50 Book Challenge 2015 Part 2

[Southeastdweller]

Thread two of the 50 Book Challenge for this year.

The idea is to read 50 books (or more!) in 2015.

Previous thread here

ok cote, have bought Hyperion tho I'm really not sure! Now I just have to get my poor kindle working again....

btw I though Annihilation was a MUCH better book that Wool!

Hyperion is fantastic. You won't regret it.

Annihilation was much better than Wool but that is because Wool set the bar so low - badly written, completely unrealistic about probable effects that generations of underground containment would do to people's physiology, unimaginative, with no details worked out and the ones explained not making much sense.

Annihilation was very original so I liked it for that, but there was very little substance to it: I walked there, thought about my ex-husband for a bit, walked some more, saw a light, went back to camp etc etc etc. There were several very interesting bits (like re Crawler) but really not many. If a story doesn't have enough to fill out 200 pages (which is really not much), it should not be a book. It should be edited into a short story imho.

Also didn't quite get why anyone would hypnotise an expedition (sent there for observing & recording what they see) to not observe stuff correctly ("see the walls as made of stone"). Or why their first and possibly only mission was not to recover past expeditions' notebooks. Or why people outside didn't just nuke the place if they feel so threatened by it.

Have you read the sequels? Are they better?

hackmum I love Molesworth! Would you recommend the Molesworth Rites Again book? I don't usually go for sequels by different authors.

Interesting questions, whippet. I do know what you mean about feeling overwhelmed. I mostly read library books, and occasionally get a faint sense of oppression at the size of the pile (big hardbook books have quite a presence!). I'm fairly new on kindle and am keeping a rein on my spending, so don't have much of a backlog on that.

I would say I do read purely for pleasure. It's one of the perks of not being a book club - no obligation to read a particular book. I'm not that keen on contemporary literary fiction. I choose books purely because I think I'll enjoy them. There are enough enjoyable books to keep me going for a lifetime, so I'm not going to waste time on those I'm less keen on. I'm confident enough to laugh at anyone who says I'm not well-read. It's not a test I have to pass.

BashBosh - only a little way through the Anne Tyler but really enjoying it so far.

bibliomania - I would recommend it. I think it's convincingly done and quite funny in places. I do just have the tiny caveat that if you have always imagined Molesworth as a schoolboy it will feel a bit strange and even a bit sad imagining him as a grown up with a wife and kids.

Thanks hackmum. I'll have a think about it but I might want to preserve him forever having a tuff life at skool.

Book 25 - a work one - useful and pretty interesting but not worth writing about.

Book 26 - I finally finished, 'The Martian.' It was like reading a giant shopping list written by a thirteen year old boy. You'd be vaguely upset if he died but would prefer not to hear the minutiae of how many potatoes he intends to eat over the next year etc. Suffice to say, I didn't like it much.

14. Llewellyn's 2015 Witches' Companion

28 short articles on modern pagan, specifically witchcraft-related, living. I enjoy reading these every year and have built up a reasonable collection now. This one includes articles on asexual gods and goddesses, a comparative look at eclectic vs traditional Wicca, the reality of the idea of 'Harm none', planning a Wiccan wedding, and lots of other things.

Book 18 the book of you - got this in the giveaway, so just c and p'd from that thread.

I mostly enjoyed this book, and felt that the author did a fantastic job of building up a claustrophobic atmosphere.

I did feel it went downhill towards the end, the plot seemed to pretty much unravel and I lost belief in the story. Also, the characters in the trial felt a little wooden and the comparisons and juxtapositions seemed a bit forced in places.

That said, the book kept me hooked to the end. I would recommend overall.

Still reading ghost story by Peter Straub on the kindle, and rereading Duma key by Stephen king in paperback.

I am stuck on What Maisie Knew by Henry James. I normally enjoy reading him, although I never find his novels straightforward, but I really REALLY want to give up on this one. I am halfway through though so feel I should push on.
I was awakened by the thump of my Kindle hitting the floor last night as I had fallen asleep minutes after starting to read it.
Someone please tell me it's worth persisting!!

Clash, my next read is The Book of You. Really looking forward to it

I have a similar attitude to Sootgremlin when it comes to reading and beach reads I think.

My kindle broke about two years ago. It was one of the old styles with a keyboard and I haven’t bothered to get it fixed which is really bad. On the other hand I do buy less books, I think purely because I have to find a space for them.

Book 26 - a quick and easy, fairly diverting read = 'Unholy Night' by Seth Grahame-Smith, who is the chap behind, 'Pride and Prejudice and Zombies.' This imagines the three wise men as thieves, helping Mary and Joseph against their better judgement. I quite enjoyed this, although it was nowhere near as irreverent as I'd expected it to be.

I've started, 'Ready Player One' - liking it so far but I suspect it's crying out for some editing/culling.

Book 8 - Phillippa Gregory - The Lady of the Rivers - the book covering the White Queen's mother's life, the book before the white queen.

Was feeling very behind, until I realised yesterday was 7 weeks since the start of 2015, so if I'm assuming a book a week with a couple of weeks 'off' (or more, a couple of spare weeks for long books that are very hard going!) then I'm ahead of the challenge - woo!

Can I put an appeal out for those who are kindle free and reading "real" books to use their local libraries rather than buy the bulk of their challenge books? A lot of library services are being cut back or reviewed, it's a great way to try to bump up their usage stats to make it harder to justify cutting them. Plus you'll save a fortune over the year...

The big flaw in the "use the library instead of buying the challenge books" argument for me, is that I already have a backlog of considerably more than 50 books at home that I've bought / been given and not got round to reading yet. So it's already too late for me!

Although I do appreciate that others may be more disciplined in their book buying than me, and I fully agree that the library can save you lots of money if you read a lot.

And you may be pleased to know that I maxed out my library card when I took DS2 to the library a few weeks ago. This hasn't helped with my book backlog at all, but I did pick up some interesting looking books.

I love my local library (actually I have 4 in close proximity). They always have the latest releases and between the 4 of them there's always a new release available. But DH and I collect first edition hardbacks of certain authors so we love buying too :)

I can rarely afford to but new books, especially hardbacks, and I dislike Kindle books so charity shops and libraries are where I go to get my books. I've always been an habitual library user and in the city where I live the libraries in general are great - I appreciate not everyone is fortunate in this respect. I'm in libraries about five times a week to take out and return books, as well as to read, and take out more books than I end up reading but it all helps to bump up the numbers, as Mary says.

I've just taken out The Illuminations, which was only released a few weeks ago, and already reserved the new Alexander McQueen biography which is out next week. I feel especially grateful to be able to read the most recently published books for 'free'.

I visit the library at least once a week, and sometimes more. So much fiction published nowadays is awful, so I object to paying for it! I don't mind buying non-fiction and I always buy new Stephen King books as soon as they come out, but I rarely buy new works of fiction - library books or charity shops mean I resent them less if I dislike them!

11. Flowers For Algernon - Daniel Keyes

I keep seeing this book recommended as one of the best sci-fi books ever, one that everyone interested in the genre should read. Well, it's not.

It's about a middle-aged man with a very low IQ being used as a guinea pig in an operation that quickly raises his IQ to about 180. It's quite good where it describes his ascent from well-meaning idiot to normal and then genius, but the latter half of the book isn't that convincing IMHO.

cote I haven't read a vast amount of sci-fi but totally agree that it isn't one of the best of the genre.

I enjoyed most of it well enough, but didn't think it was as good as I expected it to be. Certainly not a 'classic' for me.

Oh, I've just joined my local library - it's literally on the same street, don't know why it didn't occur to me before. I've spent far too much on dire books recently, and have loads lined up on the kindle, so going to work through my kindle list and borrow from the library.

8: gone girl Gillian Flynn

Really enjoyed this and the first time I've read from my kindle in a while 18 months
I liked the way she wrote both sides of the story, but thought the end was a bit rubbish as it just.... Ends!

9: (not sure if I can count this) We are destined to be together forever Dean Koontz

A novella in the Odd Thomas series, about the visit he and Stormy make to the carnival where they get their future from the gypsy mummy. Very much looking forward to reading Saint Odd when it comes out in paperback. Last in the series though too many favourites ending this year!

10 is going to be the miniaturist I think

Haven't read, 'Flowers for Alegernon' since I was about 15. I seem to remember liking it, but can remember practically nothing else about it.

1. Claire of the Sea Light - Edwidge Danticat.

This is the story of Claire, who was born the night her mother died. They live in Ville Rose, a Town on the Haitian shore. Her father longs to give her a better life, and every year on her birthday he asks a local woman if she will take Claire. On her seventh birthday, the woman agrees, and Claire goes missing.

I found this book initally a bit difficult to follow - it tells one person's tale, then another, then another. It also jumps back and forth in time a lot. However while it is really well written, full of emotion, I thought it did seem a little disjointed, and much of the book was not about Claire at all. Some of the other characters and their stories were interesting but I felt they were cut off a bit short at times.

I too have a backlog on kindle/already bought, but anything that is recommended on here that I don't have and think I would like I get from the library.

The thing about the library for me is I live in the sticks and have to wait for the book wagon to come rattling through the dust with the goods some weeks after I initially decide I want them, so I always have reservation charges. I invariably end up with some insane fines when I miss the bloody thing and end up in some long winded email conversation about how their computer system doesn't link up with their vans. It's like a post-apocalyptic future where books are heavily guarded commodities, technology is useless and pleasant elderly ladies wield all the power.

It's a great service though and I continue to support it wholeheartedly

The Dew Breaker by Edwidge Danticat is good, telephoneignoringmachine, gave me a much better understanding of Haiti and its recent history. I think the disjointed thing is her style a bit though from what I remember. The form reflects the fractured nature of life in a fractured environment, iirc.