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Post by pennyt on Feb 1, 2018 11:28:14 GMT
 I would have thought something much ruder than that!!   |
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Post by janetandjohn on Feb 1, 2018 13:39:49 GMT
I would have thought something much ruder than that!! Wash your mouths out, both of you !!!  |
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Post by rosemary3 on Mar 2, 2018 22:13:08 GMT
Added in February 2018:
Twin Peril - Susannah Carleton
An Amish Heirloom - Amy Clipston et al (e)
City of God - E.L. Doctorow
Hooked - Nir Eyal (e)
Guapa - Saleem Haddad
An Evil Cradling - Brian Keenan
If Not Now, When? - Primo Levi
Two Boys Kissing - David Levithan
At the Mountains of Madness - H.P. Lovecraft
All the Pretty Horses - Cormac McCarthy
Slade House - David Mitchell
Becoming a Londoner - David Plante
Some Buried Caesar - Rex Stout
Eastern Standard Tribe - Cory Doctorow
Read in February 2018:
5 stars:
Himself - Jess Kidd
I loved this book from the Book Fairy Ring! A dark, quirky and magical Irish tale. Thanks again to Book Fairy pennyt!
Homer & Langley - E.L. Doctorow
At once uplifting and terribly sad, the fictionalised story of two real brother recluses in New York.
Love Medicine - Louise Erdrich
A bit confusing, but an amazing story of Native Americans in the 20th century.
The Casino - Margaret Bonham
Short stories in typical Persephone style, character studies rather than plot-driven, lots of memorable female characters.
4 stars:
Tommy Glover's Sketch of Heaven - Jane Bailey
I really enjoyed this tale of a wartime evacuee who discovers all is not rosy in the countryside.
A Spot of Bother - Mark Haddon
One thing after another goes wrong for George and Jean and their family. Appealed to my sense of humour.
A Sentimental Journey - Laurence Sterne
Unfinished romp through France by an 18th-century parson of questionable morals.
A Boy's Own Story - Edmund White
Groundbreaking (at the time) autobiographical novel about growing up gay in America in the 1950s. A bit disconnected but still relevant, I imagine.
3 stars:
Eastern Standard Tribe - Cory Doctorow
Not totally convinced by the tribes, but I loved the new digital product ideas from the 21st-century inventor.
The Dead Shall Be Raised & Murder of a Quack - George Bellairs
Two nice classic mysteries from the 1940s. 4 stars for the first, 3 for the second.
Miss Julia Stands Her Ground - Ann B. Ross
OK but not quite as good as others in the series, I thought - not much plot, with a long flashback filling the middle.
Books added in February = 14
Books read in February = 11
Currently on TBR = 219
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Post by rosemary3 on Apr 5, 2018 13:51:33 GMT
Books added March 2018:
Black Rabbit Summer - Kevin Brooks
Can You Sue Your Parents For Malpractice? - Paula Danziger
Long Live Great Bardfield - Tirzah Garwood
Earth and High Heaven - Gwethalyn Graham
Lustrum - Robert Harris
Every Day - David Levithan
Maman, What Are We Called Now? - Jacqueline Mesnil-Amar
Journey's End - R C Sherriff
Abide With Me - Elizabeth Strout
Guard Your Daughters - Diana Tutton
The Journey Home and Other Stories - Malachi Whitaker
The Art of Being Normal - Lisa Williamson
Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda - Becky Albertalli
Imperium - Robert Harris
Steppenwolf - Hermann Hesse
Amerika - Franz Kafka
Christ Stopped at Eboli - Carlo Levi
Emmeline - Judith Rossner
To Love and Be Wise - Josephine Tey
Books read in March 2018:
5 stars:
Christ Stopped at Eboli - Carlo Levi
Fascinating account of a year spent in an isolated Italian mountain village in the 1930s.
Miss Julia Strikes Back - Ann B. Ross
The best Miss Julia so far, IMO! Miss Julia is robbed, and she takes off after the thieves.
Some Buried Caesar - Rex Stout
I loved this early Nero Wolfe mystery where murder is committed because of a champion bull (including the murder of the bull!) And thanks to Mrs Mac for sending it!
4 stars:
Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda - Becky Albertalli
Sweet YA gay romance carried on mostly by email. Blue's emails are adorable.
Imperium - Robert Harris
Compelling story about the rise of Roman statesman Cicero at the time of Pompey and Julius Caesar. First of a trilogy.
Emmeline - Judith Rossner
Sad historical fiction about a young girl sent to work in a Massachusetts cotton mill in the 1830s.
To Love and Be Wise - Josephine Tey
One of her best mysteries, I thought.
Zenka - Alison Brodie
A funny black comedy about a Hungarian pole dancer, a London gangland boss, and a longlost son.
Cecilia - Fanny Burney
Long but worth it, especially for fans of period romance. First published 1782, the trials of an orphaned heiress with everyone after her money.
Slade House - David Mitchell
Couldn't put this down for most of the book! I thought it tailed off a little at the end.
3 stars:
Amerika - Franz Kafka
Unfinished dreamlike novel. Makes more sense than some of Kafka's but still weird.
An Amish Heirloom - Amy Clipston et al
Four novellas, my first foray into Amish romance! Thought I'd made a big mistake getting this when I read the first story, where nothing happened that couldn't have been said in one sentence, but the other three were better.
2 stars:
Steppenwolf - Hermann Hesse
Not for me. If there was a point to this, I missed it while rolling my eyes at yet another 50-year-old weird-guy-in-an-attic main character with beautiful girls falling all over him.
Books added = 19
Books read = 13
Currently on TBR = 236
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Post by rosemary3 on May 1, 2018 12:16:03 GMT
Added April 2018:
Thirteen Reasons Why - Jay Asher (e)
Just William - Richmal Crompton
The Foundling - Georgette Heyer (e)
At Swim, Two Boys - Jamie O'Neill
The Burgess Boys - Elizabeth Strout
The Paper Menagerie - Ken Liu
The Obituary Society - Jessica L. Randall
The Ginger Tree - Oswald Wynd
Read April 2018:
5 stars:
If Not Now, When? - Primo Levi
The story of a changing group of Jewish resistance/partisans making their way through Eastern Europe from 1943-45.
The Things They Carried - Tim O'Brien
Difficult to read but an amazing book. Vietnam war linked stories.
4 stars:
The Paper Menagerie - Ken Liu
Interesting short stories, scifi/alternate history/historical, with a Chinese cultural theme to most of them.
The Ginger Tree - Oswald Wynd
Slow-burning but ultimately fascinating novel about a young Scottish woman in the Far East in the early 20th century.
Robinson Crusoe - Daniel Defoe
Slow for the first half, but the description of life on the desert island shows an amazing imagination.
The Runaway - Elizabeth Anna Hart
Sweet and not too sentimental Victorian children's story about a girl who runs away from school.
3 stars:
Abide With Me - Elizabeth Strout
Slow-moving story about a widowed smalltown pastor struggling to cope with his children. I enjoyed it, but not as much as others of hers. 3 stars
The Obituary Society - Jessica L. Randall
A cosy mystery with some supernatural elements and too much baking for me. Rather confusing.
At the Mountains of Madness - H.P. Lovecraft
Strange scifi horror with reminders of Frankenstein and H.G. Wells.
2 stars:
-
1 star:
Foucault's Pendulum - Umberto Eco
Very disappointed with this. I couldn't care about the characters or the plot, and found it long, slow, and boring.
Added in April = 8
Read in April = 10
Currently on TBR = 233
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Post by rosemary3 on Jun 2, 2018 17:27:46 GMT
Added May 2018:
City of Bones - Michael Connelly
The Pillars of the Earth - Ken Follett
Homegoing - Yaa Gyasi (e)
Catch-22 - Joseph Heller
I Am Legend - Richard Matheson
After You - Jojo Moyes
The Bees - Laline Paull
Gilead - Marilynne Robinson
On Beauty - Zadie Smith
The Prisoner of Zenda - Anthony Hope
Mad Girl - Bryony Gordon
Read May 2018:
5 stars:
Journey's End - R C Sherriff
A very poignant play set in the trenches of the First World War.
The Prisoner of Zenda - Anthony Hope
A fine swashbuckling adventure - and nice and short! Perfect.
4 stars:
Knots & Crosses - Ian Rankin
A great start to this series.
Miss Julia Paints the Town - Ann B. Ross
An enjoyable instalment.
Miss Julia Delivers the Goods - Ann B. Ross
Another good one in the series.
A Woman's Place: 1910-1975 - Ruth Adam
Interesting book published in 1975, looking at women's lives and opportunities in Britain from the suffragettes to the Equal Pay Act.
The Book of Illusions - Paul Auster
A bereaved college professor becomes fascinated by a mysterious silent screen actor.
Carwash - Lesley Howarth
Growing up in a village where nobody is perfect or very happy. A downbeat book. I appreciated it, but others might not.
3 stars:
The Music of Chance - Paul Auster
A gamble goes horribly wrong. One of those books where you want to stop the characters making mistake after mistake.
Mad Girl - Bryony Gordon
Didn't totally connect with her but an interesting read.
These Old Shades - Georgette Heyer
A good plot, but uncomfortable to have such a childish heroine.
Stone Cold - Robert Swindells
YA story of a homeless teenager.
2 stars:
The Rebel Angels - Robertson Davies
Disappointing. Supposed to be funny, but I just found it tedious.
Given away without reading:
The Dark-Eyed Girls - Judith Lennox
Twin Peril - Susannah Carleton
Chase the Moon - Catherine Nicolson
Books added = 11
Books read = 13 + 3 removed
Currently on TBR = 225
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Post by rosemary3 on Jun 29, 2018 17:08:00 GMT
Added in June 2018:
Group Portrait with Lady - Heinrich Boll
Less - Andrew Sean Greer (e)
Voyage in the Dark - Jean Rhys
At Mrs Lippincote's - Elizabeth Taylor
Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry - Mildred D. Taylor
Anything Is Possible - Elizabeth Strout
Doctor Faustus - Thomas Mann
Read in June 2018:
5 stars:
Anything Is Possible - Elizabeth Strout
Sequel to My Name Is Lucy Barton, but more in the style of Olive Kitteridge, connected episodes focusing on different characters with some deep emotional truths.
Guard Your Daughters - Diana Tutton
A 1950s Persephone that starts off light and funny about a Mitfordesque family of daughters, but gets darker as it goes along.
4 stars:
Broadmoor Revealed - Mark Stevens
Independently-published chatty account of some of the Victorian inmates of Broadmoor "criminal lunatic asylum" by an archivist.
The Burning Air - Erin Kelly
Enjoyed this psychological thriller.
A High Wind in Jamaica - Richard Hughes
Children mistakenly on board a pirate ship become a liability to themselves and the pirates. A bit like an early Lord of the Flies.
3 stars:
The Burgess Boys - Elizabeth Strout
Long-buried family secrets emerge when there's trouble in the next generation.
Miss Julia Renews Her Vows - Ann B. Ross
I found this one a little bit repetitive, although there are some funny moments.
Missing Joseph - Elizabeth George
Enjoyed this, but not as much as others in the series. A bit too long.
Unrated:
Doctor Faustus - Thomas Mann
Ugh. Couldn't connect with it at all.
Books added in June = 7
Books read in June = 9
Currently on TBR = 224
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Post by rosemary3 on Aug 2, 2018 21:32:24 GMT
Added July 2018:
Leah on the Offbeat - Becky Albertalli (e)
Bilgewater - Jane Gardam
The Courage To Be Yourself - Ichiro Kishimi & Fumitake Koga (e)
Forgive Me, Leonard Peacock - Matthew Quick
Palladian - Elizabeth Taylor
A Game of Hide and Seek - Elizabeth Taylor
The Soul of Kindness - Elizabeth Taylor
Read July 2018:
4 stars:
Group Portrait with Lady - Heinrich Boll
Interesting experimental novel showing civilian life in Germany during and just after the Second World War.
The Yiddish Policemen's Union - Michael Chabon
Interesting alternate history / crime noir, where the Jewish people have settled in Alaska instead of Israel.
Every Day - David Levithan
Couldn't put down this story of a 16-year-old who wakes up in a different body every day.
Voyage in the Dark - Jean Rhys
A haunting and indeed dark novel about an unhappy young woman adrift in seedy Edwardian London.
The Adventures of Tom Sawyer - Mark Twain
Fun but of course very dated. I especially liked Aunt Polly.
Breath - Tim Winton
A fascinating look into the thrill-seeking mind.
3 stars:
Madame Solario - Gladys Huntington
A powerful story in its essence, but too slow for me, and hard to sympathise with a very passive main character.
Added this month = 7
Read this month = 7
Currently on TBR = 226
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Post by rosemary3 on Sept 1, 2018 18:29:13 GMT
Added August 2018:
The Lambs of London - Peter Ackroyd
Mapp and Lucia - E F Benson
Fool Me Once - Harlan Coben (e)
Dark Matter - Blake Crouch
Mr Harrison's Confessions - Elizabeth Gaskell
The Man Within - Graham Greene
Deep Water - Patricia Highsmith
We Were Liars - E Lockhart
The Rise and Fall of Becky Sharp - Sarra Manning (e)
The Second Life of Amy Archer - R S Pateman
Experiences of an Irish RM - Somerville and Ross
Amy and Isabelle - Elizabeth Strout
The Martian - Andy Weir
The Misses Mallett - E H Young (e)
The Ballad of Trenchmouth Taggart - Glenn Taylor
Read in August 2018:
5 stars
The Go-Between - L.P. Hartley
Beautifully written painful coming-of-age story set in 1900.
Gilead - Marilynne Robinson
I loved this story of religious faith in a man writing a letter to the son he won't live to see grow up.
4 stars
Long Live Great Bardfield - Tirzah Garwood
Interesting autobiography of an artist married to another artist in the first half of the 20th century. Persephone.
At Mrs Lippincote's - Elizabeth Taylor
Interesting first novel about an unfulfilling marriage.
The Ballad of Trenchmouth Taggart - Glenn Taylor
Enjoyable "tall tale" of a rebellious character in West Virginia spanning the 20th century.
3 stars
Home - Marilynne Robinson
A little disappointing after Gilead. I wanted to know what happened next, not read the same events from another point of view.
Lustrum - Robert Harris
Well written, but I didn't think this one had the impact of the first in the series.
Cocaine Nights - J.G. Ballard
Not as gruesome as Crash, but another group of people getting up to nasty things for kicks.
2 stars
All the Pretty Horses - Cormac McCarthy
A worthy western, but not quite my thing.
Girl Meets Boy - Ali Smith
Disappointed. Instalove type of romance with no conflict, and the main character breaks the spines of books in bookshops for fun! 
Books added = 15
Books read = 9
Currently on TBR = 229
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Post by rosemary3 on Oct 1, 2018 18:42:20 GMT
Added September 2018:
Despised and Rejected - Rose Allatini
Kim - Rudyard Kipling
Phantastes - George Macdonald (e)
The Ruin - Dervla McTiernan (e)
Etta Mae's Worst Bad Luck Day - Ann B Ross
Miss Julia Lays Down the Law - Ann B Ross
Miss Julia Inherits a Mess - Ann B Ross
A View of the Harbour - Elizabeth Taylor
History of the Rain - Niall Williams
Notes from Underground - Fyodor Dostoevsky
Lethal White - Robert Galbraith
How To Stop Time - Matt Haig
Read September 2018:
5 stars:
The Pillars of the Earth - Ken Follett
Long but so addictive!
Lethal White - Robert Galbraith
A real page-turner! Love the White Horse connection. Maybe longer than it needed to be ... but that means bonus pages!
Two Boys Kissing - David Levithan
The main story is cute - two boys trying to break the world record for the longest kiss. There's a "Greek chorus" of AIDS ghost voices which was totally unexpected for me, but very powerful.
4 stars:
Fidelity - Susan Glaspell
In a small American town before the First World War, a young woman's affair with a married man has consequences that ripple out to affect many people for many years.
2001: A Space Odyssey - Arthur C. Clarke
Epic scifi. All I remember from the film is Hal the computer, so I was surprised he only has a small part. More explanation in the book.
We Were Liars - E Lockhart
Great YA with a twist.
Palladian - Elizabeth Taylor
An odd, gloomy story of a dysfunctional extended family in a decrepit country house.
How to Be Brave - Louise Beech
A simple but very affecting story of a mother and daughter coming to terms with the child's diabetes interspersed with a based-on-fact story of their sailor ancestor adrift at sea during World War II.
City of Bones - Michael Connelly
My first Harry Bosch and I enjoyed it, would definitely read more.
The Sealed Letter - Emma Donoghue
I really enjoyed this based-on-fact story of the intrigues behind a notorious Victorian divorce case.
Turtles All the Way Down - John Green
A great YA author tackles OCD.
Miss Julia Rocks the Cradle - Ann B. Ross
Another nice read in the series. Hazel Marie has her twins, but someone is forging Miss Julia's cheques, and there's a dead body in a wood shed.
3 stars:
Notes from Underground - Fyodor Dostoevsky
A deeply unsympathetic narrator explores his own intense, tormented mind, full of self-loathing.
How To Stop Time - Matt Haig
A nice idea, but I think it could have been done better.
2 stars:
The Martian - Andy Weir
The NASA side was interesting, but I found the main character annoying and childish.
Books added in September = 12
Books read in September = 15
Currently on TBR = 227
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Post by rosemary3 on Nov 1, 2018 14:12:54 GMT
Added in October 2018:
Never Mind the Bullocks - Vanessa Able (e)
The Hunt for Red October - Tom Clancy
Stamboul Train - Graham Greene
Buddenbrooks - Thomas Mann
The Nature of Consciousness - Rupert Spira
Cryptonomicon - Neal Stephenson
The Happy Prince and Other Stories - Oscar Wilde
Travels With My Aunt - Graham Greene
Tin Man - Sarah Winman
Read in October 2018:
5 stars:
Tin Man - Sarah Winman
I loved this! It helped having it set in East Oxford where I live, and I was touched by the story of the three loving friends.
History of the Rain - Niall Williams
A lovely but tragic story set in County Clare, with beautiful prose that meanders like the river.
4 stars:
Travels With My Aunt - Graham Greene
Aunt Augusta is hilarious and gave me lots of laughs. Thanks again to book fairy!
A View of the Harbour - Elizabeth Taylor
A cast of unhappy characters in a run-down English seaside town.
3 stars:
After You - Jojo Moyes
Enjoyable enough, but I found it bland after 'Me Before You', lacking the magic ingredient that was Will and his situation.
Books added = 9
Books read = 5
Currently on TBR = 233
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Post by rosemary3 on Dec 6, 2018 9:33:26 GMT
Added November 2018:
Call Me By Your Name - André Aciman (e)
The Girl With All the Gifts - M R Carey (e)
Sometimes I Lie - Alice Feeney
England Made Me - Graham Greene
Miss Phryne Fisher Investigates - Kerry Greenwood (e)
The Left-handed Woman - Peter Handke
Tory Heaven - Marghanita Laski
The Screwtape Letters - C S Lewis
Hour of the Star - Clarice Lispector
The Wife Between Us - Greer Hendricks & Sarah Pekkanen (e)
The Man Who Loved Children - Christina Stead
Young Anne - Dorothy Whipple
Diamond Boy - Michael Williams
The Call - Edith Ayrton Zangwill
Dead Babies - Martin Amis
The Santa Klaus Murder - Mavis Doriel Hay
Read in November:
5 stars:
Bilgewater - Jane Gardam
A lovely coming-of-age story of an awkward girl growing up in a boys' boarding school.
The Robber Bridegroom - Eudora Welty
A lovely fairy tale of the American South where a bandit falls for a planter's daughter.
4 stars:
The Santa Klaus Murder - Mavis Doriel Hay
An enjoyable British Library classic murder mystery from the 1930s. Thanks, Mrs Mac!
Freedom - Jonathan Franzen
American family saga. I enjoyed this much more than The Corrections, the other one of his I've read.
Stamboul Train - Graham Greene
Tangled lives on the Orient Express.
The Nature of Consciousness - Rupert Spira
Interesting challenge of our materialist view of the world.
3 stars:
The Road Home - Rose Tremain
I enjoyed this story of an Eastern European immigrant in London, but I've read others of hers that I liked better.
City of God - E.L. Doctorow
Some very moving parts and some very confusing parts. Just scraped 3 stars.
Girl, 15, Charming but Insane - Sue Limb
Teen comedy that for me was a mixture of funny and annoying.
On Beauty - Zadie Smith
Focuses on a middle-aged college professor and his family, infidelities and academic rivalries.
Tourist Season - Carl Hiaasen
A crazed journalist starts murdering tourists to keep Florida for the wildlife. Amusing in a silly way.
2 stars:
Dead Babies - Martin Amis
Not sure why I keep reading Martin Amis. Just so cruel. This one was like Vile Bodies with more (much more) sex and violence.
Added November = 16
Read in November = 12
Currently on TBR = 233
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Post by janetandjohn on Dec 6, 2018 10:37:36 GMT
Not sure why I keep reading Martin Amis. Just so cruel. This one was like Vile Bodies with more (much more) sex and violence.
Mmmm - only ever read one of his, and hated every page.  |
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Post by janetandjohn on Dec 29, 2018 16:37:02 GMT
Rosemary, I have just deleted a post from a guest with a link which may or may not be something which screws things up. It was a STRANGER DANGER!kind of feeling, and rather than post to say please do not click on the link I removed it altogether. |
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Post by rosemary3 on Dec 29, 2018 19:46:13 GMT
Thank you, Mrs Mac! I don't want any phishers or spammers on my thread  |
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I would have thought something much ruder than that!! 
