Books #30

[Mamacita]

Just finished seven summers by Paige toon which i gave 3 stars. It's not a light beach read as I thought didn't mind it actually but it annoyed me in the end

Also finished listening to the 3rd book in the Deverill chronicles.

Which means tonight I need to find a new audiobook and a new book to read

 

[Chocolategoggler]

I have also got the Jam Factory Girls Series and the Girls Who Went to War series by Mary Wood but again I haven't got round to reading these because at the moment I am prioritising other books first.

Ooh! Don't tempt me!

 

[Hannahebee]

Ooh! Don't tempt me!

Don't worry Chocolategoggler I won't tempt you with any more books.

 

[ToolaRoola]

Just finished Blue Sisters on Libby with 6 minutes to spare!!

I really liked it but that countdown pressure meant I probably didn't enjoy the last 2 chapters as much as I should have.

 

[LydiaDeetzHat]

Slogging through The Heaven And Earth Grocery Store - too much going on it. I am about to finish..great premise. starts with a mystery but at this point I no longer care. As the book progresses it gets harder and harder to follow what's going on as the chapters jump so much from plotthread to plot thread back and forward in time from one character to another.and its written so badly you can't piece together the events

 

[tarahalls]

I'm still enjoying The Tenth Muse, it's so readable and as someone who knows nothing about maths she even makes those parts interesting and personal to the story.

Spoiler: The blurb

From childhood, Katherine knows she is different, and that her parents are not who they seem to be. But as she grows up and becomes a mathematician, she faces the most human of problems - who is she? What is the cost of love, and what is the cost of ambition?

On her quest to conquer the Riemann hypothesis, the greatest unsolved mathematical problem of her time, she turns to a theorem with a mysterious history that holds both the lock and key to her identity, and to secrets long buried during World War II. Forced to confront some of the biggest events of the twentieth century and rethink everything she knows of herself, Katherine strives to take her place in the world of higher mathematics, reclaiming the voices of the women who came before her whose love of the language of numbers connects them across generations.

The Tenth Muse is a brilliant, involving novel asking questions about who gets to tell the story of intellectual endeavour, and about those who lost everything during World War II.

I have Go as a River to read next from the library by Shelley Read. I've seen mixed things about it but will see how I go!

Just finished Go as a River, it’s stunning! Enjoy!

 

[OH.FFS]

Not that I am here to brag but it is 576 date since I bought a book. Really make inroads into my physical book pile, I wanted to get that under control. The only books I am keeping are the ones that have moved me in some way, ones that have got under my skin and series I have enjoyed - Cormoron Strike etc..

I have gone through my Kindle and removed all the Kindle First reads I got for no reason, and a lot of other books that just were just bloatware. Once my physical pile is done I will be onto the Kindle.

Brag away … I’m not even 576 seconds since I last bought a book.

 

[emmer_moans]

Brag away … I’m not even 576 seconds since I last bought a book.

same, I have loads of books on my TBR pile, but I was at the supermarket yesterday and another book just accidentally fell into my trolley...

 

[Brightlycolouredbowels]

Coincidentally I just finished The Wasp Factory earlier this week after having it on my TBR for ages! I thought it would be very different and I was disappointed, I found it quite a slog to get through as some parts were really over explained and drawn out. I really wasn’t expecting to find it so dull, given the subject matter! Spoiler: I also thought the big twist and all the Freudian stuff in the last chapter was just silly, just didn’t make sense to me and (without going into the gory details) could only have been written by a man.

Agreed, for a book under 200 pages it did seem to drag. I’m not sure I really ‘got’ it and I don’t know why what the fuss was about. Essentially I’m a weird 16 year old that acts like a 10 year old, I put a poisonous snake into a false leg to kill my cousin, I got my little brother to blow up himself, I tied my female cousin to a kite to kill her because I’d killed to boys and she’s a girl, my brother’s mad because he saw a load of maggots eating a brain, I’ve got a massive wasp factory that is constantly alluded to and then I describe in great detail but it’s not really got anything to do with the story at all, there’s a load of explosives in my basement for no reason, my father’s a girl, no I’m a girl because my father doesn’t like women?. Just spread over 200 pages.
I‘m guessing the author just wrote it to shock, it’s almost a list of ‘What is the most disgusting things I can think of? No what kind of story can I weave around it?’

 

[emmer_moans]

Agreed, for a book under 200 pages it did seem to drag. I’m not sure I really ‘got’ it and I don’t know why what the fuss was about. Essentially I’m a weird 16 year old that acts like a 10 year old, I put a poisonous snake into a false leg to kill my cousin, I got my little brother to blow up himself, I tied my female cousin to a kite to kill her because I’d killed to boys and she’s a girl, my brother’s mad because he saw a load of maggots eating a brain, I’ve got a massive wasp factory that is constantly alluded to and then I describe in great detail but it’s not really got anything to do with the story at all, there’s a load of explosives in my basement for no reason, my father’s a girl, no I’m a girl because my father doesn’t like women?. Just spread over 200 pages.
I‘m guessing the author just wrote it to shock, it’s almost a list of ‘What is the most disgusting things I can think of? No what kind of story can I weave around it?’

this book sounds so weird! I think it was on a reading list when I was at sixth form but I don't think I read it.

 

[nym3ria]

Just finished all the broken places by John Boyne - beautiful!

 

[LydiaDeetzHat]

I am in a huge slump at the moment. I haven’t really enjoyed my most recent ‘light’/romance type reads (e.g., I thought my brain was melting when I read Beach Read by EmHen) but I don’t have the headspace to read anything heavier. I also don’t want to re-read anything I’ve loved in the past. So I just don’t want to read at all and spend my life doom scrolling on my phone. But literally nothing is capturing my imagination.

So I don’t want to read at all right now. Help???

i'm not into romance but as a light read I do enjoy Jenny Colgan.

 

[CommentBelow]

Brag away … I’m not even 576 seconds since I last bought a book.

When I look at my TBR pile(s) I’m very jealous of @ordinaryjelly and her willpower - THEN I hear about something I’m desperate to read/am near a bookshop and I’m straight back to ‘oh a little treat..’

I need to dedicate a month to getting through my 24 in 2024 books or I’m going to fail miserably at it…again.

 

[chickhicks86]

I've DNF 3 books in a row recently - House of Earth and Blood, Olive Kitteridge and The Secret Barrister. I don't know what is wrong with me, but nothing seems to be grabbing me enough to stick with it. I love Elizabeth Strout especially, but I only read 2 chapters of OK before I gave up. I have been to the library this morning though to get an actual physical book, as it wasn't on Borrowbox - Station Eleven. Has anyone read it? It's so long since I got a physical book, I was quite surprised to see they no longer put them in the plastic covers!

 

[aalmaalm]

Late to the party but I’ve just started Stranger in the House by John Marrs!

 

[LaBlonde]

When I look at my TBR pile(s) I’m very jealous of @ordinaryjelly and her willpower - THEN I hear about something I’m desperate to read/am near a bookshop and I’m straight back to ‘oh a little treat..’

I need to dedicate a month to getting through my 24 in 2024 books or I’m going to fail miserably at it…again.

same. my “i deserve a little treat” lifestyle does NOT align with me trying to cutdown on book buying this is one of the main reasons why i don’t have a kindle, it would be non-stop.

@ordinaryjelly - you are amazing! i admire your willpower sm

 

[daisynoon]

When I look at my TBR pile(s) I’m very jealous of @ordinaryjelly and her willpower - THEN I hear about something I’m desperate to read/am near a bookshop and I’m straight back to ‘oh a little treat..’

I need to dedicate a month to getting through my 24 in 2024 books or I’m going to fail miserably at it…again.

I'm glad I'm not the only one struggling with the 24 in 2024 I've read four so far. Anyone would think I hadn't set these books myself.

(actually I struggle with both of these, I was so strict with myself in June, and... not in July 🫠)

 

[CommentBelow]

same. my “i deserve a little treat” lifestyle does NOT align with me trying to cutdown on book buying this is one of the main reasons why i don’t have a kindle, it would be non-stop.

@ordinaryjelly - you are amazing! i admire your willpower sm

I have a Kindle - and books I want to read on it (of course) - but I constantly feel like I need to prioritise the physical books 🫣
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I'm glad I'm not the only one struggling with the 24 in 2024 I've read four so far. Anyone would think I hadn't set these books myself.

(actually I struggle with both of these, I was so strict with myself in June, and... not in July 🫠)

When I look at my list of them I remember that I chose a lot of (potential!) good ones - maybe I need to physically put a few of them in a pile to remind me/constantly remind me every time I pick up a book

 

[Harlot O'Scara]

Recently finished Recursion by Blake Crouch, I was cross eyed by the end trying to follow the time travel plot but I was still hooked

I know a few people here have said they're not into Sci fi but if anybody is I'd recommend it.
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Just finished The Familiar by Leigh Bardugo and found it slightly underwhelming in comparison to Ninth House and Hell Belt, but I did still really enjoy it!

I really want to get into more books with those demonic/paranormal themes but set in dark academia. I tried The Atlas Six but just didn't vibe with any of the characters or the plot but I have now just bought When We Were Villains so hoping that gets me slightly closer to where I wanna be

It's not exactly what you want but have you read A Discovery of Witches by Deborah Harkness? Vampires/witches/demons and I'd say definite touches of dark academia.
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I’ve read wild love this was one of my most anticipated reads of the year. I liked it! I do like anything Elsie silver writes. But I did find it took me longer than normal to get into

Wild Love was the worst book I've read this year by a long stretch. I'm very hard to please when it comes to modern romance novels though (as in, I've basically never found one I liked!)

I think maybe I just don't like the genre tbh so it's probably not a reflection on the book. From what I've seen Elsie Silver is incredibly popular.

 

[Albrouze]

I have been to the library this morning though to get an actual physical book, as it wasn't on Borrowbox - Station Eleven. Has anyone read it? It's so long since I got a physical book, I was quite surprised to see they no longer put them in the plastic covers!

I haven't read Station Eleven, but do know someone who coincidentally started to read it right as Covid hit. Possibly the worst timing for a book like that.

My library still puts books in plastic covers. Just checked as I wasn't sure as I don't notice them
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Not that I am here to brag but it is 576 date since I bought a book. Really make inroads into my physical book pile, I wanted to get that under control. The only books I am keeping are the ones that have moved me in some way, ones that have got under my skin and series I have enjoyed - Cormoron Strike etc..

I have gone through my Kindle and removed all the Kindle First reads I got for no reason, and a lot of other books that just were just bloatware. Once my physical pile is done I will be onto the Kindle.

This is really impressive. Well done!