peppercricket
Book Assistant
Batley Townswoman's Guild presents the Battle of Pearl Harbour
Posts: 7,073 
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Post by peppercricket on Nov 24, 2023 13:04:01 GMT
What is currently gripping your attention this dark ole month of December. Or not, as the case may be...  |
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Post by windysisters on Dec 1, 2023 13:44:14 GMT
I'm still chugging on with The Running Grave - enjoying it but there's a lot of pages!
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Post by sarita on Dec 1, 2023 15:28:04 GMT
Carrying over Martin Eden by Jack London in audio and The Fall of Hyperion by Dan Simmons.
Had little time to read this week, hope to do better next week.
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Post by eightlegs on Dec 1, 2023 21:52:59 GMT
Carrying over 11.22.63 - Stephen King and I've started Mrs Harris goes to New York - Paul Gallico
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Post by adelynechan on Dec 1, 2023 22:35:11 GMT
Decided against Hush Hush as it's Book #4 in a series that I haven't read the first book of, instead started Everything But The Truth by Gillian McAllister. It's very weird and I don't really have a clue what is going on - the premise is of a loving couple though for the life of me I can't understand what she sees in him - but I do like McAllister and still have faith that it will become clearer in due time.
Also still listening to The Fixer by Claudia Carroll, and the NF Show Me The Bodies by Peter Apps. Though work has left me with very little reading time of late.
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Post by sarita on Dec 2, 2023 20:48:33 GMT
Finished Martin Eden at last. Very hard to rate and totally out of my comfort zone.
I gave it 5* even though some parts were very repetitive and slow. However other parts were truly amazing, superb characters dissection and extremely well researched. I can see why this book is considered London's masterpiece.
Now starting The Serpent by Claire North.
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Post by froglady on Dec 3, 2023 18:07:26 GMT
I have been struggling over the past few days - failing to finish books and starting other books and not getting gripped by them and then I found The Post Box at the North Pole by Jaimie Admans and started reading that and loved it! Very atmospheric as I felt cold while I was reading it and then very surprised when I opened my front door this morning that the drive wasn't knee deep in snow! Must look out for more books by this author.
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Post by froglady on Dec 3, 2023 18:19:04 GMT
Now reading Pink Lemonade Cake Murder by Joanna Fluke.
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Post by rosemary3 on Dec 3, 2023 20:41:31 GMT
I'm reading A Home at the End of the World by Michael Cunningham. This was written before his award-winning The Hours, and tells of a kind of triangle/"found family" situation with a gay man, his older female best friend, and his childhood friend/first boyfriend. Some of the characters seem to be asexual, and the relationships wouldn't be surprising today, but this is from over 30 years ago and must have been groundbreaking at the time.
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Post by sarita on Dec 5, 2023 15:31:37 GMT
Gave up on The Fall of Hyperion after 100 pages. I would have loved to persevere but the author’s wild imagination led him to such complexity it drove me crazy. It felt like reading some unintelligible text written in normal alphabet!
Starting The Collected Regrets of Clover by Mikki Brammer.
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Post by adelynechan on Dec 5, 2023 23:19:11 GMT
Finished listening to The Fixer by Claudia Carroll, which has a great concept of Meg as a "fixer" i.e. someone that removes problematic people from her clients' lives. Not by murdering them as the title may initially imply, instead using psychological manipulation and essentially coaxing the target to bugger off on their own accord. It did grow on me and I thought ended very strongly, but I only gave 3* because of the veeerrryy slow start.
Also finished reading Gillian McAllister's Everything But The Truth - she's one of my favourite authors because of how different the plotlines in her stories typically are. I found this one took concentration initially as it was hard to figure out where all the different characters fit into one another (the fact that they were deceiving one another didn't help), but it was well worth the effort and although the ending was "softer" than I was expecting, it was a touch that I thought worked well. Not quite my favourite of hers, but still a solid 4*.
Then I started listening to The Cruise by Catherine Cooper, which I also have a tree copy of but couldn't resist as it came up on my Borrowbox and I love books narrated by a full cast. 3 hours in, brilliant so far.
And I've started reading Murder Games by James Patterson and Howard Roughan.
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Post by windysisters on Dec 6, 2023 8:57:40 GMT
I finished The Running Grave yesterday afternoon. I enjoyed it immensely but do think she could trim down the words!
At bedtime I started Needless Alley by Natalie Marlow Only read about 25 pages as the prose takes a bit of getting used to - it's quite different from Robert Galbraith
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Post by rosemary3 on Dec 6, 2023 20:57:31 GMT
I've started a Margery Allingham, Mystery Mile. Her detective, Albert Campion, is not a favourite of mine but I have this omnibus of three books so I have to finish it, right?  and maybe the actual mysteries will be okay. |
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Post by adelynechan on Dec 7, 2023 22:51:45 GMT
Finished Murder Games by James Patterson & Howard Roughan, which was alright. I always find that there is that baseline level of enjoyment that I get with a Patterson book, but this one was not that much above. I just didn't really buy into the whole "grudging partnership" between Reinhart and Needham, though I did enjoy the logic that the case took. Didn't help that this deviates from the typical Patterson style of short chapters, I thought it could have done with a bit of snappiness that that format always evokes.
Up next will be How to Fall in Love by Cecelia Ahern.
Also finished listening to The Cruise by Catherine Cooper, which is fantastic as an audiobook. I have read and enjoyed several of hers previously but listening to a full-cast narration adds an additional layer to the experience, and I loved every minute of it.
Next audiobook will be Too Close by Gayle Curtis.
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Post by windysisters on Dec 8, 2023 10:43:23 GMT
I've given up on Needless Alley - just not finding it readable at the moment. I might try again in the future.
Instead I plan to move onto Death and Croissants by Ian Moore
Richard is a middle-aged Englishman who runs a B&B in the fictional Val de Follet in the Loire Valley. Nothing ever happens to Richard, and really that’s the way he likes it.
One day, however, one of his older guests disappears, leaving behind a bloody handprint on the wallpaper. Another guest, the enigmatic Valérie, persuades a reluctant Richard to join her in investigating the disappearance.
Then things become really serious and someone murders Ava Gardner, one of his beloved hens. The disappearance of a guest is one thing, but you don’t mess with a fellow’s hens!
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and maybe the actual mysteries will be okay.