#28 - #32 (My summer reading)
#28 - Harry Potter 7. What more to say that has not been said? Well done, Ms. Rowlings.
Also two rereads, rereads #1 and #2 - Harry Potter 6 and Emma by Jane Austen. I'm only counting rereads at the end of the year if I run short.
#29 - Highly excellent and worth a read is "A Much Married Man" by Nicholas Coleridge. Great characters, well-told story. Two very enthusiastic thumbs up.
#30 - David McCullough's "John Adams" took me weeks, and I usually read quickly. I love when non-fiction surpasses fiction in its intensity and excitement. I liked reading about Adams' relationship with Thomas Jefferson and I especially liked how much time McCullough devoted to Abigail Adams' experience. I really found myself liking the former president. I also find it really interesting that of three sons, one ended up president and two ended up drunk good-for-nothings. It is quite worth the read - always interesting.
#31 - "On Chesil Beach" by Ian McEwan was a pleasant read. I really liked how he built sympathy for the two protagonists - you were rooting for both even when they were opposing each other. Sort of shortish - I was wishing for more at the end.
#32 - Joan Aiken's "Lady Catherine's necklace" was an enjoyable read. It's a sequel to "Pride and Prejudice", and Jane Austen fan fiction is a tough thing to do, as she was a tough act to follow. It is hard to be creative with those universes in a way that feels true to the books. The minor characters of Lady Catherine De Boergh, Anne De Boergh, Maria Lucas, Colonel Fitzwilliam and Charlotte Lucas (Mrs. Collins) are all given major roles in the book. I am very happy with how Anne and Maria, the two parallel heroines, are treated. I suppose that is appropriate given that Austen was about the female characters. I don't know if I feel comfortable with what she did with the Colonel Fitzwilliam character. But I loved how she even brought in a few characters from "Sense and Sensibility" to the story. I'd read more of her stuff, though I wouldn't read this one again.
On deck is a thriller by Kate Atkinson called "One Good Turn".
Cross-posted to
50bookchallenge.
Also two rereads, rereads #1 and #2 - Harry Potter 6 and Emma by Jane Austen. I'm only counting rereads at the end of the year if I run short.
#29 - Highly excellent and worth a read is "A Much Married Man" by Nicholas Coleridge. Great characters, well-told story. Two very enthusiastic thumbs up.
#30 - David McCullough's "John Adams" took me weeks, and I usually read quickly. I love when non-fiction surpasses fiction in its intensity and excitement. I liked reading about Adams' relationship with Thomas Jefferson and I especially liked how much time McCullough devoted to Abigail Adams' experience. I really found myself liking the former president. I also find it really interesting that of three sons, one ended up president and two ended up drunk good-for-nothings. It is quite worth the read - always interesting.
#31 - "On Chesil Beach" by Ian McEwan was a pleasant read. I really liked how he built sympathy for the two protagonists - you were rooting for both even when they were opposing each other. Sort of shortish - I was wishing for more at the end.
#32 - Joan Aiken's "Lady Catherine's necklace" was an enjoyable read. It's a sequel to "Pride and Prejudice", and Jane Austen fan fiction is a tough thing to do, as she was a tough act to follow. It is hard to be creative with those universes in a way that feels true to the books. The minor characters of Lady Catherine De Boergh, Anne De Boergh, Maria Lucas, Colonel Fitzwilliam and Charlotte Lucas (Mrs. Collins) are all given major roles in the book. I am very happy with how Anne and Maria, the two parallel heroines, are treated. I suppose that is appropriate given that Austen was about the female characters. I don't know if I feel comfortable with what she did with the Colonel Fitzwilliam character. But I loved how she even brought in a few characters from "Sense and Sensibility" to the story. I'd read more of her stuff, though I wouldn't read this one again.
On deck is a thriller by Kate Atkinson called "One Good Turn".
Cross-posted to
50bookchallenge.