Aussie Readers discussion

Megan wrote: "I have just sourced myself a copy of Before I Go to Sleep to add to the challenge. Joining the masses..."

Michael will be pleased

Jacinta wrote: "Good morning everyone

I have just finished A Thousand Splendid Sunsfor my #1 selection.

My reactions to the book are all a bit raw and troubled at the moment so while I gave the bo..."

If you put a review up Jacinta, can you put a link to it here...I've got it to read soon..:)

Megan wrote: "I have just sourced myself a copy of Before I Go to Sleep to add to the challenge. Joining the masses..."

That's the way Megan;D

Brenda wrote: "Megan wrote: "I have just sourced myself a copy of Before I Go to Sleep to add to the challenge. Joining the masses..."

That's the way Megan;D"

I'm actually quite excited but worried about all of the rather sarcastic-ish hype you guys have surrounded it in :) I hope it lives up to Michael's obsession with it :)

Brenda wrote: "Jacinta wrote: "Good morning everyone

I have just finished A Thousand Splendid Sunsfor my #1 selection.

My reactions to the book are all a bit raw and troubled at the moment so whi..."

I would be interested to see what you thought. I have a copy here but have never read it. I read The Kite Runner several years ago and although I liked it, it just felt like there was something missing. And for some reason the 'something missing' feeling has stayed longer than remembering much of the detail about the book - I don't know why. But because of that I've never got round to opening A Thousand Splendid Suns. I would love to be recommended otherwise.

Megan, so you've read the book or not? Kinda confused because you mention you've never read it yet sound like you have?

Megan wrote: "Brenda wrote: "Megan wrote: "I have just sourced myself a copy of Before I Go to Sleep to add to the challenge. Joining the masses..."

That's the way Megan;D"

I'm actually quite e..."

What do you mean, sarcastic type hype Megan? Have you looked at the thread yet, and our reviews? http://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/5... I absolutely loved the book!! :) No sarcasm from me!!

Laura wrote: "Megan, so you've read the book or not? Kinda confused because you mention you've never read it yet sound like you have?"

Message #605 Laura...Megan has just got the book, so not read yet:)

Brenda wrote: "Laura wrote: "Megan, so you've read the book or not? Kinda confused because you mention you've never read it yet sound like you have?"

Message #605 Laura...Megan has just got the book, so not read..."

Yeah, it makes sense now, she edited her post as well few minutes after I posted my question..So it's all good now :) But I was enquiring about Thousand Splendid Suns not Before I go to sleep :)

Laura wrote: "Megan, so you've read the book or not? Kinda confused because you mention you've never read it yet sound like you have?"

Sorry - I think I'm being confusing. I have just got a copy of Before I Go to Sleep. I have read The Kite Runner, I'm thinking about reading A Thousand Splendid Suns. Hope that helps.

And Brenda - somehow I missed the thread, not sure how and got it now - but it was your reviews slid in amongst all the banter that convinced me :)

Laura wrote: "Brenda wrote: "Laura wrote: "Megan, so you've read the book or not? Kinda confused because you mention you've never read it yet sound like you have?"

Message #605 Laura...Megan has just got the bo..."

I see what happened - I'm still negotiating the the add book button - when I wrote it the first time things came out in the wrong order! Oops

No worries Megan, it's all good :D I think A Thousand Splendid Suns is worth picking up :) I found mine cheap at either Big W or K-Mart for around $15.

Sorry Laura!! Ooooppss...all sorted though;D

Laura wrote: "No worries Megan, it's all good :D I think A Thousand Splendid Suns is worth picking up :) I found mine cheap at either Big W or K-Mart for around $15."

Hehe - I'm a kiwi - we don't have Big W and even K-Marts are hard to find, none in my city! Luckily I have a copy on my shelf... somewhere

Hahaha..my bad. Dang, not even K-mart i thought they were a world wide thing ^^;;

GL finding your copy :D

My pleasure

I've just finished my fourth book City of Bones. It was the YA book, and my review (such as it is) is here: http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/...

Good on you Louise...I know a few people are reading that series, and enjoying it!

So, guys. I'm not the kind of person to use forums such as this for self promotion but, since you guys are people that I actually talk to (as opposed to random people that I'm spamming), I thought maybe you could check out this recent project that I did for Uni. It is called Be Your Own Mythology and it uses Google Maps as kind of a springboard for a multi-media poetry "thingy".

The link is here: http://maps.google.com.au/maps/ms?msi...

If you guys object to me posting this here, I'm quite happy to remove it. Thanks!

I have made some changes to my booklist for this challenge, so my new list is ....

Read
1. A Thousand Splendid Suns 3.5-4 stars
2. Past the Shallows 4 stars
4. Middlesex 3 stars

Still to go
3. Possum Magic
5. Chocolat (The Food Trilogy, #1)
6. still deciding
7. True History of the Kelly Gang
8. still deciding
9. still deciding
10. The Little Stranger
11. still deciding

Ljuke wrote: "So, guys. I'm not the kind of person to use forums such as this for self promotion but, since you guys are people that I actually talk to (as opposed to random people that I'm spamming), I thought ..."
Ljuke, you might wanna post this in a different place of AR :) I don't think you'll get the replies you want as this is just for the Winter Challenge.

I'd personally be posting this in the General Chat thread: http://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/3...

:)

Knowledge Lost wrote: "Before I Go To Sleep has been popular"

Sounds like that's the way to go! I'll check it out... Thanks!

Muphyn wrote: "Sounds like that's the way to go! I'll check it out... Thanks!"

Good choice, I hope you enjoy it

So I have made a small inroad into my Winter challenge list.

I have finished:
4. Suzanne Collins, The Hunger Games
6. Matthew Reilly, Ice Station
9. Karen Slaughter, Broken

I am also making a few changes:
7. Have received a long reading list Aust. Lit for English at Uni this semster so changing A true History of the Kelly Gang for Capricornia, Xavier Harbert

8. The Absloutist was actually released in May so swapping it for Tolstoy and the Purple Chair: My Year of Magical Reading, Nina Sankovitch

Last night I started no. 5 . I saw the movie years ago.

Lesley wrote: "Last night I started no. 5 . I saw the movie years ago."

Loved 'Chocolat' Lesley:) One of our other members, Dee Ann, declared it much better than the movie!

Bron wrote: "So I have made a small inroad into my Winter challenge list.

I have finished:
4. Suzanne Collins, The Hunger Games
6. Matthew Reilly, Ice Station
9. Karen Slaughter, [..."

I've read Ice Station. It was a good book if you totally suspend reality. - mind you, I'm not a Matthew Reilly fan. [book:Contest|144773] on the other hand was fantastic!

I'm looking forward to watching Chocolat again when I finish.

I'm in a dilemma! What I've chosen is

7..Read an Aussie author's book or books with an Aussie landscape/locale in it Wildwood Dancing by Juliet Marillier.

But I've just been lent a "must read quickly because it's due back to the library v. soon" The Well of Shades, also by Juliet.

Should I change my No.7? Should I read it as an 'also-read'? Can I put both on my list for No.7?

Aaaaaargh! Too many decisions! I think I'll just stick my nose back in my book and get on with it. LOL!

Carmel wrote: "Louise you do what you like, if you want to read both for that no. 7 that's fine, no pressure, just enjoy!!!"

Oh - panic over! I hadn't chosen a book for my bonus, and it turns out that Juliet Marillier was born in July! How lucky am I? Now I can read both with a clear conscience. :D

Louise wrote: "Carmel wrote: "Louise you do what you like, if you want to read both for that no. 7 that's fine, no pressure, just enjoy!!!"

Oh - panic over! I hadn't chosen a book for my bonus, and it turns out ..."

LOL crisis adverted

Pick a book from your Mt.TBR list
The Regulators by Stephen King

Find a YA novel or a picture book to read
The Dark and Hollow Places by Carrie Ryan

BORROW a book from the library/friend or pick one out of your TBR list Neverwhere by Neil Gaiman. I own this book, its out of my TBR list. Not library. *currently reading*

choosing a book which has been transformed into a movie
Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen

Read a book with a word starting with the letters of WINTER in the titleIn the Winter Dark by Tim Winton

Read an Aussie author's book or books with an Aussie landscape/locale in it
Mice byGordon Reece Finished: ✭✭✭.5 , review here: http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/...

Choose a New Release which will be out somewhere in the 3 month period of Winter
The Warlock by Michael Scott Read most of it, threw it aside towards the end: ✭✭ Review to come.

Pick a friend on your GR list and also select and read a book they have read
Gone by Michael Grant (27 of my 'friends' have read it, quite a few more have it as to-read.)

Curl up beside the fire and grab yourself a book full of suspense or murder!
And Then There Were None by Agatha Christie

o no Jess you spent so much time trying to like that book :( hopefully the next one will be better!

I know :( Fingers crossed...

Im reading Neverwhere now, and love it so far :D

Reading my new release now The Dark Enquiry by Deanna Raybourn was released 21/06/11 and it arrived in the mail on Friday

Jess I LOVED that book!

Louise, I did quite enjoy Ice Station by Matthew Reilly. Not something I would usually read either but glad I did. Absolutely agree that you have to suspend reality and if I was watching it as a movie I'd be rolling my eyes and thinking 'as if'. But still a fun read. Thanks for the recommendation, I will have to give Contest a go at some point down the track.

Finished Chocolat (The Food Trilogy, #1), really liked it, gave it 4 (4.5 really) stars. Thinking about buying the DVD, music sounds great. I'm fascinated by so-called 'gypsies', their culture, music etc.
Anyway, now reading The Master Butchers Singing Club for no. 11. Louise Erdrich born July 7.
So far good.

Bron wrote: "Louise, I did quite enjoy Ice Station by Matthew Reilly. Not something I would usually read either but glad I did. Absolutely agree that you have to suspend reality and if I was watching it as a mo..."

Ice Station is fun, but I didn't like Contest as much (if that is the one where they are in a library?). Most of his other writings are more like Ice Station - no connection to reality but lots of fun. Some even have diagrams throughout showing you how they enter temples and avoid the traps etc.

have just finished my third book of the Challenge:

What is the Whatwhich is the book with a word (in this case words) starting with the letters of Winter.

Still have not finalised my list yet, and suspect I wont finish the challenge, as one of the books I am reading, Atlas Shrugged, which is for Mt TBR is huge in itself ~1060 pages of small font, and it is slow going.

2. YA novel or a picture book: The Wee Free Men - READ.
4. Borrow book from library: Minding Frankie - READ.
6. Book with a word starting with the letters of WINTER in the title: What is the What - READ.

3 down, 7 to go.

Whoa Dee-Ann!!!!! 1060 pages AND small print!!! Very brave! But well done with your other books completed:)

Brenda wrote: "Whoa Dee-Ann!!!!! 1060 pages AND small print!!! Very brave! But well done with your other books completed:)"

Thanks Brenda ... I think I might finish it for the Winter 2012 challenge. Slow going, but I am enjoying it and it is making me think, which painful as it may be, is good for me.

Dee-Ann wrote: "Brenda wrote: "Whoa Dee-Ann!!!!! 1060 pages AND small print!!! Very brave! But well done with your other books completed:)"

Thanks Brenda ... I think I might finish it for the Winter 2012 challe..."

Hahah!!! You might need to go to the occasional 'light and entertaining' book during the course of this one!!!

ahh Dee-Ann I got Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell and its about the same weighs like 2k! but Im not starting it for awhile its so foreboding

Melanie wrote: "ahh Dee-Ann I got Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell and its about the same weighs like 2k! but Im not starting it for awhile its so foreboding"

I think we have that book lurking somewhere around the house too. At least my copy of Atlas Shrugged is not that heavy, it has thin paper, else I would not be able to carry it on the bus, which is the only place I can read it ... too many distractions at home to read it ... weird a bus half full of drunk people is no where near as distracting as five ?needy children.

I've read 5, 6 to go.... Just edited post #14. I'm about to start Winter which is #3 in the challenge (reserved from library)

Thanks Michael:)

I just realised there is another whole month of Winter after this one...

Megan wrote: "I just realised there is another whole month of Winter after this one..."

Heaps of time Megan:)

I just finished Winter, #3 in the challenge, so now I'm down 6, 5 to go!! Review http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/...