50 Book Challenge 2015 Part 3

Meanwhile, I have bit the bullet and downloaded the Golden Son, the sequel to Red Rising for a price hitherto unseen in my Amazon account

Thanks to Red Rising and now this book, I have done practically nothing for the family this weekend. Today, at DS's birthday party, I actually considered spending some time on the toilet to read some more of it

I haven't been this drawn in by a series since... well, I don't remember when the last time was. #3 in the series isn't out until next year, apparently. Not sure what I will do until then.

Really pleased you enjoyed them, Olly

21. The Slaves of Solitude - Patrick Hamilton - had been languishing on my kindle since the end of 2012 (!) and I noticed it mentioned by Bibliomania so decided to finally read it. I thought this book was extremely well written and often 'hit the nail on the head' regarding emotional issues. The story of a boarding house and it's inhabitants during the Second World War and the stifling atmosphere. If you like Barbara Pym I think you would appreciate this one although it is quite sad.

thelittlebooktroll, sell Fanny to me (now there's a sentence that sounds wrong). What endears you to Fanny Price?

59. H is for Hawk, by Helen MacDonald. Thumbs up for this one, although I'm wary of nature writing. She writes well without being showy, and crucially, she's ambivalent about nature - both her hawk's killing of small animals, but also about the meanings attached to it (England is still England despite the migrants, eh? Well no, these animals were migrants in their turn). She also writes movingly about her loneliness - human hands were made for holding other hands, not just for holding hawks. There's a lot going on here, and a lot of emotional honesty. Worthy of the plaudits.

Thanks to Duchess of Malfi for the following recommendations.

#18 The Sea by John Banville I enjoyed this one. I'd saved it until a weekend away on an island thinking the sea would feature strongly. It's an important element of the novel but the story is really about several relationships of the protagonist - he and his parents, he and a family who holiday at the same place, he and his wife and daughter, he and residents of a boarding house. It's well characterised, and an enjoyable read.

#19 Academy Street by Mary Costello I loved this one so much I'm sorry it's finished! It's a beautifully written book about an ordinary, shy Irish girl who just gets on with a hum drum life. The writer really helps you get into Tess's head - you see perfectly her perspective and understand her thoughts. She has more than her fair share of heartache but the story never gets maudlin. Thank you Duchess, this was a cracker.

I'm really loving this challenge. I've managed to now fit in some reading time every day, whereas before I'd intend to read, but never get round to it apart from on holiday. Because of your recommendations, I'm now reading books that might have passed me by. My life is so much richer so thank you to all of you.

32. A Short History of Tractors in Ukrainian – Marina Lewcka

I had been meaning to read this book for years, really glad I finally got around to it as it is very funny.

Sisters Vera and Nadezhda have been feuding for years, but when their 84 year old father decides he is going to marry Valentina, 36, they must join forces to try and stop him.

40. Wild - Cheryl Strayed

I know loads of people have already read this. For some reason I loved it, even though nothing amazing happens and the writing isn't that great. I just ended up really rooting for Cheryl. I still don't know why?!

Now reading The Heart of the Matter by Graham Green. It's very good, but taking me ages for some reason.

Back at work after long term sickness so probably won't have as much time to read now. Noticing that everyone seems to be reading Disclaimer by Renee Knight on my flights now. Has anyone read it?

Right -
36 (I think) The diary of a Provincial Lady by E M Delafield.
Really enjoyable. Reminded me of Bridget Jones Diary but much more enjoyable. Realised that BJ Diary is a bit of a rip-off of this book.

37. The Lost Art of Keeping Secrets by Eva Rice
    Loved this book and will pass it onto my 14 year old DD. Reminded me of I Captures The Castle but better IMHO.

38. Faithful Place by Tana French
    Oh dear God this story went on and on and I cannot remember enough to review it properly it was so boring. Have liked some of Tana French's other books so disappointed.

39. Mansfield Park by Jane Austen
    I am currently on a bit of a mission to re-read classics which I read in my youth and get a bit of an old age perspective on it Always love Jane Austen and controversially at least within my circle of friends also really love Fanny Price.

'Black Swan Green' is the only David M I've managed to finish. It was okay - I liked the time period stuff - but I don't remember anything much actually happening. I seem to remember feeling as if it was all a bit pointless and feeling rather cheated at the end. I doubt I'll bother with him again.

Just got a huge hulk of a history book out of the library, about Berlin 1945. I may be some time!

30. Red Rising by Pierce Brown

Wow - This was very good! It started out OK, still quite impressive re originality & world-building. Then a grand revelation and we are in the land of Lord Of The Flies and Ender's Game, with more than a hint of Game Of Thrones, and it is all about a new world (universe?) order, political systems, injustice, cruelty, war and strategy.

All ye lovers of YA, come check out what fiction featuring young people can be when it is NOT dumbed down Read this and then we will talk about how Wool compares (i.e. very poorly), for example.

I have spent all morning holed up at home, having sent DC out with DH under the illusion that I'm working to read through the last 20% of it and I'm grieving that it's over. I'm still in that world, so brilliantly crafted in so much detail, exploring so many inconvenient issues about power, politics, justice, how empires rise and fall etc.

Very much recommended, in case you were wondering

I decided that would be the one to ease me into David Mitchell's books too, southeast. I bought Cloud Atlas when reduced on kindle recently and will tackle it this year after putting it off for so long

Just finished and enjoyed number 22, The Drop, a short-ish story by Dennis Lehane.

It's a crime thriller about an ageing bartender, caught up in mob activity, who suddenly finds himself a dog owner. I believe it's already been made into a film, and it's a little like Galveston, by Nic Pizzolatto.

Ooh, Red Rising sounds right up my street, thanks cote.

Am currently reading world war z and enjoying it so far.

I have downloaded cloud atlas to my kindle, but may save it to read on holiday in July.

53. Black Swan Green by David Mitchell. My first Mitchell novel, and I loved it :) If you were a teenager in the 80's you'll find yourself smiling whenever you recognise the cultural references - I remember all the music Jason Taylor listened to, the films he saw, the terrible fear of the Falklands War and Margaret Thatcher's reign and so much more.

No 45
Dorothy Koomson
That Girl From Nowhere

Koomson's latest, absolutely love her

Clemency Smittson was adopted as a baby and the only connection she has to her birth mother is a cardboard box decorated with butterflies .

She accidentally meets up with her birth family when she moves to Brighton .

Great novel , couldn't stop reading it , koomson's usual twists and turns always keep me hooked

I've read a few reviews in Amazon saying people didn't enjoy this as much as her others but I did

52. Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov. I can't quite decide whether I want to give this 3.5 or 4 out of 5 stars.

I listened to the audiobook read by Jeremy Irons, whose narration was superb (verging on the creepy and disturbing).

Very difficult to say that you like a novel about a paedophile, but the use of language and the skill in the telling of the story is incredibly accomplished. Revulsion and fascination in equal measures.

Nearly finished Black Swan Green by David Mitchell, which I am absolutely loving - the cultural references to the early eighties are so familiar to me :)

Ladies, I will breaking protocol and talk about a book before finishing it because I know there are quite a few fans of dystopian fiction on here and I have stumbled upon a really enjoyable one:

Red Rising by Pierce Brown.

It is not high literature, although it must be said that it is much better written than the dystopian YA that is often recommended on MN. But it has great world-building that is believable although it doesn't go into as much detail as Neal Stephenson's thousand-page books. Fast-paced and interesting, I think it will heartily scratch that dystopian itch many of us are looking to scratch

I'm 41% in and already rationing my reading because I'm hoping that it doesn't end anytime soon. And there is a sequel - yay!

31 - Ring for Jeeves - P. G. Wodehouse.

I have decided that rather than keep downloading new books onto my Kindle, I should read some of the unread books that I already own. I bought a set of Jeeves books over 10 years ago! As far as I am aware this is the only Jeeves novel in which his employer Bertie Wooster does not appear, as Bertie has enrolled in a school that teaches the idle rich to look after themselves.

Jeeves has offered his services to William Rowchester, an impoverished earl, who is trying to sell his stately home. In normal Wodehouse style the story is a farce involving a wealthy American widow, a big game hunter, false bookmakers and a stolen diamond necklace.

An enjoyable, lighthearted read.

Hi Cote, I've read most of that series and I have one still in my tbr pile. It always takes me longer to get to books I own, as the library ones feel more pressing...

Sympathies all round for the doctor-prodding.

Cote, interesting to read your comments on Barbara Nadel's latest. I don't know Turkey well enough to have picked up on those aspects.

56. Curtain Call, Anthony Quinn. Set in 1930s London, the author clearly relished describing the demi-monde: drag queens, fags, tarts, actresses, society painters, theatre critics and blackshirts. The murder mystery was bolted on rather awkwardly, presumably on the basis that crime sells. I wouldn't say I loved it, but it was a lively picture of its time and place.

57. The Buried Giant, Kazuo Ishiguro. Old man and woman go on a journey to find their son in Dark Age Britain encountering ogres, a dragon, one of King Arthur's knights and various others along the way. Why has everyone lost their memory, and is that the only thing preventing conflict between Britons and Saxons? Found it reasonably enjoyable on a superficial level (it passed the time on a train journey), but I felt the story didn't attain the profundity of a fable the author was clearly aiming for. That's partly because I reject the idea that conflict is based on historical grievances - that confuses justification with cause. I believe violence always boils down to conflict over resources. While those involved nearly always argue that "It's always been us against them because of the bad things they've done to us", that just doesn't explain why conflicts erupt in some times and places and why they don't. As I don't find his underlying premise compelling (should we forget?), his fable lost its point for me.

58. Happily ever after: celebrating Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice,
    Susannah Fullerton. Not as much insight as Bitch in a Bonnet, and not as original as Paula Byrne's A Life in Things. Early chapters borrow a lot from Jane's Fame by Claire Harman. Later chapters lean heavily on Google - P&P-based erotica! Amusing academic articles! (eg. Jane Austen and the Masturbating Girl). Okay, but there are better books to read about Jane Austen.

Have to get stuck into H is for Hawk as it's due back at the library soon.

I'm halfway through Vikram Seth's monumental and most enjoyable soap opera A Suitable Boy but I need a break from it for a bit. I've been comfort-reading some children's books, old and new(-ish); introducing my 6yo DD to Harry Potter for the first time (and my first time too; I loved the two I've read and DD is entranced and hooked!).

33. The Borrowers, Mary Norton
34. Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, J.K. Rowling
35. Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, J.K. Rowling
36. The Magician's Nephew, C.S. Lewis

I'm now reading Major Pettigrew's Last Stand by Helen Simonson and will soon get Marina Lewycka's Various Pets Alive and Dead out from the library on the basis of a review up thread.

Really thinking of all of you who are undergoing health investigations and scan results. to you.