Bank Holiday Monday

I finished THE STAND!  Very happy it’s over!  I really feel it would have been better to read the original version, rather than the one with all the extra bits added in – and even then, it would have been waffly.  I will admit that I read it over such a long period of time and with lapses in concentration, but I didn’t rate it that highly.  I was left wondering what the point of it all was at the end.  I do like end-of-the-world books and descriptions of what happens when everyone’s gone (though obviously my favourite so far is Girlfriend in a Coma)…and the descriptions in this book were pretty good too.  It was the plot I felt was lacking – nothing was really explained.  There were some good characters too though – I particularly liked Trashcan Man and Tom Cullen.  I didn’t hate it, or dislike it too much, it was just too long.

I also finished We Are At War (not bad) and listened to Lair by James Herbert (crap).

Now I’m four books behind on Goodreads…I know I can catch up with SVH books and so on, so I’m not too worried and I’m just trying to work out what to focus on next.  Trying to get my ongoing books down to a manageable amount (7 at the moment) and finish some of the slower ones.

I started reading Autism & The God Connection a few months ago, and it’s not that interesting but a pretty speedy read when I make the effort.  The only problem is I’m finding the tone of the author a bit annoying/patronising and the laconic style (if that’s the right word) of writing is irritating me.  The sentences are very poorly structured and I can’t get over them.

Flowers for Algernon is another easy read and I’ve read another chunk recently.  It was mentioned in The Stand as well, which spoilt the ending of it for me (I know now that Charlie is going to lose his intelligence again by the end of the book), but I shall still finish it.

I bought a new Stephen Fry book for this month’s Audible purchase – The Hippopotamus – which will be a nice one for the list I hope.

So much to read….

Mid(ish) April

I’m two books behind schedule on Goodreads!  That’s how well I’m doing…

I finished Different Seasons.  I think my favourite story was the last one, Breathing Method, which was intriguing and gory and memorable.  I also enjoyed Apt Pupil.  The other two were just okay because it’s boring reading something you know already from a film, even if that film is one of my favourites.

I read (listened to) The Stars’ Tennis Balls which I really enjoyed.  Many have said that it’s a rip off of The Count of Monte Cristo, but as I’ve not read that it didn’t bother me.  I did think the ending was a bit disappointing but I don’t know what I was expecting.  I just got into the story very easily and liked the main character, at least until he went a bit bad at the end.  It was brilliant listening to Stephen Fry read it to me though.  That really added to my enjoyment and made parts of the dialogue very funny, in that way that he is.

I finished three SVH books – Alone in the Crowd and Bitter Rivals, as well as a Super Edition (Malibu Summer).  Alone in the Crowd was pretty good and pretty stupid.  Bitter Rivals was a bit dull and predictable.  Malibu Summer I really enjoyed actually, and had some quite exciting moments towards the end.  Think I’m going to have to read a couple more of these to catch up with my target.

I had a go at getting back into The Stand, but I can’t quite find where I was up to.  It’s confusing when you have it in paperback, kindle AND audiobook and some are abridged and some aren’t! 

I read a chunk of Flowers for Algernon – just need to get back into it as it’s a fast read.  I want to try and get rid of some of these that are hanging around on my list like a bad smell!  They’re just not motivating me to do it though.  And my Auntie keeps bringing me more Stephen Kings and Jodi Piccoults and my shelves are bulging…but I am being strict with myself and not letting myself read anything that’s not for the list now.  I realised Who Built The Moon isn’t for the list as well…but I may let myself finish it (not that it’s very inspiring either!)

That’s all so far.

End of March Update

Well, it’s been a quiet reading month if I’m honest.  I’ve got a few behind on my Goodreads target which I’d planned to get ahead of during this week when I’ve been off work for 11 days.  I’m now about half-way through and I’ve finished two books and now just one book behind, which I can sort out easily enough.  I’ve realised though that I really have my work cut out for me, even if I don’t read any more books that aren’t on the list.  I have all the Sweet Valley ones to get through and as fast as they are to read, I also have a million others.  I’ve not read a single DK book since I started this list, for one thing.  I have all the JW’s and the LD’s to read as well, and re-reads of all the TOTC books (6) before I can even read Mary Anne In Autumn or Michael Mouse Lives (and they’re big books).  I sorted out my shelves of actual books so that all the ones I need to read are on one shelf (apart from the TOTCs, the Colin Fry, the David Icke and I dunno, a few others…and apart from all the ones on Kindle.  I’ve just sorted the Kindle to have a “List” collection as well….don’t think I’ll make it to be honest, but I’m going to hopefully have fun trying and whether or not I meet the deadline, I’ll read the damned books!  I don’t want to just be reading them to get through them – I want to hopefully enjoy them as well! 

So, this month I’ve been listening to the audiobook I got last month from Audible – Thirteen Reasons Why by Jay Asher.  I HATED IT! I hated it because it made me ANGRY and because there was nothing redeeming about it, and because I couldn’t just give up on it in case I was hating it incorrectly, but no, I just finished it all and I still HATE IT.  I refuse to write any more about it.

I also finished Dearly Devoted Dexter (#2 in the series) which was part of a list item so that’s good.  I didn’t enjoy it as much as the first book.  There wasn’t enough of Dexter killing bad guys and there was too many bland descriptions of beautiful Miami scenery to pad it out, and the ending that it had been building to was over in a second.  I will still have to read the next four though (but strictly speaking, there were only 3 when I started the list so if I don’t make it to the last one, I won’t let it count).

I read Spring Break – a SVH Super Edition – which features the twins going on an exchange trip to France and Jessica nearly drowning and bla bla bla.  It wasn’t that bad, but not that exciting either.  An easy read though – over in a day.

I read Heal The World by David Icke (for the list!) and that was another quick book though I did take a while to get through it as I just haven’t been in the mood.  It’s one of his earlier books so he doesn’t talk about any interesting ‘conspiracy theory’ type stuff yet and it’s more along the spiritual lines, but that’s good too.  I’d rate it as average because there was nothing new there for me and his tone is irritating quite often, but it did make me think I need to get back into that type of stuff again really.

Those are all the books I’ve finished since my last entry.  Tomorrow I’m hoping to finish Different Seasons, a Stephen King short story collection.  I’ve already read Apt Pupil and Shawshank Redemption (or whatever the book version is called) and am about halfway through The Body (aka Stand By Me).  Stand By Me is one of my most favourite and most-watched films, so it’s easy to read but also hard to read because it’s so like the film that it’s a bit like reading the script – the dialogue is almost identical – so I feel like I’m wasting my time and am tempted to skip through it to tick another book off the list.  But I don’t want to either because I love it and want to know how the novella differs from the film – I know it will somehow.  Plus I think there’s another story after that one.

My sister is nagging me to read Flowers for Algernon which she bought me for Christmas – I’ve only read about a chapter so far so I should start on that.  It will count towards my ‘American Classics’ for the list, so it’s okay.

I’ve read a chunk of Who Built The Moon as well this month, but it’s not for the list so I shouldn’t really.  I thought it would be better than it is, to be honest, but it’s a bit like reading a science textbook.  At least I’m learning something I suppose.  They did say they think the conspiracies about the moon landings being a hoax are false though and explain how the theories about odd lighting can be debunked.  However, I think there are a lot more details that can’t be explained away by primitive cameras and I will look forward to reading about them in The Truth Agenda (on the list!).

I am half-way through The Stand, and I’ve come to a stand-still.  Did I make that joke already?  I was enjoying it but there got to be suddenly a load of new characters in the middle and I got a bit lost and didn’t really care any more about anyone.  I might go back to it someday…but it’s not for the list now as I finished by quota of Stephen King books.  Even though I have a little collection building up now because my Auntie is buying them for me from charity shops when she sees them.

Home, We Are At War and Just My Type are all still hanging around like a bad smell as well.  They are all three for the list so I need to grit my teeth and get on with them.

It will be April in a few days….the spring weather has not yet arrived and it’s starting to get a bit depressing.  I hope it improves soon!

Marching Onward

It’s March today!  I’m happy about that because I’m hoping some warmer weather will start to appear….off to the Wirral this weekend so thought I’d do a little update to complete February.

Just finished the most boring Secret Seven book ever (No. 15 – “Fun” for the Secret Seven) which is the least fun I think they’ve ever had!  Some old man has a lame horse he can’t afford to keep, and they do all they can to raise money to pay vet’s bills and buy the horse and stupid stuff, and then right at the end there’s some pointless horse thieves, just to tie in with the horsey story, but nothing is properly explained or resolved, and I think there is a lot of unattractive nastiness from the supposedly virtuous children, and the adults, who have a full on fight in the stables with pitchforks and encourage the horses to kick the thieves…so stupid.

What else…I re-read Black Maria!  I did this so I could make a quiz on it for FunTrivia with the word “black” in the title, but it was so nice to read it again.  It’s been about 19 years since I first read it and I had forgotten most of what happened apart from a boy being turned into a wolf.  It’s really a great book!  I left it with the 5 star rating I’d given it originally.  It has magical stuff and time travel and teenagers giving cheek and curious mysteries…brill!  I do think it’s an underrated book among Diana Wynne-Jones works, but then I have only read two (this and Fire and Hemlock).  Perhaps I should read some of her more popular ones like Howl’s Moving Castle and Archer’s Goon.

I finished ‘The Fault in our Stars’.  I wouldn’t say I was disappointed with it but it really didn’t make me cry as much as other people seemed to.  It’s a good read, but it’s so engineered to be a tearjerker that perhaps it had the opposite effect.  Many have said that the teenagers spoke too unrealistically and sophisticated for their age, but that didn’t bother me.  I liked John Green’s writing style and I have a few more of his books lined up to read.  This was my first.  Yeah, I did like it a lot, but it is a bit over-hyped.

The other book I read was “How to be a Woman” by Caitlyn Moran.  I’ve had it sitting there on my Kindle for a while.  I did enjoy it and related to what she said, particularly the earlier days, but I didn’t agree with a lot of what she said too.  It is a feminist manifesto disguised as an autobiography, and it’s interesting to read in both respects, but doesn’t really succeed in either.  It’s not a proper autobiography as she doesn’t fill in the details properly and I was left wondering how she achieved some of her success, while knowing the intimate details of her early masturbatory habits and periods.  I do not consider myself a feminist, and I wasn’t swayed by her ramblings and rantings to do so, and was slightly annoyed by her disapproval of female stereotypes one minute, which she then employed herself to supposedly make a point.  Meh.

Still reading Little Women (not getting anywhere fast with that.  Nothing happens).  The other books I have ongoing are not going on either: Home, Just My Type, Flowers for Algernon, We Are At War, Who Built The Moon, The Stand (came to a stand-still!), Different Seasons and The Name Of This Book Is Secret.  But I have also unofficially started the next Dexter book and a book called The Card (about a man who collects bubblegum cards – that’s looking really good!)

Mid-February Update

Just a little progress report…

I have just finished Secret Seven 14: Look Out, Secret Seven, which involved birds’ nest robbers and stolen war medals.  I have also finished Into The Darkest Corner, The 100 Year Old Man Who Climbed Out of a Window and Disappeared, read a little more Little Women and started a new book – How To Be a Woman by Caitlin Moran (her autobiography).

I enjoyed the Secret Seven book – a quick read and only read as I wanted to do another Fun Trivia quiz (I have done the whole set of Secret Seven book quizzes so far and only one more to go till they’re all done).

I also enjoyed the Hundred Year Old Man book, although not as much as I expected to.  It reminded me a lot of “The Curious Dog Book” (as I call it) by Mark Haddon.  The story is a bit silly and meandering, and I did wonder whether the author knew where it was going to end when he started it.  It is written in the present day and the past (within the old man’s life) and it was a bit jarring when it would suddenly switch.  There was a lot of ‘sillified’ history in the past-life story and I struggled with that because I don’t know my history well enough, but I stuck with it through the boring bits and understood it better in the end.  I did just want to get to the finish though and have it be over, so that’s not a great review from me.

Into The Darkest Corner was a pretty good read and stuck with me for a few days afterwards.  It was slightly repetitive when describing her OCD – the endless checking and rechecking of her doors and windows – but that is the nature of OCD and it warranted repetition.  The book was written as part of NaNoWriMo, so that probably helped with the word count!

Little Women is just going along slowly as it’s an audiobook I tend to listen to on the way to work (when I get easily distracted and have to backtrack a lot) or to fall asleep to at night (when I fall asleep and have to backtrack the next day…).  I’m liking it so far though, it’s just…easy reading.  I know that one of the girls dies in the end, and I know who it is, but I don’t know anything else about it.

Feb 2013 update

Hello,

I’m off work this week so thinking I’ll get some good reading in.  However, we’re on Wednesday and so far I’ve read 1 SVH book, a little of Just My Type, a little of Little Women, a little of The Hundred Year Old Man Who… and started another book I didn’t really mean to start (Into the Darkest Corner) which isn’t even for any of my list items (apart from Goodreads Challenge 2013 I suppose!).

Since I last wrote, I have finished Day of the Triffids, SVH27 Lovestruck, Buried Alive, and Tales From The Secret Annex, as well as bits of the aforementioned books.  Here are my comments on those…

Day of the Triffids – Really liked this book overall.  The first chapter was great and really sucked me in.  I ‘read’ the audiobook with the same guy who read My Dear I Wanted To Tell You who I really liked and his voice fit the part well.  I was surprised about the story really, as I think I expected it to be more about the Triffids and thought they were more like huge man-eating plants – probably from the old B movie images I must have seen.  In fact they were much subtler and didn’t really play the main part in the story, which was more along the lines of the end of the world and how people choose to behave/survive after a catastrophe.  Much more my cup of tea, so I was pleasantly surprised.

Lovestruck – again I was pleasantly surprised, because I’d been putting off reading this SVH book as it was about a relationship between characters I barely knew or didn’t know at all.  In fact I enjoyed it quite a lot as it’s also about the characters I know and the centennial event to celebrate 100 years of Sweet Valley, which obviously I didn’t want to miss – haha.  It centres on Ken Matthews, a semi-regular character, and him having to pass English to be able to play in the football game (and he’s the star player, so under a bit of pressure).  He also has an odious, snobby girlfriend who only adds to the trouble, but as usual, Liz saves the day…

Buried Alive – not great, but not aimed at me.  I don’t really like JW’s books that are written for boys (like Cliffhanger and the Werepuppy stories).  Buried Alive is a follow on from Cliffhanger and tells the story of another wimpy little mummy’s boy and his friend on holiday – it’s not that different from The Werepuppy On Holiday in fact.  Still, at least it was short.

Tales From the Secret Annex – this is a collection of some of Anne Frank’s writings and stories that she wrote (apparently) while in the secret annex.  Not bad and a good addition to the main diary for her fans.  She writes a lot of ‘fairy stories’ for children but with a moral undertone, and you can clearly see her own opinions and character coming through.

Currently reading: The Hundred Year Old Man Who Climbed Out of a Window and Disappeared, Just My Type, Into The Darkest Corner, Little Women, Flowers for Algernon, We Are At War…maybe some of them will be in my next review in March!

So Far, So Good.

I’m up to 7 books read so far in 2013 which makes me 2 books ahead of schedule as I write. I’ve read a few short classic books and some quick Jacqueline Wilsons to get me off to a good start.

Just finished The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie, which I found very odd in that nothing much happens and the most interesting thing about it is how it’s written. It’s almost as if different people wrote the same story, or different parts of the story, then it was all cut up and mixed together, because it jumps around in time a lot but also repeats itself in slightly different wording. Don’t think I’d bother reading any of Muriel Spark’s other work somehow.

I finished 1984 which I thought was excellent, although didn’t like the ending much. I especially liked the bit where they caught him in the room above the shop before taking him to Room 101 and there was a camera behind the picture, and they kept reciting the line from the Oranges & Lemons poem “here comes the chopper to CHOP OFF YOUR HEAD!” – very sinsiter.

I read The 39 Steps, and admit to being disappointed by it because I only knew the film beforehand which was very different and, in my opinion, much better.

Alice In Wonderland and Through The Looking Glass were brilliant. I already knew the first book very well, obviously, like everyone does, but I had new enjoyment from Christopher Plummer who was reading it to me and did it so brilliantly. The second book I was not familiar with at all, so I enjoyed it in a different way.

The other two books I’ve read were Jacqueline Wilsons – Sleepovers and Double Act. I wasn’t expecting much from Sleepovers, but actually ended up enjoying it more than Double Act (which I thought would be better). I could relate to Sleepovers more, because she writes so well about the lives of little girls and ‘how they are’, and I was one once! It’s about a group of friends who have sleepovers for each of their birthdays, and they’re all quite different. One of the girls is a bitch and the others don’t really like her but they’re scared of her. The narrating girl is Daisy and she very much wants one of the other girls to be her best friend, but can’t because of the horrible girl. It just brought back memories of that time of my life when having ‘best friends’ was so important.

Double Act is about two twin girls whose mum has died and they live with their dad and grandma, until the dad meets another woman and forces them to move to the country, away from grandma and friends. They hate the new woman, and their new school, but ultimately the more reasonable of the two twins softens slightly as she gets fed up of doing what the dominant twin wants all the time. The dominant twin cuts off all her hair and ‘refuses’ to be her twin any more, which hurts them both a lot. The other twin ends up going to a boarding school, and it’s only as she’s leaving that the stubborn twin can bring herself to make up their friendship. I don’t know, I thought it was an okay story, but I didn’t relate to them at all. The dominant twin was quite similar to Tracey Beaker in her stubborn and impulsiveness. I didn’t find it a satisfying read, and I’m not sure why. I knew they would all make up in the end, but I didn’t like that the other twin decided to go to boarding school. I suppose it was just the story’s way of saying that they were growing up and inevitably, growing apart, but from such a strong twin bond it seemed unlikely that it would happen that way, but what do I know, I’m not a twin.

What’s next…..?

I’m keen to read the next SVH book, only because it’s the last one before the next Super Edition (and I have another 10 of those to get through, but I can’t just read them without having read the other intervening books!) At least they’re a quick read. Other quick reads I am keen to start are two David Icke books and two more JW’s I have got out ready (How to Survive Summer Camp, and Buried Alive), not to mention finishing off some of the ones I’ve already started which are now starting to piss me off on my Goodreads list, like The Stand, Just My Type, Who Built The Moon, Home, I am Dave Gorman…they have been there MONTHS!

Why am I so much better at BUYING books than reading them? I have sooooooo many books. And Amazon just keeps tempting me to buy more for my Kindle….but I never read them!