Booking through Thursday

This week's question is: Do you lend your books? Are any out on loan now? Do you have any that have been loaned to you? Do you put a time limit on these? Do you think people should make an effort to read the loaned book quickly?

I do lend books out - mainly to my sister, who is also an avid reader.  We have a semi-annual book exchange - she lends me her books and I lend her mine.  I have had several of her books for quite a while and this year I am making a conscious effort to read them all so that I can return them and get more!  We rarely put a time limit on our loans to each other except when we haven't read it or someone else is in line to borrow it.  I usually expect to read a loaned book quickly but then those other books shout out and jump in front so I (bad girl) have had some for a few years.

What about you?

Bookin' through Thursday

Here's this week's Booking Through Thursday question hosted by Shelf Life:
What are you reading right now? What made you choose it? Are you enjoying it? Would you recommend it? (And, by all means, discuss everything, if you’re reading more than one thing!)

I am currently concentrating on two books...

The first is titled The Pemberley Chronicles by Rebecca Ann Collins and is a sequel to Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice. Last year I came across a book by Elizabeth Aston which told the story of the daughters of Elizabeth Bennet and Mr. Darcy from Pride & Prejudice (P&P). Since I truly loved the original characters I wondered if there were more books that told of Elizabeth and Darcy and started hunting. Little did I know that I was going to be overwhelmed with the number of books that take these two beloved characters through some very different adventures. I stopped searching when I had found ten authors writing sequels. I decided that I would read several of the different series to see how they treated the after-Austen time. So far it's been a lot of fun and since this is the 1st book in Collins' series (she has 10!) I won't be running out of P&P sequels for quite some time.

The second book is an Inter-library loan that I just picked up titled Confederate Ordeal: The Southern Homefront. I have been "studying" the Civil War era this year with books that relate not the battles but the impact of the War on the people of the time. I've also read several great books about Lincoln to go along with the histories of the period. We normally read so much about this battle and that battle but I had never concentrated on the background of what brought the war about and how it affected the people - North and South - so this year I set about to remedy this oversight and have read some great books. This one is rather small, only 136 pages with a number of vintage photographs throughout. I'm excited to see what it reveals.

What are you reading right now? Why did you choose it?

Booking through Thursday

This week's Booking Through Thursday question asks....

What’s the biggest book you’ve read recently?(Feel free to think “big” as size, or as popularity, or in any other way you care to interpret.)

For number of pages, I have to say the one I'm reading right now - Rhett Butler's People - because it's 799 pages.

Large books don't scare me away. Once I finish this one, I have Andrew Jackson, His Life and Times in the wings, and that one is over 1000 pages.

As long as it's a good book, I don't care if it's 100 or 1000 pages, just let me read it!

What’s the best book you’ve read recently?

I think that the one that pleased me the most was Black Beauty, mainly because I had been searching for a Classic that I would enjoy and it was the one I found.

As for the best book, I think I have to say The Language of Bees (that was several weeks ago). I love the stories that Laurie King gives me of the continuation of Sherlock Holmes and Mary Russell.

Booking through Thursday

What’s the worst book you’ve read recently?

I have to admit there are two tied for worst.
The first was Grandma Gets laid, an ER book that I got in February - it was so horrendous that I refuse to post my review on my blog just so you can see it. This book is full of all the typical stereotypes and it has no life to it. The title suggests something fun but doesn't live up to it. I can forgive this one since it was an ER and I believe a first novel of the author.

The other book is Notes From a Small Island by Bill Bryson. I had heard so many good things about this author and I was SOOOOOOOOOOO disappointed. I had tried one of his other books and thought maybe it was just the subject matter, but nope I couldn't stand this one either. Other people rave about it, not me.

Booking through Thursday

The question this week is:

What’s the most serious book you’ve read recently?

John Quincy Adams: A Public Life, A Private Life review follows

Booking through Thursday

“This can be a quick one. Don’t take too long to think about it. Fifteen books you’ve read that will always stick with you. First fifteen you can recall in no more than 15 minutes.”

The Flame and the Flower
Ashes in the Wind
Caroline
Harry Potter - all 7
Skye O'Malley
Beekeeper's Apprentice
Savannah Purchase
Duchess of Asherwood
Lara