Replies

Helen50, 7 months ago to bookstodon

when do you abandon a book?
I'm not very good at it, but I might be about to do it again.
#books @bookstodon

Helen50, 7 months ago

@adamvolle @arensb @bookstodon
I get the concept that a book can be good while not necessarily positively enjoyable. My current read was just neither. It wasn't high art, it wasn't a valuable topic, it was just meh.
BTW - I have abandoned it. Picked up something else instead. 🙂

Helen50, 7 months ago

@Rhube @bookstodon
I read that as a teenager, but I seem to have fonder memories of it than you. I still have it on my shelves. Occasionally tempted to re-read but haven't so far.

Helen50, 7 months ago

@ericsfraga @Rhube @bookstodon
mm. I have actually abandoned 3 this year (out of approaching 90 read), which is a huuuuge number for me.
more than 1%, less than 10% seems a good ratio. Might see if I can get the complete finisher in me to shut up a little bit more!

Helen50, 7 months ago

@peachfront @bookstodon
mmm. My experience with Dickens leads me to doubt that approach. May a time I've been somewhat bored until ~ 2/3rds of the way through, when the thing takes flight. Sometimes it is worth wading through for the gem it turns into. But not always, I grant you!

Helen50, 7 months ago

@sylwylvia @bookstodon That I can understand, the narrator makes such a big difference. I've certainly abandoned a few because the voice grates on my ear.
funnily enough, I don't have the same qualms about stopping an audio book as I would a paper book.

Helen50, 7 months ago to bookstodon

88 Fortunately the Milk, Neil Gaiman
After a long day I needed something light and this was perfect. Mum is away and in her instructions is don't for get to buy milk. Dad does forget, so goes out in the morning to buy milk for breakfast. And this is what happens to him. Just great, fun, but not at all lax, the plotting is tight and convincing throughout. Excellent and just right hit the spot. Read by Neil himself, who I would listen read the phone book, so this was a delight. #books @bookstodon

Helen50, 7 months ago

@Cheery @bookstodon
I hope you enjoy, it right hit the spot. He has a fabulous reading voice.

Helen50, 11 months ago

@bookstodon
With the Kinsellas, she is clothed, cared for, cherished even, despite not having met them since she was a baby.
In this idyll there comes a sting, we know that, at some point, she will have to go home. And so there comes a one-two punch to the gut in that we learn of the Kinsella's past and they lose this girl back to her family.
#books

Helen50, 11 months ago

@bookstodon
Would she be better off with the Kinsellas? yes, would they be better off with her there, to lighten the load and give them a future that, it feels, they don't believe they deserve? Yes. Is that going to happen? Probably not.
This is just so beautifully done, the enveloping, then the gut punches one after the other. I think this is Keegan's skill, making heroes of the everyday. Sometimes remaining human is the biggest feat of all.
#books

Helen50, 11 months ago

@bookstodon
I love it, in case that wasn't entirely clear!
⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐

Helen50, 11 months ago

@Kainoscope_ @bookstodon
No, I'm old school. 🙂
Once was on a plane that pulled away from the stand, so devices had to be put away. We then sat there for 2 hours. I finished one book and started the next. smug face

Helen50, 11 months ago

@Flyspeck @bookstodon
Plane (75 min flights, plus how ever many hours once through security) & train ( 2 hrs each way), plus lone night in hotel.
Paper books, I don;t "do" Kindle.
I'm thinking at least 2 plus the one I'm currently ~ 25% of the way through.

Helen50, 11 months ago

@bookstodon |
With 2 delayed flights and one train that took longer than exoected, due to overrunning engineering works, I managed to finish this lot (In order of enjoyment)
Helgoland, Caleb's Crossing, The Victorian Chaise Longue & Foster (which I will rave about for some time to come - 6 stars out of 5).
Also started the second volume of The Decameron. 🙂

Helen50, 11 months ago

@paulasimoes @bookstodon
I think I've only read him in short story collections.
I do enjoy his view of the world.

Helen50, 11 months ago

@seanbala @bookstodon
I'm guessing The Midnight Library by Matt Haig.