What are you reading?

[Breige]

Just started Divergent by Veronica Roth

[Karen]

Currently reading - really funny in places, and this was *supposed* to be holiday reading. Whoops.

[Jo]

Did you read the first two? The latest one is out but I'm trying to wait till the price goes down a bit

[Karen]

Jo wrote: "Did you read the first two? The latest one is out but I'm trying to wait till the price goes down a bit"

Yep, and I really enjoyed the first two. I was planning on saving them for holiday, but that didn't work... And I'm also waiting for the price to drop - don't want to pay £7.49 on the Kindle!

[Jo]

No me neither, I do have several to be going on with in the meantime so I shall just try to be patient.

Glad you liked them, the third one was the best I thought but I've really liked all of them.

I have The Passage and The Twelve to read but really need to finish Life after Life and The Universe v Alex Woods first before I start anything else!

[Karen]

Finished , and really enjoyed it. Didn't see the twist at the end! Then decideded to read , and was not impressed with it at all. Can't see what all the hype was about. Am currently reading , a book I read many moons ago, and am pleased to say that it's as good as I recall

[Jo]

Reading The Passage I've read 320 pages in the last four hours! Gripped :)

[Karen]

Finshed - and yes, it was as good as I remember - but didn't recall the outcome, so it was a nice surprise. Now reading - somehting that I've been meaning to read for ages! So far, it really good, and something I would recommend if you're into the history of motorsport - especially Le Mans.

[Breige]

^I haven't read Memoirs of a Geisha in about 9 years, I should pick it up again!

I'm reading Get Your Sh!t Together by Ruth Field at the moment and No One Cares What You Had for Lunch: 100 Ideas for Your Blog

[Leonie]

Criminal - Karen Slaughter
It hasn't grabbed me yet, but I'm sure it will soon.

[Breige]

Moranthology by Caitlin Moran

[Breige]

Do Not Pass Go by Tim Moore. It's a book about all the streets on the UK Monopoly board

[Karen]

Currently reading - and it's really ripped the rose tinted specs off!

[Aimee]

I am currently halfway through the first Game of Thrones book. Am really enjoying it. At times remembering the houses and links get me confused but it's a good read so far :)

[Karen]

Aimee wrote: "I am currently halfway through the first Game of Thrones book. Am really enjoying it. At times remembering the houses and links get me confused but it's a good read so far :)"

It's a damned good series - it gets better the further into the series. Can't wait for the next one in the series to be launched....

[Aimee]

Taken me 2 and a half weeks to get halfway through. Feel like a slow reader. I wonder how many there will be in total?

[Liz]

7 I think - but not sure in how many parts!

[Karen]

I know book three was in 2 parts, and book 5 was two parts as well... No idea how the rest of the series will pan out!

[Liz]

Aimee if you let a lot of the extraneous detail wash over you (like whose sigil is whose...) then it goes faster :-)

Just read The Lost Symbol - God that's an hour or two of my life I'll never get back. It was the only book in the house I hadn't read but I wish I'd just stared at the wall instead!

[Karen]

Liz wrote: "Aimee if you let a lot of the extraneous detail wash over you (like whose sigil is whose...) then it goes faster :-)

Just read The Lost Symbol - God that's an hour or two of my life I'll never get..."

The Lost Symbol gets better the more you read it - I though the same the first time I read it.

Just read - really sensitively written, and doesn't linger over the scandal that Cecil's second marrage collapsed into, and covered the wonder horse that is Frankel.

[Breige]

Lost At Sea: The Jon Ronson Mysteries by Jon Ronson and The Uncommon Reader by Alan Bennett

[Karen]

Currently reading , and trying to read - the Burton diaries are heavy going, so it may be a case of thanks, but not really in the mood at the moment....

[Aimee]

I have finally finished the first book and am straight onto the second. Loving this series so far :)

[Kirsty]

Since my kindle froze I keep starting books and stopping them. The most recent was but like the other book I have read by him it gets a hundred or so pages in then gets really bogged down by detail. I thought it would be more of a apocalyptic story of how the world would cope if there was a plague of blindness but it has followed the first victims in to quarantine. It seems to be twisting at the moment so it might end up outside later.

[Karen]

Finished - talk about a cliff hanging end! Have just started the The Rio/Paris Crash: Air France 447, as I've read the sample several times, and really taken to it. Don't think I'd recommend it to people who are nervous fliers though!

[Kirsty]

Karen wrote: "Finished - talk about a cliff hanging end! Have just started the The Rio/Paris Crash: Air France 447, as I've read the sample several times, and really taken to it. ..."

I think with the air accidents recently and with my parents and then inlaws imminent visits out here I won't delve in to that one - I still get the occasional image of this episode of the Twilight Zone Nightmare at 20,000 Feet .

[Breige]

Just started The Guinea Pig Diaries: My Life as an Experiment by A.J. Jacobs

[Kirsty]

I'm reading - somehow it made it on to my bookshelves after the move over here and the book itself is falling apart (I picked it up from a book swap shelf in Greece a few years ago). I had to read over a hundred pages loose and since it is quite a hefty book (and I'm missing my kindle) it makes it a bit lighter lol. I am enjoying it and even though it reminds me of The Da Vinci code I prefer the pacing. I read The Da Vinci code when it first came out it seemed to me that it was written like a thriller movie which irritated me and I'm glad that Kate Mosse didn't have her book boiled down to the same state and ran the risk of it being a bit bulky at less popular (I know plenty of people avoid chunky books).

[Sophia]

I'm reading Ready Player Oneat the moment. I suppose you'd classify it as sci-fi, being set in the future, but it's mainly an homage to the 1980s. Geeks and nerds would love it - it's full of references to classic games, comic books and cult films and TV shows from the 80s. I'm not particularly nerdy, but I'm loving it.

[Breige]

Sophia wrote: "I'm reading Ready Player Oneat the moment. I suppose you'd classify it as sci-fi, being set in the future, but it's mainly an homage to the 1980s. Geeks and nerds would love it - it's full of refer..."

Oh, that's on my to read list! I'm taking a bit of a break from YA and dystopian things right now, so I'll prob read it in a few weeks or so. I just overdosed on stuff before! But seeing as it's a single book and not a series I'm looking forward to it more.

Currently reading My Fair Lazy: One Reality Television Addict's Attempt to Discover If Not Being A Dumb Ass Is the New Black, or, a Culture-Up Manifesto by Jen Lancaster and Tony Wheeler's Bad Lands by Tony Wheeler. Got 3 new shiny books from library yesterday that I'm tempted to start reading now though!

[Karen]

Currently reading - been seeing trailers for the drama version on this on C5, and thought it was about time I read this - had it on my kindle for a year, so about time I read it!

[Sarah]

I'm currently reading and . I started reading either an Anita Blake or James Bond book alongside my current Game of Thrones volume, for a bit of light relief (and because they're lighter to carry around with me when I'm at work!). I'm enjoying A Clash of Kings, but it's such a huge book it's taken me a really long time to feel like I'm getting anywhere with it. I'm enjoying seeing the characters develop, though, and it's so easy to get absolutely immersed in. I'll hopefully finish this weekend, and then move on to the next one. I've heard great things about what happens in future volumes, so I'm looking forward to continuing with the series even if it does occupy all of my spare time!

[Karen]

Sarah wrote: "I'm currently reading and . I started reading either an Anita Blake or James Bond book alongside my current Game of Thrones vo..."

The Game of Thrones books are really good - all I will say is the one character gets what they really deserve, and I was really surprised at another character's fate.... As for the Anita Blake series, I'm hoping that it goes back to the way it used to be, instead of a poor excuse for soft porn.

[Breige]

Currently reading Spook: Science Tackles the Afterlife by Mary Roach. Probably my least favourite of Roach's books, I'm finding it quite slow to get through

[Breige]

Reading Revenge Wears Prada: The Devil Returns by Lauren Weisberger at the moment. Though I will start Good Omens soon!

[Karen]

Currently reading - a really good book, with some really touching stuff!

[Breige]

Karen wrote: "Currently reading - a really good book, with some really touching stuff!"

I'm not a F1 fan, so would you recommend it to someone who does like F1 or would people like me appreciate it too?

[Karen]

I would recommend it, as it's not "hardcore" F1 like - this is more general, about the trials of setting up the catering side for the motorsport world - but I will admit there's a fair bit about F1 - more the personality side of things, with snippetts of gossip about people like Ayrton Senna and James Hunt - but it's not malicious - more humourous to show that the F1 drivers are people too.

[Karen]

Finshed , and was planning on reading , but as has plummeted in price, it sort of went back into the depths of the Kindle, and will stay there until I've read and .

I know I've been less than complimentary about the Anita Blake series in previous posts, but the sample that I've read does give me hope for this series.

[Breige]

Currently reading One Summer: America, 1927 by Bill Bryson, I'm almost done with it (it's a massive book too, 560 pages! Well, more like 500 when you take out the bibliography at the end).

I've also started Curtsies & Conspiracies by Gail Carriger to read along side, to break up the big book a bit.

[Kirsty]

Breige wrote: "Currently reading One Summer: America, 1927 by Bill Bryson, I'm almost done with it (it's a massive book too, 560 pages! Well, more like 500 when you take out the bibliog..."

I feel like I should read his America related books now I live here - would you recommend them?

[Morv]

I have been trying to read kind think am going to delve into something else though.

[Leonie]

I have just finished The Talented Mr. Ripley by Patricia Highsmith. It was a nice read, not what I expected at all.

[Jo]

Kirsty wrote: "Breige wrote: "Currently reading One Summer: America, 1927 by Bill Bryson, I'm almost done with it (it's a massive book too, 560 pages! Well, more like 500 when you take ..."

Have you read the earlier ones likes Notes from a big country? I prefer his earlier ones from what I've read.

I've just finished The Rosie Project it's really sweet, a definite feel good book.

[Kirsty]

Notes from a big country was where I was going to start - did you like it?

[Breige]

Kirsty and Jo, no I haven't read any of his other books, not in full anyway. I have read half of Notes from a Small Island, it was my boyfriend's and I read it whenever I was at his house and bored but I must have forgotten about it or something as I never finished it! There was another one too, something like Icons of Britain? Not him writing though, as I think it was a collection of essays from people writing about iconic British items, like postboxes and phoneboxes. I only read a small amount, I think I was reading so much around then that I just never got around to it and had to bring it back to the library. I did really enjoy One Summer, yes it was long and yes there were some pages where he'd talk about baseball stats or something else I hadn't a clue of and my eyes would glaze over but I loved how all the characters, all real people, overlapped in book, how one person from one section would crop up in another person's story.

I'm looking forward to The Rosie Project, it's waiting for me to collect from library :)

I'm currently reading Scarlet by Marissa Meyer. And I also read the first few pages of How to Get Filthy Rich in Rising Asia: A Novel by Mohsin Hamid. While I'm looking forward to this one, it's written in 2nd person in the form of a self help book but the story is about a particular person, so it might take a bit to wrap my head around that!

[Jo]

Notes from a big country and notes from a small island are brilliant, he pokes gentle affectionate fun at the US and UK respectively. They're both funny and I've read them a couple of times each I think, I'd definitely recommend them if you're a Bryson fan

[Kirsty]

Jo wrote: "Notes from a big country and notes from a small island are brilliant, he pokes gentle affectionate fun at the US and UK respectively. They're both funny and I've read them a couple of times each I ..."

Thanks mate - since I moved over here his books have attracted me more and more. I started his book about the English language but I didn't feel, at the time, that I had enough time to really get in to it and enjoy it's wordiness (if that makes sense) life got in the way

[Karen]

Currently reading - not the sort of book that you read if you want to switch off. Despite that, it's a riveting read, and at times is quite creepy.

Got to admit, my interest was sparked by the Panorama interview that John Sweeny did (yes - the one where he let rip - in his words "looking like an exploding tomato")

[Karen]

After I'd read (damn good book - real eye-opener!) I then decided that I needed a "brain refresh" so opted to read .. Bit tough in places, but funny as hell.


Currently reading , as I've got on pre-order, and it's been about 6 years since I read this series in tree-book (yes - a Waterstones 3 for 2 promo for holiday) and thought I'd better re-aquaint myself with the series - forgotten so much of this book, it's untrue!