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Post by lillielangtry on Apr 27, 2022 0:44:02 GMT -5
That's disappointing Liisa. I remember the stir around "Ducks", I haven't got to it and I'm trying to read some of my unknown books before I buy more! haha, good intentions - but I have actually written out my unread books and am striking them off the list as I go!
Scrub, completely agree that kindles are great for travelling, reading lying down, and all sorts of accessibility reasons.
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Post by scrubb on Apr 27, 2022 0:49:38 GMT -5
lillielangtry, I've done the same with writing out my unread books and crossing them off as i read them - but it's taking a long time and I keep buying more anyway.... But I'm improving. I just counted, and am down to about 1 book/week on average so far in 2022. Since I read 2/week, usually, it'll eventually all wind up, right?
Ok. Must start deleting book bub emails without looking. No more new books.
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Post by sprite on Apr 27, 2022 3:45:16 GMT -5
Y p.s. Yes, I could get some from the library, but I honestly have trouble reading paper books now. I read in bed a lot and need the light of the kindle, and I need the larger font, and I appreciate that I can slip my book into a pocket or purse no problem. That said, need to look into getting ebooks from the library again. Last time I checked, there weren't many books I wanted available, but that was a couple years ago. I find Libby hit and miss. I search for books/authors that are listed, but not in the system. Gets my hopes up... It seems that new releases and off-copyright classics are more likely to be there, but anything in the middle really depends on whether the publisher can be arsed to digitise a book.
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Post by scrubb on Apr 27, 2022 14:48:04 GMT -5
I took a look last night, and apparently with Libby and/or Overdrive, it only has kindle books available through US libraries. I'm not sure if I could put epub books on my kindle when they're library books and have to be converted. So, I'd have to read on my phone or laptop, neither of which is ideal.
Plus, every book that I am really looking forward to was unavailable anyway. (As in, had a waiting list.)
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Post by sprite on Apr 27, 2022 15:16:39 GMT -5
Yeah, I read all my Libby on my tablet, not the kindle.
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Post by HalcyonDaze on Apr 27, 2022 16:18:17 GMT -5
$13.99.
I weep.
Bought a book the other day that I'd been wanting for ages and the library didn't have it. $32.99 for the paperback.
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Post by HalcyonDaze on Apr 27, 2022 16:19:23 GMT -5
Yeah, I read all my Libby on my tablet, not the kindle. I use my phone for Libby.
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Post by scrubb on Apr 29, 2022 23:30:48 GMT -5
lillielangtry, I've done the same with writing out my unread books and crossing them off as i read them - but it's taking a long time and I keep buying more anyway.... But I'm improving. I just counted, and am down to about 1 book/week on average so far in 2022. Since I read 2/week, usually, it'll eventually all wind up, right? Ok. Must start deleting book bub emails without looking. No more new books. Well, except for the one I got today. But that's the last one!
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Post by lillielangtry on Apr 30, 2022 1:35:12 GMT -5
Lol! Perhaps we need a "read my unread books" accountability thread. I also bought a book yesterday - but it was for book club, I had to, right?!
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Post by ozziegiraffe on Apr 30, 2022 3:54:11 GMT -5
$13.99. I weep. Bought a book the other day that I'd been wanting for ages and the library didn't have it. $32.99 for the paperback. Now that my favourite second hand bookshop has closed, I’ve ordered a few books I really wanted from Abe books. Even with shipping, they’re a lot cheaper than that. Look at Brotherhood Books too, they ship second hand books from Melbourne overnight.
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Post by ozziegiraffe on Apr 30, 2022 3:57:16 GMT -5
Lol! Perhaps we need a "read my unread books" accountability thread. I also bought a book yesterday - but it was for book club, I had to, right?! This season’s Goodreads cozy mystery challenge includes reading 5 books from your TBR shelf!
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Post by Liiisa on Apr 30, 2022 6:15:41 GMT -5
I like the "read my unread books" challenge idea. I just finished one, and it was good!
Unfortunately I was just informed that the long history book I'd requested from the library is available, so I won't be picking up any more of them anytime soon.
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Post by sprite on May 9, 2022 5:49:02 GMT -5
A Woman of the Iron People.
Semi interesting story of human anthropologists who land on a planet with a humanoid species. I'm not really sure why they went there. It was ok, but the drama between factions of the human expedition (do we mine or not mine? Do we give medical assistance?) never seemed to infuse any section of the story except when mentioned. So a human walks around this planet, meeting people who are more or less misfits from its society.
I skipped to the end, and missed a section where the humans decide what to do. Something about building their own village but keeping their spaceship.
Ursula leGuin liked it, I thought it was alright.
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Post by scrubb on May 25, 2022 17:17:29 GMT -5
I suspect I'm going to abandon "Surgeon in Blue" by Scott McGaugh. About a civil war doctor who apparently revolutionized military medicine. I got through the author's introduction yesterday but didn't find myself motivated to plunge into it afterwards.
Might still give it a quick try, though.
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Post by Liiisa on Jun 9, 2022 20:16:38 GMT -5
Patricia Highsmith, The Talented Mr Ripley
Abandoned not because I didn’t like it but because I realized around p. 40 that I’d already read it, and I didn’t like it so much as to want to read it again.
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Post by tzarine on Aug 18, 2022 16:55:27 GMT -5
donna tartt the goldfinch i just dont like her characters
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Post by Liiisa on Aug 19, 2022 16:21:48 GMT -5
donna tartt the goldfinch i just dont like her characters Yeah, I loved The Secret History but didn't love The Little Friend and so then I kind of gave up on her because the Goldfinch is 45,000 pages long and I just didn't want to try.
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Post by scrubb on Aug 19, 2022 21:07:13 GMT -5
My attitude was much like Liiiisa's to the first 2, but I read and really liked The Goldfinch.
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Post by Liiisa on Aug 20, 2022 6:07:14 GMT -5
My attitude was much like Liiiisa's to the first 2, but I read and really liked The Goldfinch. Huh! Now I'm intrigued... I do like short books these days, though
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Post by scrubb on Sept 2, 2022 18:08:07 GMT -5
Well, it's definitely not short!
I abandoned a book called "The Beautiful Ones" by Silvio Moreno-Garcia. Kate_R had recommended a different book by that author, which I couldn't find, so I tried this one. Aside from being set in a world with telekinesis, it was a turgidly written romance and I just could not be bothered.
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Post by Q-pee on Sept 4, 2022 2:15:16 GMT -5
My attitude was much like Liiiisa's to the first 2, but I read and really liked The Goldfinch. The Goldfinch is about 500m from where I'm sitting. It's one of my favourite paintings and I visit it regularly.
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Post by Q-pee on Sept 4, 2022 2:20:02 GMT -5
Light of Days - women fighters in the Jewish resistance
I'm all for putting women in their rightful place in history, and I'm interested in acts of resistance in general and WW2 in particular.
The women in this book deserve their place in history, there should be masses of books, art, movies, and games about them.
But I can't finish the book. I'm not sure why... it might just a touch too worthy for my mood right now.
I might try again later.
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Post by scrubb on Sept 4, 2022 10:49:05 GMT -5
Oh, I have that book waiting on my kindle. I hope I find it easier going.
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Post by kneazle on Sept 8, 2022 18:04:16 GMT -5
I'm reading 'The Confession of Copeland Cane' which I'm struggling to get into - it seems to be a common complaint - I'll give it a bit longer before I give up since I like the premise it's just slow going.
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Post by Liiisa on Oct 6, 2022 19:28:30 GMT -5
I've just abandoned Andrew Sean Greer's "Less."
It's a book about a morose novelist who's accepted a series of invitations to various literary events and parties around the world in order to avoid going to his ex-boyfriend's wedding. There are some amusing descriptive passages, but it's too lightweight to sustain my interest and keeps reminding me of other very similar novels that I somehow liked better. Other people must really like it, though, because I found out about it from an amusing interview with him in the book review section of the New York Times; maybe I'm just not in the mood at the moment for a breezy possibly-romance-novel about someone who is morose about turning 50 and being dumped by his younger boyfriend.
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Post by HalcyonDaze on Oct 6, 2022 22:53:19 GMT -5
Well, it's definitely not short! I abandoned a book called "The Beautiful Ones" by Silvio Moreno-Garcia. Kate_R had recommended a different book by that author, which I couldn't find, so I tried this one. Aside from being set in a world with telekinesis, it was a turgidly written romance and I just could not be bothered. I've now read 3 of her books, but I also returned The Beautiful Ones unfinished.
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Post by scrubb on Oct 7, 2022 13:52:34 GMT -5
Well, it's definitely not short! I abandoned a book called "The Beautiful Ones" by Silvio Moreno-Garcia. Kate_R had recommended a different book by that author, which I couldn't find, so I tried this one. Aside from being set in a world with telekinesis, it was a turgidly written romance and I just could not be bothered. I've now read 3 of her books, but I also returned The Beautiful Ones unfinished. That's good to know - maybe I'll try something else by the author.
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Post by scrubb on Oct 7, 2022 13:54:18 GMT -5
I've just abandoned Andrew Sean Greer's "Less." It's a book about a morose novelist who's accepted a series of invitations to various literary events and parties around the world in order to avoid going to his ex-boyfriend's wedding. There are some amusing descriptive passages, but it's too lightweight to sustain my interest and keeps reminding me of other very similar novels that I somehow liked better. Other people must really like it, though, because I found out about it from an amusing interview with him in the book review section of the New York Times; maybe I'm just not in the mood at the moment for a breezy possibly-romance-novel about someone who is morose about turning 50 and being dumped by his younger boyfriend. I read a book by him a couple years ago - "The Story of a Marriage" - which I thought was good but not very good. I don't remember it anymore, which says something, I guess. ETA: I just looked up my review of it in the book threads, and apparently I thought his writing was really good but the content lacked something. That the book had been worth reading but that I couldn't recommend it strongly. I also said then that I'd try other books by him hoping he learned how to write more worthwhile books, but I haven't come across him again.
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Post by Liiisa on Oct 7, 2022 17:48:44 GMT -5
That's how I felt about it. The descriptions were great, and snippy comments were very funny, but I found the protagonist annoying and the plot wasn't enough to keep me going. It was kind of a cross between Armistead Maupin and a less traumatized Edward St Aubyn, which should be good... maybe I'll pick it up some other time.
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Post by mei on Nov 15, 2022 7:36:11 GMT -5
I gave up on a book on 'green growth'. I don't think the concept is possible, but I read this to be challenged and see what the arguments are. I probably should've tried to finish it, but couldn't be bothered anymore. The first half of the book was interesting enough (very detailed on specific dynamics in an economy, such as taxation) but also showed me that her line of thinking won't convince me. I decided that I'd rather spend my scarce reading time on something more worthwhile!
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