50 Book Challenge 2017 Part Six

Yes well-put vanderley tempted to reread it now. I loved The Essex Serpent so hope you will too.

Finished 30. Rivers of London Ben Aaranovitch - as I said before, quite enjoyable at first but found it to just be convoluted nonsense by the end

29. The Mountain in my Shoe by Louise Beech Second outing for this Hull author, and I put her third, which is due out this year, on my wish list as soon as I finished. A lonely woman becomes a befriender to a boy in the care system, and slowly both their stories are revealed through alternating voices / sources, including the boy's life book, which is an important thread linking things together. Relies far too much on coincidence and main character is a bit of a wet blanket, but other that I thought she got lots right about children in care and their families, and how the system works (stretched a little for poetic licence). She writes emotions really well, and this touched a nerve with me (adoptive parent).

29. Dragon Keeper - Robin Hobb
30. Dragon Haven - Robin Hobb
31. City of Dragons - Robin Hobb
32. Blood of Dragons - Robin Hobb

Read all the Rainwild Chronicles. Love these books - Robin Hobb is brilliant at world building and this series is far superior to Game of Thrones. Would love to see a tv adaption of this. Bit annoyed with myself that I didn't read them in the right place in sequence with her other sets. May have to do a reread from the very beginning next year.

Remus, I heard Saunders speak about the book before reading it, which I'm certain helped allay certain confusions at the beginning. Things will become more clear.

Satsuki, I think you're quite correct: Gatsby is such a beautifully crafted gem, crystalline and contained in a way Tender isn't--Tender is dense. And, I too think it's impossible not to transpose Fitzgerald's life onto Tender, as much as he also based the Divers on Gerald and Sara Murphy. Gatsby is also more dramatic, whereas Tender's tragedies are more mundane and emotionally real, and therefore more uncomfortable to read. Anyway, I could go on for a while, so I'll stop now.

I too had a bad period for reading this winter. I seem to be on the other side of it and am greatly enjoying both The Poisoner's Handbook and The Essex Serpent.

vanderley I think Gatsby is nigh in perfect in terms of subject and style, narrative mode, symbolism. I love Tender, but it is less tightly woven, he struggled with the composition of it and I think that comes across somewhat in the structure. It is more autobiographical so less carefully "artistic". These are not necessarily negatives; just my thoughts on your question. I think it has a depth and emotional realism that Gatsby doesn't have and goes deeper under the surface of the characters. Glad to hear you've enjoyed Lincoln can't wait to get into it but...

I am plodding with City too but don't want to give up. Having a bad spell.

Place marking. I've been trudging through Berlin Noir and The City and the City for weeks. Nearly there with both. Not that they are terrible or anything, just seem to have lost my reading mojo. Trying to get it back by picking up a quick read The Mountain in my Shoe by Louise Beech - seems to be working nicely.

50. The Code Book by Simon Singh A history of ciphers and codes from the earliest known examples through to quantum cryptography.
    Absolutely fascinating, one of my stand out books this year. Very clearly explained, - amongst other things I now understand how public key encryption works (and why it is important), the specific role of very large primes, and also a great deal more about PGP. It's also made much more sense of the politics involved in PGP etc up until 1999 when the book was published. (Now I need to go away and find out more about what has happened since then both technically and politically . . . )

As a side note, even though I wasn't that enthralled by The History Thieves which I read a week or so back, it was actually an interesting combination with this book - and a salutary reminder never to assume that the apparant limits of encryption are genuine. I didn't know for example that public key encryption had been invented/discovered independently and some years earlier by researchers working for GCHQ.

(And I can't help but wonder whether Britain might have been rather better served in the post war period if more of the amazing research being carried out by our scientists/mathematicians/engineers had been channelled into commercial/public rather than military/secret realms.)

Haven't been here for a while but have been reading.

Am onto book 70.

From the ones I've finished, I heartily recommend

Lunch with the Generals - Derek Hansen

and

The Secret Scripture - Sebastian Barry (This was lovely! I guessed the denouement, but it didn't matter - very bitter sweet and touching, I thought)

Have just started Lincoln and must admit that, so far, I haven't got the faintest idea what's going on!

Passme, best wishes! southeast, thank you (belatedly) for the new thread.

21. Eleanor Oliphant Is Completely Fine by Gail Oliphant: I've not much to add to the previous excellent reviews, but I must admit I didn't find this book as charming as other 50 Bookites did, though I enjoyed it overall.
22. Tender Is the Night by F. Scott Fitzgerald: Fitzgerald's critical masterpiece which focuses on the Divers, a couple whose fragile life and marriage come undone over the course of the novel. The text deals with love, lust, class, money, psychotherapy, expatriatism, desire, image, creation of self, Hollywood, vanity, the vicissitudes of a certain group in the Jazz Age. I'm still pondering why Gatsby (which I admire) seems to have more resonance than Tender, which is quite arguably superior. Thoughts?
23. Trick of the Dark by Val McDermid: standalone mystery featuring a professionally disgraced forensic psychologist who reconnects with her old Oxford tutor after the tutor's son in law is murdered. While interesting, the plot did plod in places for me, and the protagonist, supposedly brilliant, was not as canny as portrayed.
24. The Bookshop by Penelooe Fitzgerald: a middle-aged widow opens a bookshop in a small community despite opposition from powerful residents. This novel was shortlisted for the Booker when it was released. Sadly, I am not sophisticated enough to enjoy its subtle charms.
25. Lincoln in the Bardo by George Saunders: since so many others are reading/plan to read this, I won't review it as I don't want to influence your experience. I will say that I've been thinking about ever since I finished and will surely return to the text soon.

Thanks Glitter. Have bought all 3 - only read Spy so far - it's superb.

Hello, just checking in to keep this in my 'threads I'm on'.

I'm at a bit of an impasse - came back from holiday last Sun, whilst there, on the last day, I picked up Rivers of London by Ban Aaranovitch from the hotels book swap shelf. Not my usual thing at all but in the holiday setting it was quite enjoyable. Now I'm home it suddenly seems like a load of nonsensical shite and, with only the last quarter to go, I'm struggling to finish it, but trying to stop myself from starting anything else until I do.

I'm also listening to Elena Ferrante Those who leave and those who stay on audiobook on the drive to work, which I'm enjoying much more.

slightlyglitterbrained Thanks for the tip-off. I would absolutely urge everyone to by The Spy Who Came In From the Cold - it's the best thing I've read this year.

Just popping in to point out to the Le Carré fans that today's Kindle deal is "The Spy Who Came in from the Cold", "A Murder of Quality", and "Call for the Dead".

Sadik It's what I say to myself every night when I get the train out of Cardiff to go home. I wanted to be WestIsBest but someone beat me to it and never posted.

Still reading Wexford in between the politics threads. I will catch up properly one day and look at all the lovely new reads you're all writing about.

Book 55
The Lost City of Z – David Grann
I enjoyed this on the whole. It’s the story of Lieutenant Colonel Percy Fawcett who spent many years exploring the Amazon and who maintained that a glorious city, a kind of El Dorado, could be found but disappeared with his son and son’s best friend during a trip to seek out said city. The mystery hasn’t been solved and I thought the book ended too abruptly, but it was overall quite interesting.

BestIsWest your username always makes me smile. My heart always rises just a little bit as I come back over the Severn bridge heading west :)

Re. book prices - anyone on Audible, I often use my credits on newly out books that are ££s but not yet in the library. Esp. with new hardback non-fiction, it means I pay £7.99 for a book that might be £15 - £20 to buy in paper or kindle.

32. Snow Blind by Christopher Golden

Several people die in a winter snowstorm, killed by ice demons. 12 years later, there's another big storm, bringing back the ice demons and the ghosts of the dead.

Not all that interesting or memorable.

33. No Time Like The Past by Jodi Taylor

Another of her Chronicles of St Mary's books with time travelling historians. Much the same as the previous books in the series.

39. Testimony, Anita Shreve

Keith Lemonde - I actually did not get the same feeling you did. I just thought it was interesting how far the knock on effect went - with the boys and the teacher and the reputation of the establishment.

I had it on CD and think it was more powerful perhaps than in a book?

Wild by Cheryl Strayed
This was an audio book. Really enjoyable story of how a young woman copes with a long trek on the Pacific Crest Trail. Quite thought provoking and very well told. Didn't know it was a film so might seek it out.

I got it from the library a while back and loved it.

I know but I waited over a year for Seveneves to come down in price and finally ended up buying it for £9.99.

That book looks good, Cote but £11.99 on kindle. Think I will wait for it to come down in price.

35. Sisterland - Curtis Sittenfeld

Daisy and Violet are twins with "senses". But whilst Violet embraces them Daisy wants to forget she ever had them. When Violet publicly predicts an earthquake you are left waiting to see if her predictions are real or whether she will be publicly humiliated.

This was an okay read at best. Quite slow and I got a bit bored waiting to see if they were right or not and the actual ending annoyed me and was so unrealistic to my mind.

Now onto book 36. Misery - Stephen King which is my 2nd ever Stephen King book so I'm hoping I enjoy it!

Neal Stephenson's new book is coming out in the next few days!

The Rise and Fall of D.O.D.O. Kindle Edition
by Neal Stephenson (Author), Nicole Galland (Author)
Kindle Edition £11.99
You think you know how the world works? Think again.

1851 England
The Great Exhibition at London’s Crystal Palace has opened, celebrating the rise of technology and commerce. With it the power of magic – in decline since the industrial revolution began – is completely snuffed out. The existence of magic begins its gradual devolution into mere myth.

21st Century America
Magic has faded from the minds of mankind, until an encounter between Melisande Stokes, linguistics expert at Harvard, and Tristan Lyons, shadowy agent of government, leads to the uncovering of a distant past.
After translating a series of ancient texts, Melisande and Tristan discover the connection between science, magic and time travel and so the Department of Diachronic Operations – D.O.D.O. – is hastily brought into existence. Its mission: to develop a device that will send their agents back to the past, where they can stop magic from disappearing and alter the course of history.

But when you interfere with the past, there’s no telling what you might find in your future…