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?

Book 73 This I really enjoyed it. Hints of Steinbeck and of, 'In True Blood.' It's based on a true story of a series of murders in Depression-era America.

'In Cold Blood' - sorry.

32. Love, Nina - Nina Stibbe

Non-fiction series of letters about a nanny in 80's London who becomes a mature student. Dull and unfunny, I don't recommend it at all.

25. Hunger, the second in the Gone series. Good! Enjoying them. Not sure I would want my 9 year old reading them though, quite violent!

Blossom - nope, they are deffo not okay for a 9 year old.

Southeast - I really enjoyed Love, Nina. Thought it very funny. I loved the way she was completely unfazed by so many well known literary figures wandering in and out of the house.

Southeast, glad someone else felt the same way about Love, Nina. All those reviewers thinking it was hilarious, because how could somebody not realise that these literary figures are the Centre of the Known Universe? (Not aimed at you, Duchess)

The bit about college made me alternately bored and enraged at the current student fees regime - how things have changed for the worse in the education system in one generation.

Book 54 Dead Souls by Ian Rankin

The son of an old school friend disappears, the outing of a freed paedophile unleashes the vigilantes, and a convicted murder is returned to Edinburgh on his release from a US prison. DI Rebus always seems to be caught up in quite complex cases, and Rankin's plotting is excellent.

74. Alex Carrik "Two Scoops Is Just Right". Anecdotes and sort stories / articles. It won't set the world on fire, but was an enjoyable light read and make me laugh a few times.

I gave up half way through my current one, so don't think I can count it - 'On the Road' by Jack Kerouac - stupendously boring.

Remus! Heh heh, sacrilege!!

Finally finished Anathem, flawed. Huge, lot of philosophy. Some high octane bits. Some v v v dull bits.

Really, Wilting? I just couldn't carry on anymore. Dean Moriarty - what a nob.

Wednesdaynext it is the first book of hers I have ever read. I enjoyed it very much, in fact all the people at my book club liked it even the ones who pulled faces when it was chosen.

31. The Diaries of Adam and Eve by Mark Twain. A short book, but funny.

32. Dead People, a crime thriller by Ewart Hutton. Poor. Loads of cliches thrown around, it wasn't proofread/ edited properly, and it relies too much on the detective's 'intuition' to solve it all.

Sorry the comment above is about The Museum of Extraordinary Things. It is a very quick read.

Book 40 A Storm of Swords 2 Blood and Gold by George R R Martin
41 Dissolution by C J Sansom

Book 74 - a guide to London: not really what I wanted, as it's the same old stuff.

54. The Secret of Chimneys. Agatha Christie, Re-read of an old favourite

55. Ishmael's Oranges. Claire Hajaj. Took a while to get into but really moving read.

56. The Age of Miracles. Karen Thompson Walker. Coming of age mixed with end of the world. Recommended.

25. Flight to Coorah Creek by Janet Gover

Cheesy romance set in the Australian outback featuring lots of characters with deep dark secrets that may prevent them from falling in love with each other, but ultimately don't. Gosh I read some rubbish sometimes!

Book 55 The Mysterious Affair At Styles by Agatha Christie

The first of the Poirot novels and a re-read for me. Love Agatha Christie, they're always good for a distraction and are a short, easy read.

It was one of my new years resolutions to do more reading and this post will help with the motivation. Having just returned from a lazy holiday in Ireland, where I managed to get through 5 books, I am now up to 19 books read so far this year.....some were short stories though (do they count). Prefer books that allow me to drift away and relax. Kate Morton, House at Riverton and The Forgotten Garden, both great stories, Isabel Allende, Eva Luna, Thomas Hardy, From the Madding Crowd, CJ Davies, Never Forgotten and my latest read, The Island by Victoria Hislop. Am looking through your lists for inspiration of what to take on holiday at end August.

1. The Partner - John Grisham
2. The Story Teller - Jodi Picoult
3. The Goldfinch - Donna Tartt
4. The Thirteen Problems - Agatha Christie
5. The Carrier - Sophie Hannah
6. Hercule Poirot's Christmas - Agatha Christie
7. The Listerdale Mystery - Agatha Christie
8. The Shining - Stephen King
9. Doctor Sleep - Stephen King
10. The Time of the Ghost - Dianne Wynn Jones
11. Take a Look at me Now - Miranda Dickson
12. The Ocean at the End of the Lane - Neil Gaiman
13. What Alice Forgot - Liane Moriarty
14. The Cuckoo's Calling - Robert Galbraith
15. The Courage Tree - Diane Chamberlain
16. The Husband's Secret - Liane Moriarty
17. The Perfect Retreat - Kate Forster
18. The Fault in Our Stars - John Green
19. The Long Walk - Steven King
20. Summers Child - Diane Chamberlain
21. When You Walked Back Into My Life - Hilary Boyd
22. The Secret History - Donna Tartt
23. Fractured - Dani Atkins
24. The Secret Garden - Frances Hodgson Burnett
25. The Labours of Hercules - Agatha Christie
26. One, Two, Buckle My Shoe - Agatha Christie
27. What Katy Did - Susan Coolidge
28. Day of the Triffids - John Wyndham
29. Mr Mercedes - Stephen King
30. Yes Man - Danny Wallace
31. A Little Princess - Frances Hodgson Burnett
32. 'Salem's Lot - Stephen King
33. Lexicon - Max Barry
34. Duma Key - Stephen King
35. The Silkworm - Robert Galbraith
36. Cry Baby - David Jackson
37. The Blackhouse - Peter Lewis

Enjoyed the Blackhouse very much, good mix of crime and family drama, have downloaded the second of the trilogy to get going on!

Book 75 The Pursued by CS Forrester Picked this up at random in the library - enjoyed it.

45. A Greedy Man in a Hungry World - Jay Rayner (yes I would).

Interesting on the pros and cons of supermarkets, Organic food, GM crops, the impact if the emerging markets on the food supply chain but what I liked best was his writing on his childhood and his mother. His account of his mother and mother-in-law's deaths had me in tears.

69. Vows of Silence by Susan Hill. This is the fourth in her Simon Serrailler series, and had me in tears yesterday. How much more sorrow can she heap onto the Serrailler family?

The books are wonderful and I shall feel very sad when I reach the end of the series, although I believe there is a new one due out this autumn.

70. Rivers of London by Ben Aaronovich. Odd, not sure I fully understood everything that happened but did quite like it, probably enough to read on with the series.

I love the Simon Serrailer books too. For me the 'detecting' takes a back seat to the story of the family. I'm looking forward to the next one. I feel a re-read coming on.