All Things Books And Reading Thread - 2018

[Margret]

I finished Snuff last night; it was a good, easy read, with lots of bits that I wanted to read out loud to my husband (Sir Terry was always good for that ). So now I'm back to LOTR. Not only is it longer, it just doesn't go as fast, not what I'd call an "easy" read, which isn't a criticism; it's still one of my favorite books of all time.

Margret

 

[aliceneko]

Just picked up Yellow Crocus by Laila Ibrahim.

 

[Mamanyt1953]

Enjoyed this book very much...

View attachment 232139

I just added that to my list! I'll put it on Goodreads and Thriftbooks Wish List when I finish here at TCS (it's already on the "non-fiction" index card, but not in the Word file yet...I keep LOTS of records).

I'm currently re-reading (sort of) the Karen M. Moning "Fever" series. I started "Dark Fever" last night. I'd read most of it before, but had gaps, but now I have all of them except the newest one, and thought I'd just start at the beginning and go straight through. They are a bit racy in places, occasionally downright raunchy, but if you like dark fantasy, they can be a lot of fun.

 

[Jayflower]

I love to read; I'm currently really into the Warriors books by Erin Hunter, it's a fantasy series about cats. I found a Warriors boxed set at a Goodwill store a couple of years ago, and I've been hooked on them ever since.

 

[Mamanyt1953]

I'm currently really into the Warriors books by Erin Hunter,

Those are on my "to read" list.

Yep, there really is a list...well, there are a BUNCH of lists. LOL, there is a file on the computer for books, with a page for each author, the title of the series, then the books in order with a box to check for whether I have them in hard back, paperback or mass paperback. THEN there is a Wish List for each author on Thriftbooks. THEN there are my Goodreads shelves, and lastly, but certainly not least, there is an index card for each author with all of the books on it. That stack lives next to my computer for quick reference when I'm choosing books to order. Obsessive? Oh, just a little! To date, there are 984 books on the "To Read" Goodreads list. I'm gonna have to live forever!

Just started Bloodfever. Such a lovely Dark Fantasy series!

 

[Margret]

To date, there are 984 books on the "To Read" Goodreads list. I'm gonna have to live forever!

Ain't incentive a marvelous thing?

It appears that I can't read just one at a time. I just started The Poincaré Conjecture, by Donal O'Shea, which I have in hardback; I think I picked it up on sale at Goodwill.

I have no intention of trying to explain what the Poincaré Conjecture is (look it up on the internet if you care enough); suffice it to say that it's a math problem that's been intractable for over a century but has now been solved. It's one of the "Millennium Problems," a group of intractable math problems that were listed in 2000 by the Clay Mathematical Institute. (Millennium Prize Problems - Wikipedia) Each of the Millennium Problems comes with a million dollar prize from CMI for the first person to solve it. Grigory Perelman, the reclusive Russian mathematician who solved the Poincaré Conjecture in 2003 and was awarded the prize in 2006, declined the prize, saying that it was unfair because another mathematician, Richard S. Hamilton, on whose work Perelman had built, was equally deserving. So what happens to the million bucks? Yeah, that's the question, and I've been unable to find the answer. My guess is that CMI hangs onto it for now and eventually uses it to fund some other award; they have a lot of them.

And now, I think I'm going to do a tiny bit of house work, and then head to The Tattered Cover (best bookstore in town) in search of a new book light.

Margret

 

[Norachan]

I haven't posted here in a while but I have been reading. I got bored with Pride and Prejudice. I've read it before so I know what happens in the end and I couldn't be bothered to wade through all that bowing and curtsying and old fashioned manners again.

I started reading Oliver Twist. I've never seen the movie, so I don't know the story at all. It started of with Oliver in the orphanage, which was pretty depressing. He's now run away, met up with The Artful Dodger, run away again, been taken in by a wealthy benefactor and then been kidnapped and taken back to join Fagin's gang.

Quite good so far, although the old-fashioned, racist terms make me wince a bit.

 

[foxxycat]

I finished The Beach House from Mary Monroe-I had read it before-but wanted to reread it since it goes with the other books I read last month. I rereading Swimming Lessons by same author-I remember them helping the stranded Loggerhead turtle and how they kept it in the kiddie pool overnight until transportation. I just love her writing. I also want to reread Dorothean Franks Low Country books. I picked up a couple titles last weekend yard saling and I know I will enjoy rereading them and I still have those ARC I need to finish.

I did finish the ARC of Beach House Reunion this weekend-It is one of those I really REALLY wanted to read and was hoping they would select me even though my percentage is only 14% on netgalley but glad they sent me a copy. A wonderful family and she talks about the topics most authors shy away from. A lovely time I spent this weekend reading both those books.

 

[Mamanyt1953]

It appears that I can't read just one at a time.

LOL, I sometimes have several going at once...1 in the bedroom by the bed, 1 in the bathroom by the tub, 1 by my chair in the living room, and 1 tucked in my purse, for times when waits are long at appointments (Harlequins are good for that)!

I'm still plowing through the "Fever" series. On #3 right now. I had forgotten a rather wonderful thing about this Dark Fantasy series...scatter throughout are real gems of wisdom. The kind you can apply to your own life. I must go back and write all of these down. There are other books I've done this with, as well.

An example:

“Sometimes, Ms. Lane," he said, "one must break with one's past to embrace one's future. It is never an easy thing to do. It is one of the distinguishing characteristics between survivors and victims. Letting go of what was, to survive what is.”
― Karen Marie Moning, Darkfever

 

[foxxycat]

Mamanyt1953 how very true that is. It is indeed hard to break away from the past. How does one stop thinking about things that happened decades ago? Why do we waste energy thinking about people who don't give two cacas about us anymore? That't the million dollar question.

 

[MonaLyssa33]

Does anyone else do yearly book goals?

My 2018 goal is 100 and I finished number 45 tonight. Some of the ones I've enjoyed recently are the March series by John Lewis (they are graphic novels which isn't usually my thing but they are very enlightening about civil rights in America), Ghost Boys by Jewell Parker Rhodes (children's book, but something even adults should read as it pertains to racism and police brutality), Replay by Marc Levy (I love everything by him though), and Snoop: what your stuff says about you by Sam Gosling (just very fascinating).

 

[Margret]

No, I see no point in setting a goal for reading, unless it's reading less so I can get more things done; for me the temptation is and has always been to read instead of doing what I really ought to be doing.

Margret

 

[rubysmama]

I've always loved reading, and since getting my e-reader, I've borrowed many e-books from the library.

I'm generally a slow, thorough reader, and depending on the size of the book, it can take obviously take shorter or longer to finish. If I set reading goals for myself, I think I might start avoiding the longer books, thereby missing out on some good reads.

 

[foxxycat]

I am halfway through swimming lessons-I found a copy in massmarket and forgot I already read it many summers ago-I am enjoying rereading and see it with new eyes. I too stray from gettting things done because all I want to do is read like last weekend..i didn't get one thing done. but read!

 

[Mamanyt1953]

Does anyone else do yearly book goals?

LOL, I do. I do the Goodreads Challenge. This year was 100, and I've completed 89 now! I base my challenge number on the number of books I think I can actually order, rather than what I think I can actually read (always far more). Can't get to the library, don't drive, so I order books.

On #5 of the Fever series now, Iced, which has a different protagonist. Originally, this was to be the end of the series, but Ms. Moning is up to #10 now. Guess Mac decided her story wasn't done yet!

 

[rubysmama]

LOL, I do. I do the Goodreads Challenge. This year was 100, and I've completed 89 now!

Read? Or ordered? It's only day 142 of 2018, you know!

 

[Mamanyt1953]

Read. I'm a VERY fast reader, retired, and Hekitty doesn't mind if I read all day so long as there are kibbles in the dish, water in the bowl, and a lap available.

 

[Margret]

I'm about to start yet another book: Fool's War by Sarah Zettel. I read the short story it was based on the other day and it intrigued me.

Margret

 

[MonaLyssa33]

LOL, I do. I do the Goodreads Challenge. This year was 100, and I've completed 89 now! I base my challenge number on the number of books I think I can actually order, rather than what I think I can actually read (always far more). Can't get to the library, don't drive, so I order books.

I was proud of my 45, but 89 is impressive!

 

[Winchester]

I'm a very fast reader; honestly, it's nothing for me to read 30 books in a month, depending on what the genre might be. I've been known to spend a day reading and finish 3-4 books in one day. When the Harry Potter books started coming out, I'd go into the book store at midnight, come back home around 1:30 in the morning, flop down on the couch and finish the book by 6:00 and then go crash. I've done the same with Stephen King books....Rick says I don't read books; I devour them. He's sat there and watched my eyes when I read; my eyes don't go back and forth across the page....they go down. I guess you could say I speed read. Even when I want to really slow down and enjoy a book, I can't. I have to read it so I know what's going to happen! I make our librarians crazy because I'll go in and get 10-12 fourteen-day books at a time, plus I'm constantly downloading e-books from the library, plus I go through Freebooksy every day; my Paperwhite is loaded. I get them read, too. I really am an avid reader and I'll read pretty much anything I can get my hands on: books, magazines, newspapers, etc.

Have we mentioned John Sandford? Maybe I did a while back. I love his Virgil Flowers and Lucas Davenport mysteries and am going through both series. I am anxiously awaiting The Pharoah Key, the newest in the Gideon Crew series, by Preston and Child.

Can you imagine the books I'll be able to read when I retire?