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.

38. Various Pets Alive and Dead, Marina Lewyca Doro and Marcus raised their three children in a commune on a diet of lentils, radicalism and free love. Now grown-up, their daughter Cara is a teacher who luxuriates in the conventional pleasures of her very clean and modern flat, their son Serge is a City banker and their youngest daughter Oolie Anna with Down's Syndrome yearns to leave home and live independently.

A light, witty, enjoyable novel that I devoured quickly.

Dinosaurs - I thought Night Circus was a light & fluffy version of Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell. Nowhere near as well-written, either.

Snap up Red Rising for 99p. And if you can stop yourself from buying the sequel for £8.49 a few days later, you are a better woman than me

Annihilation by Jeff VanderMeer is £2.07 on the Kindle. This is an original & interesting take on "first contact", soon to be a major movie with Natalie Portman. I enjoyed it & reviewed it on here recently.

11. The Martian by Andy Weir - there are already some good comments on this thread about this one. I liked it but didn't love it. I found it quite exciting, easy to read and I really liked the characters. I found the geeky science bits a little boring at times and I skim read a few pages. Recommended for those who like quite a bit of science with their fiction!

BssshBosh that sounds like just the kind of thing I'd like to read atm (were on holiday!), thanks!

No. 23 for me was Perfect People by Peter James. An easy-to-read thriller about generically engineering a superior human race. The story focuses on Naomi and John, who are desperate for a healthy baby, but what lengths will/should they go to? If you like Peter James you'll like this

Oh Bssh I've given you an extra s, I'm sorry!

31. Golden Son - Pierce Brown

Fast-paced, interesting, and rich in detail. Fantastic world building. This is a great sequel to Red Rising, which I have reviewed below.

Cloud Atlas, I'm almost half way and it's been ok so far but I'm now on the section written in Valleyspeak. I'm hating this bit, it's hard to read and don't want to pick up my kindle. Please tell me it's worth carrying on.

Cloud Atlas is definitely worth it. Just push through that middle bit if you're not enjoying that story. You don't have to understand every word - just get the general idea before you go on to the conclusions of each story.

47. World War Z by Max Brooks

I really enjoyed the first three-quarters of this book. This is a refreshing take on the zombie apocalypse and unlike other zombie books that tend to veer into comic horror, the oral history narrative feels realistic.

There was a little too much focus on the actions of the military in various countries for me though, which I found a bit dull at times. Overall, would recommend though.

I shall start Red Rising next following cote's recommendation. I am also re-reading SK's 'Dreamcatcher' in the bath.

13 The Vanished Ones by Donato Carrisi

I loved this just as much as I loved his first novel The Whisperer. I read the reiview of this last year but read the Whisperer first which I am glad I did as this is a follow on, but not ncessary. Set in Italy it is the story of how missing people are coming back and committing crimes. The sory is told through Mila a policie officer working for the missing persons section who has personal problems herself. It is very dark as is The Whisperer but well written an reads quiet well depsite it being a translation. My only bug bear is that the names have been anglicised but I am not sure whether this was done by the translator or these were the names given in the book by the author to make it more generic. There are no cities, areas mentioned so in reality could be anywhere in the world. I am going to have to re read The Whisperer though.

Hi there, I've been watching this thread for a while, and picked up some great titles that would otherwise have passed me by. Do you mind if I join you?

12. The Skeleton Road by Val McDermid. Reviewed already, so in brief, loved the Balkan conflict back story - don't know much about this despite its recency - but found the detectives domestic subplot and murder investigation rather weak and unrealistic, although the character was well developed. The section where the victims wife and the lead detective team up in Croatia to investigate was also rather far fetched and the murderer was obvious several chapters before it should have been.
    McDermid writes beautifully though, and her characters are deftly and sympathetically portrayed (I love P D James, but find Adam Dalgliesh a rather cold and distant character). So whilst not her finest book, well worth a read, and as previously mentioned, much less graphic than some of her others.

13. The Cornish Coast Murder by John Bude
    Attracted by its cover, this is a classic murder mystery set in a small village in Cornwall with a small cast of suspects in a closed environment (lonely house on a cliff). The only detective is aided by the local Vicar and Doctor who provide an entertaining side story. It is set just after the war, which does make the plot rather dated, but makes for an interesting read.

14. The Novel Habits of Happiness by Alexander McCall Smith.
    I veer between loving the gentle series by this author (Isobel Dalhousie, 22 Scotland Street and the number one Ladies Detective Agency), and finding them rather patronising and pretentious. Isobel Dalhousie is a lady who likes to help others in the manner that only one of a private income and under employment could. A small boy, Harry, believes he has lived before, and provides enough detail for Isobel to trace the house he describes. Much talk of philosophy, poetry and reincarnation follow before a rather too neat an ending. The Scotland Street books are far better, but as both are set in Edinburgh, my favourite city, I keep reading the new books, but find them increasingly unsatisfying.

Now on the Crooked House by Christobel Kent

Welcome Rosehip

I agree that Alexander McCall Smith is less good than he used to be. He is churning out books far too quickly I think. I read the first few Ladies' Detective Agency and enjoyed them, then tried one of his Scotland St books which I thought was less good, and didn't feel compelled to read any more.

Edinburgh is my favourite city too. Have rented a little Colonies house for five days during the book festival so really looking forward to that Have you ever lived there?

Welcome, Rosehip. Happy reading.

Clash - Enjoy Red Rising. Don't plan to do much for the next 2-3 days

Rosehip - welcome! I might add the cornish coast murder to my 'to read' list - which is now growing alarmingly long!

Can't remember who recommended Station Eleven - I'm about a third through and would like to thank you - tis grabbing me - so everyone's going to work/school crumpled tomorrow because there's no way I'm tackling the ironing pile tonight!

Just finished no 46

The Good Girl by Mary Kubica

Was brilliant from start to finish
It's a psychological thriller alternating between the points of view of an abducted girl , her abductor , her mother & the detective searching for her

There's also a brilliant twist at the end

to rosehip in welcome.

Just finished book 26 - "Flight Behaviour" by Barbara Kingsolver. I absolutely loved it - unexpectedly - as I started to read "The Lacuna" a couple of years ago and couldn't seem to get anywhere with it - eventually returning it to the library. But this one just grabbed me straight away - perhaps because of a strong identification with the central character.

It's a wonderful weaving together of two stories - one, that of a change in the migratory behaviour of the Monach butterfly, with the other being the tale of Dellarobia - an Appalachian farmer's wife who discovers them in the woods behind her home. The first allows examination of the change to our eco-system and its long-term impact, whilst the other is a simple human story of people and choices made.

Dellarobia is a wild child who ended up pregnant and married young following the early death of her parents. The life she and her family lead is a familiar one in these parts, that of existing from hand-to-mouth, of hard physical work and a social life built around the local church. But Dellarobia had other plans before she got pregnant and her life is changed by finding those butterflies.

Cote I have "Red Rising" but feel I need a sorbet read after this one.

Welcome Rosehip

34. Losing It - Helen Lederer

This is a dire chick-lit novel about a fading and broke TV star who's asked to front a campaign for diet pills. As the book goes on, she learns more about herself whilst losing weight and also about her loved ones...yawn. This was very unfunny and much too long (457 pages). I did want to enjoy it as I've liked the actress/author for years so kept reading to see if it would improve which it didn't. One of the worst novels I've read for for a long time.

Now reading Life After Life and loving it so far.

No. 24 A Drink Before the War

More holiday trash, and the first in a series of PI novels from Dennis Lehane. These were written in the early 90s and are a little dated, but apparently get better after the first one... I'll give no. 2 a chance next!

Welcome to Rosehip and Apples, the more the merrier :)
Positive thoughts to Joyless (Lung/chest xray), Cote (dodgy hip), Duchess (MRI on back results) and all the others who are a bit "crook" at the moment! I am out of the brace and building up back strength with little walks and treading water in the poor and swimming when stronger. Physio will help too and hoping to be back in work mid June :) It has been tough and thanks for all the good wishes and book reviews to keep me motivated and sane.

I am about two thirds through Ben Elton's book Two Brothers: I am enjoying it but reading about Berlin and how the Jewish people were treated for years before WW2 even started is harrowing.

Someone here mentioned a zombie apocalypse book called World War Z.....you should try The Girl With All The Gifts, I reviewed it earlier and absolutely loved it.

I have so many on my list and piled up on the shelf to read so see you all soon

Hi Lammy. Great news that you are out of the brace. I bet it feels wonderful!

I am currently stuck on Bring Up the Bodies and also halfway through a Samuel Butler called Erewhon. I feel I am going nowhere with either, although I am actually enjoying Bring Up the Bodies. Wolf Hall took me a whole month to read last year for some reason so this doesn't bode well.

Joyless, I loved Flight Behaviour when I read it last year. I thought it was fab.

Lammy - Good to hear that you are out of the braces. For back strength, I sincerely recommend that you try out yoga. My posture has always been terrible because I've been hunched over a book most of the time all my life and have been working on computers for the past 20 years. It had got to the point where my back ached all the time and I couldn't actually straighten my shoulders. In the past 6 months, thanks to yoga my back actually straightened and now I'm sitting up like a rod My shoulder blades went down and in. I was crumbling like a doll during my initial headstand attempts, but now I can get up & hold my headstand for minutes

This isn't about books, but I'm trying to see how much interest there is on MN for a Yoga topic. If you would like to see a topic where we can have threads about pilates & yoga where we can exchange tips, share our practice, and help each other get better & stronger, please check in on this thread and write a quick post of support on this thread on Site Stuff where I've asked MN to consider a Yoga topic. Thanks!

Book 64 - 'The One from the Other' by Philip Kerr
This is a hard boiled-esque crime thriller set in post-war Germany, which I chose because the reviews compared it to Chandler. I enjoyed it. It's not as slick as Chandler, but had some great throwaway lines that were v much in keeping with that style, and I liked the central detective character a lot.

There were too many acronyms of all the different groups involved, and I didn't know enough of the history of all of the different groups, and the division and so on, which is my own fault but I think I'd have appreciated the book even more if my historical understanding was better!

I'd definitely read more in this series.

Good to hear the brace is off, Lammy :) Must be a huge relief.

More blood tests for me today - they've had so much recently I'm going to need some of it back soon! And yet another hospital appointment lined up. They had better find out what's wrong after all this prodding.

Will do a book update when I've finished my current one (a shortish novella by Susan Hill) - have read quite a bit this week.