March 2014 - thread 5 - Dating scans in full swing

[faithfulandtruthful]

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Link back to Thread 4 for anyone who misses it

Some of John Grisham's books are great though, eg A Time To Kill. That's the first one of his I read and I loved it. For crime thrillers, I love Harlan Coben.

I've read a couple of Picoults and the like and they are very forgettable.

Currently ploughing through the second Game of Thrones book. The first was bloody marvellous. They're very fat though and there's a lot of them so it may take me a decade or so to get through them all

Pram I think you'd like Atwood - her dystopian fiction is amazing and read by men and women alike; not flowery writing at all. You also might like Kate Atkinson who is another "no nonsense" writer, she wrote the Case Histories books and Behind the Scenes At The Museum. I thought Kevin was an amazing book by Schriver but I tried and failed to read The Post Birthday World. She over-writes terribly in my view- a bit of a show-off!

Lyra is a lovely name, we know a 4yr old Lyra. It would be very fitting if you named a little girl that, Lyra!

Welcome to the new names, am on phone so can't name check you all.

So many of us for scannage on Wednesday!!

Ooh, love Game of Thrones. Have just started the box set and excited to see it brought to life on screen.

I'm another that likes twilight, recently read host aswel which was a lot better than the film. I'm currently reading city of bones before I watch the film. I do like sci-fi fantasy books quite a lot tbh lol

Sarah, I love the Mortal Ibstruments series. I'm also excited to see City of Bones.

Damn, posted too soon.

The author had also written the Infernal Devices series, which is a prequel to Mortal Instruments.

Also read a lot of Doris Lessing's books. I like her uncomplicated style of writing. The best one I've read is Mara and Dann and is set in the next ice age.

Not sure anyone is implying that anyone is a book snob.
There is a lot of repetitive cloying shite out there by male and female writers and I feel more annoyance about the marketing of said shite to women. I'd hate to think that I was lumped into any bracket let alone a pink fluffy 'she'll read any old toss' because of my gender or indeed because on occasion I love a bloody good Phillipa Gregory romp and I'm glad I didnt dismiss them because its a 'womans book'. I really missed my weekly dose of The White Queen on the telly last night or middle class porn as Dh calls it.
Hurry up the return of Sherlock to replace it..

I certainly wasn't implying anyone here is a book snob. I've met some in rl and they annoy me.

pirates mam Agreed on Atwood, also have a love/hate with Lionel Shriver. Can't stand the self obsession, either in her writing or when interviewed however after finishing We need to talk about Kevin while on a family ski trip I sat in stunned silence for half an hour with SIL who'd bought me the book asking me repeatedly if I was ok and still talking to her. Love it or hate it its pretty high impact and they come along very rarely.

I have tried - and enjoyed - a couple of Phillipa Gregory books. Did Kate Atkinson write Got Up Early Took The Dog? If so, I couldn't finish it. Before I Go To Sleep was original but became infuriatingly Groundhog Day (which was the point, I suppose). A Time To Kill blew me away and made me cry and was the reason I went on to read all of Grisham's work throughout my twenties. It is only now I look back and realise I wasted so much life on him and Patricia Cornwell.

I didn't bother watching The White Queen as it was slated as being utter toss. I have made a promise with myself to watch Game of Thrones but if I find it absurd (or that it is simply Coronation Street with tits and pelts) I will be most upset.

I once tried to be a literary snob and bought Crime and Punishment. I got to about page 14. I shoplifted bought Shogun when I was an alcoholic and quite poorly in the bowel department. It is a 1000-plus page book and I had read up to approximately page 900. One day I had to make a dash for the toilet and, upon discovering a dearth of bog roll, had to rip out the last couple of chapters of Shogun to wipe my arse

Fnar! Corrie with tits and pelts sounds like great Sunday night viewing to me! [Grin]

Fucking love Corrie.

Pram, I highly recommend reading Game of Thrones before you watch it. There are so many characters and families and interwoven relationships, it help to have read the far more detailed books first and then see it all brought to life on the screen later. When I do this I tend to look at the cast so I have their pictures in my head when I'm reading. Avoids the "that's not what x should look like" thing later.

The most recent book I read was The Picture of Dorian Grey which had an interesting premise but was ultimately a pile of word wankery. My very well-read friend said it was "up it's own arse" which I had to agree with.

Must admit, I like Harlem Coben too. I am not a book snob by any means, but I must admit, I attempted the Twighlight books and they actually made me so angry I had to stop...her character is just ridiculous and hate her in real life too must deal with anger issues

Pram I feel about James Patterson the way you do about John Grisham, so good books, then the same old shite! I also loved the Steig Larrson books and was gutted when I realised there'd be no more!

To be honest, I'll pretty much read anything if its got a good recommendation. I have just been given We Need to Talk About Kevin to read...no idea what its about, but been told its good!

If you like crime, I also quite like Micheal Connelly and Linwood Barclay; but only read a couple of theirs, so not sure if they become same-y

April, might not be the best time to read Kevin while you're pregnant

Pram I feel about female singers the way you do about female authors!!! Nothing against any of them yeah right! but its all too same-y, trying too hard, there is very few songs I will listen to with female vocals yet I love music generally!

April and anyone else who hasn't read We need to talk.., I wouldn't read it whilst pregnant! The teenage character Kevin is incredibly disturbed and disturbing and if I remember rightly the mother asks did I do something wrong whilst carrying this child. Of course you are all intelligent women capable of distinguishing fact from fiction but F me its harrowing!

Yes I wouldn't read Kevin when pregnant!!! It's one of those books that once you finish it, you want it OUT OF THE HOUSE. My friend who lent it to me said, with a haunted expression, "Here you go. I DON'T WANT IT BACK." Great read though.

Yep, the book is all about the mother exploring whether her very difficult relationship with her son right from birth led him to do the terrible thing he did or whether he was born that way. Disturbing but thought-provoking.

Thanks, Lyra - good tip. I also love Lyra for a little girl.

Right, I've just had a shufty at my bookcase and it seems I'm being somewhat unfair on female authors. I found these which I loved: everything by Marina Lewycka (A Short History Of Tractors In Ukrainian is especially good); anything by Zadie Smith (although I dislike the smug bitch); The Help by Kathryn Stockett; Where'd You Go, Bernadette by Maria Semple.

I have two books by Rosamund Lupton which I deeply regret (another whore). I have Of Mice And Men by John Steinbeck and found it to be shit. Same with To Kill A Mockingbird; why the fuck is that revered so?; I couldn't get through Love In The Time Of Cholera by Gabriel Garcia Marquez. I would be happy to wipe my arse on the entire Twilight saga.

These books I have adored: anything by Tony Parsons; all work by DBC Pierre; everything by Khaled Hosseini (of Kite Runner fame); The Slap by Christos Tsiolkas; everything by Truman Capote; all Gerald Durrell's work (ditto Bill Bryson); and Defending Jacob by William Landay you would all love.

April, We Need To Talk About Kevin is an astonishing book: raw and uncomfortable reading is an understatement. I am forever astounded that Shriver was able to write this stuff when she herself is childless. An iconic book, in my opinion, and very, very brave.

I have to say I am unquenchably judgemental about any person having read even one chapter of the EL James Fifty Shades series. What actually came over the female population of the world? Preposterous, desperate shite.

F&T - my first too :) Good luck on Wednesday! x

Apologies for italics fail and for boring the socks off the lot of you.

..and for being a tad supercilious. I don't care what you lot read 'cos I love you all, innit.

Right. Last post because apparently I have to see the sunlight at least once today.
Just in the kitchen eating croissants with dh after his 5 hours of excercise and my marathon laying in bed session. Whilst listening to the radio and reading the news on the internet dh points out the story about the female panda in Edinburgh zoo possibly being pregnant. She is showing signs of pregnancy but the vets are unsure as she was uncooperative while being scanned "maybe she couldn't be bothered with it after sitting on the sofa all day eating crisps" dh comments. What can he mean?!...

Have a good afternoon all.