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Reading Challenge 2016 (216 in 2016)


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Old 14-01-2016, 15:32
cathy27
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11) Ghost Story by Jim Butcher
12) Cold Days by Jim Butcher
13) Skin Game by Jim Butcher

14) January by Audrey Carlan (only around 100 pages so hardly counts). Not really my thing so I don't think I'll be reading the rest of the Calendar books. And at £2 each for 100 pages they're pretty pricey too!
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Old 15-01-2016, 00:05
jojo2008
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1. Dead Simple- Peter James
Such a brilliant start to the Roy Grace series. I felt myself genuinely caring for the main victim, to the point where I was reading really fast to get to the end.
I didn't think I'd enjoy the Roy Grace series as much as the Tom Thorne, but after only reading the first in the series I know I'll enjoy them just as much.
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Old 16-01-2016, 05:10
bbclassics
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4)Thrawn Janet - Robert Louis Stevenson
4/10 it was hard going, the accent of the narrator made it hard to read
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Old 16-01-2016, 17:45
Faggy
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5/ Rubicon by Tom Holland

Non-fiction.
This is a history of the Roman Republic covering all the big figures and focussing mainly on the expansion beyond Italy and the final collapse.
This could have been great as the subject is so interesting but it's let down by a writing style that I found frustrating.
The author has a tendency to wander off on to tangents (and sometimes tangents off tangents) which means the narrative lacks drive.

Some of this was very good but ultimately a bit disappointing.
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Old 16-01-2016, 21:55
d0lphin
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1. Career of Evil - Robert Galbraith
2. Big Time, the Life of Adam Faith by David & Caroline Stafford
3. The First Fifteen Lives of Harry August - Claire North
4. The Drowning Lesson - Jane Shemilt
5/10 - I wouldn't have chosen this book but I read it for my reading group. I found it too shallow and beyond belief that a supposedly intelligent doctor would entrust her children to people she did not know at all in a foreign country. The ending seemed rushed and the title of the book related to flashbacks from the main character's childhood that I felt added nothing to the story.
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Old 17-01-2016, 05:29
clm2071
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(3) The Woman who walked into the Sea by Mark Douglas-Home (The Sea Detective book 2)

9.5/10

A very different book to The Sea Detective, none the worse for it. A chilly story set in a small Scottish coastal village about Violet, a woman who discovers secrets that some people would prefer not to be revealed while searching for the truth about her mother who apparently committed suicide the day after giving birth. Or did she?

Loved this one, as I did The Sea Detective. It's very atmospheric and evocative of Scotland and the tension builds throughout. The only disappointment is that book 3 isn't out yet!
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Old 17-01-2016, 07:57
Kitty5
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2) The Taming of the Queen - Philippa Gregory 7/10
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Old 17-01-2016, 08:36
cathy27
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15) Along Came a Spider by James Patterson.

I picked this up in a charity shop as it was unavailable on Kindle. I'd had the film on the other week and fancied reading the earlier books again.
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Old 17-01-2016, 09:33
moonlily
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2. The Road to Little Dribbling by Bill Bryson.
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Old 17-01-2016, 18:59
Katie-Jane
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2) The Seafront Tea Rooms by Vanessa Greene
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Old 18-01-2016, 19:41
cathy27
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16) Kiss the Girls by James Patterson
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Old 19-01-2016, 09:49
Faggy
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6/ Hot Six by Janet Evanovich

Comedy crime novel.
I've read the first five in the series and this is more of the same. Generally amusing with one or two laugh out loud moments it's a lightweight read but fun.
The only negative is that it does feel a bit repetitive. The lead character cannot choose between two men in her life and has been dithering about it for several books now. As the series is ongoing I can't see that being resolved any time soon.
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Old 20-01-2016, 09:54
moonlily
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3. Needled to Death by Maggie Sefton.
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Old 20-01-2016, 13:21
Mumof5
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3. Luckiest Girl Alive by Jessica Knoll
Girl seems to have it all but has a backstory that happened when she was a teenager. I was led down two different scenarios but it was actually he third that was the main part of the book. I wasn't sure whether I really liked the girl in the book, she was very self-centred. 7/10
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Old 21-01-2016, 17:55
Sue_C
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4. The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: The Primary Phase by Douglas Adams. Audiobook.
Not strictly a book but it's listed on Goodreads so I'm counting it anyway!
The first six episodes of the original radio series from 1978. This series led to the books, the tv series and eventually the film. Also included is an hour long documentary from about 1998 about the making of the series with contributions from Douglas Adams, actors, producers and so on, very interesting.

I particularly enjoyed Marvin the Paranoid Android, the depressed robot with a brain the size of a planet. Some of the sound effects are a bit creaky for the present day and the mice were unintelligible. Good music though and very nostalgic.

5. The Tales of Max Carrados by Ernest Bramah, audiobook narrated by Stephen Fry. A short freebie courtesy of Audible. These stories were first published in 1914 in The Strand Magazine alongside Sherlock Holmes. Carrados is blind and makes use of his other heightened faculties to solve mysteries where sighted investigators have failed.
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Old 21-01-2016, 23:03
Katie-Jane
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3) Eleven on Top by Janet Evanovich
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Old 22-01-2016, 09:31
Faggy
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7/ If Chins Could Kill by Bruce Campbell

Sort of autobiography by the star of the Evil Dead films.
Unlike a typical autobiography this mainly focuses on what it is like to be a jobbing B movie actor so although his marriages and kids are mentioned this book is more about his work and how to sustain a 30 year career as an actor.

It's an entertaining read with lots of behind the scenes anecdotes but I didn't feel that I knew much more about the author than when I started.
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Old 23-01-2016, 09:19
clm2071
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(4) The Happy Return (Hornblower) by C.S.Forester

8/10

The first Horatio Hornblower book published (actually the 5th chronologically).

Excellent historical novel, will be reading the rest of the series this year.
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Old 23-01-2016, 12:52
OxfordGirl
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13) Jane Fallon - Got You Back
14) Margery Allingham - The White Cottage Mystery
15) R S Meyer - Accident of Marriage
16) Frank Kusy - Kevin and I in India
17) Glenn Wood - Cop Out
18) Anouska Knight - Letting You Go
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Old 24-01-2016, 11:05
clm2071
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(5) The Secret Footballer Access All Areas

8/10

Another good read lifting the lid on the football world from the anonymous (less and less so these days) ex Premier League footballer.
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Old 24-01-2016, 11:23
OxfordGirl
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19) Stuart McBride - The Missing and the Dead
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Old 24-01-2016, 16:51
Kitty5
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3) Chestnut Street - Maeve Binchey 7/10
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Old 24-01-2016, 23:47
moonlily
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4. Spectacles by Sue Perkins.

It was okay...
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Old 25-01-2016, 12:49
cathy27
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17) In the Cold Dark Ground by Stuart MacBride
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Old 25-01-2016, 16:50
Sue_C
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6. Chalkhill Blue by Richard Masefield.
A family saga spanning a period of time from the late 1800s until the 1920s and partly based on the author's family history. At the centre is a family farm on the Downs in East Sussex. A sheep ranch in Queensland and a mining operation in South America also feature.

The time period covers the First World War and the battlefields of France. I hadn't realised that the sounds of the gun barrages could be heard the other side of the Channel in Sussex.

A very interesting book showing how life in Britain, and particularly sleepy Sussex, changed over the years. The "heroine" was rather abrasive but, on the whole, an interesting set of characters, good descriptions and a decent story.
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