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?

Haven't posted for a while
21. The Giver -Lois Lowry
22. How To Be A Woman - Caitlin Moran
23. A Monster Calls - Patrick Ness
24.The Bone Thief - Jefferson Bass
25. Coming Up Roses - Cath Kidston
26. Sleepyhead - Mark Billingham
27. World War One: A Short History - Norman Stone
28. The Girl Who loved Tom Gordon - Stephen King
29. Not Forgotten - Neil Oliver
30. Treasure Island - R.L. Stevenson
31. Rainbow's End - Lauren St John
32. Joyland - Stephen King
33. Chasing The Dark - Sam Hepburn
34. Broken Homes - Ben Aaronovitch
Particularly enjoyed Patrick Ness, the Stephen King books, Treasure Island and Neil Oliver

I thought Neil Oliver was a surprisingly good writer, verona. I read A History of Ancient Britain, and by the standards of TV historians, his writing was very fluid and engaging.

Yes, very impressed with Neil Oliver. This was an interesting book about First world war memorials and the the stories behind them. I've got the book on ancient Britain on my tbr pile so glad to hear it's good

I'm reading "life after life" now...

66. John Green "The Fault in our Stars". I really liked this.

Just checking in... Still reading The Count of Monte Christo- absolutely loving it but life just keeps interfering with my reading right now.

Hopefully I will be back soon to update my list.

I am glad to hear you enjoyed The Wine of Angels, Sonnet. Having read most of them on the Kindle I actually intend getting round to buying all the physical books eventually. It's a series I can see myself re-reading.

OMG! here you all are thought the thread had gone v quiet, can't believe I missed 16 pages of book chat!

Will post a full books list tomorrow

Read Lexicon Cote and it was a ripping good tale, really enjoyed it. Thought you all got a bit hung up on definitions tho!

Currently have a half read Norwegian Wood, Snow Crash, Ananthem and the Diet Delusion... So a bit behind.

Am under pressure with Snow Crash, the library wants it back as it has been put on reserve the bastards

It's quite dense, I'll have to take it out again. No way am I taking it all in properly.

Have you read Iain Banks cote? Feersum Enjinn is one of my favourites.

27. The Song of Lunch - Christopher Reid

Small but perfectly formed poem/book about ex-lovers having lunch in Soho.

I read The Song of Lunch earlier this year, Meg. Thought it was wonderful.

I went on to read a couple of Christopher Reid's other books - Nonsense, and A Scattering. The second one tells of his wife's illness and death. Very moving, it made me cry. He is utterly brilliant.

Duchess I will definitely look that one up.

28. Batman: The Killing Joke - Alan Moore

Terrific graphic novel.

wilting thinking we've all gone quiet

Yes, I read quite a lot of Iain Banks (7-8 of his Culture books) before I gave up. He writes what's called 'space opera' - i.e. soap opera in space. I wasn't impressed (sorry). People and robots living together in harmony, all context & plot very unrealistic and rather silly (again, sorry ). I thought Player Of Games could have been interesting but ultimately wasn't. If Neal Stephenson wrote that book, it would have been very different, I think.

48. The Beach. Alex Garland - A little over-hyped but enjoyable. I'd like to watch the film adaptation.

49. Mrs McGinty's Dead- Agatha Christie. Okay but not one of her best. Too many similar characters and too many co-incidences.

Feersum Enjinn worth a read if you didn't already. I haven't read all the Cuture books (got tired of them) but FE is one that made sufficient impression that I still recommend it!

Science fiction is fundamentally implausible cote surely? If the book sutains its internal world well enough for me to believe in it that is good enough for me!

But then you are talking to a huge Terry Pratchett and Douglas Adams fan

1 - Carrion Comfort by Dan Sims
2 - A Perfect Proposal by Katie Fforde
3 - Loot, Inside the World of Stolen Art by Thomas McShane;
4 - Wool by Hugh Howie
5 - A Feast For Crows by George RR Martin - Game of Thrones
6 - A Dance with Dragons, Part 1 and predictably
7 - A Dance with Dragons, Part 2
8 - The Brightest Star in the Sky by Marian Keyes.
9 - The Rosie Project.
10 - Road to Rouen, Ben Hatch
11 - Gone Girl, Gillian Flynn
12 - The Light Years, Elizabeth Jane Howard
13 - Marking Time, Elizabeth Jane Howard
14 - The State We're In, Adele Parkes
15 - Confusion, Elizabeth Jane Howard
16 - The Last Letter from your Lover, Jojo Moyes
17 - Casting Off, Elizabeth Jane Howard
18 - HHhH, Laurent Binet
19 - The Taliban Cricket Club, Timeri Murari
20 - The Trouble with Marriage, Debby Holt
21 - Confessions of a Sociopath, ME Thomas
22 - The Sky's Dark Labyrinth, Book 1, Stuart Clark
23 - This Book Will Save Your Life, AM Homes
24 - The Speckled People, Hugo Hamilton
25 - The Borrower, Rebecca Makkai
26 - Sad Desk Salad, Jessica Grose
27 - The Thoughful Dresser, Linda Grant

28 - Alex, Pierre Lemaitre (vvg, should not have read it first but hey ho, avoid crime like the plague normally but this was exceptional if a bit graphic at times.
29 - It's Got to be Perfect, Claire Allan (meh)
30 - Shoestring Club, Sarah Webb (a bit better)
31 - Lexicon, Max Barry (vvg)

As noted above I have about 4 other books half read at the moment so hopefully my list with jump a bit soon!

"Science fiction is fundamentally implausible cote surely?"

Absolutely not. That would be bad sci-fi.

I heard about Feersum Endjinn before but decided against reading it because (1) I read enough Iain Banks to know he isn't great, and (2) I can't bear the thought of a whole book written in moronese:

Woak up. Got dresd. Had brekfast. Spoke wif Ergates thi ant who sed itz juss been wurk wurk wurk 4 u lately master Bascule, Y dont u ½ a holiday? & I agreed & that woz how we decided we otter go 2 c Mr Zoliparia in thi I-ball ov thi gargoyle Rosbrith

Of course it is! You don't believe that anyone is going to start chanting incantations at you anytime soon and send you into incoherent vaguely religious breakdown now do you? Or that static on a screen will do similar? Or in reincarnation? Or in vampires?

I don't find those things at all plausible but, if the book is good enough, written well enough, and sustains its world well enough, I am drawn in and I will believe enough to read the story.

But when I look up from a science fiction book, I'm afraid it remains implausible/incredible/extremely unlikely... thought provoking possibly, plausible, no.

The little robot's narrative, I suppose it a bit tricky, tho to be honest, it was v phonetic and once I'd read a few pages, it was easy. But if it's not your thing I'll have to try and think of something else you might not have read !

hmmm.... Did you ever read The Sparrow? Mary Doria Russell? www.amazon.co.uk/Sparrow-Mary-Doria-Russell-ebook/dp/B003ARUTLA/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1403789536&sr=8-1&keywords=the+sparrow

I'm afraid I am not vg at describing books but it was utterly engaging and an excellent read. Not sure if it will be your thing, it's not very "techy", it is primarily a human drama of exploration, arrogance and tragedy on the premise of first contact with an alien planet. If by some miracle you have not read it (!!!) don't read the amazon reviews as they are full of v significant spoilers.

47. Unravelling Oliver by Liz Nugent.

I wanted to love this but I just thought it was OK. The novel is told from different people's perspectives and only some of the voices work. There are no real shocks as the clues sprinkled throughout are quite blatant. As has happened lots this year, I may have been coming to it with raised expectations.

Halfway through 'The Rosie Project' and whilst I find it engaging I am feeling uncomfortable that so many reviews describe it as "hilarious" and "laugh out loud". It is basically laughing at Aspergers. It will make for an interesting discussion at book club I feel!

Life (well, work) v much in the way this week. I'm reading, "The Silkworm" but finding it pretty boring tbh. Still like Strike and Robin but the other characters are completely one-dimensional, the writing is clunky and I'm just not caring terribly much.

30. The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt. Awesome. Brilliant.

wilting - Without meaning to go into another long-winded discussion about sci-fi...

"Of course it is (implausible)! You don't believe that anyone is going to start chanting incantations at you anytime soon and send you into incoherent vaguely religious breakdown now do you? Or that static on a screen will do similar? Or in reincarnation? Or in vampires?"

By definition, sci-fi as a genre deals with situations that are not around us, in the world we live in, here and now. So no, I don't believe anyone will be hacking my brain with a few words etc. But a book can talk about this stuff and still be plausible - i.e. If ancient words that allow others to take control of your brain are found tomorrow, or if a viral military project went out of control and superhuman 'people' were unleashed on the world, or if a clearly artificial but 100,000-year-old perfect rectangular stone was found buried on the moon... What would happen? How would people react? How would their dynamics change? What would be the conflicts that arise. Those need to be plausible for good sci-fi.

"science fiction book, I'm afraid it remains implausible/incredible/extremely unlikely... thought provoking possibly, plausible, no."

Improbable (= unlikely) is not the same thing as implausible (= hard to believe). The starting point of a book can be improbable, but what makes a good book is whether what follows is plausible. That is, whether or not the author has thought it all through and created an internally consistent universe where dynamics change in believable ways.

That is where Iain Banks' books fail imho. It's all wishy washy, stuff happening in idealistic ways that would never happen, no real reason why they should happen, and no explanation of why they've happened. Like robots walking around people, living like people, sitting down playing chess with people, relaxing on the couch and having conversations with people. Why on earth would they do that?

Re Sparrow - "it's not very "techy", it is primarily a human drama of exploration, arrogance and tragedy on the premise of first contact with an alien planet."

I'm all for 1st contact stories but... a Jesuit priest dealing with an alien civilisation doesn't sound like my cup of tea. And it's written by a woman so I can imagine that it's a human drama, tragedy, blah blah so again probably not for me. Thanks for trying, though

19. clothes clothes clothes, music music music, boys boys boys - Viv Albertine 9/10

Absolutely loved this book, not only because the end of the punk era was the beginning of my musical awakening but also because Viv is seeringly honest about her struggles post-Slits and very good about an woman's 'place' and identity in the world when she becomes middle-aged and is supposed to 'fade-away'.

Hmm, Cote we are talking at odds, you are talking about interal consistency = plausible and I am saying the whole genre, not being based in reality, is therefore implausible.

Have finished snow crash, that's no 32 for me , the library can have its damn book back!

mumslife have read the rosie project, have no experince of living with someone with aspergers though so I don't really know how you would feel about it. It certainly doesn't poke fun nor is it patronising, it is quite a light pleasant read. I'd cautiously say I don't see any reason you should be wary of it?

Wilting I thought the same re Rosie Project. Don is an incredibly sympathetic and likeable character