September Reading List

Another month has flown by but I am pleased that I have managed to read 11 books in the month. The book with the most hype was Dan Brown's The Lost Symbol. I thought it was a great read. Much better written than the previous books and it was a real page turner. Right up until the last 100 pages.... the ending was disappointing. Too moralising. I don't understand why there was not more intrigue about the freemasons either. Still, I enjoyed reading it!

My reading list for September (in reading order):
1. Alex Cross's Trial by James Patterson - fascinating "first-hand" account of lynching
2. Intervention by Robin Cook - writing even better (an old favourite author of mine)
3. Wedding Babylon by Imogen Edwards-Jones - so much money wasted on big weddings
4. The Yipping Tiger by Perminder Sachdev - interesting tales from a neropsychiatrist although sometimes the science went over my head
5. Stranded With a Spy by Merline Lovelace - for a romantic suspense not too bad
6. Fatal Last Words by Quintin Jardine - part of a series but it is difficult to remember all the characters from year to year
7. The Lost Symbol by Dan Brown
8. Every Patient Tells a Story by Lisa Sanders
9. Sharp Shooter by Marianne Delacourt - a fun read!
10. Blue Paws by Matt McCreadie - tales of a police dog - another funny book (until the end)
11. Airborne ed James Patterson - an online collaboration with various people writing a chapter of a thriller, started and ended by James Patterson. At times okay, other times bad, but interesting concept.

My August Bookshelf

In August I managed to read 12 books and most were very good. I think it helped having a week off work in the middle of the month. It is amazing how having to work cuts into my reading time!

This was my August reading list:

1. Dambusters by Max Arthur
2. The Murder of King Tut by James Patterson & Martin Dugard
3. Options by Rosemary D'Amico
4. 5 Bodies to Die For by Stephanie Bond
5. The Scarecrow by Michael Connelly
6. The Tower by Michael Duffy
7. Don't Look Behind You, but by Peter Allison
8. Cherry Bomb by JA Konrath
9. Singing to the Dead by Caro Ramsey
10. Ivory by Tony Park
11. The Contract by Brett Hoffman
12. Don't Tell Eve by Arlie Lawson

Singing to the Dead

At last! A book I could not put down. I thoroughly enjoyed reading Singing to the Dead by Caro Ramsey. There were two stories intertwined and the pacing was terrific. Just when the solution seemed obvious out would come another twist. I loved the characters and look forward to the next DI Colin Anderson and DS Costello (with a mysterious first name) mystery. There were 510 pages but the font was larger than usual (publishers please note, that size font is perfect for tired eyes late at night) so I am not sure if it was longer than usual. Now I have to find her first novel, Absolution.

Novels should be shorter

I have just finished reading Ivory by Tony Park. It started off as a promising read: pirates in the modern age; big business; African culture and colour. Sex and viiolence thrown into the mix. Halfway through the book I started to get bored. Did I really care what happened to Jane, the lawyer from London? Did I care if the dashing pirate (minus a couple of fingers) Alex avoided jail, remained alive, and rebuilt his tumbledown hotel? When I reached the elephant cull/hunt I could not bear to read the details and skimmed over a chapter. I still had a third of the book to go. I could not abandon it after devoting so many hours to reading it. I needed something to show for my efforts (a finished book on my shelf). I struggled on and then started skimming in ernest. Perhaps it was because I was skim reading but events seemed even more far fetched and the ending very contrived. At 434 pages it was a struggle.

Why do publishers insist readers want to read long books? I would rather read two books each at 200 pages than one at 400 pages. There are too many books out there to waste my precious reading time on one book.

Balancing the Books

My biggest problem is that I buy more books than I can read. I went cold turkey and did not buy a book for two months but that did not hep. I have so many books waiting on my groaning bookshelves that I think I could retire now and read for the rest of my life and not catch up.

My tally for August so far is: 14 books bought and 7 read. Of the 7 I have read this month, 3 were left over from previous months. On top of books to read there are newspapers, magazines and the internet. My life is full of words waiting for me.

I need to find more hours in the day for reading - hence the thought of giving up work and retiring! If only I did not need so much sleep.....

Self-published e books

I prefer paper books I can hold in my hand and transport easily but now and then I look at e books. One problem I have with reading e books is that I can't figure out how to bookmark my page but then even if I could do that I have a habit of reading the same book on different computers, ie my home computer and work computer so I still have to remember what I am up to.

I think e books should be supported and especially self-published authors. There are some gems out there that haven't been discovered by the mainstream publishers.

I can thoroughly recommend a self-published e-book I found at Smashwords: Options by Rosemarie D'Amico. Don't be fooled by the cheap price ($3.99) - I would have paid more. Options has all the right ingredients: murder; strong characters; intrigue; all thrown into a company specializing in take-overs. I loved the details about working in the company and Kate is a great character, full of flaws but likeable. Definitely deserves a mainstream hard cover launch (and no, I have never met the author!). Not sure about the cover though......

What I have been reading - 2

I thoroughly enjoyed reading The Lost Art of Sleep by Michael McGirr, and no it did not keep me awake! It was a mixture of personal anecdotes, history, science, philosophy and humour. A very interesting examination on why, how, where and when we sleep. It is not so much an advice book on how to improve your sleep as an informative discussion on everything related to sleep from beds, to sleep masks, from Plato to Kevin Rudd.

David Baldacci's latest thriller, First Family was an exciting read - that stopped me from sleeping a few nights. Some clues seemed obvious but the book just swept along and I was not sure what the wash up would be until I finished it.

The red bookcover for First Family is the Australian version and the gold one on the right is the American one. I like the red one best so it looks like the marketing/design people got it right for the Australian market.

What I have been reading

I have reluctantly finished Dark Mirror by Barry Maitland. I have read all Barry Maitland's books (eleven) and I must admit that it is like sitting down with an old friend and catching up on news when I read a book in the Kolla and Brock series. I guessed the murderer well before the end but it did not matter as I was in no hurry to leave my guests.

I also finished a true crime book, Blood Brother by Robin Bowles. Earlier this year I went to the Supreme Court in Sydney with my daughter to sit in on a murder trial - just to see what it was like. Based on one morning's evidence we thought it was likely Jeffrey Gillham was guilty, despite getting away with it for fifteen years. The book filled in a few gaps but it was by no means comprehensive and I was disappointed to see the name of a well known police officer misspelt.

We are definitely in for a dry spell

My faithful old dryer (is 8 years old?) finally gave up on Thursday. It went through the motions, ie spun the clothes around and blew out air, but it was cold air and nothing dried. I went shopping for a new dryer yesterday and today it arrived. The delivery man struggled carrying it down the stairs but when I asked if he was okay he assured me it was light (for a macho man maybe).

Dryers don't come in boxes anymore, just packaging (cardboard, wood and foam) and then wrapped in strong plastic.

It is big!

I usually only need the dryer for towels when it is raining, and we go through a lot of them. There are only 2 of us in the house but each day we use 4 towels, one hand towel, one bathmat, 3 face washers and 1 teatowel.

After I had peeled the layers off and moved it into its new home I realised that it was not the dryer I intended buying. Oh well, a dryer is a dryer. It will do the job.

Now I need to wait for the rain. The newspaper reports that El Nino has arrived and we are in for a lengthy dry spell. Of course it won't rain - I have a big clothes dryer ready for action.

Sharing my book buying/reading tastes

It is ten days into July and naturally my purchases outnumber the books I have read this month. I have bought nine books - and have read just three - nearly four. I started the month reading an unbelievable thriller, Bombproof by Michael Robotham, followed by a kiddie's book, Just Macbeth by Andy Griffiths, then the latest from a favourite series, Finger Lickin' Fifteen by Janet Evanovich and I have nearly finished a chick lit, Vintage Alice by Jessica Adams.

Vintage Alice is annoying me but I am determined to finish it as it is on the list for July for the new book club I have joined. I have no empathy or sympathy for the main character. She is so silly - I think she deserves all that has happened. I am sure it will all turn out happy at the end and her dreams will magically materialise but not through any effort of Alice.

That leaves on my list (excluding the hundreds bought previous to July and waiting patiently to be read): Wesley by Stacey O'Brien; First Family by David Baldacci; Dark Mirror by Barry Maitland; Blue Paws by Matt McCredie; and today's purchases: Swimsuit by James Patterson and Blood Brother by Robin Bowles.

As today is a day off work (a legal one - a flex day) I hope to catch up on some reading, when I tear myself away from the computer.

Fallen Off the Wagon

The photo of the books in my header shows a selection of my bookshelf and the ones with the blue spots mark the unread books. There are hundreds of them! I moved house two months ago and the removalist struggled to lift all the boxes of books and because I felt bad I decided to stop buying books for two months, May and June. Now it is July, I have been book shopping twice and have seven new books to add to the shelves (and decorate with blue dots!). Seven books and it is only the 4 July.... It would have better to restrict myself to buying 2 books a month instead of stopping altogether. Now I am like an alcoholic. Once I have the taste/pleasure of buying books, I cannot stop.

I have read one of my new purchases - a children's book called Just Macbeth by Andy Griffiths. It was a lot of fun, and a quick read. Now my children are grown up I don't really have a good excuse to buy children's books but every now and then I can't resist.

Bombproof

After a couple of false starts I finally found a book that I could not put down: Bombproof by Michael Robotham. The plot was a great idea, based on recent events. There is a train blown up and naturally it is assumed it is a terrorist attack, a suicide bomber. But what if it was just a bumbling ex con in the wrong place at the wrong time? The story went from one disaster to another but it all fell apart at the end. Fell apart for me as the reader that is. The ending was far too happy, too contrived and thoroughly unbelievable. This book was a special giveaway as part of the Book Alive campaign in Australia in August 2008. That should give a clue about how far behind I am with my reading. My bookshelves are full of unread books!

Weather is all in the mind

It is winter in Sydney but sometimes I think the seasons are rather arbitrary. Today the maximum temperature was supposed to be 23 deg C but it only made it to 20 deg C. Needless to say everyone at the train station was rugged up in coats, gloves and scarves. If it was 20deg C in the middle of summer we would be wearing t shirts and shorts. But, we have been conditioned to think it is winter and feel cold as a result.

My house knows it is winter and it is 17deg C this evening - inside that is, with a heater. Outside the temperature is marginally warmer - 17.4deg.

I wonder why I am obsessed with knowing what the temperature is going to be or is? Is it to be prepared and wear the right clothes? Is it to reassure myself that it is really cold? Is it to see if the weather bureau gets it right/wrong? Is it to remind myself what season we are supposed to be in?

People Reading

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My First Post

Welcome, invisible readers to my new blog! That is presuming there is someone out there in the wide online world who has stumbled across my blog and has paused to read it. Otherwise I will just quietly talk to myself here online, which must be preferable to muttering to myself seated on a bus seat.

I wonder if other people have the same problem that I have, starting a new book to read. I finish a book and then can't move on quickly to a new book. I search my bookshelves for the next book to read, start it and then abandon it. I try the same genre and when that does not work I try a new genre, hoping to be transported inside a book within a few pages. If I force myself to stick with a book and it does not grab me, my reading slows down, which is another frustration, considering all the books I have waiting to be read. I have tried for the last week to immerse myself in the The White Russian by Tom Bradby and made it to page 78 but it is not happening. I am sure it is a good book - it just came at the wrong time. The last book I read was Above Suspicion by Lynda La Plante and I was halfway through before I realised that I had read it before. I kept going, though, because I was enjoying it and I could not remember the ending.