Monday 9 January 2012

It's Monday! What Are You Reading?


A fun book meme by Sheila of Book Journey. A fun way for book bloggers to share their reading week.

I have been off Uni the last two weeks and have another week before I go back. As a result I have made up for the lack of time spent reading running up to Christmas. Basically I have done very little else. So it's been a good week and a good start to the New Year. I also had a book clear out and made up for it by buying 13 books (I needed them - honest). And I signed up for yet one more challenge but it links in to my personal challenge so I am confident I won't fail it.

Last Week I Read (I have linked them up to my reviews);

 Discovery of Witches by Deborak Harkness. This is the first part of a series. I enjoyed it but it wasn't quite as good as I was expecting it to be. Good enough though that I want to read the next one when it comes out.

 Antony and Cleopatra by William Shakespeare. The first play I read for Shakespeare month. Also the first I have read since school. Very much enjoyed it and a good start I think.

 Zoo City by Lauren Beukes. This was for the sci fi a month challenge. Another great start. I very much enjoyed this book and I'm glad I read it. Highly recommend it too.

 Macbeth by William Shakespeare. Again for Shakespeare month. I LOVED this one. I can't rave about it enough. Wonder how the others will live up to this.

 Waking the Witch by Kelley Armstrong. The 11th book in the Women of the Otherworld series. This time narrated by Savannah. I enjoyed it but nowhere near as good as the early books. Read more like a YA.


Just now I am reading;
 Cranford by Elizabeth Gaskell. I am reading this for Mixing it Up 2012 challenge and for my own personal classic a month challenge. I am loving this book. I have almost finished it and I'm quite sad about that.

Next I plan to read;
 King Solomon's Mines by H. Rider Haggard. This is for the League of Extraordinary Gentlemen challenge. I'm looking forward to this. Curious as to what it will be like

The Acts of King Arthur and His Noble Knights by John Steinbeck. This is for the classics challenge I just signed up for. I could have just used Cranford but I am very much looking forward to this so picked it instead. I love Steinbeck and when I discovered last year that he had written a book about King Arthur it went straight onto my TR list.

How was your reading week? Hope you have enjoyed it as much as I have.

12 comments:

  1. I love Steinbeck but I don't think I've heard of this book. Hope you'll enjoy it. And I've never read anything by Shakespeare. Isn't that bad?

    Happy reading this week!

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  2. Very Interesting Choices. I hated reading Shakespeare in school. I wonder if I would like him better now.

    Have a great week!! Thanks for stopping by my blog.

    Lori/Dollycas

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  3. Leeswammes I had never heard of this one either until last year. A friend of mine is classics obsessed and I am always astounded by how much knowledge she has (even though I should know better by now). She told me about this one when she heard how much I loved East of Eden. I am so excited about it. I am sure there are loads of people who haven't read Shakespeare. This is the first I have read since I had to for school. I don't think he's a must read for everyone. It all depends on what you like (my humble opinion anyway).

    Lori, I had mixed views on Shakespeare at school. I think it comes down to what you read and your teacher. My first experience wasn't a good one. My teacher wasn't exactly interested as it clearly wasn't to her taste (she was a sci fi fan which was usually what she pushed on us, no that I minded since I like sci fi). We had to read The Merchant of Venice. For a start I didn't particularly like it and for another the lack of enthusiasm from my teacher was obvious. The second was Romeo and Juliet. A different teacher who clearly loved Shakespeare and I loved the story too.

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  4. Hi: So excited that you are enjoying the Shakespeare - that looked like an excellent challenge, but I'm doing the Dickens challenge and trying to move on to Middlemarch (among other things I'm reading :-) ). Happy reading, Ruby!

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  5. I had no idea Steinbeck did a book on Arthur. I'll be looking forward to your thoughts on it.

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  6. That's quite the eclectic list! Shakespeare and Harkness in one week? Very impressive!

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  7. An eclectic mix of books. I love Kelley Armstrong's writing but I think I'm only up to book 5 in the Women of the Otherworld series :)
    Have a great week & happy reading!!

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  8. Great list. As I scrolled down I kept thinking - wow, great cover!! Thanks for visiting my blog.

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  9. Thanks everyone. It's always good to mix it up a bit. Iearned the hard way that sticking to the same thing all the time can mean you get very bored of a genre and it's then hard to go back to it.

    Teddyree, I am a wee bit jealous that you still have so many good books to read. Whilst the later books aren't as good they are still enjoyable reads.

    Kylie, I am a sucker for book covers.

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  10. Sounds like you've got a great week lined up, I love it when I have a chance to catch up on my reading :)

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  11. Me too. Makes up for all those weeks of being too tired to pick one up.

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  12. I really need to read more classics. I did read north and south by Gaskell and loved it

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