50 Book Challenge 2017 Part Eight

Minus 20?!
We've had snow and about -6. It's all looking pretty horrible now, although we were lucky enough to have a very pretty couple of days of it.

Any more recs for seasonal cosy reads?

How do you feel about pie-baking ice hockey players and webcomics, Sadik? (Seriously).

Remus . Your latest book sounds like it could be set here, where this week's weather has gifted us with snow and -20 temps.

Lovely to see old friends on here again. :)

116: Mystery in White - J Jefferson Farjeon
One of the British Library Crime Classics series. This was perfect for the weather, as it focuses on a group of people snowed in at a strange house, whose owners / servants appear to have disappeared. This was okay but not great. I liked the characters, setting and ‘feel’ but unfortunately some dodgy supernatural stuff got a bit in the way and didn’t really work. Neither the best nor worst book I’ve read lately (damns with faint praise).

Any good recommendations welcomed Vanderly . . .

Sadik, I've omitted the copious amount of fan fiction that I've also been reading. Maybe that's it.

If those are your fluffy books I am awed Vanderley

Hi, 50 Bookers!

I've also been reading along but not contributing, mainly as a result of a very stressful autumn. I've also started and then put aside several books because I simply didn't have the bandwidth for certain subject matter, even though I really want to read the books. So, my update is probably much fluffier than I'd like, but them's the breaks:

41. The Dead Husband Project, by Sarah Meehan Sirk: a collection of short disturbing, provocative short stories that I'm still pondering.

42. Saint Anything by Sarah Dessen: YA novel about how a teenager rebuilds her life after her brother causes a devastating accident.

43. The Sweetness of the Bottom of the Pie by Alan Bradley: the first book in the Flavia de Luce mystery series, featuring a sharp, young scientist and her eccentric family, with a presumed dead mother, distant father, and two trying elder sisters. I liked it, but I can see Flavia's wearing a bit thin on me.

44. Manhattan Beach by Jennifer Egan: a historical novel centred on the Brooklyn waterfront and Naval Yards during the 1930s and WWII. Egan did much research for the book, whose protagonist is a young woman who becomes the first female diver at the Naval Yard. An excellent book that touches on many aspects of life during that time: organized crime, glam night clubs, women's prospects, absconding men, class, ships, and shipping. Highly recommended.

45. The Break by Marian Keyes: reviewed on here; enjoyable and warm.

46. Jazz by Toni Morrison: the story of a murder in 1926 Harlem and the ripple effects it has on those closest to the event. Like jazz itself, the book ebbs and flows and swells from past to present and person to person.

47. The Power by Naomi Alderman: also much reviewed here; I liked it very much though found parts a bit predictable.

48. Three Wishes by Liane Moriarty: a year in the life of Melbournian triplets. A decent diversion.

49. The Arrangement by Sarah Dunn: a middle age, hipstery couple decide to open up their marriage for 6 months to relieve some of the tension and boredom of midlife, particularly given the challenges they face with their son. Overall enjoyable, but it could have trimmed several of the secondary characters and their subplots.

50. Cat's Eye by Margaret Atwood: Elaine Risley, an accomplished artist now living in Vancouver, returns to her hometown of Toronto for a retrospective of her work. Her return raises ghosts from the past, particularly that of Cordelia, the girl who was her chief tormentor for a year of her childhood and "best friend" later on, though Elaine does not always treat her well. This novel is often described as a study of girl-on-girl bullying (and shifting power dynamics), and it is. But it's also a fascinating social history of women's lives (particulary in Toronto) in the middle of the 20th century. Highly recommended.

And normally 672 pages is the work of a lunch hour for you, so it must have been a struggle. I’m pleased you put me off when it was on daily deal all those months ago.

I meant to add that it didn't surprise me that Hogan was American- barms for bombs does not sound at all Kentish to me (though possibly there was more of a rural burr in the 70s, and less estuary), though he got it right with innit and lots of t sounds instead of d.

Don't sugarcoat it Remus! Will definitely avoid (although Simon sebag Montefiore is an excellent name!).

51. Riddley Walker by Russell Hoban. This caught my eye when mentioned upthread, and when I borrowed it I was slightly surprised I hadn't come across it before- I read a lot of dystopian fiction in the eighties and I have lived in Canterbury. I thought the language and the using of old myths was very clever, although I felt it would have been slightly more realistic to set it only a few hundred years after the disaster, as I don't think any language would be recognisable after 2 millennia (particularly not the a20!). I did wish it was one book about the future and one about a mystical England- I didn't find the "I just knew/ I listened/it came to me" bits as interesting as the Eusa story and possible ways of retelling a nuclear disaster. Glad I read it though, so thank you!

It was so very long ago, Satsuki. I had no grey hairs or wrinkles on page one and now look like this:

Giggling at “unbridled crapola” and “Simon Windbag Montefiore”. I remember you starting that Stalin book, remus, can’t believe you actually finished it!

It has got 672 pages. I hated every damn word of all 672 pages.

“Simon Windbag Montefiore, more like.“

It was good, then?

Speaking of books being so annoying that you just have to finish them in order to slate them:

Book 115: Stalin: The Court of the Red Tsar by Simon Sebag Montefiore
Simon Windbag Montefiore, more like. I’ve been reading this book for almost the whole year and HATING it, but got to the point where I’d trawled through so much of the damned thing, that I wasn’t going to admit defeat. Not only was the subject matter, obviously, awful, the writing style was excruciating. Every character has got about five different names, and old Windbag can’t just stick to one but uses a different one all the blooming time, so I was constantly having to flip back to the ‘character’ list. I read this hoping to learn more about Stalin, but all it really did for me was to confirm that Stalin was a psychopath (v hard to reconcile the Russians as ‘saviours’ of World War 2 with somebody who was at least as bad as Hitler leading that) and to underline that I will never, ever read another book by this man (annoying, as I’m also interested in the Romanovs, but not as depicted by him!).

106. Home Fire by Kamila Shamsie

Modern reimagining of Sophocles' Antigone. The story is told in five chunks, each from the point of view of the five main characters from the play. Isme and her twin siblings Aneeka and Parvaiz, and then Eamon and his father Karamat (who is the popular Home Secretary instead of a king). The Antigone story doesn’t really start until the final two characters take their turn to tell the story, but when it does I definitely had a little thrill of recognition from parts of the play, and also a ‘ooooh, so that's how she (Shamsie) is going to do it. Very clever and some beautiful writing, although I wanted much more Isme, who I think is a fascinating and underexplored character in both the play and this book, and could have done with a little less Aneeka, who although very brave and opinionated, is kind of a pain in the arse.
I think this may be my first ever book where all the characters were Moslem.
It’s a really enjoyable read. Shamsie explores contemporary politics, feminism, radicalisation, family and religious ties, and 'the law' vs 'justice' on the back of an ancient story with some really enjoyable solid story telling. Will definitely be reading more of her work.

I'm a ruthless abandoner of books, so unless I'm gripped (or reviews / recommendations make me think it will improve) I just ditch anything I'm not enjoying. (Unless it's so annoying I want to finish it so I can slate it on here )

Except days of your life

Sorry, I'm a bit bitter about how Gibson lost his way & started publishing rubbish (imho). I still bought his books after Pattern Recognition, though, but Spook Country broke me. Such badly-written, unbridled crapola

I'll let you know Cote. I don't have massive expectations but it was sitting there in the library so nothing to lose :)

Meanwhile I'm 60% through American Gods and still loving it

Sadik - I really enjoyed William Gibson's earlier novels (Neuromancer, Idoru, Mona Lisa Overdrive etc) but thought he kind of lost the plot from All Tomorrow's Parties (2000?) onwards. I thought Pattern Recognition was where he really changed his style and honestly started making no sense whatsoever. If there was a story there, I snoozed through it. I came to the end of the book thinking Gibson may have just gotten too old to write good SF. It will be interesting to hear what you think of Pattern Recognition once you've read it.

I attempted to paste my list from excel and it is obviously didn't work as well as I thought it would, never mind.

I posted on this thread regularly until a couple of months ago when life became somewhat stressful and reading seemed to fall by the wayside. Now that things are calming down I'm back and looking forward to catching up with the thread and finding out what you have all be reading.

Suggestions for light and easy to read but not romance greatly appreciated.

My list to date:-

Book Id Title Author
1 The Heart Goes Last Margaret Atwood
2 The White Princess Philippa Gregory
3 The Observations Jane Harris
4 The Kingmaker's Daughter Philippa Gregory
5 How to Be Both Ali Smith
6 A Mindfulness Guide for the Frazzled Ruby Wax
7 The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo Stieg Larsson
8 A Boy Made of Blocks Keith Stuart
9 The Truth About the Harry Quebert Affair Joël Dicker
10 Go Set a Watchman Harper Lee
11 We Were Liars E. Lockhart
12 The Tea Planter's Wife Dinah Jefferies
13 Our Endless Numbered Days Claire Fuller
14 I Let You Go Clare Mackintosh
15 The Mother Yvvette Edwards
16 Belgravia Julian Fellowes
17 The Vanishing Act of Esme Lennox Maggie O'Farrell
18 Afternoon Tea at the Sunflower Café Milly Johnson
19 Black Water Lilies Michel Bussi
20 1984 George Orwell
21 Her Harriet Lane
22 The Essex Serpent Sarah Perry
23 Everyone Brave Is Forgiven Chris Cleave
24 The Days of Abandonment Elena Ferrante
25 Everything But The Truth Gillian McAllister
26 The Chilbury Ladies' Choir Jennifer Ryan
27 The Hand That First Held Mine Maggie O'Farrell
28 Rush Oh! Shirley Barrett
29 I See You Clare Mackintosh
30 Me Before You Jojo Moyes
31 The Words In My Hand Guinevere Glasfurd
32 Dear Amy Helen Callaghan
33 Birdcage Walk Helen Dunmore
34 A Year of Marvellous Ways: Sarah Winman
35 My Name Is Lucy Barton Elizabeth Strout
36 The Trouble with Goats and Sheep Joanna Cannon
37 The Summer Before the War Helen Simonson
38 Behind Closed Doors B.A. Paris
39 My Cousin Rachel Daphne du Maurier
40 Wrong Place Michelle Davies
41 The Distance Between Us Maggie O'Farrell
42 Swimming Lessons Claire Fuller
43 Conclave Robert Harris
44 Truly Madly Guilty Liane Moriarty
45 Mussolini's Island Sarah Day
46 The Circle Dave Eggers
47 The Dark Circle Linda Grant
48 The Couple Next Door Shari Lapena
49 The Nightingale Kristin Hannah
50 The Power Naomi Alderman
51 We Are All Completely Beside Ourselves Karen Joy Fowler
52 The Fault in Our Stars John Green
53 Into the Darkest Corner Elizabeth Haynes
54 The Girls Emma Cline
55 Burial Rites Hannah Kent
56 Gone Astray Michelle Davies
57 The Night Circus Erin Morgenstern
58 The Girl Before J.P. Delaney
59 The Shack William Paul Young
60 Anything is Possible Elizabeth Strout
62 The Poison Tree Erin Kelly
62 Fatherland Robert Harris
63 The Aftermath Rhidian Brook
64 The Witchfinder's Sister Beth Underdown
65 Lincoln in the Bardo George Saunders
66 All the Light We Cannot See Anthony Doerr
67 Domina (Maestra #2) L.S. Hilton
68 The Little Drummer Girl John le Carré
69 Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine Gail Honeyman
70 This Must Be the Place Maggie O'Farrell
71 He Said/She Said Erin Kelly
72 Babylon Berlin Volker Kutscher
73 A Year in the Life of the Yorkshire Shepherdess Amanda Owen
74 His Bloody Project: Documents Relating to the Case of Roderick Macrae Graeme Macrae Burnet
75 The Keeper of Lost Things Ruth Hogan
76 The Dry Jane Harper
77 The Graduate Charles Webb
78 Ready Player One Ernest Cline
79 Atonement Ian McEwan
80 The Trespasser Tana French
81 Miss You Kate Eberlen
82 The Good People Hannah Kent
83 To Kill the President Sam Bourne
84 Cartes Postales from Greece Victoria Hislop
85 Norwegian wood. Tokyo blues Haruki Murakami
86 Where'd You Go, Bernadette Maria Semple
87 Only Ever Yours Louise O'Neill
88 An Almond for a Parrot Wray Delaney
89 The Watchmaker of Filigree Street Natasha Pulley
90 The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society Mary Ann Shaffer
91 Our Man In Havana Graham Greene
92 Dominion C.J. Sansom