Just finished - just started Showing 13,701-13,750 of 13,832

[Pam]

Desley (Cat fosterer) wrote: "I'd possibly give it a go if I came across a copy, but doesn't sound like the thing I'd go out of my way to try - is there a film based on it?"

Haven't read it either - and am sure there is a popular film based on it.

[Desley (Cat fosterer)]

Finished Pretending to Dance yesterday, contemplating whether I can squeeze a 7th book in this month or to just try and finish a short story collection I started last year.

[Natasha]

Desley (Cat fosterer) wrote: "I'd possibly give it a go if I came across a copy, but doesn't sound like the thing I'd go out of my way to try - is there a film based on it?"

The Ready Player One film was amazing. I saw it after I read the book. It was in 3D. I've never done any online gaming either. But I'm a child of the eighties, so the cultural references were pleasing. The book (and film) would still have been spectacular if all the cultural references had gone over my head.

[Natasha]

Just finished Dark Matter by Blake Crouch, which I loved.

Just started Things a Bright Girl Can Do by Sally Nicholls, 1914 historical fiction about the Suffragettes, with some "Sapphist" interest thrown in.

[Karen]

Finished a re-reading of Hakan Nesser's Mind's Eye, the first in his Van Veeteren series - didn't enjoy it as much as I remembered first time. Luckily I couldn't remember the plot! I found the detective too irritating.

[Pam]

Finished volume 2 of a Clark Ashton Smith collection Out Of Space And Time: Volume 2 - reviewed - https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/3384352779.

[Pam]

Finished two books:

The Castle of Dark by Tanith Lee - reviewed - https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/3419133799
and
Elantris by Brandon Sanderson - reviewed - https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/3425444590.

[Natasha]

Just finished Things a Bright Girl Can Do by Sally Nicholls.

Just started Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel.

[Karen]

Struggled to find something to get into... I started Elly Griffiths The Stranger Diaries but it was disappointing, didn't grab me. Then tried Never Go There and The Silent Surrogate but was bored, didn't take to the characters so abandoned them. And then started Ann Cleeves' new detective in The Long Call but that was woefully boring, such a wooden character, and unfortunately knowing the area reasonably well (Barnstaple and along to Ilfracombe which is where my mum lived for several years) didn't help as it didn't ring true despite the geography lessons. Such a shame as I love her Shetland and Northumberland books are wonderful, with great characters. I did feel that she was perhaps trying to be too 'politically correct' and the writing was too intellectualised rather than from the gut. Or heart.
Thankfully I have now found Jane Casey's The Burning the start of her Maeve Kerrigan series, and it's great. Good characters, good plot (so far) and something to get my teeth into.

[Desley (Cat fosterer)]

Finished Widows and enjoyed it so much that I bought the second as it was still 99p. Started Memory Man

[Philip]

Just finished William Trevor's Last Stories. Review will follow tomorrow. Just started Mary Swann of Carol Shields - 120 pages in. Astounded that this novel - new to me until yesterday - bears a remarkable similarity to the book I have just written, Eileen McHugh - a life remade. Uncanny... almost disturbing. It's a very good book - both of them!

[Natasha]

Just finished Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel, which was most enjoyable. And oddly a second pandemic novel in the last few months, which I hadn't realised it was.

Just started Rendezvous with Rama by Arthur C. Clarke. About 30% in, and no pandemic references so far.

[Pam]

Catching up with reviews.

Read Poseidonis by Clark Ashton Smith and reviewed it - https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/3384353013

and the first big volume of Victor Hugo's Les Miserables and reviewed it - https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/3454281335.

[Karen]

Finished reading Bone by Bone which was a bit different - a little irritating at times, but on the whole entertaining. Think I'll have a look at her other books.
Now I'm getting into the wonderful Hilary Mantel's The Mirror & the Light - a real treat i've been saving up since it came out.

[Philip]

Finished The Lovely Bones of Alice Seebold and reviewed it. It was always engaging, but in the scenario became stretched to the sickly and rather lost credibility. Still a beautiful book, however.

[Elizabeth]

Couldn't find the give star reads so will insert '16 ways to defend a walled city' here. Bloody, ironic, desert dry wit and brilliant.

[Karen]

Elizabeth wrote: "Couldn't find the give star reads so will insert '16 ways to defend a walled city' here. Bloody, ironic, desert dry wit and brilliant."

I love the title - looked on Amazon, mixed reviews, but what the hell... I'll give it a go. The author's blurb about himself is really funny anyway

[Rosemary (grooving with the Picts)]

I read anything by KJ Parker.

[Jim]

When I realised that KJ Parker was Tom Holt I can quite see why :-)

Also he has a real grasp of history

[Desley (Cat fosterer)]

Finished The Black Dahlia last night, I really struggled with it, but glad I read it.

[Patti (baconater)]

I feel exactly as Natasha does about Ready Player One.

The only book I can compare my feelings toward it are both the book and film of The Martian.

I think if you'd just try the first chapter you'd get hooked.

I just finished Olive, Again

Took me ages to get through it. I found it sooooo depressing, which I think was the point. it didn't seem to have the bits of humour and 'feel goodness' that Olive Kitterage had.

I'm now gonna get stuck into some Mike Resnick space westerns.

I'm hoping for a rollicking good time with lashings of humour.

[Natasha]

Just finished Convenience Store Woman by Sayaka Murata.

Just started Verity by Colleen Hoover.

[Jim]

I don't know how many people know of Schlock Mercenary

If you like SF 'comics' you ought to check this out

it starts here
https://www.schlockmercenary.com/2000...

(the art work improves pretty quickly)
But the story arc has ended after 20 years and frankly I think the author is probably a genius because he published daily and has obviously had the arc plotted out well in advance

[Pam]

Catching up on reviews: two Bronte biographies and one Bronte novel, plus one in the Matthew Shardlake series

Daphne du Maurier's biography - The Infernal World of Branwell Bronte - review - https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/3468820388

Juliet Barker's biography - The Brontës - review - https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/3468826251

Charlotte Bronte's The Professor - review - https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/3494592881

and C J Sansom's Sovereign - review - https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/2981055749

[Khadijah]

Hi, I have just finished Dark Legacy by Jaymin Eve and Tate James, I have to admit I have read the books a few times before coming here.

[Pam]

Read Anne Bronte's two novels though probably unfortunately in the wrong order:

The Tenant of Wildfell Hall - reviewed - https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/3498646951

Agnes Grey - reviewed - https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/3506361609

[Pam]

Back to science fiction/ fantasy with:

Tanith Lee - Day by Night - reviewed - https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/3506425954

and a re-read of one of my favourites, the first two volumes of Barbara Hambly's Darwath series - The Time of the Dark - original review at https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/1405987192
and The Walls of Air - updated review at https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/1405994598

[Jim]

Just finished Scaramouche

Published in 1921 it's almost hit the century and the writing style is not of today.
It's set in the years leading up to the French Revolution so you're entering Scarlet Pimpernel territory. But a good story well told with some interesting twists. I suspect nobody would write like this nowadays :-)

People may remember the film staring Stewart Granger. The book is better, deeper, and doesn't have the plot holes that the film had

[Natasha]

Just finished Verity by Colleen Hoover. I found the ending disappointing.

Just started The Housekeeper and the Professor by Yōko Ogawa, contemporary Japanese fiction.

[Pam]

Catching up on reviews:

Volume 3 of Barbara Hambly's Darwath series (and the conclusion of the original story) - The Armies of Daylight - reviewed - https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/3519174234

Tanith Lee's Days of Grass - reviewed - https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/3519174234

Volume 1 of Robin Hobb's Rain Wild Chronicles - The Dragon Keeper - reviewed - https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/1405972503
and
Volume 2 of Rain Wilds - Dragon Haven - reviewed - https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/1405972641

[Khadijah]

I have read and completed the following Hate, Liar and Fake all by Tate James a great series. Kate will complete the series and is due out 31st October

[Pam]

Read volumes 3 and 4 of Robin Hobb's Rain Wilds Chronicles:

City of Dragons - reviewed - https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/1405972765

and

Blood of Dragons - reviewed - https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/1405972809.

[Natasha]

Just finished The Housekeeper and the Professor by Yōko Ogawa, which was OK.

Just started Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Café by Fannie Flagg.

[Pam]

Catching up on some reviews:

Leslie Wilson's Malefice - reviewed - https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/3534999887

and books 1 and 2 of Rachel Aaron's Eli Monpress series -
The Spirit Thief - reviewed - https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/3544760074

The Spirit Rebellion - reviewed - https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/3544760342

[Pam]

Finished volume 3 of Rachel Aaron's Eli Monpress series, The Spirit Eater, and reviewed it - https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/3544760445.

[Natasha]

Just finished Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe by Fannie Flagg, which was wonderful.

Just started The Thursday Murder Club by Richard Osman, which I'm rather excited about.

[Pam]

Read Tanith Lee's A Heroine of the World and reviewed it - https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/3552070432.

[Desley (Cat fosterer)]

Do keep forgetting to update on here, but really enjoyed the book I read yesterday, a rare 4*, so thought I'd mention it, especially as its on KU. The Secret Wife: 'Room' meets 'Rebecca' in a chilling tale of survival in nineteenth-century Cornwall

[Pam]

Read Tanith Lee's East of Midnight and reviewed it - https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/3556854232

[Pam]

Read a collection of short stories by Tanith Lee, Women as Demons and reviewed it - https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/3560110960.

[Pam]

Read Tanith Lee's Kill the Dead and reviewed it - https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/1915124800.

[Pam]

Just read part 3 of Den Patrick's trilogy, The Girl on the Liar's Throne and reviewed it - https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/3567375260.

[Desley (Cat fosterer)]

Finished Long Gone: A Detective Paul Cullen Mystery - it was OK, but a bit far fetched in places. Now started Blood Rights- as I won't be able to go to Jersey this year, this is the closest I'm going to get

[Pam]

Read Arbella: England's Lost Queen by Sarah Gristwood and reviewed it - https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/3570716950.

[Natasha]

Just finished The Thursday Murder Club by Richard Osman. (view spoiler)[Great read, but found the ending rather disappointing and baffling. (hide spoiler)]

Just started Make Room! Make Room! by Harry Harrison--dystopia about overpopulation, written in 1966 and set in 1999.

[Pam]

Read Swan Song by Robert McCammon and reviewed it - https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/3583414661.

[Pam]

Read Clark Ashton Smith's collection, Tales of Science and Sorcery and reviewed it - https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/3590605113.

[Pam]

Read Uncle Silas by J Sheridan Le Fanu and reviewed it - https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/3590605839.

[Karen]

Desley (Cat fosterer) wrote: "Do keep forgetting to update on here, but really enjoyed the book I read yesterday, a rare 4*, so thought I'd mention it, especially as its on KU. The Secret Wife: 'Room' meets 'Rebecca' in a..."</i>

Oh it's by 'our' Steve! I remember his Jefferson Tayte series getting picked up by Amazon. This definitely sounds my kind of book.
I finished reading [book:The Mirror & the Light - aah, so beautifully written, so touching at the end. Also read Donna Leon's Trace Elements which was good company as usual, tho a rather pedestrian plot. Now catching up on some of the long list of books on offer I'd downloaded - last night I finished Give Me the Child interesting peek at neuroscience. Still a few from 2018 to read...

[Natasha]

Just finished 1966 overpopulation dystopia, Make Room! Make Room! by Harry Harrison. Enjoyed it.

Just started Prophet's Prey: My Seven-Year Investigation Into Warren Jeffs and the Fundamentalist Church of Latter-Day Saints by Sam Brower. Gripping suff.