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

I forgot to mention murder. There is a juicy mystery around a murder. It's a really good read, mmack. I had previously read the second book by O.Harris and that didn't disappoint either. Apparently he's got a new one due out next spring.

I've a stack of 6 other books to read, so ought to reach my intended target of 25 without too much ado.

Oh wow Remus! Is that the third book ever that we have both loved?

I just saw that Red Rising is £1.99 on the Kindle so if anyone on this thread is interested, this might be a good time to give it a go.

Ah Remus, that is on my watch list too

49. Sick Notes by Tony Copperfield; GP anecdotal type book, reads like it was written in v short mini rants! Only ok tbh, maybe because I've no direct experience of the nhs. Sorry Biblio!

Have started Pandora's Star by Peter Hamilton, it's huge epic sci fi and I'm really enjoying it!

63. I Capture the Castle - Dodie Smith

I had high hopes for this famous book which is frequently mentioned as a favourite comfort read and it started off well but then there's over 300 pages where practically nothing happens. What little story there is rambles on and on and on...I only finished it due to a liking of the main character but I'd never re-read it. This amusing review on Goodreads is hilarious and sums up my feelings about the book.

I remember liking, 'I Capture the Castle' years ago, but can now remember absolutely nothing about it except the wonderful first line. You haven't made me want to re-read it, South!

Lexicon by Max Barry is £1.49 on the Kindle. It is a great thriller with a mix of psychology, conspiracy, and magic. If you haven't read it the last time I raved about it, it's definitely worth a go especially at this price.

I love I Capture the Castle, it's one of my favourite ever books, but I have to admit that review made me laugh!

I think maybe it's one of those books best appreciated if you're in your late teens when you first read it, and it then retains a special place in your heart for years to come. I think we've had the same discussion about Wuthering Heights too.

Southeast - I Capture the Castle didn't do a lot for me either. I thought I'd missed the point of it when I'd finished reading it, and not much had happened that interested me. Glad it wasn't just me then :)

Noooo! I loved I Capture the Castle. It was the first book I read after spending three bloody months reading Clarissa and I thought it was lovely. Anyone who doesn't like it is wrong. That is all.

69. I Saw A Man by Owen Sheers - I really liked this.
70. We are All Completely Beside Ourselves - I felt like I was going round in circles, was quite relieved to get it finished. Did not do it for me!
71. The Ties that Bind - Erin Kelly - nowhere near as good as her previous books, IMHO
72. We Were Liars - just started this as some light relief after two rather ploddy reads!

I joined this thread last year and I'll never get to 50 but I give it a good shot each year. I hope no one minds me posting me whole list for this year. I am pretty sure I have read 22 books but I can't for the life of me remember what the missing one is.

1. The life changing magic of tidying – Marie Kondo
2. The secret diary of Adrian Mole – Sue Townsend
3. How to be a woman – Caitlin Moran

1. Alice in wonderland – Lewis Carroll

5. The lovely bones – Alice Sebold 6. The humans – Matt Haig 7. The Radleys – Matt Haig 8. In cold blood – Truman Capote 9. Reasons to stay alive – Matt Haig 10. The Rosie Effect – Graeme Simsion 11. Foxglove summer – Ben Aaronvitch 12. The little old lady who broke all the rules – Catharina Ingelman-Sundberg 13. A man called Ove – Fredrik Backman 14. The old man and the sea – Ernest Hemingway 15. A short history of nearly everything – Bill Bryson 16. Case histories – Kate Atkinson 17. One good turn – Kate Atkinson 18. When will there be good news – Kate Atkinson 19. Started early took my dog – Kate Atkinson 20. Stoner - John Williams 21. Career of evil – Robert Galbraith

I would be more than happy for any recommendations, especially Audible ones as I have a long bus journey to work!

How did you find the Galbraith, Pterobore?

Pterobore welcome
Great list , I've read most of those

I'm with whipperwoman I read I Capture The Castle first when I was 14 and about twenty times since

I do think it's one of those you learn the most from if you read it young iyswim

Your best and worst pterobore?????

A new Robert Galbraith? How did I miss that?

Remus I was blown away by it! I read the previous one a week before I gave birth last year and felt so let down by it. I listened to the latest one, read by the amazing Robert Glenister, and listening to them seems to suit these books better. I wouldn't normally get through a 17 hour book in a week, but it was just so well written and I cant help loving Strike, the miserable old bugger.

Thanks esio , every year I say I won't read loads by the same author, then I find someone like Kate Atkinson and Jackson Brodie and read the whole series!

wilting I was going to bold my favourites and completely forgot. Best were In cold blood, Career of evil and the old man and the sea. The worst so far has been The Sea, The Sea by Iris Murodoch which I am completely stuck on and unsure if I will finish. But from books I have read I could have given The Radleys or the little old lady book a miss.

bestiswest you've got to read it! By far the best one yet. I didn't notice it was out until a few days after but good grief it's good.

I loved Jackson Brodie. Have you read Susan Hill's Simon Serraileur series, Ptero?

What a coincidence that you should mention Simon Serrailler, Best
22. A question of identity - Susan Hill. I have read at least one in the series before, but I've not read them in order, which probably would help. I was initially confused by who was who/relationships between characters but this did settle down as I got more into the story.
I liked the way Hill built up the tension, and the insights into the mind of a somewhat deranged person. For once, I figured out who the murderer was, before the reveal.

Currently reading another murder mystery, but in a completely different vein.

esio, we both know that we are right and that everyone else is wrong. It's a shame they've got it wrong but what can you do ay?

94. Siddhartha - Herman Hesse

I probably should have read this when I was 17 as I would have found it meaningful and spiritual. Or I would have said I did! As a jaded 40+ yr old, not so much. Siddhartha, the son of a Brahmin, leaves home to become a samana (a holy man). He meets the Buddha, the Gotama, but realises he can't learn from him, or indeed from anyone. He then becomes rich and worldly but eventually eschews this for a simple life as a ferryman, learning from, and listening to the river. It's actually rather readable and I did find it strangely calming but I think my main reaction can be summed up by this with a bit of this
Reading a crap Kindle translation added to the fun...

54 - Consumed by David Cronenberg

This is the widely acclaimed director David Cronenberg's first book, and it is quite similar in plot, theme, and out-there weirdness to his earlier films Videodrome, The Fly, Crash, Dead Ringers, eXistenZ, and Naked Lunch. All of which I love Cronenberg's later films such as Eastern Promises and A History Of Violence have nothing of the edgy bizarreness that made his earlier stuff, which had made me (sadly and reluctantly) give up on his films.

In this book, there are many concepts/themes that the dedicated Cronenberg fan will recognise from his earlier movies: Insects (The Fly, Naked Lunch), technology's perversely titillating use in sexuality (Crash, Videodrome), a character performing a surgical operation on someone he loves (Dead Ringers), Philip K Dick-style uncertainty about what is real and what is not (existent).

So (1) I liked it for the story, but (2) Cronenberg isn't yet much of a writer so the book is just not very well executed.

And it has a godawful amount of raving about various lenses and camera equipment which is no doubt very interesting to other directors, but is very dull to read about for the rest of us.

In short, I'm glad to have read it but wouldn't really recommend it if you have not enjoyed his bizarro earlier movies

Forgot to say: If he makes a movie out of this book, that will be worth watching.

Book 133 - 'Goodbye to Berlin' by Christopher Isherwood
This is a series of vaguely interlinked prose pieces, set in Berlin in the 1930s. 'Cabaret' is based on it, although I've not seen it so can't comment! I liked it, bud didn't love it. The characters are interesting, but not fully formed and therefore harder to really engage with. It hints at the growing Nazi threat, but doesn't really go anywhere with it. It felt like the prologue to something, rather than a fully developed piece.

Will deffo read the Galbraith, but will probably wait for it to come out in paperback.

64. Breakfast at Tiffany's - Truman Capote

I knew this rather depressing and dark novella was different from the screenplay of the film but I was surprised about how much and wasn't thrilled to find out that Holly was a victim of child abuse and made racist remarks. This isn't something I often say, but the film was so much better.

65. The Grownup - Gillian Flynn

New fiction from the Gone Girl author, published today. Same kind of thing she usually does - a twisty story, some very perceptive dialogue but with some annoying implausibilities. I'd recommend it for £1.99 on Kindle or as a library loan, not worth paying £3.99 for the paperback, in my view (it's a short story).