50 Book Challenge 2014 Part 4

[Southeastdweller]

Thread four of the 50 Book Challenge.

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

Here are the previous threads...

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

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

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/adult_fiction/2094773-50-Book-Challenge-2014-Part-3?msgid=49151537#49151537

Books 105 and 106 are two more work-related books. I need something fun!

Cote - love the way that you describe the book as following the film closely!!!

Biblio - I adore Miss Pettigrew - one of my very favourite, 'Need something nice to wallow in when in the bath' books.

I can understand its charms, Remus, and I usually really enjoy writing from that era, but for the reasons given, I can't relax and feel "safe" in her world. Too much jars.

I feel the same about Stevie Smith - love her but she is v much of her time, and some of the views are somewhat erm...skewed. I just go with the willing suspension of disbelief thing and read them as a kind of historical source document. :)

38. The Husband's Secret - OK,wasn't wowed by it but a nice easy quick read.

92. Stieg Larsson "The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo". Really enjoyed this, though there was an awful lot of detail!!

Remus - You're right - of course, the book predates the film by more than a century

Excellent - another book thread! I have been lurking on MN for some years now but only last night decided to register.

I started a book 'contest' years back (about 12 years I think) on a forum I'm active on and apart from one bad year I kept lists of all the books I read each year. I think my record was 120 ish (pre kids, obviously!). These days it's more like 80-90 per year, as much of my spare time these days is spent sewing, studying or sleeping. I'll copy my current list over from my other forum...I can't wait to trawl back and read other recommendations. I'm always up for new authors!

(I apologise in advance for this year's list - I seem to have read some dreadful free Kindle books and absolutely loads of young adult titles!!)

January

Cry Wolf - Patricia Briggs
Hunting Ground - Patricia Briggs
Fair Game - Patricia Briggs
Masques - Patricia Briggs
Wolfsbane - Patricia Briggs
Steal the Dragon - Patricia Briggs
Marked - P C Cast & Kristin Cast
Betrayed - P C Cast & Kristin Cast
Chosen - P C Cast & Kristin Cast

February

Untamed - P C Cast & Kristin Cast
Hunted - P C Cast & Kristin Cast
Tempted - P C Cast & Kristin Cast
Burned - P C Cast & Kristin Cast
Awakened - P C Cast & Kristin Cast
Destined - P C Cast & Kristin Cast
Hidden - P C Cast & Kristin Cast
Allegiant - Veronica Roth
Neferet's Curse - P C Cast & Kristin Cast

March

Lenobia's Vow - P C Cast & Kristin Cast
The Wolves of Willoughby Chase - Joan Aiken (I actually pinched this off my 6 year old daughter, having dug out my old copy for her. I couldn't resist the chance to read it again!)
Game of Thrones - George R R Martin
A Clash of Kings - Geoge R R Martin

April

Gregor the Overlander - Suzanne Collins
Gregor and the Prophecy of Bane - Suzanne Collins
Gregor and the Curse of the Warmbloods - Suzanne Collins
Gregor and the Marks of Secret - Suzanne Collins
Gregor and the Code of Claw - Suzanne Collins

May/June

Perfect Alibis - Jane Wenham-Jones
The Trap - Andrew Fukoda
Charming the Alpha - Liliana Rhodes
Mister Monday - Garth Nix
Grim Tuesday - Garth Nix
Drowned Wednesday - Garth Nix
Sir Thursday - Garth Nix
Lady Friday - Garth Nix
Superior Saturday - Garth Nix
Lord Sunday - Garth Nix
Empress Orchid - Anchee Min
Shattered - Kevin Hearne

July/August

Accidentally on Purpose - L D Davis
First Fifteen Lives of Harry August - Claire North
Night Broken - Patricia Briggs
A Confusion of Princes - Garth Nix
A Sudden Wild Magic - Diana Wynne Jones
Dragon's Moon - Lucy Monroe
Warrior's Moon - Lucy Monroe (much to my dismay, I've read books 4 and 5 of this series first, by mistake!)
City of Dragons - Robin Hobb
Blood of Dragons - Robin Hobb
Moon Awakening - Lucy Monroe
Moon Craving - Lucy Monroe
Moon Burning - Lucy Monroe
The Spellcoats - Diana Wynne Jones
Cart and Cwidder - Diana Wynne Jones
Wool (Omnibus edition) - Hugh Howey
First Shift - Hugh Howey
Jill Has Two Ponies - Ruby Ferguson
A Stable for Jill - Ruby Ferguson
Jill's Gymkhana - Ruby Ferguson
Jill's Riding Club - Ruby Ferguson
Rosettes for Jill - Ruby Ferguson
Riding With the Lyntons - Diana Pullein-Thompson
(dug out a pile of my old pony books the other day and couldn't resist reading some of them!!)

(TOTAL - 60 so far)

Welcome to Mumsnet and to the thread StillSquirrelling :)

I thought some here might like to know that Umbrella by Will Self is £0.98 on the Kindle at the moment. Shortlisted for the Booker in 2012, it is bizarre and brilliant, a whirlwind of a journey inside the mind. A difficult but very rewarding book. I recommend it highly, especially to those of us who are interested in mental illness.

44. The Bonesetter's Daughter by Amy Tan. Not bad. I found myself losing interest a bit at some points.

42. The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, C.S. Lewis
43. Prince Caspian, C.S. Lewis
44. The Voyage of the Dawn Treader, C.S. Lewis

Simply delightful. And C.S. Lewis's descriptions are so vividly drawn, you really get a keen sense of atmosphere and place. I found myself lingering over whole paragraphs and over Pauline Baynes's lovely illustrations.

A bit Narnia'ed out now even though The Silver Chair looks very tempting. Will browse my bookshelves for something very different.

Book 80 Resurrection Men by Ian Rankin

Back to Rebus again. He gets himself sent for retraining after blowing up at DCS Gill Templer and throwing a mug of tea across a briefing room during a murder inquiry. Joining a group of five other policemen who are also in the Last Chance Saloon, they are tasked with investigating an old, unsoolved case. But that's not Rebus' main task - he's been sent there to see if three of the others liberated the hidden millions of a convicted criminal. Meanwhile, Siobhan Clarke has been newly promoted to DS and is deeply involved in the hunt for the killer of an Edinburgh art dealer. Both Rebus and Clarke find themselves once more being drawn into the web around gangster Big Ger Cafferty as the investigation proceeds.

This was a particularly good one, I thought. I also like the fact that Clarke is getting more of her own storylines as the series progresses - she and Rebus work a lot together, but she has her own cases and leads to follow too.

93. Louise Rennison "The.Taming of the Tights". It was awful. At least I finished the series though. Disappointing given that I loved her earlier books when I read them. Either I'm too old or her writing has gone seriously downhill

46. The Children Act - Ian McEwan

A trenchant and haunting book about a High Court judge who has to decide whether to grant the wishes of two Jehovah’s Witness parents who are refusing to have their seventeen year old son have a lifesaving blood transfusion. She also has to deal with her personal feelings for the boy and her own disentegrating marriage. I loved this book - the story was elegantly and powerfully written and I felt that almost every sentence mattered, which is something I rarely feel when I read a book. After two bad experiences with Enduring Love and Atonement, this book has got me excited about reading more of his work and I’m shocked this didn’t make the Man Booker longlist.

I've decided to finally tackle The Goldfinch and as I'm away next weekend I should be able to get through a good chunk of it whilst travelling. Before that, though, I want to start and finish The Shock of the Fall.

Got my numbers mixed up again - The Children Act was my 45th book, not 46th.

Southeast glad you enjoyed The Children Act. The story and the writing still lingers with me... A sign of a very good book.

45. Invisible, Paul Auster

A coming-of-age novel that begins in 1967 and ends in 2007, travelling from New York City to London to Paris to the Caribbean. The course of a 20 year old Columbia undergraduate's life is changed forever by a shocking act of violence. Of course, it's not as simple and single-layered as that - Auster never is. Vivid, passionate, disturbing, with an amazing narrative pull that kept me turning pages.

I've loved Auster since a teen, but for some reason stopped reading him after the brilliant Brooklyn Follies. Next on my list, his Sunset Park.

Thanks, BsshBosh :)

I've just started reading the Outlander series again, as I read the first two many years ago but then got sidetracked and never read the rest of them! I really want to watch the new TV adaptation but am saving that (along with the entire GoT series!) for when I have my foot op ;)

Book 81 Death Comes to Pemberley by PD James

Six years after the events of Pride and Prejudice. Lizzie and Darcy are blissfully happy, with Jane and Bingley living nearby. Then Lydia turns up in dramatic circumstances during a storm on the eve of Pemberley's annual ball, screaming that her husband has been murdered.

I was disappointed with this. There's too much looking back over the events of P&P so while it's a short book there's a lot that's not exactly new. Even though the story centres around a murder and court case there isn't any real tension or suspense, and the revelation feels like rather a let down. Shame.

Book 107 A re-read of, "Rita Heyworth and the Shawshank Redemption" by Stephen King.

I watched the film for the first time a couple of weeks ago (no idea how I've managed to avoid it for so long) and loved it, so thought I'd re-read the novella to see how close they were. The film extends the story and adds a few bits that don't happen in the original, but none of it feels out of place.

Verdict of both film and book = stunning.

61. Proof of a book being published early next year. This was really enjoyable. It's a genre novel but it shakes up the genre conventions. I can see why there was an auction to publish it & I think it'll do very well.

62. The Essential Dykes to Watch Out For by Alison Bechdel.

This is a "best of" collection of Bechdel's long-running Dykes to Watch Out For comic strip. I much, much, much preferred it to Fun Home. It was funny, sad and fascinating. The characters grow and change, fall in and out of love and deal with pregnancy & children, pets and elderly parents. This all goes on with a backdrop of American politics so you see the characters' reactions to Clinton's affair & possible impeachment, Bush's campaign & eventual election in the midst of the hanging chads scandal, 9/11 & Hurricane Katrina. The collection ends with characters arguing over whether Clinton (HIllary) or Obama should win the democrat nomination. Oh, and the strip that features the infamous Bechdel film test is included in this collection. Highly recommended.

Finished book 66 - Heresy by S.J Parr - absolutly loved it!
started book 67 - Doom Watch by David Burnell (a kindle "cheapie")

55. Miss Pettigrew Lives For a Day. I've heard it mentioned so many times on here I had to give it a go. Very sweet.

45. The Universe Versus Alex Woods by Gavin Extence. I really enjoyed this.

46. Sunset Park, Paul Auster

As the American economic crisis deepens in 2008, a group of misfits in their late 20s move into a Brooklyn squat. Miles is on the run from the older sister (and her heavyweight bouncer friends) of the teenager he's been illegally sleeping and in love with, still unsure what to do with his life since he graduated all those years ago; his childhood friend Bing is a big, bumbling, friendly giant with his own business - The Hospital of Broken Things - and is trying to reconcile his own feelings for Miles; Ellen is lonely, sex-starved, battling depression and struggling through her job in real estate whilst trying to stay true to her passion of painting; Alice is working hard to complete her PhD whilst coming to terms with the fact that her boyfriend is too self-absorbed and ego-centric to love her. There are also absorbing detours into the minds and stories of Miles' biological parents Morris, a prominent publisher in New York, and Mary-Lou, an aging actress.

I think the word "absorbing" sums my experience of this book up. I disliked aspects of all the characters but still I was drawn into their lives. A terrific book, proving Auster still has it.