KayEluned reading diary

Hi, I'm new to the site and am really enjoying it so far. I particularly like reading threads about what people are currently reading so I thought I'd start my own. If anyone's interested that is :) I tend to read lots of books simultaneously, at any one time I try to be reading one non-fiction book, one book of poetry, one novel (fantasy) and one novel (not fantasy). I read quite a wide range of books but with a tendancy towards history in both fiction and non-fiction.
Ok, this is my current reading list, I will post what I think of them when I finish (or possibly abandon)them, I would love to hear other people's opinions on them (though no spoilers until after I've finished them obviously) ;

High Windows by Philip Larkin
Oscar Wilde and the Ring of Death by Gyles Brandreth
A Game of Thrones by George R.R. Martin (which I am re-reading)
and I am waiting for a copy of Nothing to Envy: Ordinary Lives in North Korea by Barbara Demick which isn't my usual fare but I am reading it mainly because it won the Samuel Johnson Prize, which is always a good recomendation in my book.

It's great you've decided to keep a reading thread! I will add the link to the list, so it won't get lost.

:o)

Welcome! The Oscar Wilde mysteries are new to me. This one looks pretty good - how's the series?

I look forward to reading about what you are reading. :)

Welcome! I'll be lurking. Glad to see someone else re-reading Game of Thrones!

welcome! I really appreciated your intro. Your reading habits remind me of someone...

ah

Oh! I know! Most everyone who hangs out in the Green Dragon, especially the reading several books at the same time. You fit right in!

Thanks for the welcome people :)

>3 drneutron: I read the first in the series Oscar Wilde and the Candlelight Murders after reading a review of it in the Times, I wasn't sure about the idea to begin with but really got into it. I think you have to be able to be not too poe faced about it being a fake historical novel about Wilde, after all it doesn't take anything away from the great man himself or his works, and if you can get past the fact that none of this actually happened it is very witty and well written. I think Gyles Brandreth got Oscar's voice just right and am enjoying the second in the series, I'm definatly going to read the third, though I am worried the style might get repetitive after a few books.

Got Nothing to Envy by Barbara Demick from the library today. It is a non-fiction book about life in Northern Korea, taken from the testimonies of people who have escaped the country. I have already sped through the first couple of chapters, it is very readable and interesting so far.

Hi Kay! I hope you like it here. I'll be checking in once in a while. Enjoy!

I am working my way through the list, but have been delayed a bit by firstly losing my copy of High Windows, left it in a cafe :(, and going on holiday in Bath. I felt I should read something appropriate to my surroundings so I took Jane Austen's Persuasion which I have never read but I knew was set largely in Bath (as is Northanger Abbey which I have also not read yet), and I knew the Bath tourist board like to push the Austen connection and have a visitor centre dedicated to her. Imagine my amusement a few chapters in, sitting outside a cafe in the beautiful surroundings, when I realised that Jane Austen in fact HATED Bath, she couldn't stand the place, I bet they don't tell you that in the visitor centre! I had a lot of fun reading out bits about venal, gossipy, snobby Bath to my friends who I was staying with :). Having said that I did enjoy the book, though I prefer her earlier books because they have more humour in them which I think is a bit lacking in Persuasion, it wouldn't have hurt to have a few more chuckles.

I finished Persuasion quite early on and needed something else to read so I picked up a copy of Bernard Cornwell's Gallows Thief from a second hand bookshop. I have a bit of a complicated relationship with Bernard Cornwell, some of his books I love to pieces and have read and re-read many times, such as his Arthurian series, but others I can't stand, I think it is the fault of being the sort of author who likes to keep churning them out, the historical research is always very good in my opinion but sometimes the plots become formulaic and the characters become stock (you can play a fun game identifying the Cornwell usuall suspects in each new book) Stonehenge I thought was the worst. I have for years been meaning to read the Sharp series, lots of people have told me they are his best work, so far I havn't I think because I am daunted by the sheer number of books! But I digress (sorry I tend to do that) Gallows Thief was very enjoyable, just the thing to read sitting in the sunshine by the river, it is set during the Regency period at the start of the 19th century in London, the Napoleonic war has just ended. It is in essence a detective novel, and I have to say I can see why he doesn't often write them as the actuall crime mystery was a little obvious and easy to deduce, but the characters and situations were very well written and held your attention despite this. I would recomend this book to everyone as a good holiday read.

KayEluned - I was interested to read your opinions on Bernard Cornwell. I'm the opposite - I have only read the Sharpe series, which I adore (I agree, they are pretty formulaic, but the research is good and I love the characters). I've always been a bit wary of the others - there are quite a few of them in my massive TBR pile! After your recommendation, I may have a go at some of his other series - but leaveStonehenge for the moment :-)

I am going to fill the poetry gap until I can get another copy of High Windows with some reading from the Oxford Book of English Verse (1250-1918) edited by Sir Arthur Quiller-Couch.

#12 Hi Athabasca, I will put the first Sharp book on my Must Read This Summer! list as you recommend it so highly and see how I get on with it.

If it helps any, I'll put in another plug for the Sharpe books. They are exceptionally good historical novels with characters you root for.

Others may disagree, but I would recommend reading the Sharpe series in publication order, rather than chronological order. The "earlier" books were written later on and aren't always as good. I would recommend Sharpe's Eagle as the best place to start. Although I loved the TV series (and Sean Bean), I don't think the later books, written after the series started make the best books!

ETA: edited to try to make more sense! :0)

>16 Athabasca: I agree with Athabasca re publication order and many of the later-written "earlier" books not being quite as good.

I started with Sharpe's Rifles, a "prequel" set when the band first forms, so that's an alternative starting point, although Sharpe's Eagle would be a good starting point, too, and is one of my favorites.

Thanks for the advice, my inclination would have been to read them in publication order I don't hold with reading prequels before originals, I always think you miss references put in for the people who have read all the others, like with the Narnia Chronicles

I've been picking up various Bernard Cornwall books at FotL sales. I think I read his first Arthur book, but no others yet. I have a couple of the Sharpe ones I think. Encouraging that you all like him so much. I doubt if the formulaic bit will bother me since if anything I'll be reading him sporadically. :)

*waves to Kay* Hello there! :O)

Just dropping in to say I've been enjoying reading your thread. I was interested to find out Jane Austen hated Bath! Never heard that before, and I'm sure you are right about the tourist industry not revealing that fact to the public. *chuckle*

I'll probably drop by sporadically, as is my way, but I've starred your thread; so even if I don't comment regularly I'll be reading!

Much Bliss & Purrs,
~Pandora~

# 19 MrsLee - Don't let my nit picking about Cornwell put you off, his books are very good, he certainly stands head and shoulders above a lot of the popular 'historical' novel writers out there.

# 20 PandorasRequiem - *Waves back* Hi! Thanks for the comment, feel free to lurk, comments are always appreciated of course but I have to admit I am a terrible lurker on other peoples reading threads as well :)

I think I have a Cornwell book buried deep in the TBR piles; perhaps, I'll have to dig him out and place him more near the top of the piles.

#22 maggie1944 - You really should give him a go, unless that book is Stonehenge in which case don't bother, really.

Thanks for the encouragement.

Have finished re-reading Game of Thrones by George R.R. Martin, even better than the first time I read it because I didn't have to keep turning to the family trees in the back to remind myself who was who. Glad I read it again in time for the TV series as some important stuff is left out (which is understandable given time restrictions) though I notice they are vigilant in their efforts to not let a single reference to sex or oppurtunity for nudity pass unfilmed, ha ha, that's tv priorities for you :)

Am now also reading Greg Keyes' The Briar King which is the first in a series called The Kingdom of Thorn and Bone. I read The Waterborn and its sequel The Black God by Keyes years ago and remember quite enjoying it, and someone recommended this to me so I thought I'd give it a go, has anyone else read it? If so what did you think?

Ha ha, funny touchstone mistake in that last post.

Right, a further digression from the original list, sorry. Went on holiday to Wales, doing lots of walking and visiting ruined Norman castles so I thought I'd read something appropriate. I read Sharon Penman's Here Be Dragons many years ago but only recently realised there were two sequels to it. It's a historical novel set in the 13th century mainly in Wales, and centres around Prince Llywelyn ap Iorwerth (Llywelyn the Great) so I decided to give it a re-read. It was just as good as I remembered and I am now putting the two sequels on my tbr list, oh and Wales was beautiful in the lovely April! sunshine :)

Leigh Hunt (1784-1842)

Jenny Kiss'd Me

Jenny kiss'd me when we met,
Jumping from the chair she sat in;
Time, you thief, who love to get
sweets into your list, put that in!
Say I'm weary, say I'm sad,
Say that health and wealth have miss'd me,
Say I'm growing old, but add,
Jenny kiss'd me.

:)

I love, love, love this poem. It always makes me smile.

I recently finished Q's Legacy in which Helene Hanff quotes this poem. It was the first time I'd heard it, and here it is again :o)
Lovely poem.

I have finally finished Oscar Wilde and the Ring of Death by Gyles Brandreth, I got distracted by other books but never lost interest in it. It was as good as the first one, very entertaining, funny and a good murder mystery. Like the first one I was convinced I had worked out what was going on and who was responsible, only to be completely wrong at the end! Very good use of subtle red herrings, well done Mr Brandreth. As I said before I am not sure if this set up (Oscar Wilde as a Sherlock Holmes sort of figure) would start to get old, but it certainly has not so far. I have returned the book to the library and immediatly checked out the next in the series Oscar Wilde and the Dead Man's Smile. I'm pleased to find this one is set in Paris.

Have finished Barbara Demick's Nothing to Envy. It is an amazing book I can't recomend it highly enough. It is all taken from the testimonies of people who have escaped North Korea. It is unbelievable how bad it is there, it's like every distopian novel you have ever read but it has and is REALLY HAPPENING! It is very moving, she doesn't flinch from describing how bad things are there, particularly during the famines, but she does make a point of describing as well how people survive this, how their lives continue with love, family and hope. Just to give you an example of how cut off from reality people in North Korea are (paraphrased not quoted); An educated female doctor on her thirties who had always been a loyal patriot and done all she could for the country and the Workers Party due to a particular circumstance had to flee the country, crossing the river over to China. NK was in the middle of an awful famine, people dropping like flies, no food for anyone, but they all believed the famine was not just in NK but everywhere and they had it good compared to everyone else (North Korea has Nothing to Envy in the World is a common children's song). As she dragged herself soaking and freezing from the river and staggered into the yard of a Chinese farm to beg for help she saw the most surreal sight, a bowl of white rice and meat on the floor! She had not seen white rice or eaten meat in longer than she remembered. As a barking dog ran across the yard towards her she understood what was going on. In China the dogs ate better than the people in North Korea. In that moment all her understanding of the world and North Korea fell apart. Brilliant book.

>26 KayEluned:: I don't normally read people's reading diaries, but it's been slow at work so I've started. Anyway, I saw your question about the Greg Keyes series and that no-one had answered, so thought I would share my opinion, if you are still interested. I read books One and Two and loved them. The setting, plots, characters - all were terrific and I couldn't put the books down. But I don't know what happened in book Three, or if it was me, but I couldn't finish it. Everyone seemed to be travelling endlessly and pointlessly, never arriving, wandering aimlessly (like this sentence!). It may be me, that my mood changed or something, because I have seen reviews that say they loved it. So I wouldn't say don't read the series, because the first two books really were terrific and you may not have the same issues with the third that I did. And I will be interested to read your thoughts if you do carry on reading.

Anyway, this probably wasn't all that helpful, but I hope it wasn't annoying either!

Sakerfalcon I am enjoying this first book so I think I will carry on reading the series and see how it goes. I always like to hear people's opinions on books I am reading/have read/ or am thinking about reading, like you said, it's interesting to see if people respond to things in the same way as you. Thanks for the comment.

Ok I have finished Greg Keyes Briar King, I enjoyed it a lot and it ended on a pretty good cliffhanger so I am going to read the next one soon (it is on order from the library). It reminded me a little of Robin Hobb's Soldier Son and Liveship Traders books in the way it used high fantasy to blend a feeling of medieval Europe with frontier America. I know some purists don't like that but so long as it's done well I think it makes a refreshing change from the usual style which can often be a bit Tolkien by numbers. Good characters that I am keen to read more about, such as Stephen Darige and Anne Dare and good blend of folkloric/mythic elements with the Briar King himself which I always enjoy in fantasy books. He is a sort of Herne the Hunter figure, with elements of the Horsemen of the Apocalypse and Ragnarok. I liked the way all the different cultures of their world had a distant folk memory of him but no longer believed in him, reducing him to traditional songs or childrens' rhymes;

'Oh mother I am wounded sore
And I shall die today
But I must tell you what I've seen
Before I've gone away
A purple scythe shall reap the stars
An unknown horn shall blow
Where regal blood spills on the ground
The blackbriar vines shall grow'

'When will the clouds come down from the sky?
When the fogs down in the valley lie.
And when will the mountaintops meet the sea?
When the hard rains come, then shall it be.
And when will the sky have purple horns?
When the old man walks who calls the thorns.'

I am starting two new books. The first is a non-fiction book; Hadrian's Wall by David J. Breeze and Brian Dobson. It was first published in the 70's so isn't the most recent writing on the subject, but when I was doing Classics A-Level it was on our recommended reading list so I bought it, but never actually read it properly. I am going to have to attack it with the sellotape first though as half the pages fluttered out when I took it off the shelf.
The second book I have started this week is fantasy fiction; The Dragon Book, edited by Jack Dann a collection of short stories about dragons by authors such as Garth Nix, Jonathan Stroud, Diana Wynne Jones, Tamora Pierce and others. Spotted it in the library and thought it would be fun to read some stand alone stories as most of my fantasy reading for ages has been long involved epic series. I haven't had as much time to read as I would have liked this last couple of weeks due to endless job hunting, but I am going to try to make more time for it from now on.

I am glad you enjoyed Briar king, I really thought it was one of the best new fantasy series at the time I read it, which was why I was disappointed when I couldn't get into the 3rd book. I too loved the worldbuilding and folklore, and also the different religious orders.

The dragon book sounds good too!

>37 KayEluned: Funny you should mention The Dragon Book. I've wanted to read that since it appeared on someone else thread in the 75 book challenge. But now it's on my Wishlist.

I have finished Oscar Wilde and the Dead Man's Smile by Gyles Brandreth. It was really good, the standard of these books has not slipped, in fact I think they are getting better. This one was set during the period Oscar Wilde spent in Paris (historically true) and involved dark deeds in the theatre (mentally pronouncing that thee-et-ah here!) Absolutely brilliant kept me guessing right until the last chapter as usual, great characters and plot devices. I was a little shocked to read in the author's note at the end that he knew a few of the people in the book back in his youth! I forget how old Gyles Brandreth is sometimes and it seems wierd that contemporaries and friends of Oscar Wilde could have met (in their old age) a man alive and writting now. I would definately recommend these books to anyone who likes murder mysteries of the traditional Christie/Holmes style, historical novels set at the turn of the century or Oscar Wilde himself, the books are riddled with real quotes and references to extrodinary things that Wilde actually did and said.

I am afraid I have to admit defeat with David J. Breeze's Hadrian's Wall. I have remembered now why I didn't read it properly when I was studying for Classics A-Level, it is very, very dry. I have slogged through about 100 pages but am really struggling now. It doesn't seem to talk at length about the history of the wall so much as endlessly list the data. how many Roman Miles a section of the wall is, what that is in modern miles, what that is in km, how thick the wall is here, how much of that was built at what date, how tall it was, what evidence there was for a wooden structure here etc. for every tiny section of wall, fort and mile castle. I have no doubt it is a great academic work and I remember it being a valuable reference book for such details when I was writing my assignment, but I am not going to be able to make it to the end I'm afraid. I think it may have to do with the fact that DB and Brian Dobson (co-author) are archaeologists. By no means a bad book, I will definately hang on to it for future reference but a gripping read it most certainly is not.

I have started reading a book my parents bought me for Christmas. I have been putting it off really because I was looking foreward to it so much, I know that doesn't make sense :) It is the Seamus Heaney translation of Beowulf. I have read this by another translator and enjoyed it but have been told that Heaney's translation is the best. This is a facing translation as well so it will be even more interesting to try to read the Anglo-Saxon alongside the modern English. As much as all of that is already brilliant the real reason I have been waiting for the right time to read this book is that it is the new Folio Society edition - http://www.foliosociety.com/book/BWF/beowulf
I am so excited, it is a massive book so I can't cart it around with me which just makes it seem even more special. I am going to keep it by my bead and read it a bit at a time before I go to sleep, and I am going to read it out loud, even the Anglo-Saxon bits (well, I am going to try). I know the most important part of a book is it's text, and a ratty paperback copy (or even a digitial copy) of a great book is just as good as a leather bound gold tooled one on an intellectual level, of course it is. But..... I do love a beautifully bound book, especially Folio Society books. Anyway I am going to go and read the introduction now, I have specially selected a parchment bookmark with scrolling Viking serpent patterns on it and am all set :)

I have just got out from the library my next non-fiction read. Montaigne's Essays translated by M.A. Screech. I read an article ages ago in the books section of the Times that was written by Will Self. He had exiled himself to an island, I think in the Orkneys, and read this book cover to cover. He wrote so compellingly about it, how it was such a wonderful meditation on life, from the really big problems to trivial everyday things which are universal to us all, that I put it on my tbr list. About a year on I have finally got round to it. So far I have read the introductions etc. and the chapter on sadness. It is just as good as Mr Self said it was :) I think I'm going to enjoy this.

Stranded in town waiting to go to an interview with no book! due to handbag malfunction (I need a Kindle so badly) so went to the library and got a book out to read in Costa :)
Chose something that shouldn't take to long to read so it doesn't interfere too badly with my other reading, Tom Becker's Darkside. A book for young adults about a boy who discovers there is a secret and nefarious place called 'Darkside' in London if you know where to look...
Enjoying it so far, have also realised it is the first in a series, so much for not interfering with other reading, oh well :)

"have also realised it is the first in a series"

This has been happening to me with alarming frequency lately. Good luck with the interview!

Thanks clamairy :)

Finished Darkside by Tom Becker. I liked it a lot, it is very much the sort of thing I would have read when I was a young adult, just on the right side of grusome and violent without going too far, and scary enough to have had me sleeping with the lights on.
Great idea, not entirely original of course other people have done this sort of thing before, there were times when his Darkside definatly reminded me of J.K. Rowling's Knockturn Alley, but still very well done. I particularly like the character of Carnegie a gruff werewolf P.I. And besides I always thought I'd like to know more about the denizens of Knockturn Alley ;)
In fact I enjoyed it so much that when returning it to the library I might have accidentally borrowed the next in the series : ) Oh well, they're only short. So now reading Lifeblood.

Finished Lifeblood. Again very good. The style of these books reminds me of Darren Shan.

I have just finished listening to an unabridged audiobook version of The Prisoner of Zenda by Anthony Hope (read by Andrew Pugsley). I only listen to unabridged audiobooks and tend to listen to them most when I'm at the gym (because it is suicide inducingly boring otherwise) or whilst doing chores around the house and garden.
This book kept my interest reasonably well, parts of it were riveting but I have to admit it flagged a bit at times. It was full of old fashioned swashbuckling adventure and that was where it's strengths lay. All the heroes had impeachable honour and stiff upper lips and the women were swooning or heroically suffering all over the place, just what I expected and it delivered nicely.
One of the first examples of a literary trope of creating an invented kingdom within the world we know (usually somewhere in Eastern Europe amongst all the small kingdom's that used to exist before the unification of Germany and the Sovient Union) in which the adventures take place, in this case it was the kingdom of Ruritania. Throw in two distant and estranged cousins with an uncanny likeness to each other, one of whom is a king in peril, a villanous half brother called Black Michael and a beautiful princess and you have yourself a hell of a novel :)

Finally finished The Dragon Book which I have been dipping into on and off for ages, as it is a book of short stories by various fantasy writers. I would highly recomend it to all fantasy fans. Obviously some stories were better than others but I didn't think any of them were bad. I was worried it would get a bit boring about four stories in, as they were all about dragons (surprisingly) but it was a cleverly put together book with each story being notably different to the others in some way, there were stories set in traditional high fantasy worlds, stories set in modern urban environments, funny stories, serious stories, sad stories, some that were more magical realism. There were stories which were written about characters from that author's novels, I had read the Tamora Pierce novels so I already knew Kitten but the authors I didn't know I really enjoyed too. Overall a very enjoyable read.

I would particularly recommend this book to Dragonfreak :)

I have been trying to recently read all the past winners of the Carnegie Medal (this is the main prize for childrens and young adult fiction in the UK, it is awarded by librarians every year) after visiting their website and seeing the wonderful archive of past winners.
This week I read Kevin Crossley-Holland's Storm. I was a bit surprised when it arrived from Amazon because my experience of Carnegie winners so far has been books more at the young adult end of the scale and this is a book for younger children, and very short. This isn't a complaint I just didn't realise they considered books for this age range for the prize.
I have read some of his books for older children before (the Arthur series) and thought they were very interesting. Storm is beautifully illustrated by Alan Marks and is a wonderful story of a girl and ghostly rider on the Yorkshire Moors. I can see why this won the medal, small but perfectly formed.

Right, I have started reading The Charnel Prince the second book in Greg Keyes's Kingdom of Thorn and Bone series. Quite excited, I really enjoyed the first book. They are high fantasy with strong folkloric elements. The three main kingdoms in the first book I thought resembled northern Europe, America's wild west and Italy which gave the story a bit of variety. Good strong characters and a very interesting combining of a traditional fantasy pagan style religion with a Catholic style worship of saints. Looking forward to seeing how this pans out after the rather dramatic end of the first book.

>50 KayEluned: Well I already have that on my Wishlist. I was going to comment anyways and then I saw your little note and I laughed out loud. *Gasp*, that's the first time I ever used that phrase, but I've never abbreviated it, so it's all good. I really want to read the one Naomi Novik wrote.

Havn't heard of Naomi Novik, will have to go and look her up.

>54 KayEluned: Well she did write a story in there I think. Wasn't it called Apple? Anyways, she writes this series that features a dragon named Temeraire, the first one being called His Majesty's Dragon. I loved that book, and I read the second one, but not the third out of the six or seven books and counting in the series. She's also a LibraryThing author too, although I don't know if she gets on here anymore.

Oh yes of course, silly me! I liked her story :)

I bet you did! If it had Temeraire in it, who could resist? He's my number three favorite dragon of all time, and probably the newest too.

Have you read the Tamora Pierce books? because if you have you will love her short story, it is from the point of view of Kitten the young dragon, and there is an interesting twist at the end that gives some information on the origins of dragons in her world.

I haven't. I looked her books up on LT right now, but I don't know where to start. The short story sounds something like a creation stories. I'm big on creation stories.

It is mainly an adventure story but it reveals something about the origin of dragons. The series to read by her if you want dragons is the Immortals quartet, there is an orphaned dragon in it who is adopted by the main character, and in one of the books they travel to the dimension the dragons come from and there's LOTS of dragons there.

I see. That sounds familiar. Oh wait, I thought of something like that one time. Very interesting.

I have caved in to the bullying peer pressure of my friend who has been on at me for ages to read the Charlaine Harris Sookie Stackhouse books and have started the first one Dead Until Dark. I love young adult novels but generally steer clear of the romance for teenage girls type. It is a very quick read, I am half way through already. I can definatly say that I prefer it to the Twilight series which I abandoned half way through. Charlaine Harris doesn't seem to me to be a particularly great writer so far, but the reason I am enjoying the book despite this is the humour, something the Twilight series sorely lacked. Her characters are much quicker to laugh at themselves and she is not afraid of making fun of the whole vampire genre and everything that goes with it, I find this quite engaging and because of it I am definatly going to finish the book. Whether I read the sequels I am not sure yet, there seem to be a lot of them...

Finished Dead Until Dark and have to admit I enjoyed it more than I thought I would. I may read the next in the series, though it is not high up on my priority list.

What is high up is George R. R. Martin's A Dance With Dragons. I had thought I was going to have to wait for a copy from the library as I can't afford to buy brand new hardback books at the moment, but I cooked a meal for my sister and her boyfriend the other night and she brought a surprise, she had pre-ordered the book from Amazon for me! Very sweet of her. I am now reading it, one chapter a day to string it out (after all god knows when the next one will be published ;0). It has been such a long wait that I have thought through every scenario that could happen and made all sorts of guesses about the more mysterious aspects of certain characters pasts and am very excited to see if any of my guess work was right.
The one guess I really want to be correct about is that Jon is the secret love-child of Lyanna and Rhaegar and not Ned's son at all, I am so keen on this idea that I will be very dissapointed if I am wrong (which I probably am). Oh well better stop speculating and start reading :)

I'm about a quarter of the way into A Dance with Dragons and NOTHING is going the way I thought it would.

All those theories go out the window when GRRM is writing.

Listening to Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire read by Stephen Fry on my ipod at the gym at the moment. Brilliant as ever.

Have read the first two Charlaine Harris vampire novels now (Dead Until Dark and Living Dead in Dallas) as these two were available in my local library, though I'm not sure if I will read any more as I have Dragons to Dance with. I did enjoy them, as I said before I certainly enjoyed them more than the Stephenie Meyer books, but I didn't love them. I'm afraid they are just a bit too Mills & Boon for me. They are very inventive and funny though and I would recomend them to someone who just wanted an easy fun read.
There was one thing about them that I found rather surprising (and not a little depressing). I don't know a lot about the culture and politics of the American South (I'm British), but I had no idea race was still such an issue. The True Blood TV series has definatly expunged a lot of the description of prejudice and segregation that is on show in the book, not sure if this is a good thing or a bad thing (turning a blind eye or providing an example of how things could be better?). I have to admit I was rather shocked at how Harris' characters were so hung up on people's colour and ethnic background, how people were judged a lot on this even by characters we are supposed to like, and how segregated the society she describes is. I know Bon Temp is a small town but I still found this a shocking thing to come across in 21st century America, I think at some point I need to educate myself more about racial politics in America as I obviously have a naive idea of how things are now.

Sale on in the library today 30p a book! I controlled myself and only bought a few, including Sarah Waters Tipping the Velvet which I have been meaning to read for ages and Chris Riddell's The Emperor of Absurdia. I read the Emperor straight away when I got home it was lovely! I have a few books illustrated by Chris Riddel, but they are all books for older readers and the illustrations are black and white line drawings. This is a book for little children with big full page colour illustrations and it was so good, I especially liked the little Emperor being presented with a huge boiled egg for his lunch which hatched into a baby dragon :) very cool.

Half way through Montaign's Essays and the library tells me it has been reserved by another user and I can't renew it :( Have returned the book and reserved it myself so hope I will get it back soon. Whilst that is on hiatus I am going to read The Egyptians by Allan Gardiner, beautiful Folio Society edition bought for me by my father years ago which I have only just got round to reading.

I have finally finished A Dance With Dragons. Brilliant. As good as any of them in my opinon. Not enough Bran, but I'm sure he will rectify that in the next book. Lots of things I REALLY didn't see coming but I still hold by the theory R+L = JS despite recent events, there are ways to rectify that situation, I won't say any more.
Tyrion is still the best character but it is a close thing. Interesting new points of view, some from people we already knew but not well and a couple from new characters (I think I read somewhere that he has said from here on in there will be no new POV characters, not sure about that though). All in all a very, very good book. I think Mr Martin has said the next one will be out in 2013, seems a long time away right now (especially as we know how these predictions can keep changing) but I havn't yet read Hedge Knight so I am going to get that some time this year to tide me over.
I really would recommend these books to anyone, not just fans of fantasy, but I think I would suggest that if they have the will power to wait about five years I think it would be better to start them when the last book has been published so they don't have any long, long, frustrating waits. I wish I had known and held out, it's too late for me now I am hopelessly addicted :)
Oh and I am never going to be able to look at a pork pie in the same way again.......

oh, now, that comment about pork pie...it is too close to a spoiler. My imagination is running wild, and I'm only about 1/2 way through Dance. I don't have a lot of time to read it right now, either. Dang. I need to finish a Sci Fi book for my Sci Fi group, and .. and..

Finally got Montaign's Essays back from the library, so I am jumping straight back in and will resume The Egyptians when I've finished it.

Oh and also, having finished Dance With Dragons I have finally actually started reading The Charnel Prince by Greg Keyes, second in his Kingdom of Thorn and Bone series, I have high hopes for this one. I am not going to bother with the rest of the Charlaine Harris books, the slight amusement and draw of the first one I found just petered out after a while. Sorry if other people really like them, but I suppose they are just not my sort of thing.

Kay, they weren't to my taste either. Mildly amusing is all I saw in them. Different strokes and all. :)

Have finally finished two books I've been reading for ages this weekend.
Firstly Kate Atkinson's Behind the Scenes at the Museum. I have to admit that I came to this author through the television. Earlier this year the BBC aired a series adapted from her detective books, named for the first novel Case Histories. I enjoyed it a lot and was talking to a friend on Facebook about possibly reading the books now (she had read them all already) but she said she thought I would like this book even more. It was Atkinson's first novel and won the Whitbread Award. She was right I loved it. It cleverly weaves together the stories of various generations of a family from the north of England in a way that manages to keep secrets and create cliffhangers simoultaniously for the two timelines. Her style is inventive and light hearted stopping the story (which has a lot of tragedy in it) from every really seeming depressing at all. Ruby Lennox's voice is very believable and her relatives, though not always nice are hard not to sympathise and empathise with. I would definatly recommend this book.

The second book I have finished this weekend is Seamus Heaney's wonderfully readable translation of Beowulf. As I said before this was even more of a joy to read as I was reading the beautiful Folio Society edition I got for Xmas last year. I have already read Beowulf translated by Michael Alexander and although I enjoyed that version this was far more entertaining. Not being a student of Anglo-Saxon myself (which seems a shame as my copy has a wonderful facing translation) I cannot vouch for who's translation is better in a technical sense but I think Heaney's natural poetic rhythms and experience of old Irish sagas really helped him to find the right tone. It has taken all my willpower not to go around for the last month saying Hwaet! (Listen!) at the start of every statement :)

On a less positive note as Sakerfalcon predicted I have started to flag with Greg Keyes's The Charnel Prince. I don't know if it is my lack of attention (I have had a lot going on these last couple of months) but I have struggled to engage with this second book in the Thorn and Bone series. I really enjoyed the first one though and I hate to give up on a book so I am going to perservere. If it hasn't picked up by the end however I will not be getting the next one in the series.

Right, I havn't updated this in a while as it has been a busy month, I got a job in a bookshop! Yay!

I think I am going to give up on Greg Keyes's Kingdom of Thorn and Bone series. I have now had The Charnel Prince out of the library for so long they won't let me renew it again I have to take it in to have it reissued, I think this is the point when I have to admit defeat. I have found the book slow and unengaging and just haven't been able to work up any enthusiasm to finish it. Maybe I'm just not in the right mood to read it at the moment but I am not really bothered to carry on with it.

I have got Montaigne back from the library but have a strong feeling when I try to renew it it will say it has been reserved again. Reading this book has been really difficult as I have been in a constant process of getting it out, trying to renew and finding it has been reserved, returning it and reserving it, getting it back etc. if it is reserved again when I try to renew it will confirm my suspicion that me and one other person in my town are both trying to read this book simultaniously and it is yo-yoing back and forth between us. If this is the case I think I am going to put it on haitus and put it on my reading list for the new year as this seems such a frustrating waste of time for me, the other person, the library staff and a waste of the petrol being used to shuttle it back and forth between the two branches every couple of weeks. Oh well he's not going anywhere I suppose.

This month I have also re-read Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone (for probably the tenth time) as I have been reading it whilst travelling through Pottermore. It has been a very enjoyable experience. It's a shame that not everyone here on LT has felt the same about Pottermore, but I think I'm lucky in that I came to it expecting it to be similar to Jo's old official website, with interesting graphics, some activities and snippets of info, which is what it is in a more linear form, rather than as a sort of traditional computer game, which is what some people seemed to have been expecting. I am really enjoying all the extra info it really enhances reading the stories I know so well, the first book's extra material has mainly concentrated on McGonagall which has been very surprising and moving, I am hoping that with each book another character's history will be gone into in more depth.

P.S. I got into Ravenclaw :)

Still reading Montaigne, it is like a philosophical marathon! But I am really enjoying it, especially his essays on fear, on sadness, and on smells. Obviously. He covers all the bases.

On the poetry front I felt like reading something beautiful so I am dipping into The Collected Poems of John Keats, lovely, lovely, lovely.

I am re-reading Bernard Cornwell's Arthurian trilogy, I'm now on the second book, Enemy of God. As i have said before here he can be a bit hit and miss and great literature he definatly is not, but for my money this trilogy is his best and I'm really enjoying it. I have a soft spot for the Arthurian story and will read/watch any new interpretation of it no matter how wierd or trashy, I just love to see what people will do with it next, it is the ultimate maleable story. I am particularly enjoying hating the smug, slimy, stuck up Lancelot of Bernard Cornwell's version :)

Just finished listening to the unabridged audiobook of Charles Dickens' Barnaby Rudge read by Sean Barrett. I loved all twenty-six and a half hours of it. I can't believe I have never read this before it is now one of my favourite Dickens! It is a historical novel as it is set in the previous century to Dickens' own, during the Gordon Riots in London. Barnaby is a wonderful character, I was amazed at what a good, and sensitive depiction of a person with (as we would put it now) severe learning difficulties he is I was really surprised at how well Dickens wrote him. I LOVE Grip of course but then I have a soft spot for talking ravens (Quoth the Raven :P). I am surprised this has never been adapted by the BBC, they are usually all over Dickens, this is a real oversight on their part (unless they have made one and I've just missed it). I can't recommend this book highly enough. Read it.

Doing lots of unabridged audiobooks at the moment at work. Finished Alan Bennett's Smut (read hilariously by the author). It is two short stories, centred around sex. The second one was OK but I thought the first was much better. Very funny but also rather sad.
Also listened to Ellis Peters's The Raven in the Foregate narrated by Vanessa Benjamin. It was one of the many books recommended to me on here as a Christmas read. I love Cadfael, despite its weaknesses, and this was absolute classic. The narration was also very good, although she didn't give Cadfael a Welsh accent which slightly annoyed me.
I got a Kindle for my birthday earlier this month (YAY!) and have been downloading lots of free classics onto it (cheapskate I know). I have been hunting down Charles Dickens Christmas stories that I havn't read yet, he seems to have done quite a few. So far I have read The Chimes (not massively impressed) and The Cricket on the Hearth which I found charming. I will probably stick with the Dickens theme until the new year, I always read Dickens around Christmas because I am a walking cliche, have just started on David Copperfield.

Merry Christmas LJ : )

I have just read Mackenzie Crook's The Windvale Sprites. My sister gave it to me to read and I have to admit I was dubious. For those who don't know Crook is a well known British actor (Gareth in the Office, The Pirates of the Carribbean etc.). In my experiene novels by 'celebrities' are often terrible, books that would never have even been read by the publishers if it weren't for the famous name attached, children's books in particular. I think unfortunately lots of people still think it is easy to write a good children's book as they are simpler and less dense than adult books, how wrong they are! So I was pleasantly surprised to find that I really liked this book. It is a book for younger children and one thing I hadn't initially realised was that the charming black line illustrations were done by the author. It certainly won't make my top ten classic children's books, or even my top hundred. But it was a perfectly good, enjoyable children's book and I would recomend it.

Finished listening to the audiobook version (unabridged) of Lauren Beukes' Zoo City read by Justine Eyre. I was not impressed. Firstly I didn't like the narration, Eyre's South African accent (the book is set in SA and that is the nationality of the main character) seemed OK, not that I am an expert, but all her other accents were terrible and I found her style too flat and monotous.

As for the book, I was really excited about reading it to begin with. I knew it had won the Arthur C. Clark award for sci-fi writing and the premise was really interesting. Set in a near future world where people who have committed an awful crime that they feel guilt over suddenly find themselves saddled with an animal familliar that they have to take everywhere with them (a bit like the Philip Pullman daemons), thus marking them out to society.

The story taking place in Johannesburg was also really interesting. But as the story went on I got more and more bored. I found the plot twists really predictable and worst of all I had a real trouble caring about the characters, it's not that I can't empathise with a flawed hero, I can, the characters were just completely unengaging.

In short an interesting concept but I would not recommend this book, and definately would not recommend this audiobook version of it.
Has anyone else read it? If so I would love to know how you got on with it.

I did enjoy the book, although I felt that the setting and world building were stronger than the plot, which started out well but went downhill for me about half way through the book. I liked the "non-fiction" sections that appeared every now and then. I think I liked the characters better than you did, from the sound of it, although I don't think I would have wanted to meet any of them in RL! The child stars were fascinating in a ghastly sort of way. I read rather than listened to the book, so didn't have the narrator issues that you did. I think I will read it again in the future, when my tbr pile gets down to a manageable size.

Also recently finished Neil Gaiman's Neverwhere. Having read other books by him, The Graveyard Book and Stardust, I thought I'd give this one a go. I had no idea before I read the intro about the whole TV series thing, it was really interesting. He had apparently written it as a TV script initially. The series was made, but as the filming went on he felt it was getting further and further away from how he had wanted it to be, he was not overly pleased with the end result. So to redress this he published it how he had wanted it to be, as a novel. I think it works well, although at times you can tell it was written with a visual format in mind, lots of filmic descriptions of the surroundings that feel like set directions, but I wouldn't say that was a problem.

I really enjoyed this book, I loved the strange, surreal take on London and its history. I liked the characters, many of whom were almost god-like embodiments of London places or things. It felt like the updated version of the old pagan belief of everything having its own spirit or genius. For example Old Bailey, Serpentine, the Earl of Earl's Court and of course the Angel Islington. In fact I liked all of this so much that I wished there was more of it. The plot was good, not particullarly original but well done. I liked Richard Mayhew's character, as the 'normal' person drawn into the strange London Underneath, but I thought Door's character was underdeveloped.
I liked this book a lot, but not as much as the other books I have read by Gaiman. My main criticism is really that I wanted more of everything, it felt like it was just scratching the surface of a really good concept.

Now a question for any LTers who saw the original series. I have looked up a couple of clips on Youtube and it doesn't look amazing, in your opinion is it worth my renting it on DVD?

81 - Sakerfalcon
I agree about the little bits of info you are given throughout the book in different forms, I liked that idea a lot. I think possibly my inability to engage with the characters was more to do with the narrator, so maybe I am being more harsh than the book deserves.

Zoo City sounds interesting enough to give it a try. Too bad about the narrator, though. It would have been a lovely way to read the story if the accents and voices had all worked out.

Hi, Kay. Neverwhere is one of my favorite Gaimans. I watched the TV series on dvd after reading it, and thought it was very well done. I would definitely recommend it. I contrast it with the tv series for Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, which I thought was not good at all, unfortunately.

I did enjoy Zoo City, btw. I read it in print, and liked the originality, the flawed heroine, and the setting in Johannesburg. Not up there with recent ones like The Wind-Up Girl or Embassytown, but good.

# 82 - It depends on how much it costs to rent and your financial needs of the moment. I think I watched it on Netflix, and it was amusing. I liked the book better, but I don't regret seeing the TV series.

Thank you all for your sage advice I will go and put the TV series on my Lovefilm wishlist now :)

Did a quick re-read of Susan Hill's The Woman in Black this week before I go and see the new film next week. just as good as I remembered, very creepy. A really good imitation of the Victorian gothic novel but with a modern feel to the psychological drama. All ready for the film now, hope its good : )

This month I have read Leviathan and Behemoth by Scott Westerfield on my kindle on the bus to and from work, I really enjoyed them. His take on the steam punk genre is very interesting. It is an alternative history of the outbreak of the first world war with the 'Clanker' countries, Germany and its allies pitted against the 'Darwinist' countries of Britain, France and Russia. Clanker means a sort of steampunk/ mechanical type of technology, but the Darwinist technology was even more interesting, basically it is cloning with 'fabricated' beasts made for all sorts of purposes and becoming a form of technology in themselves.

The characters pull you in straight away and the plot (which diverges from real history from about the start of the first book) is compelling. It is filled with the most beautiful line drawing illustrations, they are so lovely in fact I am considering buying the hard copy of the books just so I can own the illustrations.

The only real problem I have with the books is that they are too short, it feels like the plot is barely getting started when it is already over. I know they are written for young adults but I still think they could have been a bit more substantial.

Let us know how you get on with the DVD of Neverwhere. I picked this book up recently on the advice of a friend and found I got on with it much better than other books I'd tried of his. I'd completely forgotten about the TV series, but as things sounded more and more familiar I had to check out that it was the thing I was thinking it was. If memory serves (and I watched the TV series many years ago) I think he does pull things together more in the book. It would be interesting to hear what you make of it reading/seeing them more closely together.

I watched the Neverwhere TV series shortly after finishing the book. I think if I hadn't read the book I would have enjoyed it more, I probably would have thought it was a fun show with quirky ideas. Having read the book though, which is so much better, and having read his foreward to the book where he explains he felt the need to write it because he was thwarted at every turn by the TV producers it made me feel rather hostile towards the show.

Hmm, I watched the TV series, thought it a bit crudely done, OK ideas, but not terrific technique. Then I listened to Neil Gaiman read the book. OMG, that man could make dental records come alive. So, I loved my audio version of the book.

Interesting to hear Neil Gaiman is a good narrator, I will have to keep an eye out for his audiobooks, thanks MrsLee : )