Reading Adventures Part 2

It's halfway through the year and how am I going with my reading challenge?

I speak of the popsugar reading challenge 2018!

I seem to have read 30 books, most of them fit a prompt from the reading list.

They are a mix of books I already had, books that caught my eye at the library and books that I have bought for Kindle.

Some prompts are and will be a struggle as they are outside my genre comfort zone.
But that is one of the advantages of a challenge, or a book club to get you reading things you wouldn't normally read.

Of the books I have read so far this year these are the ones that I have enjoyed the most or that have made an impression of some sort.

-The Spare Room by Helen Garner.
  I have only recently discovered Helen Garner and wow! I just love her writing. Seems so effortless, but draws you in.

- The Eye of the Sheep by Sophie Laguna.
   Another female aussie writer - is there a pattern here?
   She has the great knack of finding the characters voices and they are convincing. The subjects aren't always easy but they get to you!

- Walking on Glass by Ian Banks.
   The reviews of this book were mixed but on the poor side! But I found another author I'd like to   read more of.

 - The Shepherds Hut by Tim Winton.
    It's Tim Winton.

- Lincoln in the Bardo by George Saunders.
  What a weird, wonderful ride. Won the Man Booker prize but that often means I have a different     opinion!
 
I really don't know why I read The Woman in Cabin 10 by Ruth Ware after reading The Woman in the Window by A J Finn as they are obviously tarred with the same brush. My excuse is that it fitted on of the prompts.
It also reinforced my notion that I don't much enjoy pop fiction.

I hated Her Fearful Symmetry by Audrey Niffenegger. (A book with characters who are twins).
Just cod awful!

Struggled through The Story of a New Name by Elena Ferrante.
Couldn't finish Monsoon by Di Morrisey (A book by a local author). Terrible.

More good reads -
A long Way Home by Saroo Brierley.
The Dressmaker by Rosalie Hamm.
Everything I never Told You by Celeste Ng.
Montebello by Robert Drewe.

What have you been reading?
Do you share any of my reads?
Thoughts?

Reading adventures

I do love reading but seem to have fallen into a bit of a slump last year.
I think I was missing my book group in the Blue Mountains and although I keep in touch with them, I haven't beenable to keep up with their book choices.

I needed a new challenge!
So when I saw an on-line friend refer to the popsugar reading challenge, I was defo interested.
The list of reading prompts is certainly stretching me and revitalising my kindle and library card!

I have also picked some books off the library shelves that have been tempting me as I sit in there and use the free wifi.

Here are some things I have read lately that I have enjoyed.

The Natural Way of Things by Charlotte Wood. I can't tell you how much I loved this book.

I'm a fan of Donna Tartt - The Goldfinch and The Secret History.

I have newly discovered Helen Garner and am keen to devour more of her beautiful writing.

Elizabeth Stout is the flavour of the moment and I muchly enjoyed Olive Kitteridge and My Name is Lucy Barton.

I have also only recently read Georgia Blain - Between a Wolf and a Dog. It's so sad that she died of brain cancer 2 years ago. Such a loss.

Their Brilliant Careers by Ryan O'Neill, a spoof on Australian writers as you may be able to tell from the title.

Before the Fall by Noah Hawley. He's the guy who wrote the tv versions of Fargo. But the book is nothing like that.
But still a good read.

The Last Painting of Sara de Vos by Dominic Smith. Another Australian author although the subject is not Australian.

I'm a big David Mitchell fan. I know he may be an acquired taste, and I love all his books apart from number9dream and am not too fussed on The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet although it has got one of the most spectacular sentences ever written, IMHO.


Hopefully this reading challenge will throw up some more favorites.



What have you read lately?