I am lucky enough to be away on holiday. This left me pondering on what is the perfect holiday read. Obviously how many books to take depends on the duration of the holiday and what type very much depends on personal preference.
So... What do I have with me? I brought two books with me and acquired a third while away. No I didn't cheat. The third book, the new JK Rowling mystery written under the pseudonym of Robert Galbraith was purchased for me by my mother shortly after my resolution had been made but before she had been told about it. It is also now second hand as she has already read and enjoyed it - having not read any of the author's previous offerings. The first is a book called the Summer Wedding by Fiona Walker, which I started about a week ago. The second is a book called The House of God, which is the only book that has reduced my mother to tears of laughter. I'm intrigued to see if it has the same effect on me.
When I'm away I like to take slightly meatier books and more of them than I would anticipate reading while at home. However this can sometimes backfire as I acquired one of my all time favourite books while holidaying in America. It was meaty and enthralling and also deserves a post all of its' own at a later date. The downside was that I could tell you very little of the scenery that passed me by as I had my head firmly buried in the book. The other problem I have is that I inevitably overestimate how much literature I will get through and thus weigh my case down unnecessarily. The rise of the kindle and other e-readers is starting to negate this problem but that is for another debate.
On a day to day basis I tend to read chicklit (again a further post will follow) as I like the escapism it offers and I read mainly for relaxation as well as enjoyment. This particular trip will not afford me the luxury of tons of time, although I do have a long train journey to look forward to.
Holiday reads need to be tailored to the amount of time available and the taste of the reader. My own personal taste stretches to mystery and adventure while I'm on holiday as well as an indulgent romance. I'm looking forward to finishing my current book so expect a write up soon.
Happy Reading
Bookaholic
Tuesday, 27 August 2013
Tuesday, 20 August 2013
Inferno
And so it begins...
When I made the resolution I was busy reading Inferno, the fourth installment of Dan Brown's Robert Langdon action/ adventure series. While not an avid Dan Brown fan I have read the previous three Langdon books and thoroughly enjoyed them, albeit that I found they raised philosophical questions and concepts which I tend to avoid. This one started off a little differently from it predecessors. It literally began with all guns blazing and the pace never really tailed off from there. Despite this I found it quite a laborious read and made fairly slow progress over the first half of the book until the backstory started to unravel. In the latter stages I was utterly gripped. I would term it a page turner, except that unusually for me I was reading it on my kindle so it was more of a button presser.
I don't want to reveal too much about the plot, nor to spoil the ending, but I will say this for Brown : with this book he had me thoroughly stumped. Unlike with the Lost Symbol, where I predicted every twist and turn in the plot from almost the first page, I had no idea where this book had come from or was going to and this feeling persisted until the very end. There were twists and turns aplenty right through the book and distinguishing who was a friend and who was a foe was nigh on impossible as the plot sped away at a pace that would make Usain Bolt look slow.
Without giving too much away the basic premise is that a very rich and intellectual geneticist has enlisted the help of a covert organisation to conceal him as he creates a biological weapon to curtail the proliferation of the human race. The WHO has discovered this and enlisted the help of Professor Langdon to decode the clues he has left and find out where and when this weapon will be deployed and stop it before it's too late. Unfortunately Langdon has had an accident and is suffering from temporary amnesia and cannot remember what his mission is. All he knows is that he has within his possession an object which leads inexorably to an image of Dante's Inferno and this is where he heads, with the assistance of a pretty young doctor called Sienna, to whom he owes his life from almost the first page of the book.
So to answer some very pertinent questions:
1. Am I glad I read it? Yes
2. Would I read it again? Probably not
3. Marks out of 10? 7
4. Did it live up to my expectations? No. The ending was more of a fizzle than a bang and I was somewhat disappointed by it. I also found the book harder to engage with than the previous installments. However it would be worth it if you're after a good read with more thrills than frills and enjoy the adventure and intrigue of a classic Dan Brown.
Enjoy
Bookaholic
When I made the resolution I was busy reading Inferno, the fourth installment of Dan Brown's Robert Langdon action/ adventure series. While not an avid Dan Brown fan I have read the previous three Langdon books and thoroughly enjoyed them, albeit that I found they raised philosophical questions and concepts which I tend to avoid. This one started off a little differently from it predecessors. It literally began with all guns blazing and the pace never really tailed off from there. Despite this I found it quite a laborious read and made fairly slow progress over the first half of the book until the backstory started to unravel. In the latter stages I was utterly gripped. I would term it a page turner, except that unusually for me I was reading it on my kindle so it was more of a button presser.
I don't want to reveal too much about the plot, nor to spoil the ending, but I will say this for Brown : with this book he had me thoroughly stumped. Unlike with the Lost Symbol, where I predicted every twist and turn in the plot from almost the first page, I had no idea where this book had come from or was going to and this feeling persisted until the very end. There were twists and turns aplenty right through the book and distinguishing who was a friend and who was a foe was nigh on impossible as the plot sped away at a pace that would make Usain Bolt look slow.
Without giving too much away the basic premise is that a very rich and intellectual geneticist has enlisted the help of a covert organisation to conceal him as he creates a biological weapon to curtail the proliferation of the human race. The WHO has discovered this and enlisted the help of Professor Langdon to decode the clues he has left and find out where and when this weapon will be deployed and stop it before it's too late. Unfortunately Langdon has had an accident and is suffering from temporary amnesia and cannot remember what his mission is. All he knows is that he has within his possession an object which leads inexorably to an image of Dante's Inferno and this is where he heads, with the assistance of a pretty young doctor called Sienna, to whom he owes his life from almost the first page of the book.
So to answer some very pertinent questions:
1. Am I glad I read it? Yes
2. Would I read it again? Probably not
3. Marks out of 10? 7
4. Did it live up to my expectations? No. The ending was more of a fizzle than a bang and I was somewhat disappointed by it. I also found the book harder to engage with than the previous installments. However it would be worth it if you're after a good read with more thrills than frills and enjoy the adventure and intrigue of a classic Dan Brown.
Enjoy
Bookaholic
Saturday, 17 August 2013
The resolution
As a lifelong avid reader I will always have a book or two on the go. Sadly my appetite for literature does not always keep pace with the rate at which I acquire reading material. Of late I have devoured little else beyond chick-lit and as I was purchasing yet another of similar ilk from the local supermarket I suddenly realised that my literary horizons were fast diminishing and that something had to be done. And so I came up with the idea to kill two birds with one stone, a way to save money and to once again explore genres beyond the rom-com : to refrain from purchasing for the duration of a year from the 20th July when the idea cam to me any physical or e-book or downloading any for free.
Rules
1. I will not buy or actively procure any book for myself until 20th July 2014.
2. I will accept books as a gift but I will neither ask for them nor hint at any that I might want.
3. I will borrow books from friends and family if they are recommended.
4. There are some books (I have no idea how many or which they are) that I have pre-ordered from Amazon and I will not cancel these orders but I will not read them during the course of this year.
5. I will instead read some of the many books that already adorn almost all the walls of my house, as well as re-reading some old favourites.
6. The above does not extend to textbooks.
Any book I read during the course of the year I will review on this blog in the hope that I inspire others to embark on a similar literary adventure.
I am sure that I will spot many books over the course of the next 12 months that I would wish to purchase on the spot but I will instead keep a list and if I still want to read them come this time next year I will look into getting them at that point, but who knows if my tasted will have changed by then and I might want to sample something other than the latest best seller of chick lit. At present I am doing my best to avoid bookshops so as not to fall into the trap of being seduced.
My shelves are stacked with a multitude of untouched biographies, historical fiction, classics and drama as well as a very few as-yet-unread girly books, one of which I am reading at present. I am looking forward to delving into them and finding out what I've been missing out on for however many years they have languished unread in the living room/ bedroom.
So... here goes and happy reading!
Bookaholic
Rules
1. I will not buy or actively procure any book for myself until 20th July 2014.
2. I will accept books as a gift but I will neither ask for them nor hint at any that I might want.
3. I will borrow books from friends and family if they are recommended.
4. There are some books (I have no idea how many or which they are) that I have pre-ordered from Amazon and I will not cancel these orders but I will not read them during the course of this year.
5. I will instead read some of the many books that already adorn almost all the walls of my house, as well as re-reading some old favourites.
6. The above does not extend to textbooks.
Any book I read during the course of the year I will review on this blog in the hope that I inspire others to embark on a similar literary adventure.
I am sure that I will spot many books over the course of the next 12 months that I would wish to purchase on the spot but I will instead keep a list and if I still want to read them come this time next year I will look into getting them at that point, but who knows if my tasted will have changed by then and I might want to sample something other than the latest best seller of chick lit. At present I am doing my best to avoid bookshops so as not to fall into the trap of being seduced.
My shelves are stacked with a multitude of untouched biographies, historical fiction, classics and drama as well as a very few as-yet-unread girly books, one of which I am reading at present. I am looking forward to delving into them and finding out what I've been missing out on for however many years they have languished unread in the living room/ bedroom.
So... here goes and happy reading!
Bookaholic
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)