.
6. Archaeology: A Very Short Introduction3 stars. It was okay, but I really wanted more from it.
109 pages
Annual total: 1,781
7. The Silkworm5 stars. Another solid entry in the Cormoran Strike series. So macabre, it's almost funny. J.K. Rowling skewers the publishing industry.
455 pages
Annual total: 2,236
Laurel wrote: "7. The Silkworm5 stars. Another solid entry in the Cormoran Strike series. So macabre, it's almost funny. J.K. Rowling skewers the publishing industry."
You didn't think that it was a tad overlong?
Ah you have discovered JK Rowling's new incarnation. I'm glad you enjoyed The Silkworm. I agree a lot of subtle humour. Many moments when my lips were twitching and I think this will be more obvious on a re-read. Re Gatsby. I am not a great fan of Fitzgerald but I was given a book A Curious Invitation: The Forty Greatest Parties in Fiction which explores a famous party in each chapter. Gatsby''s party or parties are second up. Suzette Field's analysis of this made me do a rethink.
8. The Winter Witch4 stars. A lovely tribute to Wales, especially the language and the landscape. Part historical, part romance, part fantasy. Here's my review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
340 pages
Annual total: 2,576
9. Red Sparrow4 1/2 stars. Not my usual genre but I really enjoyed it. The author is a former CIA operative and knows his stuff. Well developed characters, and incongruously, bonus recipes after each chapter. Here's my review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
431 pages
Annual total: 3,007
March recap:Back on track with 4 books for the month, but still 3 behind for the year.
Archaeology: A Very Short Introduction - sequels 12 + 2 challenge
The Silkworm - random reads
The Winter Witch - books set in Wales
Red Sparrow - birds theme
Currently reading: The Goldfinch, Year of Wonders for the Daytimers group. I chose The Goldfinch to replace Middlesex (the library no longer had enough copies for our group) and it fits my birds theme and new authors theme. Also reading H is for Hawk.
Next up: Still need to read The Chaperone, Dead Wake, and Wolf Hall.
Glad you're back on track. Hope you enjoy The Goldfinch :)
Updated the book posts to reflect page totals. I don't know if that makes me feel better or worse... :-/
Mod
I am liking it Greg. About 1/3 in. The narrator is very good.
10. Year of Wonders4 stars. Beautiful writing, and good sense of time and place, but it felt as if she tacked on the ending of a different book at the end!
Almost finished with H is for Hawk and still working on The Goldfinch
308 pages
Total: 3,315
11. H is for Hawk5 stars. Memoir, birds, nature writing, psychology, philosophy, grief, healing. Wonderful book.
320 pages
Total: 3,635
12. The Goldfinch4 stars. Here is my review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
Still behind for the year, but this one was 784 p. so that has to count for something!
784 p.
Total: 4,419
Needing something much lighter after The Goldfinch, so I'm currently listening to Somewhere Safe with Somebody Good - I love Father Tim and Jan Karon always makes me laugh. Also reading Plague Land, which despite the gruesome time period is also quite humorous, and Spinster: Making a Life of One's Own
Mod
4 stars. Here is my review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
Still behind for the year, but this one was 784 p. so that has to count for something..."
It IS a long book. But I found it worth reading though
Mod
LOL, Greg! I admit I turned next to something of a "comfort food" author for me - Jan Karon. I don't read a lot of "inspirational" fiction, but I just love Father Tim and all the wacky characters of Mitford.
Still way behind this year, but I guess I've just been doing other things. The yard and garden becomes a priority in the summer. Also I've gotten distracted by "shiny" books - books that weren't part of my plan. Ha ha. I think I'm just going to declare the plan abandoned - except for the "bird" theme. I'm doing 5 books for a book talk at MLA in October. I think I have that list set unless one of the 3 I haven't read yet turns out to be a dud. Will include The Goldfinch and The Nightingale. The other three I'm looking at are The Plover, The Ravens (3rd of a trilogy, so I have to read the first two, of course), and The Hummingbird which doesn't come out until September, but I have a digital ARC.
13. Plague Land: A Novel5 stars. Criticized for being too modern in tone, it worked for me. Black humor and over-the-top characters and it was just what I needed after The Goldfinch.
336 p.
Total: 4,755 p.
14. Somewhere Safe with Somebody Good4 stars. No particular plot. Just catching up with the familiar characters of Mitford. Mayberry RFD for the 21st century.
511 p.
Total: 5,266 p.
15. The Light Between Oceans4 stars. People make choices, and choices have consequences. A study in flawed characters.
343 p.
Total: 5,609 p.
16. Spinster: Making a Life of One's Own3 stars. A look at the lives of single women over the past 150 years or so. Not really what I was expecting.
308 p.
Total: 5,917 p.
17-19. Three books on inflammation and diet. One DNF. Didn't learn anything new.The Inflammation Cure : How to Combat the Hidden Factor Behind Heart Disease, Arthritis, Asthma, Diabetes, & Other Diseases 3 stars. 272 p.
The Everything Anti-Inflammation Diet Book: The Easy-To-Follow, Scientifically-Proven Plan to Reverse and Prevent Disease Lose Weight and Increase Energy Slow Signs of Aging Live Pain-Free 2 stars. 304 p.
Inflammation Nation: The First Clinically Proven Eating Plan to End Our Nation's Secret Epidemic DNF - not because it is a bad book, but because it touted a specific diet without alternatives. Let's say I read 50 pages, but I don't remember.
Total: 6,543 p.
20. Stormbird4 stars. Wars of the Roses. An Errol Flynn-like spymaster. Great characters, but rather a lot of jumping back and forth among sub-plots.
507 p.
Total: 7,050 p.
21. The Nightingale4 stars after much thought. Historical fiction by a romance writer. It dragged in spots, and was overly dramatic and gimicky in others, but it was ultimately a satisfying read.
438 p.
Total: 7,488 p.
Currently working on Life After Life, Dead Wake: The Last Crossing of the Lusitania, and the latest "shiny" book - A Plague on Both Your Houses. Oh yeah, I've been reading Raven Black for awhile too. Next up is The Plover, the first of the Sundstol trilogy The Land of Dreams, and The Other Boleyn Girl for the recommendation swap... (What was I thinking?!)
Still distracted by "shiny" books. The Plover has to go back - I still need to read it for MLA, but I'll have to rerequest it. In fact I still have 5 books to read for MLA which is in a month. ACK! Finished Life After Life and A Plague on Both Your Houses, but set aside Dead Wake and Raven Black to finish later. I should have picked Raven Black for MLA instead of The Ravens, but too late now - the list has gone in to be printed. Listening to The Other Boleyn Girl in the car, I've started Go Set a Watchman at work, and at bedtime I'm reading After Dark. Someone got me with a description of pet dust bunnies, and, well, how could I resist? I'm also working through all the volumes of Chi's Sweet Home, Volume 1 which caught my eye at the library. At least they go quickly!
22. Life After Life5 stars. Possibly my favorite book of the year, although the ending was anti-climactic.
544 p.
Total: 8,032 p.
23-27. Chi's Sweet Home, Volume 1-Volume 5.4 and 5 stars. Delightful Manga comic for children about a lost kitty who finds a home with a Japanese family. Chi reminds me a great deal of my own kitty, Gwen.
168, 160, 152, 152, 160 p.
Total: 8,824 p.
28. A Plague on Both Your Houses3 stars, but a good start to the series and I will read more of them. Medieval mystery which shines more for the author's decriptions of people reacting to the plague than for the mystery.
406 p.
Total: 9,230 p.
Laurel wrote: "22. Life After Life5 stars. Possibly my favorite book of the year, although the ending was anti-climactic.
Interesting, we have a lot of similar tastes and I've liked this author, but I really didn't like Life after Life. I found the experience was more Death after Death, it seemed to be saying that whatever form your life takes, you are doomed to misery. Some of the sections went on and on about the grimness of life. The end is supposedly redemptive but it didn't seem enough for me. Maybe it's just that I didn't realize how much of it was about WWII, which I have just had enough of for a while.
Robin wrote: "Interesting, we have a lot of similar tastes and I've lik..."It wasn't a perfect book, but as I said in my review, it is one I would reread. (https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...) I loved the day to day details, and how things would be slightly different each time. Every time I heard "Snow is falling" I felt peaceful and grounded and that once again all things were possible and all things could be overcome.
33 and 34. After Dark and the prequel novella Bridal Jitters. My review here: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...I enjoyed the world building and the idea of pet dust bunnies. Not convinced by the romance. The novella was all about sex and doesn't do much to add to the series, but it's an okay Halloween story. Probably will not read any more of these.
35. The Other Boleyn Girl. Not as bad as I feared from a historical standpoint, but it does try to work in all the more sensational aspects (witchcraft, incest, etc.) of the Anne Boleyn story.
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Books mentioned in this topic
The Ravens (other topics)The Land of Dreams (other topics)
The House at Riverton (other topics)
Santa Clawed (other topics)
Orphan Train (other topics)
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Authors mentioned in this topic
Jan Karon (other topics)Suzette Field (other topics)
Marcel Proust (other topics)
First book of the year. Read for my Daytimer's book club. I read this in high school, but remembered virtually nothing about it except that it was about spoiled rich people that I couldn't identify with in any way and didn't enjoy much. It's probably over the heads of most high school students. Yes, the prose is lovely, but it's still about spoiled, rich people that I can't identify with. But now, at least, I do recognize its literary merit and I'll give it a solid three stars.
180 pages
Annual total: 180