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

I didn't mind the writing - obviously not high literature, but I didn't expect it to be. The story was pretty good but unfortunately relied on ridiculous stuff like a king high tide in the Aegean.

I really don't understand why these authors who write about a foreign land or their editors can't hire one single native person to read through the manuscript to point out the errors such as I listed below. It really bugs me and makes me wonder how many more mistakes there are in the book, on places like Germany that I don't know much about.

That's a lot of issues for one book. You'd think they'd make an effort to get basic facts right

56. The Bone Clocks, David Mitchell

Fifteen year old Holly runs away from home, a privileged Cambridge undergraduate leads a double life, a war correspondent is torn between family and work, an author is determined to take revenge on his harshest critic, a battle erupts between two species of immortals, a seventy-five year old Holly lives with her two orphaned grandchildren in a world devastated by climate change and human greed... Interweaving each story is a fantasy sub-plot (involving those immortals) that connects the characters together. The narrative stretches from 1984 to 2043 and travels between Britain, South & North America, Iceland, Australia, Shanghai, Ireland and Iraq.

This was an exquisite, quite emotional read. Mitchell is a terrific storyteller and his prose is so detailed and well-written, you want to wallow in it. I was so deflated when the book ended as I wanted it to go on with more stories.

94. Notes on a Scandal by Zoë Heller. A perfect novel, faultless, not a wasted word, but all too short.

Next book needs to match that . It will be going on my best reads of 2014 list.

Odd autocorrect fail there. Should read Zoe.

Notes on a Scandal is one of the best fiction books of the last decade that I've read. I agree with you Duchess - she makes every word matters.

Almost finished The Goldfinch. I know I'm going to be sad when it ends.

I hated, 'Notes on a Scandal' - horses for courses!

BshhBosh - Please come over here and share your thoughts on The Bone Clocks.

Have you read Cloud Atlas?

I enjoyed that takedown, Cote . It was a very James Bond-ish rattling good yarn, but certainly not without its problems. I think the thing that bothered me most was the Saracen character, or rather lack of character: we are supposed to belief that he trained as a doctor as part of his Grand Plan, yet he is utterly unchanged by the experience. I find this pretty implausible- surely he would develop some sense of compassion over the course of that? I don't know, I just found him very one-dimensional.

Cote have only read Ghostwritten and Number9Dream, both of which I loved. We had Cloud Atlas but someone's obviously borrowed it as I can no longer find it. But I will definitely read Mitchell's back catalogue in time :)

For now it's back to 19th century London and Peter Ackroyd's The Lambs of London and then Dickens' Great Expectations (finally!).

I loved Notes on a Scandal, really fantastic book. Pretty good film adaptation too, with Cate Blanchett and Judi Dench.

whippet - you asked if I would recommend Divergent. It's certainly one to go for if you are looking for a quick, absorbing, no-too-challenging read and like the whole Teen Dystopia genre. That said, it gets a bit soppy at times and it can take itself too seriously in that YA way. But I raced through the series still, the main character (while annoying at times) was sympathetic enough to make me root for her, and her world was pretty interesting.

48. The Paying Guests, Sarah Waters.

I was thrilled to finally get my hands on this, as I am a massive Sarah Waters fan.

It was definitely a book of two halves. I found the first half completely enchanting, so I was unprepared for how different the second half turned out to be. Hard to really talk about it without spoilers through! Suffice to say it was a really good book, completely gripping, and I preferred it to her last one, but I am not sure that such a bleak second half was really necessary. Or if it was I'd have preferred it to be real 'whodunnit' with some wonderful Waters-esque twists that she can do so well, as opposed to the long drawn out story we actually got.

Anyone else read this book and want to discuss more?

Bshh - The two books are very similar in structure and themes (as I listed below) but Cloud Atlas is much better than The Bone Clocks. Read it, you won't regret it

Thanks riverboat I have downloaded Divergent and will read it soon. I do like YA fiction as a rule (enjoyed Hunger Games).
Plus I am keen to read the Sarah Waters. I am hoping all the Booker books drop their prices on Kindle after Christmas like they did last year so I am holding off.

I also loved Notes on a Scandal when I read that. Excellent book.

I appear to be totally outvoted re: Notes on a Scandal, it seems! :)

Nope, I hated it too. Failed to finish it.

I finished it but wished I hadn't bothered.

47. The League Of Extraordinary Gentlemen: Century 2009 - Alan Moore

Final part of the graphic novel series which is indeed quite extraordinary. Wouldn't be everyone's cup of tea but I enjoyed it immensely.

57. The Lambs of London, Peter Ackroyd

In the hustle, bustle and stench of nineteenth century London, Mary Lamb, devoted sister of Charles Lamb, sees her escape from the drudgery of domesticity in antiquarian bookseller William Ireland. Her love goes unrequited, though, as Ireland's first love is hunting down purportedly previously undiscovered documents and plays he claims are the work of William Shakespeare.

An interesting read though an unsatisfying end (too rushed).

52. The Perks of Being a Wallflower - Steven Chbosky
53. Paddy Clarke Ha Ha Ha - Roddy Doyle
54. The Wild Places - Robert Macfarlane
55. We Need New Names - NoViolet Bulawayo

I found the Chbosky strange for a YA book. The narrator was obviously intelligent and becomes very well-read during the book thanks to a brilliant teacher who gives him extra books to read and write about but the style of writing (it's an epistolary novel) was much more like how my 10 year old would write, not a 15/16 year old. This made for strange reading as there are descriptions of sex, drugs etc, nothing extreme, but it's odd to find such adult themes written in such a basic style. I might have missed something key though so if anyone can enlighten me I would appreciate it!

The Roddy Doyle won the Booker in the early 90s. I guess it is an accurate reflection of boyhood in a certain point in history - disciplinarian teachers, fights in school, playing out and casual cruelty to siblings, friends and animals. A large proportion of it is dialogue which I quite liked.

I LOVED The Wild Places. It's non-fiction, accounts of the author's search and travels through the remaining wild places in the UK. He is an academic at Cambridge and his writing is a combination of beautiful descriptions of the countryside and thoughtful reflections with lots of references to poets and writers, friends and scientists who have loved and writen about the natural world. I had to look up the meaning of so many words!

"when I put my eye to the ice and gazed down into it, I could just see formations of rods and quills, which caught the last light and concentrated it into bright spines and feathered cones, and between them I could also see numberless air bubbles, which in their silver chains resembled constellations."

Beautiful writing. I can't wait to read his others.

We Need New Names was very sad, moving from Mugabe controlled Zimbabwe to Detroit Michigan. It's a book about what home means and loss and displacement. The author concentrates on the bad things about both countries though and doesn't even consider the positives.

More holiday reading
47.The Trustees - Caro Fraser. Although I didn't particularly enjoy the author's overly descriptive style of writing, the plot was cleverly devised. An artist dies and leaves money in trust to his children, and a small annuity to his ex-wife. Ex-wife is greedy and materialistic so builds and then exploits her relationship with another trustee. Clever twist at the end.

40. The Goldfinch - finished at last!!! I haven't read Donna Tartt before. I read it for my book group over the last few weeks. Ideally I prefer this sort of long book on a holiday rather than when you're busy at home. I did enjoy her style of writing and the story but really did feel it was too long for the amount of actual story.

Now need to read lots of short books to get to 50 by end of the year!

I really want to read, 'The Wild Places.' Absolutely loved his, 'Mountains of the Mind.'

95. The Beacon by Susan Hill.

Remus and I want to read Mountains of the Mind

Whitewine, I loved The Goldfinch but I agree it's a bit long winded at times.

Whippet, my favourite Roddy Doyle is The Woman Who Walked Into Doors - highly recommend it. I have read Paddy Clarke Ha Ha Ha but didn't think so highly of it.

Have just put Notes on a Scandal on my to read list to see which camp I'm in!