Book Lair discussion

Once again, I am taking advantage of my earlier time zone to open this thread. So, what are your plans for this month? What books are you going to take with you if you are lucky enough to have holidays? Any reading outside in the park, beach, etc?

Unfortunately for me, I'm going to have a very busy month of July, no holidays, and probably also a horrible weather (warm, stuffy, rainy, and maybe even typhoons - that's summer in Shanghai!)

But I hope I'll still be able to read a little (not quite sure seeing my rhytm right now). Anyways, here's the plan:


I'll probably not be able to read all of those, but I'd love to read as much as possible of these!

How about you? I think some buddy reads are in the air...

I always took holidays in July but in this job I can't.

However I do plan to get as much reading done as possible, starting with a buddy read of .

I have been into paperbacks for the last while so not sure what will follow as I always try to squeeze in Netgalley books.

Speaking of which Melas, we had planned on doing a buddy read of one of those, let me know if you are available this month :)

Oh and I can't wait to hear what you have to say of Room, I loved that one.

I'm planning to read:
The Ultimate Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy
Cabal
Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?
I Am Legend
Anne of Ingleside
Spice and Wolf, Vol. 15: The Coin of the Sun I

@Ana: yes, I know, I promised a buddy read, but I'm just having less and less time for reading lately, and I need to finish at least the first 3 books above first before I can consider anything else.
And yes, I saw there was an active topic on Room in this group, I will without doubt post my thoughts there once I'm done!

@Gavin: I loved The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy and Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?. The first one is really fun and delirious and the second one asks really interesting questions (especially if the singularity is really as close as they say...).

Awesome, looking forward to reading your thoughts :)

Nice choices there, Gavin. I have been wanting to read Do Androids dream of electric Sheep, I hear it is a classic.

Ana wrote: "Awesome, looking forward to reading your thoughts :)

Nice choices there, Gavin. I have been wanting to read Do Androids dream of electric Sheep, I hear it is a classic."

This has always been one of my favorites.

I also love Hitchhiker's Guide, Room and anything by Kazuo Ishiguro. Great choices guys.

I can't wait for Cujo, Ana!

Oh! I was with this Hitchhiker's Guide in my hand yesterday at the library, I choced to buy a portuguese author I was looking forward instead! Is it that good!? I need to go back there to retrive it.

Sorobai wrote: "Oh! I was with this Hitchhiker's Guide in my hand yesterday at the library, I choced to buy a portuguese author I was looking forward instead! Is it that good!? I need to go back there to retrive it."

I love it, but it might not be to everyone's taste. It's a very british and kind of absurd sense of humour. You have to like that (I absolutely love it).

Thanks for your comment Melas. You mean like british humor!? Black humor!?

Sorobai wrote: "Thanks for your comment Melas. You mean like british humor!? Black humor!?"

Yes! I know you asked Melas, but I am a huge Douglas Adams fan and feel confident in answering.

Kandice wrote: "Sorobai wrote: "Thanks for your comment Melas. You mean like british humor!? Black humor!?"

Yes! I know you asked Melas, but I am a huge Douglas Adams fan and feel confident in answering."

As Kandice says. Yes, it's often dark, but not only. There's also irony, sarcasm, absurd, etc.

Time to sum up!

July was a slow month reading wise, especially since I needed time to digest what I had read in Quand les lumières s'éteignent. It was a really thought-provoking book.

So I didn't manage all the books I hoped to read (which is not really surprising seeing the high goal I fixed), but I still managed to read quite a few. Here they are:

Melaslithos wrote: "Time to sum up!

July was a slow month reading wise, especially since I needed time to digest what I had read in Quand les lumières s'éteignent. It was a really thought-provoking bo..."

I love Dahl, but have never heard of Someone Like You. Was it good?

I really want to read The Buried Giant too. I love his style even when I don't love the story.

I read Cookie Jar, Cujo, The Secret Adversary, The Storied Life of A.J. Fikry, In the Unlikely Event, The BFG, Alive and InterWorld. None of which were intellectual, but almost all were enjoyable.

Kandice wrote: "I love Dahl, but have never heard of Someone Like You. Was it good?"

It's a short stories collection. Some were great, some less. But I found them always surprising at the least. And very Dahl-style.

Kandice wrote: "I really want to read The Buried Giant too. I love his style even when I don't love the story."

It was my first encouter with Kazuo Ishiguro and I have to say that I loved his style too. It was just beautiful. The book is also an interesting stories, about memory and forgetfulness.

Melaslithos wrote: "It's a short stories collection. Some were great, some less. But I found them always surprising at the least. A..."

First, I never recognize you with the bun and red flower gone! Was the story "Royal Jelly" included? I have a couple of his short collections and that's one of my favorites. That and the one about the woman murdering her husband and then cooking him while the police are in her house questioning.

Kandice wrote: "Melaslithos wrote: "It's a short stories collection. Some were great, some less. But I found them always surprising at the least. A..."

First, I never recognize you with the bun and red flower gon..."

Yes, funny how we identify people with their profile picture and get disturbed when they change it. I sometime don't recognize myself either ^^

There's one story called "Lamb to the Slaughter" where the woman cooks the weapon she used to murder her husband, not her husband. Don't know if it's the same?

I no, I don't remember there being a short story called "Royal Jelly".

Yes, Lamb to the Slaughter is the right one! I thought she was roasting HIM, but she was actually roasting the weapon. It's been years.

If you ever stumble across Royal Jelly...it's so, so disturbing in a calm way. I get shivers thinking about it.

I am ashamed to say I only finished 2 books. :(

Ana wrote: "I am ashamed to say I only finished 2 books. :("

Don't be, it's not a competition. And you still have been reading, that's the most important! I've had months with 0 books...

And if you enjoyed those two books, even better!

The thing is I miss enjoying reading. It used to be my favourite thing to do. Now I can't focus enough and at times it feels like a chore. The last book I started in July, and which I am still reading, is a short story anthology. I thought that would be great for my also short attention span but even so I can't seem to want to pick it up more often. I really hope this passes soon.

I understand Ana. I seem to have a smaller attention span lately. I used to be able to settle in and read an entire 400 page book in a sitting. Now, I'm lucky if I can get in 20 pages without jumping up to "do" something.