Group Reading Log: December 2011

Happy summer to you all!



I'm still reading Kate Grenville's The Secret River. Excellent book.

I finally got around to Tears of the Giraffe by Alexander McCall Smith. I've had it for years & the TV series prompted me to re-read No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency & continue with the second book. I think I'm enjoying them even more now that I've seen Precious in the flesh, so to speak.

I also finished Elegance by Kathleen Tessaro last night. It was quite a nice read even if I did feel like slapping the heroine a few times. I enjoyed the ending.

I'm now reading Death's Acre by William Bass. It gives you an inside look at the 'Body Farm', how it came into being, some of the problems that crop up regularly regarding ethics & smells, & how Bass became a forensic anthropologist. Quite interesting & not for the faint-hearted as it describes in detail what happens to the bodies being studied.

So nice to be able to read guilt-free.

Oh, I liked Elegance too, got a copy through bookcrossing many years ago. I also liked her Innocence, and I thought it was slightly superior. Haven't read any of her others, though.

Death's Acre sounds good!

I remember that wonderful feeling of freedom post-exams. While I miss that feeling, I don't miss the exams!

Mercifully, I have finally finished 1Q84 and think that I deserve a medal .

The scary thing is that the hero and heroine are standing, holding hands in a world which could be the real one but could also be another parallel world where weird things happen and I can see another book coming.

Murakami has left the ending so open and so many things unresolved that it seems like a very unfinished story. Maybe the prose was beautiful (for that, read "boring") although he seemed to repeat himself rather a lot but he had a fixation on micturation, perspiration and ejaculation; he forgot nose blowing though, for which we must be thankful.

Pink, you DO deserve a medal! :)

Haven't heard much great about 1Q84, I may skip it for the time being.

Finished The Secret River and it was brilliant.

Started Fall Girl by Toni Jordan.

What on earth is micturation? I think my next stop will be google...

I have finished The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd. Set during the civil rights era, The Secret Life of Bees is a coming-of-age story about a young girl as she stuggles to make sense of her past, her present and the changing world around her. Though racial issues form a backdrop to the story and do trigger some events, this is not the main theme of this novel. Rather this book is about journeys - physical journeys, emotional journeys and the journey of understanding that happens to us all as we grow up. I highly recommend this book for adults and young adults alike.

I am currently reading The First Time by Joy Fielding, The Reunion by Sue Walker and The Plot Against America by Philip Roth. I am also still reading Essential Asatru, though I am considering whether it is time to quit.

Micturition is peeing. Sorry, I spelled it wrong before. There was a lot of peeing, f***ing and sweating, most of it totally unnecesary to the story.

At the moment I am re-reading The Wee Free Men by Terry Pratchett while my Kobo recharges.

P.S. (The spell checker thinks that micturition should be parturition - which will be in the next book since the heroine managed to get pregnant by remote control. Don't ask ... )

Thank you pinkozcat. The heroine got pregnant by remote control? Sounds like a very...er...interesting? story.

seldombites, yes, I though The Secret Life of Bees was a rather good read when I read it a few years ago.

I'm puzzled by pregnancy-through-remote-control too! But, yeah, Murakami is a bit like that at times.

Finished Fall Girl (just in time for bookgroup discussion!) and it was a good fun read. Fell apart a bit at the end (the hero just never quite rang true for me), and you have to cope with reading about people who rip other people off (and my Aunt was taken advantage of recently, so that's a slightly sore subject for me, although mainly because it was due to her Alzheimer's - money's just money and she's got plenty of it, but to take advantage of someone who isn't in their right mind makes me rather mad). But the fun bits were lots of fun, and I'm forgiving the faults.

Moving on to Empire of the Sun by JG Ballard. I hope I like it more than his Crash which was horrid!

I have downloaded the latest Stephanie Plum book Explosive Eighteen and two more Peter Tremayne Sister Fidelma books but haven't started any of them yet.

Instead I've been delving into the past to prove that a very very distant cousin, who sent me a very very rude email, was wrong with her facts. So was I but I could just delete the husband I had listed and I sent the cousin all the details which show that this distant aunt probably died unmarried.

A bit like tennis - now she has to send me concrete evidence that the husband she prefers actually existed. All good fun ...

All good fun, apart from the "very very rude email", I would think! :)

Explosive Eighteen was a good, amusing and fast read and better than some of the previous Stephanie Plum books.

Now I will start on the Peter Tremayne books.

Going very (very) slowly through Empire of the Sun. I think I'm into the rhythm now, but it's been such an emotion-less book, yet describing some fairly horrific things that I'm having difficulties. My expectations of what should be occurring (fairly ordinary stuff, given the descriptive style) is not matching what is actually happening (wartime horrors).

It's... strange. But much more accessible than Crash which was ick, IMO.

Wet weather isn't helping, the kids haven't been giving me any time to myself! We're all going a bit rain-crazy.

I've finished reading A Prayer for the Damned by Peter Tremayne and have just started on The Monk who Vanished, also by Peter Tremayne.

A Prayer for the Damned was the best of the series which I have read so far; it is too early to comment on The Monk who Vanished just yet.

Forgot to mention, I also knocked over a graphic novel on the weekend, Blacksad. Noir crime, with anthropomorphic animals. The first two stories were good, the third one had me a bit muddled with who the (animal) characters were meant to represent in the real world. I felt it was a thinly veiled depiction of real world events/people, but couldn't quite place them. Still, not a bad read at all.

I'm a bit cranky because I just found out that livingsocial has shut down. I'd written so many reviews there which have now been lost. Apparently we were given a chance to get our data but I don't remember receiving an email. Anyways.... moving on.

I just finished the night circus which I really enjoyed. It was really well paced and the descriptions of the magical tents were intriguing. I'm notorious for reading ahead in novels if I want to know what happens at the end. Although, truthfully, it's much harder to do that on a kindle.

I've just downloaded and started the marriage plot. Now that I'm not bookcrossing as much I'm finding it very difficult to decide what to read next.

The Monk who Vanished was a confusing book with a very muddled plot. I had a pretty good idea whodunnit but it was all rather a struggle to get to the end.

I can relate to fushmush's comment about reading the end, before the middle, on a kindle. I have a kobo and if things are too bad I simply abandon and delete that particular book. I can always re-load if I get the urge to finish later.

I have looked at the latest offerings on e-book and found them wanting so I have started A for Alibi, the first of the Kinsey Milhone books by Sue Grafton. I never read them in order and have certainly missed some along the way. It is a nice, easy read and I'm enjoying it so far.

I started at A a few years back, I think Grafton was up to S at the time. By the time I got to Q I was fed up to the back teeth with Kinsey & decided I never had to read one again.

I've finished A is for Alibi and B is for Burglary and have gone back to Sister Fidelma and Dancing with Demons. Touchstones don't recognise that one so - it was written by Peter Tremayne.

Finished Empire of the Sun. Can't say I enjoyed it, but it was a fascinating story.

Then knocked off House of Sticks over the weekend, a good read, recommended to anyone who has suffered through nighttime feeds and crying babies, she *nailed* the experience.

Have just started The Battle of the Villa Fiorita by Rumer Godden.

Looking forward to Christmas. Am feeling very much over work for the year.

I've just finished a few books, so bear with me.

First, is The First Time by Joy Fielding. This book is surprisingly good. It is well-written, the characters are well-developed and the plot is very real and believable. The ending reflects reality in that it isn't all flowers and sunshine. There are many hearstring moments so keep your tissues handy. Worth reading.

The second book I finished is The Reunion by Sue Walker. The Reunion is unpredictable and intriguing. The plot, which jumps back and forth in time, is quite complex. The writing is gripping and easy to read, the characters engaging and realistic. This book will have you thinking long after you are finished reading.

Next is The Plot Against America by Philip Roth. Written like an autobiography, this novel portrays an interesting alternative history. Like any normal autobiography, there are periods where life is dull and the story becomes a little slow, but overall the book is quite readable. One thing I particularly liked about this, is the fact that the author included a section at the end relaying the actual history. It saved me lots of googling time!

I also finished reading Why Do Men Have Nipples? by Mark Leyner & Billy Goldberg, M.D.. This book is both amusing and informative. A few of the questions weren't really fully answered to my satisfaction, but I did pick up quite a few fun facts. I found the chat intermissions a little annoying at first, but I soon grew used to them and relaxed into the humour break. This book is well worth reading and I will be looking up their other books at some point in the future.

Finally, I finished reading Bitten: Bites and Stings from Around the World by Dr. Pamela Nagami. Definitely not for the sqeamish, this book covers various types of bites and stings from around the world, and provides graphic case studies for each one. From spiders to mosquitos, from snakes to dogs, Bitten tells us exactly how each type of bite or sting affects humans and why. By the time you finish reading this book, you will never look at another creature in the same way again.

I am currently reading Eye for an Eye by William Ian Miller and I am still reading Essential Asatru.

I've enjoyed Joy Fielding before, but it's been her thrillers. This sounds rather un-thriller-esque...

I'm still going on The Battle of the Villa Fiorita, and I'm beginning to think I'd be happier reading something else. Hopefully will finish it tonight though, I don't like not finishing books and I do like the plot and characters, I'm just finding the writing feels rather patronising.

That's right, wookiebender, The First Time is definitely not a thriller. It's more of a romance if I had to categorise it, though that doesn't fully describe the depth of the novel.

Gosh, it gets busy this time of year, doesn't it? A very belated Merry Christmas to you all!

I did finish The Battle of the Villa Fiorita and I liked it more the more I read. It was an interesting story, and it finally lost that patronising tone that marred the first half.

Then I quickly knocked off A Christmas Carol which was a great, fun read. Looking forward to tackling more Dickens next year!

And am now thoroughly enjoying The Tenderness of Wolves.

I am reading The Book of Books by Melvyn Bragg, (a Christmas present) interspersed with Wicked Appetite by Janet Evanovich and The Cat's Table by Michael Ondaatje.

I thoroughly enjoyed The Tenderness of Wolves wookie. It may also cool you down a bit as you read it in this hot weather. Everyone traipsing through the snow after each other...

Is it hot your way? It's forecast to be 38C here today, and almost 40C in Perth *waves to pinkozcat*. Actually it will most likely be 40C here too as the forecast is for the next town along, and we're always 2-3C hotter where we live.

I'm *STILL* going with Shantaram. Was hoping to have it out of the way before the New Year, but I keep getting sidetracked by picking up other books and reading them instead. ;-) It's funny 'cos I enjoy it while I read it, but can only manage a chapter at a time (they're pretty long chapters though) and then I need a break. Was thinking the other day, "good, I'm almost there" (in terms of % of book left to read) and then discovered it was "only" another 245 pages to go! That's a whole other book! Have you finished listening to it yet, Carole?

Hot weather??? Maybe over on the west coast you're having hot weather, but I'm still in jeans and haven't bothered moving the doona from the bed as yet. Weirdest December weather ever. At least the rain finally stopped, just in time for Christmas day.

I'm now dreading Jan/Feb, that hot weather has to strike at some time...