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

110. Emma by Jane Austen.

It was a good novel to see me through a tough week. My dad died in very upsetting circumstances earlier this week and we are all feeling rather shell shocked. In the circumstances, reading will be taking a back seat and I may not be contributing much to this thread for a while.

Oh no Duchess. I am so sorry to hear that . Take care of yourself and pop back to let us know how you're doing.

I'm so sorry Duchess

May your father rest in peace. I hope you can find some peace, too.

So sorry to hear about your dad, Duchess.

for you Duchess

Duchess, my condolences, how awful for you all. When I lost my dad I found reading did help me take my mind off things a bit. Xx

So very sorry to hear your news Duchess. I understand what you are going through as I lost my own DF very suddenly and unexpectedly a few months ago. I hope you find some peace through books. Take care of yourself

Book 59 One Day by David Nicholls . This book and the film have passed me by although I have just found a Dvd on the shelf. I won't review it as it must have been done before on here. I picked this up in a charity shop as I had enjoyed US. Very entertaining, loved the characters, found them vivid and real. Loved the dialogue between Emma and Dexter. Did not expect the ending at all. Must admit to getting a little bored in the middle and also with the 'will they/won't they' scenario but overall a great read.

So sorry duchess

So sorry to hear your news, Duchess

Duchess, so sorry to hear your sad news. My own DF died suddenly in June so I know a little of how you are feeling. My condolences to you and your family, I hope the shock gets less very soon.

I am struggling on with 3 books at the moment, I haven't finished one in ages but have managed to buy a few more!!

So sorry to hear your news Duchess :(

32. The Wazir And The Witch - Hugh Cook

Part 7 and one of my favourites of the fantasy series.

Duchess I am so sorry for your loss. It must be very hard for you.

49 Fated by Sarah Fine the last book in a YA trilogy that was quite good.
50 Purity by Jonathan Frantzen. I was lucky enough to have this sent to me by mumsnet and enjoyed it very much. I didn't like the characters very much and found the first section hard going but it really started to grab my attention when it went to east Germany before the wall came down

Condolences, Duchess

My condolences Duchess. I found that after my parents passed away I was turning to my comfort reads for a long time.

Really sorry to hear about your Dad, Duchess.

so sorry Duchess

finally back under my 'proper name'

I've just finished no 81 Stolen Child by Laura Eliot, was brilliant, read it in a day!

Here are my numbers 51 to 55:

51. Where my heart used to beat by Sebastian Faulks
    Normally love Faulks, but wasn't hugely impressed with this. He seems to have self-plagiarised from his other books, including A Possible Life (the 2WW theme), Birdsong (WW1) and Human Traces (psychiatry, in particular the notion that mental illness is genetically based). Apart from that, the plot and the characters were unconvincing - it just seemed tired and well-worn.

52. My brilliant friend by Elena Ferrante
    I so wanted to like this, the first in the famous Neapolitan quartet. And I did admire it - for one thing, it had the merit of being quite different from most other novels I've read recently. What's unusual about it is that it's a first person novel but is mostly about another person - the narrator's best friend. The two grow up in a poor urban area of Italy after the war, but take very different paths in life. The friend, who is academically brilliant, isn't allowed by her family to attend the more prestigious secondary school (equivalent to a grammar, I expect), while the narrator is. All very promising, but I just found it dull and yearned for it to end.

53. The picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde
    I'd never read this, and decided to give it a go on the strength of an article by Deborah Orr in the Guardian, which said that it was one of the most gripping books she'd ever read. I didn't find it quite as gripping, and was irritated by the Lord Henry character, who speaks almost entirely in Wildean aphorisms of the paradoxical variety. I was very struck, though, by the strong homosexual overtones - you can see why people were shocked by it. It suffers a bit because the story is so well-known (though interestingly, the famous portrait isn't kept in the attic, but in an upstairs room). But I have to admit, it's an absolutely cracking idea.

54. For the love of Radio 4: An unofficial companion by Caroline Hodgson
    My DP gave me this as a stocking-filler type present last Christmas, knowing what a R4 addict I am. It's a light read, mostly full of fun facts about your favourite R4 programmes. So I enjoyed it, even though it took me 10 months to get round to reading it.

55. The secret life of bees by Sue Monk Kidd
    Why oh why did I read this? I slightly resented the 99p I spent on it. It's set in Carolina in 1964 at the time of the civil rights movement. 15-year old Lily and her black companion/servant/housemaid end up running away from home and living with three black middle-aged sisters who keep bees. One of the sisters is very wise and matriarchal in character, and always ready with a Hallmark type sentiment to console the confused and motherless Lily. The bees function as some kind of clunky metaphor throughout. There's also a pile of horseshit related to a cheap statue of a black Virgin Mary that plays a major part in the sisters' religious ceremonies, which was so ludicrous that I really felt the writer was trying the readers' patience beyond reason. Am astonished that this a) received any critical acclaim b) was a bestseller.

So not a great batch - hoping for something better with numbers 56 to 60!

Book 60 D for Deadbeat Sue Grafton. Well that is 24 hours of my life I will never get back. Glad it was only a 50p impulse purchase from a charity shop. I know there is a whole alphabet of these so they must be popular but I found it dull, contrived and with characters I couldn't care less about. Thankfully I am taking it easy with a cold do didn't waste much valuable reading time!

I was very sorry to read about your Dad Duchess, take good care of yourself.

Just treated my self to the new Bryson. Am going to try and save it until half term, but it's already calling to me!

48. So You've Been Publicly Shamed by Jon Ronson, about people who have been attacked on twitter for making stupid comments. This was thought provoking, although there were some chapters I didn't find interesting (the random shame eradication workshop and Raquel's story). I didn't realise that twitter shaming tends to be so misogynist, which made me really angry.

52. Adjustment Team - Philip K Dick

I love PKD's stuff but this earlier story wasn't as well done as most of his later works. It is made into a film called Adjustment Bureau, which I thought wasn't bad.

Duchess, I am so very sorry to hear about your father.

Duchess - my sympathy for your loss.

September by Rosamund Pilcher
Audio book, which haven't been counting but need the numbers! Really lightweight, and quite silly. Small number of friends and family in Scotland gather for a dance to which a bewitching woman who left decades before has arrived. Honestly, every paragraph seemed to have 'how marvellous darling, have a drink'. Shame, as I remember reading it when I was about fourteen and quite enjoying. Mary Wesley wrote this sort of thing much better