50 Book Challenge Part Five

Into Thin Air is fantastic.

Just don't read it when on a skiing trip like me an idiot

Ooh Into Thin Air by Jon Krakauer is 99p today in the kindle daily deal, looking forward to reading this.

www.versobooks.com/events?edition_id=2443&page=1
China Mieville has a UK book tour for his latest book in the Russian Revolution - anyone read it yet?

urgh - shonky bolding

15. Different Class by Joanne Harris
Roy Straitely has been teaching at an old-fashioned independent school for over 30 years and is nearing retirement. He is struggling to come to terms with a number of changes made by the new Head. The new Head is a former pupil at the school who was involved in a serious scandal there in the earlier days of Straitley's career, which had life-changing consequences for one of Straitely's closest friends. He is certain that the new Head is involved in a serious of worrying events that begin to unfold.

This is the second book Harris has written featuring Straitley (the first was Gentlemen and Players), who is a really sympathetic and recognisable (if flawed) character. The psychological drama is tense and the conclusion thought-provoking. However, Harris used a very similar structure in Gentlemen and Players. In both the narrative switching between Straitley and an unnamed second narrator, with the result that the twist was far easier to work out this time round.

Just caught up with the thread. I've succumbed to peer pressure and bought The City and the City. Only £1.29 on kindle and nothing to do with the abs, oh no.

boldly - You must read Snow Crash, especially if you have a background in linguistics. That book has the most astonishing ideas & plot, based to a large extent on language and its effects on the brain.

Book 47
Endless Night by Agatha Christie
This was just dreadful. It started as rather silly and clichéd, then got silly and dull, and then got utterly preposterous. I absolutely hated it. Has anybody else read this travesty of a novel? And now I've finished it, I have a feeling |I may have read it before and been equally alarmed by how terrible it was. Either that, or I've read another book that was similarly ridiculous.

Thanks for the recommendations, Cote. I am intrigued to read more by him. I think my main issue is that my technical/scientific knowledge is basic - I last did any science over 20 years ago! Philosophy, linguistics and history are my strong points. Perhaps, I'm always going to find the more technical descriptions a bit challenging but it won't stop me trying more even if it does fry my brain.

Scribbly - that's interesting. I've got SnowCrash on Audible, and gave up a little way in. I thought it was just that it had dated badly, but I think you're right, it just doesn't suit audio.

40 The Black Gryphon by Mercedes Lackey. Very average fantasy novel, definitely not one of her best.

49. The Northern Clemency - Philip Hensher Picked this up in a charity shop. Was draw to it as it was set in Sheffield where we have family ties. Also began in the year I was born. It is 700 + pages of a family saga covering two 'normal families' . The story picks them up in 1974, 1984, and 1996/7. The writing is convincing and there were some laugh out loud moments. The book meanders rather than races and nothing groundbreaking happens, just the ups and downs of family life and how our earliest experience can affect us later on. I never felt I wanted to give up on it but I never felt an amazing pull towards it either.

My list so far:

1. The Year Of Living Dangerously 2. The Complete David Bowie by Nicholas Pegg 3. Submarine 4. Cold Comfort Farm 5. The Life Changing Magic Of Tidying 6. A Man Called Ove Quite enjoyed A Man Called Ove, a book that concerns itself with what seems to be at first sight an irredeemably grumpy, unpleasant old man. But as his life is told in flashbacks you see that he has hidden depths and a well hidden heart of gold. His life is, quite literally, saved by his neighbours who slowly come to see the good in him and he in them. It's sentimental, and I did feel my heart strings being unceremoniously tugged at, but I was involved with the characters and was therefore quite happy to give way to the occasional tear! Now reading number 7 Hideous Kinky, a book I have been meaning to read for years, due to the fantastic title if nothing else, it's mildly diverting but not rocking my world so far.

Cote, mixed feelings about Snowcrash.

I think in hindsight I would have enjoyed the book more if I'd read it rather than listened to it. Not that the narrator did a bad job, just because the way the book is structured (? If all his writing is like this). Episodes of action or at least the plot being propelled forwards followed by what felt like huge info dumps which I don't think, for me personally, work in an audio context. I felt exactly the same way listening to The Name Of the Rose last year. Moments of exhilaration followed by what seemed like endless minutes of information which are impossible to skim as a listener, and ultimately left me feeling frustrated. I wonder if I'd had a physical copy of the book in front of me I could or would have read the book differently. Possibly skimming and then flicking back to the librarian sections later when some piece of information became pertinent and I wanted to read through it again.
Not sure. It did make me think about which books I chose to read and which I choose to listen to, and taking more care of the choice in the future.

He has to be congratulated though for the opening scene of the pizza delivery. I've never come across such clever world building written in a sitting on the edge of your seat/action set piece style. Not going to forget that scene in a hurry.

boldly - Welcome to the fascinating world of Neal Stephenson I really enjoyed Seveneves last year, although I thought the last 3rd was slightly weaker than the rest and should have been a (better thought-out) sequel.

If you would like to go on to read some more of his books, you have Anathem (very brainhurty) and Cryptonomicon (somewhat brainhurty) on one side of the spectrum and Snow Crash on the other (not brainhurty, but brilliant story all the same). I also rate The Diamond Age very highly, especially re social and cultural commentary and thoughts on raising children.

I have to warn you, though: Once you start reading Neal Stephenson, you will be a SF snob who sniggers at the likes of Station 11

I finally get around to adding my list. I have slowed down massively, mostly thanks to work getting in the way. I need to win the lottery so I can spend my days reading!

1 The Woman Who Stole My Life by Marian Keyes
2 The Ice Princess by Camilla Lackberg
3 Kitchens of the Great Midwest by J Ryan Stradal
4 Cheer Up Love by Susan Calman
5 Beswitched by Kate Saunders
6 Someone Else's Skin by Sarah Hilary
7 Wifework by Susan Maushart
8 The Year of Reading Dangerously by Andy Miller
9 The Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follett
10 The Adventurous Seven: Their Hazardous Undertaking - Bessie Marchant
11 No Kiss for Mother - Tomi Ungerer
12 Detour from Normal - Ken Dickson
13 The Dark Net - Jamie Bartlett
14 Whisper My Secret - JB Rowley
15 The Skeleton Cupboard - Tanya Byron
16 Scars Upon My Heart - ed. by Catherine Reilly
17 The Prisoner of Zenda - Anthony Hope
18 The Hiroshima Maidens- Rodney Barker
19 Gods and Warriors - Michelle Paver
20 Strictly Murder - Lynda Wilcox
21 The Last Romanov Icon - Carlos Mundy and Marie Stravlo
22 The Burning Shadow - Michelle Paver
23 Pollyanna - Eleanor H Porter
24 12 Years A Slave - Solomon Northup
25 Skeletons In The Closet - Jennifer L Hart
26 All Quiet on the Western Front - Erich Remarque
27 Noble Beginnings - C T Ryan
28 Elizabeth Hobart of Exeter Hall - Jean Baird
29 The Handmaid's Tale - Margaret Atwood A reread. Terrifying in the current world.
30 Through the Barricades - Denise Deegan Not a bad take on the Easter Uprising, if still rather romanticised.
31 What Katy Did - Susan Coolidge Thus and the next one were sheer nostalgia. I read them in my long-distant youth and fancied a reread.
32 What Katy Did at School - Susan Coolidge
33 Murder 101 - Faye Kellermann I really like Kellermann's books, much more than Jonathan Kellermann, who I find cynically over-invested in sadism and violence. Faye's books have humanity, as well as being well written and researched.

Currently I have three books on the go. Oh, and an audible. Will be back with proper reviews when I am not marking an enormous pile of uni scripts!

Thanks Sadik, I will definitely look out for The Thrilling Adventures of Lovelace and Babbage. Ada's Algorithm was such a missed opportunity. I am sure that Lovelace's work was important but the gossipy tone and focus on social engagements/emotional attachments completely undermined it.

Looks like I am going to have another Neal Stephenson phase. I loved Cryptinomicon but it's been over a decade since I read it, so time for a reread I think. I have Anathem waiting for me on my kindle.

Welcome to Night Vale is going ok, light and funny, but I don't think I am in the right frame of mind for it so may move on to something else.

23. Seveneves - Neal Stephenson

This is the first Neal Stephenson novel I've read. The premise is that something causes the moon to break-up which has a devastating effect on Earth. Humanity are under a death sentence and have 2 years to plan an escape. Hopes rest on the international space station and plans are made to evacuate some of the population there.
The story is divided into three parts - the first deals largely with the 2 year count-down, the second deals with the immediate aftermath and the final part is set 5,000 years later.

I found this a bit of a mixed bag. It was incredibly well-researched but the sheer amount of technical detail meant that I found the pacing of the plot too slow in places. I enjoyed the human politics elements and the descriptions of the New Earth. Personally, I would have liked more detail about the societies of the New Earth - how they were structured, what they believed, how they survived. I'm also not sure that the language would have been mutually intelligible after 5000 years.

A solid novel, especially if you are of a techy mindset, but I would have preferred more on the culture/philosophy. The Three-Body Problem was much stronger on these elements.

I would like to read more by him though.

Yes thanks for the reminder sadik have wishlisted that.

Just discovered this thread and now wishing I had kept a list of what I've read this year because I can't remember them all! Here are some:

1. The Janissary tree
2. His bloody project
3. The magic toyshop
4. Every day is mother's day
5. Vacant possession
6. The haunting of Hill House
7. We have always lived in the castle
8. The girl on the train
9. Stiff upper lip, Jeeves

I really enjoyed all of these except 'His bloody project' which was so depressing and claustrophobic, although excellently written.

I'm irrationally annoyed that 3 books have disappeared from my Goodreads list!
43. (not 40, Goodreads!) Commonwealth by Ann Patchett, my first by this author, I was very impressed and will be reading more of hers. Excellent, insightful writing spanning over 50 years in the lives of two families brought together by an affair begun at a boozy christening party, the characters won't be easy to forget.
I'm now starting The Return by Hisham Matar after being lucky enough to be sent a copy from MN last week, it sounds excellent.

Can I just recommend (again!) The Thrilling Adventures of Lovelace and Babbage to those interested in Ada Lovelace. The cartoons are fabulous, but there's also a lot of real information about her in the 'footnotes' - which actually take up at least as much if not more of the book than the drawings.

Welcome argh and scribbly.

I missed Decline and Fall when it was on daily deal; pretty miffed about that.

Hi, Scribbly. :)

Just done some abs research. I like. Thanks for this useful addition to the discussion.

Would I like Ordinary Grace?

Currently reading Decline and Fall which is glorious so far, and an Agatha Christie - Endless Night - which isn't.

Welcome, Scribbly

What did you think about Snow Crash?