50 Book Challenge 2016 Part Three

12. Death of Kings, Bernard Cornwell

Some obvious giveaways given the book title! Alfred the Great, King of Wessex dies having finally made peace with Uhtred. Not surprisingly, there is quite a fall out from his death with uprisings and betrayals, lots of battles and shifting alliances between the Saxons and the Danes. Despite his love for the Danes, Uhtred seems well and truly aligned with the Saxons and continues to lead their armies in fierce battles in the forging of England as we know it today.

Several of the established characters leave the story in this book, some don't appear at all, whilst others become more prominent. There are lots of plot lines still to be developed and others to be resolved which I am looking forward to.

My one criticism of the overall series is that Uthred seems too much of the hero. He does have some 'negative' qualities (his arrogance and intolerance of Christianity, including his disdain of his Christian eldest son) but nothing to make him truly dislikable, or more balanced really. I would like to see more imperfections!

Moving swiftly on to 13: The Pagan Lord, Bernard Cornwell the seventh in the series.

Just found this thread; am late to the party (as always) but love the idea of chronicling what I read - although hoping I won't be judged for the trashier choices . Will just start with what I've read in the last few weeks (been unwell so high quantity low quality) and add as I get back to normal!

1. The Pact (Jodi Picoult - re-read)
2. New Beginnings at the Chalet School (yep, I found that thread tonight too!)
3. No Greater Love (Danielle Steel)

Thanks Remus.

I think I'm going to leave The Dresden Files for now.

I will also have to say that I am that the author took the piss with the title of this book. A Brief History? BRIEF?

Joyless - YES. A Brief History Of Seven Killings does need a good editor. Or at least A editor of any kind! I am loathe to give up on a book and usually don't. I have pushed on and made it to 37%. Kindle informs me that making it to the end of this book will take another 7 hours and 9 minutes out of my life. Argh. Can't decide if I should just skim-read to the bitter end.

Here we go:
"The first in a fantasy/crime series. Harry Dresden is a wizard, and private investigator. This was okay - quite diverting, satisfying ending, short and sweet. Not terribly well written, and I'm not sure I liked it enough to bother with any more in the series, but I did quite enjoy it."

Have read the first. Will try to dig out my review. I liked the second one better.

Remus - you may have already noticed this - The Dresden Files Book 1 Storm Front is also 99p on the kindle at the minute.

I was just debating whether to give that series a go given the reduced price.

Also adding Skyscraper Throne as well as Cat Valente to my list. I've had to make a spreadsheet to keep up with all my read / to be read books from this thread

46. The Widow by Fiona Barton.

Very disappointed with this. It was a good premise (widow apparently about to tell all about her husband's alleged crimes) but it was just boring. It jumped around in time too much which I found confusing, and the widow had no personality at all.

Book 35
Fool Moon by *Jim Butcher
The 2nd in the Harry Dresden Files series. I hadn’t planned to read before the 1st one, but it was 99p on Kindle and I was a bit desperate! Actually I rather enjoyed it all. It is v far from great literature but Harry is a likeable if troubled detective-esque figure (he’s a wizard!) and this one had werewolves and evil FBI agents. A fun, easy read.

Wilting - if it's any consolation, I thought The martian was mostly a load of boring, geeky, adolescent twaddle. I only finished it because Cote kept telling me it was brilliant. It really wasn't (imvho!).

Thanks too the the rec of Krakatoa - not read it and it does sound interesting, although I'm not feeling up to anything terribly long or intellectual at the moment so will save it!

Finding it hard to keep up with the thread at the moment but have been ploughing on with the reading. Finished 11. The Never List by Koethi Zan at lunchtime. It was fairly harrowing in parts but I'm not hugely affected by that kind of thing if it's fictional so was able to read before bed at least! The narrator is a woman who had been kept captive in a cellar for three years with three other women, regularly tortured etc until she had managed to escape. The story is essentially about her personal journey when the perpetrator is up for parole, in trying to uncover new evidence which might keep him in prison - related to her friend who had been imprisoned with her but had disappeared from captivity was presumed dead. Lots of psychological control (both in the subject matter and between narrator/author/reader) and in general I thought the book was well written, but the ending was a bit too abrupt for me, almost like the author had been pushed for time before the deadline and left a few loose ends hanging. Though there is a twist in the tale which I did not see coming! Not sure what I'm going to start next, I've got a whole load of crime books at home which I might keep going with. Or maybe something completely different!

to all who have suffered the loss of a loved one. May reading bring you the solace you need.

Cote, I'm afraid that I chuckled at your struggles with Brief History of Seven Killings. I read it just before it won the Booker and felt that it needed a damn good editor. Someone was far too indulgent with Marlon James with all the multiple sound-alikes telling the same story. I actually think it could've been truly great and gave it 4 stars. Despite that, my struggles started past the half-way point, so it does seem likely it's not going to improve for you ...

I still have HHhH to look forward to, but have a few more books to read for my writing challenge

Oh dear LookingForMe, my colleague has been pushing The Tea Planter's Wife after I recommended she read Anne Tyler. She'd been thinking of getting Marlon James and all I did was re-direct her to something she'd find more enjoyable.

whippet, I also really enjoyed Satin Island, a fascinating bit of musing and ruminating. Just the right length though, any longer and it might have become too navel gazing ...

Grendels thank you for the recommendation on the Tottenham riots book, that sounds right up my street.

Grendelsmother23 I will also be adding Radiance to my TBR pile. Sadik DD has also read all Cat Valente's Fairyland books and loved them. I read a blog post by Patrick Rothfuss where he said he wished he had written The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland....

Oooh Sadik give it a go. It's an adult novel (I gather she's better known for her YA stuff).

20. Tom Pollock - Our Lady of the Streets

Book 3 of The Skyscraper Throne trilogy. An excellent urban fantasy series, and this final book in the series is a fantastic and satisfying conclusion. I'd recommend this trilogy to anyone who enjoys reading urban fantasy.

It's difficult to say much about this final book without spoilers for the first two books. Behind the normal everyday London, there's a secret London filled with urban goddesses, train spirits, living statues, the Mirrorstocracy, pylon spiders and more. Features 2 strong female protagonists, young graffiti artist Beth and her friend Pen, who stumble across the hidden London and get caught up in an increasingly desperate struggle.

Quick update on my reads since last posting:

Book 14: A Symphony of Echoes Jodi Taylor. Book 2 in the Chronicles of St Mary. Easy reading bit of nonsence about time travel historians.

Book 15: A Crisis of Brilliance: Five Young British Artists and the Great War David Boyd Haycock. Excellent read about a group of YBA as WWI breaks out. 3 of the 5 became official war artists, all survive. If you're interested in art (and art history), read this. If not, you mind find all the artsy angst a tad tedious! I loved it, but I love art and just smiled indulgently when needed.

Book 16: Blame my Brain: the amazing Teenage Brain revealed Nicola Morgan. Aimed at teenagers, so the neuroscience was easy reading. Basically, teenage brains are different. After all the growing, the teenage years are when the brain does all its pruning and re-organisation. I can't imagine having to continue as normal while all that re-filing was going on! Also covers gender differences, addiction and depression. An interesting read from a writer who's not a scientist.

I've a lot of thread to catch up on and doubtless oddles to add to the TBR list! So, off I go ...

Radiance sounds great, Grendelsmother. I know DD read some of the 'The girl who circumnavigated fairyland . . .' series when she was a bit younger and liked them, but I've not tried any of hers myself.

Ah, I see I am (almost) in the minority with my thoughts on The Martian
I do see what people mean. If he'd sat around crying he wouldn't have got very far. But still...I do love me a bit of navel gazing Cote.

Satsuki, I will definitely watch the film now to see how it compares.

Really, I thought the character in the Martian was not at all realistic! Just a line drawing enabling us to learn what it would take to survive on Mars in that situation. He didn't ring true for me but then I'm not an astronaut

I thought the personality of the main character in The Martian came across strong & clear - I wouldn't have found it realistic if he'd suddenly transformed into some tremendously reflective eloquent type, but showing him spending a lot of effort building a tent for the trek to Ares 4 so he could stand up, conveyed quite clearly how trapped he was feeling (and the team on Earth puzzling until they invented a practical reason). Some people don't reflect, they do, and I like seeing that.

I'm going to straddle the fence here. Normally I would agree with whippetwoman - I like to hear about how a character is feeling, and I think that can be a problem (for me) with many sci fi books which focus more on the technology and less on the characters.

Having said that, I loved The Martian!

Currently reading The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood and really enjoying it. Whippetwoman, if you haven't read this I'd recommend it as a sci fi book which also develops the personality of the main character.

Ha cote I agree, I loved the Martian. Also a bit from an escapist point of view of knowing I would burst in tears (if I had time) and die in that situation, I wouldn't have wanted to read that book