50 Book Challenge 2017 Part Three

I've got one more Bond book (they were in a three books for a pound box at the charity shop) but I started it in about November and still haven't met Bond in it, just a really horrible bad guy. Think it might be called From Russia with Love. Whether or not I'll ever finish it, I don't know.

remus my dh and I read the Bond books a few years ago and sometimes we still speak to each in Bond. We used to laugh at how often he'd describe having a shower "letting the water hit him for a full minute" etc. I do have a fondness born of growing up with them and the movies, but I actually think the misongyny in the most recent movies in worse in a way than the old sexist tropes.

OHMSS is one of the better ones too Remus. I read them avidly as a teenager. Not sure what I'd make of them now.

The Swarm! But I really recommend The Bee Meeting/Wintering.

They are very good sadik - there are 5: Arrival of the Bee Box, The Bee Meeting, Stings, Wintering and another the name of which escapes me.

Book 21
On Her Majesty's Secret Service by Ian Fleming
Having never seen a James Bond film, I wasn’t really sure what to expect about this, other than that it would involve bad guys, loose girls and a lot of sex. Not sure what I felt about it overall. I thought some sections of the writing were superb, and at other points I wanted to scream with how hideously misogynistic it was or how clearly he was setting us up for something – the ending can be seen coming for most of the novel, for example. Ultimately, I was disappointed, but when he’s good, he’s really good.

I don't remember the Sylvia Plath bee poems Satsuki - I'll find them to read (and many thanks for the recommendation)

Fantastic sections, not sessions!

14. Days Without End by Sebastian Barry - This was Costa Book of the Year and a book group read for March. It's set in America in the 1850s and tells the story of Thomas McNulty, a young Irish immigrant, who ends up joining various wars against the Native Americans and the Civil War later on. I thought I was going to love this but felt a bit mixed about it by the end. There were some fantastic sessions and places where the language is beautiful. However, the first person narrative jarred a bit with the language in places for me - for most of the book, it was very clearly McNulty's voice and then suddenly there'd be a phrase which was definitely the author and broke the whole flow for me. (I appreciate I'm being a bit picky here!) Equally, there were parts of the story that were absolutely gripping and other parts where I found my attention wandering. This may be my fault as have had a lot going on this week so have been reading in fits and starts but I'm not sure. Would be interested to hear what others thought if anyone's read it?

Hitchcock

Absolutely Stokey. I frequently get carried away by plot, even on a re-read. I've read Rebecca at least half a dozen times and still find things I missed before.

I saw the Hitcock film recently and agree that it is wonderful.

Another wanting to reread Rebecca here: I got Mrs deWinter by Susan Hill,set when the deWinters return to Manderley after a ten year absence, from a sale at the library recently and fancy reading the inspiration for it again before I read this one.

Happy Sunday!

Took me so long to finish my book you all dropped off my thread list.

Will update then read the thread back

1. The Muse - Jessie Burton

1. Gone Without a Trace - Mary Torjussen
2. Flesh Wounds - Christopher Brookmyre
3. Phantom: a Harry Hole Thriller - Jo Nesbo
4. Dead Simple (Roy Grace Series) - Peter James
5. All Good Deeds (A Lucy Kendall Thriller) - Stacy Green
6. The Turtle Boy - Kealan Patrick Burke

1. The Rosie Project - Graeme Simsion

Much reviewed already. As a computing teacher born in the seventies this was right up my alley. It took me longer than I expected to really get into it and took me ages to finish weirdly. I did really enjoy it though and will be recommending it to a class this week.

Think I am going to start The Essex Serpent now

abc agree on God of Small Things.

stokey I don't consciously do this, but always turn up new things on a reread of a good book, even of something I've reread many times.

sadik That's exciting. Have you read the Sylvia Plath bee sequence? They're very good and what I always think of with bee keeping, but really make the whole enterprise seem uncanny.

I'd like to reread Rebecca too ABC. I dint know why I keep thinking of films, but the Hitchcock film of it is fantastic, Joan Fontaine & Laurence Olivier.

I'm rereading Wolf Winter at the moment as it's a book club choice. I read it a few months ago but am appreciating the writing and atmosphere more this time. I often find I get a bit caught up reading for plot the first time I read something and don't concentrate on the rest. Does anyone else do this?

1. The God of Small Things, Arundhati Roy - It was... ok. There was some beautiful imagery, and a lot of the character descriptions were wonderful (I particularly enjoyed Baby Kochamma's back story). However, overall, the language was a too flowery for my tastes, and the constant repetition of certain lines got a bit wearing after a while.

I think I might read Rebecca (Daphne Du Maurier) next. It's been on my to-read list for forever.

24. Last Train to Memphis -Peter Guralnick . A very detailed account of Elvis Presley's rise to fame, ending at the point he goes into the army. Left me feeling very sad really. Incredibly successful, incredibly lonely young man. Didn't truly appreciate how much he was hung out to dry by his manager. Truly from 1956 to 1958 he was followed pretty much constantly by reporters, even allowed up to Graceland in the hours after his mother's death. The army is seen as the watershed moment, but actually this book makes it very clear that his mother was his anchor and after her death things begin to go awry. Very dense book, took a surprising amount of digesting. Have the second volume Careless Love which runs up to his death, even thicker . Think I need to read something lighter first

22 The Complete Guide to Beekeeping by Jeremy Evans / Sheila Berrett

Teenage DD & I are currently going to beekeeping evening classes & planning to set up our own hive later in the spring. This is a re-read from when I last kept bees 20+ years ago, and it is all gradually coming back. I need to get a more up to date book as disease problems (and no doubt treatments) have changed, but this one is very good and clear on the basics. It was also quite a pleasing read as a lot of the pages are a little sticky and smell nicely of honey & wax

I've missed most of this, wow! Speedy. I've read:

1. The Essex Serpent - Sarah Perry. Did not get the hype to be honest. Found the language a bit over laboured. I didn't really buy the characters, and I felt like the ending was a cop out.

1. Equal Rites - Terry Pratchett. This was a re-read. Loved it as usual, though lost the thread a bit.

1. Apple Tree Yard - Louise Doughty. Really enjoyed this, haven't seen the TV show, one of my kids randomly downloaded it whilst slapping my kindle I liked the crime / court element which I don't normally go for. I like some of the nuanced feminist points that she got across quite subtly. Apparently quite different to the TV show, might track it down.

Go set a watchman would work as the opening and closing scenes of a any To Kill a Mockingbird film remake but nothing else.

Andrews I read that last year. I thought it was definitely a book that was her trying things out, and getting to know her characters - she knew what she was doing, not wanting it published! I enjoyed it as background to TKAM, but that's what it was.

Oh! I hope I like it better Remus, kind of feel obligated to read Submarine because a colleague went out of her way to lend it to me. I'll give it a go!