50 Book Challenge 2018 Part Two

Is, not Ian, stupid phone.

Thank you Stitches, yes, it Ian Touching the Void! I am not specifically interested in mountain climbing books, but I knew this one had a story you wouldn’t believe in a movie, and I really enjoyed it. Do read it Sadik- and I like the sound of The Antidote.

I'm not getting on with Three Men in a Boat, so I think it's time for me to bail out.

1. The Third Nero (Flavia Albia Mystery #5) by Lindsey Davis Albia takes on a government contract she doesn't want to make ends meet after her new husband is struck by lightning on their wedding day. One does have to pay the fresco painter after all. Easy reads with likeable characters.

As a sucker for a historical series I'm Shardlaking again. #4.

I think the copies I read came from Forbidden Planet in Cambridge - mostly US imports (maybe from the long-deceased Grapevine Books - that's certainly where i used to get books from the Women's Press sci-fi list).

I think I need to read Touching the Void (and also your rope cutting S American book if it is something different!)

Just finished listening over lunch to the Audible version of

1. The Antidote: Happiness for people who can't stand positive thinking, by Oliver Burkeman

I liked this a great deal. I always enjoy OB's writing, and as someone who is a generally cheerful & contented grumpy anti-social git (as established in conversation in the pub last night), the message was right up my street. The Audible version is read by the author, and he also has a very pleasing speaking voice.

There's a section on the Stoics which I particularly enjoyed - I read a certain amount of Stoic influenced philosophy when I was having a difficult time a couple of years back (marriage break-up + family illness), and found it helpful, should like to explore it more. He also explores buddhist theories of non-attachment, and a range of other philosophical approaches to living a fulfilling life.

9. The Master and Margarita As brilliant as everyone told me it was. Weird but excellent.

Tanaqui - is it Touching The Void you’re thinking of?

I don’t think I ever saw anyone else reading them Sadik, but I loved them back in the early 90s- and her urban fantasy too. I remember them being hard to get hold of in the UK and getting some in the states, and others in a sf bookshop on Charing Cross Road- can’t recall the name right now, but near Foyles.

I am pretty sure I have read Into Thin Air, but when I try to remember it I get the South America one about the rope cutting with the amazing ending, title of which escapes me (because I thought it was Into Thin Air!).

I think the Valdemar books really were pretty revolutionary - I know Tanaqui they are very slash in feel, but they were definitely read by men / boys as well as girls . (To be fair, most of my geeky fantasy reading friends back then were boys so it was a bit of a biased sample - but ML was a definite favourite )

12. Arrow's Flight by Mercedes Lackey

I think you're all right, these probably are YA. I hadn't realised when they were written since the ones I have are clearly recented released editions - I've got two omnibuses of three novels each. Certainly I can see that the casual use of same-sex relationships in fantasy would have been quite revolutionary in the 1980s.

For this one, Talia has completed her training as a Herald and earned her Whites (the uniform). Now she has to complete her internship by accompanying another Herald on an 18 month circuit of towns and villages in one of the border regions of the kingdom, passing on news of laws and politics and upholding the Queen's justice. But her Gift of empathy has not been properly trained and she loses control of it in a potentially disasterous manner. She and Kris, her senior on the circuit, have to find a way to teach her to control her very rare Gift.

14. Nudge by Thaler and Sunstein. I listened to this as an audio book and think it would be mush better as an actual book, but the library only had the audio version. The first half was fascinating, and it is unsurprising that it influenced politics, notably I believe Obama, but the second half was mainly applied to America and therefore I found it less personally interesting. I would recommend a look if you have a passing interest in behavioural economics.

5 Into Thin Air by Jon Krakenauer

No review needed of this thread favourite. I realised just after starting that I'd actually read it before in the late 90s soon after it was published, but unquestionably well worth a second read.

Book 14 Animal Farm by George Orwell
So I got all my numbers muddled up and I have now finished book 14. A short one I started last night and finished this morning. It always seems a bit silly to be reviewing such a classic but it is a classic for a reason. Simply told and packs a punch.

Matilda2013 there is a tv series with James Franco as the lead on Amazon which I might watch. As it’s got pretty good reviews.

Ellis 11/22/63 might be good for the Time travel prompt on the Pop sugar challenge

@ellisisland my goodreads app tells me I managed it in ten days... it definitely felt longer!

Matilda2013 Day off work and no kids helped! great book. Made me realise how great it is to get a book with engrossing characters and a fantastic plot. Good plots seem to be in short supply in a lot of things I have read recently.

7. N or M? - Agatha Christie
A rare thing, a Christie book I hadn't read before! Tommy & Tuppence are brought out of retirement for WWII to track down some fifth columnists suspected of being in a small coastal town. I worked out who it was early on. Nice, unchallenging brain fluff - just what I needed (both dcs are ill so I've had no sleep for a few nights)

12. Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine picked this up yesterday as I'd spotted it was the book of the month for mumsnet book club and had see its much reviewed on here. I really enjoyed this, very engaging style and a good book for reading in one setting. Felt at times that the protagonist's kookiness was a bit overdone, but in general I enjoyed her observations. There was some interesting themes touched upon about loneliness, modern society etc. I want to avoid writing any spoilers incase anyone is thinking of reading it so will leave it at that.

1. Exquisite by Sarah Stovell.

I enjoyed this page turner thriller. I did feel a bit manipulated but I really wanted to know what happened and read it quickly. Definitely worth 99p kindle deal. Good recommendation from the What page are you on podcast.

@ellisisland I am amazed you managed that in two days! Fab book though

24. Fall down 7 times get up 8 - Naoki Higashida Borrowed this from a colleague and there are other people waiting for it so was under a bit of pressure to get it read! This is an amazing book written by young Japanese man with severe autism. He is non verbal but written by pointing at characters set out on card that follows the QWERTY keyboard. He can not use a computer as the screen is too distracting. This is his second book.His revelations about his autism and the very fact he can write in this way challenges the view that people diagnosed with severe autism can not understand the world and language around, and have limited intellect.
His work was discovered by author David Mitchell and his Japanese wife KA Yoshida when they were searching for help after their own son's autism diagnosis. They say what they learnt from Naoki revolutionised the way they interact with their son and his ability to cope with the world. It was Mitchell and his wife who translated the books into English and over saw their publication here. His foreword to this book is moving and poignant.
The book is short but amazing. I will get my own copy as there was so much I wanted to highlight, annotated and incorporate into my own practice.

As a small aside there was an interesting perspective on why the author still enjoys picture books even now in his early 20's. While I acknowledge this is from a neuro - atypical perspective I thought it was a valuable addition to our discussion on revisiting children's literature as adults.

"I prefer to think this is not owning to
limited intelligence: rather, it's because when I read them, my mind goes wandering off inside the world of the picture book and I can freely, safely, unwind. Here in the real world, there aren't many places where I and my autism can lower our guard. Like flowing water or the texture of sand or the beauty of light, my favourite picture books afford me a therapeutic comfort."

Book 12 11/22/63 by Stephen King
In 2011 Jake Epping steps back in time to 1958 with the mission of stopping the Kennedy assasination.
I raced through this in 2 days. There is no one like King for keeping you gripped and the sense of time and place in this book are so well done. A great read and really recommended.

1. Why be Happy When You Could be Normal by Jeanette Winterson - Written 25 years after Oranges are not the Only Fruit which was an autobiographical novel this is a memoir/autobiography written after the death of her adoptive parents. The book revisits Oranges and tells it how it really was living with an extremely strange and seemingly cruel mother. I found it interesting and very poignant. Toomuch I agree, she does have a very distinctive style of writing which can be hard to follow.

1. The Watchmaker of Filligree Street by Natasha Pulley - listened to this as an audiobook and liked the narrator. A good story set in Victorian England regarding a Japanese watchmaker Kato Mori. Listened to it quickly and definitely missed some of the finer details of the story but would recommend. I enjoyed the Japanese detail.

23. Gut Symmetries - Jeanette Winterson read this last night and this morning due to a chronic bout of insomnia and a snoring husband and dog!! What a strange book!! Story is a woman physicist and her affair with a husband and wife. Quantum physics, mathematics and the possibilities of time travel all run through out as a theme. Parallel universes and beings are important too. Have to admit there were times here I got a wee bit lost. There is an air of magic realism about the whole thing, shades of Angela Carter's Wise Children at times. There is also pockets of truly stunning writing. Winterson can certainly turn a phase. Her description of the wife's anger and desolation after she discovers her husband's affair is genius. There were also parts of the book where I completely lost and at times bored rigid. Still not sure what I think of it!

Book 8 , my next education book The Learning Rainforest by Tom Sherrington.

This is cheating a bit as I will confess to having skimmed through all his blether until I got to the interesting bits about alleged ways of reducing marking workload, improving feedback and his explanation of flipped learning, which I had only heard of recently, working as I do in the 19th century.

I have my doubts about this author : I think he likes the idea of coining an education phrase and likes the sound of his own voice. Like a lot of education books, it's really a meta analysis, rather than anything new. I'd still like to leave it hanging around and see if SLT picked it up as lots of these books are fairly provocative about incessant marking and data collection!!

Also, Tom's most widely cited experience is at King Edward's grammar School, so I take some of his high mindedness with a pinch of salt.

I preferred David Didau on the whole : he is more critical and outspoken and more fun to read, although he bangs on , too!!

*Lonesome
*Frederica

Thanks tanaqui I wasn’t sure about CMBYN might swerve and wait to see the film (always trying to keep the list down)