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 watched the trailer and was surprised that it actually made me laugh a few times! I can't imagine for a second that all of Bryson's wit could translate to film though, and it looks as if it might become a bit Laurel and Hardy instead. Not sure I'll bother.

48. Personal - Lee Child

This is my guilty pleasure, a dick-lit series featuring Jack Reacher. And this book is one of the better examples of the series, especially in the first half. It does get a little ludicrous at around 80%, but hey ho. Still a great light read.

I read Bill Bryson's A Walk in the Woods ages ago. The book must be at least 16 years old. I know this because an ex bf gave me my copy for Christmas and I've been married to DH for nearly 14 years. Seems a bit odd that it's only just been made into a film - presumably on the back of the success of the film of Cheryl Strayed's book, Wild? Was a bit surprised at the choice of Robert Redford for the role. He's nearly 80 and presumably a little bit too old dare I say?

I'm not sure about the Bill Bryson film but I do fancy Everest (released today) about the 1996 disaster having read the Jon Krakauer book about it earlier this year.

I'm going to see, 'Everest' next week hopefully.

Sounds right up your street Remus. Might go Sunday.

Oh Remus I want to see that! Let us know if it's any good.

No.39
A Place Called Winter by Patrick Gale

In 1902 Harry Cane leaves England after an affair with another man threatens to become public and he moves to the Canadian wilderness to try and begin a new life. This story is based on a family history in Patrick Gales own family which makes this story all the more poignant.
A beautiful book would recommend.

Saw Everest last night and it's really good for anyone planning on seeing it

Hi everyone. I've been away from the thread for quite a while, and I've been missing catching up with what everyone has been reading.

Bringing my list across:

1. The Strangling on the Stage, Simon Brett

2. The Shock of the Fall, Nathan Filier 3. Agatha Raisin and the Quiche of Death, M. C. Beaton 4. The Secret Place, Tana French 5. The Sleep Room, F. R Tallis 6. Dissolution, C. J Sansom (Reread)

1. Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Season 8 part 1

8. The Nature of Monsters, Clare Clark

1. The Paying Guest, Sarah Waters

10. The Unwelcomed Child, Virginia Andrews 11. I Think you'll find it's a bit more complicated than that, Ben Goldacre 12. The Kill Call, Stephen Booth 13. The Debutante, Kathleen Tessaro 14. Revival, Stephen King 15. The Rosie Project, Graeme Simsion 16. Farmageddon, Philip Lymbery and Isabel Dakeshott 17. The Cookbook Collector, Allegra Goodman 18. The Lives of Others, Neel Mukherjee 19. Rupture, Simon Lelic 20. The Apothecary's Daughter, Charlotte Betts 21. Smiler's Fair, Rebecca Levene 22. World War Z, Max Brooks 23. Dawn of the Dumb, Charlie Brooker 24. The Misbegotten, Katherine Webb 25. By the Pricking of my Thumbs, Agatha Christie 26. Rivers of London, Ben Aaronovitch 27. The Giver, Lois Lowry 28. Northanger Abbey, Val McDermid 29. The Lacuna, Barbara Kingsolver 30. The Night Guest, Fiona McFarlane 31. Keep Quiet, Lisa Scottoline 32. The Vanished Ones, Donato Carrini 33. Mr Mercedes, Stephen King 34. The White Devil, Justin Evans 35. Her, Harriet Lane 36. Sharp Objects, Gillian Flynn 37. I Capture the Castle, Dodie Smith 38. The Flavours of Love, Dorothy Koomson 39. Meditation on Murder, Robert Thorogood 40. Cold Vengeance, Preston & Child 41. South Riding, Winifred Holtby 42. Just What Kind of Mother are You, Paula Daly 43. Thinking About it only Makes it Worse, David Mitchell 44. Nyctophobia, Christopher Fowler 45. Gentle Giant, Wendy Robinson 46. Homeland, Clare Francis 47. The Girl on the Train, Paula Hawkins 48. A Place of Safety, Caroline Graham 49. The Narrow Road to the Deep North, Richard Flanagan 50. Trick or Treatment: Alternative Medicine on Trial, Simon Singh and Edzard Ernst 51. Elizabeth is Missing, Emma Healey 52. The Axeman's Jazz, Ray Celestin 53. Americanah, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie 54. I'll Have What She's Having, Rebecca Harrington 55. The Torso in the Town, Simon Brett 56. N-W, Zadie Smith

And these are the books I've read since then. I'm fairly positive I've missed some out though, unfortunately. I'll add them in if I remember.

57. The Blood-Dimmed Tide, Anthony Quinn
An old coffin is washed up on an Irish beach, but when it is opened the corpse within is found to be a young and beautiful woman, one who has been seen recently wading into the sea. W.B. Yeats, occultist and poet, receives a letter begging him to investigate the girl's murder, and so he does. Sounds great right? Well, no not really. I found it tedious, with far too much occultist nonsense and faffing around on beaches for no apparent reason. Disappointing.

58. The English Marriage, Maureen Waller
A history of the English Marriage, told through a series of vignettes, ranging from devoted love and support to potential murder and abuse. Very interesting indeed.

59. Consumed, Harry Wallop
All about class in England. I tend to think the whole business of dividing people into stereotypical tribes is a bit lazy journalism, to be honest, but this was fairly interesting, with a fairly uncomfortable bit on why high streets in poor areas tend to spiral into decline, lined with bookies and cheap tat shops and branches of pay day lenders.

60. The Last Days, Adam Nevill
Kyle is an independent filmmaker, struggling in debt, who is commissioned to create a film about the Cult of the Last Days and its leader, sadistic psychopath Sister Katherine. It quickly becomes clear that there is something supernatural going on, and the book builds towards a terrifying action-packed ending. Excellent. Adam Nevill is one of the best horror novelists writing today.

61. Did She Kill Him? A Victorian Tale of Deception, Adultery & Arsenic, Kate Colquhoun
A history book about Florence Maybrick and her trial for the murder of her husband by arsenic. It's fascinating, and focuses on the evidence for and against, as well as the changing attitudes in the country. Well worth reading if you're interested in true crime. If you liked The Suspicions of Mr Whicher, you'll probably like this.

62. The Spider King's Daughter, Chibundu Onuzo
Abike Johnson is her father's favourite child, living in pampered luxury. One day she meets a hawker on the road and she engineers a friendship with him, which turns into a relationship shadowed by dark secrets from the past.

This had the potential to be utterly brilliant, but is let down a little by the execution. I could have done without seeing the same scene from both viewpoints in most cases, it doesn't add anything much, so just feels redundant and the characters could have been fleshed out more. The ending was exactly right though, although perhaps again it could have been handled a bit better. One to watch.

63. The Adventure of the Christmas Pudding, Agatha Christie &
64. Hercule Poirot and the Greenshore Folly, Agatha Christie
Did you know it was Agatha Christie's 125th birthday this week? There's not much more I can say about these, really. The Greenshaw Folly here is the novella that was expanded into Dead Man's Folly, and the Adventure of the Christmas Pudding is a collection of short stories, mainly featuring Poirot, but with one Miss Marple story: Greenshaw's Folly.

65. The Boy with the Porcelain Blade, Den Patrick
I've been finding that decent fantasy is tough to come by lately, but this has cheered me right up. It's billed as a cross between Locke Lamora and Gormenghast, and is the tale of Lucien, one of the Orfani, deformed foundlings taken in and trained by the noble families. It was compelling and unusual, with some dark and gruesome moments. I'll be reading the sequel for definite.

66. A Summer Breeze, Colette Caddle
Light enough romantic story set in Ireland, which was spoiled by the handling of domestic violence (the main character urging her friend that she has to let her arsehole of a husband know where he stands, not long after he has been violent towards her for the first time), and another unpleasant character has his manipulative and threatening personality explained away through undiagnosed Asperger's Syndrome. Excuse me? Not impressed, and it spoiled the story for me.

67. Hunted, Carla Norton
Reeve LeClaire has rebuilt her life after being abducted by a psychopath, but when he escapes, he sets out to hunt her down. It's been a while since I read this now, but it was tense and gripping.

Phew, and that's all of them that I can remember. I'm going to try to keep up with this from now on. I'd like to hit 100 books by the end of the year.

I dropped off the bookthread a while back (too much going on) under my old username. Rather than recap, I'm aiming to read another 30 before the end of this year.

Here's what I've read so far (not in order as I've not been that organised)

1. All muck, now medals: Landgirls by Landgirls - Joan Mant
2. The good guys guide to getting the girl - Peter Jones
3. The Standing Stone 1: Home for Christmas - Wendy Steele
4. We are at War - Simon Garfield
5. Private Battles - Simon Garfield
6. Land Girls - Angela Huth
7. Our Hidden Lives - Simon Garfield
8. God Save the Queen: Britain in 1952 - Peter Street
9. Love and War in London (the War diaries of..) - Olivia Cockett

10. The Standing Stone 2: Silence is Broken - Wendy Steele 11. How not to write a novel - Howard Mittelmark & Sandra Newman 12. The Women's Land Army - Bob Powell & Nigel Westacott

Much of the above is research as I've just started writing a novel of my own and need to understand people's attitudes to WW2. There are a few in there that I read for pleasure, mainly to get an idea of people who self-publish write.

I'm currently halfway through book 13, and would welcome any recommendations. I like historical fiction and fantasy (like Pratchett, Holt etc.). Happy to be taken out of the comfort zone a bit.

Pedestriana - have you read Ben Aaronovitch's Rivers of London series? I enjoyed them - recommended :)

I have Duchess - I enjoy his writing very much. I've also read quite a lot of Jasper Fforde, which although not in the same vein does require one to put reality to one side.

Pedestriana - Have you read the Shardlake series?

I read this recently, if you're interested in WW1 and/or Conan Doyle. Not great literature but an interesting easy read, with a great female character amongst all the manly stuff too.

I finished The Versions of Us last night. Some of it was thought provoking and touching but other parts were a bit boring tbh. It reminded me of Life After Life, especially where the story repeats itself three times but with slightly different outcomes for each version. I liked it but didn't love it. Seeing as this was recommended to me by three different workers in Waterstones gushing about how fantastic it was I am slightly disappointed.

Tessiegirl - I'm just about to start that , I'll let you know how I get on

Lilaclily - I would be interested to hear what you think! I also recommend keeping a note of how each version progresses as without my notes (sounds a bit sad, I know) I would have easily lost track of who was with who and what had happened so far etc and I would have endlessly had to keep going back through pages to remind myself. Annoying when you just want to read!

I haven't posted for a long time and about a month ago I typed out a lovely long post with my views and a synopsis of each book I have read since last posting. Then my tablet froze and I lost the message
So here is my more succint version
27. Rivers of London - Ben Aaronovitch. I'm afraid I abandoned this after about 5 chapters. I had high hopes after reading good reviews on here but it just didn't grab me. It was a library book which was due back, perhaps if it was my own copy I might have stuck with it.

27. Yellow Crocus - Laila Abraham. Story of Elisabeth, white daughter of an American plantation owner and her slave wet nurse, Mattie, who is forced to leave her own infant son to raise Elisabeth. A good tale with sympathetic and likeable main characters, but I read this back in July and can't remember a lot about it - so not particularly memorable.

28. The Narrow Road to the Deep North - Richard Flanagan. A moving story, especially the parts set during WWII. I struggled with the first 30% as the storyline jumped around so much. A very sad ending. Quite a heart wrenching book on many levels.

29. The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society. The perfect light book to read after book number 29. I didn't realise until I started reading it that it was all written in letter form. I thought that this would annoy me, but it didn't and I enjoyed its happy ending!

30. Ghostwritten - David Mitchell. Loved it, hard to believe it was his first ever book. Each chapter is a stand alone story, and brings in new characters and locations, but I found each chapter very easy to get into.

31. The Sky's Dark Labyrinth - Stuart Clark. Tells the story of Johannes Kepler and Galileo who both discovered that, in complete opposition to popular belief, the Earth rotated around the Sun. The book details their struggles with both Roman Catholic and Lutheran Church, politicians and European monarchy. The author is a scientist himself and explained the scientific theories well in layman's terms. It was a good read and I learnt a lot about a subject I knew nothing about, but it didn't grip me. He has written a further two books on a similar theme but I'm not in any rush to read the next two.

32. The Goldfinch - Donna Tartt. Loved this, was a little hesitant after reading some reviews which said that it dragged on and needing editing but this was not my impression. Very interesting on the subjects of grief, love, art and the strong bonds of motherhood. Loved the character of Boris

33. The Marrying of Chani Kaufmann - Eve Harris. A book set in an Orthodox Jewish community in North London, it details the months leading up to Chain's wedding. There are multiple narrators, including chapters from the viewpoint of the Rabbi's wife. These were the parts of the book I enjoyed the most. It was interesting to see how she had become this frumpy, downtrodden woman who we meet at the beginning of the book. I rented a flat in Golders Green for a couple of years so it was interesting to read about this very close knit community. A good read

34. The First Fifteen Lives of Harry August - Clair North. Another one I loved, such a clever book. I thought it might be too similar to Kate Atkinson's Life after Life which I read a few years ago and enjoyed. However the one important difference is that Harry remembers all his past lives.

65. Trick of The Dark - Val McDermid. Murder among Oxford lesbians. This is the third Val McDermid book I've read in the past year and I don't know why but her writing just doesn't engage me and I find myself skimming through to get to the end quickly. In this case the murderer was someone mentioned early on and turns out to be a character mentioned throughout the book under a different name. But there was no association between the two. It annoyed me.

66. Sleeping with Dogs - Brian Sewell. Someone in another thread mentioned that the recently departed art critic was a dog lover and this had changed their opinion of him. This little book has a chapter for each of the dogs he owned in his lifetime including one he rescued, badly injured, in Turkey and transported home. I read it in one sitting.
    I mentioned up thread that we lost our beloved dog a few weeks ago and I sobbed unashamedly every time one of the dogs in the book died. Did me the world of good.

Bestiswest: Rupert Everett's first volume of memoirs has some lovely stuff about his dog in it.

Thanks Hackmum, I'll have a look for that.

Joining in with the disappointing theme this week

55. Summer's Lease - John Mortimer

This is why I won't ever travel again without my Kindle. Already read half-way through this book by the time I reached my destination and had nothing else to read so carried on reading this quite boring and unconvincing tale of Brits on holiday in Italy.

Gave up on the dry and very earnest Changing My Mind, by Zadie Smith.

46. Sense and Sensibility by Joanna Trollope. Another of the Austen Project books mentioned up thread, and, I'm afraid, another lukewarm review. I like Joanna Trollope, and I love Jane Austen, but this isn't even one of the best of Trollope's books, let alone anywhere near Austen.

It was a nice enjoyable read, but I feel a bit like I did after watching (on TV, not live) a tribute concert to Queen soon after Freddie Mercury's death. You can't re-create genius!