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

12. Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel. No need to review it - the whole world knows what this is about! It was a re-read for me and I'm just going to say that I loved it even more this time. The audio book was brilliant. Even if you don't like it, you could still pick up some inventive swearing - "By the hairy balls of Christ" anyone? :o

Mountains of the Mind is not going well. I think it just slipped into a glacier and may not make an appearance for a while.

"By the hairy balls of Christ"

So, Wolf Hall.... DH bought me this last year, along with Bring Up The Bodies. I thought DH knows me well enough to know that my tastes run more towards SF/fantasy than historical fiction, but he claimed that he wanted to get me a book he knew I wouldn't have read.

I haven't started it yet. I tried watching the TV adaptation but barely made it halfway through the first episode before losing interest and giving up on that.

Is the book more interesting than the TV adaptation, and worth trying? Bearing in mind that I already know the basics about the fates of the main characters.

Book 11 In a Dark Dark wood by Ruth Ware. I got sent this by mumsnet as a giveaway. A woman gets invited to the hen night , actually weekend, of an old school friend that she hasn't seen in 10 years. She is really reluctant to go but does, why don't people listen to their instincts. It ends badly . However the journey is fun, some of the descriptions are good particularly of the house, the whole story has a palpable sense of menace. It's not great literature and despite what the jacket says it probably isn't the thriller of the year. It's great fun though, Cote you would hate it it's a first novel by a woman

I've got my numbering wrong. Wolf Hall is book 13, not 12.

Stitches- I also found the first episode of WH hard-going, nearly gave up and took weeks to return to it (thank you BBC iPlayer!). Really glad I persisted with it,it warms up rapidly after all the slow scene-setting snd you get drawn in. As for the book? No idea, I'm afraid, also on my to read pile and read mixed reviews. I gave up on her Every Day is Mother's Day found it rather a horrible read, to be honest, nothing likeable about the characters, the storyline or her thinking on this one. Plus mother-daughter dynamics never a pleasure for me to read about. Hoping WH rather different!

Stitches, from what you've said, I suspect you wouldn't enjoy Wolf Hall. It's a slow literary journey which I just enjoyed immersing myself in. If you didn't enjoy the tv adaptation and were bored by it then it isn't going to be your book of the year! But you never know ....

Just jumping in to say 'Hi' so I can remember where I've read up to. I have three going at the moment, hence the fact I haven't finished anything yet!

Loving Lord Peter W still - it's hilarious. I had to suck my scarf this morning to avoid snorting on the bus.

Struggling to fit in enough books at the moment! Have managed two but they were nice easy reads
1. The Secrets Women Keep - Fanny Blake
Quite enjoyed this, but not something I'll remember much about later on, so a bit forgettable.
2. The Crossing - Michael Connelly
I LOVE Michael Connelly's books, I devour them. Another Bosch but also featuring the Micky Haller/Lincoln Lawyer character. I do prefer the Lincoln Lawyer books as I love a courtroom novel, but this was still a good solid Bosch novel and as much of a page turner as Connelly's other books. Loved it.

Thanks for the recommendation Daphne,I'll look that one up. First I'm quickly going through the Motel Life by Willy Vlautin. Of mice and men, but set in present day -late 20th century.

15 Europe in Autumn by Dave Hutchinson. This starts as a fairly conventional nearish-future thriller, the sort where the main character gets sucked into events entirely out of their control and where s/he never really understands what is going on. I enjoyed this part a lot, it's not particularly fast moving, but the main character is appealing and I really liked the setting (a thoroughly Balkanised Europe where borders have come back into fashion with a vengeance). It's also not overly violent, or at least not graphically so.

I'm not sure whether I'm so convinced about the way it all pans out - but I'm definitely going to buy the next book in the series and read it soon, which I guess is a vote of confidence.

I've started reading Bleak House, inspired by Dickensian. Never been particularly keen on Dickens, but this is OK so far. Not exactly light going though, so may need something else at the same time.

Just finished Finding Audrey by Sophie Kinsella. Technically a YA read but I find Kinsella's writing excellent and so easy with a great flow. Might tackle Gone with the Wind next.

BlueEyeshadow I've always struggled with Dickens. A Christmas Carol is the only one I've ever finished. Hope you enjoy Bleak House

12. Cloud Atlas by David Mitchell

Just popping on to say I've finished it, will post review later. Have had an emotionally fraught week and can't untangle my feelings about the book from how I'm feeling generally. Though suspect that's what David Mitchell wanted to happen, the crafty bastard.

Sorry Quog but I had a chuckle at "Wolf Hall. It's a slow literary journey"

An example from the singular "literary" marvel that Wolf Hall was:

Finally, he thinks, I must end this: can it be true, he wonders, that as a subject should, I really love my king?

Another:

Christophe rides beside him and pesters him: you have said you will tell me who is Cicero and who is Reginald Pole.
'Cicero was a Roman'
'A general?'

Literary? I would have settled for correct grammar and punctuation!

Hmm. I think Wolf Hall will be shuffled further down my pile of unread books.

Sorry I don't mean to put people off. Some readers obviously got along much better with Wolf Hall than I did. I usually have no problem with unusual grammar & quite enjoyed Shakespeare, for example, but Wolf Hall nearly broke my literal mind with its gimmicky liberties with grammar and deliberate misuse of punctuation. Why? It certainly didn't add anything to the story.

I gave up on Wolf Hall last year, the writing style and grammar really grated on me. Given that I already knew how the story ended, I didn't see the point in torturing myself to read to the end!

Well clearly I'm in the minority on here for actually liking Wolf Hall . I shall be following it up shortly when I read Bring Up The Bodies. No doubt there will be hate comments about that too, so I shall not review it, but merely add it to my list and move on.

I enjoyed Wolf Hall a lot. I have Bring Up the Bodies on my 'to read' list, and will be interested to read your review, Quog.

Please don't be put off reviewing Bring Up The Bodies, Quog. We all have different tastes and have reasons for enjoying a book or not getting along with it at all

FWIW, those of us who hated WH did not read its sequel BUTB so you are likely to see uniform love for it from the thread.

I loved WH and liked BUTB even more - wish she'd get a move on and write number three!

I liked Wolf Hall, quogwinkle. The style is not for everyone, obviously, but the unconventional grammar and punctuation very much adds to the telling of the story IMO - she made a bold choice to blend some different techniques and largely pulls it off over the two novels. Hilary Mantel knows how to use punctuation, and I don't doubt for a minute knows her grammatical rules as well, which is why she can play with them - or dispense with them entirely - to enhance the effect she wanted to achieve. She wanted to make the past more alive, more immediate, for the reader to feel like they're fooling this chap around as he goes about his business, and also to innovate a tale everyone already knew. The people who liked it thought her way of doing this worked quite well, flowing between thoughts, speech, the thoughts of others; blurring the lines between it all. The off-kilter result reflects the uncertainty of the times she is trying to immerse the reader in. I found it enjoyable to read, and not jarring at all.

Be interesting to see how this comes over in the WH audio-book (narrator, Simon Slater).