Reading as a cheap hobby

PipneyJane

MrsStepford said:

Have books ever changed your habits or introduced you to new things ?

I enjoy David Gatward's Grimm Up North series. The local police are obsessed with Wensleydale cheese plus cake and Wensleydale cheese with fruit, so I bought some for husband at Christmas and he loved it. 

Heavens, yes, @MrsStepford.  My first career, nursing, was totally influenced by the Sue Barton nursing books.  Novels by Helen MacInnes and Mary Stewart inspired me to travel and to eat local dishes.  Mary Stewart’s description of Kataifi in “My Brother Michael” is one of those moments that makes your mouth water.

Also, I think there is no surprise that most of the mystery novels I’ve collected read have a strong, independent female protagonist, a woman who is determined to stand on her own two feet.  The majority were bought in the 1990’s, when I was in a bad marriage and desperately needed a strong role model to emulate.

florianatwobob said:

For recommendations:

Ben Aaronovitch’s Rivers of London series are great (especially if you’re a Discworld/Terry Pratchett fan). 

…

Marian Keyes books are good and not your typical chick lit, 

I do love a good Golden Age of Crime novel and although I’ve read most of the Poirot stories I can’t get into Miss Marple. I do enjoy a Marjorie Allingham or Dorothy L Sayers mystery though. 

@florianatwobob Totally agree.  I’ve met both Ben and Marian over the years.  Marian at a book signing; Ben at an event run by our local library for World Book Day.  Love their books.  I have all Ben’s novels and novellas.  I don’t have the Rivers of London graphic novels - yet.  It’s all Ben’s fault that I’ve been buying the paperback, the kindle and the audiobook of books I’ve purchased recently.  He’s a bad influence.  .  

(Ben does it so that he’s never without a novel.  He described being stuck on a bus, realising that he didn’t have his current book with him, buying the kindle edition on his phone and praying that he had enough signal to download it.  Apparently, this happens regularly.)

Marian Keyes has at least 2 podcasts, “Between Ourselves”  and “Now You’re Asking” from BBC Radio 4.

- Pip

Brie

Well that's done it.  Going on holiday on Tuesday and I nabbed 2 of the Osman murder books from the garage library and OH has disclaimed in alarm "you can't take those!! they're too big!!!"  And he's right.  So I'm going to stop my packing of stuff and head over to the charity shop and see if they have anything smaller.  Really I only need 1 book as there's always a library on a cruise ship from which you can steal borrow .  

florianatwobob

Oh Pip, I am not in the slightest bit jealous of your brushes with two of my favourite authors! 

I had a major fangirl moment when Marian Keyes liked my tweet about having made her sister in law’s honey cake! The recipe is in her recipe book Saved by Cake which was started when she was in the middle of a depressive episode. 

Nebbit

I have been a voracious reader all my life, and (when car commuting for many years) a consumer of audio books. I agree with everything that has been said about public libraries. Netgalley is worth exploring to obtain free copies of upcoming books, in return for writing a review - if you are prepared to work from an electronic copy. Being  particularly interested in  anything related to history, I am lucky enough to be able to be one of the reviews editors for Historical Novels Review. We endeavour to review all published historical novels. We interpret that quite broadly as we go up to 50 years ago. We are always looking for new reviewers. We usually send out physical books (occasionally e books) and all we ask is that you write a 300 word review of the book. We do not pay, but you get to keep the book. For more details, see our website https://historicalnovelsociety.org/

Brie

Nebbit said:

I have been a voracious reader all my life, and (when car commuting for many years) a consumer of audio books. I agree with everything that has been said about public libraries. Netgalley is worth exploring to obtain free copies of upcoming books, in return for writing a review - if you are prepared to work from an electronic copy. Being  particularly interested in  anything related to history, I am lucky enough to be able to be one of the reviews editors for Historical Novels Review. We endeavour to review all published historical novels. We interpret that quite broadly as we go up to 50 years ago. We are always looking for new reviewers. We usually send out physical books (occasionally e books) and all we ask is that you write a 300 word review of the book. We do not pay, but you get to keep the book. For more details, see our website https://historicalnovelsociety.org/

am I right in thinking that someone needs to be a paid member in order to do reviews?  

Muddy_Walker

Oh this is my sort of thread!!!!! I devour books and have done since I was 4. Read Enid Blyton - the Famous Five and Secret Seven gave me the love of a good mystery! Then onto Agatha Christie, Sherlock Holmes, !!!!!! Francis when older. Frank L Baum books, the Mallory books, the Silver Brumby books. 

As much horror as possible until Stephen King got “wierd”, Frank Herbert, Deen Koontz. 

For years I read actual books and then eventually gave most of them to charity shops….. despised Kindles until lockdown and then got quite phobic about germs and people touching things. 

Kindle Unlimited now rules the roost and although some books are truly awful I have discovered some brilliant new to me authors!

Jdm1982

Love this thread. I have loved reading all my life (now 62). My mum used to walk us to the library which was 2/3 miles away. Loved Bobby Brewster by H. E Todd, Enid Blyton especially Malory Towers, Billy Bunter books, etc. So wanted to go to boarding school just so I could have midnight feasts

My dad's mum gave me Little Women for my ninth birthday and my mum was presented with Good Wives and Jo's Boys among other books for Sunday school attendance and essay prizes from her school which I still have.

My next door neighbour lent me a copy of The Diary of Anne Frank which had a profound effect on me. I was 12 at the time, very similar to Anne's age. It was the first time I realised that the world and people were scary. Think it traumatised me to be honest. 

My pocket money was spent on books and I often got told to switch off the lamp and go to sleep by my parents. So I used to read under the covers with my torch. 

MrsStepford

I met lots of authors in my bookselling days. Some pretentious, some funny and grounded. I did corner one and told him off for killing my favourite character off. He laughed and thanked me for the compliment, as it meant that he had written a character which I as both reader and bookseller, was invested in.

At a publishing party, I met an author who had gotten a six figure advance for his first book. I asked him, when he had the money, what was the first thing he bought, thinking it might be a flash car. Nope, he admitted that he had taken a bus from his rented flat in N London, to Harvey Nichols, where he bought himself a silk dressing gown !

@Jdm1982 I used to raid the fridge at midnight for my own feasts. No tub of coleslaw, pot of peach melba yogurt or wedge of Brie was safe. Surprisingly, my parents turned a blind eye. I got told off for reading in bed too. 

Viking_mfw

Re audiobooks,  the BBC sounds app has a huge amount, particularly of classic novels. It's worth searching for a title you're interested in because it won't all display. Some are dramatisations but there are a fair few straight reads, particularly Jane Austen and anything on the GCSE spec as a 19th century novel. 

Personally I return to the reading of The 39 Steps time after time. 

Happycas

What a lovely thread.

I love reading.  Always have.  I still love real books but now use my kindle more.  When I wake at 3am, as I often do, I can read it without needing to put on the light and wake OH up.

I too could read before I went to school, many years ago, but I was allowed to skip the Infant reading scheme and choose books from the Junior school attached.  Very enlightened for 79 years ago!

Someone earlier mentioned Katherine by Anya Seton. A desert island disc book for me!

A more recent favourite is Louise Penny's Gamache series. I'm now on my second reading of them and I love them just as much this time round.

Thank you for the recommendations.  Lots to keep me going there