50 Book Challenge 2014 Part 2

[juneybean]

Thread 2 of the 50 book challenge. Here is the previous thread...

The idea is to read 50 books in 2014 (or more!)

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/adult_fiction/1951735-50-Book-Challenge-2014

22. Mad About The Boy by Helen Fielding, the third Bridget Jones novel. Absolutely loved it. Light-hearted, and fun but with some sad moments as well as the happier ones (not plot spoiling though :)). Loved her conversations with her children - very funny, sounded familiar.

1. The Luminaries - Eleanor Catton

I loved this book, although the astrological references went over my head. Complex, beautifully crafted, insightful. I can't believe the author was 27 when she wrote it. It would make a fantastic film, too.

I read the beginning of, 'Withering Tights' in a free promotional leaflet just before it came out. Tbh I wasn't impressed - it all seemed a bit desperate: trying to emulate the Georgia Nicholson ones without the vibrancy, innocence and sheer joy of the first couple of those.

In the same way though, I thought the Georgia N ones lost their sparkle as they went along - I think she milked them too far: would've been much better with just two or three.

Sadly publishers now want a series to go on and on - surely far better to leave people wanting more than end up feeling jaded as the books get rushed out without refinement and whilt trying to stretch the same few jokes thinner and thinner.

Sorry - rant over!

I agree Remus. I'm only persevering with the others because I was given them, and they'll count towards my series challenge. Plus, they really don't take much reading - I read the first in a couple of hours before bed last night!

I liked the first few Georgia ones - Angus, Thongs and Full-frontal Snogging was one I really enjoyed when I was younger. With this series, it really does seem like she's trying a bit too hard.

The Children's Book A S Byatt. Follows the lives of the children of several intertwined families between 1895 and 1919, set amongst the Arts and Crafts movements, the Fabians and the Suffragettes. I adored it. I really didn't want it to end and it has gone on the re-read pile.

That was no 21 for me.

14. Life and Life - Kate Atkinson

Really loved this book, took me longer to read than some of the others and just didn't want it to end. Putting some more of Kate Atkinson's books on my to read list.

18. Coming Home. - Sue Gee 9/10
19. This Man. - Jodi ellen Malpas 10/10
20. Beneath This Man. - Jodi Ellen Malpas 10/10
21. Before I Met You. - Lucie White house 6/10
22. This Man Confessed. - Jodi Ellen Malpas 9/10

16. The Rosie Project by Graeme Simsion. Really enjoyed this - one of the funniest books I've read for a while.

hackmum - How is Game Theory applied in Hunger Games books?

I'm not hackmum, obviously, but I imagine the game theory aspect is about when it's strategic to make alliances and when it's strategic to break them - I'm thinking of the prisoner's dilemma, but there may be other models I don't know.

Currently reading The Ancient Paths by Graham Robb, a non-fic about the lost maps of Celtic Europe. Quite a brave book to write for someone who has developed a good reputation writing about France, like piping up that you have a new theory about Atlantis. There is rather a lot about plotting points on a map, but he writes well (I laughed aloud at his theory that the stranger Roman accounts of Celtic behaviour were based on wind-ups by mischievious Celts) and I'm enjoying it.

bibliomania I really enjoyed The Ancient Paths. Robb's writing is very good.

Mums life shellseekers is one of my fave books.

10. Longbourn by Jo Bkaer. 9/10. Tells the story of the servants that lived in the Bennett's house and the back story behind pride and prejudice. Really enjoyed it.

Next is the mid wife's confessions by Diane chamberlain

I am so behind
7 Ostland David James, really enjoyed this, a look at how an upstanding German policeman committed to right and wrong became an SS senior figure in charge of the mass murderer of 1000s,
8 The Rosie Project , really enjoyed this, bit of a trite ending but very enjoyable,
9 The Husband's secret, as above really, but the ending here was very bad I thought, lazy.

Hopefully will be able to catch up over Easter when I am not attempting to catch up on History knowledge.

Chillie, glad I'm not the only one! The newspaper reviews weren't very kind, so I was a bit sceptical about it, but glad I gave it a shot (even though I'm glazing over a bit at some of the longitude/latitude stuff).

30. Notes from a Small Island - Bill Bryson

Book 41 - a collection of about two thirds of Jane Austen's surviving letters. Enjoyed this hugely but it was an absolute pain that the notes were all at the back instead of as footnotes, so I had to keep flicking backwards and forwards.

Wednesday - how did you find The Last Dragonslayer?

Book 1 - the Crimson Petal and the White - Michel Faber
Book 2 - The Blackhouse - Peter May
Book 3 - The Universe Versus Alex Woods.
Book 4 - Mad About the Boy
Book 5 - My Life - David Jason
Book 6 - Paper Towns - John Green
Book 7 - We Are Water - Wally Lamb
Book 8 - American Psycho - Bret Easton Ellis
Book 9 - What Alice Forgot - Liane Moriarty
Book 10 - The Personal History of Rachel Dupree - AnnWeisgarber
Book 11 - The Garden of Evening Mists - Tan Twan Eng.
Book 12 - The Cuckoo's Calling - Robert Galbraith
Book 13 - Greyhound of a Girl - Roddy Doyle
Book 14 - Gangsta Granny - David Walliams
Book 15 - The Rosie Project
Book 16 - 12 Years a Slave
Book 17 - Doctor Sleep - Stephen King
Book 18 - Life After Life - Kate Atkinson
Book 19 - The Impossible Dead - Ian Rankin
Book 20 - Harry Potter and The Philosophers Stone.
Book 21 - The House We Grew Up In
Book 22 - The First Casualty - Ben Elton
Book 23 - Big Brother - Lionel Shriver
Book 24 - Perfect - Rachel Joyce
Book 25 - 11/22/63 - Stephen King

I enjoyed this immensely. He's just so clever. I love that I can hear his 'voice' in everything he writes. There've clearly been some disappointments over the years but I reckon this is phenomenal.

22. Maddaddam - Margaret Atwood The third in the Maddaddam series. I enjoyed it, it's told from the point of view of Toby and Blackbeard (one of the Crakers) but often talks about Zeb's past as well, and we see how they fare now they have all met up. Remus If you enjoyed The Year of the Flood then you will probably enjoy this one too, but if it annoyed you (and I can see why it would annoy some people) then probably don't bother because it's more of the same. I liked finding out who survived and how they were living now the immediate danger of the disease is past.

Thanks, Jam. 'Flood' was fine: it was O&C that I hated. If I happen to see Maddaddam in the library I'll pick it up, but I won't go out of my way for it!

1. A Good And Useful Hurt - Aric Davis

This was a recent Kindle Deal of the Day, and a surprising find. A tattoo parlour, a serial killer who preys on women, tattoos made with ashes of the victims, etc. Quite an intriguing premise and I give it an 'A' for ingenuity, but it wasn't as well-developed as I was hoping for. (Also, my last book The Luminaries is a hard act to follow)

31. Louise Rennison "A Midsummer Tights Dream"

Starting The Hunger Games!