The Book Vipers discussion

Just read Bertie's Guide to Life and Mothers, another in Alexander McCall Smith's Scotland Street series. Lovely gentle, rolling stories. I especially liked this one because Bertie not only gets some freedom from his awful mother but it happens in such a funny way.

A lot of zombie apocalypse novels tend to blur together after a while. However, Feed, part of the Newsflesh trilogy by Mira Grant proves that you can take familiar material and create an engrossing Hugo Nominated story. So whether you have read dozens of zombie books or this is your first one, I would strongly recommend giving it a try.

Just finished Village Christmas And Other Notes on the English Year. It is the first book by Laurie Lee that I have read. Really enjoyable book, and so beautifully written. My review is here

Well, I gave up (for now?) on Elena Ferrante. I pushed way past 100 pages without really enjoying it - the setting and the characters are interesting, but it's bogged down by a slow, uneventful pace and what I suspect is a translation that's really not great. I hardly ever give up on books and really wanted to enjoy this. Maybe I will return to it. But it seems unlikely.

Someone (sorry, I forget who) here was also disappointed by it, so if it was you please come back and talk to me :)

Now reading We and it's much more up my street although unlikely to surpass 1984 and Brave New World for me, both of which I love.

Lisa wrote: "Well, I gave up (for now?) on Elena Ferrante.....Someone (sorry, I forget who) here was also disappointed by it...."

Think that was me Lisa (in the Translated Book Challenge thread) -I'm so glad I am not the only one. I keep seeing rave reviews (in the media as well as here on GR) and thinking 'What am I not getting?' I also found it really dull and repetitive, my review is here if you're interested :)

Ah Pamela, thanks for that. Just read your review and agree wholeheartedly with your appraisal. I don't think we are alone but certainly in a minority! I didn't get to the last 50 pages, but if it did pick up a bit I can see the next in the series might be more readable and eventful as the girls mature. I just had the whole chestnut of 'too many books, too little time' in mind, so decided to leave it, at least for a while, after giving it a good go.

Just finished Timekeepers: How the World Became Obsessed With Time. Really enjoyable book about all thing horological

Just finished Mind Whispers, a fast-paced and thoroughly enjoyable thriller. My review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

Finally got around to Go Set a Watchman by Harper Lee. But I'm not sure it should ever have been published. Three star review here: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

On a happier note, two other recent reads got five star reviews.

Affinity by Sarah Waters, was one of her novels I hadn't read. My review here: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

And I also thoroughly enjoyed The Year of Lear: Shakespeare in 1606 by James Shapiro. review here: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

Haven't heard anything good about Go Set a Watchman.

Finished The Hanging Tree yesterday, and other great book in the series, but still leaves with more to come. Not quite five stars, but almost. My review is here

Finished The Secret Lives of Colour this morning. Great book about the history of colour specifically and generally. Worth reading if you have an interest in art and textiles. My review is here

Slightly underwhelmed by problematic The Little Red Chairs by Edna O'Brien. Three star review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

But very impressed by Michael Faber's The Book of Strange New Things. Five stars: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

Richard wrote: "Slightly underwhelmed by problematic The Little Red Chairs by Edna O'Brien. Three star review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

But very impressed by Michael Faber'..."

I thought The Book of Strange New Things was brilliant. I liked the complex nature of everyone's motivations and was glad it wasn't a simple debunking of Christianity. Just read your review and hadn't realised it was his last novel. I've read The Crimson Petal and the White and Under the Skin - both good but not as great as this last one.

Joy wrote: "Richard wrote: "Slightly underwhelmed by problematic The Little Red Chairs by Edna O'Brien. Three star review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

But very impressed b..."

Hopefully he'll renege on it being his last novel. Many authors have said it, and then been lured back. i can imagine it was emotionally exhausting both writing the book - but also writing it while his wife was dying, so you can understand why you might not want to ever do it again in the immediate aftermath.

I agree with you on its approach to Christianity. i'm not remotely religious but I respect people with faith, and it would have been a much poorer and lazier book had it just set out to pick apart the main character's religious belief.

Hey guys, I just finished reading Dreams from My Father. It was an insightful read into Barack Obama's early days entering politics. Here's my review if anyone is interested in checking it out.

I have only read The Audacity of Hope: Thoughts on Reclaiming the American Dream by him.

Just finished Winter: An Anthology for the Changing Seasons; a lovely collection of winter writing. My review is here. Finished The Making of the British Landscape: From the Ice Age to the Present this morning. Wasn't bad, but not as good as his travel and walking books.

Probably the final piece by Kathleen Jamie

Just finished Turn of the Screw/The Aspern Papers by Henry James. I'm now continuing with A Spot of Bother by Mark Haddon. Taking full advantage of being off work until Monday!

Finished Steinbeck's In Dubious Battle. The book is about a strike among fruit pickers in a California valley. Written before Of Mice and Men and the Grapes of Wrath, the book isn't as strong as those two classics, but is still worth reading:

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

I finished the year with Wool which was 5 stars for me - an entertaining and engrossing thriller / mystery set in a post-apocalyptic future.

As we have reached 2017, please come over to the new thread here:

https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...