50 Book Challenge 2015 Part 3

Has anyone been a World Book Night distributer today? The chap who organises the book club I go to had The Martian by Andy Weir to give out, so a couple of us met at the pub to pick up a copy then he was generally offering them to people sitting and having a drink. It has been quite a pleasant evening.

I also picked up the latest Jack Reacher, which has just come out in paperback, on my way home, but am currently part way through The Ionian Mission by Patrick O'Brian, so the two new ones will have to wait a bit.

#16 Offshore by Penelope Fitzgerald

Think this was recommended by a previous poster- thank you.

I found the book an absolute joy whilst reading it, but found the ending a bit abrupt and I'm not quite sure what happened! Characters were wonderful.I lived on Battersea Reach (on land and much more recently than the book setting!) so it was particularly lovely to revisit the area.

Not sure what to read next. I'm going to Arran in a few weeks so downloaded Kirsty Wark's book which is set there. However, when buying, I noticed that one of my favourite actresses Siobhan Redmond was reading the Audible version so I added that. No way will I be able to listen to an audiobook with DH so might do that one next.

I loved Jane Eyre when I read it as a teenager and Far from the Madding Crowd although Bathsheba is quite a passive character towards the end. We studied Romeo and Juliet at school and - even in a girls school - we couldn't see what the fuss was all about. They both needed to get a grip and get over themselves.

Book 16 Lamentation by CJ Samson. The latest in this series. Not my favourite of them and I didn't really believe in the final plot development but still a good read.

Book 17 Slaves of Solitude by Patrick Hamilton. Written in about 1947 it is set in 1943 and focuses on Enid Roach a woman in her 30s who lives in a boarding house and commutes into London each day. It's a book about loneliness and the subtle bullying that could go on in such a place. It has some great characters in it but can be quite bleak. The war is very much in the background - people are plodding through life. One of the other boarders is a man who dominates conversation at meal times and if he doesn't talk then they all eat in silence. Apparently Hamilton lived in boarding houses like this so it's based on experience. Would recommend it. The edition I have has an introduction from Doris Lessing saying how Hamilton was seen as a contemporary Dickens - his books showed people like Lessing who was living in Africa, what life was like in London through fiction. But he fell out of favour over time until his books were republished a few years ago.

Book 39 The Rules of Attraction by Brett Easton Ellis

Follows the lives of a group of privileged American college students. The author does a great job of portraying apathy and nihilistic hedonism amongst the characters. A fantastic book.

Reading Ballard's Empire of The Sun next.

I picked up a second hand copy of The Night Watch a while ago. I think I might bump it up the list to read sooner now, seeing your review, southeast

16. A Hat Full of Sky

17. Wintersmith

18. I Shall Wear Midnight - all by Terry Pratchett. All on audio, narrated by Stephen Briggs. These three are books 2, 3 and 4 in the Tiffany Aching set. Tiffany is a young witch and these books follow her at ages 11, 13 and 15. In a Hat Full of Sky she battles the Hiver who cannot be seen but takes over your mind. She defeats him by accepting him and realises that he is not intentionally bad but just doesn't understand humans and trys to hide in them to get away from world because he sense and feels everything. In Wintersmith, Tiffany jumps into the dark morris (the dance to move from summer to winter) kisses the winter and he falls in love with her. He covers the landscape with Tiffany shaped snowflakes and with the help of Granny Weatherwas, Miss Treason and the Nac Mac Feegle she manages to overcome the impact of her actions and get the narrative back on track by bring Summer back into the story. In I Shall Wear Midnight Tiffany is 15 and has to deal with an evil that is taking over the land and turning people against witches. This evil is in the shape of the Cunning Man and Tiffany eventually defeats him by luring him into a fire and burning him. This is a wonderful story and along with Wintersmith are two of the best Pratchetts.

19. The Girl on the Train by Paula Hawkins - reviewed loads of times already. Didn't really care for any of the characters and didn't really care what happened to them.

I am still reading The Goldfinch and have also started Snow White Must Die so hope to be back soon to add those to my list.

30. Shamans by Ronald Hutton

An examination of the Shamanic traditions among the peoples of Siberia, including looking at the sources of information about them (not many, all Russian - either Tsarist or Soviet and all trying to stamp it out), the similarities and differences across the vast expanse of country they cover, and a brief look at neopaganism and the influences on its development. Extremely interesting reading.

Glad people are enjoying Merrily Watkins - best, I saw your reassuring comment to me after you read the first one and meant to say thank! I find it strangely nerveracking to recommend books.

I have three hours on a train tomorrow so looking forward to a lovely long read...

Book 50
'Strange Bodies' by Marcel Theroux

I enjoyed this, and it was like nothing I've ever read before. The blurb said it was a thriller, and it sort of was, but it was also a journey inside the human mind and raised questions about what makes an individual.

A woman is visited by somebody who says he's her ex-boyfriend. She believes him but is a bit freaked out - she'd read that her ex had been killed in a horrible accident. What follows is the story of how both of those things are true - he is her ex, and he died in an accident. The story takes us to Russia (less successfully than the rest of it tbh) via a wonderfully diverting section about Samuel Johnson, into Bethlehem (Bedlam) hospital and around the streets of London.

I recommend this strange but thought-provoking read. It's the second Marcel Theroux I've read now, and I'd definitely like to read more.

29. Midwinter of The Spirit - Phil Rickman. Second in the Merrily Watkins series.
30. Girl On A Train. Reviewed often enough here, not my cup of tea. 31 Stardust - Neil Gaiman. Fairy tale for grown ups. Not for me.
31. The Husband's Secret - Liane Moriarty. Enjoyed this a lot. I really like her books.

remus I know what you mean.

I think the setting and characterisation was excellent, and as I say, to manage to keep the storytelling tight, given the plot and structure didn't exactly lend themselves to it, is the mark of a very good writer.

But, and it's a big but, I guess, it didn't scare me. Or even unsettle, really.

Cote no, never seen the film, but will look out for it. It would be interesting to compare the two - I understand the film has got quite a cult following, and I would've thought it would be a difficult book to translate in to a film.

Currently re-reading 'the rules of attraction' by Brett Easton Ellis, mainly because summer seems to have arrived here in Yorkshire and this was a favourite summer holiday read a few years back.

Unfortunately, the holiday also involved lots of cider - and every time I read it I get a craving for cider

I really haven't read many of the 'girly' classics (for want of a better word) at all. I might try some, but after a few misfires this year I'm getting a bit wary of books I feel I 'ought' to have read.

WordFactory I was disappointed by, 'Dark Matter' after it was so hyped on here. I liked the setting up, the packing for the trip etc (am a bit of an Arctic/Antarctic obsessive) but as a ghost story I found it rather underwhelming and the 'twist' just felt a bit tired and shoe-horned in for shock rather than to add to the story at all. I just felt a bit cheated at the end tbh.

no 37

still alice

Think everyone on this thread has read it by now

Can't wait to see the film

17 The Wine of Angels Phil Rickman. I read this on previous recommends here, a bit hard going in places and a bit 'woo' for me but overall enjoyable, although a bit of editing wouldn't go amiss. I'll probably carry on with the Merrily Watkins series

tumbletumble I'm sorry to blow the theory. I read both Wuthering Heights and Jane Eyre as a teen and found the idea of girls mooning over Heathcliff and Mr Rochester completely inexplicable. Never felt the need to re-visit. Same with Far from the Madding Crowd and Tess. Put me right off reading classics.

Bssh I enjoyed A Suitable Boy so much that its one of few novels I've retained a copy of for re-reading purposes. Loving the sound of your other two reads (and added).

Remus I really like a thriller but never got into Len Deighton, although its been a few decades since I last tried.

Still on book 22 - not sure what to make of it tbh.

33. The White Peacock - D. H. Lawrence

This was his first novel and touches on some of the themes of his later books. I was blown away by the quality of some of the writing here, particularly by his descriptions of the countryside; landscape, flowers and birds in particular. Like all Lawrence novels there is something disquieting about it, as if there are things lurking under the surface that you can feel but can't quite grip or understand. None of the characters are particularly likeable but their entrapment by the expected norms of society makes you feel for them anyway. There is frustration and repression here. I still feel unsettled by this book even though I finished it a few days ago but I am not sure why. However, The Rainbow and Women in Love had the same effect on me. Novels rarely do this to me

Is there an actual ghost in Dark Matter? I am tired of ghost stories which builds the atmosphere but we never actually get the ghost and it fades out a bit like the Blair Witch Project. I feel so cheated

Clash - Have you watched the film Fear And Loathing In Las Vegas, where Johnny Depp is the journalist and Benicio Del Toro is his friend "Dr Gonzo"? It's brilliant. I have the book on my Kindle but I'm worried that it will not live up to the movie.

I have watched that film with friends while under the influence many times and we have agreed on numerous occasions that much in that film is quite credible and can easily happen. Good times

Book 16 Dark Matter by Michelle Paver

Recommendation from MN as the scariest book ever.

Well it's not that, by a long chalk.

But it is good. Considering a large proportion of the book is spent alone, in the polar dark, the sensory levels remain magnificent. The tension too remains taught, depspite not much happening. Good craft(wo)manship.

don't remember the number of the book, but I've just finished 'we are all completely beside ourselves' by Karen Joy Fowler. I really didn't like it. As I was reading it I thought it resembles a badly written book by Ruth Ozeki. I love Ruth Ozeki, she's a fantastic writer. But this one...hmmm. Fowler is trying hard and failing to imitate Ozeki I think.

I am reading Rose Tremain's Restoration at the moment.

I felt the same as you, mama - I found it a struggle to get through and skimmed towards the end, by which time I really disliked her.

Has anyone finished Wild: A Journey from Lost to Found by Cheryl Strayed? I think I've seen it mentioned but can't search on my phone.

I'm finding it such a struggle, I've been reading for weeks. I even bought the audiobook to help me along but I still don't feel particularly enthused.

I normally enjoy biographies but I cannot warm to this woman at all! I think I feel exploited by her grief so I can't feel any empathy towards her.