50 Book Challenge 2016 Part Two

Yes Cote, the second one is called Authority. I'll let you know how it goes.

Eurgh. ^stitch

I read Kondo a couple of weeks ago, stich. Some good ideas but a bit bonkers, I thought! I can see the sense in, say, piling up all the toiletries and using them up before buying more, but chucking them all in order to have clear space just didn't sit well with me. Though I am sure I would love the empty space it produced.
I lived in Japan for a while and the houses are minute. Cupboards sizeable.

1. The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying by Marie Kondo

All about Marie Kondo's recommended method of tidying homes, with anecdotes illustrating her love of tidying.

The central message of only keeping things that bring you joy makes sense. Although I was a bit dubious about some of the suggestions.

Ditching just about all the joyless letters with statements and bills and payslips and so on seemed a bit trigger happy, although perhaps I'm biased because we're trying to finish off this year's self assessment form for the taxman. And she suggests putting bookcases in cupboards rather than on display. I think the only way this would work in our house would be if we built a cupboard around the bookcases and I like to see my books without opening extra doors anyway Does anyone know how Japanese homes compare to British homes in terms of typical built in cupboard space?

1. I let you go, Clare Mckintosh. I found this a real "stand by the kettle" read - couldn't put it down. The timelines were occasionally distracting but an excellent thriller.

Grifone he has written a time-travellers guide to Elizabethan England but for some reason I am finding it much harder going than the medieval one. It's been on my bedside table to dip in and out of for over a year!

Greymalkin and remus I haven't read Faulks on Fiction actually, might add it to the list which is already much too long

Hi onemouseplace, I think you could definitely dip in and out of SPQR, especially if you have a classics background-I think I found it easier to keep a sense of a rough time line and remember who key people were reading it one chunk-I think that's why it took me a while to get through. Hope you enjoy it!

MuseumOfHam hope I didn't put you off My Brilliant Friend! It just wasn't really my thing. I'll be interested to hear your thoughts.

I'm onto book 3, Perfume by Patrick Suskind. It's been good so far.

Book 4 Never Again by Martin Gilbert A history of the holocaust.
I would recommend this but it's very harrowing. Martin Gilbert was a lecturer in a London university he was teaching a course on the holocaust and it was suggested by his students that they spend 2 weeks visiting the sites to connect in an emotional way. He writes as a diary speaking about the journey, giving details about each village and town of the population before the war and their fate, also recalling the readings he gave to the students. Eye witness accounts etc. I had to read some absolute rubbish at the same time when it became too much. However I will list them separately. I learnt a lot about the Soviet prisoners of war that I didn't know. I have another of his books to read but not yet

On mine too but currently reading Tipping the Velvet. Which is good but less enjoyable than the gripping (and beautifully narrated by Juliet Stephenson) Paying Guests.

Glad to hear happy thoughts and reviews of Fingersmith! It's been on my TBR pile for ages, unfortunately I can't remember who gave it to me

No, I haven't read anything else by Max Barry. I heard good things about Jennifer Government, though.

Southern Reach - Is that Annihilation etc? I read Annihilation and have the second one on my Kindle. It was very weird, indeed, and I still haven't mustered up the courage to read the sequel.

I read Lexicon a couple of months ago Côte and thought it was great. Last quarter not quite as strong as the start but still a great read. Have you read anything else by him?

I also enjoyed the first two Brilliance books when they came out so look forward to reading the finale.

Have you read the Southern Reach books? I'm just starting the second but not convinced by them. The first was rather odd.

10. Deep Sea and Foreign Going by Rose George. This was recommended in the last thread (under the alternate title Ninety Percent of Everything). It's based on a long trip the author took on a Maersk container ship, plus additional chapters about other aspects of commercial shipping.

I found it interesting, container shipping isn't something I know much about, and of course it underlies so much of the modern economy. The author is a journalist, and I think the book is a development of a series of long articles she wrote.

1. Written In Fire by Marcus Sakey

This was a great end to the author's Brilliance series, previous two books of which I read and loved in 2014. It was a long wait for the 3rd book and it took a while for it all to come back to me, but it was still a great ride!

The tension between "brilliants" (people with extraordinary talents) and the rest of society comes to a head in this last book, with extremists on both sides moving chess pieces in preparation for the upcoming conflict. It sounds like X-Men, but it's done much better - Brilliance series focuses on the political and strategic aspects rather than comic book fun.

I would really recommend Brilliance books as well as Lexicon to those of you looking for well-done and interesting books in this genre.

I think I read a review of Faulks on Fiction which criticised him for having a very white English male-centric view of fiction. I do seem to remember that he mentions Austen though. Not read it. Does anybody know it, and think I'd like it?

Ash - have you read Faulks on Fiction ? I've not read any of his stuff before and I think this one could be of interest to me. Apparently Faulks looks at the depiction of character types (hero, villain, lover etc) in classic fiction.

If you've read it I wondered what you (or anyone else) thought of it?

Hi everyone. Tried to post last night but didn't work. Anyway have finally strted book number 3 'A God in Ruins'. Will leave the Faber novel till January is gone.
Toomature i am not from the Mearns ( bit further south and to the West) and didn't read 'Sunset Song' for Higher. I came to it a bit later and totally loved it. Such a fantastic novel. Beautifully written. Chris Guthrie ( hence my name ) is one of my favourite female characters ever. For those of you who don't know the novel it is well worth a read. Once you get by the dire first chapter it a wonderful read. It is written in Scots but it's quite accessible ( honest). Set just before the First World War and deals with the huge changes that swept across Scotland at that time as well as telling the story of Chris Guthrie.

Finally finished 3. A God In Ruins - Kate Atkinson last night. The last eighth or so just seemed to go on forever, not in a bad way but I was trying to finish to avoid carting two books around on my commute today.

I really enjoyed the book, for me it was really gripping and the characters were hugely sympathetic (with the exception of Viola, but I felt sorry even for her). Don't want to give any spoilers, but I felt that it was an elegiac mourning for the humdrum everyday life denied to so many because of WW2. The twist is not unexpected, but quite hard hitting all the same.

Now onto A Possible Life by Sebastian Faulks. I'm a Faulks fan in general but have had this kicking around on my bookshelf since the point in my pregnancy when I couldn't concentrate on books any more. Have also got his latest lined up for later - Where My Heart Used To Beat. It's been feted as the successor to Birdsong which is one of my two all-time faves (the other being Captain Corelli's Mandolin) so I'm quite excited about getting to it eventually.

1. Deep Hurt by Eva Hudson book 3 of the Ingrid Skyberg series. I like this author for a quick and easy crime read with a strong female lead. She has two series but some characters pop up in both. There is also a standalone book which was disappointing. This was good though.

TooExtra I have Fingersmith on my to read pile, and was already looking forward to it - even more so now. I also have My Briiliant Friend, which has somewhat been damned by faint praise by previous reviewers on this thread. However, it was a Christmas present, and the giver will be expecting to hear my tuppenceworth, so I suppose I better read it at some point.

ElleSarcasmo - I have SPQR on my to-read pile as I got it for my birthday last year. I love Mary Beard (I read Confronting the Classics which is a collection of essays discussing current issues in Classics a couple of years ago which was excellent, but I do have a background in history and Classics) but I've been putting off starting SPQR as it looks like it will take me ages - I should really just start it and put it down and come back to it if it gets too much!

Managing Pain before it manages you by Margaret Caudill.

This is a return to book that I use regularly to help manage my pain levels. Does sections on various causes of pain, and lots of strategies for ways to look at pain differently/manage it.

Too extra Fingersmiths is going on my list!

Hi all

These are my books so far.

1. Career of Evil - Robert Galbraith. This is the third of the Cormoran Stike novels. In this Cormoran (private detective) and Robin (his assistant) are shocked when Robin receives a severed leg in the post to their office. Cormoran suspects three different people from his past and as bodies of more dead women are found. As the pair investigage different leads to find out who is behind the murders they also are facing many private challenges as well as finding out who is behind the murders. I loved the ending and can’t wait for the next one. I like JK Rowling’s adult fiction a lot and this was no exception. Enjoyable page turner.

2. The Amber Spyglass – Philip Pulman. This is the third in the His Dark Materials Books. I listened to this in the car on the school run with the kids. In this final instalment Lyra and Will continue to make their way through various worlds and continue in their battle against evil. It is such an amazing trilogy and the last book is a fitting conclusion. I first read this book I(to conclude the trilogy) when I was pregnant with my now 12 year old in late 2002 and it was amazing to watch her reaction to it. I found the love story between Lyra an d Will even more compelling this time and the very gentle way Pullman deals with religion is remarkable. It generated a lot of discussion with the kids. I The audio was narrated by Pullman with voice actors and it was superb. I would highly recommend it.

3. The Gordonston Ladies Dog Walking Club – Duncan Whitehead. Picked this up on the kindle Christmas sale. One of the four members of the GLDWC in Savannah dies leaving her husband as a very eligible widower. All three remaining members are very interested in him but not all for the same reasons. Add in a couple of other characters, a few quirks, a trip to Paris, a hitman, a little mystery from the third Reich and this made for a quick, easy, mildly entertaining read with a very unsatisfactory finish.

4. Bad Pharma: How Medicine Is Broken and How We Can Fix It – Ben Goldacre. This was a very serious piece of work looking at the pharmaceutical industry and practices. I love medicine and I love science and as someone with a background in research and evidence based policy I found this fascinating, terrifying and scary. It is not anti Pharma but highlights where there is need for more accountability and better practices so that when doctors are making decisions about treatment that they have all the information they need to make informed decisions. Great book.

5. Neuromancer– William Gibson. I first read this as a teenager and picked it up on an audible daily deal some time back. It is too complex and the narrative doesn’t always flow to work well as an audiobook in my opinion but I still loved it. I had forgotten what a great opening line (The sky above the port was the colour of television – tuned to a dead channel) and closing line(He never saw Molly again) it had.

I am now on The Gospel of Loki by Joanne Harris (paperback) and A Symphony of Echoes (St Mary's Jodi Taylor) on kindle. On audiobook on the school run we are listening to Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone and around the house and walking the dogs I am listening to Christopher Hitchens God is not Great. Lastly night time read with the kids is David Almond - The Boy who Climbed in to the Moon.

Quogwinkle I listened to the Time Traveller's Guide with my daughter last year and she loved it so much she asked for the paperback for Christmas. It is a great book. I must look to see if there are more by the same author.

I also enjoyed Gossip from the Forest. It's a bit different, and I liked the mingling of real forest walks with the looking back to traditional fairy/folk tales. A lovely book.