The Bookworm's Thread 2016

Goldiegirl

I love my Kindle.


I was like many book lovers, and said 'oooh nooo.... I'll never get a Kindle, I love the feel of a book in my hand'


But my husband decided to get a Kindle, and I was so impressed with it that two months later I got one myself.


I normally buy books which are deal of the day at 99p or special offer up to about £1.49. From time to time I'll pay up to £2.99 but it has to be something I really want.


In a couple of weeks I'm going away for a 5 week holiday. I think I'll average about 2 - 3 books a week, so I'll load up my Kindle with about 15 books. If I was still reading paper books, I'd need a suitcase just for my books!

Goldiegirl

Book 5


The Sacred Sword - by Scott Mariani





This is book 7 in the Ben Hope series. Ben Hope is an ex theology student / ex soldier, who now deals with 'crisis response'


This was one of those books I've had for ages in my Kindle archive, so I thought I'd get it out of the way.


I've read the other books in the series, and they are a little formulaic, but they are solid thrillers


7/10

mumps

whiteslice wrote: »

I've heard of a couple who covered their living room floor with books (I can see problems with cleaning, but top points for originality). At the time I flinched at the idea of walking on books, but I didn't take into account all the pulping/binning that goes on. Perhaps using books instead of a carpet wasn't such a bad idea.


I try to give unwanted books away to friends (end up giving away the ones I like more often though!) or through BookMooch, but some do end up in a charity shop. Generally the ones I deem unworthy of reading anyway, so not too much of a heartbreak. Books are the most valuable thing in my household and we have loads, but each time we have to move it's sheer hell dragging all of them about.

Wouldn't it be a bit lumpy? I mean thick books, thin books and middle books.

missbiggles1

Goldiegirl wrote: »

I love my Kindle.


I was like many book lovers, and said 'oooh nooo.... I'll never get a Kindle, I love the feel of a book in my hand'


But my husband decided to get a Kindle, and I was so impressed with it that two months later I got one myself.


I normally buy books which are deal of the day at 99p or special offer up to about £1.49. From time to time I'll pay up to £2.99 but it has to be something I really want.


In a couple of weeks I'm going away for a 5 week holiday. I think I'll average about 2 - 3 books a week, so I'll load up my Kindle with about 15 books. If I was still reading paper books, I'd need a suitcase just for my books!

I used to think you had to go one way or the other with Kindles and real books but I remember somebody on DT saying he bought just as many books as he did before, he just bought books on Kindle as well.

After that there was no stopping me!

whiteslice

mumps wrote: »

Wouldn't it be a bit lumpy? I mean thick books, thin books and middle books.

Totally. I always thought of them, climbing over little heaps, heels getting stuck in between the tomes...

AliBee16

carbootcrazy wrote: »

I'd be interested to know whether many of you have several books 'on the go' at the same time.

I often have one non-fiction book (unless it's for a work project) and one novel that I'm reading at the same time (well, not exactly at the same time but you know what I mean;)) but never two novels.

I have a friend who has one novel for reading on her daily commute, another for just generally when at home and a third one by her bedside to read last thing at night:eek:. I'm afraid this would totally confuse me:o, I like to read one until it's finished, often in one or two sittings, I get totally immersed in it.

I quite often read a couple of books but only if they are very different to each other, and normally ones I am studying for my degree (currently Aphra Behn and Turkish Embassy Letters).

I also have a kindle but tend to download books that I know I would normally read quickly and give away, like detective thrillers, and I buy hard copies of books I think I will love. I like the look of the Persephone books - I'd not heard of these before. My very favourite book is a 1920s novel called Precious Bane by Mary Webb and most people would think it's quite old-fashioned, but it is very poetic and elegant

jackyann

Mary Webb is another author (see Neville Shute) who has gone right out of fashion. I too have enjoyed her work.
I understand she was the author that Stella Gibbons was parodying when she wrote Cold Comfort Farm.

Callie22

AliBee16 wrote: »

My very favourite book is a 1920s novel called Precious Bane by Mary Webb and most people would think it's quite old-fashioned, but it is very poetic and elegant

I really enjoyed this. It's an unusual novel and I'm struggling to think of anything to compare it to, but it's worth a read.

And don't get me started on Persephone books , I can recommend so many of them. Dorothy Whipple is someone I'd recommend to anyone. Her books are quite 'old-fashioned' in some respects as they're very 'moral' - people do dreadful and/or stupid things and then they have to suffer the consequences - but in other respects they are suprisingly modern in terms of the subjects they cover - affairs, marital abuse etc. One of my favourites is 'They Were Sisters', which tells the story of three sisters who each marry very different men. The way she describes the behaviour of the husband from the unhappiest marriage is chilling, and incredibly disturbing.

I also really enjoyed 'Alas, Poor Lady' by Rachel Ferguson, which is about the daughters in a Victorian family who end up unmarried. I read this and couldn't help thinking that would probably have been my fate had I been born a hundred years earlier.

R.C Sherriff's 'The Fortnight in September' is also a favourite. It's set in the 1930s and is the story of a fairly ordinary lower-middle class family from Dulwich and their fortnight's holiday in Bognor Regis. Not a great deal happens but it's a wonderful bittersweet story that really captures the feeling of a family holiday - the thrill of the journey, the slightly seedy boarding house - as well as highlighting the family dynamic. The children are growing up and this might be the last holiday they all take together, some of them aren't quite as happy as they're pretending to be and Mrs Stevens (the mother) doesn't actually enjoy the holiday as much as her husband does ... It's a really lovely novel.

pollypenny

Ive just had a bit of a fright! I thought my Kindle had died as it completely froze. I couldn't turn a page forward or back and it wouldn't switch off for ages.

It did do eventually, seemed to, reboot, but initially with about a quarter if the books. After about quarter of hour it decided to behave. In truth it owes me nothing. It's a second generation I bought here in the USA, Walmart, for $49 when the kindle fire was being introduced. I do use it a lot, though and find the app on the iPad less useful.

VfM4meplse

Wk 3:



A good read (8/10) but OMG I feel so low now, the world is just such a horrid place. Avoid this if you are easily traumatised by the hard facts of reality.

Ironically I found the last 2 chapters the most harrowing: these were not accounts from modern slaves, but a detailed analysis of exactly why these poor individuals don't stand a chance. It's red tape hell if you're born in the wrong place at the wrong time

Going to pick something humorous next time...and thin!