50 Book Challenge 2015 Part 3

Good news about your results Joyless!

I saw a brand new copy of Red Rising in a charity shop today for £1 but I just got it on my kindle, so let it be. I would be happy to go and liberate it tomorrow to send to a fellow mumsneter though!

I'm on a go-slow atm and it's taking me ages to read anything but I did finish:
43. Bring Up the Bodies - Hilary Mantel. I finally got round to reading this and I much preferred it to Wolf Hall. I can see why it won the Booker as it's such an interesting and complex portrait of Thomas Cromwell and his motives in the Boleyn debacle.

My quest to read every Booker winner continues!

Oh no I won't, the dratted thing isn't on the bloody kindle

Hmm, what next then?

Glad you're enjoying Red Rising Remus, I've just finished (number 48) The Golden Son, the second one in the trilogy.

I always think second books in the trilogy are often difficult as they tend to be 'bridging' books, but this was good, fast paced and enjoyable. Didn't find it as immersive as the first one though.

I think I may read The Handmaid's Tale next, I've heard lots about it but never actually read it, then maybe Only Ever Yours.

It has been ages since I updated. MyIronLun I read Only Ever Yours last year and I really liked it and would highly recommend it. Yep you are right it is in the same vein as The Handmaid's Tale. Another great book.

20. Snow White Must Die - Nele Neuhas. I bought this on a daily deal after reading the reviews. The story was around two 17 year old girls who disappeared and the guy who was convicted for their murder. I don't want to give away the plot so will keep this brief. The plot was good but the writing just didn't flow and I found myself getting confused with the characters. I am not sure if this was the author or the translator. Only that I wanted to see how it ended I would have given up half way through.

21. The Darkest Part of The Forest - Holly Black. This was a YA book about a town in the US and the fairies who were part of the fabric of the town and the teenagers who lived there. The story opened with the description of the horned boy in the glass casket in the woods. I was really expecting something amazing but it was ok. I expect my 12 year old will love it though.

22. Small Gods - Terry Pratchett. Audio book. "In the beginning was the word and the word was 'hey you'!. Classic Pratchett read by Nigel Planner. Loved it and laughed my way through it though is is quite dark in places. Vorbis is the real church villain - dark, menancing and terrifying because he really believes that he has god and right on his side.

23. Monstrous Regiment - Terry Pratchett - audio book. This one was read by Stephen Briggs and is the story of Polly who disguises herself as a boy and goes off to join the army and discovers that the world is a different place when you stuff a pair of socks down the front of your trousers. Polly is joined by other 'boys' seeking similar to her. Not my favourite of his books though it really shines in parts - still a cracking good listen.

24. The Monk Who Vanished - Peter Tremayne. I liked this. It was a nice easy read with a good smattering of detail about the Irish Brehon Law system which was replaced by English Common Law in the 19th century. I was hugely interested in how progressive these laws were many years ago and I recently heard about Tremayne's Sister Fidelma books. I think they are similar to the Caldafel mysteries. The setting is the 7th century and Sister Fidelma is a nun according to the Celtic trdition and she solves mysteries. She is also a Brehon law court official or 'daili'. I will definitely look out for a few more of the books from this series.

25. I Am Legend - Richard Mathiesen - I loved this. I had it synced between audible and my kindle. The narration was excellent and what a great story. Completely different from the film. If you haven't already read it I would highly recommend it.

I am still plodding away with The Goldfinch and have started listening to The Leopard. I have to read The Stranger by Harlan Coben for my book club but it is not really engaging me yet.

Thanks remus I've ordered the audio book from the library.

And some Lovecraft stories.

I'm about 35% into, 'Red Rising' now, and still thoroughly enjoying it. It's reminding me of, 'Ender's Game' as well as, 'The Hunger Games.' So, not terribly innovative, but I really like the central character. It's nice and pacy and it's got some really good dialogue too. If you like YA and dystopian stuff, you'll almost certainly enjoy it, Word.

And I think I going to order Red Rising as suggested up thread.

My current WIP is a YA dystopian thing which owes a lot to Brave New World.

Book 21 The Bone Clocks.

This had taken me ages to finish. It's far too long.

What can I say? In many ways this is a very good book. Mitchell, as always does 80s schtick to perfection and his near future world building is truly horrifying in how prescient it seems. Utterly believable.

However, the story line of body baton passing souls is very odd. I know it was a theme he was playing with in Cloud Atlas, and presumably he wanted to explore his further in TBC, but for me it strikes not the wrong note per se, but an incongruous one.

I guess the main problem here is that TBC isn't Cloud Atlas , which remains to my mind a work of seminal skill and imagination.

Sootgremlin hope you are feeling better soon

32 for me is Perfect by Rachael Joyce: half way through and enjoying it. Set in UK about a boy who is 11 in 1972. 2 seconds have been added to time and he is convinced his mother made an awful mistake as the seconds were added. He becomes fixated on this. Flips to present time and (I think it is his school friend) is about a grown man with mental health problems. I didn't read her Harold Fry one but it got good reviews.

It's a long time since I read the Gormenghast trilogy, but as I recall the first and second books were much, much more enjoyable than the third book.

I'm so behind...

16. Gormenghast, Mervyn Peake

It was good, but took me a long time to finish and it annoyed me that half way through I realised it was the second in the trilogy, not the first as I had thought. So now I don't know whether to go back and read the first one, or just read the third one, since I'm spoiled for the first...

17. A Place Called Winter, Patrick Gale

Loved this, a great new novel from Patrick Gale. He rarely disappoints.

18. Affinity, Sarah Waters
19. Animal Farm, George Orwell
20. The Little Stranger, Sarah Waters

These were all re-reads, and I thoroughly enjoyed revisiting all of them.

Pinkglow - I love J G Ballard. He has a great style of writing with a brilliant "voice".

Be warned, though, that when you read other stuff by him, you will see that his books are generally very different in subject matter than Empire Of The Sun, which is largely autobiographical. His stories tend to be on the 'weird' side, and the term Ballardian has been coined to describe the particularly strange "inner landscapes".

His autobiography Miracles Of Life is fantastic, too.

couple more to add from me,

23. Nourisment by Gerald Woodward - a better than expected read, quite enjoyed this
24. Empire of the Sun by JG Ballard - have now added a load more books from this author to my list

I think I'll give only ever yours a go thanks Lammy - love the Handmaids tale, Margaret Atwood is one of my favourite authors

Joyless - Great news! Meanwhile, my pelvic pain is almost completely gone. Onwards and upwards until the next injury. Oh the joys of middle age

Soot & Remus - I think I'll give Lovecraft a go. His "complete collection eBook" is £2.34 on the Kindle at the moment.

Clash - Imo Remus has not yet read the parts where plot comparisons with Hunger Games become more obvious. I think she is still in the la-di-da pages in the beginning.

Remus - Once you finish reading Red Rising, I would be interested to hear if you think it is YA.

I think there are some obvious comparisons between the hunger games in red rising - even more so as you get further into the story. Red rising is how the hunger games should have been done. There are also shades of Brave New World, too.

(Sorry for the lack of capitals I'm trying to type one handed)

Might give Bird Box a go, it sounds interesting - although I really must stop adding to my tbr pile!

cote do read Lovecraft, I got quite a comprehensive anthology for pennies on the kindle last year. They do step over into sci fi territory, though I wouldn't categorise them as such.

Soot - 'This Thing of Darkness' is magnificent! I didn't get on at all with, 'The Quincunx.' K&C is okay, but not in the same level of genius as, 'This Thing.'

Also, so looking forward to A God in Ruins, probably going to wait for the paperback.

Haven't updated for a while, had a relapse of some health issues and haven't been able to get to grips with anything for the last month or so. Having read back can see others have been in the same boat so to all those having problems too.

Took The Poisonwood Bible away with me last week, relieved to find it nice and immersive. I wasn't sure if I was going to find the writing a bit rich for my blood at first, but it toned down and I thought it very good overall. Funny and moving in parts, it muses much on culture and history, the politics of a nation and of a family. I could write more, but I'm feeling rather dull at the moment. Suffice it to say it was good one to get me back on the horse. Takes me to 15.

I'm also slowly reading the first Shardlake, about 25% through. It's all right, not really my thing, and a bit ploddy in writing and plot so far, but to be fair I've not given it any time to take off.

Also working through the House at Pooh Corner at bedtime with my 4 year old, first time for us both. We're finding it funny and delightful, but I also have Dorothy Parker's scathing review of it at the back of mind, preventing me getting washed away in a wave of sentiment

Aaah, what next?! I have The Quincunx, This Thing of Darkness and Kavalier and Clay, can someone choose one for me?! I have Umbrella by Will Self from the library, but I don't think I am equal to it at present, need a warm-up act.

On the subject of breastfeeding-reading, I read Middlemarch with my first and have fond memories of the time. My second, staring into space and online window shopping took the place of more intellectual pursuits

Hi MyIronLung

I read Only Ever Yours the end of last year and loved it :) It is a glammed up modern version of the Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood.
A warning to young women for what might be to come!

Great news Joyless

Remus, if it helps, I usually hate books in the present tense - but tbh I didn't really notice it.

Just realised I hadn't added

48 damned by chuck paulanuik

I could take or leave this one tbh. The story of an overweight, overpriveleged teenager who ends up in hell after dying in odd circumstances. Nowhere near as good as some of his other stuff.