50 Book Challenge 2016 Part Two

Just looking for some moral support. Trudging my way through the dubliners by James Joyce at the moment please tell me that there is light at the end of the tunnel. It wouldn't mind but I put Ulysses as well on my list why do I feel this is going to end badly

1. Ancillary Justice by Ann Leckie

A 1st book by a female author - I didn't have high expectations for this book, but it turned out pretty OK. There were some good ideas in there, although it reads like a road trip for the most part and neither characters nor the universe the story takes place in were terribly convincing.

'Justice of Toren' was a war ship of an interstellar empire that has blasted many worlds and spread its consciousness simultaneously through hundreds of bodies ('ancillaries'). The ship and all but one of its ancillaries were destroyed and now it lives on only in its last remaining ancillary ('One Eck') who is the narrator and protagonist. This is the story of One Eck's 20-year quest to seek justice.

There were numerous problems with this book, among which:

• Everyone and their dog is called she/daughter/wife/woman etc. There is a half-hearted attempt at an explanation for this in the beginning, like there is no gender in the language, but surely it would have been just as easy to call everyone 'it' and say 'child' rather than 'daughter', for example. It feels gimmicky for no apparent benefit, regardless of whatever point about gender the author thought she was making.

• One Eck is supposedly the consciousness/mind of a war ship, but displays an inexplicable sentimentality & a surprising lack of talent for (or interest in) short or long-term strategy - it actually says "Choose my aim, take one step and then the next. It had never been anything else" as if the concept of planning one's strategy is completely alien to her. Which is of course very odd for an artificial intelligence that used to be a war ship.

• Some of it just didn't make sense. The ship talks about how all her memory was intact except the part where _ happened. How does she know that a non-existent memory is missing?

Anyway, Ann Leckie might one day be a great SF author but she is not there yet. Still, I'm happy to have read it and would recommend it to especially Iain Banks and similar space opera stuff.

Sorry, realised I didn't say what The City and The City is about - it's rather hard to explain, but is basically a police procedural set in two cities which are (literally, not metaphorically) entirely separate but exist in the same physical space.

Has anyone read "Nothing is True and Everything is Possible" by Peter Pomerantsev? Thinking of spending some of my book token on it, as it looks like my sort of thing, but reviews are a bit mixed.

Stitchesintime - re. Mother of Eden, I have to say that both my mum & I liked Dark Eden a lot, but couldn't get on with Mother of Eden. DD did enjoy it, but I felt it wasn't really adding anything to the first book,and didn't get more than about half way through.

11 The City and the City by China Mieville. This was a re-read - I lent my first copy out after having read it once a couple of years back, and it never came back to me. I enjoyed reading it for the second time a lot - although it is a book where not knowing is important, I read it too fast the first time to find out what was going to happen.

Gave up on 10.5 - Triton by Samuel Delaney. The back cover promised 'Interplanetary War . . . Diplomatic Intrigue . . . A whole new way of living" but by page 183 not much had happened beyond rather unlikeable people discussing their sexuality, and some conceptual theatre. I imagine it was very radical in 1977 . . .

Now on Dark Intelligence by Neil Asher (DH's recommendation after my complaints), which has more than enough interplanetary war to make up for it, indeed perhaps rather too much for my taste.

I used to read a lot of sci-fi when younger, mainly short stories, and quite a few Clarke, Asimov etc from my dad's collection, but actually realised I've only read the more obscure/less celebrated novels. Inspired by enjoying my revisit of Wyndham I'm setting about plugging some gaps. Beginning with:

8. 2001 A Space Odyssey by Arthur C. Clarke The discovery of an ancient monolith on the moon leads to an expedition to the far reaches of the Solar System, in an attempt to establish its provenance. This was great. The ideas still seem fresh and thought-provoking; a superb combination of both credible scientific detail and incredible flights of imagination.

I've also managed to miss the film of this so far, which was produced alongside the novel in a collaborative effort between Kubrik and Clarke; something I will be rectifying ASAP.

Re Will Self & J G Ballard - I think there is significant overlap in their writing styles as well as the subjects/themes they choose (e.g. insanity). Not surprisingly, since Self is a big Ballard fan.

I think it would be very interesting to read these three books in this order:

1. The Quantity Theory Of Insanity - Will Self
2. The Atrocity Exhibition - J G Ballard
3. Umbrella - Will Self

... on an increasing scale of brainhurtiness

All three books are on insanity. 1 is a much lighter read (which is why it's perhaps a gentler introduction into the mindscape of these authors. 2 & 3 are about a mind in the process of breaking down (observed from the inside). It is hard not to be in awe of both authors after reading 2 & 3 imho.

(FWIW, fans of Shock Of The Fall really should read the books 2 & 3 above, if only to see what a far more ambitious and challenging book about mental illness could look like)

1. Lisbon Encounter travel guide by Kerry Walker.

Fantastic little pocket guide I got from the library for recent trip to Lisbon.

As with all Lonely Planet guides, this was a great companion, a well structured guide with lots of useful and accurate information. I especially liked the way the book is divided into neighbourhoods with highlights for each.

To be honest, whenever I get a travel guide, I always look for the Lonely Planet guides as they are really are excellent. Would recommend.

I haven't read either of those Cote and in fact have been thinking I should revisit Will Self for a while now. I don't think I've read any of his since the Book Of Dave - which I wasn't a fan of - but really liked some of his older stuff and his general lunacy. Same with Ballard really - I read all the Spanish ones when I lived there many years back, and Crash & Empire of the Sun, but would enjoy reading more - the never-decreasing must read list grows again.

I just finished the Nicci French book Blue Monday - it was certainly a light read but I found it rather annoying. It's hard to explain without giving it away but I just didn't believe in the premise that enabled her to solve the crime. I also found the main character, a psychoanalyst, quite unconvincing- on the one hand she obsessively neat and tidy and on the other she wanders around intuitively finding answers from her subconscious.

1. The Versions of Us - Laura Barnett
2. All the light we cannot see - Anthony Doerr
3. Red Rising - Pierce Brown
4. Golden Son - Pierce Brown
5. Flash Boys - Michael Lewis
6. There's Only Two David Beckhams - John O'Farrell
7. Authority - Jeff Vandermeer
8. Blue Monday - Nicci French

My list so far (I'm a bit behind where I want to be )

1: No country for old men by Cormac McCarthy
2: Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel
3: The Memory Closet by Ninie Hammon
4: The Mime Order by Samantha Shannon

5: Currently reading The Beam season 1 by Sean Platt and Johnny B Truant.

I need to get a move on!

Remus - I like the sound of In The Land Of White Death and put it on my Kindle wish list, waiting for its price to drop.

wilting - "Nothing wrong with shaking up your narrative expectations from time to time!"

Oh I agree! And on that note, is like to recommend The Atrocity Exhibition and Umbrella to anyone who likes their brains scrambled

Notjanine - I am but struggling to narrow it down to just one! Already read the Vamishing Act and it was fantastic! Any other recommendations as you seem to understand my taste?

99percent Are you signed up to get the daily Kindle deals email? There is occasionally a good one that comes up there.

From what's currently available I'd recommend The Vanishing Act of Esme Lennox

Have found some great books to add to my wish list from here - wondering if anyone can recommend a 99p kindle book to me please? I have one of the digital credits but nothing is really jumping out at me.
Books I've enjoyed recently are "I am Malala", "the woman who walked in the sunshine" by McCall Smith, "Ready Player One", and "The sense of an ending". I mostly read thrillers in the style of "Room", "The Lie", or "The girl on the train". Open to anything except police procedural types. Can anyone help please?

11. The Lost World by Arthur Conan Doyle

Classic adventure in which the volatile Professor Challenger, having been ridiculed for his claims to have found living dinosaurs in South America, is challenged to provide details of the location so that an investigative expedition can go and find proof of his claims. The expedition is led by Professor Summerlee, who is dubious about Challenger's claims. Lord John Roxton, a big game hunter, also volunteers for the task, as does Edward Malone, young journalist and narrator of the tale, who is seeking an opportunity for adventure after the woman he wants to marry tells him she is only interested in the idea of an adventurer performing heroic deeds in honour of his love. The trio are unexpectedly joined by Challenger in South America and together they journey up the Amazon to the remote and almost inaccessible plateau where ape-men, humans and dinosaurs are found.

You do have to bear in mind when reading that it is a product of its time, so the racial language can be rather grating for the modern reader. Nonetheless, it remains a cracking read, and Professor Challenger is a wonderfully monstrous yet likeable creation.

1. Coraline by Neil Gaiman. This was an audio book, read rather well by Dawn French. I bought it thinking it would be suitable for DS who loves a good scary story but, having listened to, I don't think I'll give it to him just yet - it is quite scary, with all the "other mother" stuff - gave me the creeps .

1. The Life Changing Magic of Tidying by Marie Kondo. I really liked this little book. It's inspirational, full of common sense and I'm finally persuaded to tackle the piles of crap that build up in our house as a result of general family life. Yes I know some of her advice is a bit off the wall, and I don't plan to talk to my house, or my handbag :o or get everything out of the wardrobes and pile it up on the floor and ask myself if each item gives me joy or not (!) but I liked the general message. She admits she's a bit of an eccentric oddity who has loved tidying since she was a little child - that did make me smile.

Haven't decided what to read next. Think I need a break from thrillers, and something light-ish.

6 My Family and Other Animals by Gerald Durrell

First read this when I was about 10 so 30+ years ago, brought it to read with my DC's but got stuck in first. Still makes me laugh out loud and I still drool over the kind of childhood which he had. His descriptions of Corfu are luscious.

Museum I read 300 hours of Edward a few years ago and loved it. There is a follow up book as well.

Going back to the discussion of reading one book by an author and not picking up another one I am afraid that a few fall into that category starting with Sebastian Faulks and Sarah Waters

Just to set out my credentials, my favourite read of the year so far was a first book by a female author which was definitely about feelings and made me cry (How to be Brave by Louise Beech - I recommend it to anyone, except Cote obvs).

1. 600 Hours of Edward by Craig Lancaster This book is narrated in the first person by Edward, a 39 year old man who has a condition which means he prefers to live by his routine, prefers facts to speculation, and has limited social interaction with others. So far, so dog in the night time. But this book has more emotional depth. Over 600 hours (Edward prefers to measure time in hours) a series of events throws him into more contact with others and break from his routine than he has experienced in years, with (we hope) a positive outcome. I cried AGAIN, unexpectedly, at a list Edward compiles of the top 10 Dallas Cowboys games he watched with his father. FGS. This author definitely deals in feelings.

If you have not read anything by this author, I would suggest you try at least one of his other works first (e.g. The Fallow Season of Hugo Hunter or Summer Son) to experience his world in his voice, before doing so through Edward's. All his books feature Billings, Montana, but are standalone stories. My geography of America is woeful, and I finally googled it, to discover it's a real place. It's a lot further north and west than I imagined; I was finding it a bit hard to understand why it was often snowing in the books. Its wiki page is bursting with civic pride and never-heard-of famous people from the town, but makes no mention at all of Craig Lancaster, which in my opinion is a serious omission.

It's definitely overall, a bit WTF but don't let that put you off! Nothing wrong with shaking up your narrative expectations from time to time!

Hmm, Authority is probably the high point from a normal narrative point of view!

I enjoyed the series, but there were no clear cut answers.

Stokey - I have Authority on my Kindle. Good to hear that it is slightly more enjoyable than the first. I liked the first but it left me a little "WTF? ".

I have never read his work but have read a lot of Russian history so it should be jnteresting. The Romanovs fascinate me.

Ash and Anne I'm reading Jerusalem by same author. I loathe it. Can't wait to finish. I'm aware I'm in a minority though as most Amazon reviews are 4 or 5 stars

Ash I saw a hard copy of The Romanovs in a bookshop in France at the weekend and although it is not small, it was not as large as I imagined. I am buying it on Friday as going to see him talk about it in a couple of weeks.