50 Book Challenge 2016 Part Two

I know Quog - I should have listened to my 50-Book friends who know me so well and have listened to me rant about hated books for years

RhuBarbarella I've seen a few good reviews of The Vegetarian and like Japanese/Korean literature, so I'll add that to my ever growing pile Have you read Naoko by Kei Higashino? Loved that one, although the last chapter had me doing actual out-loud swears at one of the characters Haruki Murakami's Colourless Tsukuru Tazaki was one of his better, and the 1Q84 series was a good read, if overly heavy/dragged out in places.

Another one who couldn't get on with the Elena Ferrante book either. Think I got about half way through My Brilliant Friend, decided it wasn't doing anything for me and gave up. No regrets :)

Cote - I knew deep down you weren't going to like Rivers of London. It is very silly but I kind of like that. They make no sense but Ben Aaronovitch's sense of humour drives them for me. He's having fun churning them out writing them and I'll stick with them until they are no longer amusing me. Definitely not in the same category as JS&MN.

Oh sorry, I misread/misunderstood it as 'we don't talk about books we didn't finish!

D'oh.

OK then, I've a few to make up haven't I? [aaarrggghhh]

Yes, we do talk about the books we have tried but couldn't get into or didn't finish and it does generate interesting talk (usually, of sympathy ) but we don't count them towards the 50 books we want to read until the end of the year.

There was quite a bit of debate about this in previous years, with some saying "Well, you count the children's book you read which was only about 50 pages and I managed 100 pages into this book" but in the end it was decided that we could only count the books we have finished.

1. Rivers Of London by Ben Aaronovitch

Well, this was a disappointment. I expected something like Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell or at least like Drood, and got the horribly ugly bastard child of Mr Penumbra's 24-Hour Bookstore (which I thought was sort of OK) and John Dies At The End (which was AWFUL rubbish).

The author can be funny and some of his writing is quite witty, but he has practically no plot and the whole thing is ludicrous. I can imagine his target audience being teenage boys who fancy themselves intellectual readers (as opposed to teenage boys who are barely literate which I am fairly sure was the target audience for JDATE).

I like my speculative fiction but none of this story made any sense, least of all the various lost rivers of London now living as people - some in trailer parks and others partying around the world. Very disappointing and unworthy, imho. Unsurprisingly, the author has managed to churn out 3 of these books in 18 months, but I won't be bothering with the sequels.

Oh, I didn't know that. I'd have thought that was just as useful/interesting as saying what we HAD finished though; surely if it creates a bit of conversation then it can't be bad?

OnlyLovers - I'm going to be that terrible person who tells you that on these threads we don't count books we haven't finished, especially the ones where we "didn't get very far". Sorry!

ANother one here who really struggled with Elena Ferrante. It was so long winded & I never engaged with any of the characters.

I so wanted to enjoy it!

Stokey - Thank you. Yes, that's what I thought. And now I see that she is out of the Area. Ah well. It looks like another great ride anyway

Stokey, thanks for coming out about not liking Elena Ferrante! I did slightly wonder if I was the problem, not them...

Cote IIRC it ends with her finding all the journals in the Lighthouse and deciding that she is going to follow her husband up the coast, knowing she'll probably die doing so. It doesn't end where the next one starts!

OnlyLovers relieved someone else didn't get on with the Elena Ferrante book, think they must be a bit marmite.

Just finished The Exclusives - Rebecca Thornton. This is about two best friends in a girls boarding school in the 1990s where something bad happens and their friendship falls apart. The narrator has a mother with schizophrenia and a detached husband,as opposed to her best friend who comes from a stable family. The story flips between present day and 20 years ago.

It's a good page turner, easy read, but I find it hard to distant myself as I think I know the place she based the book in.

Thanks, Slightly, that's helpful.

Moving, I don't think Lean In is preachy or purely high flier. It's useful for me as a part-time non-high-flier who still wants interesting work and decent pay. But a lot have a very strong negative reaction to it - worth grabbing a Kindle sample before spending money, to see if it massively pisses you off.

I'm finally back! Have been doing an OK amount of reading but not getting round to listing it.

So, carrying on from the last thread:

5 Spill Simmer Falter Wither, Sara Baume
Summarised very well by someone else above, so I won't blither on. Loved it though; it's very sad and wise and beautifully written.

6 A Brief History of Seven Killings, Marlon James
Slightly ashamed to say I didn't finish this one. I loved some of the language and situations, but found the denseness of it too overwhelming in the end. It also made me feel distinctly under-informed about that period of history in the US and the Caribbean, as well as the years immediately preceding (JFK/Bay of Pigs etc). If I weren't so busy with work at the moment, I like to think that I'd take the opportunity to read around and learn more about it so I could appreciate the novel more, but I just haven't done so.

7 The Book Collector, Alice Thompson
A period and premise that are right up my alley (Edwardian England; the totally socially acceptable/sanctioned practice of 'diagnosing' as mad or having 'nervous disorders' of any women who dare to speak up, and the).

The central question is, is this woman genuinely troubled or is her husband manipulating and setting her up?

All very much the kind of things I like, but the novel itself wasn't quite good enough. Some of the language was very 21st-century and very jarring, and it's riddled with editing and proofreading howlers. I finished it; it's interesting enough to get through, and not very long –but it could have been very much better.

8 My Brilliant Friend, Elena Ferrante
I didn't finish this (didn't get very far in, in fact). I found the writing and the narrative voice utterly flat; I didn't care about anyone or any of the situations. It's a pity because the setting of a poorish, working-class Italian neighbourhood is a quite unusual one and one I would in theory like to explore; but the book just left me totally cold. A huge disappointment.

9 The Little Red Chairs, Edna O'Brien
Don't want to say too much about this as I think readers will benefit from an element of surprise.
A mysterious man, possibly eastern European, comes to a small Irish town/village and sets up as a healer. People fall for him in different ways. Who is he, though?
Just about to finish this. It is gripping and simultaneously a very hard read; takes you to some very very dark places. Generally I'm loving the writing (this is my first of her novels), although occasionally someone who isn't Irish uses a structure that sounds like an Irish person and jars a bit; and the way it uses commas wrongly and badly has been mildly irritating me throughout.
A quite remarkable novel overall, though, and I'll try at least one more of hers when I finish this. Quite excited at the thought of having an author with an extensive back catalogue to work my way through.

I can't keep up with you all.

I'd second Charles Cummings as writing great spy fiction.

Stokey & wilting - Would you remind me what happened at the end of Annihilation (Southern Reach #1) with the biologist etc? I started Authority (SR #2) and realize that I don't remember how it ended. Thank you

15. Apple Tree Yard - enjoyed this immensely. Juliet Stevenson is such a fine narrator and she probablymade a merely good storyline into a brilliant listen. If you're after an easy, well-written psychological thriller, then I highly recommend it.

Think I need a career reboot and am wondering about whether to read Lean In or Lean Out, read mixed reviews about the former and not much other than on feminist chat about the latter. Think people on here have read LI, would you recommend it? Don't fancy something preachy or telling me (as a current non-high flier) how to manage my nanny while work smart over 5 days rather than mummy track part-time etc etc. But maybe it's not like that?

11. Cross Stitch by Amanda James

The sequel to A Stitch in Time. It's about a woman who travels through time putting wrongs to right (but is nothing like the TV programme Quantum Leap). It's easy to read silliness really.

TooExtra I think the four parts of the Earthsea Quartet as four different books. I'm pretty certain they were originally published separately. The Tombs of Atuan is one of my favourite books (hence the first part of my nickname) and reading your thoughts on it is making me want to read it again (it's been far too long). I'm also quite excited and also apprehensive to see that Patrick Rothfuss' books are similar. I downloaded them on to my Kindle ages ago but haven't got round to reading them yet. I'm hoping I'll love them as much as the Earthsea books and they won't just seem like a copy.

Remus - Have you read Ashenden by W Somerset Maugham? Apparently it's based on his own experiences spying in 1914. Obvs predates Cold War but may have historical interest?

www.theguardian.com/books/2013/jun/26/classic-spy-novels-top10
fivebooks.com/interview/jeremy-duns-on-forgotten-cold-war-thrillers/
Any help?

I knew there was a reason I like you so much! I am bloody awkward though!

I think I want sort of early Cold War stuff if I'm honest. Have read a couple but it's a period I know little about, so would be interested in learning more.

"Sorry - am awkward and horrible."

You're funny and lovely - Why would you call yourself awkward and horrible?

I'm not against old school spy fiction on principle but Le Carré's just hasn't been doing it for me for a long time, especially since he started writing about post-9/11 without a clue for how the intelligence business runs in the modern age.

Sadik

Spy obviously, I don't think he has much to say about Asian cuisine, but I could be wrong.