It's Monday ...

... what are you reading?

Hosted by the lovely Sheila at http://bookjourney.net/ or you can jump on the #IMWAYR hashtag on twitter to have a nosy.

Since our last instalment,  I have given up on both books I was reading last time, finished two other books and am digging into Discworld again.

Hurry Up and Wait by Isabel Ashdown has a great premise and I'm sure it's a really good book, but I got to a point with it where it felt like nothing was happening and I troughed (opposite of peaked). The same thing happend with Prince Lestat, which I wanted to like, I really really did but it's so .. random and halfway through it starts going off on very odd tangents, so it, too, is on the Perilous Shelf for now.

After that, I picked up Shatter Me by Tahereh Mafi and ... well, I did finish it, because it was super-easy to power through. Did I like it?

Um.

I liked the premise a lot, but some of the prose, which did more than flirt with the colour purple, it let the colour purple fill its whole dance card and scandalise the local matrons was a sugary, sugary, giant sugar pill to swallow. It was a lot.

It had a likeable lead, a nice love-interest and an engaging psycho. I just. Also, I went looking for book two on Goodreads and I see people are now talking Team Nice Love Interest and Team Psycho.

Nothing makes me Seacrest out of a series faster than a love triangle. Especially since, in book one, TEAM PSYCHO HAS HER KIDNAPPED AND HOLDS HER HOSTAGE. Like. I get that he has Daddy issues or whatever, but that doesn't excuse bad behaviour!

Anyway. For my lunchtime reading at work, I'm rolling with Reaper Man by the late, redoubtable Mr Sir Terry Pratchett. I'm working my way through Discworld in chronological order. It's slow going but every time I read a Discworld novel I marvel at my own stupidity in not reading them years ago.

I'm loving it, is what I'm trying to say.

Over the weekend, I devoured A Touch of Stardust by Kate Alcott. It's about a girl with Big Dreams who comes to Hollywood in the 1930s to try and make it as a screenwriter. She gets tangled up in the lives of Clark Gable and Carole Lombard, and also witnesses history in the form of the making of Gone with the Wind.

I really enjoyed it - it reminded me of Longbourn in a way - a cosy, historical read.

Up next, on my workmate's recommendation, is I Am Pilgrim, by Terry Hayes.

What are you reading?

It's Monday ....

Hosted by Sheila here: http://bookjourney.net/ or track the #IMWAYR hashtag on twitter, to add to your TBR :-)

I hit a mini-wall for the first time this year a couple of weekends ago. I looked around and went "huh", because for the first time I didn't know what I wanted to read next.

So, of course, I went to the library. I picked up a few graphic novels, and some sundry other books.

I read Hawkeye Vol 1: My Life as a Weapon, and absolutely loved it.  This is the Hawkeye that should be in EVERYTHING Avengers - damaged, introspective, impulsive ... did I mention damaged?

Other than that, I started Hurry Up and Wait by Isabel Ashdown. I'm only a few pages in because I started it today, but it's promising so far.

Yesterday, I asked spawn to go and get me a book from my room, figuring he couldn't do worse than I have been lately in choosing reading material. He came back with Prince Lestat by Anne Rice because he thought the writing on the cover looked 'cool'.

Good enough.

What are you reading?

It's Monday

Your meme is hosted by Sheila here: http://bookjourney.net/

It's been nearly a month since I did one of these - or blogged at all. I was haing an existential blogging crisis, then I decided to stop that.

Anyway. What am I reading?

I had a pretty decent reading January; getting through about 10 books. The standout read for that month was, I think, Graceling, which I liked very much of a lot.

For this month, so far, I've finished Station Eleven by Emily St John Mandel and honestly I think it's going to be my favourite read this year. It's so, so, so very good and I wish I had many copies so that I could hand it out to people on the street and earnestly explain why they should read it.

You. You should read it, if you haven't. It's great.

Um. Anyway. I'm still pottering away at Sister Carrie, although I fell well behind on Care's readalong. However, it's a decent lunchtime read and I'm enjoying it, so I persist. Other than that I've picked up On the Beach by Neville Shute. I've never read him, but several of his books came to me via my mother, a few years ago, and this one has been on my radar for a while.

Up next is Order of the Phoenix, because I realised I"m also falling behind on Sheila's readalong, but I shall persist, if not prevail.

What are you reading?

It's Monday

Your meme is hosted by Sheila here: http://bookjourney.net/

I had a reasonably productive week, I think. Well. Weekend, anyway. I read Cold Feet by Jay Northcote, a sweet gay romance story about best friends trapped in a Welsh cottage over Christmas. I WONDER WHAT THEY GET UP TO THEN. It was lovely, a nice slice of escapism.

I also finished Parasite by Mira Grant, which I also liked a lot. There was a twist right at the end that made me keen to seek out book two.

Of course, I have Goblet of Fire on the go, and I’m about 100 pages in to that for Sheila’s readalong.

And the lovely Care at https://bkclubcare.wordpress.com/ is hosting a readalong of a novel called Sister Carrie, which I had never heard of but barged in on anyway. It’s my lunchtime reading on my ipad, and so far, so good.

What are you reading?

It's Monday

Your meme is hosted here: http://bookjourney.net/

I finished Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets for Sheila’s readalong/re-read. I’m going to do a big post at the end. Actually I think that I might even do a vlog, and just ramble for a bit - lol.

Other than that I still have Stephen King’s Revival on the go, and I’m hoping to finish it this week. We’ll see.

My lunchtime read on iBooks is Throne of Glass by Sarah J. Maas. I like the premise, and the writing is decent, so, so far so good.

After that, of course, is Prisoner of Azkaban for the readalong, and then … I’m not sure.

I went to the library on Saturday and I’ve got a bit of a stack going on there. I also bought The Miseducation of Cameron Porter on ibooks on the recommendation of a friend.

There are a few others on the horizon, but I can’t think of any right now.

Oh!!  Trish’s readalong for December - more Stephen King! I’m definitely joining in for this one. We’re reading Bag of Bones. It’s been many years since I picked it up but I’m definitely looking forward to it.

What are you reading?

It's Monday

Your meme is hosted by Sheila here: http://bookjourney.net/

I had to stop and think for a minute - what AM I reading?

I finished The Enchanted, by Rene Denfeld, a short but very powerful novel, narrated by an inmate on death row. It's infused with a lot of magic realism, I think, and it's also very hard to describe. It's well worth a read, though.

Stephen King's new book, Revival, came out last week, so I have that on the go as well.

My lunchtime reading is a novel for $2 that I found on iBooks called UnEnchanted by Chanda Hahn.  It's not the best book ever, but it's readable and nice and easy for workday lunches.

I did start Bloodlines by Richelle Mead, which I was liking a lot but I realised it's a spinoff from The Vampire Academy novels, so I want to go back to the start on those.

And, of course, up next is Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets for Sheila's readalong.

I've decided, I think, not to do a post for every book, but to do a wrap-up post at the end. I'll see how I go.

What are you reading?

It's Monday ...

Sheila hosts the meme here: http://bookjourney.net/

I'm eleven books behind on my goodreads challenge, apparently. Hrm.

Anyway. I had a reasonably productive week last week, I think. I read Fox Forever, which is the last book in the Jenna Fox Chronicles and it was a satisfying end to the series. I highly, highly recommend The Adoration of Jenna Fox, and while I didn't like the two sequels quite as much, I did enjoy them.

I also read Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone for Sheila's Harry Potter readalong. I just finished watching the movies, and intended to re-read the books after, so the readalong was very timely.

I also read The Goblin Emperor by Katherine Addison and by "read" I mean "inhaled it in two days and then made whale noises into a cushion." It's so so SO GOOD.

Right now, I'm reading The Enchanted, by Rene Denfeld, which is good so far, and also short, which is what I need at the moment.

Up next, of course, is The Chamber of Secrets.

What are you reading?

It's Monday, what are you reading?

Your meme is hosted by Sheila here: http://bookjourney.net/

I have to admit, I’ve had a reasonably productive weekend. By which I mean I finally finished two of the books I talked about in my readathon vlog. *Ahem.*

I finished Elephants Can Remember by Agatha Christie on Saturday, and it’s always a pleasure for me to revisit Dame Christie. I love a good mystery.

Yesterday I finished Tiger Lily by Jodi Lynn Anderson - a re-telling of Peter Pan of sorts. It focuses on the character of Tiger Lily, who was a relatively minor presence in the original novel. It’s narrated by Tinker Bell, and fleshes out Neverland in some very interesting and unexpected ways. I did enjoy it rather a lot and it made me unexpectedly melancholy at the end, which isn’t necessarily a bad thing.

I’ve had to rather shamefully bail on Trish’s readalong of Drood by Dan Simmons. I started it, and immediately found it incomprehensible. So. Onward.

I am a massive, massive idiot and it took me absolutely forever to realise that I could use my iPad mini as an e-reader. I had an e-reader - a Sony - that I basically never used so I gave it to J. THEN I saw a promo on facebook for like, iBooks where you could get the first of a series for free.

AND LO, I SAW THE LIGHT. AND THAT LIGHT SAID “YOU COULD BUY BOOKS ON IBOOKS AND READ THEM IN THE CAF AT WORK AT LUNCHTIME.”

So that’s what I did. Which is a very roundabout way of saying that one of the books I have on the go is The  Maze Runner. it was cheap on iBooks and so it’s my lunchtime book. It’s not bad but  I’m finding it a little bit … YOU KNOW NOTHING JON SNOW which is irritating.

I’m also reading Fox Forever, book three of the Jenna Fox series. I only started it today, but so far, so good.

What are you reading?

It's Monday

Your meme is hosted here: bookjourney.net

I finished A Storm of Swords: Blood and Gold and goodness me, that was quite a ride between weddings and people dying and dragons and all sorts. I loved it.

I'm halfway through The Long Earth, but I've struck a bit of a dry patch with it, so I've put it on what my workmates and I call the perilous shelf for now.

I also started Innocence by Dean Koontz which isn't bad so far, and I have a non-fiction book on Nefertiti on the to-read pile as well.

What are you reading?

It's Monday

The meme is hosted here: http://bookjourney.net/

Most recently I've finished V for Vendetta, Ancillary Justice by Ann Leckie, Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell, Wool by Hugh Howey and Star Wars: Death Troopers by Joe Schreiber.

That looks like quite the list, but I haven't done this meme in about a month - lol.

As for what I'm reading now, I'm deep in book three part two of A Song of Ice and Fire: A Storm of Swords: Blood and Gold. I'm also still picking at The Two Towers and I have The Long Earth on my radar as well.

What are you reading?

It's Monday

Your meme is hosted by Sheila, here: http://bookjourney.wordpress.com/

It's been a couple of weeks, I'm not sure what happened there.

Anyway. I finished One Hundred Years of Solitude, and it remains as devastating as ever.

I also embarked on another graphic novel, and read the first part of Y: The Last Man. I liked it a lot, but I'm going to dig deeper into it before I go any further than "like."

I finally picked up Shirley Jackson, and read We Have Always Lived in the Castle, which is a creepy little novel.

I finished Dog Will Have His Day, which is .... odd. Interesting, but kind of odd. However, that might have been the translation, I'm not sure.

I'm still reading Wool, and The City & The City. I got Mr Mercedes by Stephen King for my birthday last week, and I'm half way through that.

That's ... a lot of dudes. Next up, to balance the universe, a lot of ladies.

What are you reading?

It's Monday

It's that time of the week. :-)

Your meme is hosted by Sheila, here: http://bookjourney.wordpress.com/

I finished The Snow Child by Eowyn Levy last week, and I have to say I liked it really rather a lot. It's set in 1920s Alaska, and it felt like the landscape was a whole other character.

It's based on the old fairytale which, from memory ends rather sadly, but The Snow Child was great. A little sad, but great.

I also read Daytripper, a graphic novel by Fabio Moon. It's a kind of day in the life/stream of consciousness thing, which highlights different days in one man's life. At the end of each segment, the man dies, and it all kind of knits together at the end. I really, really enjoyed it.

I also read The Tea Chest by Josephine Moon, which was a nice, light read after the previous two angst-fests.

Now, I'm reading Wool by Hugh Howey, and I'm about to start Dog Will Have His Day by Fred Vargas, and embark on a re-read of The City & The City by China Mieville with Jodie. And I'm slowly making my way through One Hundred Years of Solitude for the fourth time.

What are you reading?

It's Monday

Your meme is hosted here: http://bookjourney.wordpress.com/

It's been a couple of weeks since I did one of these, because for a couple of weeks I was basically reading the same books - lol.



Since then, I've managed to do a fair bit, I think.


I finished Victory of Eagles by Naomi Novik, A Storm of Swords Part 1: Steel and Snow by G R R Martin, Adaptation by Malinda Lo, and While We Run by Karen Healey.

I have to say, I really enjoyed all of them.

Next up was going to be part 2 of A Storm of Swords, but Gabriel Garcia Marquez died, and so I'm reading One Hundred Years of Solitude for the fourth time.

What are you reading?

It's Monday

Your meme is hosted here: http://bookjourney.wordpress.com/

I finished The Coldest Girl in Coldtown by Holly Black during the weekend, which I liked a lot.

Now I'm on to book three of A Song of Ice and Fire - A Storm of Swords. I liked the first two books a lot, and so far so good.

I'm also trying to read at lunchtime at work, but I decided A Storm of Swords wasn't right for that because I never want to put it down - lol.

So I'm planning on starting The Golem and the Djinni for lunchtime reading.

What are you reading?

It's Monday

Your meme is hosted here: http://bookjourney.wordpress.com/

I had a pretty productive reading week. I need to do a short reviews post soon - lol.

I finally finished The Gospel of Loki by Joanna Harris, which was overdue at the library. I did like it a lot, her Loki voice was hilarious.

I also finally read The Wild Things by Dave Eggers which he penned to coincide with the release of Spike Jonze's film of Where the Wild Things Are. I enjoyed that a lot, too.

Now I'm working my way through The Coldest Girl in Coldtown by Holly Black, which is so far so good.

What are you reading?

It's Monday

Your meme is here:

http://bookjourney.wordpress.com/2014/03/02/its-monday-what-are-you-reading-225/

I finished The Sorrow of Empire - a Star Trek Original Series novel over the weekend. It's set in the Mirror universe, after the episode Mirror, Mirror. I like a good Star Trek novel now and again, and The Sorrow of Empire provided some nice escapism.

I'm still working through Billy Crystal's book, and contemplating either The Gospel of Loki by Joanna Harris, or the third Game of Thrones book by George R R Martin next.

What are you reading?

It's Monday

How's your week been? I went back to work last Monday, so that was a bit of a shock to the system.

Reading-wise I'm still ticking over. I finally finished the Olivier biography, which was very interesting, and I battled through Jeeves and the Wedding Bells by Sebastian Faulks.

It was interesting but not, I thought, quite up to the Wodehouse standard.

This week I'm indulging in a bit of Star Trek and reading The Sorrow of Empire - a novel of the Mirror universe by David Mack, and I started Billy Crystal's book, Still Fooling 'Em: Where I've Been, Where I'm Going and Where the Hell Are My Keys?

What are you reading?

It's Monday ...

Meme hosted here: http://bookjourney.wordpress.com/

I went back to work today, so that's going to cut into my reading/lazing time significantly.

I had to take The Dream Thieves back to the library - someone else had it on hold and I hadn't finished it so on the Don't Be a Dick principle, I took it back. *sigh* I'll get it out again and finish it as soon as I can.

Otherwise, I'm nearly through Olivier by Philip Ziegler, and I'm still picking at The Two Towers.

I also picked up Jeeves and the Wedding Guest by Sebastian Faulks. I'm not very far into it but so far it does lack that Wodehouse something. Its readable enough and it's a short novel so I'll see how I go.

What are you reading?

What are you reading ....

Meme hosted here: http://bookjourney.wordpress.com/2014/02/09/its-monday-what-are-you-reading-222/

Well, it's Tuesday morning actually because I live in the future. :D

I'm on holiday for another week, so I'm doing my very best to do very little. I finished A Guide to the Birds of East Africa by Nicholas Drayson, and also The Raven Boys by Maggie Stiefvater.

Very different reads, but both very good.

I'm doing a very leisurely re-read of The Lord of the Rings, and settled in yesterday for a good chunk of The Two Towers.

Today, I'm going to dig into The Dream Thieves, the sequel to The Raven Boys, because it's due back at the library in a couple of days.

I still haven't had the courage to pick up The Lumineers - lol.

What are you reading?

It's Monday

Your meme is hosted here: http://bookjourney.wordpress.com/

I've had a remarkably productive few days. I finished Wake by Elizabeth Knox, Wintergirls by Laurie Halse Anderson and a previously unpublished novella, The Mijo Tree by Janet Frame.

Long may it continue. :D

I'm still poking at the Olivier biography which is interesting but slow-going. Partly, I think, because the book is really heavy. I don't know if it's the way it's been bound, or what, but it's hard to hold up for long periods of time.

I've also started February's TBR challenge book, which is A Guide to the Birds of East Africa, by Nicholas Drayson. It's a novel, rather than an ornithological guide and so far so good. I read Confessing a Murder by Drayson a few years ago and really enjoyed it so I'm glad I've finally got around to picking this one up.

The Luminaries is still on my to-read radar, I just haven't had the courage to actually pick it up yet.

Also on the horizon are The Raven Boys and the Dream Thieves by Maggie Stiefvater.

What are you reading?