The Bookworm's Thread 2016

LaineyT · 8 January 2016 at 3:51PM

Another vote for the Shardlake series, thought Lamentation was the best one since Dark Fire, also liked Winter in Madrid by the same author.
Picked up Cranfield in a CS last week, that's next on my list when have finished Go set a Watchman.

Love this thread.

grunnie · 8 January 2016 at 4:21PM

I read maybe 2 or 3 books a week and I think I keep the local library open by myself. I read mysteries murders etc and even Mills and Boon on occasion. Sara Paretsky is my favourite author with her D I Warshawski character. I also like Margaret Way an Australian author as her description of the flowers and fauna in the outback is wonderful. I was in a book club for years in the local library but the books they started giving us were Richard and Judy's book club ones and no one seemed to like them. Life is too short to finish a book you are not enjoying. I am just finishing the 4th book in the Delos series by Lindsay McKenna. I have enjoyed the first 3 but definitely not the 4th one. I have just collected the new Marie Kondo book Spark Joy and will be having another tidy out when I have read it.

Gers · 8 January 2016 at 5:53PM

I've stumbled across this thread - with delight!

My time nowadays is my own, mostly, and I have a pile of books to read. We moved to our 'final' home about 18 months ago and I got rid of all the accumulated fiction before the move. Somehow I seem to now have about 30 books waiting to be read.

My books of choice are mostly what is classed as Tartan Noir and I've been to the Bloody Scotland Crime Book festival for three years now. Aiming for the Shetland one this year, perhaps!

My new find is Craig Robertson who used to be a journalist in Glasgow and writes crime stories set there. Didn't get his first book but settled for his second ' Snapshot' - some extremely rude language and violence (not the doing but descriptions of bodies) initially put me off but it was well written. A bit like Stuart MacBride though he's based in Aberdeen.

I've tried Lee Child (he was at Stirling two years ago) but find it too formulaic for my liking. It's easy to read the first three chapters and the final three to get the story!

Wish there was a book club where I live, but it's mostly fields and sheep so I'm not hopeful. Will love to read all the input here and get ideas.

pollypenny · 8 January 2016 at 6:20PM

I couldn't live without reading. I've nearly finished Bridge of Spies, very different to the film.

I usually alternate 'literature' and thriller,,particularly enjoying Dana Stabenow's Alaskan books.

I've only read one Lee Child and also found it formulaic.

What I really find formulaic are those many books with a 30 something heroine, who finds herself after finding a relic from her family. They're usually told by two narrators, our heroine and her ancestor whose life was traumatic. Victoria Hislop and Rosie Thomas are culprits.

moments_of_sanity · 8 January 2016 at 6:32PM

Great idea for a thread :j

I have recently finished the David Baldacci series 'King & Maxwell' and loved all of them, all bought from Charity shops.......it became an obsession to find them though, I even checked the charity stores when we went on holiday! :rotfl:

My current read is 'The Yorkshire Shepherdess' by Amanda Owen. She was recently featured on the Ben Fogle series and so far I have enjoyed reading it. When I have finished this one I will be moving back to David Baldacci as I have managed to find another series of books in charity shops.

[Deleted User] · 8 January 2016 at 7:14PM

Gers wrote: »

I've stumbled across this thread - with delight!

My time nowadays is my own, mostly, and I have a pile of books to read. We moved to our 'final' home about 18 months ago and I got rid of all the accumulated fiction before the move. Somehow I seem to now have about 30 books waiting to be read.

My books of choice are mostly what is classed as Tartan Noir and I've been to the Bloody Scotland Crime Book festival for three years now. Aiming for the Shetland one this year, perhaps!

My new find is Craig Robertson who used to be a journalist in Glasgow and writes crime stories set there. Didn't get his first book but settled for his second ' Snapshot' - some extremely rude language and violence (not the doing but descriptions of bodies) initially put me off but it was well written. A bit like Stuart MacBride though he's based in Aberdeen.

I am an avid Stuart Macbride fan and think his Logan character is a real anti-hero but brilliant.My eldest Dd and I were in Aberdeen last year and we kept looking around on our trip down to Brechin to see the mad roundabouts he talks about

:):)

VfM4meplse · 8 January 2016 at 7:27PM

savingpennies wrote: »

I started reading them after going to see him at the Manchester lit festival

Ooh, check you out! Will one be going to Hay-on-Wye this year?

missbiggles1 · 8 January 2016 at 7:39PM

pollypenny wrote: »

I couldn't live without reading. I've nearly finished Bridge of Spies, very different to the film.

I usually alternate 'literature' and thriller,,particularly enjoying Dana Stabenow's Alaskan books.

I've only read one Lee Child and also found it formulaic.

What I really find formulaic are those many books with a 30 something heroine, who finds herself after finding a relic from her family. They're usually told by two narrators, our heroine and her ancestor whose life was traumatic. Victoria Hislop and Rosie Thomas are culprits.

I'm exactly the same.

Apart from thrillers I find most modern novels full of first world problems and angst - they always seem to me to have been written specifically to be discussed in book groups where people discuss whether or not they like the characters (as in would like them socially if they were real). I don't think mine is the only book group that discusses books in the same way they discuss characters in a soap.

February's book is Mansfield Park, which I love, but I have a feeling that the discussion will be more Mansfield Street than Mansfield Park.:(

Rant over.

[Deleted User] · 8 January 2016 at 7:56PM

VfM4meplse wrote: »

Ooh, check you out! Will one be going to Hay-on-Wye this year?

I would love to go there for the festival, I visited it a couple of years ago when on holiday with my friend ,who like me, is a great bookworm 28 shops all selling books I was in heaven.
One odd little book that I have read that's always stuck in my mind was
'Five People you meet in Heaven' by Mitch Albom. Caterina who posts on here, bought it for me when we were in Blackpool several years ago at an MSE 'meet' and almost everyone in my family has read it.
Its a great read and I can highly recommend it

mumps · 8 January 2016 at 9:11PM

I'm reading some books I enjoyed as a teenager, some of them I have read several times. It is interesting as funnily enough they don't seem quite the same 50 years on. I've just read The Once and Future King, which I have loved since I first read it as a 12 year old. I'm looking for a copy of The Ragged Trousered Philanthropist but my library doesn't have it. Cold Comfort Farm is another one I'd like to read again.

I recently read an Ian Rankin novel, I don't normally do crime fiction but I did enjoy it. I'm not sure if he's one of those writers who are great for 2 or 3 books but then you realise it is just the same old same old. I also liked trying to work out what some of it meant! Dialect is wonderful and I enjoy finding new words. There weren't any of his books available when I went to the library this week but I might try another one next week if they have any back. I tried a Ruth Rendell but I thought it was dire and gave up.

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The Bookworm's Thread 2016

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