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

27 A Clash of Kings by George R R Martin
28 A Storm of Swords 1Steel and Snow by George R R Martin
29 Every Woman for herself by Trisha Ashley
30 The Boys from Brazil by Its Levin

Cote, I agree with you about The Shock of the Fall. I enjoyed it but it felt a bit 'mental health lite'.

mumslife I enjoyed The Secret Life of Bees too, and I think The Invention of Wings is even better.

I love the Cazalets too and have the last in the series waiting to be read, however I want to go back and reread the other four first and not sure when I am ever going to find the time

I don't really agree about Shock of the Fall. My brother has schizophrenia and I was really surprised by quite how spot on it felt to me in a number of ways. I will try those others you recommended though Cote as this is a subject that I have an ongoing interest in.

I am still reading The Count of Monte Christo... going well but I read for an hour and move on about 1-2% max.

Queen - I agree with you in the sense that the author's observation of what a person with schizophrenia does and what is done to him (at a care facility) is good. However, my criticism is about what goes on inside his head.

The sentences are too perfect, thoughts too organized. The narrator sounds like a perfectly normal person who just happens to see his dead brother. He says the pills make him lethargic and unable to think clearly but we don't see any sign of this in his narration. If the line between reality and fantasy is blurred in his mind, we should also be seeing more evidence of this. If the narrator in a book is going to be a character with several MH issues, we should see this in his narration imho.

Do check out Umbrella and The Atrocity Exhibition. They are quite difficult to read but both are brilliant. It took me weeks to properly get back to living in RL after both books.

If you have read any other books like these two (and not MH-lite like Shock Of The Fall) I'd love to hear about them.

Tumbletumble really enjoyed Chocolat but not the sequel (as below).

28. The Lollipop Shoes by Joanne Harris - sequel to above but really pretty dire. All the characters are so different from how they are in Chocolat with no convincing explanation. Vianne in particular is just a drip. Also the lovely subtle magic evoked in the original is turned into sledgehammer type here. The baddy is cartoonish. And the worst thing is JH changes her world to fit the Hollywood film which was different from the book. Also v mawkish unnecessarily. So disappointing.

But don't let it put you off Chocolat which is lovely.

Chocolat is one of my all-time favourites. I enjoyed the sequel but nowhere near as much. I think in the sequel Vienne has lost her way and tried to settle into a "normal" life for Anouk and Rosette's sake, and it is clear that she isn't suited to this lifestyle. But she has two young daughters by two fathers, neither of whom are around. She is trying to follow what she sees as a respectable life, but as a result she has lost her identity in this novel, which is why she comes across as a "drip". We're meant to know this is out of character for her.The magic is more obvious, but so is Zozie who brings the magic to the story - it would be odd if such a loud, colourful character was subtle with her magic.

That said, I do have a lot more love for the first novel - the second didn't quite have me reaching for chocolate as I read it...

56. Faye Carlisle "Psychology for Parents". I found this interesting but it came across as a little patronising in parts, and overall I think it tries to cover too much in such a short time.

21. Lexicon - Max Barry

Wow. Once in a while a book comes up and unexpectedly whacks you, and this is it. Great story, and the writing isn't bad, either. It starts out a little weird and garbled but then everything falls into place and you find yourself reading under the sheets at 2 AM because you just have to keep going

I will not say anything more about this book so as not to ruin the pleasure of discovering it but suffice it to say that it is an intelligent book woven together from neurology, linguistics, psychology, mind control, even a bit of witchcraft (controlling people with ancient incantations), short questionnaires on Facebook asking your favourite colour etc.

Highly recommended. Please read it. I suspect that it will pull the rug out from under those of you who have been reading Harry Potter and other YA fantasy/sci-fi stuff like Delirium, Divergent, etc and convincing yourselves that they are for adults, too

Just read that last sentence & hope it's clear that it was a light-hearted tease and not a dog at anyone

Dig, even.

20. Of Mice and Men by Steinbeck. Excellent of course, it's Steinbeck after all. (Still not as good as East of Eden - which is one the best novels I've ever read.)

21. The Bell Jar - Plath. I was quite snotty about reading this, so put it off for years. I assumed it was going to be almost like a misery memoir dressed up in high prose. Actually, it's brilliant. Much, much better than The Catcher in the Rye, which might be considered to be it's peer.

22. The Observations - Jane Harris. Very good. Similar themes to The Crimson Petal and The White. The narrators voice is very strong here; you feel like she's a close friend by the end.

23. Night Film (audio book) Marisha Pessel. Seems reasonable so far. Quite a few cliches used, making it a bit clunky, which is a shame because the story itself is quite good.

46. And The Mountains Echoed - Khaled Hosseini. Good, but thought first half much better. Slightly disappointed by the end. 4/5 but probably nearer a 3.5/5.

47. The Lie - Helen Dunmore. I loved the simple beauty of Helen Dunmore's writing. A wonderful thought-provoking novel that was a pleasure to read and savour each sentence.

37. Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell
    I loved Eleanor and Park by Rainbow Rowell so bought this as a cheapie on kindle. Unfortunately, it doesn't have the same charm as E & P but it's reasonably good. Rowell clearly researched the world of fan fiction for this book but I felt that the Simon Snow fiction interspersed with the real story just bogged it down. Snow is clearly Harry Potter and there were a couple of wry jokes within that but nothing to merit the amount of space given over to the fanfic. There is a decent story in this book, it's a shame the fanfic elements almost smother it.

38. Charm by Sarah Pinborough
    The final book in this Magic Kingdoms trilogy. (I read them out of order though, so it should have been the second) This was quite good, the ending(s) to this tale are pretty well telegraphed so there are no real surprises but Pinborough's magic world is entertaining.

Whoops, it seems to be the Tales of the Kingdom trilogy rather than the Magic Kingdoms trilogy.

Rofl @ "not a dog" :) I'm a fan of the ya stuff, but am definitely adding your recommendation to my to-read list

Well it definitely wasn't a dog

I hope you'll read it - I'd love to talk to someone who has.

19. The Daughters of Gentlemen - Linda Stratman, a female Victorian detective,quite like this series but this one was a little slow!

39. The Menace Within - Ursula Curtiss
    I really enjoyed this, despite being a really old book. It was one of the best thrillers I've read for a long time.

40. Thanks for the Memories - Cecelia Aherne
    Easy reading chick lit with a fantasy element thrown in. Pleasant enough but not worthy of a re-read.

20). The Snow Queen, by Michael Cunningham.

The worst novel I’ve read for years, even The Red House was better. Very slow-moving story, florid prose and annoying naval-gazing characters. His earlier works were so meaningful and powerful so I don’t know what’s happened. I only finished this one because it was short and I’d booked to hear him at a talk in north London which was last night. He was more extrovert than what I imagined and very engaging company, very much appreciates his readers. Said he's 100 words into his new one so I'll read that also eventually in hope.

Is it brand new cote? It doesn't seem to be available on Kindle

It looks genuinely fascinating

18th June - Consider it the next book I will read after this date