50 Book Challenge 2016 Part Five

Interesting dreams Remus

Like that bloody awful film version of Mansfield Park where Mary Crawford semi-seduces Fanny Price. Or did I dream that? Ugh. Don't mess with Jane (unless it's Clueless or zombies)!

Remus your post about Jane Austen and food reminds me of a lecture I attended at university where the lecturer was trying to argue that Jane Austin was gay.

Book 75
Jane Austen and Food by Maggie Lane
I didn’t like this at all, even though in theory it sounded very me. It was laboured and boringly written, with the author intruding far too much into it. It’s an attempt to find all sorts of deep meanings in Austen’s mentions of foodstuffs, but, to use a horribly unfitting analogy for a vegetarian, I thought it was all stuffing and no meat. It was silly at best and downright annoying at worst. I really, really don’t recommend this.

Not doing v well at the mo. Stalin is too depressing, and the history of Germany I'm reading is infuriatingly badly written by a man who a) thinks he's funny and isn't and b) appears to have no idea how to punctuate. It's also got pages and pages and pages about churches and crusades and stuff, which I just haven't got the patience for. Would it be too naughty to skip to about 1850 or so?

55. One by Sarah Crossan. I loved this. It's a quick read, young adult in style. Written in short sections of blank verse, it tells the story of the lives of conjoined twins Tippi and Grace who are teenagers. Funny, and sad in equal measures. Recommended.

56. Where My Heart Used to Beat by Sebastian Faulks. Not keen on this story. A bit dull, dragged, with rather too much navel gazing. But if you like Birdsong then this one might appeal too - WW1 and 2. I was a bit bored by it tbh.

57. Go Set a Watchman by Harper Lee. Nowhere near as good as TKAM but makes a good companion piece.

45. Dead in the Water -Aline Templeton I started off enjoying this series of police procedurals about Inspector Margery Fleming set in Galloway but this is the second poor one I've read. Don't know if I'll bother with another.

46. A Game For All The Family - Sophie Hannah I should have listened to all the warnings on here. This was truly dire. I won't be reading another of hers.

Now reading This Thing Of Darkness. I have John Lydon's autobiography from the Kindle sale (highly recommended by my dad), a Stuart Maconie book and a pile of political thrillers (inspired by the recent and on going turmoil) all waiting for me.

book 24 Harry potter and the goblet of fire not as good as poa but not as plodding as the first two books. There was a bit too much padding with the whole house elf thing. Next book The time traveller guide to Elizabethan England.

The American Boy is there too - I really liked it.

Okay - have bought:

The Things They Carried - have been wanting to read this for ages.
John Connolly - Charlie Parker series first 4 (might hate these but have seen people on here liking them)
The Bird Box - read a sample ages ago and quite liked it.

Anatomy of a Soldier is there too, if anybody has more patience than I do for very self-conscious modern war stuff. I thought it was clever but got a bit tired of its cleverness and just wanted it to get on with the story.

Found it!

Link to the sale, please? Think I'm being dim!

Hope you like Little Grey Men, Satsuki, and southeast, we'll have to compare notes on Waiters!

65. I'm not with the band, by Sylvia Patterson

Memoir of pop music journalist. I'm just about old enough to remember Smash Hits in the 1980s, so plenty of familiar names from the past. I didn't find her encounters with the artistes (ahem) all that compelling, to be honest, but I like the way she evoked the various zeitgeists she's lived through (1980s to now) and her allusions to her own life - the choice of a financially-perilous career, the poor choice of men in the past, coming to terms with her mother's alcoholism.

I'll confess to not really enjoying Hotel du Lac. It's the kind of thing I expected to like, but it was all a bit gloomy for me. Look on the bright side, woman, you're on holiday.

(But I didn't get on with Fahrenheit 451 - I found it too shouty and 'of it's time'. Reminded me too much of the sort of faintly political plays I endured watched at the student union in uni days where everything was a bit manic and it was important to make a point . This could well be because many a crap student playwrite wanting to give a message had been influenced by this book in the first place...)

Ahh! I knew I should hide this thread today - had already ordered 6 books from the sale, but now you've suggested others, I'm tempted!

I'm going to have to pay Hotel du Lac as well aren't I? This is going to fill my summer up!

Hmm, what to buy? I remember reading Hotel du Lac years ago and liking it. Think I'll get that, and maybe All The Light We Cannot See. In danger of having more books than I can possibly read in a lifetime

I also apparently bought Olive Kitteridge, my emails inform me!

I'm really in two minds about it whippet - overall I'd say I did like it, as I was going to bed early to read it towards the end, and have been thinking about the subjects covered in it since, but it's hard to say it unequivocally when I spent weeks not picking it up I wonder if I'd had more time to get through more of the first half in one go (if Brexit hadn't happened in the middle) instead of in distracted chunks I'd have a different view. It felt like I was in that hotel waiting for a month, which I get was possibly the point and if so, very cleverly done on her part I disliked the ending but accept that it's because I'm a puritanical romantic and it didn't sit right with me; it didn't make it bad. I have Bel Canto on my Kindle so I will be revisiting her!

I've never heard of the Little Grey Men biblio, thanks.

Ah, happy days with the Kindle summer sale!

I have enjoyed purchasing the Hilary Mantel, the book on Alexander Von Humboldt called The Adventures of Nature (I got this for my dad for xmas and he enjoyed it) and Ruby by Cynthia Bond. A lot of the other good ones I have already purchased and are sat on my Kindle as yet unread

But Fahrenheit 451 is one of my top three favourite books of all time!

I really enjoyed all of State of Wonder and didn't mind the slow first half at all Satsuki. It's made me very keen to read the rest of her novels. It's funny how we all like different things. I thought your comments on Huck Finn were very astute by the way.

I bought:

• The Little Grey Men by BB (childhood classic);
• The Brontes by Brian Wilkes (enjoyed the recent bio of Charlotte, so interested in reading more)

• Waiters to the Rich and Famous: Confessions of a 5-star Beverley Hills Server (I did hesitate before posting this here, but we can't read lofty tomes the whole time).

I know wilting there were so many I couldn't contain myself and spammed the board

I was considering Ayaan Hirsi Ali too - been interested in her story and courage in telling it for years, might just go for it.

Have purchased Hotel du Lac too, just could not resist! Thanks Satsuki!

Can also heartily recommend Middlesex.