ALL NEW Just finished - just started

[Rosemary (grooving with the Picts)]

I'm starting a new thread for this as the old one is now misbehaving! I will lock the old thread.

Please let us know what you've been reading/are just about to read. A place for recommendations without a proper review, as such.

NOT the place to push your own book - there are plenty of options to do that elsewhere

[Jim]

Thanks for moving things Rosemary

[Rosemary (grooving with the Picts)]

I just can't delete spammy postings from the old thread (which is really annoying), and as it turns out I can also neither lock the thread nor move it to the archive section. Goodreads are aware...

[Michael]

I had jacket potatoes for dinner.

[Stuart]

Michael Cargill wrote: "I had jacket potatoes for dinner."

Haha!

[Rosemary (grooving with the Picts)]

Michael Cargill wrote: "I had jacket potatoes for dinner."

Topping?

[Pam]

Just finished Thomas Hardy's Far from the Madding Crowd - reviewed - https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/3791026882.

[Jim]

Pam wrote: "Just finished Thomas Hardy's Far from the Madding Crowd - reviewed - https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...."

One problem is that people like Hardy invented what we now think of as clichés :-)

[Pam]

Jim wrote: "Pam wrote: "Just finished Thomas Hardy's Far from the Madding Crowd - reviewed - https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...."

One problem is that people like Hardy invented what..."

Tee hee!

[Desley (Cat fosterer)]

Just finished NOS4A2 - I think a book that wants you to keep reading over things like eating, so you can plough through a 995 page book in 2.5 weeks deserves 5*. If you didn't know he was Stephen King's son, you may have wondered by all the links to Stephen King's work, which I really enjoyed.

[Desley (Cat fosterer)]

Just started - I did really enjoy the TV series, at 16% in, I can see some character differences, which I'm wondering why they felt like changing. So far am enjoying Ann Cleves

[Karen]

Desley (Cat fosterer) wrote: "Just started - I did really enjoy the TV series, at 16% in, I can see some character differences, which I'm wondering why they felt like changing. So far am enjoyin..."

I'm a big fan of (most of) Ann Cleeves books - just love that sense of place and the down to earth characters.

[Karen]

Am trying to catch up, goodness knows where I've been - certainly not 'out'!! But I have been doing lots of painting & jigsaws, and even writing! Most important, I have just finished sewing Shelf 2 (you can't say that in a hurry!) of my Bookshelf Quilt 'My hundred favourite books' - only it's currently 106... so hard to choose!
Also have read lots of lovely books... and a few disappointing ones. Elly Griffiths The Lantern Men was good, and I listened every day to her reading the first in the Brighton Murders on Facebook, which was a delight, as I hadn't really got into it when I started to read it myself. So, finished The Zig Zag Girl, and The Blood Card which was a little too far-fetched I thought. Am also reading Kassia St Clair's The Golden Thread: How Fabric Changed History after hearing her talk on Zoom. Fascinating! Who knew the Vikings' sails were made of wool?!

[Desley (Cat fosterer)]

I'm glad I started Raven Black, I'm going to try and collect all the Shetland books - I love the TV series, and would love to go there on holiday. Do have the first Vera book - didn't like that show initially, but feel I need to give it another go, and one of her standalone books.

How bonkers that Vikings sails were made of wool, you wouldn't think it would work

[Jim]

Desley (Cat fosterer) wrote: "I'm glad I started Raven Black, I'm going to try and collect all the Shetland books - I love the TV series, and would love to go there on holiday. Do have the first Vera book - didn't like that sho..."

Remember that wool varies, you get carpet wools as well as wools used for clothing.
Also if you don't wash it much before weaving it still contains the lanolin and therefore repels water

[Karen]

Jim wrote: "Desley (Cat fosterer) wrote: "I'm glad I started Raven Black, I'm going to try and collect all the Shetland books - I love the TV series, and would love to go there on holiday. Do have the first Ve..."

and the Old Norse sheep apparently had a high lanolin content in their wool. The weaving itself was complex, but to 'plug the gaps' the sail cloth was smeared with fat or fish oil then coated with hot beef tallow... yummy. Of course, they stank!

[Desley (Cat fosterer)]

Finished Raven Black last night, I did enjoy it despite the differences and would read the rest. Now started The Cuckoo's Calling

[Pam]

Finished Religion and the Decline of Magic: Studies in Popular Beliefs in Sixteenth and Seventeenth Century England and reviewed it - https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/3811235215

[Stuart]

Finished A Perfect Spy - absolute masterpiece. By far the best of his I've read and I've read most all of them. Just about to start Not Fade Away by Jim Dodge. Clearing my bookcase prior to hitting the road. Not many left now!

[Natasha]

Just finished the ridiculously long right-wing rant that is Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand (and rather enjoyed it).

Just started Neither Here nor There: Travels in Europe by Bill Bryson (for some light relief).

[Stuart]

Well done for persisting with a ridiculously long right-wing rant, Natasha. You have more fortitude than I!

[Natasha]

Stuart wrote: "Well done for persisting with a ridiculously long right-wing rant, Natasha. You have more fortitude than I!"

All 1,204 pages, Stuart. Some of it was utterly tedious. But I did enjoy most of the story. And as a left-wing ranter myself, I really had my eyes opened as to why people might want to rant in the opposite direction.

I talk about this in my review, if you're interested!
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

[Stuart]

Will do!

[Jim]

Interesting review. As somebody who has watched the collapse of the soviet union I'd say Rand has a point. Watching how China has shifted from socialism to capitalism I'd say you might have as well :-)

[Pam]

Read two rather different books and reviewed them:

Carmen Varricchio's Doll Junk: Collectible and Crazy Fashions from the '70s and '80s - https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/3842073524

Lucy Worsley's A Very British Murder - https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/3764508621

[Jim]

I can imagine the Doll Junk being a fascinating read for the right person at the right age :-)

[Pam]

Jim wrote: "I can imagine the Doll Junk being a fascinating read for the right person at the right age :-)"

Oh there is a huge community of adults who collect dolls and their clothing etc Jim - you would be surprised!

[Pam]

Catching up on some reviews of books finished lately:

Tanith Lee Red as Blood, or Tales from the Sisters Grimmer - reviewed at https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/3396613902

Tanith Lee Companions on the Road (edition also includes The Winter Players) - reviewed - https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/3396615203

and Ray Bradbury's Something Wicked This Way Comes - reviewed - https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/3860718703.

[Jim]

Pam wrote: "Jim wrote: "I can imagine the Doll Junk being a fascinating read for the right person at the right age :-)"

Oh there is a huge community of adults who collect dolls and their clothing etc Jim - yo..."

I remember many many years ago somebody writing about it in the Readers Digest :-) Could be forty or more years ago now.
I met a chap who collected guide badges and pennants
In the corner of our yard we have a pile of bricks, each entirely individual, stored there by a friend who whilst he doesn't collect bricks, does pick up unusual ones on his travels and will sell them on to collectors :-)

[Natasha]

Just finished Neither Here nor There: Travels in Europe by Bill Bryson.

Just started The Midnight Library by Matt Haig, which I'm loving.

[Desley (Cat fosterer)]

This week I started Lambing, almost live. and started the second James Herriott book All Things Bright and Beautiful

[Jim]

Desley (Cat fosterer) wrote: "This week I started Lambing, almost live. and started the second James Herriott book All Things Bright and Beautiful"

James Herriott is good. When I read his stories I could recognise people in them. Not that I knew the real people but because so many of the types are similar :-)

[Desley (Cat fosterer)]

He is, although I've just been in tears reading one of his chapters, it's quite funny alternating between his and yours though, similar tales, but opposite viewpoints.

[Jim]

But probably much the same world :)

But he is very good

[Natasha]

Just finished The Midnight Library by Matt Haig, which I really enjoyed.

Just started Glaswegian detective novel, Laidlaw by William McIlvanney.

[Jud]

I finished a reread of Pride and Prejudice, I think I need to read this book more often. I've just started The Thursday Murder Club, I don't get all the hype about it yet but maybe it'll come as I read on.

[Desley (Cat fosterer)]

I finished All Things Bright and Beautiful last night, some heartwarming tales of a different life, so glad we have better options available for animals now. Just started The Five: The Untold Lives of the Women Killed by Jack the Ripper

[Pam]

Jim wrote: "Pam wrote: "Jim wrote: "I can imagine the Doll Junk being a fascinating read for the right person at the right age :-)"

Oh there is a huge community of adults who collect dolls and their clothing ...In the corner of our yard we have a pile of bricks, each entirely individual, stored there by a friend who whilst he doesn't collect bricks, does pick up unusual ones on his travels and will sell them on to collectors :-)"

Tee hee

[Pam]

Read the final two books in the Eli Monpress series by Rachael Aaron:

The Spirit War - reviewed https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/3544760282
and
Spirit's End - reviewed
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/3544760560

[Pam]

Forgot to mention I also read this which I really enjoyed:

The Suspicions of Mr. Whicher: or the Murder at Road Hill House and reviewed it
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/3868978643

[Pam]

Read A Delusion Of Satan: The Full Story Of The Salem Witch Trials and reviewed it https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/3888209426

[Jud]

I really enjoyed The Five: The Untold Lives of the Women Killed by Jack the Ripper, it was really interesting.

I finished The Thursday Murder Club, it was good but I won't be rushing out to buy the second. I started The Queen of the Night and I'm really enjoying it so far. I also read The Crucible and now I want to watch all the Salem Witch Trial programmes and see the film

[Desley (Cat fosterer)]

I'm finding The Five quite hard going Jud, but feel like I should read it, they deserve to be known as woman and not just victims.

[Pam]

Read Witchcraze: A New History of the European Witch Hunts and reviewed it - https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/3889276000
and
first in the Sookie Stackhouse series by Charlaine Harris, Dead Until Dark - review - https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/3896946433

[Pam]

Read number 2 in the Sookie Stackhouse series by Charlaine Harris, Living Dead in Dallas - reviewed - https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/3896989526.

[Natasha]

Just finished Laidlaw by William McIlvanney.

Just started Friend Request by Laura Marshall.

[Desley (Cat fosterer)]

I finished The Five: The Untold Lives of the Women Killed by Jack the Ripper - I found it very hard to read, it went into a lot more detail than I expected, like how the victims parent's met, but I felt I had to give it 4* as it completely changed my perceptions of what we have been told about the victims, and I felt very sad at the end of it, and relieved that I'm living in these times.

[Jim]

I heard the writer discussing it on the radio a bit back and I thought it could be an interesting book

[Desley (Cat fosterer)]

Yes, as hard as I found it both writing style and subject wise, I felt I had to continue to know them as women and not just victims. I think it might be best read between other books, I struggled to read more than a chapter at a time

[Jud]

Yeah, I read it while on placement so it was mostly here and there on breaks. It is really good but a bit heavy and dry for reading in large chunks.

I'm not sure that times have changed all that much though Desley... not when it comes to the perceptions of women anyway. I watched the documentary on the Yorkshire Ripper after reading it and it was scary how similarly the victims were treated.