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

1. The Rosie Project 7.5/10

I had to join the 'read this book' club

1. The Count of Monte Cristo 9/10

A slow reader like me taking on this long tome was probably madness but I've been meaning to read it for years - glad I've finally done it.

1. A Study in Scarlet 8/10

Comfort book and nice and short!

What I really want are some more 'revenge' novels now - if anyone can recommend some, I'd be most grateful.

High five, highland!

I really liked Cross and Burn chillie thought it was wry well done how she moved Tony and Carol back together

Same here strawberry. It was good to see an author attempting to deal with the fall out of something as big as what happened in The Retribution. McDermid is pretty good at the human psychology side of things, I think.

Book 23 Divergent by Veronica Roth.

Having seen the trailer for the film I thought it looked like an interesting read, and it is pretty decent. It's another dystopian novel a la Hunger Games, Wool, etc. In this one, people are divided up into five factions based on specific characteristics, and then there are the factionless who are a sort of underclass. Tris is 16 and at the beginning of the novel undergoes the aptitude tests to see which faction she should be in. She switches from Abnegation, leaving her family, to join Dauntless, and most of the novel concerns the training before full acceptance into her new faction. Inevitably there are nefarious schemes at work, and Tris finds herself in a situation she never could have imagined.

It sounds good Chillie Did you enjoy it?

Yes, I did Wednesday. I found a box set of the trilogy in The Works, and because I've got time at home this week I'm working my way through them. Just finished the second one actually, so book 24 is Insurgent by Veronica Roth. In this one there is the inevitable revelation of a huge secret which underpins the world of the factions in which Tris lives, so presumably Allegiant will be the search for the truth and the brave new world. There is always a secret in these things, I find, but it's how it is handled that determines whether or not the dystopian world works.

Book 44 This Interesting character and Victorian crime is one of my favourite topics, but I thought it was badly written, akin to a v worthy and diligent Yr 9 pupil writing an essay by following all the rules without any style.

17. Pedigree Mum by Fiona Gibson. Enjoyable lightweight book. I suspect the author frequents mumsnet

11. The Genesis Secret - Tom Knox

I read this following Cardiff's post downthread, and have to say I was very much underwhelmed. The story line is ludicrous, the "secret" is no great shakes, t makes no sense that the killer they are battling wants to keep it hidden, and there is no such thing as a gene that controls the urge to sacrifice someone on an altar. It is also so badly written as to make Da Vinci Code look like a literary masterpiece in comparison. (And I had actually quite enjoyed Da Vinci Code, so clearly am not that hard to please ).

It also pissed me off to no end that the few Turkish & Kurdish characters in the book are drawn as stereotypical caricatures - shallow, greedy, sleazy, with the integrity & emotional maturity of a 5-year-old

By the way, Neal Stephenson's Anathem is £0.99 on Kindle at the moment.

35. Significant Others - Armistead Maupin

Thanks cote I've just bought that one :)

Enjoy

I'll let you know! I've a few others to get through first

Book 25 Allegiant by Veronica Roth.

Final book in the trilogy which deals with the aftermath of the revelation at the end of Insurgent and Tris and the others finding out more about the reality of the world in which they live. Well handled, particularly the ending, which can sometimes fall a bit flat in this sort of dystopian series.

17. The Hypnotist's Love Story, Liane Moriarty

Spoilers below!

While it was a good read, I didn't enjoy it as much as her other two books. The reason for this is that I just didn't like the romantic lead, Patrick (bland, blokey, macho, boring) and I was actually disappointed when Ellen ended up with him! The author did too good a job making me sympathise with Saskia, Patrick's stalker and an even better job at building an intriguing relationship between Saskia and Ellen. I was actually hoping that Saskia and Ellen would end up living together in a feminist commune bringing up the baby, the same way Ellen's mother did when bringing up Ellen herself. And Patrick would be revealed as a self-absorbed user that neither of them needed.

By the time the author tried to backtrack at the end and point out we should be feeling sorry for Patrick, not Saskia, and Patrick went all gooey and sincere about his one true love for Ellen compared to his dead ex wife, I just couldn't buy into it. It felt like too much of a hasty add-on, and too far removed from the emotional truth of the novel which was about Ellen and Saskia for me, not Ellen and Patrick.

Would be interested to know what others thought of this book.

36. Sure of You- Armistead Maupin

26. Don't Stand So Close. - Luana Lewis 7/10
27. Behind Closed Doors. - Kathryn Croft 9/10

I just thought I'd let you all know that The Luminaries is £2.99 on the Kindle.

Ah, Cote, I'm sorry you didn't like the Genesis Secret! I have another Tom Knox book on my TBR list, here's to hoping it's a bit better.

12. Deliver Us From Evil by David Baldacci.

I like books by this author, he is certainly no literary genius but they are good stories with lots of action. This one is based around the reoccurring character Shaw, who is a spy-cum-assassin action hero of sorts. He is actually very reminiscent of Jack Reacher in that he is described as being very tall and appears to be invincible. In this story he is hunting down a Ukranian war criminal. That is, until a beautiful woman gets in the way......don't we always.

That's OK, Cardiff I didn't know anything about Göbekli Tepe before reading that book and at least I'm happy with what I learned about that place.

All fans of scientific historical fiction, come over here! I've been waiting for this trilogy to go down in price on the Kindle for so long:

The Sky's Dark Labyrinth (about Kepler, Galileo, etc) is £0.99

The Sensorium Of God (about Halley, Newton, etc) is £1.19

The Day Without Yesterday (about Einstein etc) is £0.99

31. Consumed: How Shopping Fed the Class System, Harry Wallop. Non-fic. Interesting topic, and he has some insights based on his own (posh) upbringing. Let down a bit by some fairly lazy writing and fairly minimal research.

Currently on (32) The Short Life and Long Times of Mrs Beeton, by Kathryn Hughes, which I'm really enjoying. Great insight into mid-Victorian life.

I gave up on Badenheim 1939.

Instead I've just finished Me Before You. So that's number nine I think, I enjoyed it in the way I enjoy devouring easy reads.
I feel like I know a tiny little bit more about quadriplegics and their lives too.

Wow, glad I checked in, so many great recommendations.

So far I've read:

1. 1Q84 - Murakami
2. A is For Angelica - Iain Broome
3. The Midwife of Hope River - Patricia Harman
4. Death Comes to Pemberley - PD James
5. The Casual Vacancy - JK Rowling
6. The Golden Notebook - Doris Lessing
7. The Fault in Our Stars - John Greene
8. Looking For Alaska - John Greene
9. The Night Rainbow - Claire King

10. The Shock of the Fall - Nathan Filer 11. The Rosie Project - Graeme Simsion

A nice mixture but a bit behind schedule, so I'm glad the Easter holiday is about to start and I can get stuck into Goldfinch and Life After Life.