50 Book Challenge 2017 Part Two

I think I'll have to read The Road at some point

It's good to disagree Fortuna . FWIW, I've never finished a Dickens book.

Sorry that was 6.

1. The Road by Cormac McCarthy

On the blurb this says "terrible beauty" and I can only echo that, some stunning writing, very strange, anticlimactic unresolved end though

What was the boy, if indeed anymore than just a boy?

Just checking in to keep you on my list.

I agree with you fortuna. Having just finished part one of His Bloody Project there were sections which made me sigh deeply with frustration and sadness. Slower going than some of my other reads recently but I am enjoying taking my time.

Just finished book 13. Have slowed down this week due to various domestic stuff and trying to write again.
Book 13. Everyone Brave is Forgiven - Chris Cleave. Really enjoyed this. Thought the dialogue was fantastic. Would love to be able to write dialogue like this

Finished 5. The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas. I found this interesting, liked the way that the perspective of a nine year old boy meant that aspects of the plot and setting were revealed gradually, but with our adult's point of view and knowledge of history there's an ominous feeling because we know more of what's going on than he does. Couldn't figure out how it would end though, didn't see it coming at all. Know there were lots of comments from others saying that they found it simplistic, and I do get that, but I think I took that as deliberate because the author wanted the book to be accessible to young readers and looking from a child's perspective. Only issue I really had with it was that I was listening to the audiobook and the narration really reminded me of another book I listened to before Christmas, which was distracting. I haven't had that problem before, will be choosing something very different for my next listen!
In book form, have popped Hurrah for Gin to one side to return to and treated myself to His Bloody Project after seeing so many positive mentions on here...looking forward to it :)

Bloody hell, I consider myself told on Lord of the Flies. I shall pencil it in for a slower re-read in 12 months. I am keeping my mouth firmly shut about Dickens. I'm trying to add in one book off the 'should have read' list every month.

Happy I haven't watched the film of The Book Thief yet. I have a rule that I can't watch a film until I have read the book and I've built up quite a backlog. I've recently been reading the book and then immediately watching the film, which then annoys me because it isn't 'right'. I'm leaving a grace period this time.

15. His Bloody Project by Graeme Macrae Burnet. I loved this. I enjoyed trying to piece it together in advance. I was most taken with Jetta. I feel angry for her.

I'm in a funk for what to pick up next. I'm 5 chapters into The House at Midnight by Lucie Whitehouse, but not overly bothered with it.

1. The Sellout by Paul Beatty. Last year's Booker Prize winner, a satire about post-racial America where the main character, who is black, is on trial for keeping a slave and attempting to re-segregate an area of LA. It was enjoyable enough, very intelligent and clever, but I suspect an awful lot of it went over my head.

15 Blue Lily Lily Blue by Maggie Stiefvater (third in the Raven Cycle series)
YA fantasy, but a cut above a lot in the genre (unlike the same author's werewolf books) with convincing characters, plenty of plot and not too much romantic teenage angst-ing. I'd recommend the series to anyone who likes this sort of thing.

I'm half way through The Year of Living Danishly, having picked it up in the library, but not sure there's enough to it to be worth finishing.

More often than not Cote

Happy - "I', disappointed in yu, Cote"

Are you pished?

I agree Remus. Thanks for making me read both!

It wasn't a jumping up and down kind of concert

I', disappointed in yu, Cote

It could have been a jumping up and down kind of concert if you'd only had the courage of your convictions.

Lord of the Flies and All Quiet both in the top ten novels ever, in my book.

Starlight

The strange and beautiful sorrows of ava lavender by Leslie Walton.

I am going get a copy of this somehow - for the title alone!

Fortuna

Re: The Book thief - this is one of the few books that has a lovely film adaptation, too. Really enjoyed both.

The price of "Life", Keith Richards' autobiography is halved to £2.99 on the Kindle

Ooh, now I couldn't choose between Lord of The Flies and All Quiet. Both fantastic books. Everyone should read them both, immediately.

The world would be a better place.

I've always credited The Grapes Of Wrath with being the book which shaped my political conscience but I'm realising now what an impact Lord of The Flies must have had on me as a teenager even though I've moaned about it for years.

Stokey, I've read the Way of Kings and the second one in the series as well. I liked it, no love though. I'm not sure if I've just gone off this brand of fantasy. I found it moderately diverting but not outstanding.

Lovely to hear, Happy Flappy, books are a great escapism. Although I have always loved books, this thread gave me a new appetite for reading and so many great recommendations. Life-changing.

11. Jerusalem: The Biography by Simon Sabah Montefiore.
Audiobook and library book.
I co-read this book through the (slightly abbreviated) audiobook and full length hardback library book. Fascinating account of the history of Jerusalem and the surrounding region from the Herodian times to present day.

I've never been a history buff (science is my path with a secular upbringing and a fairly good grasp of general knowledge) so I found this informative, giving me added detail. Complex issues, emotive, breadth of religious mix, despots, intransigence, war/terrorism/insurgency on all sides and all through the ages.

Being the product of a secular/atheist up-bringing, this reminds me of the depth of religious feeling, faith and religious fervour. Through I'm not meaning that all in a negative way. To the modern day and a reminder to me that "New Yorkers , Londoners and Parisians feel they live in an atheistic world in which organised religion, and it's believers, are at best gently mocked, yet the numbers of fundamentalist millenarian Abrahamic believers - Christian, Jewish and Muslim - are increasing."

And I'll finish quoting the author; although I think this applies world-wide particularly in light of a certain POTUS.
"Here, more than anywhere else on earth, we crave, we hope and we search for any drop of the elixir of tolerance, sharing and generosity to act as the antidote to the arsenic of prejudice, exclusivity and possessiveness."

Enjoying reading all the comments for Lord of the Flies and All Quiet on the Western Front ;two books I have on my TBR pile that am looking forward to reading!

Glad to hear it Remus.

I still teach Lord of the Flies.

Cinnamon glad it wasn't just me who was a bit narrowed eyes at Helen Russell constantly needing to consult the latest expert in whateverthefuck. I am reading her next book, Leap Year currently and it's more of the same TBH. Even more experts and less personal details.

Am also still reading A Place Called Winter which is good although there have been upsetting scenes in the most recent chapter I wasn't expecting. I won't give away spoilers but it's left me a bit

1. Revelation by C. J. Sansom (Shardlake #4)

This time, hunchback lawyer Matthew Shardlake is after a serial killer ("Se7en" in Tudor times ). I love this series - smart, instrospective, full of little insights into the the lives men, women, and children in those cruel times.

1. Deathstalker - Simon R Green