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

wishus

Sammy246, you could have a shelf space aside for the books you fancy reading the most next. Out of these you could always get a friend to pick for you. Or get us to vote on it here, perhaps?

[Deleted User]

I've been enjoying something of a Ruth Rendell-fest lately, courtesy of the mobile library van:j. It might be because she died recently but they have lots of her books in newly issued format at the moment. The only one of hers I couldn't get into was The Crocodile Bird. Unusually for me I gave up after the first chapter. So many inviting books to read and so little time that if a book doesn't grab me straight away I'm being ruthless and leaving it:o.

Last night I finished Anita Shreve's Rescue which I really enjoyed. I've become a big fan of hers since picking up one of hers at random from the library. I'm glad to see she's written loads so some real treats in store if the library has them.

Will be starting Joanna Trollop's Girl from the South tonight. It's in hardback (again from the library van). I do love hardbacks:j

mrs-moneypenny

Reading the mistletoe bride by Kate mosse, it's a collection of rather spooky haunting tales, I picked it up assuming it was a Christmassy book, but I'm enjoying it.

black_cat

[QUOTE
Just preordered two Christmas books the new trisha Ashley and Carole Matthews ones.[/QUOTE]

I love Christmas books! Last year I was good and put them on my Christmas list but some of them weren't still available or no-one bought them for me. Plus, I missed out on reading them in the run up to Christmas.

This year, I have a shelf of Christmas novels - old favourites as well as the two mentioned above - ready and waiting. I'm afraid I'll be buying more before the year is out! (The Works has quite a few this year, if you like that sort of thing, but I've read them all!).

Bubblesmum

I have every sympathy in buying book after book... As I have over 200 whereas my OH buys only after he has read the last.

Not earning at the moment and trying to pay off debt has stopped me in my tracks.

I am getting great satisfaction seeing my unread piles reducing and giving them away except for the very special ones. ( so it's not tempting to reread)

I love to read series so when I find I have one missing I order from the library. It's those occasional trips see me borrow extra one from my really want to read list I keep on my Goodreads app. If I do spot a book I pop it on that list.

I do not venture in places that sell books, or down aisles ... I am either all or nothing girl.

As for choosing my next book, I go in swings and roundabouts sometimes in alphabetical order of authors, other times, by genre and if I am not in the mood after a few pages I put it back and find I go back months later.

Having my yearly challenge on Goodreads has also been an incentive.

Now I do have a confession :rotfl::rotfl: recently at Waterloo I found myself without a book, needing to be cheered up after some painful treatment and spotting C J Samsoms book Lamentation on offer at £3.49 instead of £8.99 if I bought The Telegraph then when I bought the Telegraph I got a free bottle of water... It just had to be done. ;)

Now I find Historical royal palaces book club is discussing this on Wednesday... So I am going I have missed many as I have not made the effort to borrow the book.

Finally to get my read list up to date :

Healing without Freud or Prozac by David Servin Schreiber - exoplanet book talking about holistic copying strategies for anxiety and depression.

Thea's Parrot and The Courtyard - Marcia Willetts - great chick list to relax with based in Devon/Military wives

When Heaven is Silent - Ronald Dunn - great book if you are struggling with tragedy/loss and you have a Christian Faith

Catcher in the Rye - J D Salinger - OH book, found boring but one of my BBC 100 books challenge - fortunately a quick read !

Agatha Raisin and the Deadly Dance - MC Beaton - a library treat

Below Stairs Memoirs of a 1920's kitchen maid - Margaret Powell - this was a best seller, on the back of Downton but I didn't enjoy it, found the author had a great chip on her shoulder

The Kings Curse - Phillipa Gregory - a birthday present - fab read - about Lady Maraget Pole ( her father brother of Edward V and a Richard 111 drowned for treason in a vat of wine ). She was the oldest of Henry V11 victims at 67 lost her head for treason.., well really for being a Plantagenet and a catholic, in the horror of Henry's reign.

Continuing the Tudor theme with Lamentation which is about Catherine Parr so the end of Henry's reign

Happygreen

Hello again, all backlog readers!
I've not managed to reduce the pile that much in recent weeks as my friend and mum have given me some new ones - but I did pass some on as well!) and I discovered that free ebooks are also quite easy to collect...Those are non-fiction and somewhat work related (at least that's my excuse ).
One of mum's I started on the plane and will be a quick and good crime novel to finish - is the first in Hakan Nesser's Van Veeteren series Mind's Eye

chrissie57

Bubblesmum wrote: »

Below Stairs Memoirs of a 1920's kitchen maid - Margaret Powell - this was a best seller, on the back of Downton but I didn't enjoy it, found the author had a great chip on her shoulder

Afraid you have this the wrong way round - Margaret Powell's book was a big success late 60s - 70s and was the impetus for Upstairs, Downstairs, so ultimately for Downton Abbey. Chip on her shoulder? Gosh, how dare she not know her place...

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Margaret_Powell

mrs-moneypenny

Morning all
Finished the mistletoe bride by Kate mosse, really enjoyed it, some lovely little short stories with a spooky feel to them.
Made a start of Carole Matthews the Christmas party last night, think I will stick with the stack of Christmas books I have for the next couple of months.

Sundaysgirl

Hi everyone, I finished a short read yesterday - Ruth Rendell's From Doon With Death. This was a passalong from my MIL and whilst there are worse ways to spend a few hours it didn't hugely appeal.

I'm returning to Michael Connelly's Harry Bosch with my next book - Angels Flight. The pile isn't going down though - a colleague has kindly donated a John Grisham to me!

Bubblesmum

chrissie57 wrote: »

Afraid you have this the wrong way round - Margaret Powell's book was a big success late 60s - 70s and was the impetus for Upstairs, Downstairs, so ultimately for Downton Abbey. Chip on her shoulder? Gosh, how dare she not know her place...

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Margaret_Powell

Thank you for your thought provoking response, which has made me sad as it makes me feel that I have written something that generates this feedback.

I am proud to say my family come from East London working class stock, my ancestors definitely living "Below Stairs" and struggling to live in the cultural of the time. I also have a chronic disability, that if I had been born at the time the book was set, I would have been put in a work house institution. Therefore I have been raised with the firm belief that we should be treated as equals whatever our backgrounds and with love and respect, to work hard and do as best that we can. Therefore it's perhaps my fault for not writing a clearer review - here is my second attempt.

My copy of Below Stairs encourages those of my generation who enjoys watching Downton Abbey to explore the world of "below stairs" with bestselling autobiography of Margorie Powell.

I struggled to read this book, not because of the content, it's been a subject of learning and discussion from an early age, as the struggles of my parents and grandparents with working class life was both visible and acknowledged. The stories that past generations pass on. I was taught very early on the importance of woman voting and education because those things were denied to my grandparents and parents. I learnt more things and from a different prospective from this book.

Margaret Powell herself says at the end of the book "l'm not embittered about having to go into domestic service" I wonder if this comment was generated at the editorial stage as for me, this was how her narrative came over. And so a writing style I found not to my taste. As I was brought up not to be angry, bitter or judgemental about situations and people.

Despite not liking the narrative voice, the content gives the women of today a sober lesson in all we are to be thankful for, and how women like Margaret Powell strove to work for equality.