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50 Book Challenge 2016 Part Two

995 replies

southeastdweller · 14/01/2016 22:14

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

OP posts:
BlueEyeshadow · 08/02/2016 14:23

I've just finished book 4 (I think) Das Glücksbüro by Andreas Izquierdo. This is in German and I very much enjoyed it. About a grey bureaucrat who starts seeing the people behind the forms and trying to help them, finding love and all kinds of other things along the way. There's a satirical edge to it, and I found it very charming, increasingly compelling and unexpectedly moving towards the end.

Stokey · 08/02/2016 14:57

Remus Some of Dorothy Sayers were cheap on Kindle - though you've probably read her?

I loved Wolf Hall, quite liked My Y - though she clearly didn't know how to end it - and hated Shantaram with a passion Grin

Rivers of London is lightweight fun, I just read something by Benedict Jacka that reminded me of them.

Museum I was talking about My brilliant Friend this weekend. I found it utterly dull, my three friends loved the series and were bereft that it had ended. Made me wonder if I should read the second.

I've just finished Gilead by Marilynne Robinson, another book where nothing happens. I'd read her first Housekeeping in the hazy time between Christmas and New Year and quite enjoyed it, but this one just bored me.

On to a recommendation on here the Exclusives. So far scarily nostalgic, the school is very like my old one!

  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
  8. Blue Monday - Nicci French
  9. Mockingjay (reread)
10. Gilead - Marilynne Robinson
Quogwinkle · 08/02/2016 15:03

Biblio - reading your review of Lasting Damage I thought it sounded familiar and then realised I had read it some time ago. I'd completely forgotten Blush. Definitely unmemorable for me then!

Dragon - you put it in a nutshell pretty much how I felt about David Mitchell's autobiography. I quite like his tv persona, except sometimes he goes too far. He banged on quite a bit about Cambridge and I began to lose interest. It could have been a lot better. The other David Mitchell (author) would make for an interesting autobiography :)

Sadik · 08/02/2016 16:36

Remus - probably not the right sort of thing, but do you like/have you read Compton Mackenzie? Plenty of his books seem to be available as free ebooks, he wrote so much that a lot is trash, but I think the Sylvia Scarlett novels, Sinister Street, Carnval et al are still very readable.

Grifone · 08/02/2016 17:20

TooExtraImmatureCheddar I love both LeGuin and Rothfuss. I think you are right in that there are similarities but I also think in this genre that it is very difficult to have a completely original story that is not based on something that has gone before. Many fantasy stories have the young hero or heroine who is an orphan or foundling and who attends wizard school and have to battle many evils as they go through the process of discovering their true power and destiny. If you break it down you will find similar veins in JK Rowling, Trudi Canavan and David Eddings for example. The idea of the 'real name' as another example is not uncommon in fantasy literature nor is the idea of a principal fellow student antagonist. I think the voices and narrative in each book are very different (though I must confess that it is many years since I read Earthsea, but are due a reread this year as they are also on dd13's list and we like to read and discuss together). If I remember correctly Ursula LeGuin wrote one of the blurbs for TNOTW and loved it.

RemusLupinsBiggestGroupie · 08/02/2016 18:09

Biblio - I haven't read any le Carre. Isn't he a bit erm....trashy? Have I misjudged him unfairly?

Stokey By an utter coincidence I bought a Lord Peter W one on Saturday! Am enjoying it enormously thus far.

Sadiq Is he the Monarch of the Glen guy? Don't think I've read any - will investigate. Thank you.

RhuBarbarella · 08/02/2016 18:16
  1. The vegetarian by Han Kang. This reminder me why I had a thing for Japanese literature for a while. Ages ago now but might read some more now. I know, this is Korean, nevertheless. Beautiful precise language. I won't tell too much of the story, it's short and very easy to give too much away. A woman stops eating meat, told from the perspectives. Great recommendation!
DinosaursRoar · 08/02/2016 18:20

pterobore - I think Rebecca might be on my 'reread' pile as I've not read it for over a decade and remember it being wonderfully written. (Although I do remember questioning why she didn't just fire the housekeeper)

Greymalkin · 08/02/2016 18:25
  1. The Last Kingdom, Bernard Cornwell This has already been reviewed on the threads so I shall not repeat, other than to say I really enjoyed it. Cornwall does his research really well and manages to write battle scenes without them turning into gratuitous gore-fests. Readers definitely get the sense that this is very early days for the protagonist Uhtred and that he has a lot more story to come.

So, I am promptly moving onto the second instalment of the series, The Pale Horseman

CoteDAzur · 08/02/2016 18:26

I think there was a time when Le Carré knew how the spy rings worked but he is hopelessly outdated now. His last couple of books that I've read such as A Most Wanted Man were really bad.

If you want to try some modern spy books about intelligence business in the information age, try Charles Cummings starting with A Spy By Nature.

Sadik · 08/02/2016 18:31

Yes, I think Monarch of the Glen is Mackenzie. He wrote a ridiculous number of books, across a range of genres (Whisky Galore was him too) - many are dreadful, some pretty good.

I don't think Le Carre is trashy, and I can't believe you haven't read at least The Spy Who Came In from the Cold Shock Haven't read any of his books for years (probably something like 20 years) though.

Sadik · 08/02/2016 18:33

I should say that my tolerance for trashy is very high though - I'd think of writers like Desmond Bagley or Alistair Maclean as trashy for example (though I used to love them, I remember a particularly good DB set in Iceland)

StitchesInTime · 08/02/2016 18:33

I loved Rebecca.

Re. why didn't she just fire the housekeeper - IIRC, the narrator is portrayed as very shy, nervous, lacking in self confidence and very uncertain of her new position.
She didn't really start to gain confidence until all the revelations at the end of the book, and before then, she probably wouldn't have dared stand up to the housekeeper.

RemusLupinsBiggestGroupie · 08/02/2016 18:36

I might give 'The Spy Who Came in from the Cold' a go, if the library have it.

Cote - I don't really 'do' modern tbh, and in terms of spy/crime stuff I really am only interested in historical ones right now. Sorry - am awkward and horrible.

Sadik · 08/02/2016 19:18

Interestingly, I've just had a look and Desmond Bagley's books are still in print, and amazon reviews suggest that they still read well. So maybe if the 1970s counts as historical (and you haven't read them before) they'd be worth looking for in the library too. I'd say Running Blind and High Citadel are good examples of his books.

slightlyglitterbrained · 08/02/2016 19:35

Historical spy stuff - would Rudyard Kipling's "Kim" fit the bill? 50p on Kindle.

RemusLupinsBiggestGroupie · 08/02/2016 19:38

50s is about as late as I'd ideally want to go. The 70s are my lifetime, so don't feel enough like history yet!

Have read 'Kim' and hated it. Sorry. Blush

Sadik · 08/02/2016 19:53

Have you read Alastair Maclean's books? Again, still in print, and Amazon reviews suggest they still read well. They're mainly 2WW based IIRC (hence why I've never liked them so much, I prefer more modern thrillers/spy novels).

Currently have just started and enjoying so far Europe in Autumn, which I think lots of others have read.

Sadik · 08/02/2016 19:57

Although actually Remus you should probably iignore all my recs as my fiction reading on the whole is definitely at the trashy end of the scale Grin

SatsukiKusakabe · 08/02/2016 20:11

I've read Tinker Tailor Soldier Soy and Constant Gardener by le carre both were all right I thought. Less trashy than I was perhaps expecting.

SatsukiKusakabe · 08/02/2016 20:13

Spy obviously, I don't think he has much to say about Asian cuisine, but I could be wrong.

RemusLupinsBiggestGroupie · 08/02/2016 20:22

Sadik Grin Grin

CoteDAzur · 08/02/2016 20:28

"Sorry - am awkward and horrible."

You're funny and lovely - Why would you call yourself awkward and horrible? Smile

I'm not against old school spy fiction on principle but Le Carré's just hasn't been doing it for me for a long time, especially since he started writing about post-9/11 without a clue for how the intelligence business runs in the modern age.

RemusLupinsBiggestGroupie · 08/02/2016 20:39

I knew there was a reason I like you so much! Flowers I am bloody awkward though!

I think I want sort of early Cold War stuff if I'm honest. Have read a couple but it's a period I know little about, so would be interested in learning more.