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

Elle mentioning Middlemarch is tempting me to read it again - though that would probably be a huge mistake if I am to read my book group book in time for the next meet up! (Tempted just to abandon all pretence of running a tidy nurturing household in favour of some mega long reading sessions on the sofa - though the unavailability of one mine craft playing device per child probably means this would be unachievable without WW3 anyway!)

Book four for me is The Shipping News by E Annie Proulx. Plot wise , the main character has never amounted to much, suffers tragedy, moves to Newfoundland and begins to heal. I really enjoyed this and found the writing to be exquisite. There were so many layers to all the characters. It wasn't an easy read because there were some very unpleasant things in there, but overall it was uplifting. I'd definitely recommend this one.

11. The Goldfinch, Donna Tartt

The premise of this was excellent. The first few chapters especially were involving, and at the beginning the characters and story were interesting. Parts of it were superbly written. There were some great meditations on art, grief and the preservation of beauty amid squalor and destruction. But. The writing quality was inconsistent, and fell into cliche disappointingly often. So too did the plot. Though it was tight at the start it resorted to far-fetched coincidences to keep it moving in the latter parts. The characters, for the most part, didn't really seem believable after a time. This lessened the emotional resonance some sequences should have had. There was a whole family of stereotyped characters, in fact, there to facilitate more unconvincing subplots. And what hackneyed coming of age story is complete these days without (pages and pages and pages of) teenage drug-taking and homoerotic wrestling. So dull and overdone. Also the whole Harry Potter thing got a bit much, certain plot points seemed to be paying direct homage to it, which was baffling at times. There wasn't much reference to the history of the Goldfinch as an artistic subject, or its symbolism, either, which was somewhat surprising. Overall a disappointment, albeit with flashes of brilliance.

Don't know what to follow it with, feeling a bit disillusioned with modern 'literature', think I need a classic or something from a different part of the world next.

13 The First Fifteen Lives of Harry August by Claire North

I don't know if others have reviewed this one, but it's the story of a man who lives his life over and over again, each time remembering the previous lives.

This made a nice change after Dark Intelligence, very easy to read with an engaging plotline. There's a bit of a 'thrillerish' side to it, but really it's about the character of Harry and what it's like to repeat ones life many times. Not too 'literary' - though I'm now tempted to read Life after Life.

Book 3 - Agnes Grey by Anne Bronte. I have never read Anne Bronte's novels before so this was interesting to compare with her sisters' novels. Very quiet in tone, very observant and thoughtful on one young woman's experiences as a governess.I thought her details were more realistic in how Agnes was treated than in Jane Eyre. I am doing a course on the Brontes which I planned, along with rereading their novels and reading those I haven't read for the bicentenary of Charlotte's birth.

Book 4 - Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte. A reread but one I haven't read in over ten years. This is a novel well worth returning to at different points in your life as I think your opinions change in how you react to different characters. I found myself reading with different life experience and considering Heathcliff, Catherine 1, then Hareton and Catherine 2 very differently. We are also studying context of the novels which adds a different layer. I really enjoyed this novel just as I did for different reasons when I studied it at A level.

Now am looking for a quick light read. I might read Spectacles by Sue Perkins next - a Christmas present.

Dragontrainer are you a Middlemarch fan? I am loving it so far-it's just so beautifully written . I am trying to savour it and dipping into it while also reading undemanding non fiction books-I am stressed at the moment so my concentration is the best. I can normally escape into books but not quite managing it just now. Hoping to bury myself in it when things start to settle in a few weeks.

Dragontrainer love the sound of the Shipping News-I will add it to my wish list.

Galaxymum I love the sound of the course you're doing. Do you mind if I ask where/how you're doing it? (I mean is it an evening class or a formal course-if that isn't too nosy!)

elle Middlemarch is a great, great novel, gets better and more absorbing plot wise the deeper you are in, but it really is one where practically every other sentence you could stop and think about it. I started it in late pregnancy with my first dc and finished it with a newborn and the afterglow of the book and how it made me feel is inextricably tied up with that time for me.

1. Jilliane Hoffman - retribution
2. Jane Fallon - Strictly between us
3. Blue Monday - Nicci French
4. Room - Emma Donoghue

Falling behind on updating but onto book four of 2016 which I purchased on my kindle a while ago and have now gotten round to reading. I am very engrossed at the moment!

Satsuki that is lovely! We are TTC at the moment-it would be so nice to have a lovely book memory attached to the pregnancy if/when it happens

It really feels like a book you want to curl up on the sofa with, covered in a toasty blanket.

Finished #3 today "The last Kingdom" by Bernard Cornwell.

I usually love his books, loved his Arthur trilogy and several others but never got into this series. Saw a few epiosdes of the BBC series and decided to give them another go, and really enjoyed it. Would go straight to the second one but have too much else stacked up on my kindle to justify it for the moment.

Now on #4 The martian
Dh and the DDs all read it and loved it, so have been instructed to read it

I enjoyed The Shipping News when it came out, although I can remember very little about it now other than that it featured Newfoundland, which is why I read it! I'd definitely recommend it.

Book 14 is The Lie Tree by Frances Hardinge. Bought this because dp had listened to an interview with the writer on the radio, and he said it sounded like my sort of thing. Then a Twitter ‘friend’ was raving about it too. It IS my sort of thing, and I did quite enjoy it but I didn’t love it. I thought it was a bit slow in places, and I thought the ending was really silly. I enjoyed the references to Victorian science, religion, attitudes to women etc. I think quite a lot of you would enjoy this, but not Cote!

Fat owl I'm really glad you enjoyed the last Kingdom. I'm on book 5 of the series and have really enjoyed the books so far. I also loved the winter king series.

1. The Outcast Dead - Elly Griffiths. No 6 in the series about Dr Ruth Galloway, a forensic archaeologist based in Norwich and the police cases she gets mixed up with. As usual there is a host of supporting characters and I suppose the book is as much about the characters as about the plot. I really enjoy them.

I'm really impressed with how you lot can describe and dissect the book, this is why i could never go to a book club, i read a book and pretty much forget it straight away.

Best- have just discovered those books, am really enjoying The Crossing Places in which she manages to incorporate loads of visual detail and literary references into a really pacy, engaging narrative. Am hooked!

And to my shame, have ditched , albeit temporarily, Dickens' biography and Bleak House again. Shall return to both, but a lot on at the moment and need light reads, it seems.

ElleSarcasmo I've lost my reading mojo too. The intention to finish books makes it feel like a chore... And the books I'm reading atm are not particularly gripping.

16. Nobody's Baby by Penny Kline. Another psychological 'thriller' but sadly not remotely thrilling. A woman finds an abandoned baby outside her house. She hands it over to the police but then becomes convinced that the baby is her old schoolfriend's and starts investigating. Unfortunately nothing much else happens until nearer the end and there is no sense that the heroine is in any danger. The ending is boring too and there's no real explanation of why the person who abandoned the baby behaved in the way they did.

Very jealous of those of you who have managed 15 books already! I was chuffed with my five so far . Very full on job and SN DC = never enough time. Ach well.

So far:

1. Rivers of London (Ben Aaronavitch)
2. The Book of Night Women (Marlon James)
3. The Patience Stone (Atiq Rahimi)
4. Broken April (Ismail Kadare)
5. The Fishermen (Chigozie Obioma)

Tonight, I'm starting:

1. By Grand Central Station I Sat Down and Wept (Elizabeth Smart)

It's not a race, though is it? Main thing I'd say, is to enjoy the book. Or at least be inspired/challenged/educated by it. Must say I've sped read a couple of my completed books and am now trying to slow down and be more mindful about the process.

It's definitely not a race. I work full time, and read my Kindle on the commute, as well as reading in the bath every night. I'm also a stupidly fast reader - this is a curse when combined with being bloody awkward.

I don't do 'mindful' but I do try to balance fairly pacy fiction with more ponderous historical tomes, classics etc. Currently got three on the go: one lightweight fiction, one more ponderous 'classic' and one huge historical book.

I listen to audiobooks when I commute, ditto when I dog walk. Otherwise, it's one advantage of being somewhat of an insomniac, I just stick on a book at night time, listen for an hour or so then fall off to sleep. I find I hardly watch TV any more since starting this challenge 😄. Am much more engrossed in my current book. Or in sourcing the next one!

elle Middlemarch is a great, great novel, gets better and more absorbing plot wise the deeper you are in, but it really is one where practically every other sentence you could stop and think about it. I started it in late pregnancy with my first dc and finished it with a newborn and the afterglow of the book and how it made me feel is inextricably tied up with that time for me.

satsuki I was reading Dr. Thorne by Anthony Trollope when now dh told me he loved me for the first time. I can still remember reading a couple of pages and then putting it down and saying to myself "he loves me!" and then picking it up again and a few pages later doing the same thing. I love Trollope but this one is my favourite because of exactly what you say -how it made me feel is inexticably tied up with that time for me. Thank you for saying it so well.

aren't audio books really expensive? I quite fancy trying this for my running - do i put it on my phone?

There are audio book subscription sites. You pay a monthly fee and are entitled to so many books.

I haven't subscribed as I mostly get CDs out of the library for free ( I use my DC's cards - audio books are free to DC), but I remember someone recommending a good site. Audio bubble ? Maybe ?