50 Book Challenge 2017 Part Two

Remus - haven't read anything else by him but really enjoyed this one. It's a period of history I'm interested in anyway. I've now put The American Boy on my TBR list.
Also now reading the first in the Deathstalker series, by Simon R Green. I've read a lot of other books by him, but this is more sci-fi than the others - in that it features spaceships and sentient AIs.
Unlikely to be a patch on the late lamented Iain M Banks though.

I wasn't ill weirdly but that meant I felt guilty. I will managed to assuage my guilt enough to read

Satsuki

I did similar last year best and remember thinking I'd be loving this if I wasn't ill!

I've just had 3 days off as I've been poorly but not too poorly to prevent me reading. I've read 3 and a half books. It was almost bliss (apart from the feeling crap).

I can absolutely testify that not working is great for the book count. I was back at work this week having been absent for two weeks holidays then two weeks signed off. The last week I have been hobbling through the same rubbish. I WILL finish it tonight though.

Wee - Is Ashes of London as good as The American Boy? I really like the later, but haven't enjoyed anything else of the writer's work. Ashes sounds like my sort of subject matter though.

Finished no. 11, The Mermaids Singing by Val McDermid.

Criminal profiler works with the police to catch a serial killer. Story was ok and I didn't guess who the killer was, but there are lots of really graphic descriptions of torture which I found really hard to read.

Back to Jane Eyre where I know I'm safe from torture scenes!

murine I have that book, sounds like a bit of a skim read job!

I loved the moonstone when I read it. Funnily I read loads of classics off my own bat in my teens, then stopped at around 30 and am only now getting back into them. Don't know why I stopped!

"May We Be Forgiven" by AM Holmes was BRILLIANT!

This is the first book I've read by this writer but definitely won't be the last. It is told in the first person - the narrator is a middle-aged, sad Jewish university professor, who has become so used to being unhappy that he doesn't even notice it any more. His brother's wife gives him a very unsisterly kiss one Thanksgiving, and unwittingly causes him to become obsessed with her. Then an accident triggers a horrific sequence of events that no-one could have foretold and his life changes out of all recognition.

I loved that it showed what a difference it could make to a family when a toxic member is removed from the scene (especially when you think of all of the threads on MN). Definitely recommended!

I was going to re-read Anna Karenina, but from the recommendations on this thread have instead bought a copy of "His Bloody Project" I think this is book 12, but will have to check my list.

Also - as audiobooks seem to count, my book 13 is "Stasiland" about life in East Germany before the wall came down. I hate out politicians, but suddenly became very appreciative of our political system. (Audiobooks get me through the drudge jobs in the house).

Yes, I see what you're saying, cote, about cultural difference in relation to the portrayal of characters and will bear that in mind. It just didn't leave much to engage with amidst all the nihilism and dehydration in the middle

Stage setting makes sense, too, that's reassuring. I will definitely read the others, thanks

12 Poor Economics: Barefoot Hedge-fund Managers, DIY Doctors and the Surprising Truth about Life on less than $1 a Day by Abhijit Banerjee and Esther Duflo
A re-read prompted by discussion a little while ago of Misbehaving by Richard Thaler. This is squarely aimed at the same market as the Thaler book, and Freakonomics et al, but I found it a much more interesting read, and it definitely stood up well the second time around.

The authors look at various areas of life - education, health, employment etc, and why very poor people make the decisions they do - which may sometimes from the pov of an outsider appear irrational. They draw a fair amount on the results of randomised control trials - the interesting thing about development economics is that it's one of the few areas of economics where rcts are used to any meaningful extent - and the results are often fascinating (and relevant in richer countries too).

Its 2 sequels, obviously. Damn you Auto Correct.

Still here and still reading The Miniaturist. Enjoying it very much.

As long as it is, The Three-Body Problem just sets the stage. It's 2 sequels are where the story really develops.

The series do have a different feel to them, though, and I perceived that as a reflection of the cultural differences between Western Europeans and the Chinese. Characters seem to have less personality but that is because the collective is more important/emphasized, in line with Chinese traditions & philosophy imho.

This becomes a bit clearer in later books, which feature Western (American) characters that feel & act very differently.

7. The Three Body Problem by Cixin Liu

This has some really good and interesting ideas, but although the start is promising, it is really rather slow going until the final third, and I found myself not really picking it up. With so much at stake (future of humanity) it should have been a compelling read, but it suffered from two dimensional, fairly indistinct characters, and quite stilted language and dialogue, which may be the result of translation. It's frustrating that the individuality, cultural diversity, and capacity for emotion that make humankind worth fighting for is under threat, yet none of those things are on display. I will go on to read the others as I want to see where it goes now and I enjoyed the way it all came together at the end; I hope it picks up on the same inspiring thread on which it ended.

1. Ashes of London - Andrew Turner

highlandcoo giving up work to make more time for reading sounds a brilliant idea

9. The Bolter - Frances Osbourne.
The true account of her Great Grandmother Idina Sackville's life. Fascinating account of upper class England beginning in the 1900's. Idina married well just before WW1. Both she and her husband were openly promiscuous, but as woman were at this point not allowed to divorce for their spouses in the grounds of adultery Idina was 'divorced' and had to give up her rights to her two young boys. She 'bolted' to Kenya where she was a founding member of the extravaganza that was The Happy Valley set. Bed hopping, drinking, drugs abound, suicide and murder too! She married 5 times and never really found the happiness she was searching for.
I first heard about the Happy Valley Set when I read Circling the Sun last year about the female horse trainer and pilot Beryl Markham. Out of Africa is also linked to this apparently which I have neither read or seen but will now put on my to-read list.
Idina was the inspiration for Nancy Mitford's character 'The Bolter' in several of her novels. The whole world that is depicted in this book is very much the high society world of the Mitford's - the real life cast of characters is very much the same. So for those Mitford fans it is worth a read.
Very well researched and engaging. Really pleased I didn't know until half way through that the author was George Osbourne's wife as I would probably never had started it!

Forgot one:

1. Best Served Cold, Joe Abercrombie. Stand-alone fantasy that takes place in the same world as his First Law trilogy, which I really enjoyed. I liked this. Friendly and Cosca were particularly well written.

I think the film felt more grim than my memory of the book (admittedly from 16ish years ago) because there were long passages of the lyrical, poetic portrayal of land, seasons and character in the book, where on film it is possible to show the landscape more briefly than it can be described in words and therefore proportion of time dedicated to hard-hitting plot episodes compared to description and setting is greater in the film. Have I made any sense at all there?!

Yes, absolutely Clueless. As so often with films and books, the two are a very different experience. It's a real skill for a screenwriter to turn a great book into a film that really works in its own right I think. It would have been impossible to convey cinematically all Chris's feelings about her bond with the land without the pace of the film being lost. And the dialogue in the film was well done alongside the occasional voiceovers from Chris, but much more musing on the theme would have been tedious. Whereas in the book these passages work really well.

I'm adding to my TBR pile at a huge rate thanks to this thread! Would now like to read Sunset Song in conjunction with My Antonia. and just finishing a brilliant novel about slavery called Homegoing which I'll review later and now want to reread Sacred Hunger by Barry Unsworth to accompany that.

Also I'm waiting to have time to tackle the Barchester Towers series, and have books for two separate book groups waiting to be read too. I think I'm going to have to give up work and stay indoors reading for a few months - it's the only solution

argh - not read the thread as it's moving so fast.
have a long train journey later though so will catch up properly then to make a note of everyone's recommendations.

4. Alias Grace - Margaret Atwood

My first Atwood. Quite liked her writing style, very compelling book until about 4/5ths of the way through, when everything got a little frantic, and the exchanges of letters to try and tie off all the plot arch seemed a bit desperate.

Second book in a row that I've read where the ending feels rushed and hasn't sat well with the rest of the book. Am hoping for better with 5. The Muse.

I'm still here but nothing to update at the moment - still going with When Will There Be Good News on audible and Jane Eyre. I had to go away for work on Wednesday and ended up packing in a hurry, and managed to forget both my book and my kindle! Luckily I have the kindle app on my phone so started reading The Mermaids Singing by Val McDermid. I therefore have 3 on the go at the moment, hopefully will finish the McDermid this weekend then back to Jane Eyre!

1. Detour from Normal by Ken Dickson: a free kindle book that I was tempted to abandon many times, it's a memoir describing the author's treatment in the US healthcare system when he develops mania as a result of medication given during unrelated surgery. It gives a good insight into the nature of mania, the effect on his family and the dreadful lack of help available, but too much of the writing consists of the author describing his visions and plans he had had for a new world, Utopia, in such minute, lengthy detail it becomes tedious and like listening to someone describe last nights dream for hours on end.

I've also started Our Endless Numbered Days by Claire Fuller which I'm enjoying so far.

1. Apple Tree Yard - Louise Doughty

I'd been meaning to read this for a while but never got round to it. Then the BBC adaptation that started on Sunday was so irritating that I thought I'd read the book to see what it was really like.

In fairness to the BBC, it's a pretty good adaptation. I couldn't get on with the narrator but I did find the book engaging and wanted to know what happened (see earlier discussion on needing to like the characters - I didn't like Yonne but I found her interesting). Not sure if the twist was much of a twist - I think there were a few unpredictable moments as you went through, which is what kept me reading (although having relayed the plot to DH he reckons he could have predicted it all from the first episode we watched in Sunday so what do I know?!).