Monday Memes

It’s Monday, What are you reading?

Hosted by Sheila at One Person’s Journey through a World of Books.

KEY:
E– E-book Challenge
G – 2012 Genre Challenge
BFF – Bookie Friends’ Favourites Challenge
BL – Bucket List Challenge
S – Off The Shelf Challenge
AZ – A-Z Challenge
C – Classics Challenge
R – Review for author or publisher
K – Reading for Kindle Klub Book Group

Charles Dickens – Great Expectations (E/BL/C)
Till now, I’ve only ever read A Christmas Carol, as I confess I was a little afraid of reading Dickens. However, I am finding this a surprisingly humourous read and am enjoying it a lot more than I thought I would. Let’s just say I now have great expectations of this novel. I’m sorry, I just couldn’t resist the pun! *shame* I’ll be reading this for quite some time as it’s a long one…

Terry Pratchett – Snuff (Discworld 39) (S)
I’ve been a massive fan of the Discworld novels since the early 90s when I discovered them whilst on holiday in the Lake District. I’m only a short way into this latest book, but I already love it. For a start, it’s a Vimes novel, so you just know it’s going to be good; and he’s out of his comfort zone, so you know it’s going to be pretty great actually!

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Cover Crazy

Hosted by The Book Worms

What I love:
The usual suspects: Black, white, red, silhouettes. These things always grab my attention, but I also love how the branches of the tree reach out and show branches of the story. It’s very clever in the placement of the title and author’s name too – one of the uppermost branches where they are unobtrusive, but set without the encircling branch, so it’s crystal clear.

Synopsis:

On the very morning Willie Upton slinks home to Templeton, New York (after a calamitous affair with her archeology professor), the 50-foot-long body of a monster floats from the depths of the town’s lake. This unsettling coincidence sets the stage for one of the most original debut novels since The Time Traveler’s Wife. With a clue to the mysterious identity of her father in hand, Willie turns her research skills to unearthing the secrets of the town in letters and pictures (which, “reproduced” in the book along with increasingly complete family trees, lend an air of historical authenticity). Lauren Groff’s endearingly feisty characters imbue the story with enough intrigue to keep readers up long past bedtime, and reading groups will find much to discuss in its themes of “monsters,” both in our towns and our families.

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Musing Mondays

Hosted by S hould Be Reading

What is the last book that you learned something from? What book was it, and what did it teach you?

Goodness! I don’t usually think of books in terms of what they can teach me. I’m a pleasure reader, so I read whatever I think will entertain me in some way, wether it’s by being pure escapism or making me think, but I never really choose books on a basis of what they might teach me. So ,other than text books while at school or college, I can’t think of a single book that jumps out at me.

No, that’s not strictly true. There is one book that I always say I’d want with me if I were stranded on an island somewhere, as it is not only a cracking read (and quite a good length too, so it would keep me going for a while) but is also packed with surprising survival tips. That book is Savages by Shirley Conran. I guess it has taught me all kinds of little things like digging a drainage ditch around your camp that runs downhill, so that your shelter won’t be washed away, and capturing a rat to test out any foodstuffs before you eat them yourself. So, I guess I’ll give that one an honourable mention.