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What are you reading at the moment? (Part 3)


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Old 08-04-2012, 15:00
kimindex
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The Violet Hour by Richard Montanari

Writer Nicky Stella--besieged by debts and responsibilities of his own--tries to save his career by finding out why poetry students who went to a party at Case Western Reserve University 20 years ago are suddenly dying in very nasty ways.

With its eclectic mixture of new technologies and classical murder mystery plot, The Violet Hour is a sleek and dark story of delayed revenge. Montanari's well-received and equally chilling first thriller, Deviant Way, is available in paperback. --Dick Adler
In the Shadow of the Sword Tom Holland

In the 6th century AD, the Near East was divided between two great empires: the Persian and the Roman. A hundred years on, and one had vanished for ever, while the other was a dismembered, bleeding trunk.

In their place, a new superpower had arisen: the empire of the Arabs. So profound was this upheaval that it spelled, in effect, the end of the ancient world. But the changes that marked the period were more than merely political or even cultural: there was also a transformation of human society with incalculable consequences for the future. Today, over half the world's population subscribes to one of the various religions that took on something like their final form during the last centuries of antiquity.

Wherever men or women are inspired by belief in a single god to think or behave in a certain way, they bear witness to the abiding impact of this extraordinary, convulsive age - though as Tom Holland demonstrates, much of what Jews, Christians and Muslims believe about the origins of their religion is open to debate. In the Shadow of the Sword explores how a succession of great empires came to identify themselves with a new and revolutionary understanding of the divine.
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Old 08-04-2012, 15:22
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Reading Trip to the North Pole. Watched the movie The Polar Express many times, but it is my first time to read the book.
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Old 08-04-2012, 15:53
TH14
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Fever of the Bone, Val McDirmid. Really enjoying it as well
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Old 08-04-2012, 17:18
19Nick68
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Phantom - Jo Nesbo

Got it on Friday, 300 pages in, excellent read. Had to put it down to go and see my Mum.
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Old 08-04-2012, 17:43
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Kathryn Stockett- The Help
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Old 09-04-2012, 06:42
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Finished Virginia Woolf's "Mrs Dalloway". Beautifully written but showing its age. A sensation back in the 20s though an it's easy to see why
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Old 09-04-2012, 06:43
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Never read any Roald Dahl as a child - so briskly went through the BFG .. Brilliant
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Old 09-04-2012, 06:50
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Finished the Blackhouse - the First in Peter May's Lewis triology .. A murder mystery/police procedural on the face of it but life in the Hebrides takes centre stage. A well researched novel it brings Fin the policeman back from Edinburgh to his roots and the complex relationships between him and his former schoolfriends. Full of dark secrets, personal tragedies, guilty consciences .. a very powerful evocative book .. despite the rather cliched ending. Look forward to Book 2
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Old 09-04-2012, 07:12
dymafi
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Finished iain Banks's "The Crow Road". A tale of the dysfunctional lives of the McHoan and Urvill families on the west coast of Scotland. Full of dark humour and dark secrets. Am reading "The Wasp Factory" now
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Old 09-04-2012, 07:17
dymafi
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Finished Sophie Hannah's "Kind of Cruel". As has been noted on this forum, quite hard to get into the narrative. There's too much focus on the marginal policemen involved in the story. But the characters are credible if some of the circumstances are hard to imagine. Well worth a read for Hannah fans and those who enjoy psychological thrillers
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Old 09-04-2012, 12:43
Beautiful_Harv
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Finished Sophie Hannah's "Kind of Cruel". As has been noted on this forum, quite hard to get into the narrative. There's too much focus on the marginal policemen involved in the story. But the characters are credible if some of the circumstances are hard to imagine. Well worth a read for Hannah fans and those who enjoy psychological thrillers
are the two police officers (simon and charlie i think it is) too-ing and fro-ing about being a couple even though they are just married?
This aspect of sophie hannahs books are what i find most annoying.
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Old 09-04-2012, 14:59
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That's grim too, good luck!
You're not wrong, there!! About half way through so far.

Never read any Roald Dahl as a child - so briskly went through the BFG .. Brilliant
My son (7) adores Roald Dahl so we've been through pretty much all of them!! His fave is Matilda
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Old 09-04-2012, 17:46
Lizzy11268
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Am about to start catching fire, the second in the hunger games trilogy.
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Old 10-04-2012, 10:59
Devon Miles
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Just finished Karla Forbes' The Preacher - great read - quite amusing & thought provoking
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Old 10-04-2012, 11:26
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Finished Sophie Hannah's "Kind of Cruel". As has been noted on this forum, quite hard to get into the narrative. There's too much focus on the marginal policemen involved in the story. But the characters are credible if some of the circumstances are hard to imagine. Well worth a read for Hannah fans and those who enjoy psychological thrillers
I just came here to write about this book.

I really, really enjoyed it and stayed up far later than was wise last night because I couldn't put it down. I didn't like the first few chapters because I thought the author was trying too hard to make Amber quirky and funny, but after that Amber's voice seemed to settle down and become more normal so I could relate to her more. I loved that the story developed slowly, with new information coming frequently enough to stop me getting bored but not so quickly that I couldn't take it all in.

I found the scenes with the policemen confusing. I don't think it helped that there was Sam, Simon, Snowman and Sellers - too many S's and I kept muddling them up, especially when Simon is sometimes called Waterhouse and Proust sometimes called Snowman. I don't know why their relationships were so complex when nothing was resolved and nothing added to the story. What was the purpose of Olivia and Gibbs' relationship? Why did we need to know about Simon's psychological problems?

I also think the murderer's motive was far too weak for such a good story, and I felt a bit let down by it.
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Old 10-04-2012, 23:31
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Jenny Colgan, Talking To Addison.
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Old 11-04-2012, 15:38
Lizzy11268
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I just came here to write about this book.

I really, really enjoyed it and stayed up far later than was wise last night because I couldn't put it down. I didn't like the first few chapters because I thought the author was trying too hard to make Amber quirky and funny, but after that Amber's voice seemed to settle down and become more normal so I could relate to her more. I loved that the story developed slowly, with new information coming frequently enough to stop me getting bored but not so quickly that I couldn't take it all in.

I found the scenes with the policemen confusing. I don't think it helped that there was Sam, Simon, Snowman and Sellers - too many S's and I kept muddling them up, especially when Simon is sometimes called Waterhouse and Proust sometimes called Snowman. I don't know why their relationships were so complex when nothing was resolved and nothing added to the story. What was the purpose of Olivia and Gibbs' relationship? Why did we need to know about Simon's psychological problems?

I also think the murderer's motive was far too weak for such a good story, and I felt a bit let down by it.
Have you read her others? They all feature the same set of Police people and their story is ongoing...

I love Sophie Hannah's books, they remind me a little of Agatha Christie in the way she pulls the wool over my eyes every single time!

Am just reading the last of the Hunger Games books - Mockingjay. Have loved every minute of these.
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Old 11-04-2012, 15:47
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I've still a chapter of Three Men In A Boat to go but as it's on the ole I-pad I've made a start on Master and Magraita by Mikhail Bulgakov (so as to have something to read in the bath) which, so far, is excellent.

I can't get to grips with the I-pad reading lark. Everytime I turn over in bed it goes from portrait to landscape and is annoying. Still, it was free so who am I to complain but I can't see it taking over from print for me.
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Old 11-04-2012, 18:39
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Just finished The Ritual by Adam Nevill - was weird but oddly gripping!

Now reading Birdman by Mo Hayder. Also bought The Treatment and Hanging Hill by the same author.

Lots of books I've found through this thread - love it!
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Old 11-04-2012, 18:41
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Am about to start catching fire, the second in the hunger games trilogy.
This line made me laugh (I'd not heard of the book, and thought your post might be a cry for help!! )

I'm reading the Land of Painted Caves by Jean Auel. Like all her books, the descriptions can go on and are a bit repetitive, but I enjoy the stories.
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Old 11-04-2012, 18:53
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This line made me laugh (I'd not heard of the book, and thought your post might be a cry for help!! )

I'm reading the Land of Painted Caves by Jean Auel. Like all her books, the descriptions can go on and are a bit repetitive, but I enjoy the stories.
Lol didnt even think about how that read
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Old 11-04-2012, 19:12
kristinand24
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Reading Robert Crais- Elvis Cole/Joe Pike Novels. Almost finished reading 2nd book Stalking the Angel and i really can't wait to start reading next ones. I think i'm addicted.
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Old 11-04-2012, 22:21
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Reading Wuthering Heights for about the 5th or 6th time. I'm out of new books to read, so I'm falling back on my favourite book ever
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Old 12-04-2012, 13:01
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The Guernsey literary and potato peel pie society v good indeed!!
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Old 12-04-2012, 20:02
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Laura Wilson- A Capital Crime
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