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

Sorry Remus

fatowl - I am reading 'Dark Fire' now ... enjoying it so far ...

Moving - was that the Alex Garland book that was made into that awful movie with an all saints theme song??

Sadik - you do know I was joking, right?

(Well, mostly)

Sadik - I must say, the fact that lots of people who survived a flu epidemic that wiped out a large percentage of the population weren't convinently the types who'd 'prepped' for it, but just normal people who were a bit useless, great at sort of middle level jobs, but no fucking clue about survivial, only having any sort of idea what to do from watching zombie films. This could well be because that's how I would be in an 'end of the the human race' situation. I'd be fine as long as I could raid the supermarkets, but once Waitrose had been emptied, I'd be screwed...

1. Disclaimer by Renee Knight. Oh that was bad. I should have known, really. I mean it even has the warning sign on the cover "an addictive novel with shades of Gone Girl". That means pale imitation, I now realise.

The premise that the victim of a crime to be perpetrated reads of their own fate in a book delivered to them sounded good. It is a good idea, but it was badly executed here. Such a shame.

1. The Time Traveller's Guide to Medieval England by Ian Mortimer. An audio book, really well read, and I thoroughly enjoyed it. I am trying to make myself study a bit more history this year and this was effortless, fascinating and often quite funny. The author has also written The Time Traveller's Guide to Elizabethan England, which I now want to read.

Forgot to highlight - Book 6 was The Time Traveller's Guide to Medieval England by Ian Mortimer

From previous thread:

1. The Ice Twins
2. The Taxidermist's Daughter

Have now just finished:

1. Us - David Nicholls. I know this has had mixed reviews but I really enjoyed it. I felt sorry for Douglas, rather than irritated by him, which probably had a lot to do with it. It was the perfect antidote to my first two books of the year, which didn't really do much for me.

I'm also 62% of the way through War and Peace now. Still aiming to finish by the end of January. I also have 3 plays to read for work by then (2 Shakespeare, 1 not) and am going to read 1599: A Year in the Life of William Shakespeare by James Shapiro as background reading at the same time.

I've just found this thread. Hurrah! I dropped off last year's one fairly early as I fell out with reading for a while. I managed 32 books last year in the end and I'm aiming for more this year.
So far:

1. The Adventure of the Christmas Pudding by Agatha Christie.
Short story collection featuring Poirot and Marple stories. Nice and easy to start the year off.

2. Zero Day by David Baldacci
I like Baldacci's thrillers. They are easy to read with likeable heroes, hateful villains and abundant plot twists.

I will probably spend the rest of the evening reading these two threads and noting down recommendations.

Dinosaurs - I agree re: Station Eleven, I would be utterly useless in any survival situation so I didn't have the slightest problem with the flu survivors not really achieving much! (I need to stick very close to DH in the zombie apocalypse as he is very practical and sensible, I can just about change a lightbulb but setting up an electricity grid would be WAY out of my comfort zone )

1. Finally finished Game of Thrones 4 A Feast of Crows, loved it and can't wait to crack open the next one but I am going to hold off and get stuck into Not my Father's Son as recommended on this thread (dd saw cover and shouted "he's in Spy Kids!"). Celebrity memoirs are really NOT my thing so I'm quite curious about this....

I lost this thread, so marking place.

"I would be utterly useless in any survival situation so I didn't have the slightest problem with the flu survivors not really achieving much!"

The problem with Station Eleven wasn't so much that survivors were useless but that they still managed to survive while being utterly useless and not bothering to spend any time or effort on finding or cultivating foods and clean water.

1 & 2 history books for a course, do count but not for reviewing here. .

1. King of the North, the life and times of Oswald of Northumbria by Max Adams

This came up in last year's thread and I finally finished it. Very good but I wish I had it on paper because on kindle it was a bit hard not being easy to flick through and look back. It's a story about the changing nature of Christianity, kingship and patronage in early medieval Northumbria, relies heavily on archaeological findings, scarce as they are, and the chronicles of Bede. I'm in the process of making myself more knowledgeable about medieval Britain and this book was really revealing. Very good, even though I think I don't know enough to really judge it. On to something a bit easier for now, not sure what though.

Quogwinkle I read the Medieval Time Traveller's Guide a few years ago

and found it really enjoyable and learned a lot from it.

I quite like Ian Mortimer - apart from his blind spot about Richard III and he has a bee in his bonnet about the fate of Edward II. I read his Fears of Henry IV: The Life of England's Self-Made King and 1415: Henry V's Year of Glory around the same time. Fascinating stuff. They weren't too off-puttingly dry or dense, which a lot of books on mediaeval history can be.

He was supposed to be working on a life of Richard, Duke of York which was due out in 2014. I was eagerly anticipating it, but no sign of it yet.

tumbletumble Do you recommend any other books of Drabble's? Seeing how her style has developed could be interesting, I think.

1. The Crane Wife by Patrick Ness I just finished this book and so am still digesting it, but I do appreciate Ness' gracefulness and humour.

1. Life, Death and Vanilla Slices by Jenny Eclair

Story of a woman returning to her home town to visit her mother, who is in a coma in hospital. Tells the story of various family events as each woman remembers them. Easy read, though light would be the wrong word, as there are some darker themes. Ending was poorly written though.

The problem with Station Eleven wasn't so much that survivors were useless but that they still managed to survive while being utterly useless and not bothering to spend any time or effort on finding or cultivating foods and clean water.

So if they weren't going in for hunting/gathering or attempts at farming, how were they surviving?

I confess I haven't read Station Eleven. I picked it up at the library last time I went in, but then was tempted by another book and put Station Eleven back on the shelf.

5. Disclaimer by Renee Knight. Oh that was bad. I should have known, really. I mean it even has the warning sign on the cover "an addictive novel with shades of Gone Girl". That means pale imitation, I now realise.

I am listening to this in the car on tape. Find myself switching off to the radio more and more...

Just finished book 6.

1. The Husband's Secret, Liane Moriarty

A wife finds a letter that informs her of a terrible secret. The build up to the secret is quite well done. (37%) For me I enjoyed the aftermath and all the emotions the main characters go through. I enjoyed it and would read another of her books.

1. The Captains of the Sands, Jorge Amado
2. The Importance of being Earnest, Oscar Wilde
3. You had me at hello, Mhairi McFarlane
4. The Pursuit of Love, Nancy Mitford
5. The Last Kingdom, Bernard Cornwell

I read The Pure Gold Baby by Margaret Drabble last year for book club. I wasn't very keen but if you are looking for more it might be one to look at.

Vanderlylegeek I've read Jersualem the Golden, The Millstone and The Peppered Moth, but I'd say none of them are as good as A Summer Birdcage. I really enjoyed Possession and The Children's Book by her sister.

1. Worlds of Arthur by Guy Halsall

To be honest, Arthur doesn't get too much of a look in, aside from the first section of the book in which Halsall roundly debunks claims made about the 'historical' King Arthur from the ninth century onwards. Instead, this largely concentrates on examining what the written and archaeological historical record can tell us about Britain after the collapse of the Roman empire, which comes down to 'not a lot'. He looks at the evidence for the usual idea of a single great migration of Anglo Saxons pushing the native Britons from east to west across the British isles during the fifth and sixth centuries and largely dismisses that too. Instead he suggests that while there was clearly an Anglo Saxon migration into Britain it is more likely to have happened over several centuries, including while the Romans were knocking about the place. The appearance of the Anglo Saxon kingdoms as they stand in around the eighth century may well bear more similarity to the better known development of kingdoms in France following the decline of Rome. He suggests that, rather than a mass invasion like the Vikings, the appearance of the Anglo Saxon kingdoms in Britain may be in part down to the changing of group identities as 'Roman' declined as a claim to status. Very interesting.

Full list so far:

1. The Return of the Discontinued Man by Mark Hodder
2. The Invisible Library by Genevieve Cogman
3. The Masked City by Genevieve Cogman
4. The Inner Guide Meditation by Edwin C. Steinbrecher
5. Moriarty by Anthony Horowitz
6. Worlds of Arthur by Guy Halsall

Chilli, what did you think of moriarty? It was my first book this year. Thought it ok.

1. Fated, Benedict Jacka. A decent urban fantasy. A Mage, running a shop in Camden and trying to keep his head down, gets sucked into a dangerous adventure. Enjoyed it and will read the rest of the series.

I've been trying to read Black Swan Green but got side tracked.

Book 4 - Boy Interrupted, memoir of a former Smith by Dale Hibbert.

Hibbert's life has been plagued by Aspergers and chronic depression 'more pain than pleasure'.

But his few ups and many downs have included interesting episodes, not least being on the first Smiths line up.

The trouble is Hibberts style is so factual and dispassionate, he doesn't connect with any of the other characters or the reader.

This style aptly reflects his condition but makes for a very flat read. Smiths fans will be disappointed and those readers looking for insight into mental ill health will come away none the wiser.

Signing in :)

I've started A brief history of seven killings but I'm struggling with it a bit so I've decided to read something a little more easy going then come back to it so I've started Am I normal yet? :)