50 Book Challenge 2016 Part Two

I've read Tinker Tailor Soldier Soy and Constant Gardener by le carre both were all right I thought. Less trashy than I was perhaps expecting.

Although actually Remus you should probably iignore all my recs as my fiction reading on the whole is definitely at the trashy end of the scale

Have you read Alastair Maclean's books? Again, still in print, and Amazon reviews suggest they still read well. They're mainly 2WW based IIRC (hence why I've never liked them so much, I prefer more modern thrillers/spy novels).

Currently have just started and enjoying so far Europe in Autumn, which I think lots of others have read.

50s is about as late as I'd ideally want to go. The 70s are my lifetime, so don't feel enough like history yet!

Have read 'Kim' and hated it. Sorry.

Historical spy stuff - would Rudyard Kipling's "Kim" fit the bill? 50p on Kindle.

Interestingly, I've just had a look and Desmond Bagley's books are still in print, and amazon reviews suggest that they still read well. So maybe if the 1970s counts as historical (and you haven't read them before) they'd be worth looking for in the library too. I'd say Running Blind and High Citadel are good examples of his books.

I might give 'The Spy Who Came in from the Cold' a go, if the library have it.

Cote - I don't really 'do' modern tbh, and in terms of spy/crime stuff I really am only interested in historical ones right now. Sorry - am awkward and horrible.

I loved Rebecca.

Re. why didn't she just fire the housekeeper - IIRC, the narrator is portrayed as very shy, nervous, lacking in self confidence and very uncertain of her new position.
She didn't really start to gain confidence until all the revelations at the end of the book, and before then, she probably wouldn't have dared stand up to the housekeeper.

I should say that my tolerance for trashy is very high though - I'd think of writers like Desmond Bagley or Alistair Maclean as trashy for example (though I used to love them, I remember a particularly good DB set in Iceland)

Yes, I think Monarch of the Glen is Mackenzie. He wrote a ridiculous number of books, across a range of genres (Whisky Galore was him too) - many are dreadful, some pretty good.

I don't think Le Carre is trashy, and I can't believe you haven't read at least The Spy Who Came In from the Cold Haven't read any of his books for years (probably something like 20 years) though.

I think there was a time when Le Carré knew how the spy rings worked but he is hopelessly outdated now. His last couple of books that I've read such as A Most Wanted Man were really bad.

If you want to try some modern spy books about intelligence business in the information age, try Charles Cummings starting with A Spy By Nature.

1. The Last Kingdom, Bernard Cornwell This has already been reviewed on the threads so I shall not repeat, other than to say I really enjoyed it. Cornwall does his research really well and manages to write battle scenes without them turning into gratuitous gore-fests. Readers definitely get the sense that this is very early days for the protagonist Uhtred and that he has a lot more story to come.

So, I am promptly moving onto the second instalment of the series, The Pale Horseman

pterobore - I think Rebecca might be on my 'reread' pile as I've not read it for over a decade and remember it being wonderfully written. (Although I do remember questioning why she didn't just fire the housekeeper)

10. The vegetarian by Han Kang. This reminder me why I had a thing for Japanese literature for a while. Ages ago now but might read some more now. I know, this is Korean, nevertheless. Beautiful precise language. I won't tell too much of the story, it's short and very easy to give too much away. A woman stops eating meat, told from the perspectives. Great recommendation!

Biblio - I haven't read any le Carre. Isn't he a bit erm....trashy? Have I misjudged him unfairly?

Stokey By an utter coincidence I bought a Lord Peter W one on Saturday! Am enjoying it enormously thus far.

Sadiq Is he the Monarch of the Glen guy? Don't think I've read any - will investigate. Thank you.

TooExtraImmatureCheddar I love both LeGuin and Rothfuss. I think you are right in that there are similarities but I also think in this genre that it is very difficult to have a completely original story that is not based on something that has gone before. Many fantasy stories have the young hero or heroine who is an orphan or foundling and who attends wizard school and have to battle many evils as they go through the process of discovering their true power and destiny. If you break it down you will find similar veins in JK Rowling, Trudi Canavan and David Eddings for example. The idea of the 'real name' as another example is not uncommon in fantasy literature nor is the idea of a principal fellow student antagonist. I think the voices and narrative in each book are very different (though I must confess that it is many years since I read Earthsea, but are due a reread this year as they are also on dd13's list and we like to read and discuss together). If I remember correctly Ursula LeGuin wrote one of the blurbs for TNOTW and loved it.

Remus - probably not the right sort of thing, but do you like/have you read Compton Mackenzie? Plenty of his books seem to be available as free ebooks, he wrote so much that a lot is trash, but I think the Sylvia Scarlett novels, Sinister Street, Carnval et al are still very readable.

Biblio - reading your review of Lasting Damage I thought it sounded familiar and then realised I had read it some time ago. I'd completely forgotten . Definitely unmemorable for me then!

Dragon - you put it in a nutshell pretty much how I felt about David Mitchell's autobiography. I quite like his tv persona, except sometimes he goes too far. He banged on quite a bit about Cambridge and I began to lose interest. It could have been a lot better. The other David Mitchell (author) would make for an interesting autobiography :)

Remus Some of Dorothy Sayers were cheap on Kindle - though you've probably read her?

I loved Wolf Hall, quite liked My Y - though she clearly didn't know how to end it - and hated Shantaram with a passion

Rivers of London is lightweight fun, I just read something by Benedict Jacka that reminded me of them.

Museum I was talking about My brilliant Friend this weekend. I found it utterly dull, my three friends loved the series and were bereft that it had ended. Made me wonder if I should read the second.

I've just finished Gilead by Marilynne Robinson, another book where nothing happens. I'd read her first Housekeeping in the hazy time between Christmas and New Year and quite enjoyed it, but this one just bored me.

On to a recommendation on here the Exclusives. So far scarily nostalgic, the school is very like my old one!

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
9. Mockingjay (reread)

I've just finished book 4 (I think) Das Glücksbüro by Andreas Izquierdo. This is in German and I very much enjoyed it. About a grey bureaucrat who starts seeing the people behind the forms and trying to help them, finding love and all kinds of other things along the way. There's a satirical edge to it, and I found it very charming, increasingly compelling and unexpectedly moving towards the end.

Posting more because this had fallen off my Threads I'm On than because I have a coherent review.

10-11: The Invisible Library, The Masked City - as pps have said, the concept alone is great. I didn't find the writing as clunky as others have complained, so might reconsider other books I've avoided on that basis

12 - 13 Hidden, Veiled are the 5th & 6th books in Benedict Jacka's Alex Verus series about a mage based in Camden.

5 (I think!) Back Story by David Mitchell The autobiography of the comedian (not the author) I might have enjoyed it more had I been able to read it without mentally hearing David Mitchell reading it to me. There is something slightly disturbing about trying to read a book in the bath and hearing the voice of someone whose public persona is a bit eccentric! Despite all the pretence of self depreciation, it also came across as quite smug and self congratulating.

1. Passenger 23 by Sebastian Fitzek - my first audiobook! It was a freebie from Times+. Completely bonkers and implausible thriller about mysterious deaths on a cruise ship. It is a dramatised reading of a very dark and twisted story translated from German. I am still pretty shocked that the Times have it as their free audio book (for subscribers). It is definitely not for the faint hearted and not for anyone planning a cruise anytime soon! Having said that I was pretty gripped, almost more to see what insane plot twist would happen next.

I can't remember which number I last posted but I think it was book number four.

5 Sophie’s World by Jostein Gaarder
I started reading this book about 18 years ago… And I found it a bit dull and stopped reading it. I can see why now. Whilst the concept is no doubt good, young girl receives letters and lessons from a philosopher who teaches her (and in turn you) the basic teaching of the great philosophers, you just can’t make this exciting…

6 The Fault in our stars by John Greene
I read this in less than a day, I didn’t realise it’d be so short. I think everyone knows the plot. It’s beautifully written and recommended for a quick read.

7 Rebecca by Daphne Du Maurier
I’m sure I’m one of the few people left who hadn’t read this book and didn’t know the story. There’s a beauty in that, finding an absolute classic that you know nothing about. I was completely enthralled by it, and a girl in my office told me that Alfred Hitchcock had directed the film version so I knew it was going to be good. Rough synopsis is a young girl meets a man in the south of France and shortly after meeting they marry, and return to his home of Manderley in Cornwall. But her life and time there is overshadowed by the death of his wife Rebecca less than a year previously. There’s Mrs Danvers who doesn’t like the new wife and this coupled with her own insecurities makes a real interesting lead character. For any audible fans, I listened to this on audible and the woman doing the narration was brilliant, her voices for the characters made really made the story.

Cote, I saw your post and promptly purchased The Martian. I do think I will like it, but I had resolved not to buy any more books this month!

I have a question, lovely readers. Does A Wizard of Earthsea count as 1 book, or is it a quarter of An Earthsea Quartet? I also read The Tombs of Atuan last night. I'm going to review them anyway and I can add my reviews of the last two quarters when I've finished them.

A Wizard of Earthsea and The Tombs of Atuan, Ursula K Le Guin. Slow start to the 1st one - it starts off in very fable-type language, similar to The Silmarillion. It did pick up and I loved the descriptions of the lands. I just spent the entire book going but Patrick Rothfuss has nicked this entire concept in The Name of the Wind! Names, nine Masters, Unmaking, a rich student called Jasper whom the main character hates, an old language that contains all the Names in the world... It was quite distracting, and actually Rothfuss definitely writes in a much more accessible, lively way - I care a lot more about Kvothe than about Ged. But how did Rothfuss get away with that? Did he ask Le Guin's permission? Does he credit her anywhere? Going back to Earthsea, I found the chase after the Shadow not massively gripping, tbh, and there are hardly any characters and you don't even really get to know Ged that well. But, The Tombs of Atuan really got me. I was hooked from the Prologue where Tenar is selected, and I read it in a positive frenzy of hoping that she got a happy ending, because all the horrible ceremonies and stuff were so fucked up. That poor, poor little girl. The dark tombs and the Labyrinth were petrifying too - again, I was too scared to put it down in case something awful happened to Tenar. Again, though, the Undertomb reminded me very strongly of the Underthing in The Name of the Wind, and all the stress on the power of silence in both books was highly reminiscent of The Slow Regard of Silent Things.