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

I've added A Man Called Ove to my lust

The next one I'm going to read is a crime novel - David Bell The Hiding Place

Have new kindle. Am very very very happy

On bad side I managed to miss the deal on Robert MacFarlane's Mountains of the Mind by about 1 bloody minute spent just a tad too long reading the sample. Feck it anyway.

No finished books to report alas, am bored to tears with Shardlake and Sovereign so now the kindle's back on track I'll have to peruse my stock and pick something else !

Book 16 Vanished Kingdoms by Norman Davies

The subtitle is The History of Half-Forgotten Europe and it focuses on some of the many kingdoms, duchies, empires, and republics which have appeared and disappeared during European history. Davies has chosen 15 and gives an overview of their emergence, history (rulers, assassinations, wars, etc), and demise. Many were in what is now eastern Europe (the area that is now Poland/Ukraine/Lithuania/etc had so many states appear and disappear over the centuries), but there are also things like the kingdom of Burgundy, which had around 15 incarnations and moved around the map quite a bit, and also the Empire of Aragon, which was far bigger and more powerful than I had realised. We don't tend to hear much about Aragon, aside from Ferdinand and Isabella, plus Henry VIII's first wife Katherine. The chapter on Montenegro was particularly fascinating.

I've had this a while but hadn't got round to reading it before, so is part of the reason I've made a conscious decision to read more non-fiction this year. The only downside is it takes me much longer to read so I feel like I'm falling behind, which is ridiculous, because it's not a competition! This one took me two weeks.

So, decided on The Miniaturist last night. Read the first couple of chapters last night and I am intrigued...looking forward to reading more

11. The woman who went to bed for a year by Sue Townsend. I was a bit disappointed by this one, struggled to engage with any of the characters and was skim reading towards the end. 2/5

Book 12. The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver (audiobook). Love this book, was a bit unsure about the narrator for a while but the beauty of the writing shines through. The story is of an American family who move to the Belgian Congo in the 1950s to start a missionary and convert the Congolese people to Christianity. The preacher, his wife and four girls struggle with their new life, and the story is told from the viewpoint of the children. Only halfway through but enjoying so far.

Book 13. Before the Poison by Peter Robinson. So-so mystery novel that I picked up thinking would be from the DCI Banks series. An American music writer buys an isolated house in Yorkshire and returns home to his birth country to start a new life. The house was previously the home of a woman hanged for poisoning her doctor husband. He investigates what happened and tries to clear her name. Just okay.

Had a message from the library that the long awaited The Miniaturist is in, can't wait!

11. The Making of a Marchioness, Frances Hodgson Burnett

A recommendation from this thread, and a very nice read. Interesting heroine and hero, lovely fairy tale story tempered by suspense, romantic realism and high drama. The racial aspects don't sit at all well today though, obviously.

19. This Thing of Darkness – Harry Thompson

It’s taken me a week to read this epic historical fiction novel but it was definitely worth it. I am not ashamed to say I shed a tear at the end.

This book follows the career of two men: Robert Fitzroy, Captain of the Royal Navy survey ship The Beagle, and the naturalist for the expedition, Charles Darwin. Based very closely on the historical records and real-life events in the lives of the two men, it is an absolutely fascinating read. The best bits for me were the accounts of the sea voyages themselves, the harsh conditions they had to undergo and their encounters with the native populations. Fitzroy is always portrayed very sympathetically, Darwin less so, but it is fascinating to travel with Darwin as he gradually builds his theory of evolution based on the discoveries he makes on the voyages, always pushing against the established view of the great flood and the doctrines of the religious community. Christian missionaries do not come out well in this account, nor does the British Empire and indeed most governments who ultimately decimate and destroy the native populations.

Despite being just short of 800 pages, I didn’t find the novel over-long, the writing was engaging and descriptive and the afterword by the author explains that he tried to keep the dialogue as true to the time and situation as possible. Plus the scientific theories were clearly explained. It was genuinely fascinating to learn so much about Fitzroy and the times he lived in.

So a big thanks to Remus for recommending this. I, in turn, would recommend it to others. That’s another thing we agree on Remus!

Just finished

1. Iceberg by Marion Coutts. A wife's account of her husbands diagnosis, treatment, death for a brain tumour. Rather poignant for me as I found out part way through reading it that a friend's mother had just died from a brain tumour.

It was a very interesting read and 'unputdownable' but I really didn't warm to the author at all and found some of her writing a bit over-styled and pretentious. But then I have to take a step back and think that for me this is just another book about cancer. For her it was probably a very important part of the coping and grieving process.

Not sure what to read next.

#15. The Assassination of Margaret Thatcher - Hilary Mantel - a collection of short stories, the majority of which left me cold. I didn't pick up any warmth at all, and was not really engaged with the characters or stories. On an intellectual level I'm sure they were all very clever and an A-level student would be able to write an essay about them, but to me they just weren't that enjoyable to read.

Hopefully onwards and upwards with whatever I read next . . .

10, Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell
Double figures at last! This one started slowly (not helped by reading with flu so kept falling asleep) but really grew on me. I enjoyed the gentle, whimsical style and loved the alternative Faerie world which sits alongside the 'real' world. Not a big reader of fantasy but I loved this.

Not sure what to read next - This Thing of Darkness is on my list but I really need to read a few short books first.

Added Nothing to Envy: Real Lives in North Korea to my TBR list - love that kind of insight.

I have realised how many massive books I have read already this year, need to read some shorter ones I think.

Whippet - Hallelujah! I am so pleased that you enjoyed it. It's a wonderful and fascinating book, and agree that the ending is heartbreaking. In fact, when I re-read it at the end of last year, I kept putting off finishing it because I just didn't want to have to accept the ending which I knew was inevitable. I heartily recommend the non-fiction one about Jeremy Button, as a companion piece.

21. A Spool of Blue Thread, Anne Tyler Queen of literary domestic sagas, Anne Tyler has written her twentieth novel that is fresh and moving and full of character. With little effort, with simplicity, Tyler slowly unravels the stories of the Whitshank family of Baltimore across three generations and produces an absorbing story of ordinary life.

17. The Slow Regard of Silent Things by Patrick Rothfuss

After taking two weeks to finish the last, I've got through this novella in less than a day! It's a story within the world of Rothfuss' Kingkiller Chronicles, featuring Auri, the mysterious girl who lives beneath the University in the sprawling tunnels of the Underthing. She spends her days setting her little world, and herself, to rights. It's a beautifully written little story featuring just Auri and the objects around her, giving a little taste of what the world is like through her eyes.

24. The Misbegotten, by Katherine Webb -- A slow-burn mystery, revolving around two women, Starling and Rachel, who come together to investigate the disappearance of Alice, Starling's adoptive 'sister', who shares a close similarity to Rachel. I enjoyed this a lot, and think it benefits from the dropping of the modern day protagonist device, used in some of the author's earlier books. The writing is captivating and the characters are thoroughly likeable. It did, however, go on a bit once the main mystery was resolved.

25. By the Pricking of My Thumbs, by Agatha Christie -- Quick read, featuring the only slightly irritating Tommy and Tuppence.

Next up: Rivers of London

14 - now you see me by Emma Hough. The story of a girl who's best friend goes missing and the events in the years that follow. Fantastic read with a lot of twists and turns along the way

16. Interlude - Rupert Smith

This was a random choice when I was in Waterstones a few months ago, a multigenerational novel, about an SAHM in contemporary London who feels unfulfilled and who discovers secrets from the past after her famous grandfather dies. It was very readable, but the convoluted story and many characters needed more space to breathe than what the author could manage. I'd read more from him, though.

Next up is the Jonathan Strange book, unless I can score either of the latest books from Jon Ronson or Matt Haig tomorrow at the library.

Has anyone heard of a French crime book called After the Crash? Joan Smith in yesterday's Sunday Times raved about it and the English version isn't out until Thursday so I'll reserve that this week.

wilting - Congrats for your new Kindle

16. Second Life - S J Watson

Well, this was crap disappointing. His previous novel Before I Go To Sleep was no Booker contender either, but at least it was interesting and vaguely plausible. This one is just absurd.

The protagonist is truly a dumb woman whose ignorance about how stuff works online beggars belief. Descriptions of sex are silly. The revelations and twists at the end are frankly ridiculous. They reminded me of those soap operas where one says "No, you can't marry him. He is actually your brother." and the other goes "But how can that be? I am his brother's father's niece" etc etc. The ending is the worst I have ever seen in print, and that is against some serious competition.

No better than 1 star, and that is only because there is no 0 star rating.

I like your summing up of the ending of Second Life

That's hilarious Cote Will cross that one off the list then.

Book 11 We Are All Completely Beside Ourselves by Karen Joy Fowler.

Though the 'twist' in this book comes very early, there is plenty of suspense to keep the reader turning the pages thereafeter.

Unpicking the main character's unusual family and what happened is teased out even after the reveal.

Though the style is very conversational, very American young adult with references from everything to Pulp Fiction to peanut cookies, the themes are dark and involved.

Fowler essentially asks us what it means to be human. Are all those traits we consider humane essentially anti-human and against our natural instincts?

Some readers have found the twist ridiculous and haven't been able to enjoy the book beyond that, but I didn't feel that. The story had its own internal logic, which although surreal, made sense to me.

Remus the Jeremy Button book is now a must-read for me!

Cote your review made me laugh out loud!

20. Bark - Lorrie Moore

A collection of short stories by the American author. Normally I love short stories but I didn't like these at all, and what's worse, I had already read some of them in a previous collection but didn't realise until I was half-way through the first story and then felt obliged not to stop so read them again!
I can't say why I didn't like them but they were somehow very glib and ironic, 'quirky' perhaps, but really not my style. They obviously didn't stick in my brain enough the first time round, but the first one in collection, Debarking, about a divorced man, is definitely the best. I would be interested to hear if anyone else has read them and what they thought.

Cote loved your review. Made me

Just joining in now for this year, my second '50 challenge' year.

So far I've read:

1. Breathing Lessons - Anne Tyler. Meh.
2. Assassin's Apprentice - Robin Hobb. Bit disappointing, not as good as the 'Madship' books.
3. To Kill A Mockingbird. Hated it, I like justice in my books as there is so little in the world, and Tom Robinson dying is not justice IMO.
4. Royal Assassin - Robin Hobb. Better than part 1.
5. Gone Girl - Gillian Flynn. Awful, both main characters were horrible people,and the ending sucked. Again, no justice.
6. The Kill List - Frederick Forsyth. Very good.
7. The Crystal Cave - Mary Stewart. Was expecting similar to 'Merlin' so a bit disappointed.
8. The Testing - Joelle Charbonneau. The best book I've read in a long time, raced through it in 2 days.
9. When the Wind Blows - Raymond Briggs. Something I remember from my teenage years from TV, even more sad and poignant now.

10. Ethel and Ernest - Raymond Briggs. A lovely, heart-warming but sad (at the end) book. 11. Independent Study - Joelle Charbonneau. The second in the trilogy, and as amazing as the first. Can't wait to read the third one. 12. The Guest Cat - Takashi Hiraide. Deeply unsatisfactory. Crap ending. 13. Oryx and Crake - Margaret Atwood. Nearly gave up half way through, but very glad I persisted, as the last third was fantastic.

Just deciding what to read for number 14 now, this is my favourite part, choosing.

It's lovely to be back.