50 Book Challenge Part Five

Thanks for new thread!

13. Behind her eyes by Sarah Pinborough. Started out promisingly as a psychological thriller involving a married couple and a single woman. Different narrators added nicely to the tension but this book was always going to be all about the ending. I won't give it away but suffice to say it was extremely unsatisfying. Don't bother.

My list:

My list so far:

1. Only Daughter by Anna Snoekstra
2. Viral by Helen Fitzgerald
3. The Last One by Alexandra Oliva
4. The Atlantis Gene by A.G. Riddle
5. Good Me Bad Me by Ali Land
6. The Rest of Us Just Live Here by Patrick Ness
7. ADHD Nation by Alan Schwarz
8. The World's Worst Children by David Walliams
9. Starborn by Lucy Hounsom

16. The Silence of Ghosts by Jonathan Aycliffe

Ghost story mostly set in World War 2. The first and last few chapters are set in the present day, but these don't add much to the story. Especially the bit where Octavia's ghost appears to the narrator in the opening chapters.

Dominic Lancaster, recovering from the loss of his leg at the sea battle of Narvik, is evacuated with his deaf 10 yr old sister Octavia to the family home by Ullswater in the Lake District. Sinister presences are soon felt, dead ghost children make friends with Octavia, and Octavia's health begins to decline (no surprise there, having seen her ghost at the beginning of the book).

The beginning and middle of the book were quite good. But the ending was unsatisfying. An anticlimactic and unconvincing showdown with the menacing presence, and lots of loose ends left unresolved and dangling.

17. A Dream of Ice by Gillian Anderson and Jeff Rovin

This is book 2 of their Earthend Saga. I read book 1 last year. Book 2 was a lot more frustrating.

Child psychologist Caitlin now has exciting new powers after uncovering a mystical link to the ancient lost civilisation of Galderkhaan in book 1. But now her young son is being threatened by Galderkhaan spirits, and she's being watched. Meanwhile, in Antarctica, Mikel, a researcher for a mysterious organisation, finds the ancient Galderkhaan city remarkably well preserved under the ice (book 1 has the city being seemingly obliterated by volcanic activity. Not much sign of that here). Mikel estimates at one point that the city was destroyed some 30,000 years ago.

My suspension of disbelief just wasn't up to this book.
We have the way Caitlin can manipulate energy, heal the sick, etc by striking various poses.
We have an amazing super linguist who can pull together a Galderkhaan vocabulary and talk knowledgeably about their culture based on, ooooh, a whole 3 short videos of possessed people talking in this long lost language.
We have magic stone tablets of magicness that levitate, literally melt brains, act as a telepathic database of souls, and the best explanation of them is along the lines of they work because of unimaginably ancient beings from the cosmic plane that no one's ever seen. Not to mention the amazingly intact city, with amazingly intact infrastructure, that lots of the magic stones are in.
We have trapped ghost souls trying to pull Caitlin back in time so that she can stop Galderkhaan being destroyed, lots of fretting from present day people about how this would wipe out our present, and not once does anyone even mention the possibility of time paradoxes (the famous grandfather paradox particularly springing to mind here).

Anyway. I wouldn't recommend anyone spending any money on this.

Thanks, Sadik. V fond memories of the chocolate mousse one!

She's still around & drawing, Remus ( and all her old postcards are on her website :) ).

Sadik - I'd forgotten all about Jacky Fleming. I used to have lots of postcards of her cartoons on my walls at uni!

Oh no, Satsuki, you're not having a good time. What a shame!
I treated myself to Lincoln in the Bardo as I loved his short stories and I couldn't resist. Twas a bit of a splurge though.

34 The Descent of Man by Grayson Perry
Reviewed by Remus above. I really enjoyed the first half of this, I was a little disappointed in that I felt that he didn't develop his arguments as much as he might have done, but overall very good. Parts of the later chapters did bring this old Jacky Fleming postcard from the 80s very much to mind :

Just read the sample of Lincoln in the Bardo and hooked, but argh so expensive!

I know what you mean fortuna I was only teasing a bit. For me it is the quality of the writing and what he does stylistically and with symbols that makes it a work of art - I should think a bit of that is perhaps lost in an audio version, but we all look for different things. I'm looking forward to reading some more Steinbeck this year and expecting great things from East of Eden so hope I don't have the same experience as you with Gatsby and find it a let down

Er ... Not sure what happened there. Thought I'd posted half a post, but don't seem to have done. Anyway, my list is:

1. The Light Years Elizabeth Jane Howard
2. Marking Time Elizabeth Jane Howard
3. Peter's Room Antonia Forest
4. Run Away Home Antonia Forest
5. The Thursday Kidnapping Antonia Forest
6. Pride and Prejudice Jane Austen
7. Cheerful Weather for the Wedding Julia Strachey
8. Good Evening, Mrs Craven Mollie Panter-Downes
9. Unpublished manuscript

And I've laid Orwell and his teapots aside for now to read Fell.

Sorry about that.
Anyway, currently reading Fell by Jenn Ashworth, which is a slow burner, but very well done.

Thanks for the new thread, South..

Bringing my list over:

1. The Story of a New Name (Book 2 of Neopolitan Novels) by Elena Ferrante.
2. Grief is the Thing with Feathers by Max Porter.

1. Beauty by Robin McKinley.
2. Prisoners of Geography by Tim Marshall.

1. Breakfast at Tiffany's by Truman Capote.
2. Any Human Heart by William Boyd.
3. The Pure in Heart (Simon Serailler Book 2) by Susan Hill.

The latest being:

26. Homegoing by Yaa Gyasi.

A wave to Convivial! Will be interested to know what you think of it.

The story starts in Africa and splits two half sisters and follows their subsequent families to the present day. Quite like a family tree with each chapter the tale of the next generation, based in The Ivory Coast, Ghana and America. I found the change of character/perspective a bit jolting, in that you didn't stay with any one character for very long till you are on to the next skipping 20-30 years each time. I'm a bit partial to longer character development. And sometimes I felt that issues were shoe-horned in, and the characters developed around them but maybe I'm just being picky and, really, overall it was fine, in the 'quite like' pile of this year.

I am currently listening to The Sellout, bringing up similar themes as Homegoing but in a very different way.

Added the Grayson Perry book to my wish list, thanks Remus. As have The Bell Jar and The Silent Woman. Love having some books to look forward to! 😄

Can I join in please? Although starting 4 months late I doubt I'll do 50 unless I could my children's books. I used to read loads but have lost my way a bit so I could do with a challenge like this.

My, rather small, list so far is:

1. everything that remains - Joshua fields milburn
2. time and time again - Ben Elton
3. 84 Charing Cross Road - Helene Hanff
4. the duchess of Bloomsbury - Helene Hanff

Currently reading neither here nor there by Bill Bryson

Satsuki It wasn't that I disliked The Great Gatsby, I enjoyed it, but I had had so many people rave about it that I was expecting something life changing and it wasn't. It was a good book, but it wasn't great. I also did it as an audiobook and wonder if that changed my perspective on it, hearing it rather than processing when reading. It just wasn't a book that punched me in the gut. For me a great book causes a reaction and stays with you for days because you can't stop thinking about it. With TGG it was more, that was nice, NEXT!

Thanks for the new thread southeastdweller.
Checking in with my list so far:
1.Frog Music by Emma Donaghue

1. After the Crash Michel Bussi

1. The Kept Woman Karin Slaughter
2. American Gods Neil Gaiman
3. Everyone Brave Is Forgiven Chris Cleave
4. Detour from Normal Ken Dickson
5. The Comfort of Strangers Ian McEwan
6. Our Endless Numbered Days Claire Fuller

I'm now reading The Siege by Helen Dunmore and The Crow Trap by Ann Cleeves, the first in the Vera series of crime thrillers. I'm enjoying them both so far.

Marking my place

Thanks for the new thread

@ your Ian McEwan review whippet. Completely agree with you.

fortunamajor The Great Gatsby is absolutely everything it's cracked up to be as far as I'm concerned, but each to their own actually you're wrong about this I would also say to read Sylvia Plath's Ariel - preferably in the edition that sticks to her original order - her prose poem "Three Women on a Maternity Ward and Johnny Panic and The Bible of Dreams* short stories before you read a biography, if you haven't. Otherwise everything will be coloured by what you know of her life. (I was a Plath expert in another life)

I am having a terrible time. I can't seem to finish anything and it's depressing the hell out of me. Abandoned Red Rising half way through as just really boring and felt like it could have been The Hunger Games. I liked the set up of life on Mars (hoo hoo hoo) but by the middle it could have been happening anywhere. When a character was described as "gliding past like a tower or a golden spider" I gave up. Oh one of those gliding towers. The natural opposite of a spider, of course. You're either one or the other.

I've started My Week with Marilyn but it's disappointingly dull and the narrator is annoying.

Thanks for the thread Southeast

EmGee I really enjoyed Grapes of Wrath, I did it as an audiobook last year or so.

My issue is that I often end up disappointed, I build certain 'must read' books up in my head, so that when I read them I don't get what was meant to be so good about them. Looking at you The Great Gatsby. I enjoyed the story and appreciate it captured a zeitgeist, but didn't think it was 'all that'.

I'm probably going to go for Catcher in the Rye soon and I have a couple of Shakespeare I quite fancy (although I do believe it should be seen and not read). I look forward to seeing what you pick stillloving

Anyway, the list

1. Dictator by Robert Harris
2. Conclave by Robert Harris
3. Mistress of the Art of Death by Ariana Franklin
4. Murder As a Fine Art by David Morrell
5. Longbourn by Jo Baker
6. The Poison Tree by Erin Kelly
7. The Owl Killers – Karen Maitland
8. When she was good by Laura Lippman
9. Company of Liars by Karen Maitland

I'm going to end the year by putting up the list of everything I abandoned this year to see which ends up the longer. I've been very fickle of late. I need something of His Bloody Project standards.

Just checking into the new thread. Currently reading No Way But Gentleness by Richard Hines, brother of Barry of Kes fame.

I'm also a chapter or so into The Descent of Man on Kindle (like to have a book on the go on my phone) and very impressed with it so far.

I'm also guilty of rescuing books from charity shops! :)

The Spy Who Came in from the Cold is excellent. Dp has just read it and it's one of the few books that he and I agree on.

Cote - I'm thrilled that you're still enjoying the Shardlake novels. :)

Book 37
The Descent of Man by Grayson Perry
One of my best reads of the year so far. This is Perry considering the theme of masculinity, what it’s meant in the past and how that needs to change. Perry is thoughtful, intelligent and honest, as well as witty and eloquent. Highly recommended.

Also moving my list across and placemarking:

Highlights in bold, low points in italics

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)
15. Lion by Saroo Brierley (for Bookclub)
16. The Muse by Jessie Burton (on Audible)
17. Henry VIII's wives - Julie Wheeler
18. A Wizard of Earthsea by Ursula de Guin
19. Fall of Giants by Ken Follet

Read today....
20. Stig of the Dump by Clive King
Had to read for school and pretty short, but am counting it as I've read some pretty long ones so far!

Now reading Saigon by Anthony grey and have Alan Partridge Nomad on Audible. Also working my way through Edward - A Great and Terrible King, but doing that a chapter at a time with a big break inbetween as it's pretty hard going (but interesting)

Just marking place!