50 Book Challenge 2015 Part 3

[Southeastdweller]

Thread three of the 50 Book Challenge for this year.

The challenge is to read fifty books (or more!) in 2015, though reading fifty isn't mandatory. It's still not too late to join, any type of book counts, and please try to let us all know your thoughts on what you've read.

First thread of the year here, and second thread here.

14. Memoirs of a Geisha , Arthur Golden

Spoilers for this book below!

Not sure how I hadn't read this before, but I bought it in a charity shop a few weeks ago and it was a great buy. This book really drew me into its world, and I thoroughly enjoyed learning about the traditions and history of this Japanese practice. I love it when a book takes hold like this and you just don't want to put it down.

The main thing I'd say against it was that the main character didn't quite develop into the person I had hoped and believed she would. A lot was made of her 'cleverness' and this didn't really come to much. I really came to admire and like the character of Nobu, and had started to think that the culmination of the book would come in Sayuri throwing off her childish infatuation with the Chairman and instead falling in love with the less dreamy but more real and gruffly loveable Nobu. But obviously this didn't transpire to be the case, and when she ended up with the Chairman I was a bit disappointed to tell the truth, and felt sorry for poor Nobu who I was much more invested in as a reader.

Ellisisland thank you for the advice re: The Unconsoled, I have read a lot of Ishiguro's other books and have had this one sitting on my shelf for a long time...I'm still on the fence re: whether to just dive into it next or not! I don't have his new one to hand otherwise I'd go for that.

25. Grimm Tales for Young and Old by Philip Pullman

A retelling of 50 of Pullman's favourite tales from the Brothers Grimm, with each accompanied by a brief commentary on the type of tale it is, where the brothers gathered it from, and also some of the other classic versions of the story. The introduction, with background to the brothers and their intentions behind collecting stories, was very informative as well.

14. Winston Graham - Poldark 1. Thoroughly enjoyed this! Looking forward to numbers 2-12 now.

Book 46 - '2001: A Space Odyssey'

What can I say? I absolutely hated this book. Man gets into spaceship and floats around a bit. The end.

I honestly didn't understand the point of this, at all. The writing was fine - he can string sentences together reasonably well, which is why I managed to get to the end of it - but absolutely nothing happens.

This made, 'The Martian' look really, really good in comparison.

15. The truth about us by Dalene Flannigan

Three College friends have a secret, hidden for 16 years, then one wants to confess after she finds religion

It's a fairly short book, but it deals with serious subjects, I'm not sure if I enjoyed it but it was thought provoking

"Man gets into spaceship and floats around a bit. The end."

Seriously, that's all you got from 2001: A Space Odyssey?

It's been over 10 years since I last read it, but I remember very clearly that there were many topics explored in that book, such as how intelligence/consciousness emerges, the evolution of humanity beyond its present state, artificial intelligence and the problems that we will probably face.

Yup - that's all I got. One of the worst books I have ever finished.

Correct version:

Ape men grunt at each other a bit then learn how to wave stones around. Man goes to the moon. There is a big black thing on the moon. Man gets into space ship and floats around a bit. Computer goes crazy. Man floats around some more. Man gets off spaceship and finds another big black thing. Man falls into big hole. The end.

21. The Three-Body Problem - Liu Cixin (author) and Ken Liu (translator)

This was fantastic, exactly what I needed after the string of bad books I recently plodded through. It is a story of China's Cultural Revolution, the revival of its sciences decades later, SETI, first contact, virtual reality with a game that is more than a game, etc. It's written very well, which is surprising considering that it is translated into English from Chinese. It is complex, brainy, and detailed in its scientific explanations and speculations. Very interesting and thought-provoking, a cross between Anathem and The Diamond Age. I heartily recommend this book.

Well, for example, what do you think happened to HAL that made it "go crazy"?

And why do you think "the big black thing on the moon" was there?

The point is, Cote, that I don't care. I understand the questions it's trying to raise but it was really, really boring.

And now I haven't got anything to read apart from history books, which I don't fancy at the moment.

Sulks. :(

37. I Capture the Castle, Dodie Smith - Cassandra lives with her family in a crumbling old castle. Broke, they have to make ends meet, until the two American heirs to the estate turn up, and Cassandra's sister Rose decides she is going to marry one of them. This was lovely, and for once a diary that actually reads like a diary.

38. The Flavours of Love, Dorothy Koomson -- 18 months ago after Saffron's husband was murdered, she starts receiving letters from his murderer. So far so thrilling, right? Unfortunately this wasn't thrilling in the slightest; it was, in fact, one of the dullest books I've read in a long time. Utterly and completely meh. I managed to finish it, but that was through skipping entire pages. On and on it went, and how is it possible that the most boring element in the story was the letters from her husband's murderer?

Let's get one thing straight; this is not a thriller. The author has used the trappings of the crime genre to write a story about family and motherhood. I like my crime novels to be crime novels, and there is no mystery about the murder here. There is a mystery involving her daughter, and I read on to find out how that worked out, but that's really the only reason I bothered to read to the end.

It wasn't even that I hated it, which is weird considering how much I've written about it here. I think I'm annoyed that I wasted my time finishing it.

Meh meh meh.

39. Meditation on Murder, Robert Thorogood Aslan Kennedy, sucessful owner of a spa retreat on the Caribbean island of Saint-Marie, is found murdered in a locked room with five other people, one of whom is found standing over him with a knife. I really enjoyed this, enjoyed the touch of humour, and found it a good tie-in with the TV series. The mystery itself was pretty good I guessed the method, but not the murderer, but then I have read and seen an awful lot of murder mysteries. It was a fun, quick read and not a bad little locked room mystery.

*

Right, next up is Various Pets Alive and Dead, by Marina Lewycka.

I capture the castle is one of my fav books of all time
Completely agree about the Dorothy koomsom
Much preferred ice cream girls

Haven't read any other Dorothy K ones, but hated, 'Icecream Girls.' Can't remember anything about it now though, other than that I didn't like it at all!

Have you read Eiger Dreams by Jon Krakauer Remus? It's on my tbr list but mat get you out of your slump now?
You read Joe Simpson right?
Chris Bonington? He did one on the Annapurna ascent, back in the early seventies. It's been ages since I read it but I liked it then.

I think I've read, 'Eiger Dreams' but if not, I will do.

Read Simpson - liked, 'Touching the Void' a lot, but his others less so (and one was dreadful - I wrote about it on here last year iirc).

Read a couple of Bonnigton's but don't love his writing style - it lacks personality imho.

But thank you for the recs. :)

Thanks for the recommendation Cote - I've just bought The Three Body Problem. I always liked Neal Stephenson, although haven't read any since Cryptonomicon about 10 years ago.

I also bought The Year of Magical Thinking which I think got good reviews. Just finished Girl on a Train, reasonable page turner but not sure what all the fuss is about.

Two fast reads made three books this week after Never Let Me Go. I am on a roll! DD has been poorly with a bad cold in first week of hols and I had a bug so we had a few quiet days.

13. The Children Act by Ian McEwan - short and very thoughtful book about a judge Fiona overseeing a particular case about a young Jehovah's Witness who refuses a blood transfusion. At home, her marriage is struggling. I was very intrigued by the massive decisions individuals such as Fiona have to make which change people's lives. McEwan put a lot of research into the book and included interesting background. I felt this could be the start of a tv drama and wanted to follow the judge in other cases but this was like a snapshot of her life, and just how much influence her decision can affect a person....or indeed not be able to affect later decisions. I enjoyed this a lot.

14. Better Than Before - Mastering Habits of our Everyday Lives by Gretchen Rubin. I have read her Rubin's books on happiness and felt they helped me take a step forward after my mum died, so I was very enthusiastic to read this. Hmmm I don't think the habits book had the same effect as it was quite preachy. She is very much an upholder of good habits and by the end I felt quite overwhelmed by her goodness! But there were some very interesting pieces of research (she is hot on various updated research, tries out gadgets and also includes personal and friends' stories) - it is very personal, up to date and I took away a lot of info. Monitoring, scheduling and having values for your habits as well making a good habit convenient and a bad habit inconvenient. Easy read and helpful for maintaining a healthy well being.

15 is Suite Francaise

#15. An Astronaut's Guide to Life on Earth - Chris Hadfield. Chris Hadfield was the first Canadian to walk in space. This is a sort of autobiography but essentially a gentle guide to some life lessons in how to fulfil your potential. In places, it came across as a little smug, but I suspect this is down to the edit, as all in, he came across as dedicated, assured, and humble. Some really interesting anecdotes about flying the Soyuz and being on the ISS. This really made me think about how much we take for granted, and just how much we don't know.

#16. Elizabeth is Missing -Emma Healey. I did guess at the 'twist' about halfway through, but not quite how it had happened. This was a really interesting, and sometimes saddening read, as some of the subjects were quite close to home.

Calling all Robert Macfarlane fans! here's one for you...

11. Waterlog - Roger Deakin An absolute classic that was recommended by RM when I saw him speak recently. It is credited with starting off the current reinvigoration of nature writing (and inspiring RM, Helen Macdonald et al) - only it's better than their books. It's the account of a year Deakin spent swimming around the UK - mostly wild swimming in rivers, lochs, the sea etc but also taking in lidos and a handful of indoor pools. It's about the joy and freedom of swimming, the people he meets along the way and how wild swimming gives a connection to place and nature. His writing is funny, inspiring and lacking the heavy-handed way with metaphors that sometimes clogs up RM and HM's style. I can't recommend it enough.

I've got Waterlog on my tbr list on Goodreads after getting a recommendation for it. It sounds exactly my kind of thing so will bump it up the list now

33. Lullaby by Chuck palaunick

(Sorry about spelling!)

A young man accidentally kills his wife and child by reading a lullaby which is actually an old culling song. Over the course of the next twenty years, he realises that other people are inadvertently killing people through the song, and he kills several people mainly unintentionally before managing to get it under control. He then goes on a mission to track down and destroy all copies of the song, together with a female estate agent who has lost her son due to the song, her Wiccan receptionist and her Wiccan receptionist's boyfriend.

This started well and was very engaging. It then descended into total chaos that didn't even make much sense and was difficult to follow. All the usual CP hallmarks are here - the repetition of phrases and themes, the surreal-ness. However, definitely one of his weaker books and I'm still not really sure what happened at the end.

this book felt like it was written primarily to shock - and whilst CP is not known for his subtlety, blow by blow accounts of necrophilia and constant references back to this point were just OTT, even for him.

Wouldn't recommend.

Meg thanks for the Waterlog recommendation. I have added it to my 'to read' pile.

Bugrit I loved I Capture the Castle when I read it.

We've had family here so I haven't done much reading and seem to be stuck halfway through How to be Alone by Jonathan Franzen and halfway through Waiting for the Barbarians. All weekend I have fought the urge to sneak off and read!

We are now dragging the kids geocaching. They are less than thrilled

Finished A Single Breath...seems to have taken me ages! I was put off this about halfway through. It was repetitive and a bit boring, I also guessed the twist which was obvious. I skim read the last chapter to get through it

On to book 13.... undecided!!!

26. The Infernal Device by Michael Kurland

The first in a series of Holmesian novels, but centred around Professor Moriarty. An American journalist, Benjamin Barrett, is employed by Moriarty after having been rescued from a Turkish prison by the Professor where he was awaiting the death sentence, having been accused of the brutal murder of a British spy. He had been in Constantinople to report on the sea trials of a new submarine, which was sabotaged and blown to pieces. Moriarty in turn is employed by the Russian Tsar to track down and foil a rogue agent of their own secret services who is plotting an attack in Britain which would result in all out war with Russia if it succeeded. As Moriarty and Barrett attempt to track down the Russian agent they find their footsteps dogged by Sherlock Holmes, who will keep on getting in the way.

Reasonable read, not brilliant but entertaining enough, though the language is too American for Victorian London - not necessarily in what the characters are saying, but in the narrative. It grates a little to me because it feels so out of place in a Holmesian setting.