50 Book Challenge 2014 Part 3

[Southeastdweller]

Thread 3 of the 50 book challenge. Here are the previous threads...

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

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

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/adult_fiction/2000991-50-Book-Challenge-2014-Part-2?

Ooh I enjoyed The Husband's Secret If you like that one, then her other one What Alice Forgot I liked even more!

I've nearly finished Mr Mercedes - it's a bit bloody gripping!

Remus, I felt exactly the same about the Grapes of Wrath when I read it as a teenager. Devastating is the right word.

I thought I would never be able to read it again but I did last year after a 35 year gap. It's still a brilliant and devastating book but I was able to cope with it much better. Glad I did read it again.

Lots of stress and sore eyes going on at the moment so I've been having a chick-lit phase as I needed something light and fluffy.

37, 38,39 three books by Jenny Colgan.

40 Northanger Abbey by Val McDermid from the Jane Austen Project. This was quite fun really. Set in Edinburgh during the Festival instead of Bath but some of the characters were very irritating.

41. Sense and Sensibility by Joanna Trollope. Surprisingly enjoyable and has made me want to go back and read the original again. Still don't see what Col Brandon sees in Marianne and don't understand why Elsinore doesn't fancy him. Marianne is so annoying.

Elinor FGS. (Autocorrect)

[wonders if should give grapes of wrath a go...]

29. And the Mountains Echoed. Distinctly average.

Next:

30. The Shock of the Fall.

Best - loving Elsinor! :)

I can't bring myself to read any of those Austen, 'Tributes.' I suspect they would make me very cross.

You are probably right re, "Grapes" but I really don't think I could cope with the unrelenting horror now.

You'd hate them Remus. Don't go there

44. Irene. - Pierre Lemaitre Took me a while to get into but glad I persisted. Brilliant twist. This is the first in the trilogy, despite how Amazon describes it. Read this before Alex. 9/10

35. Tears Behind the Veil - Shaida Mehrban
36. Cold Comfort Farm - Stella Gibbons
37. The Handmaid's Tale - Margaret Atwood

25. Quantum Theory Cannot Hurt You - Marcus Chown

I snapped this up for 99p when it was Kindle Daily Deal recently and I'm really glad I read it now. It's not the 1st book I've read on the subject, but it is the most comprehensive. It is written for those of us who have only studied a bit of physics as a teenager. I'd recommend this to anyone who is interested in this topic.

44. The Fever by Megan Abbott

There has been loads of hype about this and it's on most of the summer recommendations lists (that I've seen) both here and the States. Sarah Jessica Parker and Joyce Carol Oates have both praised it online and the advance copy comes with strings of big names raving about it. Which is all a prelude to admitting that I wound up expecting too much from this book.

Abbott is a great writer, she has a real empathy for her characters and writes beautifully. The premise is excellent - one by one, a group of teenage girls are struck down by a mystery illness. I loved The End of Everything and how the reader saw everything through the eyes of a teenage girl who didn't quite understand what was going on around her. I hoped to be similarity captivated by The Fever but the different narrative strands just didn't draw me in as much.

The Fever is a better book than many I've read this year, it's just not Megan Abbott's best book imo.

Book 46 The Glassblower of Murano by Marina Fiorato

Split between Renaissance and modern day Venice, this combines the stories of a glassblowing maestro Corradino, who is tempted away from the island of Murano by agents of Louis XIV, and his descendant Nora, born to an English mother and Venetian father who leaves London behind her on the breakdown of her marriage with the aim of becoming a glassblower on Murano and find out more about her illustrious ancestor.

It was a bit disappointing really. The characters are pretty one-dimensional and while there are lots of descriptions of the wonders of Venice these are rather overblown. Fiorato doesn't have the skills of poetic description that she thinks she has. Still, it's a lightweight and easy read if you're looking for something where you don't need to engage your brain all that much.

whatwould I love Irene and Alex. So cleverly written

I read The Glassblower last year Chillie.
It's one of those books I had such high hopes for and was terribly disappointed in. A good idea, poorly executed.

Finished Book 36 - Rivers of London by Ben Aaronovitch
Didn't think much of it to be honest

Started Book 37 - Wine of Angels - only 10% in but enjoying it already

Yes, Cardiff, that's exactly it! Reading the back I thought it wounded like it would be quite interesting, but the handling was not good. Such a shame.

Sonnet, I'm glad you're liking Wine of Angels so far. I have a dread of recommending something and someone coming back and revealing I actually have crap taste!

This week's books -

57. Lord of the Flies - William Golding. This was a re-read for me, having first read it at school. Brilliant, but just as disturbing as it ever was.

58. The Various Haunts of Men - Susan Hill. This is the first in the Simon Serrailler series. Very enjoyable, although I did guess who the killer was about three-quarters of the way through. Good ending, with a chilling twist, which I wasn't expecting. Will be reading the rest of the series.

45. 50 shades of Grey. - I finally read this after spotting in the library and wondering what I'd been missing. Seemingly nothing much. I can't believe there was so much hype surrounding this book/series. I won't be bothering with the other two - Anastasia was such an dull and insipid character and Christian doesn't do anything for me!

46. The Rapture - Liz Jensen. (Audiobook.) Mixed feelings about this one. It took a while to get into which is a bit irritating with audiobooks as I find my mind starts to wander. It did get better as it went on and I enjoyed the climax at the end. Written in the present tense, though, which I found irritating. I'd consider reading more by the same author but would probably avoid an audiobook format as they don't offer the same opportunity to skim-read any boring bits.

Whoops finally getting around to updating my list...

1. Melissa Explains It All by Melissa Joan Hart
2. The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman
3. The Reluctant Fundamentalist by Mohsin Hamid
4. The Secret Diary of Adrian Mole by Sue Townsend
5. The Growing Pains of Adrian Mole (Adrian Mole, #2) by Sue Townsend
6. True Confessions of Adrian Albert Mole (Adrian Mole, #3) by Sue Townsend
7. Bundles of Joy by Linda Fairley
8. The Six Wives of Henry VIII by Alison Weir
9. Flowers in the Attic by VC Andrews

10. Petals on the Wind by V.C. Andrews 11. The Amazing Story of Adolphus Tips by Michael Morpurgo 12. Room by Emma Donoghue 13. Confessions of a Shopaholic by Sophie Kinsella 14. Shopaholic Takes Manhattan by Sophie Kinsella 15. Shopaholic Ties The Knot by Sophie Kinsella 16. Shopaholic & Sister by Sophie Kinsella 17. Shopaholic & Baby by Sophie Kinsella 18. Mini Shopaholic by Sophie Kinsella 19. Sleeping Arrangements by Madeline Whickham 20. The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest (Millennium, #3) by Stieg Larsson

Duchess I have read a couple of them and enjoyed them - not sure which ones though and now fancy reading the series

Mum2 - I really liked Liz Jensen's. "The Ninth Life of Louis Drax" - I thought, "The Rapture" was her weakest one so far tbh.

Book 66 - Another of the, "Very Short Introduction" series, this one on, "Rhetoric." Really enjoyed this once I got into it (it's been sitting on my bedside table since Christmas!).

27. What Katy Did - Susan Coolidge
28. Day of the Triffids - John Wyndham
29. Mr Mercedes - Stephen King

What Katy Did was another nostalgia read but it wasn't anywhere near as good as I remember - disappointing!

Day of the Triffids - what can I say? Classic and brilliant tale that any true Sci Fi fan should check out

Mr Mercedes I listened to unabridged on Audible and really enjoyed it! It's written in classic King style but without the usual supernatural element, it's more of a police procedural kind of thing, but no less gripping. Definitely worth a look