50 Book Challenge 2016 Part Three

[southeastdweller]

Thread three 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.

First thread of 2016 is here and second thread here.

How're you getting on so far?

Book 9: Mrs Hemmingway - Naomi Wood. The story of the 4 Hemmingway wives is told based on surviving correspondence. The great author comes over as a weak and petulant man who is entirely incapable of being alone, despite being described as a handsome and charming man who is adored by all (with the sole exception of Zelda Fitzgerald). An entertaining read.

Book 10: Red Love: the story of an East German family - Maxim Leo. A fascinating read about 3 generations of the author's family, spanning the time before, during and after The Wall. We share his mother, Anne's idealogical struggle from firm believer, through lover but doubter, to finally resigning from the party. If it sounds dry, I promise you it is anything but.

Book 11: Just One Damned Thing After Another - Jodi Taylor. First in a series about St Marys, a time-travelling historical part of Thirsk University. It was a fun but decidedly fluffy romp & I expect the series to provide a suitable palate cleansing task for the future. To provide a proper critique: far too much telling rather than showing, sketchily drawn characters and the sex scene was positively

My book club didn't pick HHhH sadly, but it will be added to the TBR, along with Stasiland. The bloke (who's a cold war expert) also recommended Man without a Face. And I've picked up more recommendations from reading the thread ...

GrendelsMother yes I have read Night Waking by Sarah Moss and loved it. Would highly recommend.

tumble Do you think I ought to read them in order, since they share characters? I know the plots are basically separate but perhaps it would help...

Red love sounds excellent, Joyless, many thanks for the recommendation

Stokey - DD had a go at Lord Of The Rings but found its vocabulary a bit beyond her. That was 1-2 years ago though. Maybe it will be OK now. Thanks for the reminder.

Re Peripheral: That book defeated me. And I say that as someone who almost never gives up on books and normally reads even the most ones to the bitter end. I came to about 15% and realised that I have no idea who any of the characters are, what they are doing, or why, and frankly couldn't care less about any of it.

Have you read any of William Gibson's earlier books? I used to be a big fan - read Neuromancer in 1980s and then read & loved all his books until All Tomorrow's Parties (2000?) which was a bit of a garbled mess. Still, I went on to grab Pattern Recognition as it came out and was truly surprised at how awful it was. Spook Country was even worse. I don't remember if I tried Zero History but had a go at Peripheral because I read reviews saying it was a "return to form" for Gibson, a book in the style of his previous classics. Well, it wasn't.

My theory (voiced often enough on here ) is that Gibson got dementia someone else started writing his books, maybe with some ideas from him. I can't explain the huge decline in the scope, innovative quality, and plot in his books any other way.

Cote Maybe he sort of stopped being able to grasp the zeitgeist, technologically speaking. Like, Pattern Recognition is about trendhunters, and Neuromancer was this amazing exploration of VR, but maybe he just got a bit old and stuck in the computer culture of the '80s instead of adapting to how tech culture is now? (Total guess in the dark as have never properly read him, though Neuromancer and Pattern Recognition both on my TBR.)

GrendelsMother No, I think it's fine to read them in any order. The link is not necessary to improve your enjoyment.

tumble and grendel I loved Night Waking but for some reason hadn't ever thought to see if she'd written anything else so thank you for this! Will wishlist it immediately.

Grendel - Possible but plot and "construction" went to pot in his later years, too, not just grasp on tech industry zeitgeist. It really is sad to see one of my favorite authors churn out one relatively crap book after another.

I can only compare his decline to David Cronenberg whose fantastically weird and brainhurty earlier films like Naked Lunch, eXistence, and Dead Ringers seem to have given way to vanilla stuff like A History Of Violence and Cosmopolis. Why?

I also do a whole series in a gulp! Obviously this doesn't apply if not all the books have been published yet. I remember reading all the Diana Gabaldon Outlander books back to back (up to Drums of Autumn, which was as far as the series had got at that point) at uni and not going to any lectures until they were finished. I re-read a lot so I particularly love series. Last year I read just about every Sherlock Holmes story in a row.

I am struggling my way through The Sword of Shannara. It is derivative crap, but I persevered because I bought it for DH's Christmas and I wanted it to be good. I'm nearly there! This is one series I am not going to continue reading.

I liked The Knife of Never Letting Go and its sequel, but hated the final one in the trilogy.

Book 15 Skeleton Road by Val mcDermid. A woman is celebrating her birthday with friends but missing her husband, who she thinks left her to return to his home in Croatia. Then a skeleton is discovered in Scotland. The story then goes back to when they met in Dubrovnik, the Balkan wars and who murdered him. Very good story.

Book 16 The Apprentice by Tess Gerritson. A murder scene looks very like the scene set by the surgeon,the previous serial killer the detective caught in the first book. Very readable good fun

GrendelsMother and bigbadbarry

I also loved Names for the Sea: Strangers in Iceland by Sarah Moss. I wasn't so keen on Cold Earth, which was let down by a poor ending IMO.

Remus - What? No. You break my heart so soon after we agreed on another rare fiction book!

I know our tastes in fiction don't really overlap, which is fine, but I'm really curious about this one: What was it that you liked about The Knife Of Never Letting Go?

36. Harry Potter and The Deathly Hallows JK Rowling

Last reread of the series, do love them even though they're for kids!

Book 37 is Little Lies by Liane Moriarty.

Cote It's a long time since I read it tbh. I remember liking the dog, and the dialogue, and the idea of a child discovering that his entire life has pretty much been a lie, and found it pretty gripping, as did Yr 8 when we taught it a few years ago. Sorry!

29. Daddy-Long-Legs, Jean Webster. I love this book for its exuberance. Judy is always so cheerful. Slightly disturbing to modern ears - an orphan girl is sent to college by a mysterious benefactor who asks only that she write him letters. She writes to him about her life and the man she falls in love with. But it wasn't intended to seem creepy and I try to read it in the spirit in which it was meant! I mostly succeed.

No worries, I was genuinely curious what you found in it.

How old are Year 8 kids? Is that 1st year of middle school (age 11)?

I'm surprised to hear this nonsense is taught in schools, whatever the age. For what conceivable purpose? Seriously. What about it considered worthy enough to be part of the curriculum?

Talking animals got on my tits. Dog goes Todd? Todd? Oww, Todd? etc, sheep only say sheep, sheep, sheep and crickets say sex, sex sex sex sex sex

I can't believe this book is actually taught in schools. Whatever happened to Lord Of The Flies? I despair.

I teach 'Lord of the Flies' too!

'Knife' was a reading for pleasure book, so not much analysis, just encouraging reluctant readers to enjoy a story.

Cheddar I absolutely adore Daddy Long Legs. One of my favourite comfort reads.

Yes I love Daddy Long Legs too. The creepy thing never occurred to me as a child!

I never see the creepiness. I think it's lovely. It always makes me want a dorm room, and to be sent boxes of chocolates and roses, and to have a toffee drive or whatever it's called! And the final letter is just filled with such joy.

I just don't like Master Jervie. I love Judy and the college atmosphere and everything, but Master Jervie comes across as a spoiled brat most of the time. I also love Dear Enemy and am about to move onto that!

30. The Sword of fucking Shannara, Terry Brooks. I hated this book. Hated hated hated it! It is basically the exact same story as Lord of the Rings only without the interesting characters, dialogue, awesome poetry, and the ultimate in world-building. The Sword of Shannara is utter shite by comparison. The characters barely speak to each other and have no back story. There is one female character whose job is to be pretty and slim. LOTR is not brilliant in the feminist stakes but compared to this bollocks it's practically The Female Eunuch. Every fucking non-event was a boringer version of LOTR - a company set out, they travel underground through the Tombs of the Kings/Paths of the Dead, which also bear a striking resemblance to Moria, there's a land with a warlock king of incredible power, there's a massive battle, the hero saves the day at the 11th hour, then goes home and mopes around. It's terribly written and has not one original idea in it. Grrrrrrrrr. I can only assume that the publisher had never read LOTR and didn't realise that SoS was a total rip-off of it.

Have you read Just Patty, Remus?

I'm reading and thoroughly enjoying The Time Machine, so thanks to all of you who said I was a fool for not reading it I should give it a go