Not long to go now...

I've enjoyed this challenge but am quite glad that it is nearly over so I can get back to knitting, watching too much TV and basically doing my usual time-wasting activities.

I do intend to keep up the good work and carry on reading though, just not at the speed I have been doing so.

Here are the books I have read in the final few weeks:

Week 9:

I read the third book in the No 1 Ladies Detective Agency Series, Morality for Beautiful Girls.

I loved this series; great summer reads.

I also received a copy of Ten Big Ones by Janet Evanovich, which was part of an International Book Ray so I read it quite quickly and sent it onto the next person.


Week 10:

The Kalahari Typing School for Men by Alexander McCall Smith; I particulalry liked the comment about men not needing perfect typewriters as they are only men.

Eleven on Top - Janet Evanovich; a very enjoyable romp. Can't wait to read the new one Twelve Sharp!

I've devoured this series over the last few months; great fun.

Week 12:

I read The Full Cupboard of Love and then realised that I have read the Alexander McCall Smith ones in the wrong order - oh well.

I read the latest in the series Blue Shoes and Happiness in record time as I wanted to pass it onto my mum when I was visiting on the way to Lisbon on 17 August.

It was a bit slow to get going I thought but maybe I'm a bit jaded about this series, having read them all in quick succession.

I'm sure my mum will enjoy it though.

Sugar Rush by Julie Burchill was excellent; not sure I'd recommend it to a young teenager though.

All the way through the book I had a disconcerting vision of her hunched over her word processer like a fat old witch getting all worked up by the lasbian teenage antics she describes.

Good book all the same and I much prefer her to her ex husband, Tony Parsons.

Week 13:

As I was on holiday in beautiful Lisbon I cheated a bit this week:

I read the Lisbon Lonely Planet Guide; very useful indeed.

I especially enjoyed reading the maps; didn't stop me getting delightfully lost though.

I also read Giving Up The Ghost by Hilary Mantel as I am lending it to a work colleague soon.

I didn't like the book at all; I enjoyed the childhood memoir part but then instead of finding out more about her relationship with ghosts, how she writes or what she got up to in Africa, the book became a litany of her illnesses instead.

Poor thing, she has had a terrible time at the hands of doctors but I'm not sure I wanted to know all about it.

She had a big falling out with her mother and stepfather early on in her adult life but they were obviously getting on better later on; how did this family reunion happen? I was frustrated not to know and why hasn't she tracked down her real father?

Perhaps she plans to write about her family and her time in Botswana in another book; I hope so anyway.

Caravan fun...

I was invited to my friends' caravan last week so spent a few days either basking in the sun or sheltering from the rain. Lancastrian weather is so changeable!

While getting sunburnt on Morecambe beach I finished Playing the Moldovans at Tennis. I found this book slow to get going but I enjoyed it much more once Tony Hawks actually started playing the footballers at tennis.

I was pleased that it was actually much better than I thought it would be. I have now passed it onto my friend Kathy as she has heard good things about his other Magnus Opus, Round Ireland with a Fridge. If these funny men like Hawks and Dave Gorman didn't have silly mates to set them drunken bets we'd all have a lot less books to read...

On Saturday I started The Kalahari Typing School for Men by Alexander McCall Smith; which I greatly enjoyed, particularly all the gentle digs at men.

I am trying to finish this series as I am visiting my parents on 17 August and wish to pass the new book Blue Shoes and Happiness onto my mum.

Blimey! Ahead of myself...

As I thought, I managed to race through Ten Big Ones in a day so I am now in the very strange position of being ahead of myself.

I have therefore decided to read "Playing the Moldovans at Tennis" by Tony Hawks, famous bug eyed comedian who went round Ireland with a fridge.

My friend Kathy would like to read this after me so I will crack on with it.

Week 9 Books

I plan to read the third book in the No 1 Ladies Detective Agency Series, Morality for Beautiful Girls.

I love this series and am cracking through them; great summer reads.

I also received a copy of Ten Big Ones by Janet Evanovich in the post yesterday.

I am taking part in an International Book Ray so need to read it quite quickly and send it onto the next person.

So that is my second book for Week 9. I love Stephanie Plum so it shouldn't take me too long to read.

Week 8 books

I loved the No 1 Ladies Detective Agency so much that I read the second in the series, The Tears of the Giraffe over the weekend.

I am also reading Cider with Roadies by Stuart Maconie, which is his musical memoir.

Very funny it is too.

He is a year older than me and grew up in Wigan - his opinions on glam rock are spot on. I also love the chapter on Northern Soul (which I am just discovering now, being a Southern Jessie dwelling in Bolton).

Week 7 books

I decided to read How I Live Now by Meg Rosoff as my first book this week.

It took me a day which would be impressive but it's a book for teenagers. That said, I loved it and think I would have loved it as a teen too.

It was like The Time Traveller's Wife for younger readers; it had the same dreamy and romantic air to it.

I've just started the No 1 Ladies Detective Agency by Alexander McCall Smith; which is of course the first in his African Lady Detective Agency books.

They have come highly recommended by nearly everyone I know (including my mum) so I'm hopeful that I'll enjoy them.

I also thought they would be a good contrast to the Scottish books he's written, which I hope to work my way through this summer too.

Loved The Painter!

I finished The Painter on Friday night (actually Saturday morning as I was out until 1am). I couldn't put it down and found it very compelling and sexy, much preferring the modern story to the seventeenth century tale (I seem to differ from others in this). I then read the final chapters again as I thought I'd rushed it too much.

Great book, think I might have to keep it and have another read sometime.

Week Six books

Having been to the Bookcrossing Unconvention at the weekend (and doing no reading!) and having read The Beautiful Game I've got a bit behind but luckily I Was Amelia Earhart only took me a day to read.

This week, I have read 44 Scotland Street by Alexander McCall Smith which was enjoyable but a bit silly, and strangely old fashioned.

I have just started The Painter by Will Davenport which is an interesting tale of Rembrandt painting a picture of a captain's wife and then one of her descendants discovering the journal detailling their affair.

I'm enjoying it so far.