50 Book Challenge 2015 Part 4

53. 'Smut, by Alan Bennett.

Book 96 - 'A Day to Die For' by Graham Ratcliffe
An account of the 1996 Everest disaster, by a British climber who was on the mountain as part of a different group. I really disliked this book. In its entirety it had probably fewer than 150 pages about the actual disaster, and hundreds of pages about the author, who, frankly, I wasn't interested in. It claims to be about revealing the truth of events, and has apparently upset many of the climbing community, but all it really does is write about a long search for information about the weather, so there's a lot of, 'I sent an email but he didn't reply' stuff, which, sadly, really doesn't make for interesting reading.

I appear to be reading a lot of extremely disappointing books this year, and this was one of the most disappointing. I wish I hadn't bothered finishing it - but I've given up on so many too, that I thought I should persevere. Am not a happy bunny!

62. Crooked Letter, Crooked Letter by Tom Franklin. Top-class Southern Gothic mystery set in rural Mississippi. This has a great story, sympathetic characters and tons of atmosphere. Highly recommended to John Connolly/James Lee Burke fans.

79. Stone Mattress by Margaret Atwood. A collection of short stories which I enjoyed mostly. I'm coming round to the short story genre very gradually, having avoided it for a long time.

Still enjoying Awful Auntie by David Walliams and have started A Song For Issy Bradley by Carys Bray.

Just downloaded Enchanted April (99p on Kindle). Thanks for the recommendation esio.

52. Penny Vincenzi - A Perfect Heritage. Just what I needed, a good old fashioned blockbuster, this one about the cosmetic industry.

27. Irene by Pierre Lemaitre, I finished reading it before reading the recent comments on here. It was gruesome I agree but for me it was in the same vein as the Scarpetta books by Patricia Cornwell which are really horrible too, but don't seem to really stay with me. I found the violence shocking but also so unreal that it didn't really upset me for some reason. I find other books much more upsetting and long lasting in my mind (A Fine Balance, the Narrow road to the deep North, any book about the Holocaust). Having said that, I don't usually read these serial killer type books any more (I liked them in my late teens, early twenties ) and I have no plans to read any more.

I have just started a thriller called Kolymsky Heights which I am really enjoying so far, I love a good thriller on holiday!

There is a film of Enchanted April. Was made a long time ago now with Miranda Richardson and Joan Plowright iirc. Was very beautiful scenery

Yes bibliomania : would love to see a film in it starring the two Dames - Maggie & Judi !

It is a lovely book, isn't it esio? I don't think I'm the one who recommended it, but it's sheer pleasure.

Read (86) Romantic outlaws : the extraordinary lives of Mary Wollstonecraft & Mary Shelley by Charlotte Gordon. Adored this - they led such interesting and difficult lives. Interesting from the point of view of feminism, the interplay between Enlightment and Romantic values, how posterity has understood and misunderstood them, and simply as a rattling yarn.

(87) A Question of Belief, Donna Leon. A day after finishing it, I couldn't tell you anything that happened, but I enjoy this just as an evocation of life in Venice.

No 61 The Enchanted April by Elizabeth von Arnim

Thanks so much for the recommendation ( can't remember who it was )

4 ladies rent out a medieval castle for a month in Italy
It was published in 1922 so gives a wonderful depiction of what life was like for women in that era
Four very different women get to know one another .

Brilliant book xx

66. (I think) Desert - J.M.G Le Clezio

I had never heard of this Nobel prize winning author until I got a recommendation from GoodReads and there happened to be a copy at my local library.

This was amazingly powerful and poetic writing alternating between the stories of two characters set mainly in the North African deserts, although there is also a large chunk set in Marseille. Nour's story is set around the start of the twentieth century, when the French are taking over the native territories and essentially massacring the desert tribes. Lalla's story is set towards the end of the twentieth century and she is one of the last survivors of the tribe of the Blue Men.

Not a huge amount actually happens in this novel, it is almost all lushly descriptive writing, but I found it really beautiful and hypnotic to read, though in places it is tragic. The endless descriptions of the heat, light and dust of the desert caught my imagination.

Ok, I am off on holiday for two weeks tomorrow and I don't know if this means I will do more reading (sitting by the pool) or less reading (stopping children from drowning in the pool). We're in rural France so not sure about broadband access either. We'll see!

58. Revenger by Rory Clements

John Shakespeare, former intelligencer in the service of the late Walsingham, is summoned out of his new profession as a school master by first the Earl of Essex and then Robert Cecil. Essex wants him to find a woman from the disappeared colony Roanoke in the new world but who is now believed to have been seen in London. Cecil wants Shakespeare to find vital papers which are now in Essex's possession and to seek out a threat believed to hang over the Queen. But as Shakespeare infiltrates the dissolute world of the arrogant Earl of Essex, he discovers that he and his family are also targets.

26. An unpublished book by a friend, I won't name it in case of being outed!

36. An Officer and A Spy by Robert Harris. This is a thriller set in Paris in the late 19th / early 20th century and based on the true story of the Dreyfus case. A French Jew has been found guilty of passing military info to the Germans, but the new head of the French secret service starts finding discrepancies in his case. This is not the kind of book I would normally choose (it was a present) - slightly to my surprise I read it quickly and with enjoyment.

Returning to the earlier chat about male / female writers, is this an example of the "dick lit" genre??

35. The Girl on the Train - lots of reviews on this, I found it an enjoyable but very pedestrian holiday read, preferably in one sitting. Ok, but seriously not worth the great praise heaped upon it. I was pulled in at the beginning by Rachel and the collapse of her life. Don't think I would bother to try any more by this author.

33. Hyperion - Dan Simmons. I read this years ago. This time around it was on audible and it was fantastic. Six pilgrims have been sent to the planet Hyperion to look for help from the Shrike. Each tells their story and while at the beginning there does not seem to be any obvious connection as the stories unfold we see how they are all coming together. I will download the follow up The Fall of Hyperion soon and will give a more comprehensive feedback on both then.

34. Dwarves - Markus Heitz. I really enjoyed this. This is first in a trilogy and tells the story of a dwarf who was raised with men and is sent by his wizard boss to deliver some artefacts. On his journey he discovers other dwarves for the first time and an evil that is taking over the land and killing everyone in the process. Tingundil is charged with forging a sword to put an end to the evil and with a merry band of fellow dwarves and humans set out to complete the task. If you like LOTR type fantasy then you will like this. I am looking forward to finishing the trilogy (whenever I get through the pile of books beside my bed and on my kindle)!

35. Something Wicked This Way Comes - Ray Bradbury. I have had this on my to read list forever and it came up as an audible daily deal recently so I bought it and listened to it around the house. I could not turn it off I was terrified and loved it in equal measure. This is the story of two boys Will and Jim and their battle against the evil that comes to town in the carnival of Mr. Dark and Mr Cooger. This is probably one of the most exquisitely written books I have ever read. I couldn't do it justice right now as I am still processing it and my stomach actually clenches with the memory but oh my it was fantastic.

I am off on my holidays tomorrow and have high hopes to read a lot. I have the Farseer Trilogy by Robin Hobbs, Anno Dracula, The Magpies, The Gospel of Loki and a few others on my reading list for the next three weeks.

34. Big Little Lies-Liane Moriarty - I had this as an audio book and thoroughly enjoyed it, good narration and a fast moving plot. She definitely has the knack of writing successful popular fiction, a good holiday read. The story of playground politics in a wealthy Sydney suburb. I think she really hits the nail on the head on how people actually feel about things compared to what they may say out loud.

That sounds like an utterly vile book - Cote and Wilting. I bought Alex a while ago in a Kindle sale - think I shall delete it without reading. I am sensitive to anything involving the death/injury of children, so that series will definitely be off my reading list.

I've managed to get my hands on an Antarctic book, three mountaineering books and a historical murder book this week, as well as a load of free Kindle classics, so I may be some time! (And, 'The Invisible Library' is looking increasingly as if I won't bother finishing it).

51. A. J. Cronin - The Citadel. Re-read of an old favourite about a young idealistic doctor starting out in the Welsh Valleys who lets ambition get the better of him when he moves to London.

Don't worry, wilting, I'm really not blaming you. You couldn't have known. I knew from the moment Irène was introduced that a heavily pregnant woman would die but the baby torture was way over a line in the sand that I never want to cross again, frankly.

That sounds horrible Cote . I will avoid.

Cote even reading your post has made me feel panicky, so that's definitely not one for my read list!