50 Book Challenge 2016 Part Four

[southeastdweller]

Thread four 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, second thread here and third thread here.

How're you getting on so far?

Argh I keep missing ones I have read out, will do a complete list right at the end of the year.

Comfort reading at the moment so

12 The Whole Truth - David Baldacci, run of the mill, thriller by rote, will be heading back to the charity shop whence it came.

13 Polo by Jilly Cooper - excited to hear that the next installment of the Rutshire Chronicles is coming out in September

Studiously ignoring what others are reading in the vain hope that I can make headway through the hundreds, literary, of books I have on kindle and in my bedroom and bathroom.

If I don't like a book I am very much a life is too short to read it attitude.

Catching up with my numbering (reviews previously posted):

32. The Silent Ones, William Broderick
33. Modern Romance, Aziz Ansari
34. The Pursuit of Happiness, Ruth Whippman
35. The Narrow Bed, Sophie Hannah
36. Childfree and Loving it, Nicki Defago
37. Death and the Lit Chick, G M Malliet
38. Hotel du Lac, Anita Brookner
39. The Novel Cure: Ellie Berthoud and Susan Elderkin
40. Maestra, L S Hilton

and (41) A Tour of Bones: Facing Fear and Looking for Life, Denise Inge. Non-fiction - author ending up living in a house with an ossuary (an Anglican church property). She's a bit freaked out, so decides to visit other ossuaries in Europe and writes this meditation on mortality to come to terms with it. I liked it in bits, but it does verge on a homily on places. There's a certain style of essay-writing I associate with American female writers that I sometimes find a bit cringeworthy - fairly ordinary tourist experiences spun into epic adventures ("She charmed snakes in Marrakech") and portentous announcements about the Deep Meaning of things, all very R4 Thought for the Day. But she was diagnosed with cancer and died aged 51 just after completing this, so it feels mean to criticise. It's not another cancer memoir - her diagnosis is only alluded to in passing. Hallstadt sounded nice.

Book 49
Stalin's Nose by Roy Maclean
I was really disappointed with this, and it made me rather angry. It’s marketed as a ground breaking piece of travel writing, blending fact and fiction in a whirlwind tour of Eastern Europe. The problem with this is that actually it’s effective neither as travel writing or fiction, and each gets in the way of the other. Essentially all that happens is a man whizzes around Europe with a silly old lady and a pig, whilst ‘confronting’ her family’s/Eastern Europe’s dark past. Every time an interesting bit of history came up either the pig or the old woman got in the way of it, and the writer whizzed around being stupid so much that half the time I hardly even knew what country he was in. Stupid – and insulting/disrespectful to anybody who suffered terrible events in Eastern Europe’s history and whose memories deserve better than this trite nonsense.

I keep forgetting to update what I’ve read. Sorry for the long post. Just ignore if too dull

24. End of Your Life Book Club – Will Schwabe
    This has been reviewed before but I found this engaging, and of course sad despite being rather self-indulgent. A son recounts the time he spends with his mother after her diagnosis of pancreatic cancer. They form an unofficial book-club of two and many interesting titles are discussed along with the life of the mother, who had an interesting, though extremely privileged life.

25. Alberta & Jacob – Cora Sandel
    An excellent coming of age novel, the first of a trilogy, set in a suffocating small town in north Norway, written in 1926 from the point of view of Alberta, a young woman who is desperate to escape from her town and her family. I found this on the Guardian 1000 novels to read and I am looking forward to reading the rest of the trilogy. A cut above the ordinary.

26. Our Endless Numbered Days – Claire Fuller
    This didn’t really work for me despite being a page-turner. It was just too far-fetched for me, but I sometimes find it hard to suspend disbelief (a survivalist father takes his young daughter Peggy to live in the woods). I did find Peggy’s narrative to be extremely convincing, right until the last third of the book. There are also twists.

27. The Housekeeper and the Profesor – Yoko Ogawa
    Ultimately dull but sweet story of a housekeeper's friendship with a professor with severe memory loss. Twas ok in a low-key, undramatic way.

28. Jamaica Inn – Daphne Du Maurier
    I didn’t like this at all! There must be something wrong with me because everyone loves this...except me. It took me ages to read, was ridiculously over-dramatic and the ending annoyed me beyond all reason. I obviously need help.

29. Man at the Helm – Nina Stibbe
    For some reason I just loved this (unlike Jamaica Inn). It was so sweet and funny despite being rather clichéd. It just didn’t matter though, it was still lovely. I recommend this for extreme loveliness (but not to Cote or Remus).

30. The Quickening Maze – Adam Foulds
    This was excellent. It’s a fictional (but a very historically accurate) account of the time the poet John Clare spent at an asylum in Epping Forest. Tennyson features too, as his brother is recovering in the same asylum. The author really gets into the mind of Clare and his spiral into deeper madness. It made me want to read Clare’s poetry.

31. Colorless Tsukuru Tasaki and His Years of Pilgrimage – Haruki Murakami
    I loved the premise of the book, which I won’t give away, although I may be the last person on earth to have read this. However, it was too rambling and somehow unfocused for me to really enjoy it and I felt a little cheated at the end. I’ve only read Norwegian Wood, which I loved, so if someone could recommend another of his I’d be happy to give it a go!

No worries, remus, as you were

I have yet to read Colourless whippetwoman, it's on my shelf. I think Norwegian Wood is his most accessible perhaps but I've not read them all. I liked The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle but it is surrealistic and a bit weird, so depends whether you like that aspect of his writing! Iirc it has quite an intriguing plot, and lots of cats, jazz and food as you'd expect. His running memoir, What I Talk About when I Talk About Running is very good, about his thoughts on life, music and writing as well as running. I've read the first book of 1q84 and was enjoying it, but never progressed onto the next and will have to reread it now as I've forgotten it.

Thanks Satsuki, I rather fancy the running book actually. I'm off to check the price on Kindle/the local library catalogue

Updating with books 25-30.

25. Murder on the Orient Express – Agatha Christie. Wonderful “who done it? on the Orient Express as it makes its way west. The train is stopped in a blizzard and one of the passengers is found stabbed to death in his compartment. Superbly read by David Suchet.

26. The Gypsy Morph: Book three of the Genesis of Shannara – Terry Brooks. In this last book of the trilogy the demons have pretty much taken over the human world and have also attacked the elves of Cintra. The few surviviors from Cintra have met up with the human survivors and together they must face the final battle. In the end good beats evil and the humans and elves of this world get the chance to start again. This was not the strongest fantasy book I have ever read but nonetheless was entertaining and enjoyable.

27. Steve Jobs: The Exclusive Biography – Walter Isaacson. This was a gift from friend and I had to read it as she kept asking me what I thought. I really struggled with this, particularly for the first quarter. At that point I gave in and bought the audiobook as otherwise I would never have gotten through it. I am not a tech person, nor am I in business or management so a lot of this book, while interesting to many, did not engage me other than make me grateful that I am not in business or management. As a biography it was excellent and seemed to be very objective in present Jobs warts and all. Jobs was clearly a very complex, multifaceted character but I found him broadly unlikeable. He was clearly a genius but he was also ruthless and arrogant. In the end I am glad I read/listened to it as I do find real human stories interesting and some of the side stories like his sister Mona Simpson and her link with The Simpsons was quirky and engaging. My dh is the Apple fiend in this house. He has ipads, phones etc but the main computer is a HP and my own gadgets and the kids are all android but I must admit to now wanting to replace the HP with an Apple device.

28. Odd and the Frost Giants – Neil Gaiman. Gaiman’s novella is the story of Odd a young Viking boy who has a badly injured foot as a result of an accident and whose father has died. Odd runs off to the woods where he meets a bear, a fox and an eagle. He discovers they are the gods Thor, Odin and Loki who have been changed into animal form by the ice giants who have taken over Asgard. Odd with his new friends goes on an adventure that requires courage and bravery. Wonderful story.

29. Black Swan Green – David Mitchell. This is the first DM novel that I have read despite having most of his books either on kindle or on my bookshelves. I know that this has had some mixed reviews on here and it was with this in mind that I decided to read it before Cloud Atlas and the Bone Clocks. This is the story of Jason Taylor age 13 and the year is 1982. Jason is searching for his place in the teenage world against the backdrop of Thatcher, the Falklands war and the breakdown of his parents’ marriage. As a 14 year old in the same year I related to the cultural, political and social references to that time. For this reason I found it rather evocative and enjoyed it a lot. It was beautifully written

30. Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix – JK Rowling. Fifth book in the series and the darkest so far. Voldermort is back but the Ministry of Magic are in denial and doing everything they can to quash the rumours. Dolores Umbrage is sent to Hogwarts on behalf of the ministry and ends up as principal. In the meantime Voldermort is getting stronger and his death eaters are gaining in strength. Harry and his buddies along with the members of the Order of the Phoenix are shaping up for a major battle which ends ups in tragedy for Harry. Wonderfully read by Stephen Fry.

I am now reading Nuerotribes and the Ocean at the End of the Lane and listening to Harry Potter and the Half Blood Priince and Apple Tree Yard.

Whippetwoman - the first Haruki Marukami I read was Hard-boiled Wonderland and the end of the World and I think it is still my favourite. I also liked the Wind-up Bird Chronicle, but think IQ84 needed serious editing.

31. The Lonely Cool before Dawn - Mary Torjussen. This was another thriller recommended on the Kindle thread. Ellie is starting university and leaving home where she has an uncommunicative relationship with her single Mum. Her mum takes in a lodger to help pay bills while Ellie is away. The book is written in alternate chapters from Ellie and her mother's point of view. Their relationship was well explored and Ellie's POV and the struggles she has at Uni were good. I found the ending pretty rushed and a bit unbelievable.

32. Noah's Crossing - Anne Tyler. Liam is a 60 year old teacher who has just been made redundant and decides to downsize into a new apartment in a less salubrious part of town. In his first night in his new place, he is attacked and wakes up in hospital with no memory of how he got there. I liked it, typical Anne Tyler, more character than plot driven. I read Heat Wave last year Tumble and agree about Penelope Lively being an English version of Anne Tyler.

Just started The Passage, which I've ignored til now as not a huge fan of vampire stuff. Still will give it a go.

57. The Life-changing Magic of Tidying Up by Marie Kondo

This woman is bonkers! Apparently you shouldn't ball your socks because they need to relax when you're not wearing them. When getting rid of possessions, you should thank them for the part they have played in your life. When you get home at the end of the day and take off your shoes/coat/bag etc. and put them away, you should thank each of them for helping you that day.

This is a book written by a woman who clearly lives alone. Sadly, I have a hoarder husband and a 6 year old DD addicted to Shopkins so I can't see me decluttering my house any time soon.

The worst bit however was when she suggested RIPPING PAGES OUT OF BOOKS!! No, no, no. She also only keeps 30 books, which is just never going to happen in my house. Books are decoration, not clutter.

Having said that, I have rearranged some of my drawers so the clothes are vertical rather than stacked, and I like it! I can see all my clothes rather than some being buried at the bottom and therefore never getting worn. I don't think I'll go full 'KonMari' but I will try and think more about whether I really love all my stuff and try and get rid of a bit more of it!

58. Fresh Hell by Rachel Johnson

Spotted this in the library and though I would give it a go. It's about women living in Notting Hill. I didn't realise at first that it is the third in a trilogy and I haven't read the others, so I did struggle at times to understand the characters and their back story. It also switches between the POV of two women, but they sounded identical on the page so I kept having to flip back to check which one I was reading about. Unfortunately none of the characters were particularly likeable so I didn't really care what happened to them. I'd read the first in the trilogy rather than the third!

Now halfway through Things We Have In Common by Tasha Kavanagh and enjoying it so far.

I loved 1Q84! One of my favourite books . Did not get on with Norwegian Wood , found it v depressing for some reason. Might have been my mood at the time. The Wind Up Bird Chronicle sounds right up my street (more 1Q84 than NW) so have put that on watch, thank you Satsuki!

Read the Steve Jobs bio a while back and thought it was excellent. Bios can be very deadening or present quite an artificial viewpoint, from a bio point of view I thought it was really vg. I am in a business type environment so probably enjoyed it more for that reason too.

43 The Precariat, the new dangerous class by Guy Standing
I found this book deeply frustrating. There were some very interesting ideas and analysis in it, but they were swamped by too many sweeping statements with a journalistic level of accuracy (apologies to any journalists present, but YKWIM).

It was a real contrast to Social Class in the 21st Century, where I'd think 'yes but what about X' in response to some comment, then a page later I'd come to 'of course we have to take X into account and the implications are Y'.

I thought it was particularly sad, because it is an important topic, and it could have been a really excellent book.

36. Dead Beat by Jim Butcher

Harry Dresden's friend, Lt Karrin Murphy of the Chicago Police Department, is in trouble and she doesn't even know it. A powerful vampire of the Black Court has incriminating evidence which she will use to destroy Karrin's career unless Dresden finds her the Word of Kemmler. But six necromancers are in town in search of the Word of Kemmler and all the dark power it can bring. As Halloween approaches and a plague of zombies infest the mean streets, Harry is in a race against time to prevent one of them performing the ritual and to save Murphy's career.

Random question, has anyone read Moby Dick? It's one of those classics that I feel I should read, but has been on my Kindle for about four years now.

Stokey - Yes, and it was pretty crap. I liked the bits on whaling, but thought the rest of it was very tedious.

I read Moby Dick about 15 (?) years ago. It wasn't an enjoyable experience. I found it very hard going. I can't remember much details now, but if memory serves, the plot kept getting interrupted by educational lectures.

The educational lectures are the bits I liked!

Stokey and wilting, thanks for the Murakami recs!

I've not read Moby Dick but feel I should too...

Going to move iq84 up the reading list again then wilting . I think Norwegian Wood is a bit depressing, I quite liked the mood of it though at the time I read it.

Yes I've read Moby Dick a couple of times. Each chapter has a theme based in the real world, to do with whaling, or sailing, etc and it usually serves as an allegory for something philosophical. Harpoons, ropes, whale blubber all take on a greater significance. Overarching it all is the classic American preoccupation with the pursuit of an elusive dream. It is not an easy read, but it is challenging and full of ideas about life, the universe and everything. The first time I read it slowly and without much enjoyment, because I didn't really get it, but the next time, once I stopped taking it at face value, it really opened up to me and I loved it, and lots of it has stuck with me. It's definitely one I will reread.

14. The Pagan Lord, Bernard Cornwell Seventh in The Saxon Series

I really enjoyed this instalment; it reinvigorated the story line and has opened up lots of new plot lines. I won't give away any spoilers as I know others are dipping into this series too.

Since the end of the previous book, there has been a long period of peace between the Saxons and the Danes. The Christians feel they no longer need the services of a troublesome pagan warlord and they want him gone. Uhtred 'goes viking' i.e. flounces off and does his own thing! Inevitably, the Christians need him when the peace shatters, cue more epic battle scenes and a thrilling death scene...

Next up: The Empty Throne, Bernard Cornwell

Just needing to check back in despite not having finished a book for AGES.

I'm reading 3 at the moment, and particularly loving The Buried Giant by Ishiguro which I'm about halfway through.

Feeling v tempted by all the Herriot talk. I've never read them but loved the TV series. Might need to add to the groaning TBR pile...

19. Olive Kettridge by Elizabeth Strout.
Short stories centred on a small town in America each featuring the matriarch Olive Kettridge to a lesser or greater degree. Well written but I found it all a bit depressing. My aunt-in-law recommended the book, having loved it, and I wonder if I will enjoy it more in 15 years time.

20. The Inheritance of Loss by Kiran Desai.
Beautiful evocative descriptions of places and characters. There are some interesting themes: class differences, illegal immigration, education set mostly in a rural area of India and partly in New York. But it was also meandering and a bit dull, I wondered if it would ever get to the end. This book has been sitting on my shelf for nearly 10 years and I can see why.

21. Flesh Wounds by Christopher Brookmyre.
Loved this book, much more than the first two in this series about a female PI working in Glasgow. I listened to the audiobook, excellent narration and loved her Scottish accent. Just the right mix of crime, romance, humour and intrigue for me and a very much needed light relief as I was reading No. 22 at the same time.

22. Farewell Kabul by Christina Lamb.
Excellent non-fiction account of Afganistan since 2001 by this acclaimed war correspondent. It makes for soul destroying reading though, there are not many good guys. And the most depressing thing is that that area of the world - Afganistan, Iraq, Syria, Libya etc- is actually in a worse position now, under threat by ISIS and extremists mostly stemming from Afganistan, Pakistan, Yemen and Saudi Arabia. What a disaster and quite scary.

23. Winnie-The-Pooh by A.A.Milne.
Not as good as The House at Pooh Corner but still made me laugh with great little parables for dealing with bullies and adventures.

My DH absolutely loves Moby Dick and made me encouraged me to read it about 12 years ago. I just remember being slightly worried that I found his favourite book so tedious!

And Grifone that's exactly how I felt about Black Swan Green.

59. Things we have in common by Tasha Kavanagh

This is told from the POV of Yasmin, an unhappy, very overweight teenager, who becomes convinced that a man she sees is going to kidnap a classmate. I enjoyed the majority of the book - I thought it was well written and I had a good picture in my head of Yasmin. However the ending ruined it for me, I had rushed through the book to find out what happened but was left very disappointed. Can't say more without giving it away!

20. A Monster Calls by Patrick Ness. Conor has a lot to cope with - his mother's illness, school bullies, a recurring nightmare - when a monster starts visiting him in the night. I loved this quirky tale.

12. Longhorn by jo baker.

pride and prejudice told from the servants point of view.

I'm on the fence for this one. There were parts of this book that I really enjoyed and I liked the premise of the book. However, i didn't like how the author had interfered with Jane austens characters that you feel you know so well. I just didn't recognise them. I also felt that the story took a while to get going and only real action happened in the last hour of the book.

I didn't hate this book but I didn't love it either.