50 Book Challenge 2017 Part Four

I'm just catching up with this thread.

I'm on book 14 - which doesn't sound bad but I'm normally much quicker than that. We have had two major bereavements in our family since the end of January (My dad and MIL) and I've found it very difficult to read over the last few weeks, concentration is shot to bits.

Trying very hard to get back into it as it is my way to unwind and relax.

Have just read the whole threat and just added to my TBR pile.

So far......

1. The Wolf and The Raven - Steven MacKay
2. The Hobbit - JRRR Tolkien (Audible)
3. Greenwitch - Susan Cooper
4. Child 44 - Tom Robb Smith
5. Fellowship of the Ring - JRRR Tolkien (Audible)
6. Into the Heart of Borneo - Redmond O'Hanlan
7. The No1 Ladies Detective agency
8. The Two Towers - JRRR Tolkien (Audible)
9. Crosstalk - Connie Willis (Audible)
10. The Forest - Edward Rutherfurd
11. Tom’s Midnight Garden - Philippa Pearce
12. 1066 - Kaye Jones (Audible)
13. The Reformation - Edward Gosselin (Audible)
14. The Return of the King - JRRR Tolkien (Audible)

Now reading Lion by Saroo Brierley (for Bookclub)

26 Death's End by Cixin Liu
Reviewed a few times previously on here. Full of fascinating ideas - but for me (and I realise this is going to be heresy) I felt that the structure wasn't as good as the previous books in the series (a bit too much one-damned-thing-after-another), and that it would have benefitted from being around 1/3 shorter. Overall I liked the first book very much the best of the three. Still glad to have read it though.

I'm doing so badly at keeping up with this thread. In my defence, work is ridiculously busy, as are things with the DCs, and we're in the process of getting ready to move house.

I've found time for reading but that's pretty much it - everything else is falling by the wayside.

I think I reviewed my number 14 already so am carrying on from there:

15. All of These People: A Memoir by Fergal Keane - read for book group. I really enjoyed this. The first half focuses on his life growing up in Ireland in the 60s and 70s as the son of an alcoholic father, whose parents separated in a time and place where that was almost unheard of. The second half deals with his early career as a journalist and then as a BBC foreign correspondent, mainly in Africa, until the mid-90s. Really interesting.

16. Dadland by Keggie Carew - Another read for book group and another memoir - this time of the author's dad, who was a guerrilla agent in WW2. Fascinating and tragic at the same time, as she contrasts what she finds out about her dad's life with him as an old man with dementia.

17. Enron by Lucy Prebble - Play about the Enron scandal - read for work. I enjoyed this more than I thought I was going to!

18. All That Man Is by David Szalay - My fifth read from the Booker shortlist. This is actually more like a collection of 9 stories about men at different stages of life. I quite liked each story as an individual story but, put together, the message was basically that men are really only interested in sex. I'm not sure if I'm missing something or if that's really some amazing truth that it takes 400+ pages for the author to unveil.

29. Three Sisters, Three Queens -Philippa Gregory This was a reread for my second book group. I do enjoy Philippa Gregory. I know they are not always historically accurate but she does keep me turning the pages and they are always a comforting read somehow. Just what I needed after a difficult week. Not sure what to read next. Will consult the huge to read pile.

Yes, there's a bit about nuclear waste in a van, with a reference to Windscale/Sellafield.

14. The Woman in White - Wilkie Collins -Never having read this before, I had always been convinced this was a ghost story, obviously confusing it with The Woman in Black. It was ok, overly long but quite enjoyed it.

Welcome Whitewater

Some YA books are definitely more lightweight than others.

I can't remember a bit about nuclear waste. Unless maybe that was something that was fleshed out in the third book of the trilogy?

"the sort of YA book that's a good read when you're a young teenager but too much of a lightweight read to really be good for an adult reader."

Is there another sort?

Yes, I remember the Matriachs too.

I liked it as a kid. It really freaked me out because I knew there was a plague in the fourteenth century and another one in 1666, so the book convinced me we had another one due in 1999.

Sigh.

And isn't there a line about carrying nuclear waste in an unmarked white van? That freaked me out too.

I remember reading Plague 99 and the first sequel Come Lucky April when I was a teenager. My library didn't have the last in the trilogy. I enjoyed them at the time but I agree they're a bit on the flimsy side for an adult.

IIRC the sequel is set about 100 years after the plague and has descendants of the 2 main characters meeting. A young man from a traditional type fishing village and a young woman from a matriarchal settlement where the boys are castrated once they hit puberty. Can't remember how they got over sperm storage issues now. Or even if the book bothered to explain that. There was lots of culture clash when the young man with dangerous testicles and testosterone is brought to the matriarchal settlement.

But, it is the sort of YA book that's a good read when you're a young teenager but too much of a lightweight read to really be good for an adult reader.

Hi I'd love to join yous. I should have done this last year as I think I read the most books ever in my life so I'm going to try and keep it going.

1. Johnny Marrs Set The Boy Free
2. The Temporary Gentleman Sebastian Barry
3. Bridget Jone Mad About The Boy Helen Fielding
4. Nocturnal Animals Austin Wright
5. Days Without End Sebastian Barry
6. If This Was A Man Primo Levi
7. Picture Perfect Jodie Picoult
8. Last Anniversary Liane Moriarty
9. Still Missing Beth Gutcheon
10. The Tenant of Wildfell Hall Anne Bronte

Fallen off the threads but still lurking for book recommendations from time to time, so thank you everyone.

I finished Doubts and Loves: What is left of Christianity by Richard Holloway which I really enjoyed, although I also found the optimism about social progress depressing in light of recent political developments.

I am now reading The Essex Serpent. I like it far more than I expected and find the writing really good. I think it is the sort of book the The Watchmaker of Filigree Street should have been if it weren't trying so hard to be quirky.

I bought The Janissary Tree so thanks for the tip Satsuki.

17. The Loving Husband - Christobel Kent

The Loving Husband starts with a woman who wakes up and finds her husband dead in a ditch in the middle of the night. She doesn't know why he was outside or who would hurt her husband and it's obvious the police suspect her. For some reason I wasn't thrilled by this book and it wasn't as gripping as I wanted it to be. An okay read but I wouldn't recommend it.

Ta Remus, got it now.

Best - Seven Dials

Have bought the Forsyth and The Final Whistle: The Great War in Fifteen Players by Stephen Cooper.

Which Christie is it?

I wondered about getting the Christie - can't remember if I've read it or not.

Thanks for heads up, I just made 3 purchases in Kindle sale, thankfully only one for me - another Agatha Christie. I also bought Day of the Jackal for my 14yo ds, if he doesn't love it then I will disown him. And I purchased When Hitler Stole Pink Rabbit for my dd. I haven't read it but it looks like a good'un.

10. 4.50 from Paddington by Agatha Christie - an enjoyable Miss Marple, if not an absolute classic. I didn't guess the murderer but then I never really do, I would be a hopeless detective!

chilliejeanie yes it's very flabby and has a lot of inaccuracies. It was a big influence on Ted Hughes. I'm sure Graves drew from The Golden Bough, that's worth a read if you haven't already, for all the background anthropology. A well-researched book on Celtic myths might be good but sorry I don't have any recommendations.

That's good to know Sadik & Remus

Have bought Heat by Ranulph Fiennes ( I liked Cold) and Sex and Punishment 4000 Years of Judging Desire.

The Janissary Tree is in the Spring sale. It was a Cote rec, which I enjoyed too.