Books #27

[Tofino]

Here’s my March reads. The Great Alone was by far my favourite but I also loved Shane Filan’s biography. I knew his property business with his brother had gone bankrupt but not that he was guarantor for all their business loans and he personally ended up €23million in debt! Interesting read, but only if you have an interest in Westlife!

 

[emmer_moans]

I am flying through Agatha Christie's And Then There Were None. 50 pages left. It's not Poirot or Marple, just the participants themselves trying to solve it. I think what is gripping me about this is the sociological/psychological aspects of finding yourself in a group where you have to work together to survive, yet you all deduce one of you is the killer and you start hyperfocusing on everyone's behaviour. I hope I like the ending After a reading slump the start of March, The Trial and And Then There Were None has brought me back out of it. ACOTAR is up next.

 

[LaBlonde]

Is it just me that doesnt want to read something that someone tells me I 'must read'

Same with tv shows and food and just about anything tbh.

depends on the tone and who’s saying it! a friend, or even someone at the counter in a bookshop, saying hey if you like [these books] then you have to read [this book]!” doesn’t annoy me and i’m very easily recommended to

like @CommentBelow says, it’s a different story if there’s blurb on the book itself calling it the must read novel of 2024 or whatever because then i’m just like well we’ll see about that

 

[Albrouze]

I'm a quarter in This is going to hurt by Adam Kay (after recommendations here) and the story about the husband, a plasterer, knowing the exact frequency and duration of his wife's contractions and how she was dilated to 6 cm was oddly sweet On the other hand, the stories about the degloved 18yo or the woman being 'wear as Sooty' scared me for life (Edit: not my usual type of book, but it's very funny, laughed a few times out loud and quite informative at the same time. Will probably be a 5 stars!)

I have no experience of the NHS nor had I ever heard of Adam Kay until listening to a podcast & ending up buying the book. I read it years ago. Definitely pre-Covid. However, I do think about it relatively frequently and I am someone who often forgets most of book once I'm done with it. There is one devastating story in it that has stuck with me since then. It is totally my kind of book though.

I'm reading Preloved at the moment and really, really like it. I know not everyone loved it, but I love the author's writing style. I am annoyed that I ordered it from the UK as I couldn't find it here and then found out a few days ago that it has a different title here.

 

[StrawberryBanana90]

Currently reading Book Lovers by Emily Henry and I don’t know if I’m just in a bad mood but urgh it feels so twee I’m surprised because I loved her other books
Plodding on with it to see if it gets better

 

[Katykatykaty]

8 books for me this month - all on my kindle bar I’m Glad My Mom Died which was on Audible. Really good month as 5 of the 8 were easy 5 stars. Biggest disappointment was Stolen Tongues which started off brilliant and then dragged and got less scary as it went on, closely followed by Freeze which I never truly got into and couldn’t ever figure out which character was which. Highly recommend any of the 5 stars but especially Gray After Dark - if you enjoyed Run on Red or Ask for Andrea, GAD has the same tense tone.

 

[Chocolategoggler]

These are my March reads.
Started the month in a bit of a funk, lost my reading mojo and feeling meh.
Ended the month feeling amazing! .
Standout book was the Abby Rawlinson which came recommended. Just need to buy my own copy now I've been forced to return it to the library.
Now 3 weeks into the detox book which I'm really enjoying. In a week's time it will become my diet for 75% of the time going forward.
Feel rather sorry for the author, though as she's relegated to the back cover. Doesn't seem to have worked with our Carol since. I wonder why?
DNF The Golden Cup as I just couldn't concentrate and remember the characters in it. Was an audio book.
Still having the Harry Potter one read to me. Probably give that four stars as not my favourite one.

 

[emmer_moans]

Please let me know what you think as it’s not my type of book either but all the rave reviews are drawing me in!

Having read the first one so far, I initially rolled my eyes when they were trending on tiktok/Instagram last year, thinking "faeries? laaaaaaaaame" but I now 'get' it and will be reading the next one. 🫣 There's romance but it's also like political, warring provinces, etc, and I was clicking through my Kindle pages quite keenly.

I would say definitely worth trying.

I just need to figure out how to fit the rest of them in my TBR for this year around the other 70+ books I have on my spreadsheet 🫣

 

[Caffeine Fiend]

I listen to a lot of audio books. I started mostly with memoirs / non fiction as I found they hold my attention more but can listen to anything now but still prefer non fiction.

I listen when Im dog walking or doing the dishes or house work type thing. Mopping floors, ironing.

I also listen sometimes when playing cosy games on the ipad or switch or colouring or crafting. I need to be doing something when I listen.

 

[LaBlonde]

My book boyfriend casting is Paul Mescal for every book boyfriend ever...

Sorry I won't start the PM chat again

please do! again, if paul mescal wants to have a one night stand with me and then run away from me in a park, then i will happily allow him to (not that i consider people’s real life personalities when casting book boyfriends though!)

i’m still waiting on hearing exactly what’s going on with him and that alleged emily henry script.

 

[AllieBee]

I am cross with myself. I found a hard backed signed copy of A Terrible Kindness in the charity shop and I didn't buy it. I am regretting that now I'm home. On the plus side I went into The Works picked up some books, told myself I didn't actually need any more books and put them back!

 

[inksmear]

Still reading Weyward and really enjoying it. Accidentally fell into WHSmith at London Victoria on my way home and purchased Bright Young Women by Jessica Knoll, I Who Have Never Known Men by Jacqueline Harpman, Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens and The Satsuma Complex by Bob Mortimer.
I cannot stop buying books. Send help.

 

[nbt]

How do get over book size intimidation?!
My comfortable amount is 300-400 pages but anything more I'm so put off.

I set myself a challenge this year to read things I wouldn’t normally, and also longer books. So far, 11% of my reads have been 500+ pages and I’ve found that if I’d enjoy them anyway, it hasn’t bothered me.

I don’t know what your genre of choice is but I’ve really enjoyed Pretty Girls (physical book) and The Good Daughter (audio) both by Karin Slaughter and Grown Ups (physical) by Marian Keyes.

 

[daisynoon]

I looked the book up, it isn't my genre but it sounds like a lovely story though. Published in 1991, paperback on Amazon is £150.

So I could theoretically spend another £66 and still have saved money!

 

[Caffeine Fiend]

Before yesterday I had bought 5 kindle books all year, which for me is a small miracle. Ive now bought 7 as one of the good guys was 99p yesterday and Piglet is 99p today. Both were on my wishlist.

 

[tam]

So excited to read a follow up to the Girls series by Jacqueline Wilson. I loved those books as a child/ tween. My love of reading started because of jacqueline Wilson so I'm so happy for this!

 

[Caffeine Fiend]

Such an enabler.

Well I have the hard backs of both and Ive pre ordered the new one. Havent read them. So I wouldnt take advice from me.

 

[LaBlonde]

I like this idea! There's a substack called Footnotes and Tangents and the guy who writes it is leading people through War & Peace over a year. With a few days off, if you read a chapter a day (some are quite short) you finish it in one calendar year. I had lofty goals of keeping up with it and gave up after like...day 6

i LOVE war and peace but that’s another one that i always tell people they can safely skip a few hundred pages off. unless you’re really interested in how many feet a battalion moved down a mountain in a certain battle

as a classics lover, i think the only 1000+ pager which is absolutely unskippable at any point is the count of monte cristo or anna karenina. otherwise everyone was just too fond of hiding social criticism essays in the middle of their stories (i’m looking at you victor hugo!)
---

I'm one of these people that like their books to stay like new.
My dad's partner lends me books sometimes and she folds the page over as a bookmark. Makes me cringe

i bought my mum a new book as a treat on a shopping trip TWO WEEKS ago and said hey lend it to me when you’re done. she gave it to me over the weekend and it is destroyed apparently she naps immediately after reading and frequently squashes books? anyway i looked at it and said “i can’t read that”. i’m way too precious about books

 

[ToxicPony]

I've just finished my first 1 star of the year: Death of a Bookseller. Gosh I REALLY hated this book.

 

[LaBlonde]

mr strawb got a high fever from reading prisoner of azkaban too much when he was a kid

this is adorable azkaban is still the best book (and movie) imo!

i feel the need to ask you all what house you’re in now. where are my fellow hufflepuffs (we try our best and that’s what matters!)