50 Book Challenge 2016 Part Three

Gosh Chessie 40 books already, impressive!

Eitak. Agatha Christie is my comfort read, took me through my first labour!

18. Secret Smile - Nicci French. A thriller about a girl who has a brief fling with a guy and ends it when he tries to move in to her flat after about 3 dates. He then starts dating her sister, ingratiating himself into her family and spreading it around that she broke up with him. It was readable but not that convincing, I think it lost me quite near the start when the names of the children were Kerry, Miranda and Troy. They just seemed such random names to put together in a family I realise this is a bit of a weird reason for not liking something

Dinosaurs And yes also to Grendels suggestion of Hons and Rebels - though bear in mind it's necessarily a skewed version of their upbringing given Jessica's later views on her family. You could always start by looking at the Wikipedia entries for each sister and establishing if you want to take on a fuller read.

DinosaursRoar I'd start with The Mitford Girls by Mary Lovell, or The House of Mitford by Jonathan Guinness (Diana Mitford's eldest son by Bryan Guinness). They are fairly lengthy but then there were six sisters to get through! Once you're more into it then you should read The Mitfords - Letters Between Six Sisters, edited by Charlotte Mosley (Diana's daughter in law). Not to mention all the stuff they wrote themselves, of course.

Sorry to hear your news eitak22

40. The Good Neighbour by Beth Miller

Meh. A woman gets a new neighbour who seems really nice but woman then starts noticing odd things about new neighbour. This dragged at first, got a bit better in the middle but the ending was poor. None of the characters was particularly likeable and there were too many plot holes ( for example no-one mentions going to police or social services which would be the obvious thing to do! It just doesn't even seem to occur to them that it is an option!!). Don't think I'll bother with anything else by her.

I must be the exception re Durrell - My Family is still one of my favourite books as an adult and still makes me laugh out loud!

OH, also, the Baileys Prize longlist was announced last night! Anyone keen on reading some of the novels? I'd already read A Little Life, Rush Oh! and Girl At War. I've now requested Ruby, Whispers Through a Megaphone, The Book of Memory, The Glorious Heresies, The Improbability of Love, and The Short Way to a Small Angry Planet. Such excitement!

eitak and hugs for you. Reading through bereavement is a very strange experience but can be very comforting. I lost a dear friend several years ago and found that cosy mysteries did it for me, but Harry Potter also sounds absolutely perfect.

DinosaursRoar If you're looking for something on the Mitfords, why not read Jessica Mitford's own autobiography? It's called Hons and Rebels and it's utterly fab.

Just finished my own number 24. Freya by Anthony Quinn (who also wrote Curtain Call, which was a hit last year). It traces the friendship of two young women from VE Day through their Oxford years to London in the 1960s. One becomes a novelist, the other a journalist, and their friends become MPs, playwrights, photographers and so on. You could describe it as "old-fashioned storytelling" but that would minimise Quinn's incredible talent for capturing the essence of someone's character, setting a scene, using colour and texture and scent to evoke an era, and so on. I thought it was wonderful--and great on the many undercurrents of female friendship.

eitak sorry to hear about your dad. I agree Harry Potter is probably the way to go. When my dad died, nearly 1.5 years ago, I was in the middle of the Game of Thrones books, which admittedly are not exactly comfort reading, but I found it helpful to have a long running saga to fall back on. Also, dad would have hated GoT, so it was something 'separate' from him; I was never thinking I wish I could discuss it with him etc., which I did feel when I tried to read a book he would have loved, which I just had to set aside for later.

Thanks everyone for the sympathy and flowers. Decided listening to Harry potter audiobooks is the way forward, always find it interesting what peoples comfort books are.

Really sorry to hear about your father eitak . My Dad passed away last summer. I really miss him but keeping busy (and of course reading!) has really helped. Rereading old favourites like Pride and Prejudice and Jilly Cooper's Rivals has helped me through some tricky times.

I am still wading through I Know This Much is True, still 700 pages to go. I have also started reading a rather enjoyable thriller just to keep me ticking over. The title has gone right out of my head but the hero is Nathan Mcbride. It's the kind of book you buy in an airport, light and forgettable but a nice break from the depressing door stop that I am determined to finish!

Sad to hear that My Family and Other Animals hasn't aged well, I loved it as a child. I think I'll let it stay in my memory and not try a reread.

So sorry to hear about your dad eitak. Hope you find a book that can bring you some comfort.

Barry I've been admiring the cover of The Watchmaker of Pulley Street for a while - you've convinced me to add it to the ever-growing list.

I remember loving My family and other animals when I was 11ish, read it again with DD and we quite enjoyed it, then tried it on animal-mad 11yo DS recently and he didn't get it at all. I think the humour was lost on him.

Sorry to hear about your dad, eitak. My dad died in October last year. It was an awful time. Reading was a huge comfort.

I read My Family . . . to DD when she was younger (maybe 8 or 9?). I enjoyed re-reading them, she loved them, & went on to read lots of his other books. But she's very, very into animals & wildlife, which I think makes a big difference, as a lot of the appeal was the animals rather than the funny bits.

I'm very sorry for your loss, eitak. I hope you find some comfort in books

eitak heartfelt condolences on your loss. Hope you find something suitably engrossing and comforting to read

shakeitoff couldn't agree more about the Mime Order. I raced through the Bone Season but really couldn't care less by the end of the Mime Order.

Satsuki I agree that I'm not sure the humour has aged too well in My Family and Other Animals. I think the problem is that there have since been many more amusing, light hearted autobiographies of a similar Ilk, and they just do it better! DD1 (11) tried with it, and queried why it was funny at all (though this is a child whose humour highlight is Horrible Histories, so it was may be never going to be a hit there)

So sorry to hear about your dad, Eitak.

I agree that some books do read better at a particular time of year/place. I love Absolute Beginners by Colin MacInnes, but I think it reads particularly well in summer for the same reason.

Mind you, there are limits - I can't remember the name of the book, but I read a very powerful book about an airplane hijack and hostage taking many years back on one my first ever flights . . .

(Come to that, if anyone can ID the novel I'd be very grateful, I had in my mind that it was by Peter Carey of Oscar & Lucinda, and it was certainly published late 80s/early 90s, but it isn't him. A central point in the plot is one dual national hostage's moral dilemma about his decision to show his Irish passport and therefore separate himself from the 'target' American and British passengers.)

eitak sorry for the loss of your dad .

Sorry about your dad, Eitak. I think Harry Potter would be a perfect read - anything that will offer you some comfort and escapism.

Thanks, Meg. Will investigate!

sorry to hear about your dad, eitak. Definitely a time for some comfort reading.

Remus - Smythe is mentioned in the Wade Davis book as 'the greatest mountaineering writer of his century' and survived two nights in the death zone in the 1933 expedition (the first after 1924) - his book Camp Six is his account of that expedition so ought to have plenty of peril...

I am so behind with my list. Looking for some easy reads as my dad has just died so nothing too heavy as need some escapism, may reread harry potter.

So glad that you enjoyed it, Meg. I thought you would!

I don't think I've come across FS. I decided last year though that I only like mountaineering books when full of mortal peril and ideally a fatality or seven. If his can offer any of that, then I'm in! :)

16. Into The Silence - Wade Davis

As predicted by Remus - to whom many thanks for the recommendation - I found this a wonderful book. It chronicles the 1921, 1922 and 1924 expeditions to Everest, culminating in the death of Mallory and Irvine near the summit, and puts them in the context of the Great War and the British Empire.

On a related note, Remus, have you read anything by Frank Smythe?

Oh I want to read 84 Charing Cross Road, but it never seems to be in the library when I go (and then find other things to read so don't get round to ordering it in!) and for some reason you can't get it on Kindle at the moment. I might just have to get organised and order it in the library shortly!

GrendelsMother - I completely agree re seasons/weather and books. I recently tried to read one that was set in the summer, and when it was cold and stormy outside, I just wasn't feeling it.

Ash1977 - I've never read any books about the Mitfords, but have seen a couple of documentaries that seemed very interesting, what "beginner" book about them would you recommend? Decided to add a few non-fiction in this year.

Totally agree re 84 Charing Cross Road - an absolute joy of a read.

Book 29 How to be a Victorian by Ruth Goodman
This was okay. If you’re interested in Victorian life but haven’t yet read an awful lot about it, this would be the perfect book for you. For me, I found that I’d read most of the information before and that it didn’t therefore add an awful lot to my knowledge. I also found the authorial voice rather too intrusive at times. All in all though, an informative and easy read. I particularly enjoyed the section on sport and leisure.