50 Book Challenge 2017 Part Four

12 - The Tea Planters Wife - Dinah Jefferies - Newly married 19 year old Gwen arrives in Ceylon to join up with Lawrence her husband (a widowed tea plantation own) to find that he is not as he seemed when they married in London. The plantation and her husband seem full of secrets and it is not long until she has one of her own which if discovered threatens their marriage. This was ok and I felt like that I had plough through most of the book for it to get really interesting.

13 - We Were Liars - E Lockhart - I won't spoil this book for anybody who is likely to read it by explaining the plot. This was a quick and easy read and the twist was a total surprise. I suspect that if I read this as a teenager that I would have loved it.

14 - Go Set a Watchman - Harper Lee - My thoughts on this are very similar to Stokey and I found it just didn't really engage me. It felt very much like a draft rather than a finished and full crafted novel.

Not sure what I am going to read next. I need to have a look at my to read pile when I get home.

Have been flicking through Shelf Discovery: The Teen Classics We Never Stopped Reading, by Lizzie Scurnick. I'm skimming too much to add it to my tally. It's too American-focused for me - I haven't read most of the books (save for some Lois Duncan and of course the immortal Virginia Andrews) and this book relies heavily on the nostalgia factor rather than on any real insight or good writing in its own right. A disappointment.

Sorry about the spoiler, have reported myself.

Good luck Joyless , something I aspire to doing if I can stay off MN long enough

Joyless If my review encourages you to read Rush Oh! I would be so pleased because I was thinking how I couldn't do it justice.
My Antonia is indeed beautiful. I have my fathers hardback copy of it from 1946, it was one of his favourite books and makes me think of him.

boldly thanks for the Testosterone Rex recommendation, sounds right up my street, also Diva on that basis, I'm off to look at Delusions of Gender too. spinningheart I find myself strangly drawn to Rush Oh on the basis of your review (and the ones I've just read on amazon). My poor TBR list.

Stokey that's exactly how I felt about Go Set A Watchman too. I found it of enormous interest from a writing/editing perspective and felt I learned a great deal from it on that basis. Nail on head there with your final sentence, I'm still in the process of doing that and hope there'll be a real story left when I'm done

Am in midst of reading My Antonia based upon multiple recommendations here ... and am loving it.

Vanderley - your friend's book sounds great fun :) (But ouch as to the price having just looked it up :( )

Have you seen the filmCedar? It is awesome, called Blade Runner. Well worth watching if you haven't.

13. Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? by Philip K Dick Set in a dystopian future where a large percentage of earth's population has emigrated to Mars following a massive war. Androids are used in space to do all the hard labour and are not supposed to be on earth. The newest androids are so similar to humans it is virtually impossible to tell the difference. A few have escaped and are on the run on earth. Our hero is the bounty hunter who hunts them down and destroys them. Some fascinating ideas in what is a very short book (less than 200 pages). I thought the denouement was a bit rushed, I would have liked a bit more. But then maybe that's the book's strength, leaves the rest to your imagination.

1. The Nest by Cynthia D'Aprix Sweeney
2. Our Endless Numbered Days by Clare Fuller
3. Ready Player One by Ernest Kline
4. Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day by Winifred Watson
5. Everyone Brave is Forgiven by Chris Cleave
6. Still Life by Louise Penny
7. A Country Road, a Tree by Jo Baker
8. The Uncommon Reader by Alan Bennett
9. Nightwoods by Charles Frazier

21. This Must be the Place by Maggie O'Farrell.

22. Rush Oh! by Shirley Barrett. I thought this was charming and funny and completely engaging. It's about a community in New South Wales in the very early 1900s, in particular about the Davidson family. George 'Fearless' Davidson is the patriarch and is a 3rd generation whaler. He is a widower with 6 children and the narrator is his oldest daughter, Mary. She has a fantastic voice throughout. Other characters include the crew of the 2 whaling boats, the local townspeople and a pod(?) of killer whales who are longtime hunting companions of the whaling crew. I enjoyed the description of the Davidson's inseparable horse and cow - and how the seemingly simple act of bringing the horse to town must always involve waiting for the cow to wander along behind them. There are so many little highlights along the way, I loved this. So far my most enjoyable read of this year.

Will start Dark Matter by Blake Crouch this weekend, and must pick out an audible book as well.

1. The Lonely Hearts Hotel, by Heather O'Neill Two star-crossed orphans in 1930s Montreal weather cruel treatment, nasty nuns, separation, jealous lovers, poverty, heroin addiction, and mobsters for the sake of their true loves: each other and their shared vision of a spectacular theatrical production. A Wes Anderson movie in novel form. Delightful. Fantastic.

1. Not Working, by Lisa Owens Claire's life is not workingnor is shein any sense. An account of when things just aren't right for a. while and how one can try (and sometimes fail) to make things work again.

1. Maud: A Novel Inspired by the Life of L.M. Montgomery, by Melanie J. Fishbane Historical YA fiction about the mid-late teen years of Lucy Maud Montgomery, the author of Anne of Green Gables. Maud is a young woman of many passionsfor writing, for learning, and for her friendsand sometimes has trouble fitting into the strict behavioural code of Cavendish, the small Prince Edward Island town that she lives in with her maternal grandparents. The book traces formative years in her young life, from her inspirational female teacher to the year that she spent in Saskatchewan with her father and stepmother (her mother's having died when Maud was a toddler) to returning to PEI and figuring out the direction she would like her life to take. For anyone who has enjoyed Montgomery's books or wants to know more about her (or Canada during the late 1800s), I highly, highly recommend this book, which is excellent in its research, writing, and story. Disclaimer: the author is a dear friend of mine BUT I resolved not to mention the book unless I could recommend it honestly. I can!

1. Missing, Presumed, by Susie Steiner Posh female Cambridge PhD candidate goes missing. DS with a messy personal life searches for her. Very much of a type, but not poorly done.

10. Difficult Women, by Roxane Gay A short collection about women in difficult circumstances or whose circumstances make them "difficult". Often brutal, but not gratuitous. Highly recommended.

Book 26
The Nine Tailors by Dorothy L Sayers
This was okay. I do like Lord Peter and she populates her novels well but it was far too long and there was rather too much banging on about bell ringing for my liking.

I actually thought that one was pretty common knowledge, I'm sure I read it in a review before I got to the book.

stokey Re Name of the wind I know it is so dull. He goes to all the trouble of creating a new world with magic and strange beings, and invents a powerful protagonist to navigate it, then rewinds the story to have you follow him through a fairly prosaic university career, busking and worrying about tuition fees. Like he thinks if you call pounds 'talents' that makes the whole monotony of budgeting fantastical. It doesn't The really irritating thing is he'll say something like "I sang the most lyrically inventive and emotive song ever and everyone sobbed at the perfect lyrics and it was the greatest song ever" and you just have to take his word for it. He doesn't actually write the lyrics. Tolkien would have written the song. It makes me think of this

The main character is a Mary Sue and the whole thing is a bit juvenile. And this is book one! And he hasn't finished university!

Aargh that Spoiler warning wasn't big enough.

boldly thanks so much for that recommendation. I thought Delusions of Gender was fabulous, so am looking forward to this one.

Updating my list:

1. Promises in Death by J. D. Robb

1. Fractured by Karin Slaughter
2. Broken by Karin Slaughter
3. Go Set A Watchman by Harper Lee
4. Don't Tell by Karen Rose

I find it weird that The Name of The Wind garners such adoration Satsuki, I was a bit bored by it.

Thanks for the Capote recommendations, I'm going to get both of them. I don't think I've ever seen Breakfast at Tiffany's despite having a poster of Audrey Hepburn & George Peppard snogging in the rain on my wall as a teenager. But will read it first.

17. Go Set A Watchman - Harper Lee. I am very glad I read TKAM first to see the book it could become. I found the book itself rather boring, It's too autobiographical and there are too many rambling anecdotes. But it is interesting from a writer's/ editor's perspective. Someone read this and pinpointed the interesting part and got her to rewrite it. And I suspect you need to get some of the personal stuff out before you can write a "real" story.

16. Testosterone Rex - Cordelia Fine
Really enjoyed this exploration of the role accorded to testosterone in stereotypical male behaviour. As expected, she does a great job of dismantling some of the claims and clarifying the flaws is some of the most cited studies.

There was so much to absorb and reflect on that I feel I want to read it all again and highlight key points. It's great for those times when you're confronted with 'men are more risk-taking and therefore better suited to senior levels in business' crap.

Highly recommended.

Thanks Cheerful - Doreen isn't in my library, but I'll keep an eye for it.

Just finished a re-read of Charlotte Higgins' Under Another Sky, about the various meanings the British have attached to their Roman past. Not adding it to my tally given that it's a re-read. This thread has made me realize how little I do actually re-read. Too many interesting new reads out there. Good problem to have.

34. Valley of The Dolls - Jacquline Susann The original schlock blockbuster. Beginning in the 1940s it follows the lives of three young women in New York showbiz. Broadway and Hollywood feature large and the period detail is great. I first read this as teenager and loved it than and I think it's stood the test of time well. It's quite a dark book, not a happy ending at all. Not great literature but it set the path for others to follow with good reason.

16. Off Sides - Sawyer Bennett

This book was very much just light reading fluff that I picked up for free. Typical rich boy meets girl who has struggled in life and is poor and falls for her whilst having to justify to his family/friends through a crisis. Plot moves very very fast and there's more in the series but I won't be buying any more.

Now onto 17. The Loving Husband - Christobel Kent

Fistbump right back at you Satsuki! We are obviously awesome.

I'm still plodding on with The Name of the Wind. I nearly gave up but I'm 60 per cent now. It is like a children's book, Harry Potter for grown ups but without the intricate plotting, character building, or plausibility. It is making me sad I can't even be bothered to criticise it. My review will be very short, when the time finally comes. There are also spelling and grammatical errors which is disheartening.

whippet I have Mothering Sunday and My Week with Marilyn, enjoyed the Revenant, took a while to read Ready Player One, and was underwhelmed by The Little Prince, so fist bump

chilliejeanie I found the The White Goddess very interesting, I wouldn't want to plough through it in one go though!