• Books Books Books

    Date: 2012.01.11 | Category: News | Response: 1

    So, I have read quite a few book blogs and how they have challenged themselves to read their TBR pile before purchasing new books. I think it is a fantastic idea and so have decided to try and do the same, but only from February as I have some new books and library books which I am itching to read and couldn’t possibly Not read them now!

    MY TBR LIST INCLUDES:

    1. Anais Nin – Fire( I am a huge fan of her and Henry Millers work, in fact I have a book of letters between the two of them and it is one of my favourites)
    2. Lionel Shriver – We need to talk about Kevin( this was one of my original challenge books to read, and it is still sitting on my book shelf. I did start it, but just couldn’t get past the first few pages.  Mel then raved about it and so it is back on my list again!)
    3. John F Demartini – The heart of Love ( I read  The Breakthrough Experience a few years ago and it had such a positive impact that when I found this one in a second hand book store for next to nothing, I bought it, but alas, still have not read it)
    4. Peter Rushworth – Pinkertons sister (Bought this because I was in a book buying mood and it looked and sounded interesting- I will let you know the verdict once I have read it)
    5. Julian Barnes – Arthur and George( Love the cover and the synopsis, have picked it up many times but haven’t got very far…)
    6. Catherine Clement – Theo’s Odyssey(Have read three quarters of this book, when I went away by myself for a weekend – three years ago- and have just never finished it. It is likened to Sophie’s world but focused on the different religions of the world)
    7. Nick Hornby – Juliet, Naked(have heard rave reviews)
    8. Vikram Seth – A suitable boy ( I read An Equal Music by him, I adored the book and decided to read this too. I have started it countless times but it is completely different to the first one I have read by him. I have restarted it and aim to finish it by the end of Feb!)
    9. George RR Martin – A Game of Thrones ( I watched the series and loved it, so thought I should read the book, read the first page and haven’t tried since…)

    BOOKS WHICH I HAVE PILED NEXT TO MY BED WHICH NEED TO BE READ BY THE END OF JANUARY:

    1. Jefferey Euginides – The Marriage Plot(currently reading this, thoroughly enjoying it)
    2. Charlotte Bronte – Jane Eyre(currently reading this, am enjoying but a bit long winded)
    3. Marlon James – the Book of Night Women (currently reading this, it was my gift from the Book Blogger Holiday Swop, thoroughly enjoying it so far – it has been likened to The Help so if you enjoyed that, you should enjoy this, though the writing style is completely different)
    4. Stephen Kelman – Pigeon English (have read good reviews of this book so picked it up at my library)
    5. Peter Ackroyd – The Casebook of Victor Frankenstein (this sounds like an interesting book so am going to give it a go)
    6. Patricia Wood – Lottery(Again, I liked the sound of it)
    7. Aravind Adiga – The White Tiger (This is a tale of two India’s and sounds very interesting)

    WHAT I HAVE READ RECENTLY:

    1. Erin Morgenstern – The Night Circus( I received this for Christmas and I thoroughly enjoyed it, everyone should read it! Beautiful book!)
    2. Paige Nick – This Way Up( I enjoyed this, it is an easy reading book about a group of sisters)
    3. Emma van der Vliet – Past Imperfect ( Fabulous book by a South African author, loved it)
    4. Deon Meyer – Thirteen Hours ( South African crime writer who I recently discovered, I could not put this book down, it took me a day to read, small type and everything!)
    5. Nora Roberts – Black Hills( I was lent this book and having never read her before, I was pleasantly surprised)
    6. April Lindner – Jane ( An updated take on Jane Eyre for teenagers, quite good actually)

    So, what do you think? Have you read any books on my TBR list or on my January reading list? Or have you read something which you would recommend to be added to my lists, please do let me know.

    I aimed to get 100 books read last year, this didn’t happen, I managed a measly 56, so am hoping that this year will be better numbers wise!

     

  • Review- The Wind-up Bird Chronicle

    Date: 2011.12.23 | Category: Reviews | Response: 1

    Ever since I read a Wild Sheep Chase by Murakami, I fell in love with his surreal and slightly bizarre writing. I have read most of his books and when Kafka on the shore came out a couple of years ago, I wolfed it down, it was definitely one of my favourites.

    Then I found this one in one my favourite book shops where they were having a massive sale, couldn’t remember if I had read it or not so decided to purchase it nonetheless. My thinking being that if I had already read it, I could give it as a Christmas present to someone. And, I hadn’t read it!

    Murakami has a talent of writing about the world beyond our own world. Where strange things happen, that could make no sense whatsoever but wrapped together in a story in the real world somehow just does.

    In The Wind-up Bird Chronicle, our main character begins to experience things which are slightly off character beginning with the cat that dissapeared, and then his wife dissapears. The story is about how he tries to find his wife and the rather strange characters he comes into contact with during his search.

    I love how he connects even the most random story-well, one might feel it is random as one reads, in with the main story. How ones fate is written in stone, and no matter what decision is taken, it still leads back to where they are supposed to be.

    I really enjoyed this book and if you are a Murakami fan, you should definitely enjoy it too.

    Have you read any Murakami? Do you enjoy his writing?

  • Review:Love in the time of Cholera- Gabriel Garcia Marquez

    Date: 2011.12.10 | Category: Reviews | Response: 1

    I received this book through the book swap that was done here at The Book Club Blog and my person who sent it to me, Cat, told me it is her favourite Love Story of all time, and one of  her favourite books sitting at no 3.

     

    I have never read him before, so when I found this book in my parcel, I did feel a little daunted but also pleased, because if there was any one reason why I would read this book, it would be because I received it as a gift. And I did read it, it took me longer to read than normal, but I put that down to an extremely hectic last month and severe lack of reading time (about 20minutes at bed time each night) and I enjoyed it.

     

    It definitely is not my usual genre and as I said, felt a bit daunted by it, but it had an interesting story, I did find it a bit bizarre – for those of you who have read it- about how one man can ‘not’ live his life  because of one day getting the love of his life. But I think that is probably just my pessimistic side coming out. The ending was lovely and sad at the same time and just makes you realise how short life really is.  And compare it to my favourite love story ever Jitterbug Perfume by Tom Robbins it is a world apart but yet quite similar. The theme being trying to find eternal life in order to love for longer. You would have to read the books and come to your own conclusions.

     

    I can honestly say that I enjoyed Love in the time of Cholera but it doesn’t beat Jitterbug Perfume in the love story department!

     

    Have you read both, what did you think?

     

  • Indigo Fields Bookclub Competition

    Date: 2011.11.23 | Category: give away, News | Response: 0

    OK,  so who would like to spend a day at a spa, spend the night there and have all meals included?For Free?

    Yes, I though that might appeal to all the ladies out there;-)

    Well, you can at Indigo Fields check out their website here

    And I bet you are wondering why I have this on the book club blog? Well, see there is just a little bit more to it, this is a chance for you and your entire book club to win. Head over here: www.facebook.com/indigofields to fill in all the details and find out what you need to know and well, you never know but you do need to be in it to win it, as they say!

    I have added all the info here, but you need to enter on the facebook page…

    Well, here is your chance, all you need to do is enter this competition to stand a chance of winning your bookclub a day at Indigo Fields Spa with overnight stay and all meals included up to the value of R12 400!! The competition is open to anyone, you just  need to pay your own travel expenses.

    Let’s go Book Clubs! and please send us some of the photos of your book clubs too and let us know once you are up and in the competition so we can come and like you to help you win!!

    Good luck!

     

    What a wonderful way to celebrate your book club and especially before Christmas!

     

  • My Christmas Wish List

    Date: 2011.11.20 | Category: News | Response: 0

     

    I really want to read this book!

     

    The latest Murakami

     

    For my guilty pleasure reading

    The only in this series I haven’t read yet. (and the I can pass it on to my brother as he is reading the series too!)

    Updated to add:

    Can’t believe I forgot to put this on my list!!!

    Oh and this:

    I really enjoyed a short history of nearly everything and this one is just up my alley!

    What’s on your wish list for this year?

  • 3 reviews in one

    Date: 2011.11.13 | Category: Reviews | Response: 0

    I have had a good run of books lately, which is a little surprising as sometimes, I just can’t get into a book or a book is readable, but nothing fantastic, but recently read three books which I have thoroughly enjoyed.

     

    The Housekeeper and the professor – Yoko Ogawa

    This is a lovely book, it is an easy read though full of mathematical equations which I have to admit to having gone slightly over my head.  A maths professor with a short term memory of only 80 minutes. A young housekeeper and her ten year old son. And the blossoming friendship between the three. The peculiarities of having to reintroduce themselves each morning, the maths riddles based on her shoe size or her birthday, and the numbers, which forges a bond which is more mysterious than imaginary numbers but runs deeper than memory.

    A beautiful story!

    Farenheit 451 – Ray Bradbury

    Wow, this is a phenomenal book! It has been on  my list of books to read for about 2 years, and by chance I found it in a bookshop which was having a clear out sale and bought it for R10! A very well worth R10 spend! A dystopian novel about how in a distant future, books are burnt and life is lived via 4 walls of television. It is a scary look at a technical age where books have no place, and life has no place in life. I recommend any one to read this, who has any sort of love for books. Truly, I could not put it down.

    A life in pieces – Richard K Baer

    Oh my goodness, this was a harrowing read. It was incredible, amazing, fascinating and horrific. A true story about a woman with 17 multiple personalities due to severe trauma and abuse as a child. And I swear, every mother should read this book, just to make sure that they are aware of what is out there, so we don’t get complacent. So we make sure that we keep an eye out for changes in personalities. I really was horrified by what happened to this woman as a child, that people could actually be as monstrous as they were. Awful, but in the end , amazing how even though she has different personalities, she is still wanting to heal herself and this book takes us through what happened, over ten years! Truly incredible. ( I stayed up until 12.30am one night because I was absolutely fascinated…)

     

    Have you read any of these? Did you enjoy them?

  • It’s that time of year again…

    Date: 2011.11.12 | Category: News | Response: 0

    The Book Blogger Holiday Swop!

     

    Love this.

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

    Luckily, I found it in time, I have been so busy that I have barely had time to check my emails… But I remembered to check in time if the forms were up:-)

    So, how it works is, you get assigned a secret santa, a fellow book blogger and wallah, you send each other gifts through the post. The joy is finding something for someone you don’t know and wonder if you will like them…

    Here’s to the beginning of the season to be merry! Watch out for my book wish list, coming soon…

  • A Bookish Gift Swap…

    Date: 2011.10.19 | Category: News | Response: 10

    with a difference.

    I originally had this idea after participating in Laura‘s gift swop which I am sure that whoever joined in, loved the anticipation of receiving a parcel in the post and the suspense of what Might be in the parcel was just as lovely as the receiving of the gift. I also thoroughly enjoyed deciding on What to put in the parcel for someone that I had never met, though trying to pick the perfect gift was  a lot harder than if it was for someone you knew.

    Anyway, as you can clearly see, I loved it and so I have decided to do something similar here. But this time we will know what the gift will be, it will be a book. But not just any book (buying a book for someone you know can be difficult in itself, but for a stranger, a whole lot more challenging!)

    So, here’s the deal. The book that you send as a gift MUST be your favourite all time novel. And we wont be pairing people up either, basically how it will work is:

    1)You leave a comment stating wether you are willing to post internationally or  not, just put in brackets – (INT) OR (NOT INT) together with your name and email so we can contact you. Your commenting automatically places you as a participant.

    2) The person who comments next will receive your favourite book in the post – PLEASE don’t tell us what it is, that at least will be a surprise!

    3)So, it doesn’t matter if there is an odd amount of people taking part because each commenter will receive a book from the previous commenter. The last commenter will send a book gift to the first commenter.

    4) Anyone can participate, you do not need to have a blog, just a postal address and email in order to contact you and let you know the details  of the person you are sending it to.

    5) You must be committed to participating if you leave a comment

    6) The closing date for all comments will be on the 25th October and you will have two weeks to send your book out. All books must  be posted by the very latest on the 8th November. If you are posting internationally, all books MUST be posted by the 1st November.

    7) This way, everyone gets a book that is at least one persons favourite favourite. You may not have read it before or even know the author,but this in itself is a gift as you may discover something you have never heard of before.

    8) Books DO NOT need to be new, gently read and second hand is great, but please ensure that it is still in a good reading condition. There is something pleasant about reading a book that has already been read, but not if it is in terrible condition!

    9) Spread the word and get commenting. Everyone will receive the details of who they need to post to by 12am 26th October.

    10) Last of all, have fun!!

  • The Literary Give away BLog Hop!

    Date: 2011.10.15 | Category: News | Response: 0

    I unfortunately am not taking part in the literary blog hop but if any of you are looking for new book blogs to read check out Lee Swammes’ blog for a list of participating blogs.

    Have fun hopping!

  • Committed – Elizabeth Gilbert a review

    Date: 2011.10.10 | Category: Reviews | Response: 3

    I thoroughly enjoyed Eat Pray Love and have been wanting to read Committed for a while now. Even though listening to other peoples opinions of the book, saying its nothing like her bestseller and not as good, I still wanted to read it. And now I have.

    And even though, other peoples opinions were correct in saying that it was nothing like her bestseller, I enjoyed it. I am not a huge marriage person. I have never coveted the big white wedding, the whole idea of marriage just makes me squirm so it was almost revelatory that someone else was even more squirmish of marriage than I was!

    It was interesting in that she really delves into the history of the institute of marriage. How it came about and at the end how she makes peace with it and marries for the second time. I think if you are in any way interested in the whole marriage thing, you will enjoy this book though bear in mind, that it is nothing like Eat Pray Love! Even I could possibly, get married, after reading this book.

    And now, what next to read, I really do need some recommendations, please!

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