50 Book Challenge 2017 Part Six

Yes, although I note she wasn't fat, which is probably socially worse than scarring.

I think it was the child abuse that ruined it for me - I found it jarring in the context of a social comedy. I wouldn't have liked child beatings to crop up in the Adrian Mole books.

I also quite liked that the protagonist was an awkward woman - like properly awkward, not adorably ditzy like a Bridget Jones. It had an Adrian Mole quality about it, which I haven't seen much from a female perspective.

Yes fair enough.

It's not that I'm such a model of social graces myself. I think loneliness is a good subject to tackle. It just didn't gel for me.

I've also been in a similar situation where I was never really taught to navigate the world and relied on kind friends when I left home to give me a step by step in certain areas, so that aspect really chimed with me.

Ha ha biblio

I agree it was a bit ploddy in the middle and hated all the pop star silliness, but it did win me over in the end. Also I liked the narrative voice - I found it convincing because it was a little bit like my own internal monologue

Cross-posted, Satsuki!

63 Halloween Party, Agatha Christie
A late Hercule Poirot book. Picked it up on a whim at the library. This is not golden era Christie, but she still fooled me with the big reveal.

64. Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine, Gail Honeyman

May be swimming against the tide, but I hated this. Didn't find the narrator's voice convincing, was unamused by the various "comedy" episodes, and hated the inevitable plod towards the revelation of childhood trauma. May have been exacerbated by the fact that I have a 9 year-old girl and hated the account of maternal abuse to a child of that age. Quite liked Raymond, but overall ugh. I just want the book out of my house.

17. Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine

I enjoyed this. It is a funny and quite moving exploration of living with loneliness and feeling disconnected from the world, and how one woman begins to get a grip on her present by confronting the horrors of her past. It is about the power of friendship, the big impact of small things, and the art of living. There is a mystery hiding in plain sight - it is pretty obvious as the book develops what has happened to Eleanor in her childhood, and the "twist" is also eminently guessable - however I think this is deliberate. It increases the emotional weight of the ending to have the reader "know" what the protagonist doesn't and the sting comes not from a twist, but from seeing her finally realise and face up to the truth, and complete her journey to self awareness, which is really what the book is about.

It was a nice easy read, and my word am I pleased to have finally finished one after abandoning several; so extra credit for that.

I'm reading Conclave by Robert Harris next I think, as my dh has just passed it to me with a recommendation, but have Lincoln and Handmaid waiting so have been enjoying discussion of those. I have also got Eligible in a 3 for 10 deal. I didn't think I would bother with it as I don't like JA spin offs, but I like her writing and fancy knocking off a few easy ones after my terribly dry spell, so going to take it on face value.

remus I laughed at your description of Susan Hill - if you want a giggle look up her confrontation with an independent book shop in Norwich - they were giving away free copies of 1984 and Handmaid's Tale on behalf of a local book group and she cancelled a book signing with them on short notice then accused them of being anti-Trump and partisan. This led to Michael Gove getting involved on her behalf and calling the shop "illiberal bigots". The shop responded by having merchandise printed up with the epithet. It was all extremely bizarre and made me not in a rush to read anything by her.

Stokey and Chessie, I'm fairly certain that The Handmaid's Tale has been renewed for a second season, so the story will begin to diverge more and more from the novel (while keeping to its spirit). I'm unsure about the conclusion, though.

Have got the free sample, Meg. Just not feeling terribly patient recently, so have just bought a Georgette Heyer for emergency light reading.

Remus his Buddhism-inspired outlook on life informs his whole journey, but it's not annoying or preachy - I found it really interesting.

I am so behind in my updates that the thread had fallen off my list! Updating with books 38-41 and will come back in a few days when I finish The Plot Against America to update the rest.

38. The Marrying of Chani Kaufman – Eve Harris. Chani is part of the ultra-orthodox Jewish community and lives in London. At the age of 19 she is expected to marry and through a matchmaker finds herself engaged to a young Hasidic man. Rivka, the wife of a rabbi teaches her what is expected of her in marriage and the story weaves Rivka’s story with that of Chani and Baruch. Although I have a little Jewish ancestry I know little or nothing about the Hasidic community and I found this fascinating. The characters were well drawn and developed and I did feel a lot of sympathy, particularly with the main female characters. This is a book about rules, expectations, traditional beliefs and practices and the challenges of conforming.

39. Whispers Underground – Ben Aaronovitch. This is the third PC Grant book and in this adventure Peter Grant has to investigate the murder of a young American student. The trail brings him underground where there are a few surprises in store. The story has a bit of fantasy, police work and magic and history – what’s not to like?

40. The Circle - Dave Eggers. I was interested to see all the reviews of The Circle over the past few days. I have not much to add. Great concept and a decent enough story but overall a not enough depth to make it anything more than an alright read.

41. The Silver Witch – Paula Brackston. This is a story of two silver haired women who live in a secluded part of Wales, hundreds of years apart. Seren is a witch and shaman who is the protector and lover of a prince. Tilda’s husband has died and she moves to Wales to come to terms with her grief where she soon finds herself having strange visions and experiences that link her to the old Celtic magic of Seren. I love a bit of witchery and magic but this was too slow and dull for me.

Hello! I was on the first thread and I've been reading away since then, but beginning to doubt my ability to reach 50 this year! This is what I have read so far. Highs in bold and lows in italics:

1.The Swarm by Frank Schätzing

1. The Beautiful Dead by Belinda Bauer
2. The Yorkshire Pudding Club by Millie Johnson
3. The Catacombs by Jeremy Bates
4. The Secret Place by Tana French
5. The Dry by Jane Harper
6. The Fever by Megan Abbott

1. Nyctophobia by Christopher Fowler

Thanks, Meg. I haven't read it and it does sound interesting, but how much religion is there in it? My tolerance for religion of whatever denomination is getting increasingly low, I must admit.

Stokey I wondered that (re Tv version of Handmaid's Tale). I'm watching it but am a bit behind, only up to episode 3. However it's departed from the book in a number of ways already so I do think they may do something different with the ending.

My book version of The Handmaid's Tale includes an intro from Margaret Atwood written last year, in which she says that apparently lots of people assume that Offred's real name is June, because at one point Atwood gives a list of handmaids' names and June is the only one in the list that isn't mentioned again so people have assumed it must be the main character. Atwood said that wasn't her intention but she doesn't mind if people want to think that. Therefore the TV people are following others in giving her a real name!!

Just been on my Goodreads list and found two books I've read this year that aren't on my list, so I'm actually on 36!

1. The Wolf and The Raven - Steven MacKay

1. Greenwitch - Susan Cooper

1. ^Crosstalk - Connie Willis (Audible)

I feel I should like Robin Hobb, I generally like fantasy, but I read the first Assassin one (Assassin's Apprentice?) and it didn't grab me. Maybe I should try again

List so far (Highlights in bold, low points in italics)

1. The Wolf and The Raven - Steven MacKay

1. Greenwitch - Susan Cooper

1. Crosstalk - Connie Willis (Audible)

34: The Ginger Tree by Oswald Wynd
The story of a young Scottish woman in the early 1900s who travels to China to get married to a British Consular official. She ends up in a pretty loveless marriage and ends up having an affair with a Japanese nobleman and gets pregnant. She is thrown out by her husband and ends up living in Japan when the country was largely closed to foreigners. Her baby is taken from her to be adopted by a "decent" japanese family. It follows her life up to the bombing of Pearl Harbour in 1942(?).
It's a good story, but I got a bit frustrated in the way it was written - in the form of letters to her mother and later her friend, and the diary that she keeps. Therefore I felt it was all a bit flat, no dialogue, everything was described from a distance as it were. But a good read.

We had Jamaica Inn played to us at school as a bed time story aged about 11 Chillie - 80s boarding school life - we were all terrifed.

I wonder if they're going to give the Handmaid's Tale more of an ending in the TV series Chessie? They've already given her a name.

I'm having a bad run of books at the moment. Have failed to finish the last two I started - The Atrocity Archives & Elizabeth is Missing - as just got too bored by them. But have managed to finish

36. The Terrible Privacy of Maxwell Sim - Jonathan Coe. This was a struggle too though, a dull everyman protagonist with no redeeming features, depressed, embarks on an ostensible sales trip to Shetland. There are glimpses of Coe's satire - the motorway service stations, the relationship he forms with his Satnav - she doesn't judge - but on the whole it's a slog. And the post-modern ending just annoyed me.

Robin Hobb's Tawny Man trilogy
98. Fool's Errand
99. The Golden Fool
100. Fool's Fate

I do feel like Robin Hobb is at her best in these. Back to Fitz and the Fool, Chade, Kettricken, Burrich etc, back to Buckkeep and the familiar locations. Cracking good story, even if it does slow down a bit in book 2. I still think Molly gets zero character development and therefore I find her dull - she's just the object of Fitz's longing and no more. He and Burrich decide her life for her and that's that. Love the Fool, though!

27. The Snow Leopard - Peter Matthiessen

In 1973 Matthiessen set out with the naturalist George Schaffer into the Himalayas in search of the elusive snow leopard. But it was also an inner journey for Matthiessen, who wished to find peace and enlightenment after the death of his wife. This is his account of the journey, filled with stunning descriptions of the landscape, people, and wildlife they encountered, but also very personal and influenced heavily by his fascination with Buddhism. Highly recommended - Remus have you read this one?

69. A Dangerous Inheritance- Alison Weir I seem to remember this has had some fairly scathing reviews on here in the past. However having read Alison Weir in the past I thought I would give it a go. Pretty dreadful. The stories of two Tudor woman , eighty years apart told in parallel. Very thin attempts to link the stories which were tenuous at best. Neither story in its own right was fleshy enough for a novel, so guess that's why she put them together. Not a success.

41. Llewellyn's 2017 Witches' Companion

A collection of articles on witchcraft and paganism in modern living, including such subjects as pagans and mental illness, music for ritual and magic, personal healing, living pagan at work, the place of thoughts and emotions in witchcraft, and much else. Always interesting.