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

The Miniaturist is 84p on Kindle, if anyone's interested.

Seven - DH wouldn't dare touch my Kindle! You need to establish boundaries in your marriage before it's too late

If you enjoyed 'A sight for sore eyes', LastAnni' you might enjoy 'The Vault' which is a sort of sequel told as a Wexford story. Don't read them the wrong way round as I did. I love Rendell/Vine.

Amazon doesn't make it easy for customers to see which recently published Kindle ebooks are heavily reduced, does it? Some of this year's Man Booker long-listed books are on there for a few quid or less, Edna O'Brien's new book is there for £3.90, and a favourite from this year, Jon Ronson's So You've Been Publicly Shamed, is selling for just £1.40. I only found out about them by looking at the Movers and Shakers chart.

The Modern State by Christopher Pierson - a re-read brought on by watching CitizenFour and the new investigatory powers bill. It's more of a textbook, but an excellent survey of the history and nature of the state from pre-modern times onwards.

The Bane Chronicles (short stories) by Cassandra Clare - definitely wouldn't recommend this to anyone but Mortal instruments fans, and even then it's pretty weak (I only read it because I wanted something light and found it on the library ebooks list), but some of the stories are amusing.

Sisters of the Revolution - anthology of feminist SF edited by Ann and Jeff Vandermeer. I was distinctly disappointed by this. In theory it should be my perfect book - but far too many of the stories really aren't SF in my book. Lots of magical realism / werewolves (not even genetically engineered ones) / feminist fairy tales and the like. There were a few good stories, though, of which one was both excellent and by an author I didn't know before ("The Forbidden Words of Margaret A." by L. Timmel Duchamp)

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows - reread because I was feeling ill and needed something to distract me.

Just bought So You've Been Publicly Shamed. Thanks for the tip SouthEast . Also ordered Operation Mincemeat as a Christmas present for my Dad.

Seven! You should definitely LTB

Cote, have caught cloud atlas now, thank you.

Btw, the Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet has survived my 100 page cut off threat ,flowing well at the moment...

An Astronaut's Guide To Life On Earth is £2.45 on the Kindle. I've been waiting for this one to come down in price for over a year

Cote and wilting

I'm a lurker on this thread btw, don't usually post but hopefully I'll join in properly next year!

Just got Mary Beard's SPQR for £1.80 too. Thanks for the tip off about the movers and shakers list.

'Dissolution' is only £1.19, if anybody is yet to read the wonder that is Shardlake.

Will I like it, Remus?

I hated it, but I never like detective type stories much...

Simon Winchester's book the meaning of everything , a book about the creation of the Oxford English dictionary is only £1.70.

I haven't read it but had it on watch as being of possible interest as I really enjoyed his book, the day the world exploded: Krakatoa. That is an excellent read for those of you who enjoy non fiction

46. Tied up in Tinsel by Ngaio Marsh - an old fashioned whodunit in the style of Agatha Christie. It was recommended on the Christmas reading thread. I really enjoyed it, a quick clever read with a crazy cast of characters. Really fun and seasonal too!

For those who love David Mitchell as much as I do there's a wonderful podcast of him talking about Cloud Atlas on the World Book Club. I think it's from 2010 but I found it on my podcast app when I was looking for some podcasts for a recent holiday. He sounds like such a lovely man, and it really gives a lot of interesting info about the book.

Ignores Wilting.

Cote - not sure. It's based around murder in a monastery, during Henry the 8th's dissolution of the monasteries. It has some v interesting characters, two of which (Shardlake himself and Guy the monk) remain central throughout the series. It is (imho) a well written who-dunnit based within solid historical research. The series provides a fascinating portrayal of Thomas Cromwell but without the tedium of Hilary Mantel's writing style in 'Wolf Hall' (again imvho!). It's pretty manly (even more so once the wonder that is Jack Barack is introduced in book 2!) and not too much lovey dovey emotion stuff.

Sonnet I only started reading Dickens a few years ago. I started reading him as a teenager but just never liked his style or the time period. I've only read two of his books (Old Curiosity & Great Expectations) so I'm really enjoying discovering him completely new. It helps that I'm now very interested in the Victorian period. I am now reading David Copperfield and am loving it. The period detail and characterisation are superb. I totally get Dickens now :)

Remus - I'm totally with you on Wolf Hall. Dissolution sounds like Name Of The Rose, which I liked, so I bought it

I think it's better than, 'Name of the Rose' personally. I really hope you like it. Still loving 'Mincemeat' btw.

Good to hear you are enjoying Operation Mincemeat. I recommended it to you enough times! Next on your to-read list is Measuring The World

Three-Body Problem is £2.08 on the Kindle. Very good, solid sci-fi. I would definitely recommend it.

Book 146 'Falling Angel' by William Hjortsberg
Picked this up at random and found it was described as, Raymond Chandler meets The Exorcist' by Stephen King. It's a who-dunnit with elements of devil-worship/voodoo in it. I enjoyed it until the end, which I thought was ridiculous.

I do want to read, 'Measuring the World' - must remember to order it from the library.

Measuring the World is on my 'to read' list too

Can I just drop by nearly at the end of the year & say that I've been lurking on this thread for a couple of weeks & promise to join in when the 2016 thread starts?

Also love Susan Cooper. Amazing series.

omg it's SO BORING, no way is Dissolution better than In the Name of the Rose. Wash your keyboard Remus!!!! Such casual sacrilege