All About Books discussion

JAN - JUN 2015 BOOKS:

Fiction:

Charles Dickens - Barnaby Rudge - ★★★★ - Jean's review
Charles Dickens - The Chimes - ★★★ - Jean's review (cont. from 2014)
Charles Dickens - Martin Chuzzlewit - ★★★★★ - Jean's review
E.M. Forster - The Life to Come and Other Stories - ★★★ - Jean's review
Neil Gaiman - The Ocean at the End of the Lane - ★★★★ - Jean's review
Helen Garner - The Spare Room - ★★★★ - Jean's review
Elizabeth Gaskell - Cousin Phillis and Other Stories - ★★ - Jean's review
Susan Hill - The Man in the Picture ★★★ - Jean's review
Barry Hines - A Kestrel for a Knave ★★★★★ - Jean's review
Tom Holt - The Portable Door ★★★ - Jean's review
P.D. James - The Lighthouse - ★★★ - Jean's review
Oscar Wilde - The Picture of Dorian Gray - ★★★★ - Jean's review

Non-Fiction:

Susan Aberth - Leonora Carrington: Surrealism, Alchemy and Art - ★★★★ - Jean's review
Maya Angelou - I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings - ★★★★★ - Jean's review
Jane Bingham - Aboriginal Art & Culture - ★★★★★ - Jean's review (cont. from 2014)
Judith Flanders - The Victorian City: Everyday Life in Dickens' London - ★★★ - Jean's review
Atul Gawande - Being Mortal: Medicine and What Matters in the End - ★★★★★ - Jean's review
Mary Ellen Mark - Mary Ellen Mark: American Odyssey, 1963-1999 - ★★★★ - Jean's review
Vicky Myron and Bret Witter - Dewey: The Small-Town Library Cat Who Touched the World - ★★ - Jean's review
John Sutherland - Is Heathcliff a Murderer?: Great Puzzles in Nineteenth-Century Fiction - ★★★ - Jean's review
Malala Yousafzai - I Am Malala: The Girl Who Stood Up for Education and Was Shot by the Taliban - ★★★★ - Jean's review

Plays/Poetry:

Maya Angelou - Shaker, Why Don't You Sing? - ★★★ - Jean's review


Children's/YA:

Chris Van Allsburg - Jumanji - ★★ - Jean's review
Lewis Carroll - Alice's Adventures in Wonderland:the little folks' edition - ★★★★★ - Jean's review
Jennifer T. Doherty and Gerald Goldin - The Fierce and Gentle Wolf - ★★★ - Jean's review
Kim Lewis - Little Baa - ★★★★ - Jean's review
Eric Maddern - Rainbow Bird: An Aboriginal Folktale From Northern Australia
Emma Thompson - The Further Tale of Peter Rabbit - ★★★ - Jean's review
J.R.R. Tolkien - The Hobbit - ★★★★★ - Jean's review
E.B. White - Stuart Little - ★★ - Jean's review

Graphic/Comic/Sequential Art:

Charles Dickens - Classics Illustrated #53 A Christmas Carol - ★★★ - Jean's review
Madeleine L'Engle and Hope Larson - A Wrinkle in Time: The Graphic Novel - ★★★ Jean's review
Tom Pomplun - Graphic Classics, Volume 14: Gothic Classics - ★ Jean's review
Oscar Wilde and Ian Edginton - The Picture of Dorian Gray: A Graphic Novel - ★ - Jean's review

Abandoned:

Duncan Heath and Judy Boreham - Introducing Romanticism: A Graphic Guide - ★★ - Jean's review (cont. from 2014)

Edit: This list is for the first six months of 2015 only

My master list of books I've read is in comment 1. Here's my strategy at the beginning of the year.

1. I shall organise them alphabetically by author again, but putting the author first this year.
2. I'll divide them into categories, which may then be subdivided if they get too unwieldy.
3. I'll attach the link to my review to the master list this time, rather than just an asterisk when I've written it. (Last year all that happened was that every single book ended up with an asterisk next to it, as I did a detailed review for every book.)
4. Any book which I do not complete, but write a review for, I shall attach at the end, without assigning them a number. (Last year I did not have a record of these books.)
5. Ditto any reference books which I dip into regularly.
6. I'll do a monthly sum-up of books read, just to check my reading is as broad as I hope.
7. I will not get hung up on numbers! The numbers are just out of interest.
6. I'll record when I finish reading a book in the thread itself, so I have the date, but the main link to the review will be in the top box, as that is likely to be a couple of days later.

Thanks to Chrissie, for the idea of including review links in the title.
Thanks to Pink for the idea of using book covers for the summing-up, which I also copied last year.

January:



February:



March:



April:



May:



June:



July:

00. Charles Dickens - The Chimes
0. Duncan Heath and Judy Boreham - Introducing Romanticism: A Graphic Guide
1. Maya Angelou - Shaker, Why Don't You Sing?
2. Charles Dickens - Classics Illustrated #53 A Christmas Carol
3. Jane Bingham - Aboriginal Art & Culture
4. Susan Hill - The Man in the Picture

Jean wrote: "00. Charles Dickens - The Chimes
0. Duncan Heath and Judy Boreham - Introducing Romanticism: A Graphic Guide
1. [au..."

Did you like The Chimes? I didn't that much I have to admit

See my detailed review, Laura. Link in comment 1.

Review added for "The Man in the Picture"

5. A Wrinkle in Time: The Graphic Novel

6. Dewey: The Small-Town Library Cat Who Touched the World

Reviews added for 5 and 6

7. Emma Thompson The Further Tale of Peter Rabbit review link at top

January Reads:

STATS:

Fiction = 2
Non-Fiction = 2
Poetry = 1
Children's = 1
Graphic = 3
TOTAL = 7 plus 2 (one carried over from 2014, one abandoned. Both reviewed, as usual.)

February:

8. Barnaby Rudge by Charles Dickens
9. Little Baa by Kim Lewis

10. A Kestrel for a Knave by Barry Hines

Written and posted my review for "Barnaby Rudge" :)

Jean wrote: "10. A Kestrel for a Knave by Barry Hines"

Did you enjoy this one Jean? I've had it on my tbr longlist for a long while.

Oh, so very much, Pink! I gave it 5* and will be writing a review for it next.

Glad to hear that, I'll check out your review once you've written it :)

Hahaha - just posted it! :D

I've read and liked your review, it sounds great :)

It is, Pink. I hope you do get to read it :)

I've added it too, for my "bird" theme challenge.

Great idea Laurel :)

Little Baa by Kim Lewis - reviewed and posted.

Added my review to comment 1 for Shaker, Why Don't You Sing? All my reviews are now up to date :)

11. The Picture of Dorian Gray: A Graphic Novel - review in message 1. (The next review will be for the full 20 chapter version by Oscar Wilde)

Jean wrote: "11. The Picture of Dorian Gray: A Graphic Novel - review in message 1. (The next review will be for the full 20 chapter version by Oscar Wilde)"

Oh, I hardly ever look at the beginning of threads (I view GR with posts date descending). I love the summary post, with links to reviews! Great idea so look for me to steal it sometime in the future!

Jean wrote: "11. The Picture of Dorian Gray: A Graphic Novel - review in message 1. (The next review will be for the full 20 chapter version by Oscar Wilde)"

Oh I see you didn't like this much, I hope you enjoyed the full book a bit better :)

12. The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde (review to follow)

Leslie - I think I copied Chrissie for linking to reviews. And Pink for using book covers :) Thanks to both.

I hope it doesn't make it too tricky to manage for others, but I liked having them all together rather than my links spread all over the thread as it gets so long by the end of the year!

Pink - it was just the Art work in the graphic version which didn't grab me, as I said in my review. I was glad it was from the library, not Amazon! The text was quite a good job really. And now I've finished the real thing so will be reviewing it in the next couple of days. And hopping over to the thread here to see what you all thought, and if I've anything to contribute.

I've organised my thread similar to you Jean, keeping a main list at the top of my page, but adding a new comment for each book I read. This seems to be the easiest way to keep things organised together, but still have updates for new comments.

Graphic novels are very subjective I think, also hard to rate if you like the story, but not the art or vice versa, I actually haven't read any for a while but might have to pick something else up soon.

Pink - Yes, I like this way of organising it too, and if you're on a computer (which I always am) then it's easy just to click to one end or the other.

Oh I do agree about graphic novels, and always try to bear this in mind when I review them. Some are very stylised, and it's not always to my taste, but I realise that's just a personal view. Likewise, I'm always disappointed if they are black and white!

Having said that though, there's a series, one of which I'm currently reading Graphic Classics, Volume 14: Gothic Classics each volume of which includes several stories, and each illustrated by a different artist. And they vary a lot! The series has different genres and some single authors so is worth a look.

Oh, they sound quite interesting Jean, I haven't heard of that series before, I'll take a look at the other volumes. Mostly I tend to like graphic memoirs, or at least something outside of the usual superhero genre, which I'm not too keen on.

Oh yes, I remember one you recommended before, now. I don't think that series has anything like that though, sadly. The series is mainly adaptation of memorable novels in various genres.

That sounds fun too Jean. I had a look at my library system and it seems they only have issue 14, the one you've just read, which is currently being loaned, not by you I wonder?!

Hahaha! Betcha it is, if it's Essex! :D I searched for some on Amazon so at least know what's available.

Yep it's in Essex, due back tomorrow Jean if this is the copy you have! Strange that this is the only volume stocked by the library though, none of the others seem to be available even at other Essex branches.

Yes, it definitely is then - I was going to renew it tomorrow! Would you mind not placing a reserve on it (if you were thinking of doing that) until after then? (ie Sunday onwards.) Otherwise they won't let me do it!

And I agree, it is a little disappointing in the whole of Essex. Apart from Horror and Science Fiction they had a Native American one and single author issues such as Mark Twain and Arthur Conan Doyle. Perhaps they would consider purchasing some for us!

Here's a link to an Amazon page with some on.

Hee hee I could secrete a little note to you inside the book! What larks!

Ohh Jean I'm hanging in for your review of this book. I loved it as you know. :)

I've been working on it all day so far. It's a struggle, but I'm getting there I think! I've commented a bit in this group's thread, and even more in my other group (you know which one) where we really got down to the nitty gritty :)

Hope to post the review tomorrow, Tracey. I wonder which version you read.

Added my review for The Picture of Dorian Gray to message 1.

February Reads:

STATS:

Fiction = 3 (2 Classics, 1 Modern Classic)
Children's = 1
Graphic = 1
TOTAL = 5

All reviewed as usual. Links to all the reviews for 2015 in message 1.
Links to all the covers for 2015 in message 3.

Jean wrote: "Yes, it definitely is then - I was going to renew it tomorrow! Would you mind not placing a reserve on it (if you were thinking of doing that) until after then? (ie Sunday onwards.) Otherwise they ..."

Sorry for the delay, no I didn't place a reserve on it, just saved for now :)

Thanks Pink I did renew it OK! So I should be taking it back within 3 weeks :)

March:

13. The Life to Come and Other Stories by E.M. Forster

Link to review in message 1

14. I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou

Link to review in message 1

15. Leonora Carrington: Surrealism, Alchemy and Art by Susan Aberth.

Link to my review in message 1.

Hi Jean I have just got around to checking out this thread and adding something of my own. Read I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings several years ago and profoundly moved by it. Good to read your notes.

Hi Tweedledum. Good to hear from you! I see on your shelves you gave it 3*, no review, but maybe it was too long ago ...

Not sure what you mean by "notes" though - this thread perhaps? I've reviewed all these reads, linking in comment 1. Oh perhaps that's what you meant?

16. The Ocean at the End of the Lane by Neil Gaiman

There's a link to my review in message 1

17. The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien

March Reads:

STATS:

Fiction = 2
Children's = 1
Nonfiction = 2
TOTAL = 5

Review of The Hobbit written, and link added to message 1.