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

mumslife - Huge congrats to your DD

Best - The film "Master and Commander" was very well done. Have you seen it?

No, I haven't Cote, I think I remember that Russell Crowe was in it. Good casting for Jack Aubrey.

Ooh, great to hear from Bsh. I too was wondering where you’d got to.

Everyone is reading such interesting things at the moment and I am in awe. I am just trying to read through my stack of library books at the moment.

So, 55. A Spool of Blue Thread – Anne Tyler
Good quality, insightful writing about a large, intergenerational family and the dynamics between siblings and parents. I did quite enjoy this, but I can’t help feeling a little underwhelmed really. I was interested in the characters but I just wasn’t grabbed. Not her best, but still pretty good.

However, I am loving Sophie’s World on my Kindle, but tend to read it when I can’t get to sleep, so I am only 15% through.

I'm only 19% through Genghis Khan and the Making of the Modern World but may I just say....

OMG the lives those people led And the stuff GK did before the age of 19

This book has an eery resemblance to Red Rising!

#39. The Color Purple by Alice Walker - story of an abused and downtrodden woman in an America governed by segregation. Although I think I am swimming against the tide of popular opinion, I did not enjoy this at all. I found the ending, with all its neatly tied together plot strands, incongruous with the gritty and harrowing beginning.

#40. My Family and Other Superheroes by Jonathan Edwards - a collection of poems. It is a long time since I have read any poetry (if you exclude children's rhyming books like Dr Seuss!!) and I'm glad I made the effort with this.

26. High Sobrioty by Jill Stark Binge drinker gives up the booze for a year. Not a bad read and read it quite quickly but since I don't really drink I couldn't relate to much. When she was talking about feeling pressure to drink by her friends I was thinking, really why don't you just say no.

Not on Mumsnet much these days, so a quick catch-up:

72. An Evil Eye, Jason Goodwin. Murder mystery set during the Ottoman era. Harems, eunuchs, ambassadors - all very colourful, although I'm not sure I totally followed the denouement.

73. The Paying Guests, Sarah Waters. Liked the first half - set in the early 1920s, families still reeling from the loss of loved ones in the ward and the changing of old certainties. The usual sapphic pleasures. But the second half - a murder investigation and trial - drags and overburdens the story with weighty plot.

74. Aftermath: on marriage and separation, Rachel Cusk. Awful. Clunky, portenous prose. Author tries to claim that her selfishness ("The children are mine!" "Why should I have to support my H just because he was a SAHP"!) is really some profound point about gender. Nope. Awful.

75. Mrs Palfrey at the Claremont, Elizabeth Taylor. It's the kind of thing I like - not a million miles from Patrick Hamilton's The Slaves of Solitude, which I enjoyed earlier this year - but I didn't really fall for this version of it. Life for elderly residents in a hotel. Published in 1971, but feels post-war, with the main characters feeling very out of step with Swinging London. A bit like Barbara Pym's bleaker efforts, but it lacks the consolations she manages to find.

76. Bit Little Lies, Liane Moriarty. Enjoyed this - mothers at school makes friends and quarrel. It's not going to persuade anyone who doesn't like mummy lit, but this is a really good example of its genre. Funny, teasing - there's a Greek chorus of parents, teachers and police who let you know that there's been a murder, but you don't find out till the end who and why (I didn't guess). Dealt sensitively with serious issues such as DV. Guzzled this down with pleasure.

77. Running Free, Richard Askwith. Non-fiction about the joys of rural running. Author debunks the commercialisation of the running industry. Some good nature writing (if a bit repetitive). Not sure it needed to be book-length - it started life as an article and shows it. But overall, an inspiring read, even for someone who can barely slog round 5km like me.

Biblio, I really like Liane Moriarty. I think she writes well.

I've been dipping in & out of Amanda Holden autobiography & sad to see that after she went back to work after she nearly died giving birth she writes

"women on mumsnet judged me especially harshly , some saying that I couldn't have been that ill"

:-( God this site as a dodgy reputation

has

I agree, Best, she writes well, and I think Big Little Lies was constructed cleverly.

Esio, you mentioned ages back that you were thinking of reading Cutting Up Playgirl - interested to know what you make of it when you do! Not surprised AH felt she was judged on Mumsnet - can't stand the woman myself. Inappropriate if posters made judgements about her medical situation though.

Took me what seemed forever to finally finish The Girl on the Train - I didn't enjoy it, I'm afraid. Silly plotline and characters I just didn't care about. I really wished I hadn't been taken in by the hype and at least waited for it to come out in paperback...sigh

Reading Fingersmith by Sarah Waters now. I have previously read The Little Stranger and was so disappointed in it so that has put me off reading anything else by this author for a long time. However, I keep seeing Fingersmith especially being highly recommended on many book forums so I thought I would give her another chance....am enjoying it so far although it is a little slow...

I started listening to the audiobook of Fingersmith yesterday, tessie :) So far really enjoying it. This is my third Sarah Waters. Have also read The Little Stranger and quite liked the idea of personalised haunting - playing to the worst fears of each victim - not scary, but interesting from perhaps a psychological view.

Have you read The Paying Guests? I enjoyed that one, although thought it could have done with a little tighter editing. Have got The Night Watch lined up to read later on this year.

Biblio - I tried to order it from the library but it wasn't in stock ! Keep meaning to put it in as a suggestion & forgetting !

Ah good Duchess, let's see what we think of Fingersmith then! I have got The Paying Guests on my reading pile but worried as I had read mixed reviews of it so thought I would start with Fingersmith first as I have read far more good reviews for this than bad.

I didn't like, 'Fingersmith' at all. Thought the 'Stranger' one was okay,but not great. Detested, 'Nightwatch' and won't be reading any more of hers.

I'm enjoying Genghis, Cote, but only about 12% in so far.

The Paying Guests was excellent and one of the few books I wish I could read again for the first time. I bought a copy of The Little Stranger last week so will be reading that soon.

Nearing the end of A God in Ruins. I hope the end doesn't disappoint.

Book 26 Red Rising by Pierce Brown.

I'd like to thank whoever it was that recommended this.

Absolutely brilliant. Great world building ( including consistent internal logic and language). A brilliant first person narrative. Fascinating plot.

Can't wait to see what happens in book 2.

All the lovely weather is perfect for reading in the shade so getting through a lot !

Been reading no 57 on & off for a few weeks :
Judith O'Reilly A Year of Doing Good

Really wasn't sure if I'd like this as I thought it might be a bit twee : the author attempts to do a good deed everyday from taking her neighbour to the hospital , to picking up litter

I actually really enjoyed it - the good deeds are intertwined with everyday stories of what happens on the school run etc as well as exploring what it means to 'do good' & why we feel the need

A good holiday read as you can dip in & out without worrying about forgetting the plot

TheWordFactory - You are very welcome I thought Golden Son (book #2) was good, too.

Remus - I'm 30% into Genghis Khan and really enjoying it, too. I think we may have found another one of those elusive rare birds - a book we both like

Faints.