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.

dragintrainer - I have also just finished The Invention of Wings. Agree in some parts it is a very harrowing but it is a brilliant read. probably one of the best books I have read

20 – Strength in Strangers – A True Story of Heartbreak Hope and Courage by Lauren Britton
Lauren’s husband Andrew suffered a near fatal heart attack caused by a virus, while on honeymoon on a remote island. He went on to suffer five more heart attacks and it was several months before he was well enough to be flown back to the UK.
21 - Her Ladyships Girl. A Maid Life in London by Anwyn Moyle
Interesting book about Anwyn Moyles life, covering not only her life in service, but her violent marriage and the business that she set up to support herself and her children.
22 - To Romania with Love – Tessa Dunlop
Quite a curious book, another true story but not very interesting.

23 – The Chessmen – Peter May
The third book in the Lewis trilogy. These are really well written thrillers set in the Shetland Isles. Provide a really interesting insight into life lived within a small, claustrophobic community.
24 – My Sisters Keeper – Jodi Picoult
The film was on TV over Easter and I remember that I had an unread copy of the book. The book, especially the ending, is different to the film. Anna Fitzgerald’s older sister Kate suffers from a rare form of cancer. Anna was a designer baby, her embryo was specifically selected so that she could save Kate’s life. At first it is successful, but then the cancer continues to return and Anna has to undergo more and more invasive treatments to provide blood, bone marrow etc., to save Kate's life. The book starts at the point where Anna has been asked to donate a kidney.
25 – Girl on the Train – Paula Hawkins
Has been reviewed many times already. I really enjoyed the book.
26 – The Wreckage – Michael Robotham
I have read several of Michael Robotham’s books and have enjoyed them all. Although I did not enjoy this one as much as the ones I have previously read. I think this was due to there being two story lines, one set in Iraq and the other in London and you can’t see the connection until quite a way into the book. The story was quite complex and confusing with many different characters.

Books 18 & 19 are the next two in the Outlander series.

I said up thread I wasn't going to bother reading on but was convinced on another thread to try the next two. They are entertains reads and I preferred the second book. I will not read any more in the series though as at the end of the third book the characters actions were starting to seem forced as plot points. Overall the easy to read and enjoyable.

No idea what to read next. I have Game of Thrones on the shelf but think j need a shorter read before I tackle that.

Some many typos apologies

Already loving love Anthony & only two chapters in !

35. Bird by Bird: Some Instructions on Writing and Life - Anne Lamott

This book is actually about how to be a writer and what it inovles, explained in a very personal, chatty and conversational way by the American author Anne Lamott. It's a sweet and low-key book and I didn't always agree with everything she said but having read so many books recently I thought it was time I thought about the process of actually writing books and what an author has to go through.

27. Old Man's War - John Scalzi

I'm going through a bit of a sci-fi phase and snapped this up when it dropped to £0.99 on the Kindle (it's still at that prize). Scalzi is one of the rising stars of the genre but this book is not his best, although it is pretty interesting - it is about transhumanism - quite "modern" although written in a Heinlein-ish style.

Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell is £3.30 today, down a good bit from recent price level :) can't decide whether to buy it or not, not sure I want to read it really...

Finished the martian! It seriously lacks any emotional depth whatsoever, you don't get any sense of what surely is intense isolation, the horror of abandonment in a totally hostile environment, or even much sense of the landscape. It's all v gung ho, I've an idea, yay! ( yay features a lot in this guy's vocabulary) I also felt the actual plot was a bit far fetched. That said I did read it all and enjoyed it in parts, have to admit the science was mostly over my head and I don't care enough to try particularly hard to understand it. I tend to take the science in my books at face value unless truly incredible .

Now onto H is for Hawk...

Is anyone able to tell me if Shantaram is worth reading? It's price dropped on Kindle, not massively, but I am tempted. It's mega long though so I would like to know if it's worth it!

I enjoyed Shantaram, and it is interesting enough that it doesn't feel over-long. Have you read Papillon by Henri Charriere? They are similar IMO.

Hi tumble, no I haven't read that either. Another for the list! Maybe I will go for Shantaram then...

Oh I really enjoyed it whippet though it's been a good while since I read it. Def worth a chance if you're tempted at all

I enjoyed Shantaram, although it is a bit superficial and definitely fiction (supposedly based on the author's life but details are significantly embellished, apparently).

Thanks wilting and Cote - the consensus for Shantaram is positive!

47. Life in a Cold Climate: Nancy Mitford biography by Laura Thompson. Really liked this - perfect match of subject and biographer. Her tone sounds just right. She really seemed to like and appreciate Nancy, which not everyone does. I've read a fair amount about the Mitfords, so the outlines of the story aren't new, but it was well told. I particularly liked the description of Nancy's poorly-chosen husband.

48. The Making of Home, Judith Flanders. History of ideas about home and the houses and contents we live with. I've previously found Judith Flanders a bit indigestible as a historian -felt like she was firing vast amounts of data at me, without letting the story breathe, but I found this more approachable. All those paintings of Dutch interiors - it makes absolute sense as she shows that they bore the same relation to real homes as the fancy lifestyle mags that we read today.

No 40
love Anthony by Lisa Genova

Loved this book , here's a bit about it :-

I’m always hearing about how my brain doesn’t work right…But it doesn’t feel broken to me.

In an insightful, deeply human story reminiscent of The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time, Daniel Isn’t Talking, and The Reason I Jump, New York Times bestselling author and neuroscientist Lisa Genova offers a unique perspective in fiction—the extraordinary voice of Anthony, a nonverbal boy with autism. Anthony reveals a neurologically plausible peek inside the mind of autism, why he hates pronouns, why he loves swinging and the number three, how he experiences routine, joy, and love. And it is the voice of this voiceless boy that guides two women in this powerfully unforgettable story to discover the universal truths that connect us all.

Bibliomania - I have had a serious falling out with Judith Flanders, having liked her previously. I've come to the conclusion that she's not a terribly good writer, and that some of her research is a bit questionable too. A shame, as hers are just the sort of books I usually love.

23. Pear Shaped: The Funniest Book So Far This Year About Brain Cancer by Adam Blain. As it says in the title really!

32. Personal by Lee Child

Jack Reacher responds to an advert in the Army Times asking him to contact a man he owes a favour to. As a result, he finds himself sent to Paris on the hunt for a sniper who tried to shoot the French President from a distance of 1400 yards - and who only failed due to the protective shields on either side. The G8 meeting is due to happen in London shortly afterwards and the world's security services are on the trail of the would-be assassin. There are four possible options, one of whom Reacher had put in prison 16 years previously while he was in the military police. So Reacher is sent on to London, very much off the official radar, to hunt the sniper down.

Not one of the better novels in this series, I thought. It's told in the first person and for some reason I don't find those ones quite as engaging.

thanks for the recommendation of Love Anthony, esiotrot. that's one that I will have to seek out.

Book 40 - Empire of The Sun JG Ballard

This is the story of Jim, a privileged child living in Shaghai who gets separated from his parents and ends up in a Japanese POW camp. Loosely based on the author's own experiences, this is an interesting read as we watch Jim adapt and change. Not a bad book at all, and there are some real sublime moments, but it did feel very much about what Jim did, rather than how he was processing the events for a lot of the book.

Book 41 - The QI Book Of The Dead

Great book about interesting people from history - some well-known, some much less so. Each figure gets a few pages describing their life and interesting facts and it really is a fascinating read even for people not interested in history. It's also one of those books you can dip in and out of easily. Thoroughly enjoyable.

Another horror short story collection to tide me over until I decide on my next book.

I think I might also give Love Anthony a try.

It is really good , I can't recommend it enough will love to hear all your reviews

34. Sense of an Ending by Julian Barnes
    60 year old Tony Webster looks back on his life and particularly his youth and group of friends and girlfriend at the time. Something happens which brings back all the memories from his past and particularly around a tragic event. The question is if he remembers the past as it really happened and what does life do to our memories and to us and how we see ourselves. This is my interpretation anyway. This book would be good to discuss for a book club I think. I really cannot make up my mind if I like it or not. I loved the writing, but I didn't really care for the characters (main character especially came across as such a pompous ass) and the story enough. It was also too nostalgic for me I think.

35. The Haunting of Hill House
    by Shirley Jackson
    A group of people are invited to spend the holiday at Hill House by a doctor who is investigating strange going-ons in the house. The atmosphere and haunting here is great with a cackling poltergeist, but I wanted more!! I wanted to be really scared and the story doesn't deliver. It sort of fizzles out and I didn't have to check for monsters under my bed before I went to sleep which was disappointing.