50 Book Challenge 2016 Part Five

wilting, you should totally read State of Wonder in my opinion. I really enjoyed it, but I know Satsuki was not a fan, so it's split opinion on here.

tumble, if you do read Hot Milk let me know what you think

80 Gemsigns by Stephanie Saulter

Sci-fi set in a future post a major epidemic that caused serious economic disruption. Genetically modified humans ('gems') were created to help address labour shortages, and managed as 'indentured labour' by the biotech firms that created them. The book opens at a point of change - the gems have agitated for freedom and political rights - and takes place over 6 days leading up to a major conference that will decide their legal status.

A bit heavy handed in places, but a good read over all. DH (background in genetics) says the science vis a vis the gems is plausible-enough, though the 'syndrome' that kicked everything off just has to be taken as read. The effects are well described though and again the response (resources channeled into GM to create resistant humans, other technology stagnating) plausible. The ending is a bit clunky, and some of the mythic overtones rather overcooked, but still interesting and different.

75. The Other Boleyn Girl by Philippa Gregory

The story of the rise and fall of Anne Boleyn, told by her sister and former mistress of Henry VIII, Mary. It's done well as long as you ignore some glaring historical errors - Gregory makes Mary younger than Anne when she was the eldest, and has Mary in her early teens when she married William Carey and still in her midteens when she became Henry's mistress when she was more likely to be in her early 20s, for example. But it is quite a gripping tale.

I'd say so Sadik, though not sure how the footnotes would work? They are very extensive and mostly entertaining. They might be very intrusive on audio though, as when you are reading you can read or skip as you choose.

How did the series on TV compare with the book? I didn't watch for fear of spoiling it for myself...

Hot Milk has piqued my interest also as has State of Wonder. Have not read any Ann Patchett. Both now on my ever growing watch list

I loved the Dinner book tumble, hope you do too!

Just back from holiday, during which I read:

79) Harry Mount's Odyssey
Non-fiction travelogue about author's wandering around the Med, pondering about the Odyssey. I approached with caution, as I found his previous book, How England Made the English, a great idea but poorly executed. This was the perfect holiday read. He was mourning the end of a relationship, and pondering how come the Ancient Greeks knew how to live, but he, with all the time spent learning Greek grammar, seemed to have missed out on that lesson. He rues his loneliness, his balding, the fact he went on cruise with his parents while in his forties; he tries to swim the Hellesponte and fails, and tries to walk the route of the original Marathon and also fails. It's rueful rather than comic, but a perfect travelling companion, especially if you're visiting that part of the world.

80. The Bad-Ass Librarians of Timbuktu: and their race to save the world's most important manuscripts, Joshua Hammer
Non-fiction about the medieval manuscripts of Timbuktu, and the operation to smuggle them out of the area when it was taken over by Islamic militants. I found it interesting, but it was workmanlike rather than particularly evocative.

81. The Broken Road, Patrick Leigh Fermor
Third and final book about his journey on foot across Eastern Europe in the 1930s. Contains the usually wonderfully Baroque prose (although it can be a bit over-rich at times so you do have to be in the mood). It also includes an extract from a diary he kept at the time of his visit to Mount Athos. This is interesting as it has been less polished over the course of decades.

wilting - do you think Jonathan Strange would work well as an audiobook? I've nearly finished The Difference Engine, and need something new - on the whole long meandering descriptive books suit me better on audio than taut plot heavy ones, since it doesn't matter so much if I get distracted for a moment, and it sounds like that might be the case?

(Alternative I'm considering is The Silk Roads which comes much recommended by my mum, but not so sure having read the reviews - anyone on here read it? I need something at least reasonably long as I only have 1 audible credit per month!)

Have now put Dinner at the Homesick Restaurant on my kindle. Thanks wilting! I enjoyed your other two reviews as well - I've read both of them, and agree with your comments!

Sorry, whippet not wilting!

I quite like meandering plotless books, so I've just added Hot Milk to my wish list to wait till the price comes down. Thanks wilting.

40. An Anthropologist on Mars by Oliver Sacks. I read The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat years ago, and this one was recommended to me on this thread a few months ago (sorry, can't remember who by). It's a collection of seven case studies of people with neurological disorders. In this book Sacks is particularly interested in adaptations made by the human brain in response to these disorders, especially those with a positive slant. I find this kind of stuff really interesting - I particularly enjoyed the story of the surgeon with Tourette's. As it was written over 20 years ago, the chapter on autism was, understandably, somewhat out of date.

no worries, have picked up the epigenetics book too

So an update is long overdue, as follows:

32. Clothes Clothes Clothes Music Music Music Boys Boys Boys by Viv Albertine; I enjoyed this though was very bemused by her younger life. I suspect she was really quite wild but in the book, it all just seems to happen around her. It's a great insight into life in a punk band, she's very full on and frank about those life experiences that impact on you hugely, but you don't generally talk about in company . I probably enjoyed the second half more. I could just relate to the happenings a bit better terribly straight I am Excellent book, no need to be a punk fan to enjoy it.

Then I finally, finally, FINALLY read
33) Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell Not sure why it took me so long. It was just so big and magicians? Really? A 1000 pages? Anyway, this is written in an old fashioned style, populated by interesting and engaging characters with complex motivations and loads of pseudo historical detail which really lend it weight and credence in the reading experience. It is witty and gothic, and thoroughly absorbing. Now, I do think it occasionally dragged a bit, especially those bits where JS was helping with the war effort, (AND WHY did it take so long to cop on to the wicked fairy? ) but it never flagged for long, and the ending was v satisfying. Highly recommend (though I think most of you have read it already!)

34 Dinner at the Homesick Restaurant by Anne Tyler. Another one I thoroughly enjoyed. I've read a lot of her books, but for me, few of them have ever matched The Accidental Tourist, other than maybe Ladder of Years. This has to be one of her best. A father walks away from his family. The mother carries on alone to raise her three children. We get the story from four perspectives, first Pearl the mother, as she lies dying, then each of her children. We get the visceral emotional impact of that departure on each of them. We see the blind spots and weaknesses in each of the characters, which they are not alive to personally. We see the ongoing effects of the separation as they percolate down through the years in the lives of the children, their perceptions and relationships. I thought it was an excellent depiction of a family and not remotely sentimental. Highly recommend.

I've read two more but I'll update on those later, don't want to write a complete essay and bore you all to death

Thanks wilting, Seveneves is now on my kindle waiting to be read

Sorry, I meant to say above that the whole of her personal society is an anthropological study. Obviously society is, that's what anthropologists study. I am going to stop typing now...

66. Skyfaring: A Journey with a Pilot – Mark Vanhoenacker

I’ve also just finished this book. It’s been reviewed just a few pages back so just to add to that I will say that I very much enjoyed discovering about the life of a pilot and what it’s like to view the world from above, to be in London in the morning and Africa by lunchtime and the dislocation of place and time experienced on a regular basis. There were some really interesting facts such as it is forbidden to fly above The Tower of Silence (Zoroastrian sky burial tower) at any height whatsoever.

67. Hot Milk – Deborah Levy

Well I loved this novel. It’s on the 2016 Booker Longlist and deservedly so in my opinion but I can imagine that it won’t appeal to many readers with its drifty, repetitive prose style and its minimal plot. Add this to the fact that a fair few of the characters are rather unlikeable it’s not a recipe for mass popularity but it really worked for me. Essentially it’s a coming of age story about Sofia, who has come to sun blasted Southern Spain with her chronically ill mother who attends a private clinic in the hope she can find a cure for her mysterious ailment. Sophia is drifting, having abandoned her PhD in anthropology, but as the novel reveals, the whole of society is an anthropological study. Weird but good. I read this as an ebook borrowed from the library.

Should I buy Seveneves? I am not a sci-fi fan on the whole but you peeps on here seem to like it.

Thanks for the tip, wilting. I've already got the epigenetics one reviewed by Cote and this looks good too. Got a nice backlist building on my kindle!

Aaaargh, Seveneves is 99p!!!!! Feck it, only bought it a few weeks ago! Would recommend for any sci fi fans but note it is tech heavy

I read the Narnia books a lot as a child, although it's been years since I picked one up.

As I remember them, The Silver Chair was one of the least obviously religiously heavy handed, although a lot of that went over my head at the time.
Along with the casual sexism of the series, I seem to recall a lot of casual racism in The Last Battle. And I never liked what C S Lewis did to the Pevensies in The Last Battle.

26- The Odyssey by Homer Read after reading Why Homer Matters. It was interesting as a window into the myths and beliefs of that time but for me, it was just a bit too long.

27- Look Who's Back - Timur Vermes
A satirical novel based on the premise that Hitler wakes up in modern Germany and finds himself a new line of work as a stand-up comedian. It started very well but I felt it ran out of steam and the last third or so was a struggle to finish. The examination of our relationship with the media was interesting and it felt quite plausible that someone with far right views could find themselves gaining that sort of audience again. Sadly, I think it is perfectly possible that masses of people could be led to support someone who 'just tells it like it is'. Not sure that lessons from history have necessarily been learnt.

Quite fancy that Stephen King book after all the glowing reviews. Is it connected with the Dark Tower world in some way?

46. 11.22.63 by Stephen King - This has been reviewed lots by previous posters. I really enjoyed it and, like others said, although it's long, it doesn't feel that way. Highly recommended.

39. The Silver Chair - CS Lewis

Couldn't remember anything of this story despite having read the whole series several times as a child, and although enjoyable it's not one of the strongest storylines; the Christian allegory starts to get a bit heavy-handed and there is some shocking casual sexism. The bit where the marsh-wiggle gets drunk is funny, though.

46. Bedbugs by Ben H Winters

A New York couple, Susan and Alex, move into a fantastic new apartment with their small daughter. All seems fine at first, but soon Susan is plagued by bedbugs that no one else seems able to notice.

It's a relatively short novel, and entertaining enough, but the blurb on the back of the book destroyed a lot of any potential dramatic tension by giving too much away. Namely, the blurb answers the question of is Susan delusional and imagining bedbugs, or is something else going on? Which unfortunately made the book a bit too predictable.

47. Dark Eden by Chris Beckett A variation on the classic colonisation type sci-fi novel. From two abandoned astronauts, a hunter gatherer level society of approximately 500 people has grown up on the strange planet of Eden, sticking close to the landing site, in the hope that earth will come back for them. Things have reached a tipping point, and the catalyst for change is a teenage boy who is motivated as much by his own arrogance as by the necessity for change. What makes this book stand out from the pack is the beautifully imagined and described dark planet, with its strange glowing flora and fauna. I have put the sequel, Mother of Eden, which I understand takes place several generations later, on my wish list, and, for those that have already read these, I notice that a third book, Daughter of Eden, is due out in October.

39. Our Endless Numbered Days by Claire Fuller. Peggy's father, a survivalist, takes her to a remote forest where they live self-sufficiently. I found this pretty boring tbh.

Loved your Antarctic review, Remus

There's a thread about The Wicked Boy in the book of the month topic - most people on there seem to have really enjoyed it so maybe it's just me!!

Chessie, thanks for your review of Wicked Boy. I planned to borrow it from the library, but now I'll give it a pass.

Remus, Constance Kopp is amazing. She participated in a sting operation set up by the sheriff--as bait!