Summer Reading - Not Work Connected!

[JacquieL]

And mine Sue it is the very best read ever. Like you I read it first when I was young. I don't read them every year, but every three years or so. I did enjoy the films but they left out so much that had become dear to me in the text, so I found myself mentally filling the gaps.

[JacquieL]

Oh and my own set was the thing I treated myself to with my first every pay cheque.

[Guest]

Crikey - I have never read them! Hmmm...going on your recommendation - I feel ....a. I must ....b. I don't dare! Really can't 'opt out of life just now'!!! (or could I? )!

 

Sunnyday

 

LOL

i'm sure we all need to now and again

[Steve]

I think LotR is something you have to come to at a certain stage in your life (ie some time between 11 and 18) sunnyday, so don't expect to find it as overwhelming as Jacquie and Sue (and me)... Every time I've recommended it to an adult they find it quite hard going. I think it's stylistically quite tough - uneven, with a mixture of arcane and modern prose. But if you can avoid being bothered by this it is quite magnificent.

 

I don't read anything more than once now, as my booklist is already longer than I could possibly ever get through, but I did read it at least a dozen times between the age of 13 and 17. Although the first time, when a certain Wizard fell in the mines of Moria, I stopped and couldn't go on for six months, when a friend who had read the book dropped a couple of broad hints about how the story progressed...

[sunnyday]

Steve...steady on....the fact that I am 107 years old is a closely guarded secret ...shhh ...don't tell 'the others'!

[HappyMaz]

But if you can avoid being bothered by this it is quite magnificent.

Does sound like hard work to me! I was introduced to the books by the ex-husband and I didn't find it overwhelming or even interesting (but I put that down to being a bit thick - and very shallow - when I was a teenager!).

 

I would love to say that a novel has had such a profound impact on me as you, Sue and JacquieL describe. However I'm still waiting!

 

I can't remember the last novel I read (Paolo Cohelo, I think) and certainly can't remember the storyline.

 

Perhaps I need a personal shopper to suggest books for me to read in between my holiday to do list? Or at least books to start reading once I've got half of the items on the list done...

 

Maz

[JacquieL]

Don't worry Maz you either love or hate LOTRs. Actually I didn't like The Hobbit at all. Like most things we all have different tastes as regards books.

I don't mind all the detail Steve. When I was young I disliked Dickens for that reason but now I really like reading him.

Tell us what you enjoy reading Maz, apart from non-fiction to do with EYFS, of course? It might help with making suggestions.

[HappyMaz]

Tell us what you enjoy reading Maz, apart from non-fiction to do with EYFS, of course? It might help with making suggestions.

I like anything that will make me think, or where I can get inside the characters' heads! I have enjoyed the Kay Scarpetta novels I've read (all that forensic detail!), and have read more Maeve Binchy than perhaps I should admit to! I've read all the Harry Potters until my dreams became even more surreal than usual.

 

Not averse to a bit of romance, but not the Mills and Boon or the Catherine Cookson type. Apparently since I didn't cry when I went with MrsWeasley and campbells to see "My Sister's Keeper" I now have to read the book... so that's one to start my list off with!

 

Maz

[sunnyday]

Ah ...have just read that Frank McCourt....author of Angela's Ashes has died.......that's another of my favourite books.

 

Maz - give 'The Time Travellers Wife' a whirl.......I love, love, love this book......as do lot's of other forum regulars!

 

Sunnyday

[Steve]

A few other recommendations:

 

Iain Banks - Walking on Glass, Dead Air or The Wasp Factory

 

David Baddiel - Whatever Love Means

 

Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman - Good Omens

 

Tom Baker - Who on Earth is Tom Baker (wonderful rip-roaring warts and all autobiography, clearly written by him and not ghost written).

[Guest]

Well, I am off to buy the time travellers wife tomorrow. I love a good booki. The book thief is my favourite book ever.

 

have you read -A thousand splendid suns or the kite runner by Khalid husseini ? Both very good but not everyones cup of tea. I also ' enjoy' , not the right turn of phrase, reading stories about people that have had abusive childhoods. Makes you think how lucky you are and shows how resilient us humans can be.

 

Will be following this thread as \i need more than one book !!!

 

Lardylady

[Guest]

Happy MAz -

 

My sisters keeper is defintely worth a whirl.

 

It was the first of her books that I ever read and by far my favourite Piccoult offering

[Steve]

Ooh. Forgot The Road by Cormack McCarthy. Stark and minimalist - and don't read it if you're feeling low! It's coming out as a film later this year, with Viggo Mortensen. It's basically about the unconditional love of a father for his son in a dying world.

 

I watched The Kite Runner last night Lardylady. Great film. Sadly I never got to read the book - I always prefer to read the book first if there's a movie as well.

 

And I'm sure the current Mrs Edwards would like me to mention The Secret Life of Bees. I need to do it for her because she's away again at the moment - I'm beginning to understand how a single parent feels...

[Possum]

Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman - Good Omens

 

 

I'm afraid I'd have to disagree with you there - That's the only Pratchett I've not enjoyed. The Discworld books are hilarious, although unfortunately, due to TP's illness it's obvious that his earlier books were better.

 

LOTR is a thumping great read! Read it dozens of times, but didn't enjoy The Hobbit or The Silmarilion

[Sue R]

OOOH!!

 

Steve, The Wasp Factory!!! A brilliant book!! Why didn't I think of that?????

[Steve]

Hi Possum -

My wife bought me 'Good Omens' after discovering me unsuccessfully trying to conceal the fact that I was crying with laughter in Waterstones while flicking through the first page or two - so as an 'outed' Pratchett fan (why does it still seem to have to be an admission to be a Discworld fan?) I'm going to stick up robustly for this book.

 

And in fact, try 'American Gods' by Neil Gaiman - the other author of 'Good Omens'. An amazing and surreal book!

 

Sue - glad you liked 'The Wasp Factory'. You really should try 'Dead Air'. It's been a few years since I read a book that so had my heart thumping while I read it!

[Guest]

Oh yes....I also enjoyed 'The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time'......

 

What a great thread!

 

Sunnyday

 

' curious incident...' I liked that too !

[Guest]

lets all put book title in first line so that its easy to refer to

[Guest]

'life of pi' anyone?

[Steve]

Blimey Possum. Not surprised you didn't like 'The Silmarillion'! That's like reading the Bible as a primer for 'The Gruffalo'.

[Guest]

I loved the silmarrilion - am I on my own with that one!?!

Life of Pi I have tried a few times but just can't get into it

all this talk of books is getting me in the mood for non childcare reading - thankyou

Some of my all time favourites are - Milan Kundera, The Unbearable Lightness of Being. Angela Carter, The Magic Toyshop or Heroes and Villains. Doris Lessing, The Good Terrorist or The Fifth Child

More recently- The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold is quite a hard read (in a kind of upsetting/disturbing way) but uplifting in the end

Sorry, I'm quite booky and could come up with hundreds of favourite books so please stop me if you've had enough

Edited July 20, 2009 by Guest

[sunnyday]

The Lovely Bones......yes great......but I know what you mean about it being a 'disturbing read'

 

If you like an 'aga saga' ....any Joanna Trollope.......

 

I am 'booky' too dcn....and like all sorts of books....

[Cait]

I did Jane Eyre for O level in the seventies - and it's the book I return to most often, my 'comfort blanket' book. I hate film versions of it 'cos they never get it right - or The Secret Garden!

[Guest]

Going to read Jane Eyre - never read it before - determind to read something classical, epsecially after re-reading all the Harry Potter books again!

Also reading 'This Charming Man' by Marian Keyes

Can recommend '10 reasons not to fall in love' by Linda Green (ok, so I know its chicklit, but it was so compelling, I spent 3hrs solid reading it - stayed up past midnight on a school night, and reckoned I cried for the last hr of reading)

Will go and get Time travellers wife - due to the recommendations here.

May even continuw with 'The Mathematical Tourist'. its non-fiction, and have been reading it for the last 3 years without much success.

 

If all else fails, will return to my trusty 'Harry Potter', 'Anne Franks Diary' and 'Pride and Predjuice'

 

A book club does sound a good idea - maybe we could alternate between proper grown up books, and those we read for the kids at work?!

 

Emily

[Guest]

ooh yes, love Jane Eyre but what about Wuthering Heights - just bought it for my eldest daughter who's 12 - is that too young do you think?

I love a good love story - Thomas Hardy, Far from the Madding Crowd, I loved that too

[Cait]

Not at all too young! I did it with Year 6 about 10 years ago as 'end of he day' reading and they were really 'into it' - boys as well as girls!

[sunnyday]

Oh all this talk of Jane Eyre...wonderful by the way...has made me think of....

 

Anything by Daphne du Maurier........Rebecca..........Jamica Inn.........haven't read those for years.......

 

Oh and ...'The Great Gatsby'.....haven't read that for years either but one of my favourite books....

 

Gerald Durrell......'My Family and Other Animals'

 

have also re-read some of my fave childhood books.......'Swallows and Amazons'....'The Borrowers'......does anyone remember the 'Katy' books.......'What Katy Did', 'What Katy Did Next'?

Edited July 20, 2009 by sunnyday

[Guest]

Had to mention 'The Secret History' - Donna Tartt......BRILLIANT

 

Birdsong - Sebastian Faulks - AMAZING

 

I go on to Amazon and read the reviews and before I know it I have 'bought with one click!'

 

Edited July 20, 2009 by Guest

[sunnyday]

Had to mention 'The Secret History' - Donna Tartt......BRILLIANT

 

Birdsong - Sebastian Faulks - AMAZING

 

I go on to Amazon and read the reviews and before I know it I have 'bought with one click!'

 

Oh that jolly 'one click' is a dangerous device!!!

[Guest]

and what about all those wonderful but traumatic war novels - All quiet on the western front. If there was a man by Primo Levi should be read by everyone so we never forget what others have endured.

right, I'm off to choose a pile of books off the shelf, you've inspired me to add some non work based time to my summer to do list