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

103. Neil Gaiman "Smoke and Mirrors", a collection of short stories. It was excellent - some really great Halloween-y stories in there too

60. The Lives of Others, Neel Mukherjee

The once wealthy Ghosh family of Calcutta are on the brink of financial ruin. Yet they still manage to cling onto their large, rambling multi-storey house. The top floor is inhabited by the patriarch and matriarch of the family, whilst subsequent floors are occupied by the descendants. Here, the minutiae of multiple domestic dramas are played out in rich, sensuous detail. Interweaving these dramas is the life of errant son Supratik who has left home to become a political agitator in the Bengal countryside.

Set in the politically turbulent times of the late 60s and early 70s, the reader comes away with a detailed understanding of both the politics of the time in Bengal and the complex kinship and caste rules of Bengali society. I'm an Indian Bengali myself and learned a lot from this book. But more than this, the novel was simply a highly enjoyable, exquisitely written, engrossing read.

Highly recommended and in my Top Five of 2014.

100. Another audio book - the second set of Alan Bennett's Talking Heads monologues. These ones had completely passed me by - hadn't even been aware there were more, and think some of these (except for one) were better than the first lot.

101. Finally finished Nora Webster by Colm Toibin. It felt a little flat and disjointed in places and maybe not quite as good as I was expecting it to be. Admit to feeling slightly disappointed by the novel, but still worth a read. Anyone else read it?

Book 118 Digging up the Dead

I enjoyed this, although I thought the writing style was a bit meandering. Not as good as, 'The Knife Man' (about John Hunter) but in a similar vein, for anybody who is interested in the history of medicine/surgery.

Have Nora Webster on order, Duchess, so will read soon.

47. Into Thin Air by Jon Krakauer - this was ok, interesting account but felt incomplete and you never really got close to any of the characters, even jon himself. You do get some sense of the scale of undertaking it is to climb a mountain like Everest but I would have loved some photos to bring it more clearly to mind. Didn"t realise it was as high as a cruising plane. Good enough but I wouldn't buy at full price.

Next Under the Skin!

41. Never Look Back by Lesley Pearce, my first one of hers, quite a pleasant story but I don't think I'll read any more by the same author.
42. Postmortem by Patricia Cornwell, her first Kay Scarletta novel. I quite enjoyed but it dated and rather formulaic so again I don't think I'll read any more in the same series.

well I admitted to reading stephanie laurens earlier. Am sure that is worse

Book 119 - am moving quickly now because it's half term and because I've had a few long train journeys! 'Revelation' by CJ Sansom - another re-read (re-reading them all before buying the new one) and I really enjoyed it: preferred it this time to the first time, strangely.

Book 92 A Question of Blood by Ian Rankin

Back to Rebus, who has been called in to try and see if he can give any insight, as an ex-soldier himself, into why a former member of the SAS has walked into a private school and killed two pupils, injured a third, then shot himself. At the same time Rebus is under suspicion following the death in a fire of a small time criminal who had been stalking DS Clarke - Rebus has just come out of hospital with burned hands.

Good story, well told, as is usually the case with Rankin.

Finished book 74 - Paris by Edward Rutherfurd. I enjoyed it but not as much as London.
Half way through Slate Expectations by David Burnell- a Cornish detective mystery set in a place very familiar to me!

Sounds a good one Chillie I think I'm almost caught up with you in the series.

Bssh it's good to hear that you enjoyed The Lives of Others. I recently bought the Booker shortlist in hardback from The Book People for £25 (thanks for the MN recommendation to whoever flagged this up) and The Lives of Others was one of the six.
Having read and enjoyed A Fine Balance, The God of Small Things, A Disobedient Girl and A Suitable Boy .. among others .. I've become really interested in novels set in the Indian subcontinent so I'm looking forward to this too.

50. Man at the Helm, Nina Stibbe

Definitely got better as it went on, because it took me a while to get into it and it wasn't until the last section that I really took the characters to my heart and properly cared about what happened to them.

It had all the ingredients to be a book that I loved, in terms of the classic 'children want to find a husband for mum' plot, eccentric characters, quirky dialogue etc. But ultimately there was something missing, as it did leave me a bit cold until the last third.

I have a feeling that it might have been based on the author's own chilhood (bits of seem to resonate quite strongly with what I read about her in interviews) and wonder if it would have worked better as a straightforward memoir instead of a novel.

58. Us - David Nicholls. This could have been so much better if any of the three main characters had been remotely likeable. And less middle class.

59. The Legacy of Elizabeth Pringle - Kirsty Wark. Nice, enjoyed this.

60. A week in Paris - Rachel Hore.

61. The Soul of Discretion, Simon Serrailer 8 -Susan Hill.

Duchess you were right, this is a cracker. It's all happening in this one. Can't wait for the next.

My very kind brother bought me a kindle paperwhite for my birthday this week which has made reading so joyous again (easy previously using the kindle app on my phone). Promptly raced through two books

20. Boys Don't Cry by Malorie Blackman
21. Wonder by R J Palace

Didn't intentionally choose two young adult books but they certainly weren't taxing!

I love the paperwhite too, Up, it's a pleasure, isn't it?

I meant Wonder by R J Palacio but my phone doesn't like me using words it's not signed off in its own made up dictionary.

Yes BOFster I cannot believe how clear it is and how lovely to use. I was persevering with the app and the present from my brother was such a surprise. He'd seen me feeding my baby in the dark whilst reading on my phone and thought I'd enjoy it more on a proper kindle.

What a star your brother is! Great present.

61. The Narrow Road to the Deep North, Richard Flanagan

At the core of this Booker prize winning novel is the harrowing tale of the building of the Siam-Burma railway line by POWs, including the doctor Dorrigo Evans. But the novel also focuses upon the lives of the POWs and their Japanese and Korean captors post-war, making this an interesting read. Dorrigo - ostensibly the main protagonist - is the least interesting character and I found myself skim-reading his sections, particularly those involving his numerous adulterous affairs (very boring). The key flaw in this novel for me is that more attention was not paid to the lives of the other POWs.

62. There's Something I've been Dying to Tell You, Lynda Bellingham

A moving read, but incredibly empowering too because the message sanctions a terminal cancer patient's right to take control over how he or she lives out the rest of his or her life. A balance between quantity of life and quality of life.

riverboat1: I enjoyed Man at the Helm, but from what I've read it is very much based on her own childhood. Thought it was a quirky, funny read.

BashBosh - reading The Narrow Road at the moment! Finding it interesting so far (it's a subject I don't know a lot about).