50 Book Challenge 2016 Part One

[southeastdweller]

Thread one of the 50 Book Challenge for this year.

The challenge is to read fifty books (or more!) in 2016, though reading fifty isn't mandatory. Any type of book can count, and please try to let us all know your thoughts on what you've read.

Who's in for this year?

PS really enjoyed the Lewis trilogy but agree with highland that the first is the most interesting. I like the characters though and they saw me though all three books.

I've loved reading this thread, I've been taking notes on good things to read this year
I'm almost at the end of The City and The City by China Mieville - a murder mystery set in two cities which share the same physical space, but with neither side allowed to acknowledge the other. Loved the first third, thought it got a bit repetitive in the middle but it's really picked up towards the end. I'm in that awkward place where I can't wait to finish it but I don't want it to end!

Next on the list is John Dies at the End by David Wong. I don't think I can even explain what it's about, just that it's a very funny, delirious weird page turner so it sounds ideal.

I loved The Lewis Trilogy too. I did the same Quog and google mapped and street viewed etc Lewis and Sula Sgeir.

Daphne - Several of us read John Dies last year with mixed reviews. I didn't find it funny at all and was bored out of my skull waiting for it to end. I think its target audience is low-IQ teenage boys tbh. I enjoy a bit of Beavis & Butthead but this was just unbearable imho.

I loved The City and the City, not quite as much as Perdido Street Station which blew me away when I first read it about 15 years ago. I've got Railsea downloaded but think DH is reading it first.

For those who are enjoying the Peter May Lewis books, I'd recommend the Ann Cleeves Shetland series for more Scottish island crime.

Thanks for the recommendation, Stokey - they sound interesting too :)

I'm the opposite, loved The City and the City (and Embassytown), but found Perdido Street Station too long and sprawling for my taste. I've got TCaTC lined up to re-read this spring, having finally replaced my lost copy.

Museum for some serious scottish history try ADM Barrell or a cheap paperback off amazon of Michael Lynch. Jenny Wormald edited an Oxford history collection of easy which is a beautiful book. Neil Oliver is fine but academically not taken very seriously. Is enjoyable enough but it's a bit this king and then that king. . For that the kings and queens of Scotland by Oram is better and much more fun than the boring title implies.

Auto correct fail: collection of essays!

I'm a bit of a geek, just a warning

Stalinism: Its Impact on Russia and the World, ed. G. R. Urban.
Brilliant, but published in the 80s. Set of interviews with people in some way related to 20th century Communism inc. an American diplomat during WWII and someone who was in the Politburo and talks about how Zinoviev was universally despised, Kamenev rather liked and Stalin a total non-intellectual plagiarising grey blur etc, then later someone else comes along and says Stalin was very sharp, uncommonly so....

book about the 20th century by Dan Diner
He focuses way too much on pre-1945. Too much focus on German history and of course (not surprising) totally eurocentric. Otherwise some good points made e.g. on Hitler's leadership battle and where historiography has got the focus wrong, and differences in UK, French, German social democracy

both about halfway through

For those reading the China Mieville books - I've heard people rave about them, but also that they're a bit grim. I'm not that good at grim, I don't avoid it completely but books that are really full on depressing I tend to steer away from. I will never, ever read The Lovely Bones, for instance, as it's one I know I would really regret reading.

Where on the grimness scale is Perdido Street Station or The City?

3. Gilead by Marilynne Robinson

This is a slow burn. A small town preacher, John Ames, facing his death, writes down his thoughts about the past, the present, and the future he won't be around to see, so that his young son may know something of his father after he is gone. It is written in a meandering, conversational style, as he mulls over the events of his life that have had the most meaning; his relationships, his faith and his family history, considering what will be of use or import to his child as he becomes a man.

I read this in small chunks and at first I did think I might find it dull, as it moves very slowly, but in the end it was worth staying with - in fact it stays with you. A sense of pressure builds up gradually from midway through the story, as more is revealed about the relationships between the characters, and I became fully immersed in it. In the end it was quite moving and lovely.

There is a great deal of American history subtly interwoven in the background, too.

Just to add it is not a long book by the way - under 300 pages

Aah, Home by same author is on my bedside pile, may try Gilead after.

Cote That might be just what I need after Mieville

slightlyglitterbrained The City starts off after the murder of a young woman. You don't "see" the murder but there are a couple of brief descriptions of her injuries. Nothing too gory or over the top, although obviously it's not nice to read. You could skip those bits and not miss anything important.

Would love to read Railsea this year. Can't go wrong with giant moles!

I think Gilead comes first in written order but I think they involve the same characters, similar time periods so there is a lot of overlap. I think I will go on to read the others, too.

i just found this, for any other China Mieville fans, he has a new book out - This Census Taker.

www.bookdepository.com/This-Census-Taker-Chin-Mieville/9781101967324

1. World War Z - Max Brooks

An alternative take on the traditional zombie apocalypse story - this one is presented as an 'oral history' from the point of view of a wide variety of survivors some 12 years after the event. This is both a strength and a weakness, I thought; it's packed with lots of ideas about how different cultures and personalities would deal with the events, but the lack of a consistent narrator means it's hard to care personally about the individual characters, and there's a lack of dialogue or gripping action scenes (as you always know the end result!). Nevertheless it was an entertaining enough short read.

RhuBarbarella thank you for the Scottish history recommendations - away to check them all out now. A collection of easy might be more my level than a collection of essays, so not too worried about the intellectual lightweightedness of N Oliver!

I have been reading this thread but haven't posted because I'm usually on my phone and can't be bothered to type something long on there so I've been waiting until I'm on the desktop. My books so far:

1. The Photographer's Wife by Nick Alexander

I really liked this. It's the story of Barbara, set from WW2 onwards, intertwined with the present day story of Barbara's daughter. The two stories eventually meet at the end. There is a bit of a twist, but I did guess about halfway through the book what this was. There were also some sex scenes which didn't add anything to the plot so just felt gratuitous. However I liked the writing describing the earlier time periods and liked Barbara as a character so overall I liked it.

1. Isabella of Angouleme: The Tangled Queen Part 1 by Erica Laine

I was given this as a Christmas present. I did enjoy the story as it's not a period I know very well (Isabella married King John in 1200) so it was nice to read a bit more about that period. However, I don't feel the book really described properly what it would have been like for Isabella - she was only 12 when she married John who was much older than her so must have been difficult, but the novel doesn't really get this across. I will still read Part 2 though to find out the rest of her story.

1. Mail Obsession by Mark Mason

A non-fiction book, consisting of him travelling round Britain to find an item of trivia for each of Great Britain's 124 different postcode areas. There's actually a lot more than 124 facts in the book so if you like trivia (which I do!) it's an excellent read.

1. The House on Cold Hill - Peter James

This is one of his supernatural books rather than a police procedural/thriller. A family moves into a large house that's been empty for years and strange things begin to happen. I couldn't put it down but I was slightly disappointed by the ending as there is something left unanswered. Still a good read though if you like ghostly books.

Have just started book 5 Treasured Island by Frank Barrett, another non-fiction of travels round Britain, but this time the theme is visiting places related to literature such as author's birthplaces or the settings of books. I'll let you know my thoughts when I finish!

1. Moriarty by Anthony Horowitz

Inspector Athelney Jones meets Pinkerton agent Frederick Chase in Switzerland and allows him to accompany Jones to examine the body of Professor James Moriarty, which has been fished out of the river after he and Sherlock Holmes fight at the Reichenbach Falls. Chase is on the trail of American gangsters who have moved into London with the intention of joining forces with Moriarty. The two men return to a London where violent death has increased and where a new but well-hidden criminal mastermind has taken the notorious professor's place.

Decent story, well written. Jones appears in The Sign of Four and has apparently become a student of Holme's methods of investigation and deduction since. The narrative is told by Chase so there is the Holmes and Watson feel to it as well.

Hi all,
I have read

1. The Seven Sisters Lucinda Riley, did'nt enjoy this as much as The Midnight Rose by Riley, which I really loved. I was glad to finish this book and move on. Also read 5. A Man called Ove , enjoyed the start and finish, got a bit bored in the middle, liked the writing overall.

Loving this thread.

Am now 46% of the way through War and Peace. Seem to have been stuck here for a while. Aiming to hit 50% by the end of the weekend.

Have just finished my second other book of the year, as am reading lighter books alongside W&P:

1. The Taxidermist's Daughter - Kate Mosse. I quite enjoyed this to start with, liked the gothic setting and the mystery elements. However, by halfway through, I was getting a bit irritated with the fact that the mystery hadn't really developed much. The second half of the book was a completely different pace and felt very rushed, like she'd suddenly decided to accelerate everything. At the same time, some of the obvious bits were dragged out so it was a weird combination of rushing but taking too long over it. On the whole, I didn't hate it but it wasn't what I'd hoped it would be. (Basically the same opinion as I had of The Ice Twins, which was my first read of the year.)

I need to find a better book for my third light read....

I also need to re-read Hamlet, The Tempest and The Revenger's Tragedy for work in the next couple of weeks. I'm going to be counting these, even though they're technically plays, on the basis that War and Peace makes up for them in terms of total pages read...!

Finished A Man Called Ove which I found a very sad read, despite the tide turning towards the end. Like a pp said, I'm not sure it made up for all the sadness and tragedy.

Currently reading The Poisonwood Bible which I am just over halfway through and it really is thoroughly gripping. Written from the perspective of the different family members (except the father) I've identified with each of the four daughters and the mother in turn.

Set in the Congo in the late 1950s/60s, it focuses on the family of an American missionary and his family as he tries to enlighten a small village in the ways of christianity. Trouble has been brewing from the outset, in the small village and increasingly at a political level, and the tensions within the family are now almost at breaking point.

tbc...

I'm in... Just joined good reads. :)