Books #35

[Brightlycolouredbowels]

It’s been a while since I tried to read Circe so can’t remember any specifics of why I disliked it so much but I think it was mainly that it felt really slow and hard going. I’m know very little about Greek mythology so did wonder if that was part of the problem!

Song of Achillles was much more engaging. There’s an actual story which Circe lacked for me, and the characters totally had me invested. I’ve seen other people say they’ve liked Achilles after not enjoying Circe so I’d say definitely give it a try!

You have summed both books up perfectly! I read Song of Achilles in a day and cried at the end (I am not generally a crier). Circe was like reading through treacle and I didn’t give a tit about her or what she got up to. A good knowledge of Greek Mythology did not help, it was just dull. Must have been hard after the success of The Song of Achilles to write the next book though.

 

[LaBlonde]

It’s been a while since I tried to read Circe so can’t remember any specifics of why I disliked it so much but I think it was mainly that it felt really slow and hard going. I’m know very little about Greek mythology so did wonder if that was part of the problem!

Song of Achillles was much more engaging. There’s an actual story which Circe lacked for me, and the characters totally had me invested. I’ve seen other people say they’ve liked Achilles after not enjoying Circe so I’d say definitely give it a try!

i didn’t mind circe but this is so accurate! i think the central story of achilles is instantly more engaging than circe - which is very slow and internal for most of it (as the main character is by herself, or feels like she’s by herself, for SO LONG). one of my friends prefers it to achilles in a major way which i just don’t fully understand.

 

[Thatsnotmyname123]

Yes!

Educated by Tara Westover (its a memoir but cult like)

College Girl, Missing: The True Story of How a Young Women Disappeared in Plain Sight by Shawn Cohen

Toxic: Women, Fame and the Noughties by Sarah Ditum

The Less People Know About Us: A Mystery of Betrayal, Family Secrets, and Stolen Identity by Axton Betz-Hamilton

The Good Girls: An Ordinary Killing by Sonia Faleiro

Say Nothing: A True Story of Murder and Memory In Northern Ireland by Patrick Radden Keefe (5 stars!!!)

No Choice: The Fall of Roe v. Wade and the Fight to Protect the Right to Abortion by Becca Andrews

Sedated: How Modern Capitalism Created Our Mental Health Crisis by James Davies

Know My Name by Chanel Miller (another memoir but focused on the aftermath of a crime)

Men Who Hate Women: From Incels to Pickup Artists, The Truth About Extreme Misogyny and How It Affects Us All by Laura Bates

The Five: The Untold Lives of the Women Killed by Jack the Ripper by Hallie Rubenhold

She Said: Breaking the Sexual Harassment Story That Ignited a Movement by Jodi Kantor and Megan Twohey.

American Kingpin: The Epic Hunt for the Criminal Mastermind Behind the Silk Road Drugs Empire by Nick Bilton (5 stars!)

Amazing, thank you! I’ve read educated but none of the others.

 

[ToolaRoola]

@Caffeine Fiend have you seen the TV adaptation of Say Nothing?

I thought it was really well done.

 

[ahkrin]

Just finished Pew by Catherine Lacey. Think I need to read it again to appreciate it. Quite strange.

 

[Caffeine Fiend]

@Caffeine Fiend have you seen the TV adaptation of Say Nothing?

I thought it was really well done.

Yes Watched it last year when it came out.

 

[Boogs]

I think I either read crap books or I’m just a hard scorer. I think I only had two 5 star reads the whole of last year.

Meet me on the bridge was my best book of the month. I think that’s probably just because it was a bit different to my usual choices.

 

[BelindaBlue]

My favourites would be Anna Karenina and Blood Over Bright Haven. Didn't enjoy Private Rites as much as Our Wives Under the Sea, and The Ministry of Fear was an odd one. Some of the language was beautiful, but what was that plot??View attachment 3441723

I love Patricia Brigg's Mercy Thompson series. It's in my top 3 urban fantasy series.

 

[Libbylulu]

Anyone read The One by John Marrs? I am reading it for book club and find it hilarious in cliches, story, characters and a dun dun dun….. plot twist which are even more ludicrous. It’s disturbing in parts too, I remember this about his other book What Lies Between Us. I’d never have gone past the first few chapters had it not been for BC. It’s very popular, I see good reviews for it everywhere.

 

[OwlHen]

Anyone read The One by John Marrs? I am reading it for book club and find it hilarious in cliches, story, characters and a dun dun dun….. plot twist which are even more ludicrous. It’s disturbing in parts too, I remember this about his other book What Lies Between Us. I’d never have gone past the first few chapters had it not been for BC. It’s very popular, I see good reviews for it everywhere.

I have - and I’ve read a few of his and they’re all quite similar style, I think your description is spot on how I felt. The first one I was really surprised by, but then it wasn’t really new any more. I still enjoy them but in a “know what I’m getting” way.

 

[daisynoon]

I love Patricia Brigg's Mercy Thompson series. It's in my top 3 urban fantasy series.

Ooh, which are your other two? I'm trying my best to take my time with it, partly because I ripped through the Kate Daniels series

 

[anniemouse]

My February reads. For some reason Paris:The Memoir didn’t have any dates on it and now it won’t show in my collage even after me adding them. So it was 6 books in total

 

[ToolaRoola]

My February reads -

Eileen was probably my favourite.

HoneyBee disappointed me, I know it's about women in their early 20s but it felt very childish.

 

[wishiniwasskinny]

Three for me in Feb. 28 Summers was my favourite. I’d read more Elin Hilderbrand.
I’ve already started The Shell Seekers by Rosamunde Pilcher

 

[Blueblue123]

My February reads:

Ask for Andrea
The River (mini epilogue to Ask for Andrea) .5
Message Deleted
When You Disappeared .5
The Centre .5
The Last Thing to Burn .5
Orbital .5

 

[emmer_moans]

I was naughty and bought a Kobo Clara BW on payday, firstly so I can back up future books I buy (screw you, Amazon!) but also because I want to be able to borrow more books from my library. I have just managed to check out my first book and I look forward to borrowing more and supporting the library that way. I don't borrow actual books from the library because mine is a small mobile building and open limited hours that don't match my availability, but this way I feel like I'm still supporting them a bit, still?

I also have a Kindle Paperwhite 12th ed, which I do love to read on, and that will be my main device for books I already have (I have about 50 unread ), and I can sideload onto it with books I have purchased elsewhere, plus I sideload fanfiction onto it etc, so it will still get used. But the Kobo Clara BW is smaller, lighter, and can have my library books and future purchases on it, and I'm planning on using it as my out-and-about e-reader for trains/waiting rooms/ lunchtime at work, etc. I had been a bit wary of losing my Paperwhite anyway so tended to leave it at home, and reading on the kindle app on my phone was not the best for my eyes.

So yes, a bit of a costly purchase, but I definitely have a couple of 'use cases' for it.

I still buy and love a new paperback but I'm trying to limit those purchases to ones where it's series I'm halfway though or books I can tell I am going to love. Or ask them as gifts for birthday/Christmas etc.

Then I'll use the library for e-books I am unsure about or curious about, and I will try to buy other e-books I want to keep, like Agatha Christies (whose works I want to eventually read all of, I have a spreadsheet ), from other sites and back them up.

I still may buy 99p deals on Amazon for the kindle but at least I do so now knowing it's a licence and not buying the book . I am pissed that I have spent £££ the past few years on books I thought I was owning (Buy Now, button, anyone?!) when that actually wasn't the case, and yes I downloaded my books before the cut off on 26th Feb. I mean, recently I paid 14 quid for a kindle book, a trilogy, before all that furore kicked off, and to think I could pay so much and not even be able to back it up if my amazon account ever got locked and not have access to it? Fuming! Kobo books also have DRM on the books but they let you take a download as a back up. And being able to link to my library, well that's what made me decide to get one.

No-one asked for all this blurting from me but it's been on my chest all week, and I've been trying to organise by TBR

I don't do piracy though, I have just backed up the books I have paid (quite a lot) for by download which the system let me do until the cut off. I don't redistribute. Just back up in case my account disappears. Any kindle purchases made from this point forward I do so knowing it's like a rental, but I'll try to buy the books elsewhere first. I don't do Kindle unlimited because I don't need to add another subscription to my list

Anyway, the library book I have just borrowed is Emma Flint's Other Women, a historical mystery, which I hope I will enjoy.

My favourite read in February is Queen of Poisons by Robert Thorogood.

Now off to eat beans on toast to offset the buying a Kobo

 

[emmer_moans]

For my fellow Marlow Murder Club fans, just seen an advert for the next series TV adaptation coming soon! Middle of march I believe.

6 x 1hr episodes. Each two-parters. Death Comes to Marlow adapted for the first two episodes. And two new stories written for the second and third two parters.


And Thursday Murder Club hasn't even got the first film on screen yet. Not that's it's a competition.

ooooh that's interesting. I have just read Queen of Poisons and loved it, and Murder on the Marlow Bell is on my bedside table to read in March. I loved the first TV series of MMC. Looking forward to the next one.

 

[BelindaBlue]

Ooh, which are your other two? I'm trying my best to take my time with it, partly because I ripped through the Kate Daniels series

Kim Harrison's The Hollows, although I haven't read the later books in that series yet as I want to do a reread from the start.

My absolute favourite is Nalini Singh's Psy-Changling/Psy-Changling Trinity series, which technically comes under the paranormal romance umbrella, but also has elements of urban fantasy and science fiction. It's the over arching world and story she's created that sucks me in though, and as soon as a new one is released I want to go straight back and reread from the start

I also love Kate Daniels which I've recently reread, and Karen Marie Moning's Fever series. I also need to reread and catch up with Seanan McGuire's October Daye series which I also loved but lost track of.

I love to get my teeth into a good urban fantasty/paranormal romance series. Pure escapism

 

[anniemouse]

I was naughty and bought a Kobo Clara BW on payday, firstly so I can back up future books I buy (screw you, Amazon!) but also because I want to be able to borrow more books from my library. I have just managed to check out my first book and I look forward to borrowing more and supporting the library that way. I don't borrow actual books from the library because mine is a small mobile building and open limited hours that don't match my availability, but this way I feel like I'm still supporting them a bit, still?

I also have a Kindle Paperwhite 12th ed, which I do love to read on, and that will be my main device for books I already have (I have about 50 unread ), and I can sideload onto it with books I have purchased elsewhere, plus I sideload fanfiction onto it etc, so it will still get used. But the Kobo Clara BW is smaller, lighter, and can have my library books and future purchases on it, and I'm planning on using it as my out-and-about e-reader for trains/waiting rooms/ lunchtime at work, etc. I had been a bit wary of losing my Paperwhite anyway so tended to leave it at home, and reading on the kindle app on my phone was not the best for my eyes.

So yes, a bit of a costly purchase, but I definitely have a couple of 'use cases' for it.

I still buy and love a new paperback but I'm trying to limit those purchases to ones where it's series I'm halfway though or books I can tell I am going to love. Or ask them as gifts for birthday/Christmas etc.

Then I'll use the library for e-books I am unsure about or curious about, and I will try to buy other e-books I want to keep, like Agatha Christies (whose works I want to eventually read all of, I have a spreadsheet ), from other sites and back them up.

I still may buy 99p deals on Amazon for the kindle but at least I do so now knowing it's a licence and not buying the book . I am pissed that I have spent £££ the past few years on books I thought I was owning (Buy Now, button, anyone?!) when that actually wasn't the case, and yes I downloaded my books before the cut off on 26th Feb. I mean, recently I paid 14 quid for a kindle book, a trilogy, before all that furore kicked off, and to think I could pay so much and not even be able to back it up if my amazon account ever got locked and not have access to it? Fuming! Kobo books also have DRM on the books but they let you take a download as a back up. And being able to link to my library, well that's what made me decide to get one.

No-one asked for all this blurting from me but it's been on my chest all week, and I've been trying to organise by TBR

I don't do piracy though, I have just backed up the books I have paid (quite a lot) for by download which the system let me do until the cut off. I don't redistribute. Just back up in case my account disappears. Any kindle purchases made from this point forward I do so knowing it's like a rental, but I'll try to buy the books elsewhere first. I don't do Kindle unlimited because I don't need to add another subscription to my list

Anyway, the library book I have just borrowed is Emma Flint's Other Women, a historical mystery, which I hope I will enjoy.

My favourite read in February is Queen of Poisons by Robert Thorogood.

Now off to eat beans on toast to offset the buying a Kobo

Is it Libby or BorrowBox your library uses? Mine uses BorrowBox and I’d love to borrow more books but end up having to use my iPad so I forget about them or I don’t want to read on it

 

[emmer_moans]

Is it Libby or BorrowBox your library uses? Mine uses BorrowBox and I’d love to borrow more books but end up having to use my iPad so I forget about them or I don’t want to read on it

For books, my library uses borrowbox so I do have to download the loan to my PC via Adobe Digital Editions and then it loads to my Kobo and I guess it disappears after 20 days, it seems to have a banner on the book cover showing it is a loan. My library doesn't seem to have any ebooks available on Libby, but they do use Libby for magazine loans and audio. No idea why they are using 2 platforms but only magazines on one and novels on the other that did cause me some confusion initially. It seems each library does their digital content slightly differently.

ETA:
But I am happy I can borrowbooks onto the Kobo, from borrowbox, because before I was only able to read them on my phone so I initially gave up borrowing them. The kobo is smaller than my kindle and feels like it weighs nothing and so it can stay in my handbag without being a hindrance. I can still sideload onto my kindle larger screen for other purposes, like I read a lot of fanfic but was finding reading on my laptop or phone was hurting my eyes. I now download the epub documents and load onto the kindle. It would be nice if a device could do all these things, but maybe they will in the future.