The Bookworm's Thread 2017

Can i join?avid reader since childhood;..i'll confess to still having a copy of my highschool reading list from 20+yrs ago..Some of them have been ticked off in the intervening decades!my first 2017 book finished last week was 'One night in winter' by Simon Sebag Montefiore.First I've read by him..evocative of the postwar period in Russia, the craziness & unpredictability of living under Stalin & with an intriguing puzzle to solve as a group of children are investigated after a death within their group, woven through with the adult's secret lives .And an unexpectedly pleasing ending for the romantics out there.Best of all I've now got a few of the author's reccomended further reading to try ..As for what i like to read? Mainly fiction..& for pleasure & escapism.Have to big up one laugh out loud travel/biography I read last year..I adore watching cycling."Gronimo!"by Tim Moore had me guffawing.Generallyi indulge in spy stories (love Deighton, Ludlem ,Forthsyth & Clancy), will read all of an authors back catalogue once hooked (24 years of Maeve Binchy, Terry Pratchett, Ian Rankin & Neville Shute).I really adore it when that book cover that calls to you turns out to be your own personal 'Book of the year'; past examples that spring to mind .."Shadow of the Wind" by Carlos Ruis Zaffon "I am Pilgrim" Terry Hayes(oh please hurry up and release his next book!!) & "Kolymski Heights" by Lional Davidson .So these were paper books..I held out on a kindle for years..then even once hubby got me one for xmas, i avoided it for a whole year.I've got some great free & 99p specials on it & it's become a welcome source for books I'd not hear of otherwise.The highlights are:Catesby series by Edward Wilson -spy novels set in the50's with better writing than le carre, the Tom Dugan series by R.E. McDermott'-unlikely hero of shipping hijinks in an enjoyable example of an author basing their fiction on what they know & two new action story authors..Tom Barber's Sam Archer detective/action series & Alan McDermott's 'Gray' series .So I have grown to love my kindle too as it takes up less space & the reccomended reading has been great to broaden my taste in authors. Currently on the latest of 3 Alex Shaw novels (modern day espionage/action set in uk/ukraine), and I have a queued John Lawton novel after I fell very hard for his first Joe Wilderness "Then we take Berlin".Of course then there's a paper Ludlem beside the bed that I'm looking forward to like meeting an old friend for tea...

At the moment I am reading 'Elizabeth is missing'.

JackieO wrote: »

Just finished book number six The Murder Road by Stephen Booth the second book of his I have read,not bad I suppose but a bit heavy going with far too much detail that seemed a bit unnecessary, bit of a plodder of a book, My next book number seven this year is from the book club and is called Nectar by Lily Prior, our book club books from the library are often dependant on how many copies there are available for us all to read so you never know what its going to be .

Doesn't seem very thick so it shouldn't take me too long.Then, until I have to go to the next book club meeting I shall try to read some of the umpteen books I have on my bookshelves.

Because people know I like to read I often get books given to me by the bag when folk are clearing their shelves and they stack up in piles around my study and on the shelves, so I am going to make a concerted effort to read some of them instead of bringing more home from the library

Trouble is reading through this forum I have spotted several that I really like the look of and I am a bit OCD about books once started I just cannot discard a book as I like to find what the publisher though was worth for the reader to read it

I have only ever once not finished a book and that was Moby Di*k (machine will censor for some reason :):))when I was doing a Lit course of books about the sea at Uni.Found it far too heavy going and even my tutor said give it up and she replaced it with Star of the Sea by Joseph O'Connor which I would heartily recommend.In fact I have recently bought a copy on Ama*on for my DGS to read

I am a real bookworm and there are books in every room in my house including the loo :):)and I always have one in my hand bag.There are over 120 on my kindle as well that I take with me when I am on holiday along with a couple of paperbacks as well :):)

You can see from my signature at the bottom of my posts It roughly translates as too many books not enough time :):)

JackieO xx

I really want to read 'heart of the sea'. Thanks for recommending!

I know I'm a bit late but can I join in? My book club closed last year so I'm a bit bereft of reading encouragement and suggestions.

I'm aiming for 100 books this year. I used to manage that easily but for the last couple of years I've struggled with concentration, it seems to have improved a lot lately.

I'm also aiming to 'read the alphabet' - books beginning with each letter (X will be a problem!). I don't count The, A, An etc.

So far this year I've finished 8. I haven't read for about a week though because I haven't got into the ninth so I'm avoiding it. I think I need to just start something new.

So far I've read:

Ashes to Dust - Yrsa Sigurdardottir. An interesting Icelandic thriller.

The Coroner - M R Hall. So-so. I really disliked the main character. I'm not inspired to read the rest.

The Day is Dark -Yrsa Sigurdardottir. Yet another thriller, I preferred this to Ashes to Dust. Both had me reachinng for my phone to look up various bits of history and culture I didn't know about.

Graceling - Kristin Cashore. YA fantasy. I really enjoyed it, although some of the 'twists' were foreshadowed a little too heavily as they didn't come as a surprise.

A Life in Secrets - Sarah Helm. About Vera Atkins who worked in the SOE, which I'd never heard of before. Shocking levels of incompetence leading to horrific deaths of women spies. The book was a bit too long though, and had a structure which didn't really make sense.

The Mists of Simla - Balraj Khanna. A coming of age tale set in India. Quite interesting, especially for the descriptions of culture and geography. I didn't really identify with the main character, but I've never been a teenage boy so didn't really expect to. (not sure if this one counts, I started it on New Year's Eve)

The Shadow Hour - Kate Riordan. A sedate historical drama. Again, the twists were obvious pretty much from the start, but it was well written so the journey was enjoyable even though the destination was clear.

To Catch a Rabbit - Helen Cadbury. Another thriller, mainly interesting because it was set in various parts of Yorkshire so I knew where everything was happening.