Reading Books For Pleasure

[FurryFury]

I get that! I do think the movie might be better than the book. In bookclubs that regularly pick books I can't stand I do leave. In this one, no one liked it. These are my people!

**Ghosts I Have Been** by Richard Peck 4/5 Surprisingly good juvenile novel

**An Unkindness of Ghosts** by Rivers Solomon 2/5 Didn't appeal much as I saw answers I wanted them to do but which they couldn't see, early one.

Le Petit Prince by Joann Sfar 2/5 The graphic novel version, oddly less appealing

Six of Crows (Six of Crows, #1) by Leigh Bardugo 3/5 Hard to get into but enjoyed it until it just left off. YA

Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell 4/5 Really enjoyable YA

Post-Traumatic Church Syndrome: A Memoir of Humor and Healing
by Reba Riley 2/5 Thought I had a funny book about rejecting religion. Turned into a book about how all religions were fine, some really kewl. This is something we need in our society now IMO, just seeing everyone as people rather than "other". She totally had me on board at that moment. But then she chose or could not shake her xtain background which brought my personal enjoyment score down.

That last one? They picked for one of the book clubs. They pick books like that often.
I’ve started to skip that book club.

 

[BigTopBedlam]

As a kid I would devour books, now not so much, I'm lucky if I finish a handful a year.

The last was The Wasp Factory by Iain Banks, a brilliantly claustrophobic gothic horror which in a strange way brought me back to my own childhood, despite the fact that I've never killed anyone.

Now I've just started King Solomon's Mines, the first in a compendium of adventure classics that I've had unopened on my bedside table for far too long. (The others being Under the Red Robe, The Prisoner of Zenda, The Lost World and Beau Geste.)
Looking forward to a good old fashioned adventure!

 

[AlwaysFara]

I’m going to attempt The Silmarillion again.

 

[ExiledWelshman]

As a kid I would devour books, now not so much, I'm lucky if I finish a handful a year.

The last was The Wasp Factory by Iain Banks, a brilliantly claustrophobic gothic horror which in a strange way brought me back to my own childhood, despite the fact that I've never killed anyone.

Now I've just started King Solomon's Mines, the first in a compendium of adventure classics that I've had unopened on my bedside table for far too long. (The others being Under the Red Robe, The Prisoner of Zenda, The Lost World and Beau Geste.)
Looking forward to a good old fashioned adventure!

Iain Banks

Have you read The Crow Road? Might be my fave book.

I'm reading The Whisperers by Orlando Figes, all about people living in Stalin's Russia. Dead interesting.

 

[Blase]

I’m going to attempt The Silmarillion again.

I think I've read it three times.

It's fun to actually have the background when you're reading LOTR.

 

[Bramblethorn]

As a kid I would devour books, now not so much, I'm lucky if I finish a handful a year.

The last was The Wasp Factory by Iain Banks, a brilliantly claustrophobic gothic horror which in a strange way brought me back to my own childhood, despite the fact that I've never killed anyone.

Oh yeah, that is a weird book. Oddly, the most cheerful thing of Banks' that I've read.

I’m going to attempt The Silmarillion again.

I read it multiple times as a kid. Seems like most everybody else finds it heavy going and much less fun than LotR, but for me it was great. If nothing else, it's good for "what the f*ck are those characters in LotR talking about?"

 

[BigTopBedlam]

Iain Banks

Have you read The Crow Road? Might be my fave book.

I'm reading The Whisperers by Orlando Figes, all about people living in Stalin's Russia. Dead interesting.

Never read The Crow Road, I'll have to look into it.

I did try to get into his space opera series but it wasn't my cup of tea. However I have read Banks' Transition, one of the best books I've ever read, a must for any BDSM and trans-dimensional sci-fi fans, it is quite literally out of this world.
The ending is fucking brutal!

 

[AlwaysFara]

I think I've read it three times.

It's fun to actually have the background when you're reading LOTR.

One and a half.

 

[ExiledWelshman]

Never read The Crow Road, I'll have to look into it.

I did try to get into his space opera series but it wasn't my cup of tea. However I have read Banks' Transition, one of the best books I've ever read, a must for any BDSM and trans-dimensional sci-fi fans, it is quite literally out of this world.
The ending is fucking brutal!

I've got Transition but not read it yet, it's on my ever growing to-read pile.

Do read the Crow Road, it's fantastic. I know what you mean about the Culture series, hard work.

As for the Silmarillion....tried and failed, numerous times.

 

[AlwaysFara]

I've got Transition but not read it yet, it's on my ever growing to-read pile.

Do read the Crow Road, it's fantastic. I know what you mean about the Culture series, hard work.

As for the Silmarillion....tried and failed, numerous times.

Do it!!!
I find it a struggle. And I’ve read LOTR about 10 times.

 

[Blase]

Do it!!!
I find it a struggle. And I’ve read LOTR about 10 times.

Heck, it's just like reading the Bible: Not actually one story, but many.

Even begins with Tolkien's version of the creation of the world and the fall of Satan.

 

[Bramblethorn]

Never read The Crow Road, I'll have to look into it.

I did try to get into his space opera series but it wasn't my cup of tea. However I have read Banks' Transition, one of the best books I've ever read, a must for any BDSM and trans-dimensional sci-fi fans, it is quite literally out of this world.
The ending is fucking brutal!

I love the world-building in the Culture series, but the three I read were all serious downers (Use of Weapons, Consider Phlebas, Player of Games). Though now I know the ending from UoW, I want to reread - very sneakily handled, that. Heard good things about Crow Road.

 

[FurryFury]

Kitty Confidential (Pet Whisperer PI #1) by Molly Fitz 4/5 Silly, fun, free on amazon ebook.

Bridge of Time by Lewis Buzbee 4/5 Juvenile book set in San Fran of two kids time traveling by accident and meeting Sam Clements. Yesss!

May try The Crow Road, thanks for the recommendation!

Anyone else doing the ultimate pop sugar reading challenge 2019?

Having any difficulties with any of the categories?

I'm about nine books away from finishing it and I must say it's challenging.

Among the most challenging this year for me:

A book (that I want to read), published posthumously

Cli Fi Fiction

Book revolving around a puzzle or gam

LitRPG

A book set in Scandinavia (again finding one I want to read that I haven't already is a challenge)

Share your challenges and/or recommendations please.

 

[seela]

I've been almost done with Harry #5 for a week now. I really should just finish it, maybe 70 pages left.

I also recently read a cool book about the Soviet legacy in the Baltic countries. Interesting stuff.

 

[FurryFury]

Get back to us on the title of that second please?

I've been almost done with Harry #5 for a week now. I really should just finish it, maybe 70 pages left.

I also recently read a cool book about the Soviet legacy in the Baltic countries. Interesting stuff.

 

[seela]

Get back to us on the title of that second please?

It's a Finnish book and hasn't been translated, so I doubt the title is of use to very many here, sadly.

 

[Bramblethorn]

Sarah Gailey's "Magic For Liars". Private detective Ivy Gamble is hired to investigate a mysterious death at a school for young magicians, where her sister teaches.

Ivy's not at all bitter that she didn't get magic and her sister did. She never wanted to be magic anyway. And she definitely hasn't adopted self-destructive coping mechanisms for all the stuff she's not bitter about.

I love Gailey's short-form writing and their "American Hippo" novellas, and the concept intrigued me. Part noir detective story, part reaction to the Harry Potter series getting into the uncomfortable areas like how a magical school handles things when a student gets pregnant.

I enjoyed this, but not quite as much as I'd hoped I would - I think in part it wasn't quite the sort of story I was expecting it to be. I may enjoy it more on a re-read.

 

[ShyGuy68]

I'm currently reading Victim 2117 – the 8th novel in the Department Q-series by Jussi Adler-Olsen. It's a Danish writer, who's books are popular in several countries, and have been translated into several languages

 

[clistenovena]

I'm starting Harry #5.

You're getting into it all now. Have fun.

I've been reading another completely bizarre book about Shakespeare. It has pretty good reviews on Amazon but it's pretty out there.

But if you're into reading speculations about William Shakespeare's erotic experiences in school plays, relationship with gloves, and close encounters with a porcupine, Stephen Greenblatt Will in the World: How Shakespeare Became Shakespeare might be for you.

A friend of mine has been on me to read this book. I may just give it a go.

I'm still waiting for William Shakespeare: Vampire Hunter.

Wait no more.

 

[AlwaysFara]

Any good, but not too heavy NON fiction?
I try to read 5-10 non fiction books a year. Not my wheelhouse, which is why I push myself.

Thanks in advance.

 

[twister947]

Any good, but not too heavy NON fiction?
I try to read 5-10 non fiction books a year. Not my wheelhouse, which is why I push myself.

Thanks in advance.

The Wild Trees: A Story of Passion and Daring https://www.amazon.com/dp/B000PDZFAM/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_i_.DSeDb4MV38KK

 

[TheWhiteBull]

Any good, but not too heavy NON fiction?
I try to read 5-10 non fiction books a year. Not my wheelhouse, which is why I push myself.

Thanks in advance.

Any particular genres you love or hate?

 

[AlwaysFara]

Any particular genres you love or hate?

I don’t like biographies. So. I force myself to read them.

 

[TheWhiteBull]

I don’t like biographies. So. I force myself to read them.

Last summer I read

“The Unconquered: In Search of the Amazon’s Last Uncontacted Tribes”
by Scott Wallace

and it was pretty good. Part biography/memoir, part travel, part anthropology.

 

[AlwaysFara]

The Wild Trees: A Story of Passion and Daring https://www.amazon.com/dp/B000PDZFAM/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_i_.DSeDb4MV38KK

Last summer I read

“The Unconquered: In Search of the Amazon’s Last Uncontacted Tribes”
by Scott Wallace

and it was pretty good. Part biography/memoir, part travel, part anthropology.

Good, and very different suggestions.

I may go with this, first:

https://www.graywolfpress.org/books/collected-schizophrenias