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?

34. The Trip to Echo Springs: Why Writers Drink by Olivia Laing

I absolutely love her writing. She's such an enthusiastic and thoughtful writer. The two books I've read of hers are both travelogues and both have made me want to follow in her footsteps.

In this book she takes a journey across the US following in the footsteps of some authors she clearly admires who have complicated relationships with alcohol: Tennessee Williams, Ernest Hemingway, John Cheever, John Berryman, Scott Fitzgerald.

While the book is an homage to these men it also sets out in shocking terms how alcohol almost destroyed some and did destroy others. She also has her own personal relationship with alcoholism which adds another dimension.

She is really good at evoking the sense of place as she travels from New York, via New Orleans and Key West to Port Angeles.

Lovely book. Very much recommended.

Getting on well with book 42 Child 44 by Tom Rob Smith

24. M is for Magic by Neil Gaiman

24. She's not coming home. Philip cox. Utter crapola.

79. Wire in the Blood, Val McDermid. Hesitated to count this as I skimmed over the violent bits. Why would I want those images in my head, why? A pity because I like the gathering together of the unofficial team and the lesbian network parts, but ugh, the violence.

Currently on (80) Major Pettigrew's Last Stand, Helen Simonson. Really enjoying it - lovely without lapsing into sentimentality.

omg, 32) The Diet Delusion by Gary Taubes

This was vg but v dense and I did not understand all the science. I thought it was a book about the pointlessness of dieting but it is actually a book about the science behind the food pyramid and explores the research on fat, metabolism and obesity.

Quite revealing I have to say. Not all calories are created equal! Also a bit alarming in that the current public health recommendations do not appear to be based on uncontroversial research...

Well written and researched, v repetitive in ways but I personally needed that!

Whew. It was huge. Am currently 42% of the way into Anathem so hopefully will finish that soon... must not start anything else

65. The Secret Scripture - Sebastian Barry. Beautiful writing, sad story. Need to read the other books about the McNulty family too.

36. Cry Baby - David Jackson

A very quick read, ate it up in one sitting (airport check in + flight! ) - extremely gripping! Quite violent but good premise well executed.

71. "Starters with Mocktales" written by a child (10-14) as stories of his travels. Parts were alright but for the most part I wouldn't recommend it.

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. Killer's 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 11. Guilt- Jonathan Kellerman 12. Apple Tree Yard - Louise Doughty 13. The Light Between Oceans - M L Steadman 14 Reconstructing Amelia - Kimberley McCreight 15. The Return Journey - Maeve Binchy 16. Look Behind You - Sibel Hodge 17. Before We Met - Lucie Whitehouse 18. The Accident - CL Taylor 19. The Villa - Rosanna Ley 20. The Great Gatsby - F Scott Fitzgerald- reread for the first time since I was a teen and enjoyed it 21. The Wasp Factory- Iain Banks. My first read of this. Wow, so far from what I'd usually read but I'm glad I did!

43. The Vanishing of Esme Lennox - Maggie o'Farrell. Devastatingly sad subject matter but I hated the way it was written.

44. a DCI Banks novel by Peter Robinson. Slow and I stopped caring about half way through.

Finished book 42 - child 44 by Tom Rob Smith

Book 43 is to be The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt. Going on holiday at the weekend so hoping to be on book 50 when I return.

32. She's Come Undone by Wally Lamb. I've seen this recommended on MN a few times. Really enjoyed it.

53. The Seven Dials Mystery - Agatha Christie. Not one of her best.

23. A Murder on the Appian Way by Steven Saylor.

Historical crime fiction from Ancient Rome featuring Gordianus the Finder. This is based on true events and features famous Romans such as Caesar, Mark Antony, Pompey and Cicero. Great attention to detail but at 600+ pages isn't getting me to my 50 any quicker!!

35. Carry on Jeeves by PG Wodehouse

This is the first Jeeves & Wooster book and, while it isn't the best, it's still pretty good. Wanted to go back to the originals after reading the Sebastián Faulks update.

81. And then there were none, Agatha Christie.

Currently on (82) Americanah, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie. Enjoying this.

33. The Fault in Our Stars by John Green. This is absolutely fantastic - highly recommended.

29. Rough Crossings - Simon Schama

A very interesting and moving book about slavery in the wake of the American War of Independence.

50. Restaurant Babylon by Imogen Edwards-Jones

The Babylon series is a guilty pleasure for me. This one was fine, probably not as interesting as some of the others.

Now reading Just what kind of mother are you? By Paula Daly

24. The Alchemist by Paulo Coehlo.

Picked this up in the library without realising it was spiritual/religious fiction. I persevered with it, even though it really isn't my sort of thing and it actually wasn't that bad. Quite well written and thought provoking.

66. Heresy by S J Parris. The first of her Giordano Bruno series. Good story, but perhaps a little over long and drawn out in places. That ending is going to give me nightmares :o

Next up is the third in Susan Hill's Simon Serrailler series, The Risk of Darkness, which I'm enjoying very much.

Slowly ploughing through.

27. Anne O' Brien - Devils' consort. Eleanor of Aquitaine's early years. Reasonably typical historical fiction, I'd say as well-written as Philippa Gregory. Enjoyable. It is interesting to hear about the beginning of Eleanor & Henry's relationship rather than the estrangement and rebellion that saw the end of their marriage.

28. The Underground Man - Mick Jackson. Loved it! Funny, tragic, compelling. I don't want to say too much as it may spoil it for anyone who has this lined up.

Still working on the others!

Book 51 A History of Ancient Britain by Neil Oliver

The book of the TV series, so a bit lightweight compared with the one on the Celtic Realms I read a couple of months ago, but a very enjoyable and informative read. I can certainly hear Oliver's voice through his writing, which I quite like.

I feel like re-reading a Terry Pratchett next. I shall go and examine the shelves to decide which one.