50 Book Challenge 2019 Part Two

I will read both ultimately as both are on my Kindle but thank you for the recommendation - Testament of Youth it is!

Haven't read A little life but you won't regret Testament of Youth

Just squeezing my latest read on the end of this thread:

9. A Gentleman in Moscow - Amor Towles - much reviewed on here and a re-read for me as I enjoyed it very much when I read it originally. Just as good if not better the second time as able to focus on the minor details and references. Planning to read his other book Rules of Civility sometime soon - has anyone else read it?

Dithering between A Little Life and Testament of Youth as my next read.

Managed to get in book 8 before the end of the thread

8 The Last Time They Met by Anita Shreve

I love Anita Shreve and this didn't disappoint, starting in the present and going backwards this centres on the three times that the characters met, in three different situations. Beautifully written as always, can't really write much more because if the massive twist at the end

I've just finished:

8. The First Fifteen Lives of Harry August by Claire North - The premise of this book is fantastic, and once you've got past the first 150 pages (which are a little slow) the book itself is excellent.

A clever twist on the idea of time travel, and one I'd recommend to sci-fi fans as well as general literature readers. "No matter what he does or the decisions he makes, every time Harry dies, he always returns to where he began, a child with all the knowledge of a life lived a dozen times before."

The chapters are really short so the book is easy to dip in and out of, however once I reached page 250-ish I really didn't want to put it down. 4.5/5

Skirmish thanks for posting a review of The Brittle Star. I've had this on my wishlist for ages...am now seriously tempted...

There was a data breach - it’s pinned at the top of the board, some people were able to log into other people’s accounts so some people decided to delete and start fresh (or had to). I use a specific non personal account for here so not worried about personal info, but I’d had my name for years and thought time to shift it.

I know I was really attached to mine (even though I used to get called Satsuma quite a lot) but it was time.

CantstandmLMs

Current read is The Familiars by Stacey Halls which I am absolutely loving!

I’ll be looking for your review with interest. The Familiars was one of the books that caught my eye when I was browsing in Waterstones the other day.

(The other was Elizabeth Haynes’ The Murder of Harriet Monkton, which I then found straight away in a charity shop for £2. .)

I couldn't name change. I actually really think I am called piggy...

best I remember that Book-as-a-memo-pad story from before, still gives me a shudder! I’m not prissy about lending books, but would draw the line there!

I’ve name changed btw, changed the old Studio Ghibli to Shakespeare!

7. The Brittle Star by Davina Langdale

This is a first novel by a young British woman and that is interesting because she’s written a decent classic Western. It is not a groundbreaking literary work, but it is an enjoyable story which follows the tradition, and yet employs a twist that turns tradition on its head and invests the whole thing with a more modern sensibility. It is well-researched and she writes confidently and with knowledge about the landscape and life on horseback. John Evert Burn is 15 when his home is raided and burned to the ground, and his mother taken away. He sets out to trace and recover her, in so doing he becomes involved with a bounty hunter with a questionable past, and runs into trouble with the law. He needs to clear his name and win his land back, and maybe find romance and redemption along the way, but the civil war is beginning, and threatens to overwhelm his plans. A fun ride through the West, where the violence doesn’t take centre stage, and the Native Americans are not demonised for the plot.

27. Paperback Crush: The Totally Radical History of 80s and 90s Teen Fiction by Gabrielle Moss

I was really excited to read this when I saw it in Waterstones as I am exactly the right age for this. However, it’s American so I think a lot of the books mentioned didn’t make it over here (I don’t remember them anyway). However it does cover Sweet Valley High and The Baby-sitters Club, both of which I loved, and Lois Duncan who was another teen favourite of mine. I did enjoy reading about all the other books as well though. The best thing is all the pictures of various book covers - the fashions and hair are a sight to behold! I think if I was American and had therefore read more of the books mentioned I would have loved this, but as it is I simply liked it.

I'm learning that it seems fairly standard for plays to be better performed rather than read, and because I have had much more experience reading/writing narratives, it has taken some getting used to.
I just finished the very short play "The Bald Soprano" and though the text reads as a bit odd and confusing, it would probably be hilarious live.

1. The Wandering Earth by Cixin Liu

This was excellent! With this book of SF short stories, the acclaimed author of the Three-Body Problem trilogy leaves no doubt that he is indeed one of the top SF authors of our day. This is not high literature although the writing is perfectly fluid although translated from Chinese, but the ideas are stunningly original.

I would recommend this book to everyone here but especially to those of us who believe that Never Let Me Go is a good book. There is a similar story in this book and the way it is developed and told is miles ahead of the book by Kazuo Ishiguro.

Pencil I think if I had read The Binding in my teenage years I would have loved it. I have just looked up YouTube reviews, I could only find 2 - one bored me to death so gave up before the end and the second seemed to have completely mixed up the plot !
Have just started The Glass Woman which I was slightly worried might be another 'fabulous cover, dodgy story' moment. However it is proving vastly superior so far.

Back with a new username and account.
As I've got a new account, here's my books so far:

1. From source to sea - walk along the length of the Thames.
2. So disdained - Nevil Shute
3. Cruise Ship SOS - tales of a cruise ship doctor
4. Rosa Parks - hourly history biography
5. Stephen Hawking - as above
6. 101 bets you will always win - waste of time!
7. This is going to hurt - finally joined the party!
8. The old man of the sea - classic I've finally read and enjoyed
9. The best friend good psychological thriller

currently reading: Hello World: Being Human in the Age of Algorithms and Wonderland: A Year of Britain's Wildlife, Day by Day

I nearly picked up The Binding from the library but flicked through and the following phrase leapt out at me "try to chase me when I am not wearing stays" and after that I felt I couldn't face it. Definitely YA appeal.

I did, however, enjoy The Secret History when it came out & might re-read it. I couldn't understand why Cold Comfort Farm was so highly thought of but didn't mind watching a tv adaption years ago because Rufus Sewell was in it. Nearly finished Y for yesterday & will report back soon.

12. In Your Defence - Sarah Langford

Barrister Sarah Langford tells the stories of criminal and family law cases she has worked on, giving an inside view on the mechanisms of the justice system. It was interesting enough (the family cases were nerve wracking to read as you longed for the "right" person to retain custody), but took me a long time to get through.

I have been behind and never updated in this new thread. So here's where I'm at so far:

1. All The Birds in the Sky - Charlie Jane Anders
2. This is going to hurt - Adam Kay
3. Eleanor Oliphant is completely fine - Gail Honeyman
4. Monsters - Emerald Fennell
5. Shroud for a nightingale - P.D. James

Current read is The Familiars by Stacey Halls which I am absolutely loving! I'll have finished it by tomorrow. It's everything I want in a novel, so if anyone whose read it has any other recommendations, I would appreciate it! One of my other favourite books it reminds me of is Daughter of the forest by Juliet Marillier.

Also just noticed that all of the novels I've chosen so far have been by female authors and me tbr pile is very female centric too! I hadn't actually realised this until now.

I have now started A Suitable Boy. Seth does apologise whimsically for spraining his readers' wrists in his epigraph. I had no idea it was so long! I am 177 pages in and enjoying it but I may be some time. Send oxygen and supplies. Only about 1400 pages to go.

Finished #13 Elantris by Brandon Sanderson. Really, really enjoyed this book. It’s high fantasy so avoid if this is not for you. It’s also Brandon Sanderson so expect a highly worked out world with a magic that is internally consistent, I like this. The hero’s unusually don’t have a tortured past but are well adjusted folks thrown into a horrible situation. On the whole a lot of fun.

Biggest problem is what next…? Certainly needs to be something different.