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?

Re Margaret Atwood - I was going to try one of her books, but a friend told me about her book Positron last night

Apparently, this is a society where there is 40% unemployment so the solution is that people alternate one month in jail (huh?) with one month in a guaranteed job & nice home. A couple shares their home with this other couple who takes over the house when they are in jail and vice versa.

Leaving aside the complete unworkability of this scenario re strangers taking over incomplete jobs at the end of the month, the amount of resources necessary to feed half the population in jail, etc it then gets sillier - the woman is apparently an assassin for the state, killing the undesirables, has an affair with the man using her home when she is in jail, etc. I was still holding it all together when my friend said at the end that one of the dead came back as... ELVIS. What?

I don't think I'll bother with M Atwood, tbh. Not just to spare myself but also to spare all of you from my review of her books

CoteDAzur - re the above! I have never "got on" with Margaret Atwood but decided that this year I would read her. Thank you as now I know I don't need to bother

Oh I forgot about the sex bots in M Atwood's book.

Yes, robots for sex.

I may have misunderstood the Elvis connection because my eyes had glazed over by that point. It may have been that a sex bot was Elvis. Or something of that sort?

Read it. I've not read the book but I reckon I'd enjoy your review

Thanks, but no thanks It sounds ludicrous.

Meh. You disappoint me

Erm...a text can be in an imagined but still present day world, no? Or a text can have dystopian elements whilst not being set in a dystopian society. Stop nit-picking! Wishes there was a tongue poking out emoticon on here.

Update: 29 - I am Pilgrim - a great read would recommend this.
30 - Instructions For A Heatwave - Maggie O'Farrell - An interesting read because of the interplay of family relationships.

Just started 31: We Were Liars - E Lockhart. This is a recommendation from DD1

I've started reading, 'Mr Mercedes' btw (came out yesterday). Anybody with me?

No but I will be interested in your review as I love a good detective book but me and Mr King don't really get on that well.

50. Gentlemen and Players - Joanne Harris. 5/5. Going straight to my favourites list. I thoroughly enjoyed this sinister tale of revenge set in a big public school. It had a brilliant twist, which I didn't guess - suspected something was coming but I didn't see that :o

Gentleman & Players is on my kindle waiting... Looking forward to it now even more

Arghhhhhhhhhhhhh - I haven't sent you those books. had forgotten all about them. So sorry. PM me your address again, and I'll stick them in an envelope tonight.

Mr Mercedes is £7.47 on the Kindle. I think I'll wait a while.

"a text can be in an imagined but still present day world, no?"

By definition, present-day world is not imaginary. It is the real one, where we all live

You are not wiggling out of this one, Remus (I'd love to see the sticking-tongue-out smiley, though)

Present is a time period, not a place. Wiggle. Wiggle.

Having said that, it's interesting isn't it (and fits really well with some stuff I'm teaching too)? Whatever we interpret it to mean though (with all the intricacies and conflicting ideas that may involve), it's got to be better than Ustopian, which remains, frankly, ridiculous.

'Mr Mercedes' a tenner in WH Smiths.

Present is a point in time.

Present-day world is a place. The one we all live in.

Let me know what you think about Mr Mercedes.

40. The Body in the Library by Agatha Christie. I've read very few Christies so decided to try this one. I think I would've loved Christie as a teenager but I've probably read too many crime novels to really appreciate her these days. This was grand, the killer was fairly obvious from early on. I suspect I'll have forgotten I even read this in a few weeks.

(Yy to present day being a time period, not a place. No wiggling required )

Oh I like wiggling!

:)

Found the lovely new thread!

41. Cards on the Table - Agatha Christie. Classic Poirot story.

Got a few different novels on the go but might ditch them all in favour of Lexicon which I picked up today.

You dingbats

We are talking about present-day world which is the place we all live in.

Not present day, which is a time period.

Oh, sweetie, do run off & read the first quote again. It clearly says "present day stuff" not "present day world".

I rather like being a wiggling dingbat though. Too tired now but will be back tomorrow for more! :)

29. The Humans, Matt Haig

Great read. For most of the book I thought the author was the same person who wrote 'The Curious Incident of the Dog in Night Time', I was convinced it was the same name, and the style was similar. Then I realised it was someone completely different.

Anyway, great premise: an Oxford professor makes a huge mathematical breakthrough which will change the future of humanity, his body is instantly taken over by an alien from a more advanced race, whose mission is to put paid to said breakthrough before anyone finds out about it. The book is full of interesting mathematical tidbits, funny 'alien thinks humans are stupid' humour, but mostly it's about the balance between good and bad in humanity, and what it really means to be human. Kind of Kurt Vonnegut-esque. It petered off a bit at the end (I don't think there would be any possible satisfying resolution to the hugeness of the premise TBH) but overall I really enjoyed it.

Just marking my place on the new thread. Still reading book 21, Perdido Street Station by China Mieville, which is a long one - but fantastic. Would thoroughly recommend it to all you fans of fantasy, steampunk or, yes, dystopian fiction