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Reading as a cheap hobby

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  • ruby_eskimo
    ruby_eskimo Posts: 4,828 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 1,000 Posts Name Dropper Combo Breaker
    @Savvy_Sue That's why I try to resist reading series of books until I'm sure the author has finished.  It's easier with newer authors as they kind of announce when they get their book deal that it's for a 3, 4, 5 series arc, but the more established authors just love to chuck a random follow up out there from time to time!

    Working through a rather large pile of library books at the moment - just finished Olga Dies Dreaming by Xochitl Gonzalez, enjoyed it but difficult to describe it without giving too much away; focused on a woman of Puerto Rican descent in New York and her struggles of trying to fit in both the worlds she inhabits.

    About to move on to a Riley Sager book (can't remember which one) as its the next on the pile and there must have been a reason I requested it from the library!
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  • Savvy_Sue
    Savvy_Sue Posts: 47,604 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 10,000 Posts Name Dropper
    @Savvy_Sue That's why I try to resist reading series of books until I'm sure the author has finished.  It's easier with newer authors as they kind of announce when they get their book deal that it's for a 3, 4, 5 series arc, but the more established authors just love to chuck a random follow up out there from time to time!
    There's a couple of authors you'd have to wait until after their death to be sure, and even then you've got Lee Child's brother co-writing with him, and someone doing more Bond books, and even Sherlock Holmes - well I suppose you can just discount all not written by ACD, although I have read a few highly entertaining ones!

    I've just given up trying to keep up with Alastair McCall Smith: I don't like all his series, but I'm now just reading the ones I like as I get them. I have a few holes in my 44 Scotland Street reading which I'm trying to back-fill, and a couple of new No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency but I know there's one missing. 
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  • annieb64
    annieb64 Posts: 702 Forumite
    Fifth Anniversary 500 Posts Name Dropper
    Didn't enjoy the last couple of Lee Child's . We are reading a Jilly Cooper in Book Club.Never read anything by her before but I'm quite enjoying it.
  • Coxy11
    Coxy11 Posts: 5,915 Forumite
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    I’m currently reading Guilty by Definition by Countdown’s Susie Dent. I only read just before bed and and it’s taking a while to get into it. Lots of big words (and definitions) thrown in!!
    Cross-stitch WIP: Haberdashery Shop Fiver Friday challenge 2025 founding member 😊 Read 25 books in 2025 25/25 Currently reading Guilty by Definition by Susie Dent
  • Floss
    Floss Posts: 9,136 Forumite
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    Coxy11 said:
    I’m currently reading Guilty by Definition by Countdown’s Susie Dent. I only read just before bed and and it’s taking a while to get into it. Lots of big words (and definitions) thrown in!!
    I've got that in my "to read" pile, would you recommend it?
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  • Nelliegrace
    Nelliegrace Posts: 1,200 Forumite
    Seventh Anniversary 1,000 Posts Name Dropper Combo Breaker
    I have had a non fiction book on my wish list for over a year. The library didn’t have a copy. I can be patient. I have found a good used copy for £5.33 with delivery instead of the full price of £19.95. 
  • Coxy11
    Coxy11 Posts: 5,915 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 1,000 Posts Photogenic Homepage Hero
    Floss said:
    Coxy11 said:
    I’m currently reading Guilty by Definition by Countdown’s Susie Dent. I only read just before bed and and it’s taking a while to get into it. Lots of big words (and definitions) thrown in!!
    I've got that in my "to read" pile, would you recommend it?
    It's a bit too early to say tbh. Feels like a lot of big words (and definitions) thrown in just to look intelligent!!
    Cross-stitch WIP: Haberdashery Shop Fiver Friday challenge 2025 founding member 😊 Read 25 books in 2025 25/25 Currently reading Guilty by Definition by Susie Dent
  • London_1
    London_1 Posts: 1,903 Forumite
    1,000 Posts Third Anniversary Photogenic Name Dropper
    I picked up for 10p a book at a local charity shop, I've no idea why I did as I have so many books at home to read plus I also get library books 

    The copy was a bit tatty (well the cover was ) I'm so pleased I got it though as its a thriller which whizzs around the world from Afghanistan through Europe and Turkey and the USA. It kept me awake until gone one in the morning most nights

    Its called
    'I am Pilgrim' by Terry Hayes Its a real chunky doorstep of a book of just under 900 pages, but it was really good, so much so that yesterday In Newport I popped into the Lord Louis Library and managed to get his first book which I'm really pleased about as I only went in on the off chance on my way home to Ryde

     A good deal smaller only 600 odd pages :)  but I'm looking forward to reading it Its called
    'The Year of the Locust' also a thriller. 
    I looked the author up and apparently he wrote most of the TV Luther series.

    At the moment I'm saving it as I'm reading
    'A Gentleman in Moscow', which I was recommened to by one of the U3A ladies at coffee morning last week. my favourite authors are without doubt Ken Follett or John le Carre with the late Ruth Rendell as the third

    I'm a real bookworm and if I'm not knitting while I watch tv I'm reading :) my late Mother taught me almost 80 years ago and I've never stopped.My late husband used to say if I had a pound for every book I'd read over the years I'd be a very rich lady.

    My downfall in charity shops is always the book section :) 

    JackieO xxx


  • Blackcats
    Blackcats Posts: 4,121 Forumite
    Sixth Anniversary 1,000 Posts Name Dropper
    I liked Guilty by Definition.  I found the unusual words and their definitions fun.  I listened to it on audib*e so maybe it was the sound of the words that I enjoyed.  
  • Blackcats
    Blackcats Posts: 4,121 Forumite
    Sixth Anniversary 1,000 Posts Name Dropper
    I'm enjoying Love Marriage by Monica Ali.  It's a well written story which highlights with humour some of the cultural tensions in relationships in a way that is very human and amusing but thought provoking.  
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