50 Book Challenge 2016 Part Six

[southeastdweller]

Thread six of the 50 Book Challenge for this year.

The challenge is to read fifty books (or more!) in 2016, though reading fifty isn't mandatory. Any type of book can count, it's not too late to join, and please try to let us all know your thoughts on what you've read.

The first thread of 2016 is here, second thread here, third thread here, fourth thread here and fifth thread here.

[Tarahumara]

Place marking on new thread - thanks southeast!

(Note name changed from tumbletumble)

[BestIsWest]

Thanks SouthEast.

Having a blissful soothing time reading the Shellseekers interspersed with The Turing book. Sitting on my terrace in the sunshine overlooking the banks of the Wye sipping a coffee and reading. It's paradise. Could stay here forever.

[CoteDAzur]

Thank you for the shiny new thread, Southeast

[RemusLupinsBiggestGroupie]

Thanks, South.

I've resorted to beginning a re-read of The Dark Tower, in desperation at having abandoned so many books recently. I'd planned to leave it until the weather was colder and nights were darker, but needs-must.

[Sadik]

Thanks for the new thread South. A bit in between books at the moment -started Cote's epigenetics book but have a long train journey at the weekend so decided to save it for that. Kind of re-reading Naomi Novik's Uprooted, but not sure it's worth a second read, and then I've got Wolf Border by Sarah Hall from the library but not quite in the mood to start it.

Doing much better on audio- half way through Quicksilver by Neal Stephenson, and thoroughly enjoying it.

[Tarahumara]

Sounds amazing, Best. Enjoy!

[RemusLupinsBiggestGroupie]

Book 94
The Drawing of the Three by Stephen King
The second in The Dark Tower series. I didn’t bother with the first, because it’s not a great read. This one, The Wolves of the Calla and the final one are my favourites. Like putting on a favourite old jumper and hunkering down with hot chocolate.

[southeastdweller]

Posting my updating list to help me keep track, highlights in bold:

1. Untold Stories - Alan Bennett
   
2. Levels of Life - Julian Barnes
   
3. A Mindfulness Guide for the Frazzled - Ruby Wax
   
4. An Awfully Big Adventure - Beryl Bainbridge
   
5. Case Histories - Kate Atkinson
   
6. The Life-Changing Magic of Not Giving a F**k - Sarah Knight
   
7. Wolf Hall - Hilary Mantel
   
8. The Good Liar - Nicholas Searle
   
9. Passenger 23 - Sebastian Fitzek
   

10. The Women Who Went to Bed for a Year - Sue Townsend
11. The Driver's Seat - Muriel Spark
12. The Widow - Fiona Barton
13. A Man Called Ove - Fredrik Backman
14. Nice Work (If You Can Get It) - Celia Imrie
15. Mothering Sunday - Graham Swift
16. This is Me - Michelle Collins
17. Behind the Scenes at the Museum - Kate Atkinson
18. Memoirs of a Professional Cad - George Sanders
19. Eileen - Ottessa Moshfegh
20. Olivier - Philip Ziegler
21. Miss Lonelyhearts - Nathaniel West
22. Waist Disposal - Dr John Briffa
23. Tipping the Velvet - Sarah Waters
24. Not Working - Lisa Owens
25. Straight Up - Danny Dyer
26. Shop Girl - Mary Portas
27. Career of Evil - Robert Galbraith
28. The World According to Danny Dyer - Danny Dyer.
29. Man at the Helm - Nina Stibbe
30. Respectable - Lynsey Hanley
31. Gentlemen & Players - Joanne Harris
32. Love from Boy - Roald Dahl/Donald Sturrock
33. Luckiest Girl Alive - Jessica Knoll
34. Charlotte’s Web - E.B White
35. The Muse - Jessie Burton
36. Out of Time - Miranda Sawyer
37. The Swimming Pool Library - Alan Hollinghurst
38. I See You - Claire Mackintosh
39. My Name is Lucy Barton - Elizabeth Strout
40. Peter O’Toole - Robert Sellers
41. On Chesil Beach - Ian McEwan

[ChillieJeanie]

79. The Witch's Vacuum Cleaner and other stories by Terry Pratchett
    
    Short stories for young children - but enjoyable enough for adults too. As long as you bear in mind that they are quite silly. It includes an early tale of goblins which was one of the forebears of Truckers.

[CoteDAzur]

Bringing my list over:

43. One Shot (Jack Reacher #9) by Lee Child
42. HHhH by Laurent Binet
41. The Epigenetics Revolution: How Modern Biology is Rewriting our Understanding of Genetics, Disease and Inheritance by Nessa Carey
40. The Girl Who Played With Fire by Stieg Larsson
39. Guilty Minds by Joseph Finder
38. Nightfall by Isaac Asimov & Robert Silverberg
37. High-Opp by Frank Herbert
36. Under The Dome by Stephen King
35. The City & The City by China Mieville
34. Treatise On Harmony by Jean-Philippe Rameau
33. Echo Burning by Lee Child
32. Spy the Lie: Three Former CIA Officers Reveal Their Secrets to Uncloaking Deception by Philip Houston, Mike Floyd, Susan Carnicero, Don Tennant, Michael Floyd
31. The Flicker Men by Ted Kosmatka
30. Total Recall by Arnold Schwarzenegger
29. Half Way Home by Hugh Howey
28. Dark Fire by C. J. Sansom (Shardlake #2)
27. Reaching Down The Rabbit Hole: Extraordinary Journeys Into The Human Brain by Dr Allan Ropper
26. The Dark Forest by Cixin Liu (The Three-Body Problem #2)
25. Daughter of the Winds by Jo Bunt
24. Career of Evil by Robert Galbraith
23. The Girl In The Spider's Web by David Lagercrantz
22. Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov
21. The Year of Living Danishly: Uncovering the Secrets of the World’s Happiest Country by Helen Russell
20. Seveneves by Neal Stephenson
19. Lord Of The Flies - William Golding
18. Mother Of Eden by Chris Beckett (Dark Eden #2)
17. The Reluctant Fundamentalist by Mohsin Hamid
16. The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson
15. The Time Machine by H G Wells
14. The Knife Of Never Letting Go by Patrick Ness
13. Hot Zone - The Chilling True Story of an Ebola Outbreak by Richard Preston
12. Dissolution by C. S. Sansom
11. Limitless (The Dark Fields) by Alan Glynn
10. High Heat by Lee Child

1. Authority by Jeff VanderMeer8. Rivers Of London by Ben Aaronovitch
   
2. Dreamland: Adventures in the Strange Science of Sleep by David K. Randall
   
3. Ancillary Justice by Ann Beckie
   
4. Written In Fire by Marcus Sakey
   
5. The Psychopath Inside: A Neuroscientist's Personal Journey into the Dark Side of the Brain by James Fallon
   
6. The Day Of The Triffids by John Wyndham
   
7. Wolves by Simon Ings
   
8. Black Swan Green by David Mitchell

[CoteDAzur]

44. The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat and Other Clinical Tales
    by Oliver Sacks
    
    I loved this. It's a neurology book written 30 years ago so some of the "mysteries" might be solved by now, but they are utterly fascinating. It reminded me of Carl Sagan's Pulitzer-winner book Dragons of Eden, published in 1977 and talking about some fascinating stuff such as split-brain patients (with no communication between right and left brain hemispheres). I would definitely recommend this book.

[CheckpointCharlie2]

Loved your 13 and 14 books cote what did you think of The Knife of never letting go? There are two more incredible books in that trilogy and I am jealous that you still have them to go!
Hot Zone was scary stuff too.

I haven't kept my list up but it's defo on track for fifty if not there. Wish I had kept a record now it would be so interesting to see it!

[CoteDAzur]

45. The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest (Millennium Trilogy #3)
    by Stieg Larsson
    
    I read this 7 years ago while breastfeeding newborn DS and was surprised to see that I remembered a grand total of zero about it Lisbeth Salander is in hospital for most of this book while her friends & enemies circle around each other outside. This is another great book by Stieg Larsson - his last, unfortunately. I really like the meticulous investigation in each of his books, and the feminism that seeps through every page.

[CoteDAzur]

Checkpoint - I loved Hot Zone, too but you won't like what I had to say about The Knife Of Never Letting Go. I've been reading sci-fi for a very long time and am a bit hard to please in this genre - sorry! And I can't stand YA

[CheckpointCharlie2]

Haha oh no! It's my fave book!
What about Oryx and Crake, you might like that trilogy, by Margaret Atwood. More grown up than Knife of thing but still pretty dystopian but more science fictiony!

[CheckpointCharlie2]

You really didn't like it did you! I am reading a series your dd might like, it's called the Raven trilogy I think, first books is called the Raven Boys and it's quite gripping, not sure if you would like it though as it's pretty YA.

Have you read Watchers or Ghosthunters by Neil Spring, you might like them, based on truth but written as a fiction book.

[SatsukiKusakabe]

Just checking in, thanks for new thread southeast. Will post my list and updates shortly, enjoying everyone's reviews.

[RemusLupinsBiggestGroupie]

Noooooooooooo, Cote. Don't read, Oryx and Crake. You'd absolutely hate it. I hated it too, but I'm pretty sure it's one we'd agree on!

I've been meaning to read The Man Who Mistook His Wife For A Hat for about 20 years. Must get around to it. It's one I keep thinking I might have actually read years ago,but can't remember.

[SatsukiKusakabe]

Sounds idyllic best I've wanted to go to the Wye valley since seeing it depicted in Shadowlands, reading your post don't know what's taken me so long!

[BestIsWest]

It's beautiful. Must look up Shadowlands.

[tessiegirl]

I'm a little embarrassed of my little list of read books compared to some of yours...getting back into reading (mostly in the bath in peace in the evenings!) alongside looking after an 8 month old!
So, here goes:

1. Our Song - Dani Atkins
   
2. When She Was Bad - Tammy Cohen
   
3. Blue Shoes and Happiness - Alexander McCall-Smith. Number 7 in the series, I love these books, they are my comfort read! An absolute pleasure!
   
4. Up Close and Personal - Leonie Fox. Set in a quiet village this follows the lives of three friends, each of them with relationship problems. Easy to read but a bit silly in parts. Average chick lit.
   
5. Eeny Meeny - M J Arlidge - finished this last night. Bit late to this series but finally got around to the first one. Amurderer who enjoys abducting pairs and giving them the choice of either living or dying by killing the other. I enjoyed it, I didn't make the connection as to the murderer (maybe a bit of baby brain!). I will read the next one in series.

[SatsukiKusakabe]

best do - it's a lovely film, marvellous locations and acting and as it's about C.S Lewis great for book-lovers...but have tissues handy

tessiegirl I read 4 books in the year after I had dd (all in one week's holiday) so think you're doing just fine. She 2.8 now and I'm reading a lot more

[LavandulaStoechas]

Ohhhh, Shadowlands made me cry. Went to see it not long after my mother died. Probably not a good film to see if you're feeling a bit raw. But the scenery was stunning. I love the Golden Valley. DH and I used to go up there quite a bit before the DC came along. Hay is a favourite, and very special, place for us. We had our honeymoon there as well.

Can't believe we're heading into the final quarter of the year soon. Will be back with my list maybe tomorrow (busy day today). Thanks for starting up the new thread, Southeast :)

[RemusLupinsBiggestGroupie]

Don't be embarrassed, Tessie. Even a few books is better than no books!

My list. I'm so disappointed with so many this year, and disappointed by how few stand out novels there are. I've probably started and abandoned another 30 or so too. :(

1. The Victorian Detective
   
2. Stasiland
   
3. Career of Evil
   
4. Bazaar of Bad Dreams
   
5. The Book of Strange New Things
   
6. Travel guide/history Germany
   
7. Ditto
   
8. Sherlock Holmes & the Yule Tide Mystery
   
9. The Good Fairies of New York
   
10. The Great Railway Bazaar
    
11. The Daffodil Mystery
    
12. In the Land of White Death
    
13. The Victorian Workhouse
    
14. The Lie Tree
    
15. Sherlock Holmes: The Spirit Box
    
16. The English at the North Pole
    
17. Leaving Berlin
    
18. The Worst Journey in the World
    
19. Berlin – Rory Maclean
    
20. Clouds of Witness (Lord Peter Wimsey)
    
21. Dead Street
    
22. Uglies
    
23. Max Carrados
    
24. The Osiris Ritual
    
25. The Holy Thief
    
26. The Janissary Tree
    
27. The Spy who Came in from the Cold
    
28. The Big Bow Mystery
    
29. How to be a Victorian
    
30. The Enchanted April
    
31. The Mystery of the Jewelled Moth
    
32. The Lady Vanishes
    
33. The Lady from Nowhere
    
34. The Green Mummy
    
35. Fool Moon
    
36. Hitchhikers’ Guide series
    
37. Ditto
    
38. Ditto
    
39. Ditto
    
40. A Very British Murder
    
41. Playing to the Gallery – Grayson Perry
    
42. Gone to Ground
    
43. Faust’s Metropolis
    
44. Sad Cypress
    
45. The Secret Adversary
    
46. A Colder War
    
47. The Good German
    
48. All Creatures Great and Small
    
49. Stalin’s Nose
    
50. The Ghosts of Berlin
    
51. The Lord God Made them All
    
52. Murder – British Crime Classic
    
53. A Spy Amongst Friends
    
54. Fear Stalks the Village
    
55. Berlin Now
    
56. My Man Jeeves
    
57. The Mysterious Affair at Styles
    
58. Just One Damned Thing After Another
    
59. The Ice Cold Heaven
    
60. A Man Lay Dead
    
61. Behold, Here’s Poison
    
62. Lord of the Flies
    
63. Wolf of the Plains
    
64. Lords of the Bow
    
65. Lady Susan
    
66. Facing Up
    
67. The Midnight Swimmer
    
68. The Loney
    
69. Mary – Nabakov
    
70. I Capture the Castle
    
71. Lies We Tell Ourselves - would have been a stand out but I hated the ending
    
72. End of Watch
    
73. True Grit
    
74. Whose Body?
    
75. Jane Austen and Food
    
76. Bird Box
    
77. Until the Final Hour
    
78. Every Dead Thing
    
79. The Things They Carried
    
80. Into Darkness
    
81. Anatomy of a Soldier
    
82. A Woman in Berlin
    
83. All the Light we Cannot See
    
84. A Walk in the Woods
    
85. Harry Potter and the Cursed Child
    
86. Better: A Surgeon’s Notes on Performance
    
87. The Crossing of Antarctica
    
88. Destination Unknown – Agatha Christie
    
89. Ordeal by Innocence –Agatha Christie
    
90. The Other Side of Silence
    
91. Nazi Women
    
92. The Man in the High Castle
    
93. Revelations of a Lady Detective
    
94. The Drawing of the Three

[whippetwoman]

Thanks for the new thread Southeast

Warning – the books mentioned below annoyed me!

68. Common Ground – Rob Cowen
Why use one simile when 20 will do? Honestly, I really wanted to like this nature writing book about the wildlife in the edge lands of the author’s home town of Harrogate, but unfortunately I didn’t. What particularly irritated me was the made-up stories around some of the animals. For example, in the chapter about hares, a homeless man becomes the narrator, Sir Hare, and talks about his life. He also does it in a particularly sexist way, judging young bottle feeding mothers (oh the horror) and a ‘vacuous housewife’ in a coffee shop. I think what the author was trying to do was good, draw attention to the diversity of life in the lands around towns, which are likely to be built on and therefore lost, and which have their own unique histories, but the style of writing was way off sometimes. Irritating.

69. All That Man Is – David Szalay
This is on the Booker Longlist and is good quality writing. As the title suggests, it’s about men; each chapter is essentially a short story about a man, somewhere in Europe at a different stage of his life, from young to old. There are no real connections between the men, except the first and last. However, what women there are, bloody hell, I found it annoying. The women were either totally up for sex with all these men (unlikely) or they were evil divorcing harpies. Sexist. And therefore annoying. Very annoying.

70. The Shadow of the Wind – Carlos Ruiz Zafon
Yes, it’s a good mystery story, yes it’s readable, yes I enjoyed it but again, what is with the women characters? They are either dead, getting pregnant or lusted over and objectified. Sort out your representations of women people. Sort it out.

71. The Shepherd’s Life – James Rebanks
The best of the books I have read recently. I know a lot more about sheep than I did before I read this and have a better idea of the difficulties, challenges and hardships fell farmers have to endure. Whilst his is not a bad thing, I did have very mixed feelings about the author. I guess farming communities are extremely insular and this comes across very strongly. Hmm.