50 Book Challenge 2016 Part Two

[southeastdweller]

Thread two 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, it's not too late to join, and please try to let us all know your thoughts on what you've read.

Previous 2016 thread here

I have - oh poo, 106 books in Unread on my Kindle. Other categories I have include SF, Urban Fantasy, Regency/Steampunk, Non-Fiction, Autobiography and Pratchett.

I've set myself a limit that I shall no doubt break of 3.50 for any new Kindle books. Anything more expensive I have to buy from a local bookshop, ordered if I have to. I'm starting to download samples instead of buying the over budget stuff, so that I remember what I want to get.

To make all you Kindle-ites feel better, seems I spent half my weekend sorting through hundreds of dusty boxes of books, most have gone to charity shop. Am trying to be ruthless - 2 rules has to be either very special to keep (amazing copy, cover etc, sentimental reasons) or can't get it for free in the library. With new books, i am going to the library or will get the audio download . Had enough of shifting books round the country! Too many to enjoy and to know how to find what I'm looking for.

ash1977 if it's not too late, may I politely suggest that you step away from Blue Eyed Boy by Joanne Harris as a palette cleanser, especially if you are familiar with her other work and think you're going to get a typical JH novel. This was a departure in style which seemed formulaic, clunky, didn't work for me at all. I couldn't engage with the characters and found it totally dispiriting. Similar to your last Sebastian Faulks book, it went straight on the charity shop pile, and good riddance. I'd rather re-read Coastliners until the cows come home, than put myself through that again.

Book 8 The Man in the High Castle by Philip K Dick. This was a Christmas present as I had watched the Amazon series and though I enjoyed it I was baffled by the ending. The book was not really like the series. I enjoyed it a s well. The storyline is that the Germans and the Japanese won the second world war and the USA is split between them with a neutral zone in the middle. It certainly gives room for thought about what life could be like. The first book of his I have read

MuseumofHam I got about 8 pages in and realised exactly that, I think I need something a little easier to read this time (or non-fiction for a change) so am jettisoning and might read it later in the year if I can be bothered. Not sure when it was written but it feels a little dated somehow?

Perhaps I'll go for The Fry Chronicles on audiobook next, which I've just downloaded.

Feeling strangely excited that a new book on the Romanovs by Simon Sebag Montefiore is being published this Friday. Quite tempted to splash out and pre-order though it looks like a massive hardback so maybe one for bedtime/house-based dipping rather than lugging around on trains.

Too busy to update (or read any more books! ) right now, but am marking place in the hope of getting 'back on the horse' soon...

I've got off to a very slow start with books this year. I only finished book number 3 yesterday.

1. Mother of Eden by Chris Beckett.

This is the sequel to Dark Eden, about the descendants of a ship's crew stranded on a strange dark planet. I was surprised when I saw there was a sequel, as Dark Eden seemed complete in itself. MoE is set several generations on from DE and society has evolved on the planet since then. A woman from a more primitive part of Eden leaves her home to be with a man from a more developed area. It's brilliantly written and the world and its people are perfectly imagined. I'm hoping Beckett will write more novels set in this world. I would definitely recommend reading Dark Eden before this, as I think knowing the history of humans on this world is important to understanding the story fully (and Dark Eden is very worth reading on its own merits).

Now I'm going to catch up on this thread and find more books to add to my list.

14. The Loney, Andrew Michael Hurley. Eerie novel about the nature of faith and miracles - it's about Hanny, a teenager who is described as "a retard" (NOT my description! It's set in 1973, hence the use of this term) and his mother's determined quest for a miracle - she wants him to be able to speak. It's narrated by the younger brother and set partly in The Loney - an isolated sea coast in the North West - and partly in London. Christianity and Christian miracles/pilgrimages collide with witchcraft, but also partly the Londoners collide with the bucolic locals. It's got layers upon layers and it is fucking scary. I was too scared to put it down - I had to keep reading it because I was too afraid to go to sleep without finding out what happened! Heaps of symbolism - the lamb of God, the apples, etc etc. It was really good. Very very readable but very detailed and beautifully written.

1. The Pianist by Wladyslaw Szpilman

I've read a few holocaust memoirs. They're always shocking and harrowing. The range of human behaviour, both good and bad, is staggering.

Ooooh. I'm very excited to hear that there's now a sequel to Dark Eden - I read Dark Eden a year or two ago and loved it.

Thanks for the review of the sequel, Tenar.

Book 4: The A-Z of You & Me - James Hannah. I liked this book and the quirky narration. Bittersweet spin on a love story.

1. Authority - Jeff Vandermeer. This is the second in the deeply odd Southern Reach Trilogy , a kind of biological heavy sci-fi. The first book dealt with an expedition into a strange area that no-one really understands. The second book focuses on the admin "authority" who is looking after the area. I enjoyed this one more than the first, maybe because it is a bit more normal, focusing on a guy who has come to sort out what has been happening. The characterisation was stronger and there's something refreshing about a story that you have no idea where it's going. I will probably read the third but suspect it will be equally opaque.

Serendipity you reminded me I have Under Majordomo lined up too. I love The Princess Bride - book and film - and make the DDs watch it whenever they are ill, so look forward to reading it.

But I feel the need for a lightweight page-turner next so have gone for Blue Monday by Nicci French.

1. The Versions of Us - Laura Barnett
2. All the light we cannot see - Anthony Doerr
3. Red Rising - Pierce Brown
4. Golden Son - Pierce Brown
5. Flash Boys - Michael Lewis
6. There's Only Two David Beckhams - John O'Farrell
7. Authority - Jeff Vandermeer

1. 1599: A Year In The Life of William Shakespeare by James Shapiro Read for work as background reading for Hamlet. Was useful in terms of learning a lot more than I knew about the political situation that year.

Need to read The Revenger's Tragedy tonight, then I'm done with work reading for a bit.

LookingForMe - what do you do? I am intrigued. Do you teach?

Are travel guides allowed in the 50 books? I read about 85% of a pocket guide on a recent city break.

TooExtra - that sounds a really interesting read. I'm trying really hard to finish my TBR heap before picking up anything new though!!

Book 11
The Daffodil Mystery by Edgar Wallace
A 1920 whodunnit, combined with a love story. I really enjoyed this. It wouldn’t set the literary world on fire, and it wasn’t doing much that hasn’t been done before, but it was a rip-roaring good read, with a couple of toe-curling villains and a really human detective, with a brilliant sidekick. I’d like to read more of Wallace’s, if they are all like this.

Book 12
In the Land of White Death by Valerian Albanov
The diaries of a Russian sailor. His ship was trapped in ice and he and some companions left the ship (with the captain and some others still on board) and made a desperate attempt to reach land, using hastily improvised sledges and kayaks. Of the entire ship’s crew, only Albanov and one other survived. I enjoyed this, but regular readers will know that it’s entirely my sort of thing!

Angeladelight If you like book/film, Room by Emma Donoghue was fantastic - I read it without any knowledge of the storyline and I thought it was really well done; the way it unfolded.

It's in the cinema now, but a quick read!

NotJanine There were times I just had to stop reading The Pianist as I couldn't get my head around the experiences and just what some people have been capable of. Some lovely moments too though.

Anne Yep, I teach secondary English. Love my job, especially the fact that I have to read lots as part of it! (Although the fact that I'm part-time is what lets me love it, I think.)

2.The kind worth killing by Peter Swanson. I really enjoyed reading this thriller. The story begins with Ted and Lily who meet on a plane journey. They chat for some time and this leads to Ted telling Lily about his wife's affair and how he would like to kill her. Lily offers to help... There is so much more to this story then that sounds, the author describes the characters so clearly we feel we know exactly what is going to happen, but it doesn't. Lots of twists and turns, an easy and rewarding read, I raced through it. Next, The Moon in the Gutter by David Goodis, borrowed on a whim from the library.

Sorry, messed up the bold. The kind worth killing by Peter Swanson

Ash I saw a hard copy of The Romanovs in a bookshop in France at the weekend and although it is not small, it was not as large as I imagined. I am buying it on Friday as going to see him talk about it in a couple of weeks.

Yes to travel guides

Ash and Anne I'm reading Jerusalem by same author. I loathe it. Can't wait to finish. I'm aware I'm in a minority though as most Amazon reviews are 4 or 5 stars

I have never read his work but have read a lot of Russian history so it should be jnteresting. The Romanovs fascinate me.

Stokey - I have Authority on my Kindle. Good to hear that it is slightly more enjoyable than the first. I liked the first but it left me a little "WTF? ".