Book Loving Kiwis discussion

I put a bunch of the books I wanted on my queue at the library and have tried to sequence them up for the next two months . Thankfully Wellington library allows you to suspend a hold until a particular date so you can queue up books one after another - but it takes a lot of management and guess work. For now I have one already and one that I am 4/18 for . Fingers crossed it works out haha

Feb 1st. Happy Book Pool reading everyone :)

Yey happy book pool month :-) I am still stuck trying to finish a big book I started earlier this month, ugh! :( I have to try and speed it up so I can start these ones haha. Looking forward to seeing everyone's reviews etc. :-)

I treated myself to The Axeman's Carnival at the book store today...ending up picking up Love Stories by Trent Dalton too cos I love the idea of that one :)

#13 Claude
Book 1 - Lessons in Chemistry
Date Finished 2/02/23
Rating: 4 Stars = thoroughly enjoyed this one!

Claude's wrote: "#13 Claude
Book 1 - Lessons in Chemistry
Date Finished 2/02/23
Rating: 4 Stars = thoroughly enjoyed this one!"

Congratulations on being the first, Claude. :)

Book 1 - “Bloody Women by Lana Lopesi”
Date Finished - 04/02/2023
Review : ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

A nice short one to kick off the NZ Goodreads Book Pool Challenge . Thanks to whomever added this one to the pool , an interesting dissection of Samoan Womanhood .
I found at times this one was almost a little too intellectual for me as I much preferred the anecdotal parts of it but overall an honest and powerful read .

Great to see some runs on the board already Claude and Nat :) Looks like you've started off with some good books too.

I started How Beautiful We Were on Wed and 100 pages in - loving it so far.

I've updated the Participant comment with the scores.

Carol She's So Novel꧁꧂ wrote: "Claude's wrote: "#13 Claude
Book 1 - Lessons in Chemistry
Date Finished 2/02/23
Rating: 4 Stars = thoroughly enjoyed this one!"

Congratulations on being the first, Claude. :)"

Thank you, Carol! It has been stinking hot in Christchurch so I have been hiding inside with the aircon on reading or listening to books. Life is bliss. Happy Waitangi Day everyone!

Same to you Claude.

It's raining here (again)

#13 Claude
Book 2 - First Cut
Date Finished 5/02/23
Rating: Whilst the story wasn't quite what I had hoped for I want to read the author's non-fiction book on her life as a medical examiner. That aspect of the book was so interesting.

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#8 Angie
Book 1 - The Trees
Date finished: 06/02/2023
Rating: 4 stars

Dark humour. Gruesome. Eerie. Political commentary and history lesson combined. A timely read for Black History Month. I might rethink my rating and bump it up to 5 once I've sat with it awhile.

I've update the scores :)

Angie - I've got The Trees on reserve at the library so hoping I might get in early March to read for the Pool.

#21 Jess
Book 1: The Sentence
Date Finished: 07.02.23
Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

There’s a lot going on in the story. It took me some time to get into the flow of it and to connect with the characters, but once I did I thoroughly enjoyed it - particularly loved the themes of indigenous storytelling and rituals.

#7 Kerry
Book 1: City of Spies
Date Finished: 07.02.23
Rating: 3.5 stars

WW2 spy novel set mostly in Portugal which was neutral during the war. An easy read with a mix of action and romance. I'll look out for the sequel.

Nice one Jess and Kerry, getting your first reads on the board :)
City of Spies sounds good, don't think I've ever read a book set in Portugal.

Erica wrote: "Nice one Jess and Kerry, getting your first reads on the board :)
City of Spies sounds good, don't think I've ever read a book set in Portugal."
Lots of excellent books set in Portugal. I'd recommend Robert Wilson's A Small Death in Lisbon or The Company of Strangers over the one I just read, though it's been several years since I read these.

Hi team
#15 - Kat
Book 1: The Stepchild The Stepchild by Nicole Trope
Date Finished: 08.02.23
Rating: 3.5 stars
I have read other books by Nicole Trope, and have loved the twists in her other stories, and that they are a nice, easy, quick read. This one I still was able to read quickly, but, I dunno.... It was OK. Good book, but not amazing unfortunately.

Hello! I finished my first book, Circe by Madeline Miller. This was a solid four-star read for me. The writing is beautiful and really captures your imagination. I didn't enjoy Circe as much as The Song of Achilles though (her first novel), I think because Circe is perhaps harder to get into if you don't know much about Greek mythology

Nice one Kat and Bridget. I've updated the scores :)

#21 Jess
Book 2: Loop Tracks. Sue Orr
Date Finished: 08.02.23
Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️

Was interesting to read about the restrictions around abortions and adoption in the 1970s. I was more engaged in that portion of the story rather than when it switched to the present.

#11 Bronwyn
Book 1 - How to Marry Harry
Date finished: 07/02/2023
Rating: 3.5 stars
Being a supporter of NZ authors, for this challenge I chose 3 books from NZ, available on kindle and not overpriced as many are. Looking forward to reading others.

#1
Book 1 - The Rose Revived
Rating 3★

This book had a great start & an ok middle - I raced through it until around 80% But Ms Forde lost control of all her strands.

Hi guys

#15 - Kat
Book 2: Paper Butterflies

Date Finished: 11.02.23
Rating: 4 stars.
Good book, quite sad. Made me cry!

#13 Claude
Book 3 - Almond
Date Finished 6/02/23
Rating: 4 Stars - A short and moving story

#13 Claude
Book 4 - Love Stories
Date Finished 11/02/23
Rating: 3 Stars - some lovely stories mixed in with less engaging ones

#9 Jennifer
Book 1 - Demon Copperhead
Date finished - 11/2/23
Rating - 5
I loved this book! A friend told me she started it and found it depressing so she put it aside. I advised her to give it another crack because while it IS relentlessly depressing in parts (the opioid crisis), the journey of the exquisitely honed characters make it compelling reading.

Looks like everyone's been getting some reading time in this weekend :)

#6
Book 1 - How Beautiful We Were
Date finished: 12/02/2023
Rating: 5 stars

This was a really powerful book. I loved the author's writing style.

Jennifer wrote: "#9 Jennifer
Book 1 - Demon Copperhead
Date finished - 11/2/23
Rating - 5
I loved this book! A friend told me she started it and found it depressing so she put it aside. I advised her to give it ano..."

Sounds like a great read, despite the dark topic :)

#13 Claude
Book 5 - All Good People Here
Date Finished 12/02/23
Rating: 3 Stars - Majority of the book was entertaining but boo hiss for the ending

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Erica wrote: "Looks like everyone's been getting some reading time in this weekend :)

#6
Book 1 - How Beautiful We Were
Date finished: 12/02/2023
Rating: 5 stars

This was a really powerful book..."

I've only managed to get through the first few pages because the writing is gorgeous and I feel like I need to have a clear head for it. Looking forward to getting further in to this after seeing how much you loved it, Erica.

#11 Bronwyn
Book 2 - No One Can Hear You
Date finished: 11/02/2023
Rating: 4 stars
Hard reading for women, as this has multiple women victims who suffer extreme brutality at the hands of vicious men. It is well plotted and written but I found it disturbing.

#5
Book 2- Almond by Won-Pying Sohn
Finished: 13/02/2023
Rating :⭐️⭐️⭐️1/2

The start of this was really strong for me and I loved the short chapters and how they represented the main character perfectly . As the story goes on the character progresses and the chapters get longer . I didn’t like the middle as much as the start and the end but a great story .

Jennifer wrote: "#9 Jennifer
Book 1 - Demon Copperhead
Date finished - 11/2/23
Rating - 5
I loved this book! A friend told me she started it and found it depressing so she put it aside. I advised her to give it ano..."

I agree with you, Jennifer. I've already read it and it is excellent. Top marks from me.

Scores have been updated :)

I'm in the middle of Never Let Me Go and Love Stories. With this weather I'm hoping to cosy up and get some reading done tonight.

#7 Kerry

Book 2: The Lucky Galah
Date Finished: 16.02.23
Rating: 4 stars

Enjoyed this one, a sort of slice of life in a small coastal Western Australian town back in the 1960s. A satellite dish has been installed, technicians and families moved in as part of the prep for the 1969 moon landing. All this is narrated by a pet galah.

#15 - Kat
Book 3: Anxious People

Date Finished: 17/02/2023
Rating: 3 stars
Ugh, the characters and style of writing annoyed me a bit. The ending was good though, as it brought the story together, so saved it from being a two star rating haha

#1 Carol
Book #2

Eleanor Oliphant Is Completely Fine

Rating 5★

Believe the hype - this book was great! Finished 16/02

#11 Bronwyn
Book 3 - Only Forward, Never Back
Date finished: 16/02/2023
Rating: Sorry to say I can't recommend this because of multiple errors throughout. It needs an editor and proof reader.

Carol She's So Novel꧁꧂ wrote: "#1 Carol
Book #2 Eleanor Oliphant Is Completely Fine
Rating 5★
Believe the hype - this book was great! Finished 16/02"

I agree with you Carol. I read it a couple of years ago and liked it very much. I must read it again some time.

I've been meaning to read Eleanor Oliphant for years - will try and grab that one out from the library to read in March :)

Erica wrote: "I've been meaning to read Eleanor Oliphant for years - will try and grab that one out from the library to read in March :)"

Cool - hope I haven't oversold it. :)

I've just put in a library request for Eleanor Oliphant. Only 2 before me for the actual book but 55 in the queue for the digital copy - Auckland Libraries.
I'll also line it up for March as it's one that I've mulled reading for a long while.

I have read Eleanor Oliphant and can lend it to anyone in Wellington. Let me know if you’re keen 😁

#6
Book 2 - Never Let Me Go
Date finished: 18/02/2023
Rating: 4 stars

I've never read a Kazuo Ishiguro novel before and glad I finally have. Thanks to whoever added this to the Pool! He writes tension really well. Definitely want to read some of his other works now :)

It was my suggestion to read Never Let Me Go. I really enjoyed Kazuo Ishiguro’s Klara and the Sun 😁

#9
Book 2 - The Key to Rebecca
Date finished - 19/2/23
Rating ⭐️⭐️⭐️1/2

Another excellent WWII thriller/spy novel from the master storyteller, Ken Follett. It took me a while to get into it, but once I did, I resented anything that kept me away from it! Superbly researched, as usual. I read it on Kindle and listened on Audible. I can recommend the narrator 😊

#11 Bronwyn
Book 4 - The Graphologist's Apprentice The Graphologist's Apprentice
Date finished: 20/02/2023
Rating: 3 1/2
Confusing in parts, with questions left answered, but at the same time strangely evocative.

Jennifer wrote: "#9
Book 2 - The Key to Rebecca
Date finished - 19/2/23
Rating ⭐️⭐️⭐️1/2

Another excellent WWII thriller/spy novel from the master storyteller, Ken Follett. It took me a while to get into it, but o..."

I love Ken Follett. I thought I'd read this one but just had a look and I haven't! So might have to pick this one up in March too.