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?

2016 reads so far:

1. The Other Half Lives, Sophie Hannah (one of her better ones - the ending has not been entirely wiped from my memory as most of her endings have)
2. Home, Francis Pryor (non-fiction book about pre-history. My kind of thing so I liked it)
3. The Great Charles Dickens Scandal, Michael Slater (a history of the scandal about him and Nelly Tiernan. Good fun)
4. Death Descends on Saturn Villa, M R C Kasassian (Victorian detective pastiche. Confusing plot but atmospheric)
5. Be Awesome: Modern Life for Modern Ladies, Hadley Freeman (like an extended magazine article; diverting enough but not the place to look for profound insights)
6. Charlotte Bronte, Claire Harman (competent, interesting biography)
7. The Gilded Chalet, Padraig Rooney (about writers in Switzerland. A few striking vignettes, but overall this didn't do much for me)
8. In the Woods, Tana French (thriller that didn't actually solve the mystery at the end. Frustrating)
9. The Elements of Eloquence, Mark Forsyth (non-fic. Love this writer - makes the most unlikely subjects very funny)
10. Life Moves Pretty Fast, Hadley Freeman (life-lessons from 1980s films. I'm of a similar vintage so mildly enjoyable nostalgia)
11. Treasured Islands, Frank Barrett (non-fic. Loved the concept - literary pilgrimage around the UK - but the execution wasn't great. Too much about his satnav and parking restrictions)
12. The Cornish Coast Murder, John Bude (1930s detective story reprinted. Not very impressed - out of print for a reason).
13. A Game for All the Family, Sophie Hannah (usual intriguing premise and disappointing incredulity at the end)
14. Seedless in Seattle, Ross O'Carroll-Kelly (love this Irish comedy series. Not the best in the series and not the place to start for newcomers to the series)
15. The Alice Behind Wonderland, Simon Winchester (non-fic back-story to Lewis Carroll's photography of Alice Liddell. More about the chemicals used in Victorian photography than I really wanted to know)
16. Lasting Damage, Sophie Hannah (quite liked this one. The usual mixture of intrigue and irritation)
17. The Skeleton Cupboard, Tanya Byron (non-fic about her training as a clinical psychologist. Interesting insight into that world)
18. Almost English, Charlotte Mendelson (liked this novel; mother and daughter grapple with life and love against the backdrop of colourful Hungarian grand-aunts)
19. Little Face, Sophie Hannah (the usual)
20. RIP, Nigel Williams (murdered man haunts family, musing on marital and sibling love. Hits a few plangent notes)
21. Hurting Distance, Sophie Hannah (the usual)
22. Mr and Mrs Disraeli: A Strange Romance, Daisy Hay (biography; politician married for money, learned to love. Not quite compelling enough for a full-length book)
23. The Shepherd's Crown, Terry Pratchett (a fond farewell to the Discworld. Sniff)
24. All My Puny Sorrows, Miriam Toews (black humour of despair: how to help a suicidal sister. Liked it, wouldn't re-read it though)
25. The Moth Catcher, Ann Cleeves (usual competent crime fiction. Liked the characters who'd moved to the country to retire - reminded me of a particularly jaded version of Escape to the Country, with murderous neighbours)
26. On the Bone, Barbara Nadel (I like this crime fiction series, set in Istanbul, but it's not the place to start if you're new to the series. It helps to know the back-stories of the main characters as they're lightly sketched here)
27. Perfect Wives in Ideal Homes, Virginia Nicholson (non-fiction about women's lives in the 1950s. Oral history. Enjoyable)
28. The Outrun, Amy Liptrot (memoir; woman gives up alcohol and moves back to childhood home in Orkney. Enjoyed this).

4. The Girl in the Spider's Web Finally finished and although it i enjoyed the second half more than the first felt that this was not as strong as Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. I felt there were far too many characters and the chapters seemed to change from character to character and situation to situation within paragraphs. I found myself checking the front to remember who people were.

From the ending i imagine that there will be a sequel as the antagonist Thanos has still not been found. The story focusessed on a criminal organisation called the Spiders who's main business was trade secrets. A scientist called Frans Balder somehow ends up caught in this as does our 'heroine' Lisbeth Salander. It's hard to say more of the story without spoiling twists and would only recommend if you have read and really enjoyed the previous 3 books.

5. Virals -Kathy Reichs Just started it but am enjoying it. It's YA so easy reading and at the moment feels like a more modern Enid Blyton set in America.

34. Mariana, Monica Dickens. Bought after the cosy lovely reads chat last week - written by the great-granddaughter of Charles Dickens. Sweet little peaceful 1930s read - ends just after the war begins, with a story of Mary growing up. Undemanding but very cosy!

Grendels Sadly (my) DH has never shown any signs of literary talent - you never know, though!

Book 32
The Lady Vanishes by Ethel White
Years ago, somebody on MN recommended the Black Heath Crime collection to me, and this is the first I’ve got around to reading. I chose it because I knew there was a film based on it and dp said I might like the idea. He was right – I did! I thought it took a while to get going but once our leading lady gets onto the train and the other lady is found to have vanished, things really pick up. Although it soon becomes pretty obvious what’s happened to the vanished lady, what is scary is that it looks as if the baddies might well get away with it, and might even end up being able to get our heroine locked up as insane too. I really enjoyed this.

19. Finders Keepers - Belind Bauer Third in the increasingly bleak series set on Exmoor. Children begin to disappear with notes left for each saying "You didn't love them". Very creepy but well written, especially the teenage central character, Stephen who appears in all the books

Sorry, TooExtraImmatureCheddar, I've only just seen your question. I haven't read anything by the authors you mentioned so can't really compare. Have you read any Kelley Armstrong? If you like her stuff you might well enjoy Kim Harrison. Bear in mind that Rachel Morgan can be a bit irritating at times though. :D

17. The Birthday Boys - Beryl Bainbridge

Another Remus recommendation, thanks again. A fictional account of the doomed Scott polar expedition, through the voices of the five men who died in the attempt to be first to the South Pole. It's a short, unshowy read that excels in evoking the horrors of the experience without being melodramatic or maudlin.

Welcome back Biblio. Some interesting reads there.

ChillieJeanie, I do like Kelley Armstrong! Well, some of them. I think that she's started telling rather than showing far too much, but I love Bitten and all the werewolf ones, and I'm quite liking the Cainsville series. I hate Savannah in Waking the Witch, though. I shall give Kim Harrison a try!

41. The Taming Of The Queen by Philippa Gregory

I normally enjoy her books but struggled with this. It's about Catherine Parr, Henry VIII's sixth wife. The first three quarters of the book is just pages and pages about Catherine studying religion, interspersed every few pages with a description of how disgusting Henry is with his rotting leg. The final quarter, where it looks like Henry is turning on Catherine, is a bit more interesting but overall I struggled to finish this one.

Chessie - if you're still interested in Katherine Parr's story, I'd recommend Queen's Gambit by Elizabeth Fremantle. It's very readable and I thoroughly enjoyed it. It begins her story at the death of her husband, continues through the courtship and marriage to Henry VIII and then on to her subsequent marriage to Thomas Seymour.

Book 16 The Road to Little Dribbling by Bill Bryson Enjoyed this. Another journey around Britain. It is funny but also sharply honest. I think in places he remembers the past with rose coloured spectacles though. He seems to have forgotten that in the 70s and 80s it was considered quite normal to never clean up after your dog for example. Over all I enjoyed it even if I didn't agree with everything he says.

Glad you enjoyed The Birthday Boys, Meg - it's a sweet little read. I was horribly disappointed with her Titanic one which I followed it with. Not read anymore by her since.

Yes i read the Titanic one a few years back, I think my mum lent it to me. But I thought this was much better.

Now reading, Girl In A Band by Kim Gordon

9 The Lie Tree I already talked about this upthread, while I was reading it. It's superb.

10 Curtain Call, Anthony Quinn. Set in 1930s London among the art/theatre set and the 'underground' gay community. A murder-mystery of sorts, with a killer of young women on the loose, but more of a picture of certain areas of society and some of the individuals populating them.

It was well written and the story was interesting and plausible, with some colourful characters and settings. Not totally wowed by it though; it all seemed a little inconsequential at the end of the day. I can't enthuse that much about it, but I wouldn't not recommend it.

Reading Black Rabbit Hall next.

I've got Girl in a Band to read too.

Just ordered The Lie Tree

23 Carrie by Stephen King Listened to this on cd in the car. Bit histrionic at times but like all Stephen King's stuff, strong plots, compelling story, decent writing. I am so glad I only discovered him last year.

24 The Girl In The Red Coat it was ok. Not exactly what I expected.

25 Dark Corners by Ruth Rendell her last one. not great.

Quogwinkle thanks for the recommendation, I'll add that to my list!

eitak and natasha so sorry for your losses, my father died in December and is leaving a gaping hole.

I have been ill and struggling to get the motivation to read but have managed to finish another one.

8 A Spool of Blue Thread by Anne Tyler.

Loved this, she is so good at observances of life. I enjoyed the fact that it went backwards through the generations befor coming full circle again. I forget between books how good a writer she is so need to get some more of hers.

Just started and enjoying March Violets by Philip Kerr, written in a similar vein to Hammett and Chandler but set in pre war Germany.

FiveGo

I'm very sorry for all your losses. We all have this pain in the future and I'm not quite sure how I will go on living when it happens to me.

Five - so sorry about your loss. Hope you're feeling a bit better, health-wise.

So glad to see somebody reading Philip Kerr - I've been a bit obsessed with Bernie Gunther recently!

Eitak, Natasha and Five, I'm so sorry

15. H is for Hawk by Helen Macdonald. This is a memoir about the season the author spent training a goshawk while recovering from the shock of her father's death, interspersed with commentary on T.H. White (author of The Sword in the Stone) who wrote a book called The Goshawk about his own experiences with a goshawk several decades earlier. I enjoyed this a lot - thank you to everyone who recommended it on last year's thread.

Five - so sorry for your loss . We're all getting to that age now. I have no parents left now, and DH only has a mother (who isn't in particularly good health and isn't close). It's hard when you realise you're the one at the top of the tree. I spent years worrying about and caring for my dad, much of my week being occupied with things to do with him and now there's a massive gap in all our lives.

for Quog and Five and Natasha and Eitak.