'No More Buying Books Until I've Read the Ones I've Already Bought' Thread

kezbabybabe

Finished the Sherlock Holmes book, quite good. Got two more of those to read.

Finished the Judy Blume today, on our way back from North Yorkshire. It was good, definitely a book for her adult readers.

Picking up the latest Freya North book tomorrow on my way home, looking forward to reading that.

Happygreen

I could not resist buying "The Miniaturist" at the hospital - £ 1 and as good as new, so I can give it to a friend after I'm finished with it - and I can now take it of the longest waiting list ever in the library, lol.

wishus

Oh dear - I've let us down on this thread as I was in Cornwall and Poldark was just there! So that has been purchased. Sorry!

In the meantime, I have finished my library-sourced book - Broken Monsters by Lauren Beukes. another great weirdy serial killer story, this time from several distinct POVs - If you read the reviews on Amazon there are a few people who just did not get this, and I think I liked it for all the reasons they didn't.

With many serial killer stories, you expect to see victim after victim, the killer taunting the police as they try their best but get confounded, and all the horror in the cruelty of the attack, the victim's fear.

What I love about this is how Lauren Beukes takes every single expectation and turns it on its head.

Set in a Detroit where the manufacturing industries have died and the poor areas are slowly being reclaimed for the creative and tech industries, the book opens with the discovery of the upper half of a boy's body glued to the legs of a deer. Detective Gabi Versado is on the scene with another cop who seems like a rookie, but is just a bit gauche. For most of the book, this is the only murder, and strange and creepy as it is, we see the police team bungle their way through the detection process. Gabi is good, but her life is complex and her daughter Layla is another skein of the story as she is growing up as an outsider, friends with the mysterious Caz who is a right daredevil, so long as she can stay anonymous.

We always know who the killer is, but his path crosses others by chance. He is an underrated artist, Clayton Broom, who is a little too old to be a rough diamond for the burgeoning but shallow art scene, something of a misfit and who also creeps around the shelters and church centres. He has a dream inside him, a dream that can make things come to life, make them real and he wants to share this with the world. Except it didn't work with the boy and he doesn't know why.

On the cusp of becoming one of life's sad has-beens at the age of 34, Jonno Haim wants to be somebody - just so he can make his ex see what she's missing - but mixing with the cool and trendy DJ Jen Q he has an 'in' to the scene and a chance to make something of himself as he vlogs about the dark and seedy side of Detroit art and the ongoing murder case.

Then there's TK, an ex-con and down-and-out who is helping the vulnerably housed and hopeless at the church centre. Much to the chagrin of his fellow programme followers and believers, he has chosen a chair as his 'higher power'. And something strange keeps happening to him because of that.

If you want plot, plot, plot, murder, murder, murder, all at the same volume, this isn't for you. This is a clever, character-driven narrative that builds and builds to a scary crescendo. I loved it.

Itsa_Longshot

Ooh, this is one challenge I should certainly partake in - I've skimmed by bookshelves and my unread count is around 30 novels and 10 non-fiction.

Also got a few book series that I'm keen to read again - Robert Jordan's The Wheel of Time series and the Sharpe series by Bernard Cornwell. Stephen King's The Dark Tower series is another I could quite easily pick up and read again.

The only exceptions I will make and allow myself to buy new is the final ( ) Terry Pratchett book when that is released later this year, and then completing my Richard Laymon collection which requires three more books. I'll still pick up a few Kindle freebies every now and then too, but, well, they're free!

Sundaysgirl

So I finished The Curious Incident and really enjoyed it. Then I read Cathedral by Nelson DeMille - enjoyed it by the end but took me 200+ pages to get into it!

Now reading 13/26 - Police by Jo Nesbo. Very enjoyable and an easy read, same as his others. Aiming to finish it by the end of the weekend.

I have been good at not buying any books (or getting Kindle freebies) recently and now have a (very small) gap on my bookshelf - a sign of things to come I hope!

Pirategirl

I logged in tonight to find out something completely different..and saw the words 'BUY' and 'BOOKS' .......my downfall! I buy books from charity shops, and very rarely read as fast as I buy!
Hectic at the moment, but am definitely going to come back and read through this thread, and would like to participate too! Just need to be more awake so I can get the gist better

Thank you!

kezbabybabe

Welcome Its a Longshot. I've got books on my shelves that I would like to read again, however the to read list is certainly taking the priority.

Finished Freya North's latest book, The Turning Point. It certainly did take a turning point very near the end, which was surprising, even though something is hinted at in the blurb of the book. Rediscovering Freya's writing after being away from it for so long has been a real pleasure; she writes with such realism, but without distracting from the fiction of her characters.

I'm now reading my next book the the three Sherlock Holmes books I purchased through Radio Times, this one is called The Return of Sherlock Holmes and so far seems to be a collection of small cases being solved.

Really loving my reading at the moment, such a pleasure to be moving along at pace with my list and also my GoodReads challenge.

Gem-gem

Finished The White Princess. Made me glad that my MILis not a tyrant, a control freak who smothers her son.
Learnt more about Henry V11. Knew that he had two sons - Arthur and Henry v111. Didn't realise that he had daughters. An enjoyable read. One more to read in The series.

blindtoast

Almost finished 'To be a cat' by Matt Haig. Very enjoyable - makes me look at cats in a new way!

My Mum lent me the 1st Jack Reacher book so I may read that next as I've had lots of people recommend it to me.

[Deleted User]

blindtoast, thanks for the recommendation for 'To Be A Cat':T. Sounds like the sort of thing I'd enjoy. Vowed NOT to buy books until I've read what I already have (and it's a torment sometimes:o). I'll see if it's in my local library. If not, I'm sure they can order it in from somewhere else.

Still working my way through Thomas Hardy and thoroughly enjoying myself. Just finished The Trumpet Major which we did for 'A 'Level what seems like centuries ago now. Liked it then (unlike some of the set texts we had to plough through) and like it now too:j. Have no more of his in my possession so will see if I can borrow any. Otherwise, I've loads of other authors waiting and a change might be good as I don't seem to be able to concentrate on reading in this weather:(