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

Wilting - this is the first Ishiguro novel I've read since The Remains of the Day was new out! I've bought a few of his books recently as they were on offer on Amazon kindle, presumably because his new one is due out today :). I'm going to be immersing myself in them over the next few weeks. think it will be a good experience and I'm curious as to why NLMG has caused so much strong feeling on here.

I think ..... etc

1. A Thousand Splendid Suns - Khaled Hosseini

Set against the backdrop of the war in Afghanistan, this this the story of Mariam and Laila. Mariam is 15 when her father arranges her marriage to Rasheed, who is about 30 years older. Later Rasheed takes Laila as a second wife after she is orphaned and initially, Mariam is jealous that Laila is new - and pregnant. However as the years go on, the women form a friendship against Rasheed's cruelty.

Marvellous storytelling, wonderful description. A bit grim reading in places - Hosseini doesn't pull any punches with the descriptions of daily life in a war zone, and some of the scenes between Rasheed & the women could be a bit upsetting.

18. The Interestings, Meg Wolitzer In New England, 1974, friendships are cemented at summer camp over Gunter Grass, vodka & Tang, and the latest cassette tapes. Dreams and ambitions are shared and the future for these teenagers looks bright and attainable. The novel charts the lives of these teens as they move through the decades; in so doing, it also charts the socio-political and economic changes both in New York City, where the novel is predominantly set, and in the world.

A big (468 pages in my hardback copy), sprawling, ambitious book that ranks amongst the best of Tom Wolfe, Jonathan Franzen and Jeffrey Eugenides. I cared deeply for all the characters as they struggled and soared through their lives. The level of detail Wolitzer shares is incredible. A witty, sad, joyous and thoroughly immersive read.

Book 11 Ciao Bella by Helena Frith Powell
Loved this book. It's the author travelling throughout Italy trying to understand her Italian roots. Very funny and touching. Made ne want to go back to Italy immediately !

Next is the new Ishiguro book. Looking forward to reading this. He seems to be an author that people love or hate. I love his books since studying him at A Level a very long time ago!

Bssh been wanting to read that for a while now. Glad you liked it so much

I've only read one Ishiguro - The Pale View of Hills - and I enjoyed it. And I absolutely adore the film Remains of the Day - one of my favourite films ever!

Duchess - Good luck with Never Let Me Go. If you like sci-fi that makes no sense, you might get something out of it When you finish it, let's have a chat about its shortcomings on here.

Ok you're on, Cote. But beware - I might actually love it :o

Btw - I'm not really much of a sci-fi fan, so won't have much from that genre to compare this with.

Cote - 'Measuring the World' is one that I do fancy, but, because I've been ill, I need non-brain-hurty things at the moment!

Yawn to, 'Never Let Me Go' but I hope people find what I couldn't in it (ie any reason at all to care about the boring, dim-witted idiots). Sorry!

What's really cheap on Kindle at the moment? I need short-ish and v gripping but still good quality writing.

"Personally I liked Never Let Me Go it was v original, well written and kinda horrifying."

Original? Erm... only if you have never heard of books like Spares, Cloud Atlas, The Island (film), etc.

I can't say it was badly written but it didn't rock my world with its literary awesomeness, either. What was unbearable in that book imho was that It Made No Sense - not in its silly explanations and certainly not in the unrealistic behaviour of its characters.

Sci-fi/speculative fiction gets looked down on a lot, but it is not easy to write a good book in this genre. The author must imagine a background significantly different from our own, with myriad little details that make up a consistent and credible reality for the story to emerge from. Ishiguro fails on all counts in this book and seems to know it, too, because he satisfies himself with tugging on heartstrings, which frankly makes really pathetic speculative fiction.

Duchess - I doubt that very much

Remus - Please read Measuring The World. It is not at all brain-hurty. I really think you will like it.

With "never let me go" one thing that seemed to bother me, all the stuff about them keeping themselves healthy, did none of them quesiton what would happen if they didn't? If they went off and shagged about with as many people carrying as many infectious diseases possible? That none of them when they went out into the world got tempted to join in with the rest of society and 'ruined' themselves so couldn't be 'used'. that none of them rebelled. Not one. Seemed so unlikely, so unlike basic human behaviour when faced with controls, that at least some people would rebel and go try some banned things...

I saw Ishiguro being interviewed about his new book on the television last night, and got the impression that he didn't really care what he was writing. He didn't seem very passionate or driven; it just felt like he was doing writing by numbers to pay the bills. That's how I read it, anyway.

Mary - that's something that's crossed my mind too. I'm about half way now and they have moved to the halfway house place, preparing to go out into the wider world. How will they interact with "normal" humans, have relationships with them? What if they pick up an illness or disease etc. i can see that there are big plot holes appearing or certainly questions in my mind.

Presumably there's nothing to stop them, once out there, simply disappearing and not making themselves available for donations? Will read on, and find out :)

Remus have you read Seven Years In Tibet? I'm reading it atm, it's a wonderful little book. £3.99 on Kindle.

11. Nobody by Jennifer Lynn Barnes.

One picked up on impulse in the library on my way to the desk with rambunctious toddlers in tow. Turned out to be a Young Adult Supernatural Romance type book.

The actual concept behind it was good and quite intriguing - concept is that everyone emits energy and reacts unconsciously to the energy of others. Some people - Nobodies - are born unable to emit energy and therefore make no impact on normal people. Normal people just don't notice them and quickly forget them unless reminded about them. Others - Nulls - are born emitting loads of energy but don't react to the energy of others, and they tend to be charismatic psychopaths. And then you get Sensors, who can perceive the presence of Nulls and Nobodies.

Unfortunately the actual story wasn't great. Nobody Nix has been brought up by an institution which has brainwashed him into being an assassin (which he's good at, as it's so hard for normal people to pay attention to a Nobody). When the institution discover the existence of 16 year old Nobody Claire, they send Nix to kill her, as she's too old to be brainwashed by them. More information on what this institution's all about would have been nice - instead the institution is basically there as an obstacle that must be overcome before Nix and Claire can skip off into the sunset and live happily ever after.

Anyway. When Nix and Claire meet, they fall in love pretty well instantly and embark on a quest to destroy this institution. There's lots and lots of mushy stuff about true love and so on, which I struggle to take seriously when it involves two teenagers who've known each other all of about.... ooh, a week or two, by the end of the novel? But if you can swallow that, it's an okay read.

"If they went off and shagged about with as many people carrying as many infectious diseases possible? That none of them when they went out into the world got tempted to join in with the rest of society and 'ruined' themselves so couldn't be 'used'. that none of them rebelled. Not one. Seemed so unlikely, so unlike basic human behaviour when faced with controls, that at least some people would rebel and go try some banned things..."

Thank you. My thoughts exactly.

If people are told "We'll get your organs & eventually kill you", virtually all will run off and hide. It's not like they have discerning features to mark them as clones (as in Cloud Atlas) or are hidden away as prisoners until their time comes (as in Spares or The Island). They would get organised and defend themselves.

Even if they were somehow tagged with GPS devices & hypnotised to surrender when they are called, they should at the very least do whatever they like & give the finger to their future murderers - sleep around, take drugs, drink loads of alcohol every day, have a zillion tattoos.

What would not absolutely NOT happen is that they would all wait for their turn to be butchered like docile little sheep and sit around whining about their lot in life

1. Ian McEwan - The Children Act. Enjoyed it. Very short but beautifully written .

Perfectly put, Cote re Never Let Me Go.

I can't imagine any amount of brainwashing being enough to get all of them just waiting "for their turn to be butchered like docile little sheep". I just can't.

Also, IIRC, in The Island, the clones were kept in the dark about their organ donor fate. They were led to believe that the clones taken away were still alive and well on a luxury island weren't they?

There wasn't even any brainwashing. The author couldn't even be bothered to give that as an excuse.

"IIRC, in The Island, the clones were kept in the dark about their organ donor fate. They were led to believe that the clones taken away were still alive and well on a luxury island weren't they?"

Yes. As you would logically do if you want a large group of people to be docile about living safe lives in a prison and then being taken away one by one. In Cloud Atlas as well, they were told that they were going away to a lovely holiday place after their many years of slavery.

Another thing that made no sense in Never Let Me Go was that clones 'donate' organs to whoever and not to the person they are cloned from. Why would you clone people and then give their organs to complete strangers & face organ rejection & a lifetime of immune suppressants? Surely, the whole point of cloning is so you will get organs from a body whose tissues match your own.

1. Hidden Depths by Anne Cleeves

Found this cheap on kindle books, this is the first in the Vera Stanhope series, I have never seen the programme but it was an enjoyable enough book, as with Her Shetland series her descriptions of places and scenery have got me hankering to go visit so she ,use be doing something right. That and I didn't manage to spot the killer which makes a change

Hi Tessiegirl.. How interesting! Have you lived there for a while? I am half way through it and was just pondering the fact that this is my third book this year on war. All very different perspectives in their own way. This one follows the seige on Sarajevo, following certain civilian protagonists including a cellist. It certainly has lots of descriptions of the city, streets and bridges. I live in Glasgow and always enjoying reading of places I have been and recognise. I'm not sure I'm in love with the reader of this audiobook, and I'm undecided about the book so far. I think it may end up one of those books that I neither love nor hate. The usual themes of war - love, loss, hardship and human resilience. It is horrifying that this all happened in Europe under the eyes of the EU and NATO and continued for years before any real intervention was achieved. And this is touched on in the book by the disbelief of those left behind in Sarajevo. Maybe not the most encouraging review - it's certain not a bad book!

Meg, I'm also reading Seven Years in Tibet at the moment!