Comfort Reads discussion
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What are you reading right now? (SEE NEW THREAD)
I'm reading the 4th book in the vladimir tod series!!
In the last two weeks I have listened to five audiobooks:Unbroken: A World War II Story of Survival, Resilience and Redemption
http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/...
The Art of Hearing Heartbeats
http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/...
The Power of One
http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/...
Train to Trieste
http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/...
Joan of Arc
http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/82...
Now I am listening to one of my favorite authors: Ivan Doig Prairie Nocturne. I just love the western dialog.
Vacation in Sweden was really more full of chores than relaxation, this being my excuse for the reviews' brevity! Other than cleaning and emptying and selling my Mom's apartment I visited my son and DIL in Göteborg, southern Sweden. My fifth grandchild was born o,n 18/7. Oh, she is so
a-d-o-r-a-b-l-e! My Mom died and a new grandchild was born - life goes on.
I finished One Moment
which was very predictable, but still a good YA book. I need something with more intensity now.
which was very predictable, but still a good YA book. I need something with more intensity now.
Jeannette wrote: "I love Death!"
Um.....I am a bit scared.
Um.....I am a bit scared.
I hope so!! :P
(He's the main character in the book Simran's reading.)
(He's the main character in the book Simran's reading.)
Okay, that makes more sense, haha!
I'm reading The Hangman's Daughter. I'm about 30% in and enjoying this historical murder mystery quite a bit.
Covingtoncat73 wrote: "I'm reading The Hangman's Daughter. I'm about 30% in and enjoying this historical murder mystery quite a bit."
I have this on my list to look for. Glad it is good!
I have this on my list to look for. Glad it is good!
Simran wrote: "Jeannette wrote: "I love Death!"
I had to get a bit further along in the book before i can agree and say, what a cutie-pie !!!! :)"
You need to read Reaper Man!
I had to get a bit further along in the book before i can agree and say, what a cutie-pie !!!! :)"
You need to read Reaper Man!
50 shades of grey... And I'm hating it.!
hahaha! I think Reaper Man is the best Death story. I love it whenever he makes an appearance. But, finish Hogfather first!
I am half way through the last of the Twilight series, 'Breaking Dawn" in Hardcover
and I just started on Kindle "Winter's Destiny" by Nancy Allan
and I just started on Kindle "Winter's Destiny" by Nancy Allan
I'm reading Gold by Chris Cleave, a story of friends who are Olympic cyclists. Very good so far.
Finally have my hands on the Two for Sorrow audiobook that I've been waiting months for from the library. I really enjoy this series.
Started and finished Hard Row
while traveling today. Started Skirting the Grave
- I love both these series. Good reading day.
I've finished reading The Last of the Mohicans by James Fenimore Cooper yesterday. Now I'm reading Visions of Sugar Plums by Janet Evanovich.
I'm reading the final book in the Vladimir tod series
I've already finished Visions of Sugar Plums by Janet Evanovich, which was a short but hilarious novel, an now I'm about to start reading The Girl Who Chased the Moon by Sarah Addison Allen.
Just started "Porch Lights" by Dorthea Benton Frank.
I have just started "The Story of a Life" (http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/57...) by Aharon Appelfeld. This is the only book link I could get to work! I have completed Dreaming in Cuban. I highly recommend this to those of you who are interested in the Cuban Revolution and enjoy magical realism. My review: http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/...
I have also begun listening to The Mill on the Floss, having completed an audiobook version of Prairie Nocturne. Doig is up to form with his writing but the story let me down: my review http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/...
Cheshta wrote: "50 shades of grey... And I'm hating it.!"
Oh my…that actually made me laugh so hard!
Oh my…that actually made me laugh so hard!
Tracey wrote: "Jeannette wrote: "I love this book! I wouldn't have picked this (maybe) as a first Pratchett..."Which would you say would be the best starter? I tried Colour of Magic, and ... just ... couldn't....."
I have only read a few Terry Pratchett but it seems to me he's very uneven. I had big problems with Color of Magic myself. I read Mort and Pyramids really liked those. Hope you find something else you like, but if you don't there are of course thousands of others. :)
I have had a terrible experience. I am trying to broaden my reading scope, so I tried a classic of Victorian literature: The Mill on the Floss. I knew when I started that I usually have a very hard time with Victoriana. I knew that there was romance in the novel, but since I like memoirs and this was Eliot's most autobiographical piece, I wanted to try. And everybody likes this book, I had to like it too. I thought...... My reviews states only my personal opinion, but I do give quotes so you will clearly see what I am talking about. I listened to an audiobook with excellent narration. My review: http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/...Back to something that is more to my normal choosing: Birdsong: A Novel of Love and War by Sebastian Faulks. It is part of a trilogy, but the books do not have to be read in order. The Girl at the Lion d'Or was the first written, but the second in the chronological order of the trilogy. The third is Charlotte Gray. They are books of historical fiction. I am completely in love with the prose style, the plot drew me in immediately and the audiobook narration by Firth is fantastic. I love it when songs are sung by the narrator. Please let my contentment continue.
I continue reading the DTB by Aharon Appelfeld: "The Story of a Life" (http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/...). It is autobiographical. Very good writing.
I realize now that style is more important to me than content.
Chrissie wrote: "I have had a terrible experience. I am trying to broaden my reading scope, so I tried a classic of Victorian literature: The Mill on the Floss. I knew when I started that I usually have a very hard..."Hey, dear. Solution is simple, don't you think. Read what you love and leave the so called world literature or "1001 books everyone should have read before he dies" to fanatics who want to boost they read them all. Reading is personal. You and I also differ in opinions about books, but that's the strength of GR.
I'm reading - almost finished - One Hundred Years of Solitude in Dutch Honderd jaar eenzaamheid. I'm reading a copy which is especially made people who have problems with a very small font (under 10pnts), so the reading is easy, but it's not a page turner. It sometimes is hilarious, ridiculous and absurd, but it's a nice read. I'm also busy reading my first French book in years Verre Cassé. This is a real good one, and although I lack a lot of French vocabulary I can grab the essence of the book.
On my ereader I plunged in the next Monaldi en Sorti: Veritas, which is bringing me to Vienna in the beginning of the 18th century, but I don't have a clue what the book is all about. This book is one of my Mount Vancouver TBR list, but I have at least 150 books waiting on a pile as doorstoppers to read on my climb up the mountain.
Sylvia, I didn't pick this out because it is one of the 1001 books. I didn't even know it was one of those. I believe it is important to test other genre. I was very pleasantly surprised with A Grown-Up Kind of Pretty, not my typical read either. How can I be sure I don't like a given genre if I do not keep trying them? Variety is good. At least you REALLY appreciate your favorite genre books when you return to them. Yeah, we really had opposite opinions of Fiji: A Novel. I just discovered that you had replied to me, and I had not been notified via an email. I hate it when GR doesn't function properly. I wonder what other emails I am missing.
Chrissie wrote: "Sylvia, I didn't pick this out because it is one of the 1001 books. I didn't even know it was one of those. I believe it is important to test other genre. I was very pleasantly surprised with A Gro..." I agree with you, that reading outside the genre books one most likes, can be a revalation, but it also can be very disappointing. I recently read Een noodlottig diner, which got an excellent review in one of our newspapers. After I've finished it, I wondered if I really liked the book. Ismael Kadare is a renowned author and has won several awards, but can that be a recommendation for everyone to like his books? I'm not convinced.
Sylvia, I have read two books by Ismael Kadare. While I highly recommend Chronicle in Stone, his The Three-Arched Bridge was not at all as good. The latter is quite similar to The Bridge on the Drina by Ivo Andrić. Andrić's is fabulous, so much better than Kadare's. I would suggest you do not give up on Kadare. I am so thankful I gave him another chance. I am not saying that The Three Arched Bridge was bad, only that in comparison to Andric's it suffered. I have linked in two reviews so you can check out the best two:http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/...
http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/...
I definitely agree, just because a book wins an award it doesn't mean I will like it. Most such books I often dislike. Nobel Prize winners are often given for political reason. :0( I say a book MUST be enjoyable to read.
Chrissie wrote: "Sylvia, I have read two books by Ismael Kadare. While I highly recommend Chronicle in Stone, his The Three-Arched Bridge was not at all as good. The latter is quite similar to The Bridge on the Dri..." I surely will read some other books of Kadare and probably re-read "Een noodlottig diner".
About the other book you mentioned
The Bridge on the Drina. I have a feeling I read that book partially years ago. I stopped when I read about the cruel way the Ottomans punished a man by stacking him to a pole alive. Does that fragment sound familiar. I found it so horrible that I stopped reading and brought the book back to the library.
Sylvia, yes, it is definitely familiar. The Ottomans were very "babaric". They stuck people on poles, shoving it through the body from one end to the other. That is real history. the book is about the life of a bridge and what happens around it. Wonderfully written. The bridge has a presence all its own. History and people rumble around it.
I have finished the DTB by Aharon Appelfeld: "The Story of a Life" (http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/...). My review: http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/...It was good, but different in content than that which I had been expecting.
Now I have begun the DTB The Lady and the Unicorn by Tracy Chevalier. I wanted to try another book by this author, having adored Girl With a Pearl Earring.
Chrissie wrote: "Sylvia, yes, it is definitely familiar. The Ottomans were very "babaric". They stuck people on poles, shoving it through the body from one end to the other. That is real history. the book is about ..." I'm going to think about this book and if I want to read it again and this time finish it.
I've almost finished listening to an audiobook of The Grapes of Wrath. It's just wonderful. I love John Steinbeck. I'm also reading The Case of the Gilded Fly, a British Golden Age mystery.
Kim wrote: "I'm also reading The Case of the Gilded Fly, a British Golden Age mystery."*grumblegrumble still waiting for it grumble*
Just started reading, "A Place Called Home" by Jo Goodman in hardcover
and still reading on Kindle, "Her Proper Scoundrel" by A.M. Westerling
and still reading on Kindle, "Her Proper Scoundrel" by A.M. Westerling
Tracey wrote: "*grumblegrumble still waiting for it grumble*"*hugs Tracey*
Simran wrote: "Me too :)"Yep, he certainly was a genius. I downloaded Travels with Charley: In Search of America today and I'm really looking forward to listening to it.
Kim wrote: "Simran wrote: "Me too :)"Yep, he certainly was a genius. I downloaded Travels with Charley: In Search of America today and I'm really looking forward to listening to it."
That's a great book. I'm sure you will enjoy it.
I've just begun reading A Handful of Dust. I'm hoping this one is a bit less gloomy than what Waugh typically writes.
I've finished reading The Girl Who Chased the Moon by Sarah Addison Allen this morning and now I'm about to start I Capture the Castle by Dodie Smith.
Ellie wrote: "I've finished reading The Girl Who Chased the Moon by Sarah Addison Allen this morning and now I'm about to start I Capture the Castle by Dodie Smith."
I Capture the Castle is one of my favorites!
I Capture the Castle is one of my favorites!
Simran wrote: "Jeannette wrote: "I've just begun reading A Handful of Dust. I'm hoping this one is a bit less gloomy than what Waugh typically writes."
Title sounds a bit gloomy ... :)"
He's a Brit, writing between the wars -- lots of changes in their world.
Title sounds a bit gloomy ... :)"
He's a Brit, writing between the wars -- lots of changes in their world.
Have finished Gone Tomorrow
(and am now out of Reacher until a new one comes out, dammit); Very Valentine
(at least there are two more to go in this trilogy so I'm not entirely bereft); Skirting the Grave
(love this series but found this one harder to follow than the others for some reason. One to go here before I'm stuck waiting...); The Sins of the Fathers
(I'm rereading this series-- not by accident-- but it turns out I'm reading them in order, which is ENTIRELY by accident!) all within the last week or so. So now I'm in the middle of Time to Murder and Create
and Days of Splendor, Days of Sorrow
. Been awhile since I picked up a European historical royalty read.
I've finished The Falls by Joyce Carol Oates, which was not a Comfort read for me (even though it kind of started out as that). I'm actually glad to be done with it... :-) My review (with spoilers) is here: http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/.... Now I'm reading
. Interesting, educational and fun!
All I have been doing the last few days is listening to the audiobook Birdsong: A Novel of Love and War, narrated by Peter Firth. I couldn't stop listening. It is that engaging. You simply must read it.My review: http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/...
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Comfort Reads
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Authors mentioned in this topic
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Which would you say would be the best starter? I tried Colour of Magic, and ... just ... couldn't....."
No, you're not Tracey. I've got a Pratchett for my birthday a couple of years ago. I never read it (only a few pages), and then I gave it away. I can't appreciate his style, it's not my type of book.