What are you reading?

eggyg

eggyg

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Looks like we’ve lost the original thread so I’ve started a new one.

I’m assuming, like me, you fellow bookworms got lots of books from Santa. I had a list which I distributed to the family and got all but one, plus some I didn’t ask for. One of them was the new Strike book. The Running Grave. It is over 900 pages long and weighs a ton! I’ve read most of the other ones I received but wanted to be able to give Strike my full attention, remember the Ink Black Heart! 😱 Yesterday, my daughter finished work to go on maternity leave so I’ve no more regular child care for 10 months. I’m hoping it won’t take that long!

I’m going in….wish me luck! 😉
 

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I've just finished 'Ultra Processed People' and have started a Stephen King book (Insomnia), but I have a huge pile of 'to read' books which is mainly a mix of horror and science fiction.

I'm also 20,000 words into a novella I'm writing - started off as a short story inspired by Shirley Jackson but something about it made me want to carry it on. I've been experimenting with AI to 'edit' bits of it as well.
 
Let me know how you get on, @eggyg. Her Strike books get longer and darker. I’ve got to wait til I see my sister to read it, she got a copy from Santa and will pass it on, ditto the latest Richard Osman, of which I've enjoyed the first 3 of the series.
Meanwhile I’ve been having an Agatha Christie and Dorothy Sayers revival.
 
Robin said:
Let me know how you get on, @eggyg. Her Strike books get longer and darker. I’ve got to wait til I see my sister to read it, she got a copy from Santa and will pass it on, ditto the latest Richard Osman, of which I've enjoyed the first 3 of the series.
Meanwhile I’ve been having an Agatha Christie and Dorothy Sayers revival.
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I just finished the latest Richard Osman last night. I borrowed it from my grandson. TBF I did buy it for him! I never thought I would like his books as I’m not usually a “cosy crime” reader but I bought the first one on a whim and thought it was pretty good. Grandson liked it too and he bought number two and three and passed them on to me. I think I’d be like Joyce if I ever had to go into a retirement community, ie never shutting up and baking! They’re light hearted and funny and just the thing to read after Ian McEwan’s Lessons ( that took me over a week, good but wordy) and before The Running Grave. I’ll post progress reports on Strike!
 
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harbottle said:
I've just finished 'Ultra Processed People' and have started a Stephen King book (Insomnia), but I have a huge pile of 'to read' books which is mainly a mix of horror and science fiction.

I'm also 20,000 words into a novella I'm writing - started off as a short story inspired by Shirley Jackson but something about it made me want to carry it on. I've been experimenting with AI to 'edit' bits of it as well.
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Who’s Shirley Jackson? Have you written anything before? @C&E Guy is a published author. Fiction and non fiction. It’s something I’ve thought about over the years but apart from few short stories that no one ever sees, I’ve not even attempted to think of a plot! I’ll leave it to the professionals. Good luck.
 
I read The Running Grave soon after it came out and it didn’t seem as long as it actually is as I flew through the chapters @eggyg

Shirley Jackson is brilliant! I recommend starting with We Have Always Lived in the Castle, if you’re interested. Such a great opening paragraph 😎 Here:

“My name is Mary Katherine Blackwood. I am eighteen years old, and I live with my sister Constance. I have often thought that with any luck at all I could have been born a werewolf, because the two middle fingers on both my hands are the same length, but I have had to be content with what I had. I dislike washing myself, and dogs, and noise. I like my sister Constance, and Richard Plantagenet, and Amanita phalloides, the death-cup mushroom. Everyone else in my family is dead.”

My pile of books to be read grows ever larger! At the moment I’m reading some library books so I can return them. They’re The House of Doors by Tan Twan Eng, author of the Gift of Rain (loved it) and The Garden of Evening Mists. He has a lovely style of writing. I do prefer his earlier two books but am enjoying this one too. Also, Pathenogenesis (non-fiction, about how diseases shaped our history and our world).
 
I started a Will Self book, "Shark", after watching a video of him talking about his writing process. I find him an entertaining and engaging speaker, saw him at a book launch many years ago in Brighton, but I've struggled with his books...and after a good start I'm struggling with this one too. Stream of consciousness, no paragraphs or breaks of any kind...feels like an assault.
I've just finished The Satsuma Complex by Bob Mortimer just to prove I'm not a literary masochist. That was a bit...meh.
 
Just finished Illegal Action by Stella Rimington ( ex Director of MI5. Just started Written in bone by Sue Black (Forensic Anthropologist).
 
grovesy said:
Just finished Illegal Action by Stella Rimington ( ex Director of MI5. Just started Written in bone by Sue Black (Forensic Anthropologist).
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I’ve just read All that remains, by Professor Dame Sue Black, to give her her full title, :rofl: My daughter did an MSc in Medical Illustration at Dundee while Prof Black was Head of Department there, and apparently she insisted on full titles at all times for herself and all the academic staff! She then refers to her colleague Chris Rynn , (who was my daughter's tutor) several times in the book, instead of Dr Chris Rynn! ) Fascinating woman, with a tremendous capacity for work, but some of the things she saw in Kosovo whilst investigating war crimes are harrowing.
 
Robin said:
I’ve just read All that remains, by Professor Dame Sue Black, to give her her full title, :rofl: My daughter did an MSc in Medical Illustration at Dundee while Prof Black was Head of Department there, and apparently she insisted on full titles at all times for herself and all the academic staff! She then refers to her colleague Chris Rynn , (who was my daughter's tutor) several times in the book, instead of Dr Chris Rynn! ) Fascinating woman, with a tremendous capacity for work, but some of the things she saw in Kosovo whilst investigating war crimes are harrowing.
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I have already read the All that remains book. On the cover of the book she is just called Sue Black.
 
eggyg said:
Who’s Shirley Jackson? Have you written anything before? @C&E Guy is a published author. Fiction and non fiction. It’s something I’ve thought about over the years but apart from few short stories that no one ever sees, I’ve not even attempted to think of a plot! I’ll leave it to the professionals. Good luck.
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She was a US author in the post-war years (She died in 1965). She wrote a story called The Lottery which has been made into films and plays many times (And songs!) and the novel upon which the movie The Haunting was based on.

I've written loads before and had a handful of short horror/sf stories published, but rarely have the time to edit stuff and do anything with it! Tend to prefer short stories these days, though, so the current Novella is unusual. I'm just about getting to the end scenes!
 
Robin said:
I’ve just read All that remains, by Professor Dame Sue Black, to give her her full title, :rofl: My daughter did an MSc in Medical Illustration at Dundee while Prof Black was Head of Department there, and apparently she insisted on full titles at all times for herself and all the academic staff! She then refers to her colleague Chris Rynn , (who was my daughter's tutor) several times in the book, instead of Dr Chris Rynn! ) Fascinating woman, with a tremendous capacity for work, but some of the things she saw in Kosovo whilst investigating war crimes are harrowing.
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She did some of the Christmas Lectures on the BBC 2022, she may have done last year too but didn’t catch any, I thought she was brilliant at explaining it all to the younger element of society ( and me). I really enjoyed watching her. I’m interested in reading some of her work now. ( Adds even more books to my ever growing TBR list!)
 
eggyg said:
She did some of the Christmas Lectures on the BBC 2022, she may have done last year too but didn’t catch any, I thought she was brilliant at explaining it all to the younger element of society ( and me). I really enjoyed watching her. I’m interested in reading some of her work now. ( Adds even more books to my ever growing TBR list!)
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Yes, I remember the 2022 ones, they were fascinating.
 
I am listening to Finding Hildasay by Christian Lewis. I listen on BorrowBox which is a free audiobook and ebook app through my local library.

It’s a fantastic book, I have a complete obsession with Scottish islands and when this guy says he was aiming to walk the uk coastline, he was doing it properly, including all the tiny islands.
 
eggyg said:
Looks like we’ve lost the original thread so I’ve started a new one.

I’m assuming, like me, you fellow bookworms got lots of books from Santa. I had a list which I distributed to the family and got all but one, plus some I didn’t ask for. One of them was the new Strike book. The Running Grave. It is over 900 pages long and weighs a ton! I’ve read most of the other ones I received but wanted to be able to give Strike my full attention, remember the Ink Black Heart! 😱 Yesterday, my daughter finished work to go on maternity leave so I’ve no more regular child care for 10 months. I’m hoping it won’t take that long!

I’m going in….wish me luck! 😉
Click to expand...
Fabulous a sort of book group. Thank you. I am currently reading Wilkie Collins - Woman in White. Next on list is Frankenstein (sp?).

A while ago I realised my pile of books was no longer, I had read them all. My annual re read book is The Great Gatsby.
 
I’m a third of the way through The Running Grave. Really enjoying it.
 
@Robin I’ve finished it! I really, really enjoyed it. Best so far I think. It didn’t seem like 945 pages. I went to bed last night at 8.30 so I could get it finished. I can’t concentrate when the telly is on. Got it finished 10.45. Then slept until 6 which is very rare for me. Get it off your sister ASAP.
 
Just finished Written in Bone. Now started The Legacy by Yara Sigurdardotor, it is a Scandi novel.
 
I’m listening to Becoming Michelle Obama on audiobook from the library
 
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