50 Book Challenge 2017 Part Six

28. The Peregrine - JA Baker

For ten winters around the 1960s, Baker - an inconspicuous office worker by day - tracked peregrines around the woods, valleys and estuaries of his native Essex. He then compacted his field notes into this - under 200 pages of blistering writing which went on to inspire the likes of Robert Macfarlane, Helen Macdonald and all the current generation of nature writers. It's an extraordinary book - although not much actually happens, the writing is breathtaking and would almost seem clichéd except that Baker really was the first to write about nature in this way.

Have you seen the thread in Chat on this very subject?

It is a very nice jacket, ahem. (Probably stretching the already tenuous connection to what we're reading, so I'll just leave it there for my sisters in Sean!)

Rifles!

All Quiet is just beautiful and devastating.

Fortuna
All Quiet is superb, isn't it? It's books like that which make me angry about how dreadful so many other books are!

Who would have thought Sean Bean would inspire so much interest in literature, history, and Shakespearean theatre? And possibly fashion... (I obviously don't own a bottle green velvet jacket that looks like it belongs on an officer of the 95th Rifles, nope, absolutely not.)

Yes I think it was! And I am sorrry!

composteleana was that the one with Samantha Bond? I had tickets for that but couldn't go as I had a severe chest infection. I have never more bitterly regretted it than after reading your post.

I've sat through a lot of crap in my time just to watch Sean Bean die

Too real.

Another one bitterly disappointed by Lady Chatterly's Lover in book form after being very ..... erm inspired, by the TV adaptation as a teen.

Also, it wasn't crap, but I did a very good job years back of convincing myself I was going to see Macbeth because Shakespeare and stuff, and not because I'd heard Sean Bean got his bum out. He did. It was glorious.

I've sat through a lot of crap in my time just to watch Sean Bean die. I think you've just summed up my life.

33. Lady Susan by Jane Austen A recently widowed and notorious flirt invades the homes of her friends and family to secure a good match for herself and her daughter and she will stop at nothing to get her way.

Not sure how this passed me by in my Austen phase. I liked the epistolary format, but think it would have made an excellent longer novel fleshed out with more dialogue. I think there was a lot of scope for some witty exchanges. I love the pace of the writing in Austen's novels and always come away feeling like I should be flouncing round in a frock.

44. The Monogram Murders by Sophie Hannah

Something much lighter needed following Clarissa! This is a modern Poirot novel, not in quite the same style as Agatha Christie herself of course but reasonably well done. Poirot is interrupted over dinner in a coffee house by the entrance of an agitated woman whoh believes herself about to be murdered. She leaves without explaining herself, except to say that once she is dead justice will have been done. Later that evening, Poirot discovers that three people have been murdered at the fashionable Bloxham Hotel, each of whom has a monogrammed cufflink in their mouth. Are the two incidents connected? Poirot struggles to unravel the truth before a fourth person becomes a victim.

Good choice Sonnet.
*
70. All the light we cannot see* Set in St Malo in WW2. Beautifully written, story of 2 young people on opposing sides who come together at the liberation of France and the destruction of St Malo. I found this really easy and engaging to read. Enjoyed the short chapter structure which alternated the stories and brought them together in the end. I visited St Malo years ago and I always enjoy reading books about places I've been.

Now reading Reconstructing Amelia, and finding it tedious. It's a book for one of the book clubs I attend and this year we seem to have read some real stinkers! Problem is it's only me that thinks so.

As I'm not really gelling with reading at the moment I've decided to trawl my way through my to read bookshelf which is made up of charity shop purchases!
So next up is 'Hidden Depths' by Ann Cleeves - the third Vera Novel

Book 28 *The Other Hand" by Chris Cleave.
An interesting story about the lives of two women who are drawn together by unique set of circumstances with far reaching consequences - a teenaged Nigerian immigrant and a 'magazine editing' mother.

I found the first two thirds of the book enjoyable with the narrative alternating between the two women. I liked both characters, and the supporting characters around them, and genuinely cared about their fates. However after the revelation of what happened on the beach the book goes rapidly downhill becoming unbelievable and almost cheesy in parts. overall just 'meh'

Autocorrect Ioan!

Oh yes he wasn't posh enough, but I wasn't being all rational about it. Iona did grow on me.

I've sat through a lot of crap in my time just to watch Sean Bean die.

Ha ha, there was me thinking you were all too sensible and discerning to be dragged into them. I must admit my interest started with Sean Bean and may have had a lot bit more to do with the boy who lent the books to me. At least you got an A-level out of it.

I can't see Sean as Hornblower, he's a bit too rough and ready. Ioan did a fine job. Still upset Sean had his head lopped off so early on in Game of Thrones. I was rather hoping to letch at him for longer. He may have been the reason I started reading those books too...

To be fair, my history teacher was quite enthusiastic about my choice and loaned me books from his collection at home for the research. I didn't actually let on where my interest came from though.

I read the Sharpe series too I'm afraid I desperately wanted Sean to play Hornblower, as well.

chillie crying laughing at your A level essay, that's exactly the sort of thing I would do, Sean does have a lot to answer for.

Cote "It's not as gripping or sciency as usual but it's pretty OK."

I might just wait for your review at the end (just thinking of how amazing part one of Quicksilver was, and then the joy that was part 2 ).

Have got back into Snowcrash after starting a re-'read' on audio earlier in the year - at the time I felt it had dated badly, but actually I think it was just the way the first chapter or so was read and am now really enjoying it.

Maybe we could have a subsidiary thread where we all list our standout books to date this year? I've been doing OK - read slightly fewer books than this time last year (56 compared to 63) but fewer fluffy trash reads, and similar mix of good/average/bad I'd say.

I actually did read almost all of the Sharpe series FortunaMajor, with the exception of the books set before Sharpe's Rifles. As a result, I ended up writing about the importance of the Duke of Wellington to the British victory in the Peninsula War as my extended essay for A level history, even though the period I had chosen for the exams was the 16th and 17th century.

Sean Bean has a lot to answer for.

Congratulations Passmethecrisps

I have also been swayed by the 90s Sean Bean, but at least you lot didn't get dragged into the entire bloody Sharpe series. I'm more of a Hornblower girl myself

32. All Quiet on the Western Front by Erich Maria Remarque

I'm not sure who recommended this earlier this year. Thank you, this is one of the most evocative and poignant books I have ever read.

It tells of a cohort of German schoolboys who are encouraged to go to war by their schoolmaster. We join them two years into the Great War when they are battle hardened and weary. They understand the futility of war, know their youth has been stolen and that life can never be the same again and yet they battle on.

The writing is powerful and heart wrenching. I was instantly engaged. I had to rush home from work one day because I’d left them in a trench and was worried about them. I went through so many emotions reading this, it’s beautifully written. Despite them being ‘the others’ to me, you can’t help but feel for them and even at a tender age they understand that all of them, no matter the side, are pawns in a game played by others. Truly the lament of a lost generation.

Satsuki , Passme

chillie same!