50 Book Challenge 2016 Part Five

Good to hear that monty I'll persevere with it. I'm only a third of the way through so need to break the back of it, and it just feels like I'm watching someone wait for their luggage, check their post, make a call, pop to the shops and not much else yet

Remus & Sadik - Yes, this book was written by the author of that Wool. And it was far FAR worse than Wool, if you can believe it.

21. The Invisible Library, Genevieve Cogman. I enjoyed this for what it was, an easy, light read that was a tad silly in places. I think it would come under the category of light urban fantasy. The premise is that the universe is made up of alternate realities. Existing between these realities is the Library, accessible only by Librarians, whose purpose is to preserve unique books for the various worlds. Irene, a junior Librarian, is sent on a mission to an alternate world to collect a specific book, but, essentially, all hell breaks loose and she has to battle her way to the book, solving mysteries along the way. It was enjoyable enough, and I'd read the others in the series, but it couldn't be said to be masterful writing. Some of the characters weren't fleshed out as well as they could have been, and the plot went a bit daft at points. It made me think of the Dark Towers conversation from the last thread - but instead of a lobster it was a giant metal centipede

Satsuki - I found the same thing with State of Wonder, which is why I read half then put it down for months before coming back to it. I was glad I did come back to it though, the second half was much better. Everything really picked up and got going.

I'm now reading Neurotribes, a book about the history of autism and how our understanding of it has evolved through time. Very well written and well researched.

Lived = loved!

81. The Rosie Project by Graeme Simsion

I really liked this. It's about a genetics professor with Asperger's who starts a project to find a wife, then meets the very unsuitable Rosie and tries to help her find out who her real father is. I lived the descriptions of the professor's lifestyle although I have no idea how accurate it is in terms of Asperger's.

36. Every Day by David Levithan

A YA novel about someone who has no body of their own, but every day wakes up in a different person's body. They've been just taking each day as it comes until they fall in love. It's an interesting concept and quite nicely written, but it feels a bit thin and implausible.

37. Being Light by Helen Smith

A sequel to Alison Wonderland. The main plot line is about a woman searching for her husband who has gone missing after a freak accident with a bouncy castle. It's a quite a light, quirky read, but feels a bit overcrowded with so many characters.

38. Black Dawn by Rachel Caine

Book 12 in the Morganville Vampires series. Silly teen vampire romance. The characters are starting to annoy me.

39. Jesus' Son by Denis Johnson

A collection of linked short stories about addiction. Bleakly evocative.

40. Set Me Free by Daniela Sacerdoti

Book 3 in the Glen Avich series. A woman whose marriage is dying takes her troubled teenage daughter and toddler to stay in Glen Avich where romantic and ghostly things happen. It could have been better, but works OK as a light, fluffy read.

41. I Have Waited and You Have Come by Martine Mcdonagh

Post-apocalyptic novel about a woman who has isolated herself from the communities other people live in. It's well written with a very harsh and quite disturbing feel to it.

looking I read Ulysses in June a few years ago, challenged myself to read it by Bloomsday on the 16th. I'd love to go to Dublin in June and do the route of the book one day.

I'm reading State of Wonder. I'm finding it very slow going. It's not badly written or anything and I'm interested in where it's going, but just not enough to keep reading it. More, "I'll leave it there for now" instead of "just another page".

Placemarking!

Have started to read When She Was Bad by Tammy Cohen

53 The Watchmaker of Filigree Street by Natasha Pulley

More steampunk Victoriana, though without pretence to any form of historical accuracy. I decided to finish this before starting HhHH, and I'm glad I did - the story picked up pace from about half way through. Despite the anachronisms, I found it rather charming overall, the writing was atmospheric, and the plot such as it was enjoyable. It's a first novel, and I'd look out for others by the same author, I suspect they'll be tighter and better written.

Place marking, thanks for new thread southeast.

gailforce1: thank you for that-you have really cheered my evening up!

Tanaqui I don't think I've read that Jean Ure one. I liked A Proper Little Nooryeff and its sequel. Also Plague although that one is quite disturbing!

Just place marking for later!

louisagradgrind Dorothy Whipple is published by Persephone and they have a wonderful website. Each author is listed with a short biography and a list of their books Persephone publish. The books themselves are beautiful and make wonderful presents.
Two D. Whipple I have enjoyed were High Wages and Greenbanks.

Is Wool the thing with people living in silos? If so, I managed about 4 pages too - agree it read like sci-fi written by someone who hated the genre.

Tanaqui, I did indeed find the CC fanfic amusing, particularly the 3rd one where it felt like she'd got into her stride. I was rather tickled by the idea of Lucius Malfoy making money from polyjuice brothels, it seemed so very in character

Marking my page I'll be back

I managed about four pages of Wool and thought it was absolute garbage. If this one was even worse, Cote, then I dread to think to what depths of hideousness it descended.

I'd like to join the thread please.

Not sure how many I've read this year.

Just finished 'They were Sisters' by Dorothy Whipple. She was writing in the 1930s and now I've found her, I intend to read others! Any recommendations for other titles by her?

Isn't it supposed to be Halfway Home, anyway? I don't know why I expect a readable book from someone who can't write the title of his book properly

29. Half Way Home by Hugh Howey

This was crap. His earlier book Wool which was oh so loved by people who never read sci-fi was no great shakes, either but this one reaches a level of awfulness that is just too terrible to talk about. This one is like Trump after W Bush: You thought the 1st was the worst possible, until you get the 2nd and wonder why you hated the 1st so much. It wasn't so bad after all.

Wool was unrealistic, not terribly well thought out, and... well... dumb. This one reads like it was written by a 10-year-old on his two-week Xmas break. I know some of you like reading YA (for a reason unfathomable to me) and I think we all know what I think about YA, but that is about stuff like The Book Thief which at least has a plot and an attempt at writing something worthy. This book had none of that.

Presumably about test-tube teenagers meant to colonise a new world who learned everything from a computer and hatched a little too early, this trash has neither a plot, character development, or anything else that might make a book. I'm not talking about a good book. Just any book. They are just a group of teenagers having fun, worrying about who dates who, and working a bit - i.e. doing what the ship's computer tells them to do. It's fucking boring and so nonsensical that it insults the reader's intelligence.

There was a tiny bit of a story line towards the end (last 10%) but it was too little, too late. That could have been developed to make this a short story and then perhaps it wouldn't be as shockingly awful.

Bringing my list over from the other thread, as well:

28. Dark Fire by C. J. Sansom (Shardlake #2)
29. Reaching Down The Rabbit Hole: Extraordinary Journeys Into The Human Brain by Dr Allan Ropper
30. The Dark Forest by Cixin Liu (The Three-Body Problem #2)
31. Daughter of the Winds by Jo Bunt
32. Career of Evil by Robert Galbraith
33. The Girl In The Spider's Web by David Lagercrantz
34. Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov
35. The Year of Living Danishly: Uncovering the Secrets of the World’s Happiest Country by Helen Russell
36. Seveneves by Neal Stephenson
37. Lord Of The Flies - William Golding
38. Mother Of Eden by Chris Beckett (Dark Eden #2)
39. The Reluctant Fundamentalist by Mohsin Hamid
40. The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson
41. The Time Machine by H G Wells
42. The Knife Of Never Letting Go by Patrick Ness
43. Hot Zone - The Chilling True Story of an Ebola Outbreak by Richard Preston
44. Dissolution by C. S. Sansom
45. Limitless (The Dark Fields) by Alan Glynn
46. High Heat by Lee Child

1. Authority by Jeff VanderMeer8. Rivers Of London by Ben Aaronovitch
2. Dreamland: Adventures in the Strange Science of Sleep by David K. Randall
3. Ancillary Justice by Ann Beckie
4. Written In Fire by Marcus Sakey
5. The Psychopath Inside: A Neuroscientist's Personal Journey into the Dark Side of the Brain by James Fallon
6. The Day Of The Triffids by John Wyndham
7. Wolves by Simon Ings
8. Black Swan Green by David Mitchell

27. One by Sarah Crossan this caught my eye when a pp reviewed it up thread- it is a short ya story about conjoined twins, thoughtfully done- I had it on the library app and I think the layout would work better in print. If you like ya I would definitely reccomend.

Thanks for the new thread southeast. I'm away with unreliable Wi-Fi for half term so just place marking for now, will update when I return.

26. The Quickening Maze by Adam Foulds. An intriguing tale set in a 19th century private asylum and based on true events. The characters include the owner Dr Allen, his wife and children, poets Alfred Tennyson and John Clare, and various other inmates, employees and family members. Near the beginning I thought that this wasn't quite my thing, but the characters are well drawn and the writing is rather beautiful. I ended up enjoying this.

25. All Fall Down by Jennifer Weiner. I don't read chick lit much these days - mainly because you lot make sure I keep my kindle topped up with good stuff! - but if I am in the mood, then Jennifer Weiner is one of the best IMO. An easy read, fast-paced, funny and touching. Less predictable than others of this genre.

Aagh- I had fallen off the thread, caught up yesterday, and my post didn't post- so apologies if I misname anyone!

Sadiq I am amused you went back to the CC fanfic- did you find it funny? I haven't read any for ages!

Chessie, I love Jean Ure- don't think I have read them all as some are hard to find, but Dance for Two is probably my favourite- how about you?

Cheddar (I think!) thank you for the Illona Andrews rec- I did have to renew it 3 times, but I did finish it, which is good going for me at the moment! I liked it a lot better than the Kim Harrison.

24. disclaimer by Renee Knight- this has been reviewed already, it's an easy read but the plot twist is a bit obvious.

25. An Inspector Calls- ds2's gcse text- I did enjoy and would like to see it performed, but when reading it did feel a bit like the moral was being hammered home. I noticed a teacher pp had also read it- any top tips for analysis?

26. Gunmetal Magic by Illona Andrews- urban fantasy, quite well done, although I felt the narrative voice for this character (Andrea Nash) was not distinct from their (husband and wife writing team) other lead character, Kate Daniels.

Thanks to lots of posters for recs- have started Thinking Fast and Slow, so will probably struggle to keep up again!!