Bookworms 2020

Ditzy_Mitzy

Spider_In_The_Bath said:

Ditzy_Mitzy said:

Spider_In_The_Bath said:

Ditzy_Mitzy said:

I've recently started Richard Adams's 'Watership Down'.  I saw the film many years ago and found an old printing, 70s Penguin, in a charity shop so decided to buy it.  It could be read by a child, but is no means just a children's book, instead offering insights into the human (rabbit?) condition.  The writing is plain, as one might expect, but it cracks along.  I'll reserve judgement until it's finished, however.

I have always loved Watership Down.

If you enjoy it you may also like the Duncton Woods books by William Horwood which are novels about moles!  They are a little more fantasy-based though.

Thank you - it would fit in with my current reading pattern, which is not to read anything published after the 1980s (I have my reasons!!). 

I hope you enjoy them - the books are a bit like Game of Thrones for moles!
For pre 1980 books:
 - The Sunne in Splendour by Sharon Penman (historical novel) - cheating as this was published in 1982
- 49 Steps by John Buchan
- Whiskey Galore by Comton Mackenzie
- Any novel by Daphe Du Maurier (one of my favourite authors)
- Lord of the Rings Triology
I'll let you know if I think of any more 

Anything up to 1990 is fine, really - thank you. 

elsien

Just finished Circe,  which a previous poster disliked.
I quite enjoyed it. I didn't find the language over flowery and because I was really into Greek myths and legends as a child I was familiar with most of the characters and liked seeing them from a different perspective. I'd recommend,  if you've already got an interest.  

Charly27

elsein do you think you need to have this background to enjoy the book? Sounds interesting.
I’ve just finished ‘These Happy Golden Years’, #9 in Little House on the Prairie. I’m a bit bereft now. I enjoyed this one immensely. I love her descriptions of her new clothes which her and Ma make as she matures. Though it has to be the coolest beginning to a courtship. Probably normal for then. I know they have a daughter, Rose but I need to research what comes next.
I will probably read one of my books on Kindle next, ‘Hygge in the Early Years’. Then ‘Me and White Supremacy’ although I’d like to take that slowly, reading a chapter a week. Enjoy whatever your reading.

elsien

No I don't think you do because she introduces various gods as she goes along and as it's relevant to the story. 

ruby_eskimo

Afternoon all!  Think I may have popped in here towards the beginning of the year when my new job meant I'd spend all my commute getting back into reading, but now a global pandemic has hit, my love of reading has kicked off again in a big way.  So far I've read 69 books this year and 38 of those since March!  Pre-lockdown most were from my lovely local library but now I've been working my way through what feels like hundreds of unread books on my bookshelves.  

Currently working my way through Catch-22 off the shelves and The Pilgrimage of Harold Fry for book club but already have a healthy wish list for when the libraries re-open hopefully in a couple of weeks.

Charly27

ruby_eskimo said:

Afternoon all!  Think I may have popped in here towards the beginning of the year when my new job meant I'd spend all my commute getting back into reading, but now a global pandemic has hit, my love of reading has kicked off again in a big way.  So far I've read 69 books this year and 38 of those since March!  Pre-lockdown most were from my lovely local library but now I've been working my way through what feels like hundreds of unread books on my bookshelves.  

Currently working my way through Catch-22 off the shelves and The Pilgrimage of Harold Fry for book club but already have a healthy wish list for when the libraries re-open hopefully in a couple of weeks.

Ruby Eskimo I don’t think I’d have read anywhere near as many books. I’ve now read 30/50 I challenged myself too. 

I’m really looking forward to the library reopening. I don’t have too many unread books now, more on my Kindle.

elsien

I have finally ventured into the world of audio books, purely because the one I wanted to read was only in our library in audio format.
I have always been put off before by abridged versions, because if I want to read something I want the full thing. 
Only on the first one and I don't get engrossed in the same way as when I'm reading a physical book but it's been handy in the car or when I'm doing the washing up, when there's nothing on the radio. 

bit_by_bit

Hi there, Would it be ok to join? I am an avid reader of lots of genres. I veer towards fantasy and sci fi, but lately been reading post apocalyptic and pandemic stories. I have Marshall Goldberg MD and Kenneth Kay. It is about a 'plague' which occurs in the US. It is a horrific disease with a much higher and faster death toll than out current virus. Interestingly the actions of the cure is an old drug very much like the treatment today with dexamethasone, only this was something that they had stopped using years before. It was first published in 1980 but reads more like a 1960s book with its attitudes. 

ruby_eskimo

@Charly27 I set a target of reading 52 books this year and quickly realised I'd probably beat that when I'd read about 11 in January alone!  Some books I can sail through in a couple of days, others I struggle a bit with.  The last book I finished took me a couple of weeks because it was all about the history of cancer (I like reading a range of non-fiction books) and the font was really small, so 550 pages felt like 1000.  

Will probably finish Catch 22 tonight and then it's on to A Death in the Family by Karl Ove Knausgaard (I also really like anything Scandinavian).

Charly27

bit_by_bit said:

Hi there, Would it be ok to join? I am an avid reader of lots of genres. I veer towards fantasy and sci fi, but lately been reading post apocalyptic and pandemic stories. I have Marshall Goldberg MD and Kenneth Kay. It is about a 'plague' which occurs in the US. It is a horrific disease with a much higher and faster death toll than out current virus. Interestingly the actions of the cure is an old drug very much like the treatment today with dexamethasone, only this was something that they had stopped using years before. It was first published in 1980 but reads more like a 1960s book with its attitudes. 

Welcome bit_by_bit  It is sobering to realise how many plots of novels have actually become our reality. We watched, not read, Contagion with Matt Damon, made in 2011 last week and even the words social distancing, and the scenes inside the hospitals were scary in their resonance. I think we’ve coped better as a world than in the film. I feel we’ve seen, up til now, generally the best of human nature overall. Or maybe it’s what I choose to focus on!

Ruby_eskimo I love to read non-fiction as well, for my work and self-help but am always slower and find it harder to read those before bed. I think I’m going to try non-fiction am and fiction pm. Should I be ambitious and up my target do you all think?