50 Book Challenge 2018 Part Two

The Doll Funeral - Kate Hamer

It was ok 3.5 / 5 ... a bit " out there " ... led a few unanswered questions I felt. ... don't want to give spoilers but felt it didn't cover everything that happened in the book ... Very different to her previous book " Girl in the Red Coat "
Touches slightly upon mental illness or was that the whole point of the book and I missed it.. like I said left more questions than answers.

11. In Search of Mary Shelley, Fiona Sampson
Biography of the author. I enjoyed it, but she doesn't bring much new material to the table. I've read Young Romantics by Daisy Hays and Romantic Outlaws by Charlotte Gordon, and this feels a bit superfluous. And she's mean about Mary Shelley's step-sister, for whom I have a sneaking sympathy (being the third wheel at an elopement must be fairly horrendous, and Byron was horrible to her).

whippet “too many children, too little sleep” right there with you. My four year old has been ill and the 6 year old has chosen to go through a bout of night terrors at the same time, it’s crazy-making. I’ve got the sample of Edgelands as I like that sort of thing.

I've slowed down so much and am struggling to find time to read. Too many children, too little sleep and nothing as gripping as This Thing of Darkness to keep me going.

1. Edgelands - Paul Farley and Michael Symmons Roberts

So pleased people love Into Thin Air. Maybe it’s time I re-read it. Definitely the best “peril on a mountain” book I’ve ever read.

1. On Writing by Stephen King

A quick and easy read. I found this fascinating though it still left lots of my questions about how SK writes unanswered. (Though perhaps a clue to his often somewhat dodgy endings to his books in his assertion that he never sets out the plot before he starts, which would make sense of Under the Dome at least). And I am unconvinced it would work as a guide for aspiring writers beyond a few fairly simple and obvious guidelines. But it was - of course, because it is what he does brilliantly - a great read with anecdotes and observations about his life and career that made me glad to have read it and reminded me to go and track down some of the titles on my unread SK list.

Book 11 This Thing Of Darkness- by Harry Thompson

Nothing to add to SatsukiKusakabe brilliant review above except to say I agree with it all. Amazing book.

I’m reading The Wasp Factory right now! Will review soon.

Superb review Satsuki. Confession: I've had a copy of TTOD lying on my shelves for at least 5 years, unread....will it finally become one of this year's 50? We shall see

I read The Wasp Factory for the first time a few years ago when I decided to work my way through all Iain Banks' novels after his death.

I already loved Crow Road and Espedair Street, however DH had warned me that I'd find The Wasp Factory really disturbing so I'd avoided it until then. I thought it was great; very original.

OK, it's very dark ( and I didn't like the maggots at all ) but also excellent, and IB has an great turn of phrase and very dry sense of humour. One telephone conversation between Frank and his brother still has me laughing out loud.

I agree with lastqueen that it might indeed be a Scottish thing.

Ooh, that was a brilliant review, Satsuki. #addstolist

I liked The Wasp Factory a lot, but I was seventeen when I read it, and suspect I wouldn't like it as much now.

Satsuki excellent review. Sadly you may never top it. Your reading life may be all downhill from here. It was my first completed book in 2017, and I haven't read anything better since.

cote are you feeling quite well? I’ve already read Cloud Atlas unfortunately, though I did enjoy Darkness more overall I think.

Just wanted to say thank you to the posters who recommended Georgette Heyer! I found The Grand Sophy in a charity shop and am loving it!

ahem mama check my user name . It should make sense to you after your latest book!

Meanwhile, I'm reading and really enjoying Sharp Objects, the 1st book of a woman author. What is happening to me???

Satsuki - Isn't This Thing Of Darkness brilliant? To answer your question: You can't follow it with anything, except maybe Cloud Atlas. Similar themes, equally brilliant writing style.

6. Munich by Robert Harris
Read in 4 days, I haven’t read a book this quickly in ages.
Follows two minor civil servants, one working for Chamberlain and one for Hitler in September 1938 in the days leading up to the Munich agreement. Fast moving and exciting.

Next: a biography of Eleanor Marx.

5. This Thing of Darkness by Harry Thompson

This book is chiefly the story of the life of Robert Fitzroy, Captain of the Beagle, and covers the time directly preceding the second voyage, on which Darwin became a passenger, and the years following, as the significance of the trip played out for all those concerned. I was utterly captivated by this from start to finish. It is well researched, carefully and intelligently written, pacy, exciting, thoughtful, and sad. The tension which arises between Darwin and Fitzroy and their differing perspectives could have been treated as a straightforward case of science vs religion, but, just as the book manages to be both adventure novel and novel of ideas, so it manages to interrogate all sides of the argument in a way that is nuanced and interesting, and which respects the complexities of the discussion. It gives a fresh perspective on a lot of “old” ideas, so you feel that we are very much still in the midst of the conversation which began in earnest on that voyage; that of how we came to be. The characterisation and dialogue are brilliantly done; the end of the book is like a parting from old friends, and the postscript which informs you how much of the unsung heroism and injustice you have just read about is true, only serves to twist the knife. I haven’t even touched on what it has to say about politics, colonialism, fame, mental illness, justice, and how it skilfully weaves the theme of Darwin’s discovery, of how the strong thrive at the expense of the weak, into every thread of the story. Noble sacrifice is my kryptonite; suffice it to say there was enough here in the life of Robert FitzRoy to ensure I’m not putting the red and blue suit back on in a hurry. He may be a historic figure, but still the lines from Middlemarch, that describe the effect of an individual as being “incalculably diffusive, for the growing good of the world is partly dependent on unhistoric acts”, seem to fit nonetheless.

How on earth am I going to follow it?! Well, by reading Burial Rites, is the short answer, as I have to give it back to the library next week.

I read The Wasp Factory many years ago and can't really remember it now, I remember it was weird and good but disturbing but beyond that nothing. I haven't read much of his stuff just that and Complicity which is a much easier read.

11. Lord of the Flies am sure I'm one of the few people who had never read this. Very enjoyable, allegorical tale of shipwrecked boys and their descent into savagery. I'd recommend to anyone who has never read it.

I loved the Wasp Factory... maybe it's a Scottish thing.

Ooo I loved The Wasp Factory, especially the bit about maggots!

It's very Scottish...

I can't remember if I ever managed to finish The Wasp Factory, or if I've just started it and got too freaked out by it numerous times.

10. The Wasp Factory by Iain Banks

Really did not like this. Told in the first person by Frank, aged 16, who lives with his father in an isolated house which is sort of on its own island. His father Angus used to be a hippy of some sort and Frank doesn't officially exist, since his birth was never registered. Frank spends his days hanging animal heads frorm his 'Sacrifice Poles', shooting rabbits, blowing things up with homemade bombs, and feeding wasps to the Factory in the attic which, in his personal mythology, foretells the future. Before the age of 10 he killed three children, although has got away with it. His older brother Eric was locked away in a secure unit after a bad experience as a medical student led to him losing his mind and start setting fire to dogs and trying to feed worms to children. But Eric has escaped and is making his way back to the 'island', where Frank and Angus wait in a state of nervous tension.

6 Home Fire - Kamila Shamsie

Booker prize long- listed novel about two families set in present day London, America, Syria and Karachi. A re-telling of Sophocles' Antigone, I didn't know the story of Antigone before I read the book so took it at face value. It's a fast paced story told from the perspectives of the three Pasha siblings and then Eamonn Lone and his Father Karamat Lone, a fictional Home Secretary.

I liked this book very much but I didn't love it. The characters lacked a bit of depth somehow, at times their actions seemed to conveniently drive the plot along and fit in with the pre-determined direction the story needed to follow. Perhaps this is hard to avoid when trying to fit new characters into a story which already exists? I felt the same way about Margaret Atwood's re-imagining of The Tempest in Hagseed.

So nice to see all the Into Thin Air praise. I don't think I've ever seen anyone on here not love it.