50 Book Challenge 2015 Part Five

[southeastdweller]

Thread five 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, third thread here, and fourth thread here.

Happy reading

Just downloaded samples on my Kindle to add to my "to Read List"
Hild
The Islanders
Thanks Chillie

Loved Mr penumbra. I'll look up some of your others particularly demi monde.

Sonnet 'If Nobody' is a real Marmite book, ime. I detested it, but know lots of people who loved it! In fact, somebody of whom I am v find bought it for me, and I felt terrible that I didn't like it!

Have had another disappointing period of reading which this time began with A Place Called Winter, which I gave up on after 100 or so pages so not counting it. The slow pace was just about tolerable given the fairly intriguing backstory of the main character, but when he went to Canada and the farming element was introduced, I started to lose the will to live. Will give Patrick Gale another go in the future, but will look closely at the subject matter beforehand.

Today I finished Crooked Heart, by Lissa Evans, a tale of a ten year old boy evacuated to Hertfordshire in the 40's, who gets mixed up with the unsavoury schemes from the woman who takes him in. I thought this would be right up my street, but she didn't evoke the period properly, and there wasn't enough tension and humour. What kept me going was having a modicum of engagement with the two poorly written main characters, though I was tempted to quit this one, too.

Book 61 will be the memoir from the Reverend Richard Coles.

Can I lower the tone and say I'm really enjoying no 80 Stephanie Pratt's autobiography
It's actually quite inspirational what she went through in her youth beating addiction

ha ha Remus after finishing the book last night I looked up some reviews and realised that . You may want to close your eyes for my review then . I just loved the way it was written, the descriptive prose and the characters.

Book 58
If Nobody Speaks of Remarkable Things by Jon McGregor : On a street in a town in the North of England, ordinary people are going through the motions of their everyday existence - street cricket, barbecues, painting windows...A young man is in love with a neighbour who does not even know his name. An old couple make their way up to the nearby bus stop. But then a terrible event shatters the quiet of the early summer evening. That this remarkable and horrific event is only poignant to those who saw it, not even meriting a mention on the local news, means that those who witness it will be altered for ever.
An engrossing book, beautifully written with detailed description of everyday things that somehow become fascinating because of how they are written. The characters, of which there are many, were captivating, memorable and three dimensional despite not having names. One of the best books of the year for me.

Book 59 to start - One Day by David Nicholls. Not seen the film and only read US by him before -- I did enjoy it though.

Book 49 A Spool of Blue Thread, Anne Tyler. Familiar Tyler territory - three generations of an ordinary Baltimore family and the big house which the grandfather built for a client, then bought for himself. She is brilliant at slowing uncovering all the small tensions that build up over the years and at depicting very ordinary people and making them interesting, but I had mixed feelings about this one. The book starts with the mother, father and four children before leaping back in time to the previous generation, and somehow because of this I expected the grandparents' story to shed more light on later events than it actually did. It was an enjoyable read, but not my favourite of hers.

Book 50. Purity, Jonathan Frantzen. A huge book, tackling big issues about communication and identity and the impact of the Internet on all our lives. Fairly complicated plot involving an East German dissident turned internet leaker (Julian Assange gets a few mentions), a journalist trying to do good old-fashioned investigative reporting, and a rootless 20 something trying to both escape and protect her reclusive mother and discover her father's identity. The story comes together neatly, but I found it hard to like any of the characters.

Book 51. Cold Comfort Farm, Stella Gibbons. A bit of light relief after Purity. Very very funny 1920s satire about Flora Poste, an orphaned Bright Young Thing who invites herself to stay with distant rural relatives living in rustic squalor and sorts all out all their problems.

Book 52. Station Eleven, Emily St John Mandel. Wasn't sure what to expect but I loved the way she tells the stories of numerous people connected to actor Arthur Leander, who dies at the beginning during a performance of King Lear. I think it's been reviewed on here a few times so I won't say more.

Now reading The Lighthouse Stephensons, non-fiction about the Stephenson family of engineers who built many of the Scottish lighthouses in the 19th c. Robert Louis Stephenson was the one who got away to write books instead of building things.

Chillie - love the idea of a 'reading spa'. Just wish I lived closer to Bath! I've added The King in the North to my TBR.

81. Rabbit, Run by John Updike. The story of 26 year old Rabbit Angstrom, who was a basketball star in high school. His marriage to Janice is unhappy and he hates his job so one night on the spur of the moment he get in the car and runs away from his life. Rabbit and Janice are not particularly likable characters but the book is very compelling. There is a sense of impending doom and I flew through the book because I wanted to see how it all turned out.

82. Rabbit Redux by John Updike. This was published in 1970, ten years after Rabbit, Run. It catches up with Rabbit and Janice, who stayed unhappily together for 10 years but who now split up over Janice's affair with a co-worker. The tone is different from the first book as it is as much about America in the 1960s as it is about the marriage. I enjoyed it very much and plan to read Rabbit is Rich in the near future.

83. What Alice Forgot by Liane Moriarty. My brain needed a break from all the Updike and I enjoyed The Husband's Secret so I thought I'd give this a go. It's about 39 year old Alice who bangs her head and wakes up with amnesia believing she is a 29 year old newlywed. Finding out she is a soon-to-be-divorced mother of 3 comes as a shock. It's written like a thriller as she tries to piece together the story of how her marriage fell apart. It is chick-lit and some of the characters are total cliches but it's well-written and tightly plotted at the same time.

Chillie - Of that list, I read Mr Penumbra (which was OK) and considered Hild because Neal Stephenson (who is of course God) speaks very highly of it:

You will never think of them as the Dark Ages again. Griffith's command of the era is worn lightly and delivered as a deeply engaging plot. Her insight into human nature and eye for telling detail is as keen as that of the extraordinary Hild herself. The novel resonates to many of the same chords as Beowulf, the legends of King Arthur, Lord of the Rings, and Game of Thrones—to the extent that Hild begins to feel like the classic on which those books are based.
— Neal Stephenson

And now.....

50. The Moscow Club - Joseph Finder

I got this book after reading that it was a highly regarded, classic spy book due to the fact that a coup in Russia (much like the one it describes) was attempted mere months after, with the exact characters it names. Still, I found that it wasn't terribly well written and a bit old school in its stereotyping and descriptions. Also, I was a bit that every single person the hero talks to about the affair gets killed, almost immediately. After reading Charles Cummings' recent spy novels, I'm afraid these old spy books are just not cutting it for me.

80. Mr Penumbra's 24-Hour Bookstore by Robin Sloan

I ended up starting with the shortest! It's a light read, gently humorous, and with a quest for knowledge sort of theme.

Clay Jannon has lost his job as a web-designer during the recession, and ends up working the night shift at Mr Penumbra's 24-Hour Bookstore. It's an odd place. In the front are a few short shelves of books that no one seems to come in to buy, but at the back are towering stacks of shelves that people come in to borrow. But these are not ordinary people, and the books are not ordinary books. It's a library whose borrowers are searching for a great secret hidden within the pages.

Think I will go for that next Chillie..

Book 52 My Grandmother Sends her Regards and Apologies by Fredrik Bachman
Really enjoyed this. Elsa is 7 years old and her grandmother is dying at the start of the book. Her grandmother has weaved fantasy into Elsa's everyday world and she sends her off on a treasure hunt. Can't say any more than that without giving away the plot. Funny as well as sad. Recommend it.

Ooo, Hild sounds vg! Have put it on my watch list

Did you like Mr Penumbra Chillie? I was a bit disappointed with it really. Thought it turned out quite pedestrian?

mmack, I went through a huge Rabbit phase in college. Haven't read them in 20y I'd say but they were fascinating to me at the time. I must try one again and see if I still enjoy them.

I really like the idea of a reading spa. What a great way to spend an afternoon.

The Rabbit books have vaguely been on my reading list for years. Maybe I'll get around to them soon.

Elizabeth von Arnim - as well as An Enchanted April I've also enjoyed The Caravanners this year. It's sharper and not such a joyful book but is very funny.

I thought John Updike might be difficult and dry but he's the complete opposite. His female characters are well-drawn and he seems to have a lot of sympathy for his creations. I didn't realise until recently that he wrote The Witches of Eastwick. I love that film so I'm looking forward to reading the book.

What an interesting thread - have just found it. I realise I am a little late to join, but just wanted to say thank you for all the recommendations I have found (I now have enough on my WishList at Amazon to last around 7 years!)

I found it quite enjoyable wiltingfast but it's not a stunningly brilliant read. It's entertaining enough, especially when you're in need of a light distraction.

17. Turning 30 - Mike Gayle. Fairly bland, but easy reading. MG was suggested to me as someone to read to get some insight into character forming (I'm writing a book) but I must admit I found the format of this a little clunky. The story was quite well-constructed and I did have an 'oh no' moment with the plot. I was quite disappointed by the ending.

Hi FiveShelties, it’s never too late to come and join us

I have managed another two but b’gad I am on a go slow at the moment. I am still reading Misery. It’s very good but it makes me feel so tense that I don’t want to pick it up because I am so worried for him. But I have read two good books.

89. Coraline – Neil Gaiman
    I loved this and I wish I had been able to read it as a child. Although Coraline is scared she is still brave when faced with the freaky buttons-for-eyes parents. A great, fantastical, scary book for children. I preferred the book to the film, although I liked that too.

90. Lovely, Dark, Deep – Joyce Carol Oates
    This collection of stories was a Pulitzer Prize finalist and you can tell. I didn’t quite like them all but the stories I did like I loved (if that makes sense). Some of them are a little odd and vaguely disturbing but they all managed to get under my skin. I am still thinking about them now. I really do love short stories (although these were quite long) and they do tend to stay with me more than novels, perhaps because they have to be so well crafted. I would recommend this collection and I can’t wait to read her other books. I had never read her before this.

71. Bill Bryson - The Road to Little Dribbling. Usual Bill Bryson fare. Funny and interesting in parts through I did feel he got a bit Victor Meldrew in parts and it was a bit slow at times. I will re read it though as I do with all his other books and I will come to love it.

72. Andy Weir - The Martian. I read this after seeing and enjoying the film and I loved it. I know others up thread got a bit bored with the endless details about potato farming and technical bits but in fact I found them fascinating. It was a bit juvenile I suppose, my DS loved it, there's no real depth to it but it was good fun.

73. Station Eleven. Reviewed up thread several times. Not generally a fan of post apocalyptic stuff but this was ok. Lack of detail annoyed me a bit. What did they do for food for example.

47. Life in a Cold Climate by Laura Thompson, a biography of Nancy Mitford. This was recommended a while ago on this thread (by bibliomania I think?). It's quite long and I've been v busy, so it took me ages to read, but I adored it. However, it did go into a lot of detail so I would only recommend if you love Nancy Mitford's books (which I do), otherwise I think you might find it a bit slow-moving.

51. Never Go Back - Lee Child

Another Jack Reacher book, virtually the same as every other - a light read with enough suspense to keep you going. There is only one more JR book that I haven't yet read and it makes me a bit panicky to think that I have almost run out of them. Anyone have a recommendation for a similar "dick-lit" series I can read between long/difficult books as palate cleansers?