DS Forums

 
 

Reading Challenge 2016 (216 in 2016)


Reply
Thread Tools Search this Thread
Old 09-02-2016, 09:40
Faggy
Forum Member
 
Join Date: Apr 2004
Location: Brockley
Posts: 2,778
12/ Tea Time For The Traditionally Built by Alexander McCall Smith

Business as usual for Precious Ramotswe.
Another in the ongoing No1 Ladies Detective Agency series.
As previously the crime solving is very much secondary with the main focus being on the various hiccups in the lives of the characters.
Not a demanding read but a nice way to pass the time.
Faggy is offline   Reply With Quote
Please sign in or register to remove this advertisement.
Old 09-02-2016, 22:40
moonlily
Forum Member
 
Join Date: Jul 2008
Posts: 4,526
6. Gone by Michael Grant-

although this has been out for years I put off reading it as it's all about kids under 15, but it was much, much better than I expected - I enjoyed it and nearly 600 pages flew by.
moonlily is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 10-02-2016, 14:32
jojo2008
Forum Member
 
Join Date: Aug 2008
Posts: 4,279
2. Looking Good Dead- Peter James
3. Not Dead Enough- Peter James
4. Dead Man's Footsteps- Peter James
jojo2008 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 10-02-2016, 18:21
moonlily
Forum Member
 
Join Date: Jul 2008
Posts: 4,526
12/ Tea Time For The Traditionally Built by Alexander McCall Smith

Business as usual for Precious Ramotswe.
Another in the ongoing No1 Ladies Detective Agency series.
As previously the crime solving is very much secondary with the main focus being on the various hiccups in the lives of the characters.
Not a demanding read but a nice way to pass the time.
I love that title (being traditionally built myself)
moonlily is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 10-02-2016, 19:03
OxfordGirl
Forum Member
 
Join Date: Mar 2008
Posts: 2,304
30) Jane Green - The Love Verb
31) Robert Bryndza - Coco Pinchard's Big Fat Tipsy Wedding
32) Tina Seskis - One Step Too Far
33) Sophie Hannah - The Monogram Murders
OxfordGirl is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 10-02-2016, 19:06
OxfordGirl
Forum Member
 
Join Date: Mar 2008
Posts: 2,304
I love that title (being traditionally built myself)
Me too!
OxfordGirl is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 10-02-2016, 19:13
Katie-Jane
Forum Member
 
Join Date: Jan 2006
Posts: 861
5) J is for Judgement by Sue Grafton
Katie-Jane is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 11-02-2016, 09:29
Faggy
Forum Member
 
Join Date: Apr 2004
Location: Brockley
Posts: 2,778
13/ The Word For World Is Forest by Ursula K Le Guin

Sci-Fi novel set on a heavily forested planet as the locals respond to invasion by Earth.

Excellent (though short) novel. The author has said that it was inspired by the US actions during the Vietnam War but it could apply to any colonial power trampling over a culture they don't understand.

It's also very clear that the film Avatar was "heavily influenced" by this but without any of the subtlety.
Faggy is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 11-02-2016, 12:19
SWW (SWW)
Forum Member
 
Join Date: Oct 2004
Posts: 23,054

20. Prince Caspian - C.S. Lewis 8/10
Collins (HarperCollins), 190 pages
<Modern Classic> [1951] The classic sequel to The Lion, The Witch, And The Wardrobe, sees the four children return to Narnia more than a 1,000 years later! Includes the debuts of classic characters like Reepicheep, Trufflehunter and Prince Caspian himself. Timeless and truly wonderful storytelling.
21. Magneto - Cullen Bunn, Gabriel Hernandex Walta 8/10
Marvel Entertainment Group, 445 pages
<Graphic Novel > One of the best X-Books of the Marvel Now! period, a well crafted, well drawn, almost poetic look at the last struggles of Magneto as he tries to come to terms with his past whilst still following his own path. Recommended read!
22. Ms Marvel - G. Willow Wilson, Adriana Alphona etc. 8/10
Marvel Entertainment Group, 488 pages
<Graphic Novel > Embiggen! The most amazing outcome of the Inhuman story is Ms Marvel… New Jersey teenager in a conservative family, with an eclectic group of friends… oh yeah, and she's an American Pakistani and a Muslim! Astoundingly real and hugely innovative storytelling in the tradition of Stan the Man himself... great work!

23. The Voyage Of The Dawn Treader - C.S. Lewis 8/10
Collins (HarperCollins), 189 pages
<Modern Classic> [1955] One of my fave Narnia books when I was a child, the crew of the Dawn Treader are joined by Ed, Lucy and Eustace as they seek out the Seven expelled Lords who sailed East seven years earlier.
24. The Silver Chair - C.S. Lewis 7/10
Collins (HarperCollins), 191 pages
<Modern Classic> [1953] With Prince Rinian lost… Aslan calls Eustace and Jill to Narnia, where with Puddlegum they have to face giants and the travtl under Narnia.
25. The Last Battle - C.S. Lewis 7/10
Collins (HarperCollins), 172 pages
<Modern Classic> [1956] Time to say goodbye the land of Narnia… again The last battle and the fate of Narnia sees Eustace and Jill sent on a mission to thwart, an ape and a donkey!

26. The Big Sleep - Raymond Chandler 5/10
Penguin Books, 255 pages
<Detective> Philip Marlowe's first adventure, now a modern classic? Double crossed ridden, hard boiled crime drama.

27. The Dark Half - Stephen King 8/10
Guild Publishing (Hodder & Stoughton), 412 pages
<Horror> The Sparrows! Classic King work as he weaves a truly horrific magical tale around the life of a writer who has a parasitic twin! This was King's first darker book in his own name, after it became public knowledge that he had been writing darker horror using the pseudonym, Richard Bachman.
28. Needful Things - Stephen King 8/10
New English Library (Hodder & Stoughton), 790 pages
<Horror> Castle Rock a few years after the Dark Half, and Leland Gaunt comes into town opening his old curiosity shop, Needful Things… one by one, Gaunt gets the town folk seeking what they want and not what they need. What ensues… horror! Great read, wonderful wrapping up of the Castle Rock stories.
SWW (SWW) is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 12-02-2016, 16:00
Sue_C
Forum Member
 
Join Date: Nov 2005
Posts: 915
9. The Trouble with Goats and Sheep by Joanna Cannon, narrated by Paula Wilcox.
A lovely book and I feel tempted to go back to the beginning and listen to it all again.

It's the long hot summer of 1976 and the beginning of the school holidays. All is not right in The Avenue. Mrs Creasey is missing. Grace and Tilly are 10 years old and will spend their holidays trying to find her.

Much of the story is told from the girls' perspective but we gradually get to see things from the grown ups' point of view too. Beautifully told, maybe a tad too descriptive if I had to split hairs.
Sue_C is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 12-02-2016, 17:58
bbclassics
Forum Member
 
Join Date: Mar 2005
Posts: 5,930
7) Murder in Mesopotamia - Agatha Christie 6.5/10
bbclassics is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 13-02-2016, 15:53
d0lphin
Forum Member
 
Join Date: Apr 2007
Posts: 15,423
6. After Anna - Alex Lake
.
7. The Woman in Blue - Elly Griffiths
9/10 - absolutely loved this. It was a bit different from the other books in the series in that the mystery didn't involve the discovery of bones. There was a more religious theme but the dynamics between the main characters were just as good. My only complaint is that it should have been about 100 pages longer!
d0lphin is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 14-02-2016, 22:19
OxfordGirl
Forum Member
 
Join Date: Mar 2008
Posts: 2,304
34) The Patrons - Daniella Brodsky
35) My Mother's Wedding - Frankie McGowan
OxfordGirl is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 15-02-2016, 05:32
clm2071
Forum Member
 
Join Date: Oct 2012
Posts: 4,274
9) Romes Executioner (Vespasian II) by Robert Fabbri

7/10

Didn't get along with this one as well as the first. Intrigue and politics at the heart of the Roman Empire.

Very complex plot, a lot of concentration required.
clm2071 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 15-02-2016, 10:02
Faggy
Forum Member
 
Join Date: Apr 2004
Location: Brockley
Posts: 2,778
14/ Retribution by Jilliane Hoffman

Crime thriller.

A reasonably good read but is another example of a book that needs a better editor to sort out some inconsistencies, add clarity (the story sometimes jumps ahead by a few days or weeks but it isn't made clear until several pages later that this has happened) and tighten it up in places.

However it was enjoyable and entertaining of it's type.
Faggy is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 15-02-2016, 20:14
cathy27
Forum Member
 
Join Date: Mar 2008
Posts: 193
24) Gathering Prey by John Sandford
cathy27 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 16-02-2016, 16:44
farmer bob
Forum Member
 
Join Date: Jul 2013
Location: The United Kingdom
Posts: 14,997
5) Broken Prey by John Sandford.
farmer bob is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 16-02-2016, 22:23
Katie-Jane
Forum Member
 
Join Date: Jan 2006
Posts: 861
6) High Tide by Veronica Henry
Katie-Jane is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 17-02-2016, 09:18
Faggy
Forum Member
 
Join Date: Apr 2004
Location: Brockley
Posts: 2,778
15/ The Tent, The Bucket & Me by Emma Kennedy

A sort of autobiographical account of the various disasters that have befallen the authors family while on camping holidays in the 70s.

I really wanted to like this but although it is amusing in places overall it's extremely repetitive and not as funny as expected.
Faggy is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 17-02-2016, 15:53
Kitty5
Forum Member
 
Join Date: Aug 2012
Posts: 84
4) The versions of us - Laura Barnett 7/10
5) Strictly between us - Jane Fallon 7/10
Kitty5 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 18-02-2016, 22:23
moonlily
Forum Member
 
Join Date: Jul 2008
Posts: 4,526
7. Career of Evil by Robert Galbraith.

Very cross to have finished this already, I tried to make it last
moonlily is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 19-02-2016, 11:12
Kitty5
Forum Member
 
Join Date: Aug 2012
Posts: 84
6) The Widow - Fiona Barton 8/10
Kitty5 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 19-02-2016, 14:40
Sue_C
Forum Member
 
Join Date: Nov 2005
Posts: 915
10. Harmony Black by Craig Schaefer.
Harmony is an FBI agent and works for a secret government agency which deals in supernatural crimes. As a witch she has some supernatural powers of her own and the case that the team is working on has links to Harmony's past.
This has lots of good reviews on Goodreads and should have been my kind of book, but somehow wasn't.

11. Animal Farm by George Orwell, narrated by Simon Callow.
Orwell's not very subtle allegory of the Russian revolution. Still relevant today and an enjoyable story to boot. Excellent narration by Simon Callow.
I plan to go to lunch at the Red Lion in Willingdon next time I'm down that way, hopefully there will be pork on the menu!
Sue_C is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 19-02-2016, 21:14
cathy27
Forum Member
 
Join Date: Mar 2008
Posts: 193
25) February by Audrey Carlan
26) A Home for Broken Hearts by Rowan Coleman
27) Down Among the Dead Men by Kerry Wilkinson
28) Growing up Twice by Rowan Coleman
cathy27 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 20-02-2016, 11:27
Sue_C
Forum Member
 
Join Date: Nov 2005
Posts: 915
12. The Uncommon Reader by Alan Bennett.
Sue_C is offline   Reply With Quote
 
Reply



Thread Tools Search this Thread
Search this Thread:

Advanced Search

 
Forum Jump


All times are GMT. The time now is 23:04.