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

Cote I was wondering what happened to you. So glad you enjoyed The Goldfinch, a towering achievement from the author, a book I still think about often.

53. 61 Hours - Lee Child

I thought I needed some light fluff after the all-consuming tome that was The Goldfinch, but this turned out to be the first Jack Reacher book I found truly awful.

54. Talking With Serial Killers - Christopher Berry-Dee

Investigative journalist corresponds with and eventually interviews several serial killers on death row (including the one Charlize Theron played in the film "Monster"). This was disappointing because there wasn't much real insight, and it was written in a very Daily Mail-esque manner.

55. Swan Song - Robert McCammon

This post-apocalyptic story was recommended by several people, but didn't do much for me. It does an OK job of portraying the horror of life after nuclear holocaust, but I found the characters shallow and the fantasy element silly.

56. Shantaram - Gregory David Roberts

I enjoyed this, although (or possibly, because) I knew that it was not strictly autobiographical. The author is indeed a convicted bank robber who has escaped from an Australian prison to India, dabbled in drugs and crime, and lived in a Bombay slum, which makes a far more interesting life story than most. Much of it is fictional, and I was slightly put off by the author's shallow philosophising and unusually feminine voice and cheesy romanticism ("... her large green eyes - the green of lagoons, where shallow water laps at golden sand... The movements of her body were like storm-wind stirring in a stand of young willow trees.") but it was a good story that kept me reading all 933 pages.

54. Not My Father's Son - Alan Cumming

A very well-written and candid memoir from the Cabaret/The Good Wife actor that mainly covers the mystery of the death of his grandfather (as featured on a past Who Do You Think You Are episode) and the abuse Alan endured by his father when he was growing up. I found this book very inspiring and powerful, written with tremendous amounts of insight and wit but I'd have liked him to have written more about his parents. Overall, it's one of the best autobiographies I've read of the past few years.

Now on Elizabeth is Missing and finding it hard to get into.

Hi South, I missed y'all, too. RL friends just won't can't listen to me for hours talk about books like the heavy readers on this thread

The Goldfinch was indeed impressive. So long, yet never boring for even a second. Surprisingly, since (1) its author is a woman (sorry, but I have learned from bitter experience), and (2) it is about feelings for the most part and such books usually bore me to tears. Does Donna Tartt have any other books that compare to The Goldfinch?

Yes, Cote, I know what you mean about The Goldfinch - it's such an immersive book and she knows how to hook the reader from the first page to the last. I haven't read her other two novels yet but will do next year and understand that The Goldfinch is the most critically acclaimed of the three. Did you know it took her ten years to complete it?

I didn't know that but can believe it. It apparently took Susanna Clarke 10 years to write Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell, too. Then again, Neal Stephenson has written six 1000-page books in 12 years most of which are magnificent, but of course I wouldn't call them literature.

Agree re Goldfinch. Think it is my book of the year and one I can't stop thinking about. I prefer it to her other 2 novels but of those I'd read Secret History if you haven't.

Loving the Alan Bennett love on this thread. I went to see him talk recently on a NT platform and he was fab as always.

112. Colorless Tsukuru and His Years of Pilgrimage by Haruki Murakami. This my second Murakami novel and really enjoyed the story. Bit of an abrupt ending but good though. Don't need to have all ends tied up. Like Murakami very much

Finished book 81: Dissolution by C J Sansom - can't believe it has taken me so long to read any of these. My DH and DM have raved about these books for years

Just started 82 Notes on a Scandal. This has been sitting on my kindle for months after a recommendation on here.

I also loved The Goldfinch. It is the only one of hers I have ever read. Do any of her others come close?

The Goldfinch is definitely the best of Donna Tartt's three books. Glad to find other people appreciating it too, as on previous threads we've had about it, views have been mixed.

The Secret History is one of those pacy books I couldn't put down, but has nowhere near the depth of The Goldfinch. The Little Friend was a huge struggle to read - really odd given such a page-turning debut.

People I know love The Secret History. I enjoyed it but agree it doesn't touch The Goldfinch. I also enjoyed The Little Friend but it's the weakest of the three.

62. Shopaholic to the Stars by Sophie Kinsella

An easy read but not a great one. Sophie Kinsella normally makes me laugh. This made me cringe. And there is no ending, you have to read the next book, which always makes me seethe. Very disappointing.

63. A Breach of Security by Susan Hill

Kindle short Serrailler book. Despite me having reservations about the whole Serailler series I really enjoyed this short story. It actually made me look forward to the new full length one.

Book 63 is a friend's recommendation - Carter Beats the Devil by Glen David Gold. Not very far in but it's got me hooked.

Cote I haven't read, 'Swan Song' yet. Do you think I'd like it?

Remus - I'm inclined to say 'No' but hesitating because you are OK with YA and you like On The Beach, so you might be able to overlook the stuff I found juvenile, unrealistic, and downright silly at times.

Yup - being juvenile and downright silly myself.
I won't go out of my way but if it turns up in a charity shop I'll give it a go.

Remus

Talking about silly, the book I'm reading now makes Swan Song look like literature: The Strain by Guillermo del Toro and another guy. It's an apocalyptic story written by the guy who made the film Pan's Labyrinth, which was such a gothic & original film. What can go wrong, right? Well, a lot, as it turns out.

By the way, what do we think about Melmoth, The Wanderer? It's £2.49 on the Kindle at the moment and I sort of remember someone saying it was interesting.

I haven't got v far with Melmoth yet. It feels too much like hard work when I'm not feeling v well so much of the time, lately. I need zombies really - or maybe bonnets - or maybe zombies in bonnets.

Book 100 Still Midnight by Denise Mina

DS Alex Morrow is ambitious and aggressive, and pissed off that her colleague has been given the lead in the investigation into the attack on a family home in a Glasgow suburb which resulted in a teenage girl losing part of her hand to a gun shot while her father is taken hostage. The kidnappers were looking for someone called Bob and demand a ransom of £2 million for the return of Aamir Anwar.

Not brilliant. Morrow is an unlikeable character, the relationships between the kidnappers and the hostage's family are ridiculous, and to be honest I just didn't care about any of them or any of it.

51. The Unmarried Mother - Sheila Totfield. Sheila came from a family where affection was sparse. She became pregnant in by a 'lothario' who pretty much washed his hands of her. In the 1950's single mothers were shunned, considered shameful, and adoption was the usual solution, but Sheila chose to bring up her baby. Quite tear-jerking in places, and a story of hope.

Book 101 Candlenight by Phil Rickman

Giles and Claire Freeman, a journalist and a photographer, inherit a house in Wales from Claire's grandfather, who she never knew. They plan to live in the tiny community of Y Groes, but soon find that the village holds a centuries old secret, and poses a threat to incomers.

Very good and creepy read. It's one of Rickman's stand alone novels and explores the darker side of old Welsh myth and legend.

42 Can-cans, Cats and Cities of Ash - Mark Twain
43 The Midwife's Confession - Diane Chamberlain
44 Adventures in the Rocky Mountains - Isabella Bird
45 Breaking the Silence - Diane Chamberlain

Seem to be alternating classic travel books with easy reads a the moment. Can't decide about the Diane Chamberlain Books, both good but the twists and coincidences so far fetched.

Book 129 - 'Bitch in a Bonnet' about Jane Austen's first three novels: I absolutely loved it and have already bought the second one. If you're an Austen fan, I heartily recommend it.

57. The Strain - Guillermo del Toro & Chuck Hogan

Well, this was a waste of time. Quite a ridiculous vampire story dragged through 585 pages. I had enjoyed Guillermo des Toro's film Pan's Labyrinth and picked this up thinking that it might have some of the same edgy, daring imagination but didn't see any evidence of it. This book has clearly been written as a script for a B-movie, and will no doubt be filmed soon.

58. Piper In The Woods - Philip K Dick

I'm normally a committed Philip K Dick fan. His prose isn't great (understandably, as he was mostly high on speed when writing) but his ideas are exceptional and nobody does a mind twister like Philip K Dick. I was let down by this story, though, and wouldn't recommend it. (I feel a bit bad counting this as a book because it was so short a novella, but hope you won't mind considering that 3 out of my last 6 books were nearly 1000 pages long.)

79. Foxglove Summer - Ben Aaronovitch 4*
80. The Sportswriter - Richard Ford 3* I think this is probably deserves a higher score but I can't really work out if I enjoyed it or not. It must be ok since I managed to finish it. I liked the writing but I found most of the characters irritating. I basically want to kick Frank Bascome up the arse.

54. Kolyma Diaries - Jacek Hugo-Bader

I read and enjoyed his book White Fever earlier in the year; this one is about his road trip along the Kolyma Highway in remote Russia, where the gulags were. Funny, bleak and thought-provoking.