50 Book Challenge 2018 Part Five

Re City & The City - "does this make any more sense in the actual novel?"

No

I found the book terribly dull mina and the unseeing got so ludicrous I gave up. I thought it was an interesting idea, but couldn’t shake off the ridiculousness of the execution of it. If that helps!

I think the 'unseeing' thing si like a super advanced version of being blind to what's right under your nose. E.g we don't 'see' beggars when we are on a busy commute to work. When you become pregnant you siddenly 'see' hoardes of women with bumps everywhere who you'd never noticed before because your brain wasn't primed to 'see' them. people don't 'see' women over 50, so they get ignored in bars and shops in favour of pretty young things.

I think the unseeing is just that massively exaggerated, if that makes sense.

I want to ask about The City and The City by China Mieville as I recall some discussion about this book a while back -

I’ve just finished watching the BBC adaptation, and I’m struggling to understand how the whole “unseeing” thing works. I can understand, to some degree, the notion that they’re deliberately ignoring each other.

But there’s some points where I can’t understand how they’re meant to know that they should be ignoring something unless they have a look at it first. Including things like gunfire on shared streets - I mean, how are they supposed to know they should be ignoring the gunfire without having a look to see where it’s coming from first?

So, does this make any more sense in the actual novel? Or am I likely to find the whole unseeing business even more confusing and frustrating if I read the novel?

Let's do it, Hound Jack Reacher books have been getting steadily worse over the years. John Puller is far better.

31. Empire Games by Charles Stross

World hopping espionage between a dangerously paranoid USA and an industrial revolution North America. Set in the same world as his Merchant Princes series.
An okay read.

32. The Book of Life by Deborah Harkness

Final book in her All Souls trilogy. Continues the romance between witch Diana and vampire Matthew in the face of adversity.

This was hard going, mainly because I kept losing interest in the storyline. Lots of full bits, and the central romance felt very reminiscent of Twilight in places.

I would be interested in forming a John Puller fan club with you cote.
David Baldacci is my go-to for easy to read thrillers.
And I second any recommendations for Born a Crime. Absolutely brilliant.

Bringing my list over:

1. Someone to Hold by Mary Balogh
2. The Sixth Extinction by James Rollins
3. Sky Key by James Frey
4. Red Sister by Mark Lawrence
5. The Reproductive System by John Sladek
6. Malice by Keigo Higashino
7. Invasion of the Tearling by Erika Johansen
8. Death Comes to Pemberley by P.D. James
9. The Atlantis Plague by A. G. Riddle

Gosh, Terpsichore, I don’t fancy that, don’t need more skin crawling anxiety in my life! I’m only just after buying The Party at quite a good price on Amazon, but haven’t got to it yet. Keeping on with my big hardback, Connect. Reading hardbacks is special, I do like it.

Born a Crime was one of my highlights of last year.

99p Kindle daily deals are good today: Homegoing and Born A Crime, both been well reviewed on this thread :)

73. Why I’m No Longer Talking To White People About Race by Reni Eddo-Lodge

Much reviewed here already. Certainly opened my eyes and I’m very glad I read it.

35 - Scissors, Paper, Stone - Elizabeth Day

I bought this cheaply on Kindle after hoovering up 'The Party', by the same author. I thought that contained some pretty unpleasant characters - well, this has one of the most skin-crawlingly repellent men imaginable as its central figure. It's the story of a marriage and the way one twisted, abusive individual calmly sets out to destroy a woman and a child, and the consequences for their lives. Actually at times it reminded me of reading some of the more chilling threads on the 'Relationships' board here.

Having said all that, it's compellingly written and just as gripping as 'The Party'. But I spent most of it feeling gripped by a feeling of genuine skin-crawling anxiety.

Remus - Gillespie and I is definitely worth the effort. One of my go to rereads.

13. The Forgotten by David Baldacci (John Puller #2)

This was actually a pretty decent thriller. This John Puller character is shaping up to be much better version of Jack Reacher - somewhat more intelligent, capable of longer sentences, far more tech-savvy, with better hygiene and technological capabilities.

And bringing my shamefully short list over:

12. An Evil Eye (Yashim the Eunuch #4) by Jason Goodwin
13. The Midnight Line by Lee Child
14. Extraordinary Powers by Joseph Finder

1. The Harpsichord and the Clavichord by Raymond Russell
2. Music In The Baroque Era - From Monteverdi To Bach by Manfred f. Bukofzer
3. Deep State by Walter Jon Williams
4. Bach à Son Temps by Gilles Cantagrel
5. Sharp Objects by Gillian Flynn
6. Killer Instinct by Joseph Finder
7. A Place Called Winter by Patrick Gale
8. High Crimes by Joseph Finder
9. Would They Lie To You? by Robert Hutton

17. Last Call at the Nightshade Lounge, by Paul Krueger: booze is magic and Chicago is beset by demonic creatures. After Bailey Chen makes these discoveries, she has herself apprenticed to a master bartender to learn how to mix a (literally) killer cocktail and kick demon ass. Good fun with cocktail recipes!

18. Score, by Victoria Danault: yep, it's a romance book about a member (HA!) of a fictional National Hockey League team who reconnects with a past love. I regret nothing!

19. Birds, Art, Life: A Year of Observation, by Kyo Maclear: a small, lovely, quiet book tracing a year in the author's life in which she becomes a birder. It also reflects on her parents, her marriage and children, and her life as an artist/writer. This book is one that's good for dipping in and out of as you please.

20. The Trouble with Goats and Sheep, by Joanna Cannon: much reviewed here and enjoyable.

Just going to add my list because it took me ages to find it on the last thread and then will read back.

1. Then she was gone - Lisa Jewell
2. Eleanor Oliphant is completely fine - Gail Honeyman
3. Class Murder - Leigh Russell
4. The Witchfinder's Sister - Beth Underdown
5. Friend Request - Laura Marshall
6. The vanishing year - Kate Moretti
7. Persons Unknown - Susie Steiner
8. Together - Julie Cohen - I really enjoyed this. It is the story of a couple, deeply in love and their story. It is written backwards and begins with the couple in their 70s and then travels back to them meeting in their early twenties.

Corvus that Susanna Gregory series sounds right up my street. I wasn't really in the market for adding more to my wishlist; I need to read faster! Speaking of fictional crushes:

22. Nothing to Lose by Lee Child Jack Reacher book #12. Reacher is drifting through small town America and is intrigued by two adjacent towns, Hope and Despair. Something very dodgy is going on in Despair. Classic standalone Reacher, with him winning some implausibly stacked fights, doing some sensitive but no commitments attached shagging, buying some cheap clothes and just generally doing and saying the right thing. This was the last Reacher book on my dad's kindle, but I'll definitely read more.

Oh no remus , I've just bought Gillespie and I !!!

I'm halfway through This Is Going To Hurt and have suddenly taken up doing pelvic floor exercises again. If you've read it, you'll know...

I tend to think if you're really not enjoying it (and it sounds like you aren't), life's too short and there are far too many other books you could be reading instead. Then again I don't often take my own advice:

40.) The Eye of the Reindeer, by Eva Weaver -- Well, it was bound to happen sooner or later. I've had a run of books I've really enjoyed, so about time for one I'm 'meh' about. A young Finnish girl is sent away to an isolated lunatic asylum, where she meets and befriends a Sami girl, and together they escape and head north, paddling across the Baltic Sea in a stolen coffin.

I really wanted to like this, but it struggled to hold my interest (if much rather be reading about Thomas Chaloner instead - haven't had a fictional crush this strong in a while). I think the author tried to pack too much into too small a space - I most enjoyed the section where the two main characters escape and head north, but once they part ways I lost interest a little, and it started to skip over huge chunks of time, which didn't help.

Next up, Ian Mortimer's The Outcasts of Time, where two Medieval brothers escape the Black Death by skipping forward through time in 99 year increments. Which makes more sense in the blurb than I've described it here.

I've read about 150 pages, Corvus, which feels quite an investment, so wondering if I should keep slogging on for a while.

Past the half way mark and that is already more than I read last year so thank you, thread buddies! Shame book #50 wasn’t a knock out, just a perfectly ok read.

50 Happiness for Humans by PZ Reizin
Fluffy romcom with an AI twist. It started well but got slightly tedious, although I liked the idea and it was a relief to read something genuinely light and entertaining for a change.

51 Who by Geoff Smart
Work related book about how to hire good people. The method is effective and I’ve used it for a while so this was more about filling in some details.

It's been a while since I read it, Remus, but while I quite enjoyed it (liked The Observations more tbh - I LOVED The Observations), I dont think it's one of those books that's going to get better if it doesn't grab you from the start.

I am reading Gillespie and I after seeing it recommended a lot on MN (although I can't remember if it was people on these threads or not). Must admit I'm finding it about as exciting and quite a lot less satisfying than waxing my moustache. Worth continuing?