50 Book Challenge 2019 Part Four

Satsuki I really liked The last train to Memphis. It is quite dense but really well researched. The follow up Careless love is heartbreaking.

Owen Meany has been on my kindle for some time, however I never feel like I want to read it and keep getting put off by the premise. I think I downloaded it more for the fact it is well liked than because it was my sort of thing, standard 99p mistake.

I’ve just got All Among the Barley and Last Train to Memphis from the library and hoping to kickstart a better spell of reading, going well so far. I read for escapism but I feel like someone’s moved the ladder recently.

Here's my list so far.

1. The Woman in the Window- AJ He who shall probably no longer be named Flynn
2. Good Friday- Lynda La Plante
3. I invited her in- Adele Parks
4. A Very British Christmas Rhodri Marsden
5. The Darkest Secret- Alex Manford
6. You Let Me In Lucy Clarke
7. Things Can Only Get Worse Jon O'Farrell
8. A Fatal Inversion- Barbara Vine
9. A Single Breath- Lucy Clarke (returned for refund)

Am about to finish Close to Home Cara Hunter- bought after recommendations on last thread- it's a very good first-in-a-series cop hope-someone-buys-it-for-telly novel. Good storyline, and well written unlike some of the tripe on my list there! My only minor irritation is that the main character cop DI Adam Fawley seems very one dimensional typical dysfunctional police officer (family tragedy rather than booze though) and he reads like a woman....that might sound bonkers, but I keep having to remind myself that the narrator is a man. Still v good though.

Also almost finished Bookworm which will definitely go on my top reads/listens of the year, despite me not totally believing that the writer has really read all of them. I actually think that, bookworm though she is, some of them she has included because they're on some list in the Guardian of Children's classics and she's put them in because she thinks she should. I can't put my finger on it, and it's no crime, I just find her a bit unreliable at times. The oft mentioned WRONG bit in tLtWatW for a start, and also her going on about refusing to read books where animals talk and then waxing lyrical about Alice in Wonderland, The Wombles and the 101 Dalmations etc.

I have just bought an ancient copy of the Railway Children on the back of her though, and my next read will be In This House of Brede by Rumer Godden which arrived yesterday from the Bay of E.

I loved Owen Meany. I was just musing earlier and remember reading it on a pre- kindle holiday in Puerto Pollensa. I took 10 books and read nearly all of them - my case weighed a ton. I was desperate not to run out of reading material. How different things are when you can just download something new with a few clicks.

15 Kate Atkinson- Transcription. I thought this was a poor effort from her, nowhere near her usual standard and frankly trying too hard to be amusing.

Bringing my list over:

1. One Hot Summer : Dickens, Darwin, Disraeli and the Great Stink of 1858 – Rosemary Ashton
2. The Shadow of the Wind – Carlos Ruiz Zafon
3. Making Kids Cleverer- David Didau
4. Becoming – Michelle Obama
5. The Seven Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle – Stuart Turton
6. The Beat of the Pendulum – Catherine Chidgey
7. A Suitable Boy – Vikram Seth
8. The Observations – Jane Harris
9. Mad Blood Stirring – Simon Mayo
10. The Cone Gatherers – Robin Jenkins
11. The Beauty of the Wolf – Wray Delaney
12. Whistle In The Dark – Emma Healey
13. Open- Andre Agassi

I finished Open today which is Andre Agassi's autobiography. I skimmed the bits about tennis matches but, overall, it was a very interesting read. I actually saw Agassi play Edberg at The US Open . I was looking forward to a description of that match but it wasn't in the book. Bah!

Just bought The Cut Out Girl and The Things I Would Tell You: British Muslim Women Write - thanks for the recommendations.

I hated Owen Meany. All the CAPITALS drove me up the wall.

Also bought The Cutout Girl as recommended by Ritz

I was a huge Owen Meany fan when I read it forever ago, as I loved most John Irving but I’ve gone off him quite a bit and really not got on with his more recent books, so I wonder how I’d feel on a reread. I adored The World According to Garp too but imagine I’d see it differently now.

17. Callander Square Anne Perry BakewellTarts inspired me, so I read the second in Anne Perry’s Thomas and Charlotte Pitt series, flew through it today and, despite being a bit snipey about the first one, I’m now very much on board and will be continuing with the series :)

Bringing my list over:

1. Dark Tower IV: Wizard and Glass – Stephen King
2. Normal People – Sally Rooney
3. The Seven Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle – Stuart Turton
4. Mornings in Jenin – Susan Abulhawa
5. Convenience Store Woman – Sayaka Murata
6. Behind Closed Doors – B.A. Paris
7. Elizabeth is Missing – Emma Healey
8. Commonwealth – Ann Patchett
9. A Gentleman in Moscow – Amor Towles
10. The Wife – Meg Wolitzer
11. Guns Germs and Steel – Jared Diamond
12. Homegoing – Yaa Gyasi
13. Dark Tower V: Wolves of the Calla – Stephen King
14. Reservoir 13 – Jon McGregor
15. Love Your Enemies – Nicola Barker
16. Crazy Rich Asians – Kevin Kwan
17. The Hunting Party – Lucy Foley
18. After the Crash – Michel Bussi
19. The Sympathizer – Viet Thanh Ngyuyen
20. Stuart: a life backwards – Alexander Masters

And the most recent:

21. Misogynies – Joan Smith - bolded to be easy to see, not as a standout. I did find parts of this book really interesting, but as a whole it feels somewhat dated (it was written in 1989 and this edition had a couple of additional chapters from 1992). I can see that a lot of the analysis would have seemed fresh and new when it was published, but reading it now, it suffered from the inevitable fate of timely polemics. As an example, the consideration of films such as Fatal Attraction felt like something I've read many times before (although still not something we've fully got to grips with as a society). However, I found the section on the Yorkshire Ripper crimes, and in particular the police's poor handling of the investigation, fascinating. The author is a journalist who wrote extensively about the investigation at the time and the book was worth picking up in the Kindle sale for that section alone.

Now reading The Song of Achilles and enjoying the flashbacks to reading an abridged version of the Iliad as a child!

I've bought Unnatural Causes and also texted eldest to tell her to buy it - she shares a lot of my reading tastes!

Followed orders Ritz and bought The Cutout Girl along with £2.99 Audible narration, sounds good 👍

46. Martin Luther
47. Learning Theories
48. Florence Nightingale

46 and 48 are from the Hourly HIstories series (a lot of them are free on the KIndle) so I often read some of those as they are short and informative, Learning Theories is a book for work.

Thank you, ritz ! I was just about to check the daily deals (second important job of the morning, after a cup of tea ). The Cut-Out Girl has been on my wish list since publication and I've got it waiting on loan from the library....I can cancel that now.

I also bought Dr Richard Sheppard's memoir of his experiences as a pathologist - bit gruesome perhaps but I like that kind of thing

Haha - Great!
I've download the Unnatural Causes sample as I may get that today.

Yes ritz, I snapped up that deal at 6.30am (obviously they can't sell out, but so I wouldn't forget...)!

The Cut Out Girl is 99p on Kindle today. Do not hesitate to get this bargain - it's my book of the year so far.

12. Reservoir Tapes by Jon McGregor
A prequel to Reservoir 13 which I ADORED. Apparently originally comissioned for radio, this is a series of vignettes, each focusing on a single character from 13, before or in the days after the disappearance of the young teen with which 13 opens.

I didn't enjoy this as much as 13, but then vey little is that good. Far more character/plot driven, it does give more of a sense of what might have happened to the missing girl, which is a plot line not pursued in 13, but i liked that it ultimately remained ambiguous. definitely a companion piece where you'll need to have read the original.

I'm relieved I'm not the last person on earth to read Owen Meany after all! I would review it, but I'm worried I couldn't do it justice and that it would be difficult to avoid spoilers. It is fantastic though: you just have to persevere through the waffly bits, and it's all worth it in the end.

28. Last Lullaby by Carol Wyer

This is the second in the DI Natalie Ward series. I really enjoyed the first though felt the eventual murderer was a bit removed from the plot. This one was more convincing. It’s about Natalie and her team investigating the murders of young mothers who are killed in front of or near their children. I like Carol’s writing. Her pace is very good and the characters are interesting, we learn more about their home lives in this novel.
My only gripe with it would be that some of the descriptions seem too over the top. It reminded me a bit of when you would write a descriptive piece for gcse English and felt that every detail needed included. The first chapter in particular felt like that but it was only a minor thing and after that chapter I really enjoyed it. Just got to wait until 25th April for the nextvin the series now.

Hi all and thanks South for the new thread :)

My year of rereading continues with one of my oldest favourites:

14. The Talisman - Stephen King and Peter Straub

Ah, I love this book so much - I've enjoyed a fair few King books since first reading this as a teenager, especially the Dark Tower series, but none has ever got me like this one. 12-year-old Jack Sawyer's mother is dying of cancer; his father died in mysterious circumstances; and it all has to do with the Territories, an alternative world which Jack used to think was a daydream but finds out is real after all. He has to travel West over the USA and the Territories to find the Talisman which can cure his mother, but the forces of evil are lined up to stop him. A beautifully written, fantastic story for all lovers of fantasy or horror.

14. The Perfect Child - Lucinda Berry Christopher and Hannah are a surgeon and nurse with perfect lives. The only thing missing is a child. So when a six year old girl is admitted to the hospital having suffered abuse and takes a shine to Christopher they decide to adopt her. But are her problems too big for them to deal with? And when she takes a dislike to Hannah what will happen next?

Another kindle unlimited venture. I actually really liked the style of this one although it is even darker and twister than my usual kind. Have downloaded another book by the same author too.

I've read a huge number of detective/ modern novel type books this year ( more than 50 already ) but but if I had to say I would recommend the best novel I have ever read The Sun also Rises - also known as Fiesta - Ernest Hemingway - sorry not to give a list but honestly if I had to choose this would be the one novel I would choose above all others. Also - as a short story - The Snows of Killimanjaro also Ernest Hemingway I would say amongst my desert island books - so poignant.
I quite enjoyed Owen Meany but not Hemingway. Brave New World I had recommended to my son - Most people know the first half but not the 2nd.

Sorry to bung up here but a lovely thread thank you & I shall take some recommendations

Glad to hear it, Desdemona.

I'm with you there Remus, Owen Meany is one of the few books I've started and DNF, however I was sufficiently intrigued to look up the synopsis. The plot was good I just didn't enjoy the execution.

Haven't* read Owen Meany.* Another one to add to a ridiculously long list!!