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.

20. The Stone Diaries by Carol Shields – I enjoyed it but it’s a depressing read about how most of your life will be spent being old and ill.

21. That Woman by Anne Sebba – a biography about Wallis Simpson a person I knew very little about. Neither she nor the abdicated king are exactly sympathetic people anyway and this book did nothing to convince me otherwise. However I was appalled by the treatment of the royal family towards them after the king did abdicate. Very odd how behaviour to your brother/son etc

couple more:

25. White Nights - Ann Cleeves. It's the second of the 'Shetland' books - murder mystery books, except both this and the first book seems to be using the murder story as a way of telling a story about the life on the Islands. While the first book is set just after New Year and through the dark winter nights and "Up Helly Aa" festivial (the mid-winter fire festivial held on Mainland Shetland), this book is set in the "simmer dim" - the part of the summer when it doesn't really get dark at all. you do get a sense of the environment and small communities really effecting people. I really fancy visiting Shetland now!

26. Lady Susan - Jane Austin. An early recommendation from this group. It tells the story predominiately thought the letters written by/to the main characters. It works very well and gives the book a very different feel to other Austin books, although I didn't like that at the end the letter format was dropped. It's very short (under 100 pages) so easy one ot add for those trying to get their numbers up!

Poor Robert M. I adored, 'Mountains of the Mind' but found his other stuff a bit like watching butterflies - pretty enough for a minute or two, but not something I want to do all day.

You probably wouldn't like Landmarks then, Cote. There's more of the biographical sections - Nan Shepherd and others. But then again, the regional word lists might be of interest (occasionally amusing and some downright crude).

I have Mountains of the Mind lined up to read soon. Then, I think, that will be all of his books I've read.

Also bought Roger Deakin's Waterlog on recommendation from this thread.

Book 19 Innocence by Penelope Fitzgerald. Set in 1955 in Italy it is the story of a family, once wealthy, now almost penniless, eccentrics. Well written, funny, slightly odd ending.

Duchess - Let me know what you think of Mountains Of The Mind when you read it.

30. So You've Been Publicly Shamed - Jon Ronson

As well as him interviewing people whose 'calling out' on some of their online behaviour has resulted in their reputations being ruined for periods of time, he asks what shame is, what damage and what good online shaming can do and whether online shame is being used as a form of social control. I think you need a good understanding of Twitter to get into this book if you're thinking of reading it. Typically intelligent and non-judgemental, Ronson is one of my favourite journalists working at the moment and I can also recommend The Psychopath Test, another of his thought-provoking and highly readable books.

31. Amsterdam - Ian McEwan

Mixed feelings on this one, a morality tale which begins with the death of a married woman and we later see how her death and something she did before she died changes the lives of three of her ex-lovers forever. It was stunningly well-written for the most part, and I was in the mood for an entertainingly misanthropic book this week, but I felt some of the passages about music were pompous, and the ending was ridiculous. Difficult to write more on this without giving spoilers.

Next up is The Secret History - if it's at least half as good as The Goldfinch, I'll be very happy indeed.

Last night i finished "The Girl on the Train"

I did enjoy the book, and was sucked it and always wanted to continue reading, I wouldn't say it was amazing but it was good if that makes sense.

If you want something quick and easy to read then this is perfect!

Book 55 - 'XYZ: A Detective Story' by Anna Green
Another early American crime novel. This was quite short and v lightweight. Mildly diverting for an evening's read, but I've read better.

Book 21 - The Little Friend by Donna Tartt

I'm really not sure what to think about this book. I'm 1/4 of the way through and I'm struggling to be remotely bothered about any of the characters. This book seems to be taking me ages to read and it's feeling like more of a chore than a pleasure!

Has anyone else read this and does it get any better?

I've read it, but didn't like it much.

I hate to say it but I think I'm going to give up on this soon. With over 400 pages left to go I'm losing the will to live.

33. The Surgeon's Mate by Patrick O'Brian

Ordered home from the New World by despatch vessel to bring the news of their latest victory, Captain Jack Aubrey and Doctor Stephen Maturin find the attentions of a couple of privateers lead to a tense chase through the fogs and ice of the Grand Banks. Back on land, Aubrey is rather a fish out of water, so welcomes command of a ship to the Baltic where Maturin undertakes a dangerous mission vital to the British war effort. There are sea battles, imprisonment, and espionage, and once again it's a cracking good read.

Iron - I read it about ten years ago. I liked it a lot, more than The Goldfinch I would say, which I found a bit more of a chore. My favourite is still The Secret History

Must update more often
Here's the last few:

19. Flight Behaviour, Barbara Kingsolver Set in a small Appalachian community, a swarm of Monarch butterflies takes up residence on a mountain because their normal migration route has been affected by climate change. Dellarobia, on her way to meet a would-be lover on the mountain, is the first to find the butterflies. The media and the scientists descend on the rural community of rednecks, and Dellarobia, who married at 17 because she was pregnant and is now unhappy and ignored by her husband's family, becomes part of the effort to monitor the butterflies and reassesses her life. It's really hard to write a short outline of this book without making it sound trite or simplistic (as I think I've just done), but Kingsolver is brilliant at creating three-dimensional characters who feel real. Would definitely recommend this.
20. Sunstroke, Tessa Hadley Short stories, reminded me of Alice Monroe. The stories often turn on a single long-ago incident, which Hadley uses to dig into her characters. Again, recommended.
21. Rebecca, Daphne du Maurier I'd never read this before, and it was one of those books where I disliked most of the characters but still enjoyed the book. Du Maurier is brilliant at creating tense atmosphere.
22. Perfume, Patrick Susskind The story of a boy born into extreme poverty in Paris, who has no smell of his own but an intensely developed sense of smell. He becomes a perfumer's apprentice and begins to create perfumes which enable him to manipulate other people into doing things. He is also completely amoral (the subtitle is The Story of a Murderer). Enjoyable, a bit silly and gross in parts.
23. Alphabetical, Michael Rosen The story of various alphabets, told letter by letter. Loads of fascinating facts about the history of letters.
24. H is for Hawk, Helen Macdonald I know this has been reviewed upthread so will just say I loved it. Beautiful writing, lyrical and thoughtful but never precious. Will definitely read again.

Now reading Virginia Woolf's second novel, Night and Day.

47. Look Who's Back by Timur Vermes. This is allegedly a satire based on what would happen if Hitler were not dead, but had merely slept for the last 60 odd years and woken up in modern day Germany. How would people react? Such a fine line with satire. One person's satire is another person's offensive material. Although it started quite well, I didn't think it was all that good by the end. At best it's really only 2 stars, maybe even 1.

48. Oranges are not the only fruit by Jeanette Winterson. Really liked this story of a young girl and her very strange upbringing in a close and rather claustrophobic, restrictive religious sect. I remember watching, and loving, the television series with Geraldine McEwan and Charlotte Coleman.

Have got a big fat biography of the Mitford sisters glaring at me, which has been waiting to be read for a while. Will probably read that next.

I was close to buying Look Who's Back the other day in Waterstones but will instead get it from the library when they get it in after reading your review, Duchess.

So far, so good with The Secret History

Yes I think you'd be better off waiting for it from the library, Southeast. I wouldn't bother buying it if I were you. The satire falls very flat and becomes rather boring after a while.

33. Nora Webster - Colm Toibin. This really grew on me. Beautifully written. It's the story of a newly bereaved young widow in Ireland in the 1960s. Grief and politics.

Currently reading Pies and Prejudice by Stuart Maconie. This is a travelogue about the North of England written in 2006. It's a bit like Bill Bryson but with added left wing politics and Morrisey worshipping. I'm really liking it.

Best, I adored Pies and Prejudice. Can't wait to read his new one that's out in September, a kind of follow-up.

South I will definitely be seeking out more of his books and will look forward to that one too. I will be passing this on to my Dad as he will really like it too.

Operation Mincemeat by Ben Macintyre is £0.99 just for today. It is the brilliant true story of an elaborate WWII deception that quite possibly made the difference between victory be defeat. I definitely recommend it.

I've just finished my favourite book of all I've read this year

No 42
Roman Coleman The memory book

Beautifully written poignant story about a young woman who has Alzheimer's

Ooooh i have The Memory Book on my wishlist!!

16. Merivel: A Man Of His Time - Rose Tremain. I have really enjoyed all the books that I have read by this particular author and this one didn't disappoint either. This a sequel to Tremain's earlier book "Restoration" and follows the further trials and tribulations of Sir Robert Merivel, a troubled soul who struggles to find happiness with his lot in life, a purpose to his life and contentment. The book starts in 1683, 17 years after the end of Restoration. This book could be read without having first read Restoration, but I feel that it would be a fuller and richer reading experience to read both!

17. Fingersmith - Sarah Waters. This was a re-read after someone posted on this thread saying how much they enjoyed it. This reminded me how much I had loved it when I first read it 12 years ago. I dug out my paper copy and was engrossed again, wanting to read it all the time. I loved it just as much on second reading.

18.The Humans - Matt Haig
I liked this too. It was a quick and easy read and an interesting idea for a book. An alien is sent to earth to kill a Cambridge maths professor who has proven a mathematical theory which could enable humans to travel to other solar systems. He then takes over the professors body and is tasked with destroying all evidence about the mathematical theory and killing anyone else who knows about it. It was funny and touching.

Now on to The Corrections by Jonathan Franzen. This is a book group choice. I have read it before when it first came out years ago. I can't remember anything about it except that it is about a dysfunctional family. This doesn't bode well, as surely if I enjoyed it I would remember more details about it