Group Reading Log: July 2011

I have taken the liberty of starting this new thread as it is now almost 9.00pm Western time.

I have been trying to read Night Work by Laurie R King and have given up after reading only 13%. Pity about that but I was very bored by it and I have the new Janet Evanovich book waiting in the wings.

Oops!! I did it again - posted in the June thread on 1st July... ;-)

So here is what I said, seeing as the other thread is now dead.

Faceless Killers was an OK read and a bit different from the usual US and UK police procedurals. I think that the translation was a bit clunky though. I did enjoy it but not enough to go racing off immediately to read the next in the series which is waiting on the shelf.

Then I moved on to Follow the Rabbit-Proof Fence. This could have been such a wonderful story... In fact it is a wonderful (and true) story, but the book suffered greatly from exceeding poor writing. Such a shame. I haven't seen the film, and have no idea whether the book was read all that much prior to the film raising its profile, but I suspect not?

Now I'm reading Bel Canto for Orange July. You'll note that Shantaram still hasn't got a look in. *lol* I think that perhaps I should go searching for the audio version too, otherwise it will never be read...

I've started on Smokin' Seventeen by Janet Evanovich but haven't read enough to comment on it so far.

I might get back to Night Work at some stage but not yet.

Yay for July! Halfway through the year, where has the time gone??

Still reading The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet. It's gotten very fascinating (we're no longer discussing financial corruption, which helps) but I'm finding it hard to find reading time as I'm on holidays with the kids and am doing my usual clean-the-house routine. I'll get fed up with cleaning soon and make time for reading, but hopefully not until I've vacuumed the stairs, scrubbed the shower, and cleaned the upstairs windows.

Smokin' Seventeen is better than some of Janet Evanovich's later books. I thought that she had done Stephanie Plum to death but she has got rid of most of the odd-ball characters and mostly it is just Mooner ambling through the book; and Lula ...

However, this book is much more "adult" than the others in the series.

wookie, I did love Bel Canto very much. A lovely book. Of course you just knew it could never end happily. I thought the epilogue wasn't totally realistic though.

Now I'm reading Postcards from Surfers, a book of short stories by Helen Garner.

I am back to reading Night Work which I am finding a bit too "politically correct" with long stretches in which the main characters socialise in turgid detail.

However, the detective part is OK and I have almost finished it. In future I will stick to King's Mary Russell series and avoid the Kate Martinelli books.

Finished The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet. A bit of a mish mash of plots, and oh so many characters and I discovered the character list at the end of the book a bit too late, but a very good read once I got past the very slow opening third or so. So, if you're tempted to ever read it, do stick with it past the whole financial corruption bit.

Next up is As the Earth Turns Silver by Alison Wong which won the NZ literary prize (The Montana or the NZ Post or some such) last year. This is a book group read, and I'm looking forward to it.

Finished As the Earth Turns Silver and it was good, but I think I was hoping for something more. Silly raised expectations!

Have returned to The Thirty Nine Steps as it's on my iPad and I'm not carrying many books. And yay! the anti-Jewish tirade has been mentioned as being part of one particular character's hang ups, not a real thing. Still, the modern reader in me would have preferred Richard Hannay to have challenged him on it. Oh well, can't have everything.

Postcards from Surfers was an interesting little book of short stories. Very Australian (although not all the stories are set in Australia), very 80s, and very much Helen Garner.

I'm now reading Dragon Bones: Two Years Beneath the Skin of a Himalayan Kingdom, which is a LT early reviewers book. Unfortunately it's not as good as I'd hoped. The ER books really seem to be a very mixed bag.

I've given up on ER books mostly. I'm peeved that the US/UK residents get such a better selection than we do! Not that that's LT's fault, it's the publishers who have to cough up the postage costs, but when you see what books they get! I go awfully green with envy. I haven't bothered putting my hand up for a ER book for quite some time.

Couldn't agree more, wookie. I've stopped looking at the whole list for that reason and just set it to list what's available for Australia. I was sick of being a horrible green colour. ;-)

When you do that they are mostly e-books, and as I don't have an e-book reader...

I haven't requested one for ages either but this one is about Bhutan and the country has interested me for a while. Must say I was surprised to get it, but it's an Australian author so I guess that figures. I seem to remember that you and I both got another one a while back by an Australian author that was a real shocker. I couldn't finish that one.

Oh, don't remind me of that shocker! I didn't finish mine either, it was dreadful.

Okay, back from holidays now, didn't get much further reading done while I was away. Finished The Thirty Nine Steps and enjoyed it mostly. (You all know the bits I didn't enjoy. :)

Holidays were fabulous (Grafton to visit Don's Mum; Gold Coast for SeaWorld and the kids are now dolphin mad; Byron Bay where we saw whales off to sea and dolphins in the surf; then back to Sydney), and I'm regretting not getting a few extra days off when the kids are back at school to recuperate fully. Bum.

When I got home, I picked up the 900 page The Swarm which is due back at the library one day. It's enormous, but quite fascinating reading (apart from the endlessly clunky exposition about biology and oil exploration in the North Sea). It's a 1001 book, and I'm curious why, but I won't read the explanation until I've finished the book.

I am reading Uniform Justice by Donna Leon. I really enjoy her books but I am reading the last of them which are on my Kobo and the Kobo site has stuffed up my last purchase so that I have no way of downloading the new books.

It looks as though I will be back to reading The Charlemagne Legends if they don't fix the problem soon.

I am moving house in two weeks and am downsizing everything at the moment so I don't want to buy any proper books at this stage.

Finished Dragon Bones and while I really tried to like it, could only give it **1/2. My review is on LT if anyone is interested but I won't repeat myself here. I could have gone on further about it, but didn't. Interestly, the author himself has written a 'review' (is that allowed?) justifying his approach and trying to counter some of the negative responses of reviewers.

Now reading Purple Hibiscus which is a wonderfully written book with a real arsehole of a character as the father. I love Adichie's writing - so fluid and intelligent.

Pink, are they trying to fix the Kobo download problem? Sounds very (VERY) annoying.

crimson-tide, good review. Looks like you're not the only one with the same thoughts, either. It's interesting that the author has written his own "review", and while that may not be the spirit in which the reviews are supposed to be written, he hasn't been offensive (attacking particular reviewers) and he doesn't really have a forum to write his own comments, so he may as well use this one for a dialogue.

I've had Purple Hibiscus on the shelves for far too long. One day.

I have an item number from Kobo but they said that there could be some delay as they had received a large number of complaints to deal with and could take some time to get to mine.

I believe them ... I had problems logging on and although the transactions went through (I've checked my bank records) they were rejected the first time I tried.

Obviously, the site itself was stuffed ...

"Stuffed" is a nice way of putting it, methinks. What a disaster! Good luck with it.

I have just finished The Bone Collector and The Coffin Dancer by Jeffery Deaver. Not as gripping as I expected & I find Lincoln Rhyme repellent - & I'm not that keen on Amelia Sachs either. There's too much technical detail for my liking & it holds up the story while it's being explained. I'm not sure if I'll read any more, although I would be interested to see how the characters develop. I read The Sleeping Doll last year & really enjoyed that - perhaps because Kathryn Dance isn't supposed to be quite so perfect as Rhyme, or maybe the experience of the author.

I read The Schumann Frequency by Christopher Ride (Australian author) which was a fun read. Lots of adventure without terminal descriptive passages. The Chemistry of Death by Simon Beckett is another new author for me & I am now hunting for his others because I enjoyed this first book. I have also been introduced to Charlie Priest in Stuart Pawson's The Mushroom Man but I wasn't that impressed - I think the wisecracking got on my nerves - but I'll try another some time.

Other than that, I've been reading lots of Agatha Christie during my brief holidays so I guess I have been having a murder mystery fest all up. Not much thinking required - just what I need.

Back from holls in Adelaide ..... :) Stormy weather here today!! Read Fahrenheit 451 (first read for me) as my daughter is doing it at school and I was curious ..... Now reading book of short stories The Body ... ( I started from the back for I was told the stories at the back are not as heavy going as the main one (The Body) at the beginning. Really enjoyed The Coroner's Lunch which I read just before leaving and have got the next one in the series reserved from the library ..... (Thanks Wookie!!)
#15 (crimson-tide, .... I love Adichie's writing too)

Finished Purple Hibiscus a few days back. Wonderful book.

Now just starting The Tenderness of Wolves by Stef Penney. Thought I'd try to slip in another Orange book before the end of 'Orange July', though don't think I'll get it finished by the month's end.

I'm DETERMINED to finish The Swarm tonight. I've got 120 pages to go, and I'm damned if I'm going to carrry this tome to and from work for one more day. It's beginning to outstay its welcome, although I do still want to know how it's all going to resolve.

I'm currently getting all excited about the Booker Prize longlist: I already own one, and have two on reserve at the library... Shame there are no Australian authors nominated for the Booker this year, I always like starting with them first.

I'd only heard of one or two of the Booker longlist this year, which is unusual for me as an avid listener of 'The Book Show'. And very little crossover with the Orange Prize too, which I thought odd - or is that something to do with qualifying in terms of publishing dates?

The Booker Prize does seem to have gone for more unknown authors this year: we're usually aware of what the Big Authors are writing, but they're not on the 2011 list so much. (Or maybe they're not writing so much: it's been a while since the last Peter Carey, Iain McEwan, or Margaret Atwood.)

Have finished The Swarm. The good bits were very good; it was definitely of the zeitgeist and has possibly even changed my view of the world; it was fascinating stuff with all the science; and yay! for scientists saving the world by *working together*. The downside: OMG, I didn't need to know that much about DNA, that's obviously something that makes my eyes glaze over on any level for some reason. There were pacing issues with all the science explanations between the action-y bits. The characters weren't always well distinguished or fleshed out, although I did like our "main" character, Leon Anawak, who was nicely filled with all sorts of complexities. And 880 pages was just exhausting, it could have been trimmed somewhere, somehow, surely! And the ending was heading into a rather trippy area for a while, which was a bit much late at night last night.

Have started the much shorter :) The Tiger's Wife this morning. Early days, but a pretty good start.

I think I may just read short books for a while now.

I'm reading Fatal Remedies by Donna Leon. I love her books; there is a lot of humour which make me smile at the way a straight policemen works around a totally corrupt administration and a hostile boss. Guido Brunetti is a Venetian and works for the Venice police. For anyone who likes "cosy crime" Leon is a real discovery.

In the dying minutes of July, I knocked off Unwritten by Mike Carey, a graphic novel about a man who discovers that he is actually a fictional character. Good stuff (Carey's also written the Lucifer series, which I liked).

Now I'd better go and start an August thread. Where does the time go??