Shut Up & Read discussion

This is my first buddy read. Hannah and I picked A Discovery of Witches by Deborah Harkness.
Have you read it? I've heard that it's a hard book to get through, but truthfully I'm 220 pages into it and I don't see that yet. What do you think?

I'm gonna need to read quite a bit to catch up with you:)

I'm a few pages in, and at first, I thought I was reading something out of context, but then it got clearer.

I will persevere and read on!

The story moves fairly slowly, but the love story part is getting good where I am. I'm enjoying the read. I (obviously) started before you, but I haven't been reading much this week and I have a busy weekend ahead of me, so you may catch up yet.

Sorry for not posting in a while.

OK, so I'm not quite where you are yet. Actually, nowhere near where you are. Heh he...

But the writing is starting to pick up, so I should be catching up soon. And so far, I'm not disappointed with the story or style of writing.

She has a vampire watching her in her sleep? How creepy...

Obviously I've watched waaayy too much Buffy the Vampire Slayer--everytime there's a scene with Clairmont, all I'm seeing is Angel!! (The age of Booth, of course).

Lol. I'm starting to wonder if he's ever going to tell her he broke into her place to watch her sleep. It was definitely creepy.

OK, I just read the dinner scene. That three-course meal was huge!! How can they eat that much and not explode?

She does a lot of eating in this book. Good thing she exercises so much!

Ooh, this is becoming a murder mystery, too...

Ah. I see you are catching up with me. =)

Regardless of having read the author's bio at the back of the book (with it mentioning her wine blog), but it is so obvious from all the wine-tasting scenes that the author is a wine fanatic.
Wonder if all the protagonists in her books are wine fanatics too?

Actually, I hadn't read her bio, but reading this book, it makes sense.

Hey Witchypoo and Hannah --- hope you don't mind me putting my 2 cents in BUT -- I loved this book -- Just sayin :0)

I am making a mental note of your approval.

Thanks for saying so, Deeann:)

I'm really enjoying it myself. I have less than 200 pages left & it's getting really good!

Oh, good. Anticipation rising. I feel something epic coming.

Matthew rakes his hands through his hair a lot, doesn't he? I just noticed that.

I found that a little distracting too because now I notice each time he does it.

It's kind of strange to read about what they wear, what they eat, and the furniture. I mean, Matthew wears fancy cashmere sweaters, and Diana wears fashionable outfits like a turqoise blouse with a scoop neck something-or-other. Me? Jeans and a T-shirt.

The furniture is always heavily commented on, it's all pieces from the 15th--19th centuries. They're always ornate and ancient and worth more than Bill Gates. She mentions who made them, what they look like (with comparisons), and what era they're from. My room? Bed, table, chair.

And the food...my gosh, a lot of detail goes into describing it. Diana eats SO many fancy foods. They've eaten quail, wild mushroom soup, smoked salmon with fresh dill, capers, gherkins, raw venison, beets. Me? Meat.

I guess I'm too laid-back and, well, American. English peoples seem overly fancy to me.

How far in are you, witchypoo? I don't know if you've finished it or not, but I'm about 400 pages in. Should be done in a day or two.

Not finished yet. Have had to intersperse it with homework reading. I'm on page 448. It'll probably take me another week or so to finish between school assignments.

As for description, it doesn't bother me. The better detailed she is, the better I can picture it in my head. The only annoyance I have is with repetitions.

I just finished, and I didn't like it all that much. There's really nothing in particular that I didn't like--the writing was definitely intelligent (as opposed to other novels I've read in the past). And the historical and alchemical bits were fascinating. But the story itself had no draw for me; it actually felt a bit overcrowded. You've got murder mystery, paranormal romance, conspiracy theory, impending war, time travel, haunted house...

My brain exploded at some point between pages 400 and 500.

I haven't had the time to finish it yet. I'm liking it so far, but I'll probably go back to my Sookie Stackhouse novels afterwards. =)

Sookie Stackhouse is on my TBR pile:)

The Sookie books are so much fun. =)

Weren't they made into a movie or TV show or something?

Yeah. TrueBlood. Though it's only very loosely based on the books.

Oh, ok. Never seen it. But I do wanna read the books:)