50 Book Challenge 2017 Part Two

HBP v good btw.

My books don't look like they've been read when I've finished with them. I've seen other people with books though and wonder what exactly it is they do to them Having said that, if I lend a book, within reason, I don't mind if it comes back a bit battered, as I want the person to enjoy it without worrying about stuff like that.

Evening all. Was very excited to be surprised by the Loan of His Bloody Project this evening. I had quite forgotten being told about my friend meeting the author and not being very sure if this book was for her. I hadn't heard of it at the time but was very keen to read it.

Her copy is terribly neat (anyone else a bit hard on books when they read? I make a bit if a mess of them) and signed by the author. There is also a big red thumbprint inside.

Now I need to decide whether to ditch the American crime thriller froth with all it's cheek bones and pointless shagging or earn it by waiting until I am actually ready

I'm now onto book 7. Fangirl - Rainbow Rowell and quite enjoying it so far some nice uncomplicated reading!

Thanks, Stokey. Not seen it but will ensure I do!

I didn't like The Dud Avocado. I thought it would be something similar to Miss Pettigrew but just found it silly and a bit of a waste of time.

I liked Everyone Brave is Forgiven much more than The Other Hand, weebarra, the characters and relationships between them were more believable.
Hope you enjoy it as much as I did mogloveseggs (love your username by the way!).

I listened to everyone brace is forgiven via audible last year and remember loving it. Couldn't tell you what happens though 😀

1. A seaside affair by Fern Britton. A group of corniche locals and a few celebs get together to save the local theatre from the council who want to turn it into a coffee place. Quite waffly but a pleasant enough read. Don't think I'll be reading any more of hers though.

1. Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince by J K Rowling - Getting there in my re-reading of the whole series. We go to see Cursed Child next month. I enjoyed this, as did DS - am quite surprised he didn't get more upset at the end (he normally does) but he seems to have taken it all in his stride.

1. The Trouble With Goats And Sheep by Joanna Cannon - Read for book group. This is set in the summer of 1976 and focuses on 10 year old friends Grace and Tilly and the people who live on Grace's street. One of her neighbours, Mrs Creasy, has disappeared and the whole street is very interested in discussing what might have happened to her. This was a fairly light read on the surface, but there was quite a lot more going on underneath it all, and I surprised myself by how much I enjoyed it.

I see that Everyone brave is forgiven seems to get really good feedback. I really didn't like The other hand but might give this one a try.

Welcome Iris and glad you enjoyed "The Uncommon Reader" as it is in my Big Pile of Books to Read. I'm looking forward to it now.

Just finished the John Grisham - far from his best but I needed some chewing gum for the brain after all of my others, a couple of which were quite heavy. It was just The Usual Stuff.

Have begun "May We Be Forgiven" by AM Holmes. Only just started it so I'll say nothing about it yet except that I am enjoying the writing, and at p19 am already very keen to reason.

Long train journey for work so finished book 8. My Husband's Wife Amanda Prowse. Bought on Amazon daily deals and think it was billed as a thriller. Apart from a bitchy and slightly unbalanced other woman there was nothing in it to make it a thriller. Story of a break up of a marriage, quite dull and very light. Some good dialogue though.

Have you seen the latest Grayson Perry video doing the rounds Remus?

He is asking for opinions on Brexit to make two vases - a leave and remain.

It's on Twitter & C4.

6. Crow Hollow - Michael Wallace - Set in 1670s New England, an English spy has been sent to look into the death of a promient man who was killed by Native Americans near Boston, an attack on the 'English' that lead to most of that tribe being wiped out in revenge by English settlers. The man's widow is convinced her daughter is still alive and the 2 embark on a journey to find her/what happened. Was going to abandon this book after the 80 page mark, but stuck with it for want of anything else on my kindle I wanted to read and glad I did, there's a good story in there, even if the use of the first names by people who hardly know each other seems odd for the time.

1. Everyone Brave Is Forgiven by Chris Cleave

Welcome Dragon and Iris btw.

1. X by Sue Grafton. I've read all her alphabet books and this one was fine, but not as good as some of the others. I wonder how she's going to finish the series?
2. Station Eleven - fine for what it was, although I've read far better post-apocalyptic novels. It felt as though the writer had a lot of ideas but not enough time to deal with all of them. Justin Cronin does this sort of thing so much better.

7. 12 years a slave - Solomon Northup.
Wonderful book! Have not seen the film, but the book was a shocking read. Enlightening and not difficult to get into despite being written in the mid 1800's. Still find it shocking that all this occurred not much more that 150 years ago. A blink of an eye in terms of our history.
On to something lighter next... perhaps ...

the dud avocado was my favourite book in my twenties!

Sorry - Tarahumara.

Will update with my list soon. Struggling to keep up with thread but am still trying to be here.

I read The Iceberg a year or two ago, Taharamura and remember being struck by the starkness and beauty of the writing. It is outstanding. The rawness of their pain and anger is striking. I seem to recall that she felt almost violent in her anger against the cancer.

I've just read When Breath Becomes Air by Paul Kalanithi which again is a unique read. He was a neurosurgeon, struck down by terminal cancer at the age of 35. He died before he could complete the book and it was left to his wife to finish it. It is another unique look at dying, with in depth insight from one who knows far too much about what is happening to him. He admits he found it hard to release himself into the care of his doctor and become a patient only.

This thread has already given me so many ideas about what to read. Great stuff. museumofham I am filing away The Dud Avocado for when I need a comfort read.

1. The Iceberg by Marion Coutts, about her husband's experience of an aggressive brain tumour. The beauty of the writing means that this stands head and shoulders above a couple of other cancer memoirs that I have read. Devastating without being sentimental.

1. The Dud Avocado by Elaine Dundy Wonderful light and frothy concoction, with a witty and eccentric main character, Sally Jay, a young American working her way through the bars and men of 1950's Paris, losing things along the way. She couldn't find her passport; I couldn't find a plot, but it didn't really matter. Comfort reading at its best.

1. The Thing About Prague by Rachael Weiss

This was bought on a whim as I was browsing in Waterstones on Sunday, so I'm pleased to say I really, really liked it. It's a memoir of the attempt of 40-something Australian writer Rachael Weiss, who had previously lived in Prague for a year in 2005, to move to the city and make it her permanent home, full of romantic ideals of living and writing in her father's home city. The reality is rather less than romantic and she lasted three years before the bureaucracy finally defeated her and she was deported. It's full of eccentric characters, a lot of frustrations, and a genuine love for the city which I think must be the result of looking back because by the end of the book and her departure for Sheffield she was thoroughly ground down by it all. Still, she's a much braver woman than I because she actually gave it a go.