50 Book Challenge 2017 Part Eight

"to see if what I thought had happened or not happened was what other people thought"
That sounds like Philip K Dick

Time for my pre-Christmas update, and possibly the last update of the year!

70. The Man in the High Castle: Philip K Dick. Very interesting. I did find myself rereading and then looking up reviews/plot synopses to see if what I thought had happened or not happened was what other people thought. Open to different interpretations.
71. The Prime Minister: Trollope (audiobook). Reaching the end of my Timothy West Trollope fest.
72. The Duke's Children: Trollope (audiobook). I've so much enjoyed listening to all of these and felt quite bereft when they were finished.
73. Reclaiming History: Vincent Bugliosi: This was the enormously long (1600 pages) book debunking all the Kennedy assassination conspiracy theories in exhaustive and exhausting detail.
74. Beloved: Toni Morrision (audiobook). This was read by the author who had an annoyingly oversensous way of reading, coupled with extraordinarily long pauses between adjective and article, or article and noun. But I enjoyed this, and its uncertain ending.

Look forward to seeing what you think about Dangerous Crossing Vistaverde :)

39. The Running Hare: The Secret Life of Farmland by John Lewis-Sempel
Listened on Audible, parts were beautifully poetic but sometimes there were lists that didn't work on audio (and I would have skipped if reading in paper form). Made me think, but not quite what I was expecting.
40. Dangerous Crossing by Rachel Rhys
I LOVED the setting of this. Passengers from different nations and different social classes on a ship together bound for Australia, just as World War II is breaking out in Europe. We know from the start that there's a death on board and someone is escorted off the ship by the police at the end of the voyage, but we don't know who or why. I was really absorbed by the setting as I was reading, and loved finding out afterwards that it was based on a real memoir, but I hade mixed feelings about the ending, particularly one specific plot line that seemed to be wrapped up only as an after thought.
41. No Wonder I Take A Drink by Laura Marney
I got this on Audible after reading about it on here, and it is narrated by the author who sounds like she's sitting at her kitchen table chatting while drinking coffee. At times it felt like the plot was moving us on awkwardly as a way of getting us to a funny incident the author had lined up, but different threads came together nicely in the end. And she was speaking my language - words like 'oxters' and 'dry boak'!
42. The Little Book of Hygge by Meik Wiking
I love the idea of hygge, but this is really a handful of good magazine articles stretched too far to turn them into a book.

I too have read many Agatha Christie's in my time and I agree that And Then There Were None is about the best. The only one of hers I really didn't like though was Endless Night.

93 - The Betrayals - Fiona Neil - Told from the point of view of four members of the family we see the reaction to each to events in the past which are resurfacing in the present. Light, easy to read thriller which is just the thing I need at the moment. Kept me gripped throughout and I was pleasantly surprised by the ending.

Currently reading Dangerous Crossing by Rachel Rhys - So far finding the narration a bit clunky in places. I hope it improves over the course of the book.

Now to decide on my top reads from this year.

117. 17 carnations : The Windsors, the Nazis and the cover up - Andrew Morton
Account detailing the links between the Duke and Duchess of Windsor and the Nazi party. Highlights how Secret German papers discovered at the end of the war were suppressed to hide the true extent of the involvement, although they were eventually published by the US in the late 1950s. Therefore nothing in the book is a true revelation. Began ok but became quite repetitive. The main thing I learnt was what a childish and entitled man the Duke If Windsor was.

Under the Dome = good, apart from the v silly ending.

I enjoyed Under The Dome.

Question for Stephen King fans - is Under The Dome worth a read?

I saw some of the TV version and didn’t think it was all that great, but then books and their TV adaptations can be very, very different....

I went through an Agatha Christie phase a few years ago. And Then There Were None was one of my favourites of hers.

Turn I have never read any Christie either!

59. East West Street by Philippe Sands.

2016 winner of the Bailey Gifford Prize for Non-Fiction, I listened to this book on Audible. Philippe Sands is a professor and international law academic and this is a very interesting and personal memoir, history and commentary on the development of the terms Crimes Against Humanity and Genocide. A very good listen/read.

43. And Then There Were None by Agatha Christie. I am probably the only person on the thread not have read any Christie before. In case anyone doesn't know this one, ten strangers are invited to an island by a mysterious man with whom they all believe they have some loose connection. It transpires that each has been involved in a suspicious death, and none has ever been brought to justice. One by one they are killed, and each in turn becomes detective, suspect and eventually victim.

This was bloody brilliant. Stark and scary enough for the fact that it's utterly unbelievable to be quite unimportant. Pacey, but manages to get into the heads of the characters as well marching along.

It's ages since i posted as well, I've read and enjoyed these this year:

1. Swimming pool sunday, Madeline Wickham
2. The Teatime islands, Ben Fogle
3. 21st century dodos, STeve Stack
4. No fixed abode, CHarlie Carroll
5. The couple next door, Shari Lapena
6. Chosen Child, Linda Huber
7. His kidnapper's shoes, Maggie James
8. The food of love, Amanda Prowse
9. The lost art of letter writing, Menna von Praag

Not enough good books out of 110 read.

I read others but wouldn't recommend them

Aagh, hadn’t realised it was so long since I’d posted!

165. A Second Chance by Jodi Taylor

Third in the St Mary’s series. Love this series although this one is slightly confusing.

166. The Bucket List To Mend A Broken Heart by Anna Bell

Predictable chicklit, but good fun.

167. A Trail Through Time by Jodi Taylor

4th in the series.

168. Dear Amy by Helen Callaghan

An agony aunt starts getting letters from a girl who vanished 20 years ago. The twist didn’t do it for me.

169. Why Was Queen Victoria A Prude? by David Haviland

Selection of myths and questions covering historical events.

170. At The Captain’s Table: Life On A Luxury Liner by Hugh Thomson

I thought this was going to be one of those behind the scenes books, but it was just one guest’s view of what it’s like on a luxury cruise. More about the places they went rather than the cruise liner.

171. Did You See Melody? by Sophie Hannah

Enjoyed this, although the storyline was a bit bizarre like all her books!

172. The Holiday by Jane Green

Three novellas set at Christmas. Not great.

173. The Most Wonderful Time Of The Year by Joanna Bolouri

Festive chicklit

174. The Lottie Project by Jacqueline Wilson

DD wanted me to read this!

175. The Gift by Cecelia Ahern

Enjoyed this more than I expected - liked the magical elements of the story although not sure about the ending.

176. The Children Of Green Knowe by Lucy M Boston

One of the books I read every Christmas!

177. The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe by C S Lewis

Another wintery reread.

178. Christmas With The Chrystals by Noel Streatfeild

Another festive book - short stories and her memories of Christmas.

179. Five At The Office Christmas Party

Got this free - ok for a quick read but glad it was free!

My DH can never remember what date DS’ Birthday is nor how to spell his first name. It’s a very popular name though tbf he is known by the shortened version.

Empire Games Charles Stross
Apparently there's an earlier series(Merchant Princes), set 17 years before the events in this book, but I didn't find it a problem.
This is an alternate-history science fiction timeline-hopping spy thriller - this is clearly the first part of a trilogy, setting a number of threads going that will presumably play out in the next two books.
Alternate timelines exist, and some individuals "world walkers" have inherited the ability to jump between them. Timeline two is an alternate US that diverged from our own in 2003 and has become a right wing authoritarian surveillance state. They turned Timeline 1 into a smoking nuclear wasteland around 2003 in retaliation for them assassinating the US President. Timeline 4 is a rapidly industrialising world (with some refugees from timeline 1) trying to catch up with the US technologically before the US finds them.

Stross tends to jam so much into his books that it's hard to summarise without writing a bit of an epic. But it all holds together well, it's fast paced, reasonable characterisation, and the worldbuilding & plot are solid. If you like slightly brainhurty fast paced spy thriller science fiction, it's worth checking out. I've discovered that there are three omnibus volumes of the previous series on Kindle so am going to look at those before the next book, Dark State, comes out in Jan.

Stitches - Oops!

My children are adults now - I can spell their names, but struggle to remember what years they were born in!

75. Steelheart by Brandon Sanderson

I loved this. Lots of fast paced action. One I’d recommend to anyone who likes superhero fantasy tales. It’s the first in a series but it reads well as a stand alone novel.

A bit over 10 years ago, Calamity came - a bright red light in the sky. Soon after, ordinary men and women started to develop superpowers, and were named Epics. Each Epic has one secret weakness that undoes their abilities (as with Superman and kryptonite). But there’s no superheroes. All the Epics are powerhungry despots, who’ve used their superpowers to become supreme rulers of humanity.

10 years ago, David’s father was murdered before his eyes by Steelheart, the Epic who rules the city once known as Chicago. Since then, David has developed an obsession with vengeance, studying the Epics and planning how to kill Steelheart. And now the Reckoners have come to town - an undercover group of ordinary men and women who are trying to take down the Epics, one at a time, and David wants in....

Really and The Turn on Eileen I felt pretty much the same as both of you, really rather dull and overrated. Can’t remember it very well which says it all really!

69. The Lucky Ones - Mark Edwards

A serial killer strikes in a small county and all the victims are found smiling. Ben has just returned to the town to care for his sick mother after his marriage broke down with his miserable teenage son in tow. Can they solve the murders before the killer strikes again?

Another kindle unlimited offering which gripped me till the end! Thoroughly enjoyed this one.

103. The Break - Marian Keyes. Ok, warm hearted but faintly irritating. Better than her other recent efforts.

104. The Moon Is Our Nearest Neighbour - Ghillie Basan. Real life tale of Quite posh Turkish/Scottish couple buying a remote cottage in the Scottish highlands with the intention of setting up photography workshops. Relentless stories of being stranded because of cars getting stuck in snow, generators breaking down, unfriendly neighbours, battling against the elements with grim determination etc.

On the other hand you have to admire their determination and the descriptions of Turkish foods are luscious and mouthwatering.

On the whole I rather enjoyed it.

Remus - If it's any consolation, I put a load of important letters in the bin today instead of a folder, and then managed to spell my own name wrong

I took baby DS3 to the library recently to get him his own library card, and managed to forget how to spell both his first and middle names when the librarian asked for his details
There’s nothing particularly unusual or difficult about them either.

Does anyone know what day the Kindle Christmas sale starts? Nothing of interest in the monthly deals...

reallytired, my review of Eileen was:

Bag o'shite. Eileen appears to be drawn as a common-or-garden sociopath, but is missing any of the superficial charm that normally accompanies this. Seemingly a thriller, but with no thrills, and the ending is preposterous and incongruous.