Entries 35
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Public Shaming/Marrow (Challenge Complete)
So You’ve Been Publicly Shamed by Jon Ronson (306 pages) is a non fiction book on those who’ve been publicly shamed over the internet and media. He discusses individual cases - people who’ve post...
Bridget Jones, Maze Runner (4 book reviews)
I’ve read four books since my last entry. I’ve obviously got far too much time on my hands! That’s four in eleven days. The first is Bridget Jones’s Diary by Helen Fielding (310 pages). Bridget ...
Ex Libris (Book 46)
Ex Libris: Confessions of a Common Reader by Anne Fadiman (162 pages) is a short collection of essays on books, reading and living with a family of readers. I picked this up for $1 from a book ex...
Lena Mukhina's Diary (Book 45)
The Diary of Lena Mukhina: A Girl’s Life in the Siege of Leningrad (translated by Amanda Love Darragh. 393 pages, including Forward and Acknowledgements) is an exhausting read. Mukhina was a mere...
Dear Fatty/Frankenstein Graphic Novel (43 and 44)
Dear Fatty by Dawn French (370 pages, including acknowledgements) is her autobiography set out in letters to various people. Most are family or friends, some to celebrities. Her writing style com...
Reading Map
Updated Reading Map. Make yours @ BigHugeLabs.com
Primary School Confidential by Mrs Woog (257 pages, including acknowledgements) was somewhat forgettable. It discusses Woog’s childhood in primary school, her teaching days and then as a parent t...
In Of Mice and Monsters by William Tenn (235 pages), the human race lives like mice. A superior, gigantic alien race takes over the Earth, and humans live within the walls of the alien’s houses. ...
Updated Reading Map
Updated Reading Map. Make yours @ BigHugeLabs.com
A Golden Age (Book 38)
A Golden Age by Tahmima Anam (317 pages, including excerpt from The Good Muslim) is the story of the creation of a new country in 1971. In the spring of that year, in East Pakistan, Rehana sets a...
Camel Bookmobile/Life of Pi (Books 36 and 37)
The Camel Bookmobile by Masha Hamilton (311 pages, including acknowledgements and contact details for book donations in Africa) is the story of Fi, an American woman who finds herself visiting re...
Katherine Howard (No. 35)
Katherine Howard (The Tragic Story of Henry VIII’s Fifth Queen) by Josephine Wilkinson (309 pages, including Acknowledgements, Illustration Credits, Notes, Bibliography and Index) was one very qu...
The Collector (Book 34)
The Collector by Jon Fowles (283 pages) is one of those books that just leaves you with a creeped out feeling once you finish. The story of Frederick, a withdrawn loner who collects butterflies a...
Mr. Penumbra's 24-Hour Bookstore (Book 33)
Mr Penumbra’s 24-Hour Bookstore by Robin Sloan (288 pages) was something I’ve been meaning to read for a while now. I must admit to being slightly disappointed once I’d finished. It’s the story ...
Reading Map January to April 2016
A reading map for the first third of the year. Reading Map January to April 2016Make yours @ BigHugeLabs.com
Manhattan in Reverse (260 pages) by Peter F. Hamilton is a set of seven science fiction stories. From the 1800s in Oxford during an alternate time line to a woman protesting the existence of a wo...
To Miss With Love (Book No. 30/52)
I popped by a second hand book shop yesterday and picked up around $30 worth of books I liked the look of. The first I’d read was To Miss With Love by Katharine Birbalsingh (293 pages). Birbalsin...
A map of where I've read about so far
An updated map of where I’ve read about so far. Edit: I forgot that I’d read Kipling. Reading Map January to Beginning of AprilMake yours @ BigHugeLabs.com
Of Honour, Plastic Surgery, and Two Manga (Book Reviews)
So, Confessions of a Park Avenue Plastic Surgeon (pages: 273) by Cap Lesesne, M.D. was something I picked up during an Easter weekend book sale, that was on at my favourite bookstore chain. Cap d...
Three somewhat average reads (23 - 25 out of 52)
The Forever War By Joe Haldeman (240 pages, including Afterword by Peter F. Hamilton) is the story of William Mandella, a private fighting an interstellar war. Relativity makes him isolated - eve...
Controversial Notes, Libraries And Nannies (Books 20 - 22)
So, The Library of Unrequited Love by Sophie Divry (96 pages, including reading group guide) was an interesting monologue to read. One morning, a librarian finds a library patron, fast asleep in ...
How Can Proust Self-Help? (Review 19)
So, I’ve just finished a self help book. Entitled How Proust Can Change Your Life by Alain de Botton. 216 pages, including acknowledgement. Read from 4th March to today, the 8th. So, what did I ...
Of cats, possums and rules (books 17 and 18)
So, I read The Bastard Of Istanbul by Elif Shafak last year and was impressed enough to pick up another one of her books. I’d never read a book set in Turkey before, or anything by a Turkish auth...
Two History Reviews (Books 15 and 16)
So, Terry Jones’ Medieval Lives by Terry Jones and Alan Ereira (224 pages, including bibliography and index) was an interesting read. The chapters are broken into what life was like for various r...
Books 10 to 14 out of 52
I’m a little bit behind on my book journal - so this entry is my way of playing catch-up. I’ll only briefly dip into each review, as I don’t really have time to do a detailed one right now. I kin...
Book Description
My online book journal. In 2016, I plan on doing 52 in 52 - 52 books in 52 weeks. The rules are:
1). These books MUST come from my TBR pile - no new books to be bought until I empty my TBR bookshelves. I am pretty sure I have more than 52 books anyway.
2). No limit on how many pages a book must have (seriously, a book’s a book at the end of the day - anyone remember the book challenge that was on OD?).
3). Just because I finish a book in two days doesn’t mean I can’t move on to the next book when I’m ready. If I have a book hangover, then I’m not going to push myself. 52 is the minimum I want to read.
4). To actually use my online book journal more regularly.
I tend to cull my books as I go. I moved towards the beginning of 2015, and culled a lot of books (namely most of two and a half six foot bookshelves). What has stayed are books I want to reread some day. Wound up with books covering three foot of bookshelf. These are the books that make up my “excellent” list - those that I will reread one day. I’m 35 years old now and am beginning to get fussy as I hurtle towards middle age. I do not have time for books that don’t engage me (although if I’m not in the mood during first reading, I will attempt a second read. Sometimes I am simply not in the right mood). My reviews are the books I finish. Anything I can’t enjoy after 50 pages gets donated to charity shops to sell on to people who might enjoy them more than I did.
I also tend to try and vary my reading - so one book might be, for example, a biography of Oliver Cromwell. I may then go into the realm of Sci Fi, for something different. Occasionally I might find myself getting stuck on what to read, and have two or three books to choose from (I’m not one for reading that amount at the same time). At which point I may be going online for suggestions.
