Saturday 23 February 2008

Stickers

Something that irks me intensely about buying cheap books is all the damned stickers on them....

You know the ones - 3for2, buy one get one free, price stickers, book club endorsements.. I HATE them all!

I have no idea what it is about them that I hate so much, but i can barely wait to get my books home so I can peel the damned things off and shake the sticky things off my fingers and into the bin.

I know that it's a good marketing technique, clearly marking the books on offer that might otherwise be missed - and believe me, I like getting a good deal, getting more books for less money absolutely rocks, but....

I still hate those damned stickers.

I'm finally reading again!

It seems far too long since I read a good book...

But, I have now finished my third book this year. Two have been mills and boon type - but with vampires instead of hunky millionaires, okayish, but not the finest of reads. The third book, which I read yesterday, was the latest Ian McEwan book - On Chesil Beach. It was a fairly good read, although I wanted to knock the two main charcters' heads together!

Ian Mc is a very good read. Of the books of his that I've read, my favourite would have to be Enduring Love.

I'm now going to read The Book Thief by Markus Zusak, a story written from Death's point of view...
I'll bet MIR is interested in that one!

Tuesday 22 January 2008

New Year

Well, it HAS been a long time since i was here last, hasn't it!...


No excuses or explanations, you know how it is, just on with the show eh?

Since the new year arrived, I havent read a thing. Well, I've started a couple, but finished nothing. So not much to report on that front.

Maybe it's an idea to sum up some favourites of last year...?. yes, I think I might just do that.

Last year I read A lot of Laurell K Hamilton. I was practically eating up those books (having been pointed in their direction by the lovely Stacy), sometimes reading about three in a week.

Two books which spring to mind as being particularly fabulous were:

Soon I will be invincible by Austin Grossman. Being a huge superhero fan, i adored this book, didnt want to end and now hope that there will be a sequel.

Mr Darcy Takes a Wife by Linda Berdoll. Any one who loves Pride and prejudice should like this book. Its not Jane Austen but all the characters are back doing new (and quite naughty) things, and I just loved it.

A classic I got around to reading this year was I am Legend by Richard Matheson. Picked up at my local library, I read this before I even knew about the new film of it.

An author I'd never previously tried, Iris Murdoch was a delightful discovery for me. I read The Severed Head and whilst it wasnt a particular favourite, I really liked her writing.

My top read of the year would have to go to Khaled Hossieni for his second book One thousand splendid suns. Its a fantastic book , I completely loved it.

Monday 31 December 2007

What I Read - 2007

A List of all the titles I read last year....

In Alphabetical order:

*A Caress of Twilight - Laurell K Hamilton
*A Kiss of Shadows - Laurell K Hamilton
*A Stroke of Midnight - Laurell K Hamilton
*Be Careful What You Wish For - Alexander Potter
*Blood Lines - Tanya Huff
*Blood Pact - Tanya Huff
*Blood Price - Tanya Huff
*Blood Trial - Tanya Huff
*Bloody Bones - Laurell K Hamilton
*Blue Moon - Laurell K Hamilton
*Burnt Offerings - Laurell K Hamilton
*Cerulean Sins - Laurell K Hamilton
*Circus of the Damned - Laurell K Hamilton
*Dance Macabre - Laurell K Hamilton
*Getting rid of Matthew - Jane Fallon
*I Am Legend - Richard Matheson
*Incubus Dreams - Laurell K Hamilton
*Love Story - Erich Segal
*Lucy in the Sky - Paige Toon
*Mistrals Kiss - Laurell K Hamilton
*Mr Darcy takes a wife - Liinda Berdoll
*Narcissus in Chains - Laurell K Hamilton
*Night Pleasures - Sherrilyn Kenyon
*Obsidian Butterfly - Laurell K Hamilton
*Public Confessions of a Middle-aged Woman - Sue Townsend
*Seduced by Moonlight - Laurell K Hamilton
*Soon I will be Invincible - Austin Grossman
*Storm Front - Jim Butcher
*The Association - Bentley Little
*The Dead of Summer - Camilla Way
*The Harlequin - Laurell K Hamilton
*The Killing Dance - Laurell K Hamilton
*The Laughing Corpse - Laurell K Hamilton
*The Lunatic Cafe - Laurell K Hamilton
*The Moth Diaries - Rachel Klein
*The Observations - Jane Harris
*The Outsider - Albert Camus
*The Painted Veil - Somerset Maugham
*The Perks of Being a Wallflower - Stephen Chboski
*The Severed Head - Iris Murdoch
*The Testament of Gideon Mack - James Robertson
*The Time Traveller's Wife - Audrey Niffenegger
*The Woman in White - Wilkie Collins
*Two Lipsticks and A Lover - Helena Frith Powell

Friday 3 August 2007

More For Your Money

You just gotta love the internet....

Checking out your favourite authors website is deffinately worthwhile these days, there seems to be just tons of lovely stuff on them. Not just information on release dates etc but really good stuff. Extra stories for free, between the books chronicles, even diaries of characters. There's all that and more. I've been browsing, and I am a happy lady.

Thursday 2 August 2007

Bad, bad girl

I know, I know, I know....

I promised I was going to finish up my "what I'm reading" list before picking up any other books - especially the, oh so tempting Laurell K Hamilton book which I really did try resisting....
Yes. I gave in.

But I have a good reason... really!

I was working my way through the list pretty diligently but I made one mistake. Usually, I can have several books on the go at once and can happily put them down and pick them up without needing to do any back reading, or at least, not very much. The one exception to this seems to be one of the books that was on my list - 100 years of solitude - Gabriel Garcia Marquez. I'd just found a good pace with the book, despite two of its problems: 1) most of the names are too similar and 2) it is pretty surreal. Anyway.. I'd gotten to page 92 when in between, I picked up another book. I read it, enjoyed it, then picked up the Marquez again. As I started to read, I realised I didnt have a clue who any of the characters were. I read back a little, to no avail, and so I've decided not to try to continue from page 92. I'll have to read from the begining again if I'm ever going to finish it. So having abandoned that book, I set about reading some of the books I have from the local library, I read the Laurell K Hamilton and have basically been loving everything I've read - reviews will follow.

Saturday 14 July 2007

What I've Read #5 The Woman in White - Wilkie Collins

woo, is that list coming down!...

and let's face it, it needed to.

I'm not going to give an overlong review of this book, to be honest, I just don't have the time. Suffice to say, this is a very good book. Hugely enjoyable; even though at times I felt it was too long.

I give this book 8 out of 10

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