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Musing Mondays – Sticking With It

Published on June 1, 2009 by Margaret7 Comments

How much time (or how many pages) do you give a book that you aren’t really enjoying before you’ll set it aside? If you’re reading it for a book group discussion, or for review, will you give it more of a chance then, say, a book you’re reading for your own interest? Why, or why not?

I don’t have a set rule about how many pages I read before giving up on a book. It all depends on the book. If it’s awful I may give up after a few pages, but if it’s so-so I’ll carry on reading for say 50 -100 pages before stopping. There aren’t many books I don’t finish and even if I’m not keen on I’ll skim through it to see if it gets any better. Sometimes my frame of mind and the book don’t meet and if I leave a book for a while then pick it up again I’ll get on better with it. The rest of the book may be much better than the beginning. On the other hand it’s disappointing when the first part of a book is really good and the rest isn’t.

If I’m reading a book that has been sent to me to review then I do finish it, because I don’t think it’s fair to write about a book when I haven’t read all of it. For a book group discussion I may persevere a bit longer than usual, but I wouldn’t feel bad about abandoning the book if I really didn’t like it.

Sunday Salon – Review Books

Published on May 31, 2009 by Margaret1 Comment

I have had a number of books now from LibraryThing’s Early Reviewers Programme, including The Spare Room, which I wrote about recently, so I wasn’t expecting to get any more for a while. But yesterday I received an uncorrected proof copy of Turbulence: a Novel of the Atmosphere by Giles Foden. Almost unbelievably, I received this only two days after receiving an email from LibraryThing that it was on its way!

Earlier in the week Maggie Dana asked if I would like a copy of her new book Beachcombing and that came one day last week as well. I have finished reading Beachcombing – more about that soon. I like getting review books, but I wish I could space them out at longer intervals – at the moment they’ve been like buses – none for ages and then several turn up at once.

I’m still reading another review book – When the Lights Went Out (see the sidebar) and I also have a few books I received months ago that I haven’t read yet. I did start them when they arrived but either because I was in the middle of other books, or because they didn’t match my expectations from their descriptions, I haven’t finished them. Or it could just have been that I wasn’t in the right frame of mind at the time to appreciate them.

Turbulence, on first glance, looks as though it’s one I’m going to enjoy, even though it’s a little different from the books I usually read. I requested it based on the description on LibraryThing, because I thought it looked interesting – about D-day and predicting the weather:

The D-day landings: the fate of 2.5 million men, 3000 landing craft and the entire future of Europe depends on the right weather conditions on the English Channel on a single day. A team of Allied scientists is charged with agreeing on an accurate forecast five days in advance. But is it even possible to predict the weather so far ahead? And what is the relationship between predictability and turbulence, one of the last great mysteries of modern physics? Wallace Ryman has devised a system that comprehends all of this — but he is a reclusive pacifist who stubbornly refuses to divulge his secrets. Mark Latchford, a young maths prodigy from the Met Office, is sent to Scotland to discover Ryman’s system and apply it to the Normandy landings. But turbulence proves more elusive than anyone could have imagined and events, like the weather, begin to spiral out of control.

I just hope it won’t be too technical; I’ve already read a few words I’ve never come across before – “nacelle”: a cover for an engine and “katabatic” defined in the book as a “gravity-fed wind”. But the language is also poetic and reflective, so I have great hopes for this book.

Friday Finds – Countryside Books

Published on May 29, 2009 by Margaret10 Comments

I’m a map addict, so I like the look of Mike Parker’s book Map Addict: a Tale of Obsession, Fudge and the Ordnance Survey. According to the product description this combines history, travel, politics, memoir and oblique observation in a highly readable, and often very funny, style.

Then there is The Book of Weeds by Ken Thompson. I really need help getting rid of the ground elder that’s threatening to take over our garden. Maybe this will help.

And finally, Hatfield’s Herbal: the Curious Stories of Britain’s Wild Plants, which “describes the properties of over 150 native plants, and the customs that surround them: from predicting the weather with seaweed to using deadly nightshade to make ladies’ pupils dilate appealingly, and from ensuring a husband’s faithfulness with butterbur to warding off witches by planting a rowan tree. Filled with stories, folklore and remedies both strange and practical, this is a memorable and eye-opening guide to the richness of Britain’s heritage.”

I’m not too sure about even picking deadly nightshade let alone using it on my eyes!

Where Are You? and Teaser Tuesdays – Doctored Evidence by Donna Leon

Published on May 26, 2009 by Margaret17 Comments

I’m in Venice where an old woman has been found brutally murdered in her flat. The prime suspect is her Romanian maid, who has fled the scene. Commissario Brunetti decides unofficially to take on the case himself.

For more Where Are You? answers, visit Raidergirl3 at An Adventure in Reading.

For Teaser Tuesday quote two or three sentences from the book you’re currently reading – without giving away any spoilers. This weekly event is hosted by Mizb.

I’ve just begun reading Doctored Evidence by Donna Leon. This quote is from the opening paragraph on page 1:

She was an old cow and he hated her. Because he was a doctor and she his patient, he felt guilty about hating her, but not so guilty as to make him hate her any the less. Nasty, greedy, ill-tempered, forever complaining about her health and the few people who still had the stomach for her company, Maria Grazia Battestini was a woman about whom nothing good could be said, not even by the most generous of souls.

Sunday Salon

Published on May 24, 2009 by Margaret5 Comments

It’s the May Bank Holiday weekend and for once the sun is shining, but rain is forecast for tomorrow, so it’s not really a day for spending much time reading – the garden is calling. But I’m currently well into Ian Rankin’s first Rebus book – Knots and Crosses – and I would love to finish it today. I think I know who the murderer is.

I’m reading it in the omnibus edition which contains the first three Rebus books so I’ve got Hide and Seek and Tooth and Nail to read after Knots and Crosses.

In Knots and Crosses one we learn about Rebus’s life before the police force when he was in the army, about his brother, Michael and about his ex-wife Rhona and his daughter Samantha. Rebus receives cryptic anonymous letters containing pieces of string tied in a knot and matchstick crosses. It’s all a play on words – knots/noughts and crosses and acrostic puzzles added in too.

So far I think I’ve worked it out, now I’m off to see if I’m right.

Friday Finds – on Saturday

Published on May 23, 2009 by Margaret3 Comments

Yesterday The BookPeople catalogue came, with some good offers. If I didn’t already have Anita Shreve’s books I’d have to buy this set – 10 books for £9.99. You’ll get:

The Weight of Water

All He Ever Wanted

The Pilot’s Wife

Eden Close

Strange Fits of Passion

Resistance

Sea Glass

Light on Show

Where or When

A Wedding in December

This doesn’t include the first one of hers I read which is Fortune’s Rocks, the first one in the series of books set in a large beach house (that used to be a convent) on the New Hampshire coast. The other books in the series are The Pilot’s Wife and Body Surfing. I think Fortune’s Rocks is the best one of these three.

Nor does it include The Last Time They Met which I loved. I was completely surprised by the ending – I just hadn’t seen it coming. I’ve since read reviews where people say it’s predictable, but to me it was totally unexpected. If you look at the end of a book before you’ve finished it – don’t with this book! I’m glad I didn’t. This is one I definitely want to re-read because I want to know how I read it knowing the ending.

On Thursday I received Beachcombing by Maggie Dana. Maggie had emailed me about her new book and a copy was with me almost immediately. I like the cover picture – it looks so summery. It’s her first novel and is described on the back cover as

Funny, sophisticated and wise, Beachcombing is a coming-of-age-middle-age story about girlfriends when you’re no longer a girl, about growing up when you’re alread grown up, and the price you’re willing to pay for the love of your life.

Earlier in the week I was chatting to our librarian and she mentioned The Clatter of Forks and Spoons by Richard Corrigan, which I must borrow from the library. I think I have too many cookery books already but I do like to browse new ones and I may even be tempted to buy this one!

I always like watching Great British Menu and Richard Corrigan has previously won three of the competitions – one to cook for the Queen on her 80th birthday when he cooked the starter – smoked salmon with Irish soda bread, woodland sorrel and cress – one to cook for the Ambassadors at the British Embassy in Paris – the fish course €“ whole poached wild salmon and duck egg dressing with wheaten bread and country butter. He was also the winner of the Great British Dinner Christmas Menu in 2006.

The current series of The Great British Menu (click on this link gets you to the recipes) is on BBC2 – cooking for the British Forces returning from the war in Afghanistan. It’s the final next week and we, the public, can vote for each course. I have my favourites and maybe I’ll even pick up the phone to cast my vote.