Reading as a cheap hobby

LucyA44

@sammy_kaye18 - For a Cowboy pick, you should read Lonesome Dove.  I never in a million years thought I'd read a western, but this was recommended to me and I absolutely LOVED it!

MrsStepford

Penguin has an e-book sale on. Last night I picked up four cookbooks:
Med: A Cookbook by Claudia Roden
Sabor by Nieves Barragan Mohacho
Taverna: Recipes From a Greek Cypriot Kitchen Georgina Hayden
The River Café Book Two Rose Gray & Ruth Rogers

Grand Total 4.96 😀

Med: A Cookbook is definitely a cookbook for those who like stories with their recipes. It's like a behind the scenes on her other successful cook books. 

IrishRose12

sammy_kaye18 said:

Loving this thread.
I am trying to read more this year and have set myself a challenge - its actually a reading bingo that a dear friend of mine who has sadly passed away made and I am reusing. It has 16 categories and I wonder if some people could offer suggestions for some that I dont have ideas for yet please 

Im open to reading all sorts of books - expanding knowledge etc and not wanting to get stuck in one genre.
The categories are as followed. 

1. Book by an author Ive never read
2. A book from my wishlist 
3. A Book I have seen reviewed
4. A book picked by a child - Cinderella must die - chosen by my daughter
5. A book with a cowboy
6. A Book from school I never read - how to kill a mockingbird
7. A Series of books
8. Re-read a favorite - the hobbit or the color purple
9. A biography of someone I don't like - 'Spare' perhaps? or Britneys? 
10. A non fiction book
11. A Book I have won
12. A book with over 500+ pages
13. A Book given to me - CURRENTLY READING 
14. A Book set by the coast
15. A book that became a movie
16. A book outside my comfort zone - maybe a horror or paranormal of some sort?

As you can see I have quite a few to fill in! 
I am currently reading Dont Want To Miss A Thing by Jill Mansell which my MIL gave me for Christmas and I have been using StoryGraph App to put some books into my reading list that I would like to read and before christmas read 'The Island' by Victoria Hislop that I really enjoyed too. 

Can one book cover a few of your list?? 

1. Book by an author Ive never read
2. A Book I have seen reviewed
3. A Series of books
4. A book that became a movie

I'd suggest The Bone Collector by Jeffrey Deaver for these 4 lol.  The Lincoln Rhyme series are brilliant books, and The Bone Collector was the 1st book, and made into a movie.

MrsStepford

#15
QBVII Leon Uris which became a mini-series with Antony Hopkins. My mother met him at a fête and asked if he'd had German measles as she was getting over them 😮

Lee Child's Jack Reacher books. Just got the latest two, 2 for £9 at ASDA for Husband. 

Interview With a Vampire Anne Rice much better than the movie !

Savvy_Sue

sammy_kaye18 said:

1. Book by an author Ive never read
2. A book from my wishlist 
3. A Book I have seen reviewed
4. A book picked by a child - Cinderella must die - chosen by my daughter
5. A book with a cowboy
6. A Book from school I never read - how to kill a mockingbird
7. A Series of books
8. Re-read a favorite - the hobbit or the color purple
9. A biography of someone I don't like - 'Spare' perhaps? or Britneys? 
10. A non fiction book
11. A Book I have won
12. A book with over 500+ pages
13. A Book given to me - CURRENTLY READING 
14. A Book set by the coast
15. A book that became a movie
16. A book outside my comfort zone - maybe a horror or paranormal of some sort?

As you can see I have quite a few to fill in! 
I am currently reading Dont Want To Miss A Thing by Jill Mansell which my MIL gave me for Christmas and I have been using StoryGraph App to put some books into my reading list that I would like to read and before christmas read 'The Island' by Victoria Hislop that I really enjoyed too. 

5. I think The Giver of Stars by JoJo Moyes would cover this. And if anyone is wrinkling their nose slightly at that name (as mine did, I confess) because she is quite a prolific author, it is a truly excellent book. Although there may not be that many cowboys in it, and I can't check because I've bought two copies and lent both out ... and I'm having to resist buying everything she's ever written. 

10. For a non-fiction book, you could do worse than a Ladybird book (remember I've just been to that exhibition). Or would Laurie Lee count? 

15. I recently saw The Secret Life of Bees. I can't remember if I've seen it before, or had read the book by Sue Monkton Kidd, but I think the latter, and it was excellent. And of course The Color Purple fits the bill here. 

16. Three suggestions here:

• Terry Brooks, Running with the Demon. And if you then want to expand that into a series for no. 7, you have a lot to follow. 
• Rosalind Lupton: Sister. I didn't realise how far out of my comfort zone it was until after I'd finished it. Not really horror nor even paranormal, but it will haunt you. 
• One which will also fit in No. 1: An Olive Grove in Ends by Moses McKenzie. As it's his debut novel (although I understand another is on the way) and he's fairly young, I don't suppose many of you will have read it. There's a fair bit of patois in there, and I wanted a glossary. I think you'd have to live in Ends or somewhere similar not to be out of your comfort zone with this one, but it is fiction. 

Savvy_Sue

Just generally on the subject of reading: I've never really fancied joining a Book Club because I'd often struggle to read a book fast enough, especially if I wasn't enjoying it, and I don't necessarily want to talk about it afterwards. 

But have I raved yet about my Shared Reading group? Someone was trying to find a lift to our local one, I thought I liked the sound of it, and I'm a convert ... We meet fortnightly, our facilitator chooses a book and we read a section together, then we have a little chat about it, then we read a bit more, and so on. We finish with a poem. No pressure to read the book in between, nor all of it at all. We started with The Giver of Stars, which I adored. We've moved on to Cider with Rosie, which I did read as a teenager, without ever really appreciating the language, the descriptions, the JOY of it. 

A friend I was chatting to today agreed with me about not wanting the pressure of reading a book for a Book Club, but she goes to one where they take it in turns just to talk about what they've read recently. Only she finds most of the group only ever read crime fiction, which she barely touches! And they've often not heard of the authors she mentions. She's mystified ... 

Lindlou

Generally I enjoy crime fiction but I have to say Jo Jo Moyes is a wonderful escapism for me. 

sammy_kaye18

Nonnadiluca said:

@sammy_kaye18, Elly Griffiths series of Ruth Galloway books is great and will also cover books set on the coast: The Salt Path by Raynor Winn is also coastal and non fiction (and brilliant!). Any of the Strike books by Robert Galbraith aka JK Rowling are well over 500 pages but don't feel like it and for an author you've never read before I would recommend Claire North, particularly The Sudden Appearance of Hope. Do you have a good library near you?

I have a library in my village but access to a bigger library in town as well. 
Im also one of those people who doesnt mind buying second hand copies of books and either keeping if I enjoy or passing on to penpals, friends, other readers too so just as happy to buy. I always get vouchers fro birthdays and never know what to do with them! 

sammy_kaye18

Thank you so much all for your suggestions. 
I have had a few days of not feeling 100% and just in general a bit lack lustre for much but I have been sat making notes of titles you have all suggested and will definitely be adding some to my reading list! 

Thank you all again.

How is everyone elses reading coming along? Anyone finished or started a new book? 

Do you have a particular genre or setting that interests you? 

Brambling

I hope you feel better soon Sammy_kaye

I will read most genres except horror I read too much as a teen and scared myself  I'm not a fan of watching it either.  

I do like a crime novel especially if it is part of a series I like the development of characters over multiple books.   Scandi authors are always good although they can be darker.   But my bookcase / kindle cover most types a book for every mood