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

28. Just What Kind of Mother Are You? by Paula Daly. A MN giveaway. I gave it 3/5 on Goodreads. Good story, very likeable characters - Lisa, Joe, Joanne and Jackie.

Interesting plotline, but just felt that the ending didn't quite sit right. It let down an otherwise good story.

32. Kate Atkinson - Life After Life 6/10

Just finished Book 13 - Harvest by Jim Crace. I really enjoyed this book. The descriptive prose conjured up vivid imagery for me, the colours, the atmosphere came alive.

Just for me, as I came late to this thread, I am listing all books read this year.
1.Jamaica Inn -Daphne Du Maurer
2.The Oak Apple - Harrod-Eagles, Cynthia
3.Before I Go To Sleep - SJ Watson
4.The Machine Gunners -Robert Westall
5.Charlotte Grey -Sebastian Faulks
6.The Twins - Saskia Sarginson
7.The Thirteenth Tale - Diane Setterfield
8.The Hangmans Song -James Oswald
9.River of Destiny -Barbra Erskine
10.Burning Bright - Tracy Chevalier
11.My Family and Other Animals - Clare Balding
12.Cold Granite - Stuart McBride
14.The Little Coffee Shop of Kabul -Deborah Rodrigueze
15.Harvest - Jim Crace

Just about to start The Night Rainbow after two recommendations up thread

1. Pride & Prejudice, Jane Austen
2. The COming Race, Edward Bulwer-Lytton
3. The foundation pit, Andrey Platanov
4. What Matters in Jane Austen, John Mullan
5. Agnes Grey, Anne Bronte
6. The SHock of the Fall, Nathan Filer
7. The Three Musketeers, Alexandre Dumas
8. The boy in the suitcase, Lene Kaaberbol

This was good. It is a thriller and does what it says really. It was fast, I wanted to get to the next bit etc. I saw quite a few bits coming but I still wanted to get there to see it happen. I don't as a whole like this genre so I won't read anymore (it is #1) but I am glad I read it.

14. By Nightfall, by Michael Cunningham.

Much too slow-moving story and the characterisation thin. But he's got a new book out next month so I'll give him another go, simply because I loved The Hours and A Home at the End of the World.

Book 27 Mortal Causes by Ian Rankin

Back to Rebus. This time he is investigating the possibility of sectarian trouble during the Edinburgh Festival after the tortured body of a young man is found in one of the city's subterranean streets. Rankin's writing and plot construction are as good as ever, so it's an entertaining read.

1.Robert Galbraith, The Cuckoo's Calling
2.Mad About the Boy, Helen Fielding
3.Tangled Lives, Hilary Boyd

1. I Am Pilgrim, Terry Hayes
2. The Rosie Project, Graeme Simsion
3. Killers Wedge, Ed McBain
4. The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry, Rachel Joyce
5. The Silent Wife, ASA Harrison
6. Divergent- Veronica Roth

10. Going Limp in Orlando - Craig Williams

Divergent I enjoyed in much the same way that I did the Hunger Games et al. Entertaining but not too thought provoking. The Orlando book is a ebook about a family's trip to Orlando, to get me in the mood for my own holiday in August.

25. Larry's Party by Carol Shields. A re -read. I've been clearing out the attic and found a box of books that has been there since we moved here in about 2000. Interesting read on what it was like to be a man in the 90s.

26. The Blitz by Juliet Gardiner. Reading this as a follow up to Life after Life as I found the ARP section fascinating. Such tragically sad stories. Has quite a lot of resonance for me as my grandfather was an ARP warden, my home town suffered severely, and my grandfathers brother was killed during the Coventry bombings.

1. Helen Fielding - Mad About the Boy.
2. India Knight - Mutton
3. William Boyd - Any Human Heart.

Off for a week's holiday so lots of reading to do!

26 Dogs and Goddesses by Jennifer Crusie. A reread and I have slowed down considerably as I predicted.

Book 47 - 'The Wide Sargasso Sea' - didn't do much for me, I'm afraid.

Really Remus? That's disappointing as I've heard good things about it and it's on my to read list.

Just rather dull and underwhelming. I am super-fussy though.

I agree with Remus and I really am not fussy. It is short though so you won't have lost too long reading it. It was ok, but I don't understand all of the fuss.

30. First grave on the Right - Darynda Jones
31. Second grave on the left - Darynda Jones
32. Third grave dead ahead - Darynda Jones
33. Fourth grave beneath my feet - Darynda Jones
34. Fifth grave past the light - Darynda Jones

You can probably guess that this is a series, an Urban Fantasy series. It's about Charley Davidson, a young female PI who solves murders or disappearances for her dad and uncle in the police by talking to the murder victims. She's also the grim reaper. Predictably there's some romance in there as well but I wasn't particularly keen on that bit because it's an incredibly unhealthy relationship and I think she would be much better off if she listened to everybody else who is telling her that getting involved with a convicted murderer is a bad idea. I enjoyed the series and will read any future books in the series but the "sexy" parts just came across as "creepy" or abusive and I found some of the storylines a bit far-fetched (and this is from me, who loves Fantasy novels which are supposed to be far-fetched)

35. Splintered - A.G.Howard

A YA novel about Alyssa, a descendent of Alice in Wonderland. Alyssa struggles to cope with the "curse" of her family and travels to Wonderland to try and get rid of the curse by "fixing" whatever Alice did when she was there.

My numbering has gone a bit off, Goodreads thinks I've read 36 this year, but I can't be bothered to figure out where the discrepancy is.

39. The Kingdom by the Sea - Paul Theroux Paul Theroux travels round the coast of Britain in 1982. I like this book despite Paul being very rude about where I live.

15 - The Night Rainbow, recommeded upthread. A great read, sad and haunted me a little.
Just started book 16: The Cuckoo's Calling (Robert Galbraith) - okay so far, hasn't grabbed me yet.

Turnoffthe TV and Mumslife - I love The Night Rainbow - thanks for the recommendation

Foos, Paul Theroux is rude about where everyone reads. I read his books in an enjoyable state of being enraged by him.

32. The Short Life and Long Times of Mrs Beeton, by Kathryn Hughes. Really enjoyed this the details of Victorian life. Imagine being the eldest of 21 children (tbf, her mother only gave birth to 17 of them....). Not sure if Hughes is speculating about her being infected by syphilis by her husband, or whether it's firmly established. A great read.

33. Harbour Street, Ann Cleeves. The latest in the Vera Stanhope series. I like Vera as a character, and there was some clever misdirection - I didn't spot the murderer. Good reliable crime fiction.

I was travellling on my own for a few days, so the following is a slightly odd selection of books picked up in guesthouses, charity shops etc:

34. Comfort and Joy, India Knight. I'm not remotely charmed by the "look at me" antics of the narrator's mother and sister - over-privileged baby-women who commit sub-Mitfordian dialogue. But ultimately it's a warm-hearted and kind book, with some funny observations along the way, so I'm prepared to forgive IK quite a lot.

35. The Wench is Dead, Colin Dexter. Morse is in hospital and amuses himself by solving a nineteenth century criminal case. Felt a bit dated, but went down easily enough.

36. Sold to the Man with the Tin Leg, Philip Serrell. I have a bit of a weakness for Bargain Hunt, and this was very much daytime TV - gentle anecdotes of his early career disasters (and early dating disasters too). All very soothing. Set in the 1970s, which are beginning to seem a very long time ago.

37. Motherland, Maria Beaumont. Mumlit - mother faces career disaster, incipient alcoholism and marital breakdown, but emerges stronger with the help of friends etc. Well-executed of its type.

38. Time's Anvil, Richard Morris. A meditation on archaeology and how we understand the past. Disappointed in this one - Charlotte Higgins did it better (and more briefly) in Under Another Sky.

39. Raising Steam, Terry Pratchett. Good old reliable TP. Enjoyed this. Moist isn't one of my favourite characters, but it's sort of a sequel to Thud! and Snuff, and it's good to hear more about dwarfish terrorism and how the goblins are beginning to be acceptable. You've got to admire the message of tolerance, although this was a particularly benign take on capitalism, where workers work for the joy of it and their kind-hearted bosses have to force them to take wages. Come on, Terry, I know you can do organised labour....

26. Don't Stand so Close. - Luana lewis 8/10
27. Keep your Friends close. Paula Daily 8/10
28. On Dublin Street. - Samantha young 9/10
29. Convicted. - Aleatha Romig 7/10
30. The Sleeper. - Emily bar 9/10

Finished 13, Goodbye Berlin by Christopher Isherwood, highly recommended. Just started Andrew Taylor, The Scent of Death.

20. The Cuckoo's Calling

I know a few people have been a bit 'meh' about this, but I enjoyed it. I had to wait for them to tell me who did it though!

So glad you enjoyed The Night Rainbow sonnet

40. Wool - Hugh Howey This was really good. Gripping story, strong female characters. If you like post apocalyptic dystopian fiction you will enjoy this.