50 Book Challenge 2017 Part Six

"it became very dull and syrupy for the most part unfortunately, for me."

I'd be interested to compare Eng & Tr versions. I might ask y'all to post pics of some pages once I'm done (which should be tomorrow).

36. The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls. A memoir of the author's journey from a childhood of rootlessness and extreme poverty, with an alcoholic father and an ineffective mother, to a successful career as a journalist in New York. I found this startlingly good and very thought provoking. The author strikes the right note of honesty without sentimentality, and it's also interesting to read about how her siblings dealt with their experiences.

37. A Place Called Winter by Patrick Gale. Set in the early 20th century, the opening scene, revisited at intervals throughout the book, is of the protagonist Harry Cane in a mental institution. In parallel, the main body of the story builds up his life in England, and later Canada, to get to that point. Not sure how I feel about this one. It's original and well written, but I found one character and some of the scenes so unpleasant and disturbing that it really coloured the book for me. I feel a bit pathetic for saying this, but I read with a sense of dread. Although maybe that was the author's intention?

I fell off the last thread in May (May!) and have only managed 3 in all that time- The Essex Serpent, a Micheal Connelly (am watching the Amazon Bosch series), and The Luminaries and I am here to beg a favour re the latter!

I bought it in the January Xmas sale and I think way back then someone linked to a thread, or a review, that explained all the zodiac stuff; but I can't find the link now. I made the mistake of having it as my "dip into on my phone" book, so I read it in tiny chunks, would have been better in a bigger bits I think, and now I would love a bit of an explanation! Does anyone know what I am talking about?

Thank you- and off to catch up on this thread!

So I take it it's business as usual post-quake Cote?

I liked What a Carve Up, Satsuki but read it a long time ago. I think it was more coherent as a novel than anything I've read of his since. I feel his satire is a bit obvious now, but maybe it's just because there are such obvious targets - in the latest book there's a whole bit about billionaires digging into the bowels of basements in their Chelsea manors to create ever more underground floors.

46. Brand New Me - Charlotte Crosby

Very light reading about the Geordie Shore star. Was curious to see if there was anything more about her relationship with Gary and the ending of it but most of this was already in the press. Fast read after spending a lot of time when I was younger watching them get together

52. Cloud Atlas by David Mitchell

Six interlocking stories ranging from the southern hemisphere in the 19th century to probably Hawaii in a post apocalyptic future, via England, the Far East, and the US. The stories are split so you get half the stories as they step towards the future, then the other half as it regresses to the past. It was okay, some of the stories were more engrossing than others.

Is What A Carve Up a good read stokey? Had it hanging round for ages.

Hope it's better in the original too cote, looking forward to your review if not though

The inner world stuff was the strongest part, and it did make me wonder if something was lost in translation - but it became very dull and syrupy for the most part unfortunately, for me.

Yes, the beach in question is in Turkey

Catching up:

37. Imperium - Robert Harris. The first in his Cicero trilogy, i'd put off reading these as thought Cicero was a bit of a tit when I did Latin A level, but it's quite a sympathetic portrait. I got a bit bogged down in the middle, but in general it's a good story - maybe a decent holiday read for anyone heading to Italy.

38. He Said/She Said - Erin Kelly. Page turner/thriller about a girl who was possibly raped and is possibly delusional. Lots of jumping back and forth, easy read.

39. Number 11 - Jonathan Coe. This is touted as the follow-up to What A Carve Up. It's basically a series of loosely connected stories satirising various aspects of modern Britain - reality TV, rich people, politicians. It's interesting but not LOL funny.

40. A spool of blue thread - Anne Tyler. Pretty typical Anne Tyler fare which you either like or hate. It's about a family but not much happens really, although it's weirdly compelling.

Is your beach in Turkey Cote ? haven't heard much about the earthquake since it happened and am going in a few weeks time. I haven't got much in the way of holiday reading yet. Maybe i need something based in that area.

For example, I would not have guessed that Sanayii Nefîse Mektebi means Güzel Sanatlar Okulu (School of Fine Arts) without the footnote.

Well, I'm enjoying it so far. Its introspection and subtle insight into people's inner worlds are very much like Ian McEwan's stuff imho.

It's not easy to understand, though, because it's written with loads of Persian & Arabic words that have since been (consciously) weeded out of the language & replaced with words derived from Turkish roots. Some definitions are given in footnotes but the rest takes a bit of guess work for those of us born in the last 50 years.

It's so very, very, very boring, Cote. Hope it's better in the original.

106. Wildfire, Ilona Andrews. Urban fantasy, third in a series. Plusses: chirpy writing, kickass heroine, interesting world building and magical powers. Downsides: Plot lost itself a bit - at one point the heroine goes 'information has been leaked - we must have a traitor in our midst!', heads off to the final battle and then goes 'oh no, actually, it was sophisticated surveillance tech', with no other mention of traitors at all. Fine to have an actual traitor, fine to suspect one and worry about who to tell what, but don't have literally one line mentioning a possible traitor, then no other reference to it, and then one line dismissing the possibility! Final battle seemed to be resolved ridiculously easily, too. I'm getting a bit fed up of massively violent heroes restrained only because they know the heroine would be annoyed if they start killing anyone that hits on her. And by restrained, I mean, twists cars into pretzels using telekinesis in rage. Yeah, because that's sexy.

Meanwhile, check out my latest beach read. I finally got my hands on Madonna In A Fur Coat in original Tr print

I thought of getting the nn Syphilis and coming back here to say "Did someone call me?" but I couldn't be arsed

Sorry for lack of apostrophe and why did I tag syphilis in the conversation argh.

The feelings mutual,cote as long as we don't talk about HHhH

[grin]@syphilis and squalor too and you wonder why you get such specifically edgy recs remus

Read pi first and then review it on here ;-)

"I like its focus on syphilis and squalor etc."

Oooh - I just gave in and bought that recently Sadik! Good to hear that it was worth it will have to move it up my to-read list - now torn between that and How to Bake Pi which was going to be my next read.

65 Weapons of Math Destruction: How Big Data Increases Inequality and Threatens Democracy, by Cathy O'Neill

Excellent , & not just because I'm a sucker for a terrible punning title (and a real contrast to my previous book about the economics of land & housing in that not only does the author have something important to say, but she can also tell a coherent story).

This looks at how big data and the algorithms built to extract information from it are increasingly affecting our everyday lives, not just in the obvious arenas of FB/Google etc & the financial crash, but in targeting payday loans, weeding job applications etc. The author is American and the examples are all from the US, but as they're used to illustrate her broader argument, I didn't find that an issue (though some Amazon reviews obviously did). I also liked that she accepts that big data is here to stay, and also that it can have plenty of positive uses - she's just arguing in favour of greater understanding and transparency, backed up by legislation where necessary.