50 Book Challenge 2015 Part 4

[southeastdweller]

Thread four 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 can count, and please try to let us all know your thoughts on what you've read.

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

Happy reading

Hmm just because it takes place in the future, is that enough to call it sci-fi?

Anyway does it take place in the future? I can't recall.

There's no science.

There's v little apocolypse.

The stand is one of my favourite novels duchesse. Def give it a go.

If you want to ease yourself into sci-fi you could try Philip k dick's short stories...

"Hmm just because it takes place in the future, is that enough to call it sci-fi?"

Um yes

"Anyway does it take place in the future? I can't recall"

Did 99% of humanity perish in an apocalyptic event in the past? No? Then it's set in the future.

"There's no science. There's v little apocalypse."

There isn't much science or apocalypse in most post-apocalyptic books. By definition, the apocalyptic event is already in the past and often there isn't much science left, either.

For example, in the 6th story of Cloud Atlas, an apocalyptic event has bumped humanity back to the technology of the middle ages. There is no apocalypse and no science. Still, it's sci-fi

Crawling towards 50 books here...

16. Red Rising - wow, this was a weird one. Great start, pretty good ending but the middle bit was just meh. Too many characters and clearly written by a young author. I thought the protagonist was just way too fabulous for his own good. Great story idea though, but I probably won't read the rest of the trilogy. I was bored way too many times, but I also sort of get why people have liked it. Just not my thing. 2 out of 5 stars.

Thanks wilting- I'll add The Stand and Philip K Dick to my list. The library had a copy of The Road by Cormac Mccarthy. Wasn't sure whether I would like so left it for now Have you read it?

Just added Nothing to Envy to my kindle. Not that it needed any more unread books on it!

31. Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro. I had an unusual amount of reading time on Thursday (while waiting for my car to have its MOT) and I zoomed through this. The main character is a woman called Kathy, reminiscing about her childhood and the strange future she and her peers were being prepared for. It's quite readable and passed a couple of hours nicely, but overall I found it a bit meh. And the love story left me cold. This is the first Ishiguro I've read, but I LOVE the film Remains of the Day so I was disappointed by this.

Just done a quick google of The Hours, and wondered for those who'd read it, would you recommend reading Woolf's Mrs Dalloway first, or does the Hours stand well enough on it's own without needing to 'get' the references back to the Woolf book it's based round?

I've realised looking at my "to read" books on my Kindle, there's a lot of murder mysteries and a few sci-fi, am going to try to put in some variety or I'm going to get bored! (I do need to switch between different types). Can I have any recommendations that aren't murder mysteries (or even if they are, aren't focussed mainly on the 'who done it?' aspect) or sci-fi-ish?

Pinkglow - I think I'll download the Partridge book to add something to make me giggle, thankyou!

I do think you would miss some of the meaning of The Hours if you haven't read Mrs Dalloway first. It's certainly not essential though.

Thanks Tumble - I might download that first then!

BTW - I agree about "never let me go" - I have had a rant about it on an earlier "50 book" thread, but I was so irritated by the passiveness of the main characters, and there was no exploration of what would happen if one of them "ruined" themselves with drink/drugs/getting a STD. I wondered if something like being HIV+ would effectively 'save' them...

Dinosaurs - Yes, that sort of thing would be explored in a good book about this sort of thing: Realistic scenarios of what might happen when a group of people know for a fact that they will be butchered for their organs. How they would try to fight back. How they would get organised. How they would try to 'ruin' their bodies for the purpose of organ transplant, with excessive drinking, drugs, and infections.

What absolutely would not happen, in this world or next, is all of them saying "Oh OK, then. Kill me when you feel like it. Enjoy my organs."

Donna Tartt's book The Little Friend is £0.99 on the Kindle today AND its Audible audiobook version is also £0.99 I snapped it up

Just bought it - thanks Cote

Help! I am really behind with my 50 and wondered if anyone had some suggestions for some short reads for me to take on my summer hols?!

I am still looking for recommendations btw. :) Have ordered, 'The Girl With All the Gifts' from the library but have to wait for it.

Book 78 - A re-read of Jekyll and Hyde
I still don't like it

Book 77 The Golden Slipper, and Other Problems for Violet Strange by Anna Katharine Green
This was a Kindle freebie & I only read it because I was desperate. It was very silly indeed/

summer Some of us recommended short books early on in the previous thread so it may be worthwhile you perusing those posts. Fwiw, my list was:

The Children's Act - Ian McEwan (he's also wrote shorter books but I haven't read any)
The Sense of an Ending - Julian Barnes
Brokeback Mountain - Annie Proulx
The Hours - Michael Cunningham
I Feel Bad About My Neck/I Remember Nothing - Nora Ephron
The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie - Muriel Spark
Animal Farm - George Orwell
Maurice - E.M Forster

Summersanta - Shirley Jackson's "We have always lived at the castle" is very good and under 200 pages.

Can I join you all? I've been following the thread and I'm waiting to get Station Eleven from the library. I also want to agree that the characters in Never Let Me Go were so passive it made the whole story unbelievable.

Welcome mmack ! Any book recommendations so far?

Welcome mmack!
I really enjoyed Station Eleven and am yet to read Never Let Me Go but I have been put off Ishiguro by having read:
52. The Buried Giant - Ishiguro
This book was a one-way ticket to Dullsville, alighting at Dull Central, via Dull Parkway and Dull City. I did force myself to finish it but only because I had invested my precious time in reading the first half. Half-hearted, half-arsed fantasy that left me yawning.

53. Flowers for Algernon - Daniel Keyes This, however, was an excellent book, though rather sad and perhaps very slightly dated now, having been written in the 60s (with some of the terminology e.g the word Moron). I think its been reviewed up thread and in earlier threads already so I won't go into too much detail but the book is written from the point of view of Charlie, a man with very low IQ, who becomes a human experiment and has his IQ improved to genius level. I'm not making it sound good but it really was, and following Charlie's journey is emotional as he learns and grows, discovering that the longed for intelligence does not necessarily mean he is happier. Algernon is a mouse who went through the experiment before him and Charlie is able to see his future writ large in the fortunes of Algernon. I would recommend this.

welcome mmack

Dinosaurs when I was in Waterstones yesterday, I noticed that the paperback of Curtain Call had been published this week. It's a very entertaining murder mystery but it's not so much a whodunnit, but more about the social mores of the time, and the characterisation is good.

More info here: www.randomhouse.co.uk/editions/curtain-call/9780224099585

Welcome mmack :)

And well done for finishing The Buried Giant, whippet :o

Thanks Duchess. I'm waiting for a knock on the door as I am sure someone will be delivering me my medal soon .

Omg Duchess, the road is horrifically grim imo, I can safely say I will never read it again. My mum and dsis loved it though and they don't typically read sci fi or post apocalyptic fiction at all. He is a fabulous writer but he really puts you through the mill...