Goodreads Reading Challenge/General Bookery

[apsham]

Haha, I've had a lot of big aspirations - but as I start to get things in order and pair down other things in my life, I'm sticking to around 300 or less pages. This is AS the Dark Tower series (which went paperback is is 2 for 15) starts to pile up on my bookshelf.

[GhostMachine]

Meh @ The Dark Tower.I got bored with that series after the first three or four books.

 

[Liam]

Having read the other one, both Alan Partridge books are possibly the funniest books I've read. I don't often laugh at books, but his character is so well developed, and the lines so unknowingly funny, that it just works on every level.

Next books:

[apsham]

Second book down!

I really didn't know what I was getting into with this - it was actually one of the first books I bought when I started to amass a bookshelf of 'to-reads' and I picked it solely on the fact that Tarkin has always fascinated me in the sense of screentime vs. wanting to know more about him. I had no idea that it was from the same guy who wrote the 'Darth Plageius' book that is currently on my top list of sci-fi reads, and something that I will get to when it's time to read another Star Wars book. But man - where do I begin?

I guess I'll just say that I highly appreciate the book's ability to make me root for Tarkin, Vader and the rest of the Empire as if they were the good guys. They most certainly were the heroes of the book in a sense - and with Tarkin's backstory added in, along with the Sherlockian way that he approaches situations, I was enthralled the entire time. Tonight when I sat down to read I was about 30% of the way through and when the climax of the story hit, I had to follow it all the way through and I'm happy I did. I'm well ahead of schedule now.

I'll probably finish Coraline and then figure out what to get to next from there.

[apsham]

And now my third book is down. First one I read on my Kobo.

I made the decision to start reading this around Christmas break and when I was about 50% through I watched the movie and then finished the novel over the last two nights. I really liked both the film and the novel, they compliment each other well - but ultimately the novel was creepier for me in the end and included this exchange that I really liked.

Quote

“How do I know you'll keep your word?" asked Coraline.
"I swear it," said the other mother. "I swear it on my own mother's grave."
"Does she have a grave?" asked Coraline.
"Oh yes," said the other mother. "I put her in there myself. And when I found her trying to crawl out, I put her back.” 

 

[Moses Julep]

I finished book 2! Blake Crouch's Dark Matter. It's by the dude that wrote Wayward Pines and was pretty cool. Don't wanna give the story away but it is definitely in that vein. I was not bored.

[C-MIL]

I just got that one. Glad to hear I am in for a good read.

[Liam]

On 16/01/2017 at 03:38, Menorah Julep said:

I finished book 2! Blake Crouch's Dark Matter. It's by the dude that wrote Wayward Pines and was pretty cool. Don't wanna give the story away but it is definitely in that vein. I was not bored.

Is Wayward Pines actually any good? I've got that in my collection but have never felt overly inclined to read it.

I finished this:

the other night. A non-fiction story of a family whose son ended up severely brain damaged after getting knocked down by a car. They look after him for year but eventually go to court to allow them to remove his food and water so as to allow him to die.

The book is interesting enough and relatively short (which definitely helps it), though it was very 'woe is me' from the author at times. I got it was always going to be that way, but when you spend two hours reading about it it is either going to upset you or bore you.

I also finished 'As You Wish' - Cary Elwes just loves everyone, so whilst it was perfectly fine, it didn't really offer anything amazing to read.

[Your Mom]

I finished my first book! I am a reader!  

 

Forward by Abby Wambach (I had a picture of it here but it was huge! )

 

I really identified with Abby's struggles with addiction and being your true self. It's a struggle I still fight myself. She is really inspirational

[Moses Julep]

3 hours ago, Liam said:

Is Wayward Pines actually any good? I've got that in my collection but have never felt overly inclined to read it.

It is by no means mindblowing or anything but it's a fun time. 

[apsham]

I'm just under half way throug The Haunting Of Hill House and I'm not sure how I feel so far. It was on my list for quite a while due to it being on several lists for influential and good horror novels but I don't think it's going to end up being what I was looking for. Everything was fine at the beginning when it followed a single character, but now that the whole cast of characters is together and... no one talks like a person, it's a little bit grating but has since started to calm down a little bit.

I'm still open to something happening that changes my perception - and I'm intimidated to get to my next book as it will be the longest I have ever read, but I think I'm going to power through it tonight regardless.

[IDOL]

Just finished The Light Between Oceans. really tugged on the heart strings and touched upon a lot of elements of relationships and family, especially how the lack of communication or the inability to communicate can ultimately lead to life shattering decisions that effect many people, some very innocent in their roles.

[I Don't Mind]

12 hours ago, apsham said:

I'm just under half way throug The Haunting Of Hill House and I'm not sure how I feel so far. It was on my list for quite a while due to it being on several lists for influential and good horror novels but I don't think it's going to end up being what I was looking for. Everything was fine at the beginning when it followed a single character, but now that the whole cast of characters is together and... no one talks like a person, it's a little bit grating but has since started to calm down a little bit.

I'm still open to something happening that changes my perception - and I'm intimidated to get to my next book as it will be the longest I have ever read, but I think I'm going to power through it tonight regardless.

I preferred Hell House by Richard Matheson as far as haunted house novels go

[GhostMachine]

Hell House is a LOT stronger novel.

Wish i could get better recommendations. Because I picked Paranormal and Thrillers as two of my genres, I'm getting Zombie apocalypse related books for 85% of the Thriller recommendations. Someone must've confused Thriller with the Michael Jackson album.....

 

Edited January 20, 2017 by GhostMachine

[Liam]

13 hours ago, GhostMachine said:

Hell House is a LOT stronger novel.

Wish i could get better recommendations. Because I picked Paranormal and Thrillers as two of my genres, I'm getting Zombie apocalypse related books for 85% of the Thriller recommendations. Someone must've confused Thriller with the Michael Jackson album.....

 

I don't always use the recommendations section to be honest. I often just browse around and search books/authors.

[stokeriño]

Adding even a small fraction of my bookshelves' contents to the 'My Books' section is a pretty effective way to lose several hours, let me tell you.

[apsham]

So I finished it as my fourth book and honestly I sped through the last part. Hell House is also on the list and I'll be getting to it within the year, but for now I'm moving on to The Stand so I can properly get to The Dark Tower series. It's going to be interesting because for sure it's going to be my longest read yet - but I'm so far ahead that I think I can at least give it a shot. I don't really have much else to say about Hill House... the concept of the house itself was great but the characters in it... eh.

[GhostMachine]

When you get to the Dark Tower series, good luck if you decide on reading it all at once. I got quite bored after the first couple of books, quit after the third, and haven't gone back to read the rest yet. I plan on finishing, but not any time soon.

 

[apsham]

Oh there is absolutely no way I plan on doing the full thing. I'm going to follow the expanded reading list:

Quote

The Stand
The Eyes of the Dragon
The Dark Tower I: The Gunslinger
“The Little Sisters of Eluria”
The Dark Tower II: The Drawing of the Three
The Dark Tower III: The Waste Lands
The Dark Tower IV: Wizard and Glass
‘Salem’s Lot
Hearts in Atlantis
Insomnia
“Everything’s Eventual”
The Dark Tower: The Wind Through the Keyhole
The Dark Tower V: Wolves of the Calla
The Dark Tower VI: Song of Susannah
Black House
The Dark Tower VII: The Dark Tower

Without doing the Eyes of the Dragon at the suggestion of a friend of mine who noted how hard it is to find and that it's not really all that worth tracking down. I plan to go down the road over the better part of the year.

[Liam]

I'm reading The Stand as a book alongside shorter books. Always like to have a bigger book to dip into.