Reading Books For Pleasure

got these delivered yesterday

The last book I read was Mastering The Art Of Soviet Cooking, part cookbook, part biography, part history. Raising Steam by Terry Pratchett next

Book kind of makes me think of this: https://www.jonessoda.com/

I finished Kalevala. It was a tedious read at times, because of the old language and the lyrical structure, but it was also really interesting and fun.

The Sudden Appearance of Hope by Claire North 3.75/5 (What kind of life would you have if everyone forgot you within 13 seconds of not seeing you?)

The Man in the High Castle by Phillip K. Dick 2/5 ( I really hate Dick books.)

A Taste for Nightshade by Martine Bailey 4/5 (Old recipes at the top of every chapter + decent story.)

Kindred: A Graphic Novel Adaptation by Damian Duffy (Adapter), Octavia E. Butler (Author), John Jennings (Illustrator) 4/5 (Even more vivid story in graphic novel)

The Adventures of Miss Petitfour by Anne Michaels 4/5 (Juvenile Novel absolutely charming.)

Wicked Charms: A Lizzy and Diesel Novel 4/5 by Janet Evanovich and Phoef Sutton (Silly fun.)

58.) The Gender Game 1 by Bella Forest 3/5 (Light version of The Gate to Women's Country, Y.A. horrible representation of what a Matriarchal society would be like. Actually a thinly disguised romance.)

The Living Dead Boy by Rhiannon Frater 4/5 + Bonus seeing eye dog short story (Juvenile Novel, great little zombie book will be reading more!)

So Long, Lollipops Until The End of the World Novella 5/5 by Sarah Lyons Fleming (When a character survived a sure death I was like no way but this novella satisfyingly explains what happened. Yay!)

And After (Until the End of the World, Book 2) 4/5 by Sarah Lyons Fleming (Other than the "if you love someone they must die" bullshit, I'm loving this series.)

Bill The Vampire (The Tome of Bill Book 1) 4/5 by Rick Gualtieri (Good take on Vampires so far. Will be reading more.)

Love, Loss, and What We Ate: A Memoir by Padma Lakshmi 5/5 (All my most pressing questions about Padma were answered. Reminder also that everyone is suffering even if we don't know how and all seems fine.)

Alcatraz Versus the Evil Librarians by Brandon Sanderson 3/5 (Juvenile Novel. Not sure how I feel about Sanderson being so mouthy with readers, some kids might love that.)

The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane by Kate DiCamillo 5/5 (Juvenile Novel loved it!)

The Golden Age of Matchbook Art Close Cover before striking by H. Thomas Steele, Jim Heimann, and Rod Dyer 3/5 (Very interesting history. My dad used to collect these.)

Amber Brown is Not a Crayon by Paula Danziger (Juvenile Novel funny, heartfelt)

The Writing Revolution : Cuneiform to the Internet by Amalia E. Gnanadesikan (Bit too scholarly for me. Fulfilled a reading scavenger hunt goal but only read a chapter.)

How would you rate this one? I too am a sucker for time travel stories. That being said, I like the good ones which are few and far apart it seems.

DeepGreenEyes said:

Sucker for time travel, so really enjoying "All Our Wrong Todays."

Think lovable loser travels backward from a perfect version of our world and fucks it up, so we get ... this.

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Sounds interesting.

seela said:

I finished Anna In w grobowcach świata by Olga Tokarczuk.

I don't know if it's been translated into English, but the title is something like "Anna In in the graves of the world". It's a modernized take on an old Sumerian story of the goddess Inanna going into the underworld and returning, with the classic Olga Tokarczuk spin on it of course.

Olga's language is beautiful and the stories she tell are weird and weirdly addicting, and this book delivered on both accounts. I highly recommend this one if you can find it!

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I want to read this whole series.

HisArpy said:

Welcome back FF..

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Thanks! I acknowledge I'm rarely here these days. Miss you all. Wish life were just a little less busy.

HisArpy said:

Heritage of Cyador by L.E. Modesitt Jr. I want to give this book a 4/5 but I can't. I also can't give it a 3.5/5 either. And 3.75 just doesn't fit anywhere.

The book is the second in a series about early Hamor in the Recluce series. The first book in this series was typical Modesitt; fast, well created, with good characters and lots of good stuff in there. This one was draggy. Much too much voice over narration in style.

But it's good too. Sorta. The ending was too fast with too little development but the book has to end someplace, right?

All in all, not bad, but...

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Never made it through that one. Maybe someday. Glad you are enjoying it.

Miles Long said:

About 1/6 of the way into The Historian. So far I am enjoying it.

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I'm sad to hear this.

HisArpy said:

Gentleman Jole and The Red Queen by Lois McMaster Bujold. 3/5

VERY disappointed in this book. It's the last book in the Miles Vorkosigan saga and doesn't live up to its predecessors. Not even close. It flatly and totally contradicts the earlier books at least twice and fails to deliver the action that the series was built upon. No intrigue, no chaos, no confusion - just a linear plot that plods along to a very predictable end.

You should read it if you've read the series, but I wouldn't buy this one first.

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WANT!

HisArpy said:

Cold Reign by Faith Hunter. 4/5. The next installment in the Jane Yellowrock series.

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White Oleander by Janet Fitch ~ just adore this book, the prose is so lyrical

FurryFury said:

WANT!

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Lol.

Try the Chloe Neill "Chigacoland Vampire" series. It's decent and there's something like 7 or 8 of them so far.

Maybe, looks a bit too romanc-y but maybe.

HisArpy said:

Lol.

Try the Chloe Neill "Chigacoland Vampire" series. It's decent and there's something like 7 or 8 of them so far.

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about halfway thru with "ishmael", on a dear friends reccy.

the second half of the book would have to make a miraculous turnaround to win my favor :-/

pete said:

about halfway thru with "ishmael", on a dear friends reccy.

the second half of the book would have to make a miraculous turnaround to win my favor :-/

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I remember really enjoying it when I was 14.

There were some things there that really made my little head spin and ponder. It was good stuff. Although I have to admit my memories of it are pretty hazy save for a few specific details that really stuck with me.

I don't think I want to read it again, though, it was too big an experience back then. I want to hold on to the dear memories of the feelings it evoked in me.

Last year I read a few books that were favorites when I was young and almost all of them are now ruined to me.

I'm currently listening to / reading Fanny Hill. I mostly treat it as an audiobook, but at times the language is just so difficult for me to follow that I have to read the text while I listen. I'm listening to it in English, so that explains the language problem for me.

seela said:

I remember really enjoying it when I was 14.

There were some things there that really made my little head spin and ponder. It was good stuff. Although I have to admit my memories of it are pretty hazy save for a few specific details that really stuck with me.

I don't think I want to read it again, though, it was too big an experience back then. I want to hold on to the dear memories of the feelings it evoked in me.

Last year I read a few books that were favorites when I was young and almost all of them are now ruined to me.

I'm currently listening to / reading Fanny Hill. I mostly treat it as an audiobook, but at times the language is just so difficult for me to follow that I have to read the text while I listen. I'm listening to it in English, so that explains the language problem for me.

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i'm glad you enjoyed it as a kid. so yes, probably best to let those pleasant memories live on.
sometimes, you can't go home again.

but then there are timeless classics that will never tarnish, and those are the real special works

i've never read 'fanny hill', but may have to give it a go one day

FurryFury said:

Maybe, looks a bit too romanc-y but maybe.

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It's a bit soft-ish but it's not a romance per se. And it's light and not very consistent, the vamnps practice with swords and martial arts to be these uber warriors with more than human strength, yet they keep getting their butts kicked by humans with no prowess or skills.

But it's decent. Not great, but decent. Light and fun reading. At least for me.

I'm reading in Swedish again after a long break. Ugh, I think it's gonna take a while for me to get back into the groove. I'm enjoying the book I'm reading so far, though.

And I'm still still reading/listening to Fanny Hill as well, but I really need a break from it from time to time. Turns out 18th century English is a toughie for me. Who would have thunk?

The novel is titled Blood to Blood and it's written by Elaine Bergstrom. The pages are yellowed and it has typos. It looks like something you could buy for $5.00. A lot of people are confused as to how I read - I hate the idea of someone just rolling a million miles an hour over a book or a movie and not paying attention. to me, of course.)

The last book I finished was difficult because of the subject; this book has a little more trouble with the writing, but the pace is laid out nicely. You can read that there's too much detail where the author is generating the movement in her characters, but that she expects you to read over it. She's obviously familiar with what she's writing about though, which is something I think is important. I also immediately identified with one of her characters, which makes me want to keep reading. It's about vampires.

100 Days of Solitude...sometimes life surprises me...I'm really enjoying this. Good writing.

Janet Evanovich's Stephanie Plum series
It's a quick grab whenever I need something to laugh about; a femme Laurel & Hardy-esque comedic storyline.

twister947 said:

100 Days of Solitude...sometimes life surprises me...I'm really enjoying this. Good writing.

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days? or years?

finished "ishmael", put it back on the shelf where it shall collect decades of dust and never be thought of again.

started "cry, the beloved country'
looking forward to it

^^^Days.
http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/25748341-100-days-of-solitude

Bossypants by Tina Fey 3/5

Winter of the World by Ken Follett 5/5

Love the series, it's so funny!

celticlady said:

Janet Evanovich's Stephanie Plum series
It's a quick grab whenever I need something to laugh about; a femme Laurel & Hardy-esque comedic storyline.

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The Things They Carried by Tim O'Brien 3/5

This is not my kind of book. This is why I join book clubs to get out of my reading comfort zone now and then. To also visit worlds I would otherwise never get to visit. It was very interesting even if I didn't love it. I'm glad I read it.


73.) Ithinar's Bloom: Book One of the Guardian Vambrace by H Jane Harrington 5/5

A rare and wonderful first time novel from a fantastic mind. I will be reading more in this fantasy series. I love finding books no one else knows about yet.


74.) Dexter's Final Cut (Dexter, #7) by Jeff Lindsay 4/5


I hated the third Dexter book where it delved into some stupid supernatural crap that was inconsistent with the other books. Happily book four picked up where it should have and that mistake wasn't repeated.

I would have rated this one higher if it hadn't done a cliffhanger on me. Also Dexter is pissing me off being oblivious to Astor and what her "dark passenger" clearly is, not picking up on the subtext between Astor and that actor.

Dexter also keeps promising Cody and Astor that he will train them but not doing it. This really pisses me off as well. I was happy that Rita didn't die in the books when she did in the TV show and in this book she did die. I wasn't happy with that or with Dexter thinking of just dropping Rita and the kids for life in L.A. All of that bothered but I still enjoyed the book overall. Hoping that the last book will answer some questions and redeem the novel series. The last episode of the TV show sure didn't.


75.) Miss Julia Hits the Road (Miss Julia, #4) by Ann B. Ross 5/5

This books are comfort food for me. This is the way a small town would be ideally. It's funny, quirky and loving. Miss Julia is a great 70 and over character. That's rare. Other than Miss Julia, I can only think of Jame Lee Burke's kick ass guys Clete and Dave.