2026 Reading Challenge discussion

This thread is to discuss Frank McCourt‘s book, Angela's Ashes.

Pages: 452

Length: 1 month

Participants: Joan, Allie, Alexxy, SarahKat Joan, Allie, Alexxy, SarahKat, Harini

Everyone reads at their own pace during a Buddy Read. Because participants can be at different parts of the book at different times, it is extremely important to mark spoilers so that the book is not ruined for someone who is not as far along as others!!!

Mark spoilers by placing {spoiler} before the text and {/spoiler} after the text but use the < and > instead of the { and }.

Check out the introduction post (here) for more information about Buddy Reads!

You might also want to check out what other Buddy Reads are scheduled for 2018 here!.

Happy Buddy Reading!

I'm planning on starting this one after Eleanor Oliphant Is Completely Fine. I would imagine I'd get to it this weekend - if not then definitely within the week.

I have it from the library so I’m ready to start when you all are :)

I'm planning on getting the audio when I finish A Brief History of Time.

Has anyone started yet?

I am starting tomorrow!

I'd like to join this one.

Feel free!

I'm starting this one today.

I'm only 17 pages in but I have to say it isn't grabbing me yet. I know it's early. I'm just hoping it doesn't knock me off my current reading spree.

Has anyone else started it?

I’m about 50 pages in. The lack of quotation marks rattled me for a minute but the story flows freely, I think.

Stopped because no one else had started yet and now my 5 year old nephew is over for the weekend so I won’t get back to it until Monday.

I started a few days ago. I'm listening to the audio so I'm not sure about page numbers. I think I finished chapter 2 though.

I love Frank McCourt's voice. His voice and the story grabbed me right away.

Harini wrote: "I'd like to join this one."

I have added you to the list!

I think this book is going to take me awhile to read. I finally got through the first chapter and I'm a little bit into the second. It feels like ramblings to me and there aren't any quotation marks when someone speaks. So to me that feels like ramblings of thought.

I thought about abandoning the book but I guess I'll try to read it slowly. I'm on page 54 so I think we are all about at the same spot.

Like I said I'm listening to the audio so I can't see the lack of quotations. I feel like at this point, though, he's writing as if his younger self is speaking and I think that would look a lot like ramblings.

I recommend listening to this if that quotation stuff bothers you. Honestly, I only even joined this read because I listened to a book he narrated earlier this year and fell in love with his voice.

I made it another 10 pages, yahooooo. Lol.

I don’t know what it is...I’m not not interested. It’s just for whatever reason, the more I read, the more it seems I have to go! I think I’ll have been reading for hours and really it’s been like 12 pages...

Allie wrote: "I made it another 10 pages, yahooooo. Lol.

I don’t know what it is...I’m not not interested. It’s just for whatever reason, the more I read, the more it seems I have to go! I think I’ll have been ..."

I'm feeling the same way. I did look into the audio but it isn't available until 10/10 from my library. I'll see what progress I can make on it this weekend.

How is everyone doing with this one? Honestly I haven't gotten back to it. I did order the audio from the library. I do want to read it but it just isn't grabbing me at the moment.

I haven’t gone back to it either 😕

I’d have chucked it completely if it wasn’t for this buddy read.

I'm on chapter 5. I still like it.

I'm on chapter 4 of the ebook. The lack of quotations bothered me in the beginning so I didn't pick it up again for a week since I started. Resumed yesterday and I'm liking it now.

I love that he wrote this in present tense. I think he did a really good job getting back in the mindset of his younger self. I loved the earlier chapters when he was just barely cognizant so he can really only tell what's going on around him with little emotional input because he was too young to know the situation.

The emotions he does express I feel are expressed really well for the age he's portraying at the time. Such as (view spoiler)[ him not wanted to wear shoes because having taped-up shoes is actually more isolating than no shoes at all (hide spoiler)].

I'm on chapter 7 now and more people have entered his life rather than just his family unit. It's fun to see how he interacts with his friends but I do miss the simplicity of his earlier years. Maybe all of you who don't like it so far will start to like it around here!