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50 Book Challenge 2014 Part 4

950 replies

Southeastdweller · 28/08/2014 12:31

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

OP posts:
tumbletumble · 12/09/2014 23:00

Riverboat, I enjoyed The Luminaries. It is a long read though!

ChillieJeanie · 13/09/2014 08:27

Book 76 The Woman Who Died A Lot by Jasper Fforde

Since I was nearly up to date with the series (on a re-read) I thought I might as well carry on and finish. Following the events of One Of Our Thursdays Is Missing, Thursday is stuck in the real world and recovering from her injuries. She takes as job as head of libraries in Wessex, with a multimillion pound budget and its own special forces operation. Swindon is due for a smiting by the recently revealed almighty, and Thursday's 16 year old daughter Tuesday has only a few days to get the anti-smiting defence shield working, while her son Friday is due to murder someone and get 37 years in prison, only he doesn't know why. Goliath Corporation is creeping round and up to no good as usual, and all in all it presents Thursday with rather a busy week.

Southeastdweller · 13/09/2014 08:36

I saw that Duchess but as it's being read in an abridged version I prefer to read the full version like you so took out the book from the library yesterday.

OP posts:
wiltingfast · 13/09/2014 11:00

Oh that sounds good ChilliJeanie, I do like jasper forde but haven't read any thing of his in ages. Is it a standalone or would I have to play catchup?

I loved the golfinch riverboat but actually thought the ending let it down a bit???! Excellent book though, definitely a top highlight for me€

Southeastdweller · 13/09/2014 14:22
  1. The Rosie Project - Graeme Simison

This was OK, funny in places, but I don't get the hype at all. Poor characterisation and there were lots of segments that felt cinematic and took me out of the book. Just found out that he'd written this as a screenplay first then wrote it again as a book but writing it as a book it was obvious he was mindful to selling the rights to a film studio. And did anyone else want to give Rosie a good hard slap? I lost interest in finding out who her father was.

Now on a book on CV guidance which I need to finish by Thursday, then I'm starting either The Children Act or The Shock of the Fall. Feels like ages since I read an outstanding book (Let's Explore Diabetes with Owls, two months ago).

OP posts:
ChillieJeanie · 13/09/2014 17:25

It helps to know some of the background I think, wiltingfast. But the story itself does pretty much stand alone, as well as the seventh book in a series with the same characters can.

I promise I have done other things today, but this one was a surprisingly quick read:

Book 77 She's Never Coming Back by Hans Koppel

Ylva, a wife and mother, disappears one evening after leaving her colleagues to head home. Her husband isn't worried to begin with, assuming she has gone out for an after-work drink, but when she fails to return he calls the police. With no sign of her and the knowledge that she had had an affair the previous year, the police decide Mike is the number one suspect.

But Ylva is actually being held captive and repeatedly beaten and raped in the cellar of the house opposite her home. A camera has been rigged up so she can see her house and watch the comings and goings of her family.

I have a feeling I have read this before, or something quite similar. It's not terribly deep or anything, and while Ylva's situation is certainly horrific the book as a whole doesn't feel like it has a sense of tension. The story alternates between Ylva and her relationship with her captors, Mike and their daughter Sanna as they come to terms with their loss and start to move on in their lives, and two former school mates of Ylva's who start wondering about what has happened to the gang that had terrorised their fellow pupils twenty years before.

BsshBosh · 13/09/2014 20:37
  1. The Children's Book, A.S. Byatt

This novel covers the period of the late 19th and early 20th centuries: the late Victorian & early Edwardian periods leading up to and including the First World War. It covers a dizzying array of topics, themes and characters, including the Arts and Craft movement, the writing of dark fairy tales, the rise of the left wing and Anarchist movements, the early workings of museums (the V&A), women's suffrage, children's sexuality, incest.

It is dense and multilayered and though there are numerous characters and themes, Byatt uncovered these in such a way that I didn't get lost at all. In fact, I was so caught up in the lives of them they permeated my night and daydreams.

A satisfying, rich banquet of a read. A book that now features proudly on my shelf of all time favourites.

I'm leaping right into Possession now :)

BestIsWest · 13/09/2014 21:00

I loved the Children's book too. Possession is even better I think though I haven't read it for years.

BestIsWest · 13/09/2014 21:03
  1. What Alice Forgot -Liane Moriarty. Got better as it went on.
  2. Apple Tree Yard - This is good so far , though it is making me angry.
mum2jakie · 13/09/2014 21:25
  1. She's Not Coming Home - Philip Cox
    Kindle freebie. Enjoyed this until the end which was far too far-fetched.

  2. Black Coffee - Adaptation of an Agatha Christie play.
    Ok but not up to her best

Have lost my reading mojo lately...

BsshBosh · 13/09/2014 22:37

I'm curious about Ian McEwan's The Children Act but was so underwhelmed by Sweet Tooth that I'm hesitant of "wasting valuable reading time". I loved Saturday and Solar, even Chesil Beach - his other recent books but disliked his female-centred Sweet Tooth. Hence my hesitation over Children's Act. I think I'll listen to the iPlayer/R4 version first, or wait for all your reviews.

BsshBosh · 13/09/2014 22:40

riverboat1 I loved Goldfinch too.

BestIsWest · 14/09/2014 00:06

I hated Chesil Beach so much I haven't read anything since. Sweet tooth did not appeal.

Provencalroseparadox · 14/09/2014 10:25
  1. The Boys from Brazil by Ira Levin

As I'd enjoyed Stepford Wives so much thought I'd read another of Ira Levin's filmed books. This is every bit as good. He's not a great literary author but boy can he tell a story. Mengele is every bit as vile as you expect him to be and the journey of Yakov Lieberman to the truth behind the murders of 65 year old men is really gripping. Very very enjoyable.

Now going to tackle Edward Rutherford's London.

Provencalroseparadox · 14/09/2014 10:41

Question - at the end of the year are we all going to nominate our top 5? I've given this a LOT of thought already.

DuchessofMalfi · 14/09/2014 11:27

Good idea provencal. I'm going to have a think about mine.

BsshBosh · 14/09/2014 11:41

Provencal excellent idea. Perhaps we could also give brief reasons why we nominated each of our Top 5 too (if we felt like it, that is; straight lists would be fine too).

hackmum · 14/09/2014 12:10

BashBosh: The Children Act is awfully short. I read it in a day. I found it enjoyable but also faintly irritating and ultimately unsatisfying. That is also my view on almost every other IanMcEwan book I've read, however.

wiltingfast · 14/09/2014 12:47

38 - The Everything Store; Jeff Bezos and the age of Amazon by Brad Stone

This was a very interesting book ,well recommended to anyone who is remotely interested in the superstore and how it developed. Its culture and business practices towards partners and employees was a bit of an eye opener to be honest, shouldn't have been shocked I guess, they didn't get where they are by being nice. It was striking how much it is the creation and vision of one man. It was a bit vague on some detail but I guess they're not going to detail everything for the competition to read.

Definitely worth reading.

Southeastdweller · 14/09/2014 13:21

I've also been thinking about doing an end of year best of list Grin. Hard to believe there's just 3.5 months of the year left.

OP posts:
frogbubbles · 14/09/2014 13:24

Just marking my place, will be posting my list of books later. Really struggling with reading at the moment which is a total pain as I have so many books I want to read Sad

BsshBosh · 14/09/2014 19:17

Ooooo, I'm so excited. I've just ordered the complete set of Narnia books (with those gorgeous coloured illustrations by Pauline Baynes I remember from my childhood in the 70s/80s) for my 6yo DD. I think she's ready for them as a prelude to Harry Potter next year (which I've not read as it was not my style, but DD is interested so...).

But first I will work my way through the Chronicles. Very excited to relive one of my childhood favourites.

RemusLupinsBiggestGroupie · 14/09/2014 19:28

Can't believe it's taking me so long to read one stupid fantasy book. In the meantime, any recs for something to buy on Kindle?

ChillieJeanie · 14/09/2014 20:28

Book 78 Dragons at Crumbling Castle by Terry Pratchett

Okay, so this one is probably a bit of a cheat, since it's a children's book. When Terry Pratchett was in his late teens, working as a junior reporter for the Bucks Free Press, he started writing stories for young readers which were printed every week in the newspaper - including a couple of adventures of the Carpet People who later featured in Pterry's first novel. This book is a collection of 14 of those stories, although in the introduction he does say he has tinkered a bit with the fine details of the stories. I really enjoyed it, and I imagine it would be a perfect book to provide a fortnight's worth of bed time stories for small children.

OftheTwilighttheDarkness · 14/09/2014 21:26
  1. The Secret a Diary of Adrian Mole aged 13 3/4 - Sue Townsend 4*
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