A book club - with a difference.

I always have several distinctly different books on the go, using BorrowBox an app with local library to access books, audio books and newspapers or magazines.  All for free.  Obviously popular books can have 12 to 18 month waiting lists, but often classics and books published a few years ago are freely available.

Quick read Val Mcdermid "Report for Murder" first in Lindsay Gordon series, a Scottish journalist who investigates a murder to help her best friend who stands accused.  

Factual All that remains by Dame Sue Black about her career in forensic anthropology and science.  Not what you might expect but as compelling as any crime novel.

Susie Dent "Death Writ Large  just released last week, lovely thick hardback, satisfying to hold and fall into it's imaginative embrace....second in series about dictionary compilers who solve complex puzzle led crimes.  Delicious introduction to old fashioned words and the life of words and the fashions which shape language. 

I have just read this line which I love:

'He was preparing himself to pretend to be a would-be writer'.

It's from 'Children of Wolves' by Lawrence Osborne. 

I love my Kindle. I do a lot of reading but haven’t done that much lately as I’ve been reading manga (One Piece). I think your idea is a brilliant idea and I would happily be involved. 

Just finished "It could of been her" by Lisa Jewell, ive read all of her books now expect for the marvel book she did "Breaking the dark" not sure my thoughts about reading that yet. "It could of been her" was ok but not her best, I think the main character trying to be a private detective was a bit silly in parts.

I just read 'The Mad Wife' by Meagan Church. It's about 1960s suburban life in America from the point of view of a housewife. It was interesting to learn about women's mental health was treated in those days when it was considered to be 'housewife syndrome' or hysteria. Also made me wonder about how much further we've got with the treatment of mental health.

One of my favourites. The contrast between his endless, banal lists and observations and the violence make it even more shocking. I like the film too, its one of the rare occasions where the film doesn't live up to the book, but is still great in its own right. Glamorama is also great book of his.

I just read All the Colours of the Dark by Chris Whittaker. I've not been this invested in a book for a long time. It is about 2 childhood friends who's lives a ripped apart when one of them goes missing.

Much of the story isn't very believable so I don't know whether this book would be for everybody but there was something about the way it was written and the individual characters which absolutely hooked me.

It is a book that really makes you question what makes a person good or bad and what justice actually is.

You can take a photo of whatever you want and get it printed on cloth. See below - I photographed my bookshelves and bought a printed cloth of it to cover my large TV screen, fixing it to the top of the screen with strong velcro.

Marianne72 said:

Love that bookcase and your display!

Thank you. 

It was part of a project to make my lounge Arts and Crafts ish.

The effect is ruined by a TV that I would rather were a window seat (in a bay window).

️  ️

Yes, I only go out for shopping so I live life in this room practically, also my garden.

Love that bookcase and your display!

The last book I read was American Psycho.

It's a chilling depiction of a psychopath, living in high society. The film adaptation, starring Christian Bale has nothing on the novel. The authour (Bret Easton Ellis) definitely needs his harddrive looked at. A shocking read o_0!

Cinnabar_wing said:

I'm glad you both and the furniture made it back unscathed! I hope the car was unharmed too!

Thank you. 

Yes it was.

What a story to go with it! It must have been quite frightening at the time, though I hope it's at least a tale to tell now. 

I'm glad you both and the furniture made it back unscathed! I hope the car was unharmed too!

Cinnabar_wing said:

That's a grand piece of furniture

I bought the bookcase on Ebay.

My husband drove us many miles to collect it, we got lost in a forest in torrential rain and we ended up driving through rivers of water.

That's a grand piece of furniture and some fine looking books!

Here is my contribution to 'show your bookcase'.

These books were mainly purchased for their attractive covers.

I have another bookcase but most of my books went to charity.

My library is now on my Kindle so I think that the books on it are non existent.

I'm trying to finish 'Love needs no words', an autobiography from a man about raising his two non-verbal autistic sons. Though I'm struggling to finish it, as I'm just tired all the time at the moment and I keep going to sleep instead of reading. I was averaging a book a month and the stack of want to read is just getting bigger!

What lovely bookshelves, they look very inviting to peruse their treasures.

As I get older I find I'm not keen on fiction, except historical fiction. With my garden suffering, I've bought 'Planting the Natural Garden' by Piet Oudolf and Henk Gerritsen. I'm enjoying reading this in bed and plannning changes for next year. A garden of perennials will also be easier to maintain, as I age. I really recommend this book, It is stuffed with colour images of individual plants and combinations, also planting plans. The narrative is amusing, too. Nice to riffle through before sleep.

Now, about my bookshelves. I've started borrowing from the library before buying new books, to gauge whether I'll read them again before investing. I gave ones I no longer read to charity shops, so the shelves no longer groan with the weight. I decorated them with nice book covers showing, false plants [real ones are not practical!] and a few bookends. I find them far more pleasing to look at now.