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Whats in your pile of books?

81 replies

aristocat · 16/07/2009 22:12

do you have a pile of books waiting to be read?
mine are -
Swimsuit
Lying with strangers
Two for the dough
The Blue Nowhere
Creepers

are you a hoarder [like me] or do you just have one?

OP posts:
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FritesMenthe · 16/07/2009 22:16

Bedside table is teetering:
The Seventh Scroll by Wilbur Smith - my reading group's summer blockbuster
The Liar by Stephen Fry
Essays in Love by Alain de Botton
Rapids by Tim Parks

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Wheelybug · 16/07/2009 22:19

Beside my bed (the imminent to be reads rather than those on the book case that are to be read at some point...)

Gods Own Country - Ross Raisin (bookclub)
The guernsey literary thingy..
Sea of Poppies - Amitav Ghosh
Becoming Queen - Kate Williams
The new Maeve Binchey

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FritesMenthe · 16/07/2009 22:22

Guernsey literary potato peel thingy is on my reading group list for the autumn.

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janeite · 16/07/2009 22:22

Noooooooooooooooooooooooooooo. I have nothing to read at all at the moment and therefore I am grumpy. And putting off bathtime because I HATE having a bath without a book.

Am v jealous of all of you.

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glitterkitty · 16/07/2009 22:33

I am reading Benson- Miss Mapp (for umpteenth time) - light comic relief from house buying horror
also Tim Moore -Continental drifter (similar)

and Philipa Gregory -Meridon (child given to gypsies but is actually squire and must find rightful place in world) rather good actually

plus assorted gardening books

and susan hill through the kitchen window (comfort read)

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Jux · 16/07/2009 22:50

The God Delusion
A quiet belief in Angels
A History of God
Age and Guile
On the nature of the Universe

I think the reason those are on a pile is self-evident.

There are more on my bedside table, but they're by people like Jasper Fforde, McCall Smith, Diana Wynne Jones etc. Much more fun!

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pollywobbledoodle · 16/07/2009 22:57

the history of english by melvyn bragg
secret scripture sebastion barry
the kelly gang peter carey
the burnt house faye kellerman
little stranger sara waters

pile is getting small, must go to the library!

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EachPeachPearMum · 16/07/2009 23:16

A stephen fry book
a libby purves book (!)
rise and fall of yummy mummy
Brazzaville Beach- william boyd
A Paul Auster
Spares- Michael Marshall Smith
Starter for ten
Half a yellow sun
House of Sleep- Jonathan Coe
Fourth Bear- jasper fforde

Yikes!

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chegirl · 16/07/2009 23:32

Autobio of Leslie Phillips
More than sympathy R.Landsdown
real parent, real children Van Gulden/Bartells Rabb
Growing Up severely autistic Kate Rankin
Profound Retardation adn Mulitple Impairment Hogg/Sebba
Developmental Medicine and Child Neurology (various).

I think I need to get out a Jackie Collins from the library

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Terpsichore · 17/07/2009 10:25

A View of the Harbour - Elizabeth Taylor
No Fond Return of Love - Barbara Pym (yep, a bit of a 'forgotten British female novelists' thing going on...)
Life Class - Pat Barker
Reading in Bed - Sue Gee
The Earth - Richard Fortey
The Caravaners - Elizabeth von Arnim
The Discovery of France - Graham Robb

That's part of one of the, erm, several piles of unread books awaiting my attention

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artifarti · 17/07/2009 10:38

[Chokes on dust as she attempts to blow it off pile]

Blood River - Tim Butcher
The Night Watch - Sarah Waters
Hunting Unicorns - Bella Pollen
The American Boy - Andrew Taylor
The Cider House Rules and Owen Meany - John Irving
Anna Karenina - Leo Tolstoy
The Rose of Sebastopol - Katherine McMahon
The Memory Keeper's Daughter - Kim Edwards
Random Acts of Heroic Love - Danny Scheinman
The Border Trilogy - Cormac McCarthy
Cuba Libre - Elmore Leonard
Half in Love - Justin Cartwright

Must. Stop. Buying. Books.

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Antdamm · 17/07/2009 17:15

Addition - Toni Jordan
The Road - Cormac McCarthy
Fiddlers - Ed McBain
The Grass Arena - John Healy
Life isnt all ha ha hee hee - Meera Syal (DP's mum gave me it)
Bones - Jonathan Kellerman
The Abortionist's Daughter - Elizabeth Hyde
Gillian Flynn - Sharp objects
The Devil's disciple - Glenn Meade

My pile is quite huge, but I do have excuses reasons for this. Mostly cos it was my birthday recently and I received a few as gifts, and I had vouchers which were running out of date, so HAD to be used.

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MummyDragon · 17/07/2009 20:33

I'm a hoarder too - if there are fewer than 3 unread books in my bedside pile I have to dash off to Waterstone's the library pretty sharpish...

Currently in my pile:

Last Rituals
The new one by Philip Kerr
The Suspicions of Mr Wicher
Stalingrad
(Latest editions of House Beautiful & Good Housekeeping - do these count??)

Recently finished The Believers, a couple of Harlan Cobens, an Ian Rankin (Doors Open) & The Other Hand.

Must go to the library tomorrow - DH is away tonight so I can get a good few chapters under my belt

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janeite · 17/07/2009 20:35

I'm going to the library tomorrow. What shall I get?

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infin · 17/07/2009 20:36

The Voice of Hope -Aung San Suu Kyi
The Northern Clemency -Philip Hensher
And When did you last see your father? - Blake Morrison
Any Human Heart -William Boyd
The City of Falling Angels - John Berendt

Roll on the holiday fornight to read them all!

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infin · 17/07/2009 20:37

Not a respomse to 'what shall I get' by the way...!

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canttouchthis · 17/07/2009 20:39

The Scots Quair - Lewis Grassic Gibbon.
Persuasion - Jane Austen

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janeite · 17/07/2009 20:40

I suppose I COULD always read 'Persuasion' again! Yum.

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MmeDanversAMangeMonIpod · 18/07/2009 15:02

It's hard to suggest books for you Janeite, as I get the impression you have read everything (twice), could this be why you've run out?

On my Pile To Read Next(just started 'Restoration' by Tremain):

Our Mutual Friend - Dickens
Arabella - Georgette Heyer
Oryx and Crake - Atwood
The Little House - Phillipa Gregory
Metamorphosis and Other stories - Kafka
The Yellow Wallpaper - C Perkins Gilman

I'm a hoarder like you OP, when it gets down to 2 or 3, I have to get a few more

God I love books

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janeite · 18/07/2009 16:31

Thank you - your impression of me isn't quite right but I have read a lot! And I am a terrible reading-snob too, which doesn't help. I am trying to be better.

From your list I have read:

Oryx and Crake - Atwood - liked it but not as good as The handmaid's Tale
The Little House - Phillipa Gregory - a long time ago and can't remember much
Metamorphosis and Other stories - Kafka - love it
The Yellow Wallpaper - C Perkins Gilman -love it

So you're deffo on the right tracks! I''ve just been to the library and all I came back with was a Melvyn Burgess (teenage fiction) and a non-fiction book about Henry the 8th's mistresses!

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janeite · 18/07/2009 16:32

I liked 'Restoration' a lot.

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MmeDanversAMangeMonIpod · 18/07/2009 17:12

Am really enjoying 'Restoration' so far, only about 10 pages in but I'm savouring every word

It's even more enjoyable as I ended up persevering with The House At Riverton through sheer bloody mindedness. It seemed influenced by Rebecca/Atonement & Gosford Park but left me feeling flat regardless. Have had to cross the other one of hers off my Amazon list!

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janeite · 18/07/2009 17:14

I have mostly decided that life is too short to persevere with crap books. I haven't read Gosford Park.

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BeastQuest · 18/07/2009 17:14

ho ho
I have got my hol pile
it is thus
senators wife
american wife (!)
crocdile eats the sun
Palace council
Three cups of tea
Past imperfect
The great lover
Guernica

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janeite · 18/07/2009 17:17

Ooh - tell me more about Guernica please! Have never heard of most of your list.

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