Reading as a cheap hobby

IrishRose12

Just finished The Crash by Frieda McFadden.  Brilliant book.  She's definitley been added to my fave author list.

Savvy_Sue

The Beekeeper's Apprentice, by Laurie R King. If you loved Sherlock Holmes, you should love this - Sherlock and Watson are real characters (not fictions invented by Conan Doyle), and although he's retired trouble still comes his way! Really enjoying it!

Also got The Astronaut's Wife by Stacey Morgan for my birthday, looks like fun. And bought "I can't stay long" by Laurie Lee in a CS in Stroud, after a two night stay in Slad where I read one of his collections, left with the guide books. 

Savvy_Sue

Oh, also picked up "The Quality of Silence" by Rosamund Lupton. I may have to take a deep breath before I start it: I read her "Sister" and had to re-read it immediately to check I'd followed it correctly. Deeply disturbing in many ways, not for the faint hearted. 

elsien

Just finished Birmham Wood by Eleanor Catton.
By halfway through, it wasn’t quite bad enough to give up on completely but I skim read and skipped an awful lot of the more overwritten prose. 

It was on my reading list courtesy of a positive book review in the newspaper. All I can say is I think we must’ve been reading different books. 

Nelliegrace

I am enjoying the Brighton series by Elly Griffiths, free from the library. 
I have reserved the first of the Department Q books, The Keeper of Lost Causes by Jussi Adler-Olsen. DD is enjoying the new TV series. 

The Long Flight Home by AL Hlad was interesting, based on the carrier pigeon service in WW2. There were a few historical howlers, and a Disney perspective of putting the innocent hero through every bad situation. DD was traumatised by Bambi. It was from the library online. 

I return to Georgette Heyer frequently when I feel a bit down. The Reluctant Widow, Cotillion, The Unknown Ajax, The Quiet Gentleman, Why Shoot the Butler? Death in the Stocks. Our library has some free online as audiobooks. They are all available on The Open Library. 

Coxy11

Currently reading Less by Patrick Grant - he signed my copy at his book tour in December. I managed to get three of the Elly Griffiths Ruth Galloway series BN in Oxfam yesterday. I’ve read the first and 10th(!) so need to fill in the gaps!! 

Savvy_Sue

We went to a book launch last night, and came home with a signed copy of A Novel Murder, first novel by EC Nevin. It looks like great fun (I've read a couple of chapters already!)

elsien

I am reading the final book in the Claire North    Penelope/wife of Odysseus trilogy.
It has kept up the momentum of the first two, which doesn’t always happen with these (thinking of the Pat Barker trilogy) - Well worth a read so far. 

London_1

Good Morning fellow bookworms  
                                                         reading as a cheap hobby , is true having moved house last year and unloaded so many of my books from my bookshelves (read ones only ) I still have a decent stash to read.I read daily and definitely every night in bed 

At the moment I am reading 'Love in old Age' by Hunter Davies about his first year living on the IoW in Ryde where I have moved to.
 Its really good and he talks about people and places that are probably less than a mile away from my house. He wrote it at 84 just after Lockdown when he and his girlfriend /partner moved down here to live.

Its very informative and he has caught the island vibe perfectly. Especially when he has problems fining people to do repairs /work /building etc

 It took us almost three months to find a builder to actually turn up and do the renovations We had a month of different chaps quoting anything from £8K to £30K for the same job Luckily eventually we got one ,then you have to see and tie them down to actually turning up another couple of months Finally after moving here in July last year the builders finally finished in time for Christmas  
Its definitely a mañana system here.
On the mainland builders would perhaps arrive just after 8.00 am here its ...somewhat more flexible usually after their breakfast time which can be up to 10.00 am 


But I digress, the book itself is not only informative but is also quite funny. He was married for 55 years to author Margaret Forster until her death in 2016, and he himself has written extensively not only books, but movies and I believe had a column in the Sunday Times.He also wrote the Beatles biography.

He also tells a lot about the history and myths and legends about the island A good few I knew anyway as I had been married for 40 years to an Island chap. 

I normally like crime /detective books but also do like ones that make me laugh, and enjoy Kate Atkinsons books immensely Especially the Jackson Brodie ones ,

I found 'Big Sky' one of hers on the Tesco charity bookshelf and really enjoyed it.

I returned my books that I had out to the Ryde library and unearthed 4 Kate Atkinson books I hadn't read, so between watching Wimbledon next week and reading I shall have a nice relaxing week in the sunshine .

Everywhere you go here there seems to be charity book shelves in shops. Even the HSBC bank in Newport  has a bookshelf where you can find one for a donation.

I picked up about half a dozen Jo Nesbo books from the Sally Army CS in Ryde which I shall save for the wintertime.

In between the excellent Ryde Library and the Charity bookshelves I am well served for books and my books are creeping all around the house once more

I love Ken Follett books, and Ruth Rendell is a sad loss now, as she wrote great books with a beginning, middle and end and tied everything together beautifully.

Bill Bryson to make me laugh and takes me to places I will,  owing to age and infirmity, never visit along with Michael Palins travel books. 
I'm not fussed about romance books if find them a bit boring to be honest. I'm more of a historical, humorous or crime reader 

i have been finding the odd classic book thats not been read yet, and one of my grandsons who teaches and lives in north London is always on the lookout for childrens books for his classrooms library shelf as their local LEA say they can't afford to get books for the children

 Often the books I find end up on their bookshelf in London (I trawl boot sals and CS for them )
 Ben (my grandson) is very keen that all of his Year 5 children can read before they go into the last class before secondary school.
 As he says, how can children read text books or exam paper if they struggle to read.
 
The last 15 minutes of class time every afternoon is devoted to the children reading. He isn't fussed what they read as long as it grabs their imagination He says he's happy for the boys to read a sports magazine if they want to if it gets them reading.

He says its often harder to get boys to read than girls. He is devoted to the kids and will do as much as he can to help them Its an inner city school with lots of problems .Many struggle with english as its their second language, but he wants them all to have a chance to get ahead if they can. Reading opens up a world of opportunities for them

I read for enjoyment, and I think we all take it for granted that we learned to enjoy books.

 I certainly did as living as a child in the 1940s/50s TV was not really that readily available, so reading was what you did, or listen to the wireless.

Back in those days, no CS or even a great deal of spare cash to buy books with, so it was the library for most of us, and I've kept my library habit for well over 75 years, even though I have a stash of books at home I cannot just go into the library and not browse and I usually find something interesting to read.

So yes reading can be, and is a cheap hobby, and so rewarding ,especially when you accidentally pick up a book in a CS then find the author has written even more for you to enjoy ,then its off to the library asap to find the rest

Happy reading chums  I'm off to finish my hunter Davies book and no doubt when next at the library to return it I shall look for some more


JackieO xx  

PipneyJane

@Nelliegrace I have quite a few Georgette Heyer novels, that I bought second hand back when I was a student nurse in Australia.  I think they were 99c each.  Always a good read.

As mentioned earlier, I'm currently re-reading my collection of Mary Stewart novels. I think I read her books obsessively when I was a teenager, but it's been years since I re-read them. The only ones I don't own are her Merlin novels.  I borrowed them from the library at school, but wasn't impressed.  Frankly, at 15, all I wanted to do was to grow up and be like her heroines: smart, independent, resourceful, and travelling on my own through France/Greece/Austria/parts of England that I struggled to find on a map, etc.  (Remember, I'm Australian.  Never left the country until I was 22.)

I resubscribed to Audible this week.  Got one of the 99p-for-3-months offers.  (Once it expires, I'll leave again.)  Perfectly timed, because I used my very first credit to pre-order the new Ben Arronovitch Rivers Of London novel, which comes out next Thursday.  It's called "Stone and Sky".  I've also pre-ordered the Kindle edition and requested a signed copy of the hardback for my birthday present.  (DH is on a mailing list for a bookshop that sells signed first editions.)

- Pip