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Original poster

What are we reading?

45 replies

TrundleWheel76 · 29/07/2023 11:47

I have a real love for post apocalyptic fiction, not sure what that says about my personality though. 😆

I'm currently listening to the audiobook of Divergent by Veronica Roth, and am really enjoying it.

I'm also reading some Scandi noir, Dregs, which is a Wisting detective story.

How about you?

OP posts:
Original poster
TrundleWheel76 · 30/07/2023 12:00

TenOhSeven · 30/07/2023 09:05

@MNHQ think this thread is in wrong topic, please can it be moved to What we're reading in Books, thanks.

No it's not in the wrong place. I meant to post in Childfree Mumsnetters.

OP posts:
Original poster
TrundleWheel76 · 30/07/2023 12:01

squashyhat · 30/07/2023 09:37

I recently read Station Eleven by Emily St John Mandel. Absolutely riveting. Actually quite an upbeat story in a setting which is prophetically (it was written in the 1990s) close to recent experience. Highly recommended.

Station Eleven us a wonderful book.

Have you read The Glass Hotel or Sea of Tranquility by the same author?

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Original poster
TrundleWheel76 · 30/07/2023 12:05

@MNHQ

Please don't move this thread. I intended it to be a book chat between fellow childfree mumsnetters. Thank you.

OP posts:
Notyetthere · 30/07/2023 12:14

Purple Hibiscus. I know, I am late to tye party. I have just started it.

Splashedit · 30/07/2023 14:08

I'm about to start kill for me kill for you by Steve cavanagh. I've only read one of his books so far 'thirteen', it was a slow burn but so intriguing I couldn't stop reading it.

Catsmere · 02/08/2023 02:00

Halfway through re-reading Thud! but have rather lost interest this time. Also re-reading The Long Farewell by Don Charlwood, about the age of sail emigration to Australia. I used to read so many books but in the last few years hardly any. I suspect menopause plus too much screen time have done a number on my concentration.

Ladybird69 · 02/08/2023 02:32

I’ve just finished the shadow hunters by Cassandra clare. Absolutely fantastic, and I read The Host by Stephenie Meyer recently, it’s so much better than twilight saga.

Choux · 02/08/2023 02:49

10 Minutes 38 Seconds in this Strange World by Elif Shafak.

It's about a Turkish prostitute who was murdered and in the minutes after she's died her brain relives key moments in her life. It's vivid, captivating, full of human spirit and I highly recommend it. It was shortlisted for the Booker prize so definitely a quality read.

KimberleyClark · 02/08/2023 09:48

I’ve just finished a Cara Hunter book, one of the DI Adam Fawley series and it involved a couple adopting a baby while waiting for IVF. So unrealistic.

Original poster
TrundleWheel76 · 02/08/2023 13:09

Ladybird69 · 02/08/2023 02:32

I’ve just finished the shadow hunters by Cassandra clare. Absolutely fantastic, and I read The Host by Stephenie Meyer recently, it’s so much better than twilight saga.

I've read The Host! And then watched the film which I didn't like, but then films of books are often (although not always) a bit disappointing.

Terrible films from.books include...

Possession - they completely changed the main male character from.a small, shy, dark haired English man, into a tall, blonde, handsome American.
Norwegian Wood - the beauty and poetry of the prose didn't come across at all, although I suppose that would have been a difficult thing to achieve.

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Ladybird69 · 03/08/2023 00:55

@TrundleWheel76 oh yes the film of the Host was awful, so glad that I had read the book first.

Optionyougot · 13/08/2023 22:08

I read the A Discovery of Witches recently. I gobbled it up and then on reflection felt really disappointed in the central characters story arc. She went from a strong headed academic to dutiful wife, behind a controlling and possessive man and it was only at the end I realised how sad I was for her.

Original poster
TrundleWheel76 · 14/08/2023 13:55

I have the Discovery of Witches trilogy on my to be read pile.

Would you say they're worth a read @Optionyougot ?

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Original poster
TrundleWheel76 · 14/08/2023 13:57

I'm currently re-reading Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil. I absolutely devoured it back in the 1990s and has a sudden desire to read it again. I found it on a second hand book website. I'm a few chapters in and am enjoying both the book and the nostalgia for my youth!

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CaptainBatEars · 15/08/2023 10:52

Great idea for a thread, OP, thanks. I tend to have a few books on the go at the same time so at present, on my Kindle, I'm reading Dynasty, by Tom Holland (history of the Caesars), and in paperback, re-reading Testament of Youth, by Vera Brittain. I recently read a collection of the letters between her & Winifred Holtby, which I'd recommend. I'm also dipping in and out of Personal Pleasures: Essays on Enjoying Life, by Rose Macaulay, which is fascinating for the window it gives on life as a single child-free woman in the 1930s (I find the inter-war years really interesting from the female perspective).

In terms of suggestions, I agree totally with the recommendation of The Five, by Hallie Rubenhold. And if anyone hasn't read Old Baggage, by Lissa Evans, you have a treat in store. Mattie, the lead character, is an older woman looking for a new cause in the late 1920s, having been a suffragette, and she's fabulous.

Optionyougot · 15/08/2023 12:52

TrundleWheel76 · 14/08/2023 13:55

I have the Discovery of Witches trilogy on my to be read pile.

Would you say they're worth a read @Optionyougot ?

I'd definitely give them a read! Would love to know what you think of them when you do

Lottapianos · 15/08/2023 12:59

I started Blood Meridian by Cormac McCarthy a few weeks ago. It's really well written but relentlessly grim and I just wasn't enjoying it so have ditched it for now

Currently reading 'An Officer. Not a Gentleman' -self published book by an amazing woman called Mandy Hickson who was a fighter jet pilot. It's BRILLIANT - really thrilling, funny, infuriating, a real page turner. Highly recommended

GR8GAL · 14/09/2023 10:55

Having read Terry Goodkind's 'Sword of Truth' series (about 25 books) about 4 times over, I've finally gotten around to picking up the first book in Robert Jordan's 'Wheel of Time' series based off of many recommendations from fellow fantasy fans. I've got a long haul flight coming up in a few weeks so I need a new series to get me through!

LeaderBee · 14/09/2023 12:54

I just finished listening to the original planet of the apes by Pierre Boulle; I've heard it before but it was a little while ago and its only a short book so i fancied a refresher.

I've got another couple of audiobooks i'm dipping in and out of
"The Anarchy" which chronicles the history of the British East India Company,
"Dantes inferno" wanted to throw some classic works in there.

Next on the list is something from the Battletech series of books; can't beat some lowbrow space opera involving giant stompy robots and political maneuvering.

Splashedit · 14/09/2023 16:02

My last two books are the sentence by Christina Dalcher and the treatment by Sarah Moorhead and my current read is the trap by Catherine Ryan howard. I would recommend any of them but I haven't finished the trap so if it gets terrible at the end I take no responsibility 😂

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