The Book Vipers discussion

I just finished This Raging Light. I had some issues with the story, but loved the writing.

Recently finished "The Watch". Here's my review.
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

Finished two books in the last couple of weeks The Woman in White which was enjoyable but very wordy - think Collins was paid by the word though so understandable!
I also read Night Waking which I absolutely loved was only my second 5 star review of the year and I would have given it 6 stars if I could! I don't review often as I don't consider myself knowledgeable or eloquent enough but my review is here if anyone would like to take a look https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

Wendy wrote: "Finished two books in the last couple of weeks The Woman in White which was enjoyable but very wordy - think Collins was paid by the word though so understandable!
I also read [book:Nig..."

The link you've given seems to go to the book's page rather than your review Wendy. I'm going to look out for Night Waking - sounds good! I liked The Woman in White too. Have you read The Moonstone?

Thanks for letting me know Joy, it's the first time I've tried to link a review and wasn't sure I had done it properly! Think I've sorted it now. I haven't read The Moonstone yet but it is on my to read list -along with many others!

Finished How to Fly a Horse: The Secret History of Creation, Invention, and Discovery by Kevin Ashton a couple of days ago. Really good book on the creative process. My review is here

Read my first book by Hugh Howey outside of the Silo series (if you haven't read that series, please do yourself a huge favor and put it on your "to read" list.

Beacon 23: The Complete Novel was excellent. Great sci-fi elements combined with good character development and prose are always a good mix.

Finished The View from the Cheap Seats: Selected Non-fiction this morning. Brilliant stuff, but then I wouldn't expect anything else from Neil Gaiman. My review is here

I've never got to grips with Terry Pratchett

and that appears to have posted on the wrong thread....

I just finished reading The Things They Carried by Tim O'Brien. Certainly not light reading but very well written. All my children have served in the military and my oldest son is currently deployed to Afghanistan. I wasn't sure if I would be able to read this and at times I had to put the book down. My boys protected me from the "horrors of war" and a mother's fears for her children by not telling me much of anything about their war experiences (my oldest son was a sniper on his first deployment), but I've overheard bits and pieces as they have talked to each other and their male friends. My daughter, on the other hand, needed to express her experiences of "almost stepping on body parts" as she carried medical supplies to the site of a suicide bombing in Kabul. I'm glad I read this book. It's given me an outlet to process my own feelings a little more.

Sounds gripping Patricia

I have read that book too, Patricia. Thought it was very good.

Just finished Escape to Redemption and gave it four stars. Here's my review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show....

Been away on hols so lots of reading time.
Gone Girl I imagine anyone who likes psychological thrillers will have already read this. I don't know why it took me so long to get round to it. Very good of its type I thought.
The Shepherd's Crown. This is only worth reading if you're a Terry Pratchett fan, for a sense of (rather poignant) completion, as it's really only the bare bones of a story.
Agnes Grey I definitely prefer Anne Bronte to her sisters. I didn't care for Jane Eyre or Wuthering Heights, whereas I quite liked The Tenant of Wildfell Hall and found myself eagerly reading Agnes Grey. I found myself comparing it to Jane Austen at times ( a compliment as I'm a Janeite!) though it doesn't have her wit. The heroine at her worst has shades of Fanny Price and at her best just touches of Anne Eliott.

Patricia wrote: "I just finished reading The Things They Carried by Tim O'Brien. Certainly not light reading but very well written. All my children have served in the military and my oldest son is cur..."

Patricia: We at least know to thank people who serve for their contribution, but I think we all need to thank parents for raising children with such a sense of loyalty and devotion. So, thank you, from the bottom of my heart.

The things they carried is such a well written book. It stayed with me for quite a while after I'd finished it

Finished The White Rock: an exploration of the Inca heartland for one of the Book Hunter list. Not a bad travel book, but he has written better

Finished reading Inside the O'Briens by Lisa Genova. It's all about a family dealing with Huntington's disease. I found it to be a great but quite sad read. 4 stars from me!

Just finished The Sudden Appearance of Hope (by the author of The First Fifteen Lives of Harry August) and I found it compelling. It features a woman whom no one can remember (not a spoiler as you are told this on the first page) but is about the meaning of justice, society's values, how dependent we are on each other among other things! It's a book I'll read again and mull over.

Two recent reads. Four stars for the tense Strangers on a Train by Patricia Highsmith. Review here: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show.... A slightly disappointed three stars for The Bone Clocks by David Mitchell - good writing, but somewhat silly. Review here: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show....

Joy wrote: "Just finished The Sudden Appearance of Hope (by the author of The First Fifteen Lives of Harry August) and I found it compelling. It features a woman whom no one can remember (not a..."

Sounds interesting, Joy. I'm putting it on my list.

Jan wrote: "Joy wrote: "Just finished The Sudden Appearance of Hope (by the author of The First Fifteen Lives of Harry August) and I found it compelling. It features a woman whom no one can rem..."

It has similarities with Christopher Priest's brilliant and much earlier book The Glamour, but it has a different style and the themes are approached in a different way.

Finished Adrift: A Secret Life of London's Waterways and Arabian Sands this week. Both well worth reading.

Finished Orphan Train. Gave it 2.5-3 stars (I really wish we could give half star ratings!). Just found it to be all a bit average really. The high rating it has surprises me but horses for courses I guess..

I look at those after I have read a book, and think how could you possibly give it 5 stars!

Just finished 31 Treats and a Marriage and gave it four stars. Here is my review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show....

My first GoodReads book giveaway win was The Wangs vs. the World. would I recommend it. Yes. But wait until it is available at your local library.

Kevin wrote: "My first GoodReads book giveaway win was"

Come on .the suspense is killing me ;)

Absent?

Here is my review of A Machine Made This Book: Ten Sketches of Computer Science by John Whitington: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

I have just finished L J Ross Heavenfield. This is the third book in the DCI Ryan series, all of which I have really enjoyed.
Heavenfield

Just finished reading The Silver Darlings, which was one from the book hunter challenge for me. It was a surprising read for me, because I thought I was getting a non-fiction book about the herring fisheries in Scotland, but in fact it turned out to be a novel!
I was also surprised because it was written in the 1940's so is an older book than I thought (I should really look at the book descriptions more carefully!) My third surprise was that it had good, accurate detail.
It is about the hard life of the people forced from the highland clearances into herring fishing, and was luckily not a soppy romance!

Well worth a read, I gave it four stars and was actually great to follow on from the Sea Room: An Island Life. The Shiants are mentioned and I noticed details in The Silver Darlings, that Adam Nicolson mentions in his book.

Paul wrote: "Finished Adrift: A Secret Life of London's Waterways

That sounds interesting. On to the TBR it goes.

I've just finished and very much enjoyed the quirky and somewhat surreal Living Alone by Stella Benson. What's not to like about a secret island in London complete with witches, dragons and a mid-air WWI battle on broomsticks between the British witch and a German witch?

Was worth reading Storyheart. If you liked that, then have you tried Neverwhere or Rivers of London?

Finished Darkside by Belinda Bauer today. I've become bit of a fan of hers. Have today bought a copy of the last book in the Exmoor trilogy which I'm looking forward to reading already.

Jackie wrote: "Finished Darkside by Belinda Bauer today. I've become bit of a fan of hers. Have today bought a copy of the last book in the Exmoor trilogy which I'm looking forward to reading already."

Hi Jackie, thought this was a great series - and she's written a couple more after these which are equally as good.

Paul wrote: "Was worth reading Storyheart. If you liked that, then have you tried Neverwhere or Rivers of London?"

Big fan of Rivers of London; Neverwhere was one of the few Gaiman's I couldn't get into. Maybe I'll try it again.

Hi Kim!

I've got a couple more of hers marked to read. I really like her writing style, it comes across as "warm" to me, if you know what I mean lol

Storyheart wrote: "Big fan of Rivers of London; Neverwhere was one of the few Gaiman's I couldn't get into. Maybe I'll try it again...."

I loved it. The other books that you might like are Circle Line: Around London in a Small Boat and Subterranean London: Cracking the Capital

Jackie wrote: "Finished Darkside by Belinda Bauer today. I've become bit of a fan of hers. Have today bought a copy of the last book in the Exmoor trilogy which I'm looking forward to reading already."

I read Blacklands today and thought it was a good thriller.

Storyheart wrote: "Paul wrote: "Finished Adrift: A Secret Life of London's Waterways

That sounds interesting. On to the TBR it goes.

I've just finished and very much enjoyed the quirky and somewhat..."

Living Alone sounds good so I've just downloaded it to my kindle - free too!

Thanks for the recommendations, Paul.

Joy, I hope you enjoy Living Alone. If nothing else, the price was right!

Just finished The Moor's Account by Laila Lalami.

Highly recommended account by a Moroccan slave of a Conquistador excursion into 16th century Florida that goes badly wrong. It's fiction but based on real events.

Five star review here: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

Glad you liked Blacklands, Joy :)

I've finished Living Alone. What a strange book - part fairy tale, part comedy of manners, part political satire (think E.Nesbit meets E.F.Benson meets Kurt Vonnegut) with no real plot, but I really liked it and some sentences were absolute gems.

Joy wrote: "I've finished Living Alone. What a strange book - part fairy tale, part comedy of manners, part political satire (think E.Nesbit meets E.F.Benson meets Kurt Vonnegut) with no real p..."

You're so right. A Goodreads reviewer described it as a novel written by someone who'd apparently never read a novel. It's sticking around in my imagination though.

I've added it to the TBR given both of your enthusiasm for it

Just finished the cozy mystery Lowcountry Book Club. Here's my review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

This sounds like a fun series and the Kindle books are very inexpensive. Thank you for the review!