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Reading as a cheap hobby

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  • MrsStepford
    MrsStepford Posts: 1,798 Forumite
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    edited 1 July 2024 at 9:44PM
    Good grief @Brambling, 215 weeks is incredible.. Any advance on 215 weeks anyone ? 

    I love physical books, both brand new hardbacks and rough second-hand paperbacks. Also vintage cookbooks. I

    Just finished the latest DCI Harry Grimm from David J Gatward. Cocaine smuggling, murder, pies and of course, Wensleydale. 
  • -taff
    -taff Posts: 15,377 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 10,000 Posts Name Dropper Photogenic
    well, I just checked mine and I lost my current streak a few weeks ago. But you're not going to believe this but my longest streak was 216 weeks, from 2018 to 2022... :)
    But I do know that brambling is going to just keep going so give it a week and they'll be in the lead again

    ....

    Non me fac calcitrare tuum culi
  • Brambling
    Brambling Posts: 5,985 Forumite
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    -taff said:

    But I do know that brambling is going to just keep going so give it a week and they'll be in the lead again

    😁 

    I'm sure like most of us readers my actual weekly streak started when I was five so that's 55 years for me so 2860 weeks 🧐 even when I worked long shifts in a hotel in the 80s and finished some nights after 1am I always read before going to sleep 💤 

    I started a Peter May book on the train today picked up from a CS this one set in Canada, unfortunately dodgy AC on a hot train meant I couldn't get' into it so will try again tomorrow 
    Life shrinks or expands in proportion to one's courage   -          Anais Nin
  • Wednesday2000
    Wednesday2000 Posts: 8,380 Forumite
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    I started another B A Paris book yesterday, but I couldn't get into it. I find her books a bit hit and miss. My husband returned my library books when he went out as one of my books was reserved by someone. I only have two library books left now, but I have a few on my kindle. I know I have the new Johann Hari book about the weight loss drugs on my kindle. Magic Pill. I will start that later.
    2025 GOALS
    20/25 classes
    24/100 books



  • Coxy11
    Coxy11 Posts: 5,615 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 1,000 Posts Photogenic Homepage Hero

    I finished The Silent Patient by Alex Michaelides last night. A real page-turner and a twist at the very end. Highly recommend. Now starting the Magpie Murders by Anthony Horowitz.


    Cross-stitch WIP: Haberdashery Shop Fiver Friday challenge 2025 founding member 😊 Read 25 books in 2025 17/25 Currently reading The Ghost Fields by Elly Griffiths
  • MrsStepford
    MrsStepford Posts: 1,798 Forumite
    Sixth Anniversary 1,000 Posts Photogenic Name Dropper
    edited 13 July 2024 at 11:09AM
    Oxfam online shop has a summer sale on with 40% off, books included
    https://www.oxfam.org.uk

    I picked up a book on the history of Gieves & Hawkes for OH which started off in the 18th century as a naval outfitter in Portsmouth. I

    I wanted some more Gino D'Acampo cook books but eBay was cheaper than Oxfam. I think I may have all of them now. 
  • MrsStepford
    MrsStepford Posts: 1,798 Forumite
    Sixth Anniversary 1,000 Posts Photogenic Name Dropper
    Best books to read this summer, according to Evening Standard:

    Blue Ruin - Hari Hunzru
    Welcome to Glorious Tuga - Francesca Segal
    Naked Portrait: A Memoir of Lucien Freud - Rose Boyt (daughter and Executor)
    The Lasting Harm - Lucia Osborne-Crowley (account of Ghislaine Maxwell's trial)
    Munichs - David Peace
    The Echoes - Evie Wyld
    Briefly Very Beautiful - Roz Dineen
    All That Glitters - Orlando Whitfield
    The Ministry of Time - Kalianne Bradley
    All Fours - Miranda July
    This Strange Eventful Evening - Claire Messud
    Cleavage - Cleo Watson
    Table for Two - Amor Towles
    You Are Here - David Nicholls
    Wife - Charlotte Mendelson

  • catclaires
    catclaires Posts: 99 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 10 Posts Name Dropper Combo Breaker
    Going off on a little bit of a tangent, I attended a Waterstones author event yesterday (cost £5, so pretty cheap if you resisted the temptation to buy the nice hardback novels there to get them signed - sadly for me, it also involved the cost of a 1.5-hour train journey each way - but I met up with a friend who I'd not seen for ages, so it was all worth it!) with Gillian McAllister and Dorothy Koomson. It was absolutely fascinating - so interesting to hear them both talk about how they write and get their ideas - both had quite different ways of going about things. They were both lovely, and a really nice thing was that both agreed that they were keen readers before they ever started writing, so they both write from a 'reader' point of view primarily (what would they like if they were reading the book) rather than a 'writer' (thinking about what the publisher might want and so on). I'd definitely recommend this kind of event if you see any nearby to you - I think any of us readers would really enjoy it! 

    Pleasingly, I discovered that both authors had written more books than I realised - so lots more to read! I was also both happy and ashamed to find that I'd stockpiled two of GM's books on my Kindle when they were 99p and had completely forgotten I had them, as I've evidently bought too many other (mainly 99p) books since :o 

    DK has been writing for years and has gradually transitioned from romance-type books to more crime/psychological thriller types. GM writes psychological thriller types with really unusual (in my opinion) settings and ideas - I've found all of hers extremely gripping so far and would highly recommend them!
  • Wednesday2000
    Wednesday2000 Posts: 8,380 Forumite
    Ninth Anniversary 1,000 Posts Name Dropper Photogenic
    edited 16 July 2024 at 2:26PM
    ^ That sounds interesting!

    My husband has just gone to pick up 4 library books for me, all Gillian McAllister.
    2025 GOALS
    20/25 classes
    24/100 books



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