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

Lilac / esio - no, Us is a separate story, not a follow up to One Day (and not nearly as good IMO, sorry).

Oh thanks Tumble maybe I won't bother then
I enjoyed Far From The Madding Crowd so much I'm thinking of starting re reading Tess of the D'Urbervilles

Offering the alternative opinion here - I enjoyed Us very much. Thought it far better than One Day, which I didn't particularly like.

42. The Heart Broke In by James Meek. The two main characters in this book are a brother and sister, Ritchie and Bec Shepherd, who have taken very different paths in life, as a pop star and a scientist respectively. The murder of their father when they were a teen and a child hangs over both of them. As well as the 'normal' topics of family relationships, love, loss, infidelity and so on, there is a theme running through the novel of morality v religion v science. I quite enjoyed this, but I can't say I loved it. At times it felt like the author was trying a bit too hard to say something 'meaningful'.

Fair enough, Duchess

tumble - Us probably appealed to me more because the characters are more my age, getting old and grumpy like me :o

93. Why Be Happy When You Could Be Normal? by Jeanette Winterson. This is her memoir and a companion piece to Oranges Are Not The Only Fruit which I read earlier this year. Really enjoyed it - I listened to the audiobook, read by Jeanette Winterson. It was, in turns, very funny and achingly sad.

94. Horrid Henry Rocks by Francesca Simon. Yet another HH book read to DS at bedtime. He can't get enough of the stories and I have to admit I have a bit of a soft spot for Horrid Henry :)

95. The Bookshop Book by Jen Campbell. I have mixed feeling about this book. I enjoyed the first part in Europe, but then it began to get rather samey and, a bit bored, I began to skim read.

I finished I Let You Go by Clare Mackintosh and thoroughly enjoyed it. So twisty and gripping. I also loved the portrayal of the personal life of the main cop too, wondering if he was going to start an affair or not. Very good. Will have a look through my tbr pile this afternoon to decide what's next....

Book 115 - 'Emma' by Alexander McCall Smith
I tend to stay well clear of Austen-linked books, but I enjoy the Ladies Detective Agency books and 'Emma' was only £1.99 on Kindle, so I relented. Well, I wish I hadn't bothered. McCall isn't a terrible writer but he really didn't do a very good job of this. It actually had a couple of really sparkling lines, and Emma's character is pretty well established. Mr Woodhouse is good (much more endearing and less irritating than the original) and the Knightley brothers are pretty well drawn.

Unfortunately the whole thing falls flat because it's really rather boring. He spends pages on irrelevant rubbish (eg an invented ex girlfriend for George Knightley / Emma as a potential interior designer) and then completely skips over or pays lip service to really important things (the Frank/Emma flirtation / the Harriet/Knightley crush). I found this really disappointing, not because it was entirely awful, but because it COULD have been good.

It's made me very cross.

at Remus just don't read the Val mcDermid version of Northanger Abbey. That was truly dire.

Screams...Runs...

I'm reading Ghostwritten by David Mitchell at the moment and My God Can He Write.

Everything else pales in comparison. Seriously. The man has a gift.

Oh gosh yes, Cote, he certainly can! And thanks to all for the Bill Bryson's recommendations - more added to the TBR pile!

Books 48 & 49 are from my Booker readathon, so there's a review on my website: www.bunnyandthebloke.com/blog/the-moors-account-a-spool-of-blue-thread but, in brief:

The Moor's Account - Laila Lalami: the tale of a failed spanish expedition to the Americas told by a Moorish slave to one of the main players. I really enjoyed this and would recommend it, but remember that I'm a Booker kinda girl in case you hate that sort of thing!

A Spool of Blue Thread - Anne Tyler: a tale of three generations of one family AND a house. Usual Anne Tyler well-observed details on family dynamics and relationships. I found it an odd inclusion on the Booker long-list. If you like Anne Tyler, its not her best, but certainly very enjoyable. If you like your books more edgy, odd, or out there - it may not be your thing.

40. What Kind of Mother Are You by Paula Daly

I don't even LIKE thrillers that much! Picked this up in a charity shop for a pound, super easy read. It's ok, read it in a few hours, quite fun when I was reading it and then totally forgettable afterwards. Premise is that it's worse when you lose someone else's child whom you are in charge of rather than your own. It's very light, not much of whodunnit, a mild twist. It's very hit and miss.

I think going with what I pick up cheaply in charity shops is interesting - there have been some gems and some dunces.

Browsing through secondhand books is my favourite thing in the world. I can see that downloading books to a kindle would be very convenient but I'd never give up on charity shops.

Duches the memory of reading Horrid Henry and the Mummy to DS when he was small still makes me smile. We both used to get uncontrollable giggles.

Duchess

"downloading books to a kindle would be very convenient but I'd never give up on charity shops."

I used to love browsing book shops in my pre-Kindle days, but never been much of a used-book person - can't stand mistreated books (frayed edges, folded/torn cover or pages) and don't lend books to friends either for this reason.

Now, I am so used to browsing practically all books in the world on Amazon and receiving them in seconds that frankly bookstores hold little attraction for me. Well, I would still go in and take a look from time to time, but I wouldn't depend on bookstores for my literary appetite.

Best - you just can't beat that feeling when you're reading the bedtime story and you both end up giggling, shaking with laughter. It happened again this evening whilst I was reading his story. DS is a pleasure to read to - he gets so involved in the story. DD is too "grown up" now for bedtime stories which is a shame.

My DC love Horrid Henry too!

Agree Best - don't read Northanger Abbey by Val MacDermid *Remus" - see my review on the last thread

Book 49 finished and wish I had not bothered....
The Supreme Macaroni Company by Adriana Trigiani
This was my book group read for September and not one I was not looking forward to! My fears were realised as I found this book “Dull” at best.

Synopsis: “When Valentine agrees to marry Gianluca on the roof of her New York home little does she realise just how much her life will change. As she faces the everyday problems of marriage, motherhood and being a business woman Valentine realises that the whole world does not revolve around her and her family.

Valentine learns the art of compromise, she learns that life is for living not for working and she also learns that there are more important things in life than being successful. But has she learnt all this too late?”

It seemed to take rather a long time to build any sort of story so became a total drag to read. A light weight book lacking, in my opinion, in substance. Just too sentimental for me. I did appreciate the dialogue and dynamics of the Italian Immigrant Family but that was the only gem in the novel. I won’t be reading anymore of hers

Sill on Meadowland - reading a little every night before bed - and really enjoying it. I have not read anything like this before and would never have done so if it was not for this thread

Started Broken Harbour by Tana French on Audible. Seems okay so far but having to listen quite carefully to the narrators Irish accent.

Lilac - I really enjoyed Us - would recommend!

I see people keep recommending Us - may have to add it to my wish list. I wasn't sure if I would enjoy it...

I have just started The Versions of Us by Laura Barnett. I am enjoying it and love the idea of how life can take you on different paths according to previous decisions you have made. However, it hasn't taken me long to realise how hard it is to keep up with the three different versions - got fed up of rifling back through pages to remind myself so have sat down this afternoon and written was has happened in each version so far and will add to my notes as I continue! Hoping it may make things easier!

23. Judgement Day by Penelope Lively

Realised a chapter in had read this before, but still enjoyed. Parish dynamics in suburbia - wry characters and an unexpectedly tragic twist made this a very enjoyable, though now very dated, read. I enjoy this author - her observations of relationships are quite thought provoking.

24. Cruel Crossings - Journey across the Pyrenees by Edward Stourton.
    Factual account of those crossing and their guides in WW11. Really interesting, and Stourton's voice (Radio Four presenter) easily imagined narrating. I did skim through the last third as whilst all the individual stories were interesting, they were all escaping over a mountain range, and I stopped concentrating. Enjoyed - a different perspective on wartime.

25. Disclaimer by Renee Knight

Very silly story which I absolutely hated. It was like Girl on the train - all hype, and in reality, pretty poor. Catherine Somebody finds a book in her house which reveals a secret episode from her past. This secret slowly emerges to her family, cue breakdown of marriage and relationship with son. The unknown narrator however gets it wrong, and what was thought to be a sordid affair wasn't. Some scenes felt very staged, the dialogue and characters forgettable, and it was generally a tiresome disappointment.

Onto the Versions of Us

Book 116 - 'Birdie Bowers: Captain Scott's Marvel' by Anne Strathie
Loved this. It takes a while to get going, but once he's joined the Pole expedition it's really interesting, and reveals what a fascinating man he was -he's usually not focused on that much in accounts, so it was nice to see him get a starring role. They still all die though - they always do, and I still always wish that just once, they'll make it!

71. The Tailor of Panama John Le Carre

Henry Pendel is the tailor of the title, quite the bullshit artist and owner of Pendel and Braithwaite, a highly regarded tailor's business in Panama. He has cash issues though, and falls into the web of Andrew Osnard, British spy who recruits Pendel in part by knowing the truth behind the lies on which he has based his life. Osnard wants to know about secret revolutionaries, and Pendel delivers them, straight from his fertile imagination. Back home there is a lot of interest in the possibilities of revolution in Panama, and Pendel is in it right up to his neck.

There are very few likeable characters in le Carre's work, I find, and this is no exception. The further the plot progresses, the less I like Pendel. All sympathy is for the women around him who are dragged into his lies and suffer the impact of them.