Reading as a cheap hobby

Savvy_Sue

carolbee said:

Savvy_Sue said:

MrsStepford said:

I was spluttering coffee at your remark @Savvy_Sue 😯 The redeeming feature of Ladybird books, was the artwork. Oxfam Wallingford salvaged illustrations from damaged Ladybird books and mounted them. I snapped up eleven or twelve farming ones from the 1960s and put them in glass frames. They are positioned above our main stairs and I think they look pretty good.

Just to be clear, it was not Ladybird Books per se which traumatised me: there are some wonderful titles, and the illustrations excellent too. It was the combination of Peter and Jane's very circumscribed lives and those awful awful Janet and John books which nearly killed my love of reading before it started. 

And forgive me if it's already been mentioned (I am resisting reading the whole thread at once), but there is currently an exhibition in Bath until 14th April: 

The Wonderful World of the Ladybird Book Artists

I am reminding DH at regular intervals that we MUST go! 

DS2 taught himself to read from the cereal packets on the breakfast table. Lost in the fog of PND, older 'difficult' child and demanding baby, I hadn't even realised he was so desperate to learn. And of course he was quickly of the opinion that anything his older brother could read, he could read too. So he did. 

Did anyone else catch that snippet of the news last night of Vaughan Gething's appointment as First Minister of Wales being announced? His son, very sensibly, had a book with him, and his nose in it.  That lad will go far ... 

I think I've seen this at Bexhill. Very interesting and memory provoking 

Well, today we finally managed to get to that exhibition in Bath, and very interesting it was too. Although I'm afraid my opinion of Jane and Peter did not improve at all. DH resisted buying more recent Ladybird titles: on Artificial Intelligence and Quantum Mechanics, the latter written by Jim Al-Khalili, who we often hear on the radio. 

MrsStepford

I will read books from other parts of the world and in French too,  but for police procedurals I want that extra background stuff.

London_1

Stuart Macbride books are set inAberdeen, and when ever my DD and I flew up there to visit relatives in Brechin we always had to drive round it to get down the coast. We recognised many of the places he writes about.great detective books and he writes one a year, which usually is published in January

My other favourite author is the amazing Mr Ken Follett, I've never read a bad book of his, and have many on my bookshelf as my DD always buys me the latest as part of my Christmas presents. Terrific writer and all of his books are extremely readable 

   JackieO xx

LucyA44

Hello fellow readers - I feel delighted and dismayed that I came across this thread.  I haven't been on this website for ages but anything reading related seems to pull me in so pulled in I am!  Although I am a continual reader, I haven't read anything really good for ages so I love a good source of new book ideas.  I read lots of different genres of books, but the one I just can't get into is fantasy - I just don't get it.  A friend recommended I try Snow Crash by Neal Stephenson, and although I'm sure it's a great book in this category, it just wasn't for me!

Have just started Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow by Gabrielle Zevin which is getting excellent reviews - so I'm hoping I like this too.  Am also reading Wilding by Isabella Tree which is fascinating (I'm generally more of a fiction reader over non fiction... but this is a really interesting one!).  If you like anything nature related - this would definitely be up your street.

Another good source of  book recommendations comes from a podcast I like listening to "What Should I Read Next" by Anne Bogel.  I don't know if you know this podcast, but I really like the lady that runs it and the premise is that she has a guest who talks about their reading lives and they discuss their books: 3 books they love, one book they don't and what they're currently reading and then Anne gives the guest three new recommendations.  I've listened to it for years and although Anne can come across sometimes as a little "prudish", I actually really value what she says.

Have now bookmarked this thread so I'm hoping it goes on and on for ever and I shall no doubt see you all again soon!

Happy Reading :-)

Lucy

-taff

Stuart MacBride also wrote a f=sci fi book called Halfhead. It was very disturbing but also very very good if you like detective books...wish he'd written more...

wishus

Thank you for this thread.

I use the library and Borrowbox a lot, and I also listen to Spotify on Premium which gives you 15 hours of audiobooks a month. My reason for having premium was I needed it for one of my jobs, but I just lost that so I may go back to unpaid for a bit after I have used this month's. 

I recently acquired a dozen new books because we buy at conventions (more money straight to the publisher/author/small seller - not the big A site) so the TBR pile is massive. 

The idea is we are quitting alcohol next month and all these books are sitting waiting for us. We have also joined a book club. 

The big goal is moving house, so we need to downsize the pile a bit too. 

Currently reading a number of genre books. I have several on the go, then dump a flurry of Goodreads reviews all at once. I'm doing the reading challenge with an aim of 50 books this year. 

The House by the Cerulean Sea by T.J. Klune is likely my next finish. 

florianatwobob

I studied Classical Civilisations to A-Level which included 4 years (GCSE & A-Level) studying Antigone. Dear Lord was she trying after spending 4 years with her!! 

The Lawrence of Arabia translation of The Odyssey was/is far more readable than my set text, if ‘Dawn had risen, fresh and rosey fingered’ one more time I’d have attempted the first human instigated total eclipse! 

For the Classicists amongst us Pandora’s Jar is an interesting read. 

Brambling

florianatwobob said:

I studied Classical Civilisations to A-Level which included 4 years (GCSE & A-Level) studying Antigone. Dear Lord was she trying after spending 4 years with her!! 

. 

I forgot about Antigone I also remember reading The Clouds and Lysistrata.  I did Ancient History as well as classical civilisation not sure now I got away with it as my mum didn't approve of girls doing A levels let alone those two.  I had to do secretarial studies to appease her at least the accountancy and typing exams were very useful in later life (not that I admitted that to the parents!) not so much the shorthand which I was hopeless at 🙂 We were only a village school so unusual A levels to offer in the early 1980s. 

I'm impressed you can still quote from it, you've made be search my brain I can still quote some Shakespeare from my English literature A level 🙂 

MrsStepford

I took GCSE Greek Literature in Translation as a timetable filler in the Sixth Form. Didn't pass but enjoyed The Iliad and The Odyssey. My favourite character was Achilles.

MrsStepford

Well done for quitting alcohol @wishus