Reading as a cheap hobby

maddiemay

I gave up on The Casual Vacancy too, did not read much at all, but engaged with the Strike stories immediately, the earlier ones are nowhere so lengthy as the later ones, if this helps anyone decide to give them a try.

Wednesday2000

I have a stack of books to read as well as lots on my kindle. I did belong to four book groups, but I'm leaving two of them.

I have a library book to pick up next week too.

Savvy_Sue

maddiemay said:

I gave up on The Casual Vacancy too, did not read much at all, but engaged with the Strike stories immediately, the earlier ones are nowhere so lengthy as the later ones, if this helps anyone decide to give them a try.

I've got Lethal White sitting waiting for me, BUT it is So Big I doubt I will read it unless I get it on Kindle. 

have been doing plenty of other reading: finished my Bernard Cornwell Sharpe novel (Sharpe's Strike, I think), which is a sort of back-fill in the chronology. And finished the Children of Armageddon trilogy by Terry Brooks. Have to say I was slightly disappointed in both, they felt not quite as polished as I remember each of them, and with Terry Brooks there was almost an element of "with one bound he was free" at times, which just didn't give the thrill of terror I'd had with the first books of his I'd read. 

I read "The Quality of Silence" by Rosamund Lupton, and was gripped by it. I have "Three Hours" waiting for me - spotted it the other day and realised I didn't have to have it on my 'get from library list". Yes, I have too many books. And a whole heap of 44 Scotland Streets from Alexander McCall Smith to get back into. 

At my Shared Reading group we started James, by Percival Everett, but decided not to finish it in that setting. We read aloud, and it's quite tricky when there's a particular accent, dialect or voice in the writing. Plus some of the subject matter is 'difficult'. It's the story of Huckleberry Finn, from Jim's point of view! However most of us really enjoyed it so took it to finish at home.

We've now started Small Island by Andrea Levy, which of course has some of the same issues, but not quite to the same extent. 

I am waiting to find the latest Thursday Murder Club in a charity shop, or at least in paperback. It's hard ...

Brambling

maddiemay said:

I am reading The Black Wolf (library copy) @Brambling I love this series, I have bought several and would like this to be one of the series that I keep for a while, together with the Strike and the LJ Ross Northumberland ones Need to do an audit to see what is missing.

I've been collecting the LJ Ross Northumberland series I have 11 but that's not 1 - 11, they don't appear very often in the CS around here I do have the first three now so may start after the Louise Penny book.  

Blackcats

Dakota_Rose said:

Blackcats said:

I'm currently reading The Hallmarked Man which is the latest in the Strike series by Robert Galbraith (J K Rowling).  So far it's brilliant as always.

Would you recommend starting at the beginning of the Strike series? I’m not sure how many of them there are now but very tempted to give one a go as the reviews seem so positive. 

A long while back I read The Casual Vacancy, which I believe was her first non Harry Potter related book, and didn’t enjoy it massively. Think I have sub consciously avoided anything else new since then. 

I would start at the beginning of the Strike books as the characters develop through the series.  The TV dramatisations are quite good and watchable but you can't condense such long books into 4 x 1 hour episodes.  I will confess that I listen to them on aud ib le and Philip Glenister's narration is superb.  I listen with DH and he really enjoys it even though he doesn't usually read/listen to fiction.  The series is nothing like Casual Vacancy, although I did enjoy that too.

daz378

Confined to the house...on the boot phase of a broken ankle....plenty of books on shelf..but also kindle..have a small bookcase for Terry Brooks...Lee child  .Reacher...Connolly  Parker novels...Terry Goodkind..Seeker...on Kindle  rereading Raymond E Feist  magician..Novels

VALM

Hi can i join? Always looking for good recs. I like thrillers however in a bid to try new genres find im enjoying historical fiction, general fiction and horror. 

Im reading The Book of Doors which is classed as magical realism on Storygraph! Weird. I read A HeadFull of Ghosts begore that and that was an excellent tead.

Brie

VALM said:

Hi can i join? Always looking for good recs. I like thrillers however in a bid to try new genres find im enjoying historical fiction, general fiction and horror. 

Im reading The Book of Doors which is classed as magical realism on Storygraph! Weird. I read A HeadFull of Ghosts begore that and that was an excellent tead.

Welcome!!  If you wanting a bit of horror I always recommend the early Stephen King stuff including his non fiction Danse Macbre.  It's an interesting look at both horror in movies and fiction but also at the atmosphere of the US in the late 50s early 60s.  

Blackcats

I'm reading The Future by Naomi Alderton.  It's is much, much better than I expected it to be based on the summary on the book jacket.  It's very modern and involves tech company billionaires, end of world peppers and religious cults.  Even reading that sentence I've made it sound very unappealing but I'm glad I'm giving it a chance.

PipneyJane

< press de-lurk button >

Hi Everyone

I’ve finished my first book for the year, Rose Cottage by Mary Stewart.  It’s set in 1947 and is the story of Kathy Welland, returning to her Northumberland village after 5+ years, in order to pack up the aforementioned cottage following her grandmother’s relocation to Scotland.  

Her grandmother is the cook for the family that own the estate.  The House was commandeered during the War, so they moved their household north to their hunting lodge and have decided to stay there.  Kathy left the village to train as a teacher, subsequently married an RAF officer and was widowed when his plane was shot down over the Pas de Calais.  She was left comfortably off, complete with a flat in Hampstead (IIRC).  Scene set.

As with all Mary Stewart novels, it’s beautifully written and captures your imagination and interest very early on.  There are a few themes that run throughout the story:  the unknown identity of Kathy’s father (she’s illegitimate); what happened to Kathy’s mother (who left when she was 6, and is supposedly dead); the impact of the judgemental b!tch that was her Gran’s late sister and how cruel the “moral majority” can be;  food rationing; catching up with old friends and classmates from school (and how precious those friendships are); their war service (which is quite often described in a few short sentences, but you get the impression that the impact will last their lifetime); and Kathy’s short marriage and widowhood (including a recollection of the nights that she’d lie awake, attempting to count the planes returning from their missions).  

Oddly for me, this was one Mary Stewart book which I didn’t remember reading.  All my novels are triple-parked on the bookcase upstairs - and not arranged by novelist -  so rather than move heaven-and-hell to find it, I read this one on Kindle.   It took me a couple of chapters before I was certain that I had read it before, but while I was 99% certain of the major story outcomes, I didn’t remember how we got to them and they weren’t glaringly obvious.

If I have one gripe, it is that like several other Mary Stewart novels, she leaves you hanging about the relationship of the heroine and the hero.  You are left with the impression that they become a couple, but it is never overtly stated and you are left wishing there was one more chapter. 

Rose Cottage gets 5 stars.  

- Pip