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 could only conclude that their brains had been modified to accept, without question, orders from whoever it was that created them as to when it was time for them to surrender to the donor programme.

I would have liked more clarification in the book on this point and that was one of my criticisms of it - that if we had had the story from the clone creators as well then we would know how they had been created and what had been done to make them so compliant.

Book 16 Harry potter and the prisoner of azkaban

FiveGoMad - am a huge Kinsey fan! They are cheesy and generally follow a formula but I love Sue Grafton's style of writing

Cote - What I loved most about The Casual Vacancy was how she made such astute observations about people and the state of the U.K at the moment, in an entertaining yet thought-provoking way. It isn't great, 'high-faluting' literature but she can tell a story wonderfully. I also loved the gutsy ending which is really haunting, the pacing, and it's one of the very few books I've read that has had me crying and laughing out loud. I can't recommend it enough.

24. John Dies At The End - David Wong

Its a thin line between the ridiculous and the sublime, and David Wong manages, just about, to stay the right side of it in this comic horror.

A story of two drop-outs caught up inthe potential end of the world, the characters feel authentic and whilst parts of the story are absurd, the comic aspects don't get in the way of some genuinely creepy moments.

That said, there seems to be more plot holes than you can shake a stick at, and very little gets resolved, but I think this is very much the author's intention - nothing is quite as it seems and you can't rely on anything you think you know.

Not a book to take too seriously, but good fun. Quite gory in parts.

Would read more by the same author.

Book 7 - The Woman in White by Wilkie Collins. A beautifully written victorian gothic mystery. Atmospheric and immensely entertaining with some wonderful characters, particularly Marian Halcombe and Count Fosco. It is a strange sort of mystery as you know who the villians are and more or less what they are up to from the start but the writing is so good I just enjoyed seeing how it all unfolded. Slow going but worth it.

Book 8 - Killing Floor by Lee Childs. A quick easy read after the 700+ pages of The Woman in White. Fast paced and fun, I really enjoyed this.

I am spending this weekend at a spa with my DM and I'm really looking forward to having time to sit and read in peace. I just have to decide which books to rescue from my huge to-be-read pile.

Book 10 was The Dante Club by Matthew Pearl. Set in 1860s Harvard Longfellow and others are translating Dante's Inferno and a killer seems to be using the punishments listed to kill people. It was good but a little slow in places. I didn't spot the main twist in the plot. Recommend it if you like historical mysteries.

I like Sue Grafton as well. I'm impressed that she's managed to keep up with them to almost the end of the alphabet. And by sticking with the same era she is still writing about a pre Internet, mobile phone era which gives her a bit of freedom with the missed phone calls/ messages that you can't really have in contemporary fiction.

10: the miniaturist. Agree with pp who said I about feeling a bit of "what was the point of that" but enjoyed it all the same

11: the gum thief, Douglas coupland. Written in the form of letters, a 40something man leaves his diary at work one day and one of his colleagues finds it and writes to him. There's also parts of his "novel" that he is writing, and the a whole book shows how their relationship develops. Was a bit naff tbh, and not as good as one of hisother books "jpod"

12: the rain before it falls, Jonathan coe. I LOVED this book. It is "the story of three generations of a family, riven by tragedy". When her aunt Rosamond dies, Gill, as executor of her estate, is left with thetask of finding a girl named Imogen, who hasn't been seen for 20 years but seems to hold massive importance to her aunt. Rosamond has left a series of tapes, recording the story of this girl and her ancestors lives, and the tragic circumstances of how they lost contact. A brilliant read, beautifully written and despite being a heartbreaking story, was thoroughly enjoyable

Cote, a belated

29. Queen Victoria's stalker : the strange story of the Boy Jones by Jan Bondeson. Odd little volume about odd little escapade. Non-fiction. Urchin broke into Buckingham Palace on at least three occasions. Tried by the Privy Council, shanghaied to Brazil, forced into the British Navy. Digression into stalking, historical and modern.

Work has got in the way of reading recently, but I have finally finished...

1. An Officer and a Spy by Robert Harris.

My first book by this author. It started well enough, but became very tedious by the end. Fascinating story and I learnt a lot about the Dreyfus affair, but it never properly came alive for me. Harris sticks to the historical facts to the detriment of characterisation. It is written in the first person present tense which grated after a while and means you never see what is going on inside other character's minds, only the narrator's.

I've heard that Harris's earlier work is better, so it hasn't completely put me off.

12. Cat Among the Pigeons by Agatha Christie. Love a bit of Poirot!

john dies at the end is 99p today - worth it????

Remus? Clash??

Oh and I managed to finish a book,

11. When I Met You by Jenna Forte; okayish story, woman living at home with her parents way too long, her father turns up out of nowhere dying of cancer cue major reshuffle of all parts of her life and a big turnaround at the end. Ideas were good, execution poor. Looks like a chick lit book but actually not a romance. Some quite funny pieces about a holiday fling whose arrival was eagerly awaited only to be a complete disappointment in suburbia who then refuses to go away. Blurb for the author says she always wanted to write for Cosmopolitan and tbh that is how it reads in terms of style. Bit shallow and throwaway which is fine for Cosmo, not good enough for a novel. Note amazon reviewers disagree with me

10 All the Light We Cannot See
I enjoyed the concept of this book very much following two children during the Second World War. It was very character driven, and throughout their stories I felt I was there in the lives of Werner and Marie-Laurre. Both fascinating characters and with interesting time divisions. Marie-Laurre's experiences as a blind girl caught up in plots and then being active in the war showed very clear character development. Werner had such talent and promise, and his link through the story to Marie-Laurre's family kept me intrigued. I learned about Captain Memo, radios and molluscs. There is a poignant sub plot about a friend of Werner which is heartbreaking to read. I actually cried at Frederick's story, and two other poignant tragic scenes near the end. Very enjoyable and thoughtful.

Wilting - deffo worth 99p. I haven't quite finished it, but it's a really silly, gripping romp through some very crazy ideas. I'm really enjoying it, although I've just got to a bit that I'm liking less than the rest.

I agree worth 99p. I can imagine it being a bit of a marmite book though.

On the subject of marmite books-

19. The Rabbit Back Literature Society by Pasi Ilmari Jaaskelainen

Ella Milana is a school teacher who is invited to join The Rabbit Back Literature Society in the Finnish small town of Rabbit Back. The Society has 9 members and was founded by Laura White who disappears in the beginning of the book in a snow storm inside her house!

This story is full of mystery/ fantasy and I think reviewers who have likened it to Twin Peaks are spot on.

Not the type of book I usually enjoy and I felt like none of the mysteries were explained. It left me totally but if you enjoy fantasy I think you will enjoy this book

13. The Road - Cormac McCarthy. I kind of knew what to expect with this, but still found it profoundly moving and heartbreaking. This is one of the very few books I would consider re-reading at some point in the future.

14. Graduation Day - Joelle Charbonneau. What an incredible end to an outstanding trilogy. Any fans of 'Hunger Games' might like to give these books a whirl, but part 3 of this set is definitely much better IMO than part 3 of 'HG'. The deceit, sub-plots and treachery are all uncovered one after another until the surprising but satisfying ending. The best trilogy I've read in years.

13. The Silkworm - Robert Galbraith/J. K. Rowling

The second Cormoran Strike detective book - very good. His PA Robin gets a bit more attention. It's a good twist and turn missing person/murder case, set in the literary/publishing world (so clearly an area she knows a lot about!). Very entertaining, and I didn't see the ending coming.

14. The Perfect Murder - Peter James.

Not sure if this should count, it's rather a 'short read'! Amusing story of married 40-somethings who hate each other and both would like the other dead.

Books 38 and 39 - The final two Snicketts.

Now to finish, 'John Dies at the End' - only about 9% left.

20 .
another Amanda Prowse -

www.amazon.co.uk/gp/search/ref=sr_adv_b/?search-alias=stripbooks&field-isbn=9781781854952&tag=headofzeuscom-21

Really nice warm moving book with a couple of great twists
Quick to read & I really cared about the characters

Sorry about link

It's called A Little Love

Finally on to Jonathan strange and Mr Norrell - a whopping 5% through, but so far so good. I think it's a book I can really get into so I'm hopeful that I'll read it before the 28th.

Am going to make a pot of tea and get curled up in bed with it.