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?

Book 52
The Sussex Downs Murder by John Bude
A British Library Crime Classic. This was rather disappointing, despite early promise. I really liked the policeman/detective figure but I found the whole thing overlong and very predictable, and the ending left loose-ties that just felt a bit lazy. Not recommended.

Hello all, I've just discovered the 50 Book Challenge - I hope it's ok to join this late!

1. And Then There Were None - Agatha Christie. I recorded the TV series when it was on over Christmas because I wanted to read the book first, and I'm glad I did. I'm sure many of you will know the premise, so I won't elaborate much - a group of strangers are invited to an isolated house, built on an island off the coast of Devon. As they find themselves cut off from the mainland by a storm, members of the group start dying, one by one, as the rest strive to find the killer. Clever and brilliantly written, I'd recommend this to anyone.

1. The Mysterious Affair at Styles - Agatha Christie. Her first Poirot book, a nice introduction to Poirot, Hastings and Japp.

1. Fool's Quest - Robin Hobb. Second in the Fitz and the Fool trilogy. I'm a big fan of Fitz and co, and loved the Farseer trilogy where he first appears. Previously an assassin for the royal family he half belongs to, Fitz is trying desperately to stay quietly retired, and is failing. His daughter has been abducted, and his oldest friend, the Fool, is recovering from years of torture at the hands of the abductors.

1. A Christmas Carol - Dickens. A little late, as I read this in February, but wonderful all the same. I think I'll read it again in December.

1. The Lies of Locke Lamora - Scott Lynch. I had this recommended to me as an enjoyable read with an unusual setting for a fantasy: Italian names and a Venice-inspired city of canals. I like it, but haven't yet dashed out to buy the second in the trilogy.

1. Guards! Guards! Terry Pratchett. I have the joy of being new to Pratchett, many ahead of me! I've started with the Watch storyline, and this first one lived up to all I've heard. I had to stop drinking tea whilst reading it, too much laughing!

1. American Gods - Neil Gaiman. Just before Shadow is due to be released from prison, his wife, Laura, dies in a car crash. As he makes his way home he meets a man called Wednesday, who claims to be a refugee from a distant war and a former god. I couldn't put this down; one of Gaiman's best.

1. The Road - Cormac McCarthy. Deep, unsettling, full of love and fear and hope. Enjoyed this more than I expected to.

1. The Monogram Murders - Sophie Hannah. This was ok, perfectly readable, but I felt something was missing. Maybe I was expecting it to be so-so, as Poirot without Christie just doesn't seem right!

10. The Snow Child - Eowyn Ivey. Saw this reviewed well on here, and I agree completely. Beautiful book, the characters will stay with me for a good while I think.

11. Absolute Pandemonium - Brian Blessed. An autobiography, not his first, I don't think. Very funny, as you'd expect. Some great anecdotes and an interesting insight into some tv shows and films I haven't seen (but now want to!)

12. The Wind in the Willows - Kenneth Grahame. Somehow I didn't read this as a child, so thought it was about time. I listened to it on audiobook; it's a great story anyway, but the narrator made it even better with his spot-on accents and distinctive voices for each character. Thoroughly enjoyable, I was sad when it ended.

I've just discovered the C. J. Sansom books (thanks to reviews and recommendations on here) so am starting on Dissolution. Enjoying it so far!

I haven't updated my reading for a while:-

34. Engleby by Sebastian Faulks - This was very good - a tale of a psychopathic liar, an unreliable narrator. Nothing is quite what it seems.

35. Overcoming Your Child's Fears and Worries by Cathy Cresswell and Lucy Willetts. Interesting.

36. The Uncommon Reader by Alan Bennett - a re-read. Just as good as before.

37. Company of Liars by Karen Maitland - absolutely loved this. Nobody is quite who they claim to be in this tale of a group of travellers crossing the country in the Middle Ages in an attempt to keep one step ahead of the Black Death. Very pleased to discover another author I like. Will definitely be reading more by Karen Maitland.

Just bought Stardust (Neil Gaiman).

I enjoyed Engleby - one of SF's less self-indulgently dickish novels imvho.

I admit to being quite pleasantly surprised by Engleby. The only other novel by Sebastian Faulks that I've read is Birdsong and I really didn't like that.

I've bought A Town Like Alice thanks Remus, been waiting for it. Never read any Neville Shute.

Also The Murder of Roger Ackroyd

Thought I was the only one who couldn't stand Birdsong couldn't even finish it and I used to persevere with books. Always turns up on most loved/must read lists and I never got it! Never tried any more of his.

28. Daddy Long Legs by Jean Webster

I think this has been reviewed already upthread. Foundling Judy is sent to college by a mystery benefactor (who she names Daddy Long Legs) and has to write him regular letters. Judy is a very likable character, who writes all about her life and the man she's growing to love.

But I did find the ending slightly disturbing. Difficult to say why without spoilers, but I did think that Daddy Long Legs was taking unfair advantage of Judy by the way she's been pouring out her heart to him in her letters without any idea of his true identity.

I love Daddy Long Legs - I find it a really uplifting, feel-good book and have never really noticed the possible 'creepy' side of it.

The Ghosts of Berlin is £2.03 at the moment btw. I highly recommend it to anybody interested in history/Berlin/urban landscapes etc.

Same here, Satsuki. My dad recommended Birdsong to me, and kept going on about how brilliant it was, the best WW 1 novel etc and I just couldn't bring myself to confess to him that I didn't like it. He was a fan of Sebastian Faulks's novels and it was his battered old copy of Engleby I read, having found it amongst a pile of books on his bedside cabinet after he died last year.

Satsuki and Mermaid, I didn't like Birdsong either. I read it for book club and everyone else was going on about his powerful evocation of WW1 and what a tragedy it all was and how they hadn't known anything much about it - whereas I didn't think it was anything out of the ordinary. For such a powerful subject, he really failed at making his characters likeable.

62. Fire Touched, Patricia Briggs. Latest in the Mercy Thompson series. Urban fantasy. Mercy is a coyote shapeshifter living in a werewolf pack, and the series focuses heavily on the Fae. The werewolves have come out to the media, as have the Fae, and the Fae are now attacking the pack. I liked it a lot but it didn't really advance the series very much. Tanaqui, if you're looking for urban fantasy I'd strongly recommend these!
63. Dead Heat, Patricia Briggs. Latest in the Alpha/Omega series. More urban fantasy loosely connected to the Mercy Thompson series. Explores the importance of children to society, and to the Fae, which is a bit different (eg changelings etc). Also good!

I liked Susan Hill's Strange Meeting, which I thought a much better examination of the experiences of the soldiers in WW1.

40. Little Stranger Sarah Waters. Mmm. Still very well-written, nice observations but slow moving and not drawn by any of the characters. Very disappointing after the Paying Guests

41. The Upside of Down - an intriguing and uplifting study of failure of all types and how we learn from it by a thoughful, highflying American journo/MBA grad. Recommend.

For WW1 from the perspective of a German soldier, I'd highly recommend All Quiet on the Western Front.

stokey I've read the twelve (sequel to the passage) and while I enjoyed it, I would say it was not as good as the passage. Focus was more hunting the vampires rather than pulling the original threads together or exploring the implications of what had happened or even why or how, which is be more interested in.

I believe the final book is out on the 24 May see amazon

Synopsis sounds promising Will definitely be watching for deal on it...

40. Small Favour by Jim Butcher

I suppose the fact that there's always more than one significant enemy attempting to kill Harry in each novel makes things more realistic when you consider that it's essentially a series in which a number of supernatural powers and species are in conflict. Although given that it's a series about wizards, vampires, faeries, demons, Fallen Angels, and Knights of the Cross realistic is probably pushing it a bit. Anyway, in this one the Fallen Angels are the main big bad, but the faerie Courts of Winter and Summer are also in play since they each have their own preference for how things should turn out. Harry owes Mab, Queen of Air and Darkness, two favours so she is seeking to collect on one, whilst Titania, the Summer Queen, is out to stop him by sending some of her elite Gruffs (as in the Billy Goats - progressively bigger brothers) after him.

Brief break for an entirely different type of book now, but will be back with the Dresden Files re-read after that. This one was number 10 so six more to go.

24. Career of Evil by Robert Galbraith

This was OK - much better than the last Cormoran Strike book. It was entirely too long for the amount of actual plot it had, but at least Strike talked/thought/whined much less about his leg. Plot was very limited, since he decided in the first 5% of the book that the perpetrator MUST be one of three past opponents There is also the utterly uninteresting drama about Robin's fiancé which bored me half out of my wit. Otherwise, it was OK.

Btw, I don't know why J K Rowling pretends to be a man and calls herself "Robert" in these crime books. Nobody with half a brain would believe that these books were written by a man.

Hmmm. Not sure I agree. There's some bloody awful female characterisation and a lot of pretty hideous misogyny in there, Cote. I quite enjoyed this one, but agree that it's far, far too long. My theory is that when people thought she was Robert G, ie the first one, she'd have been pretty brutally edited, but once they realised it was JK, they were scared to touch it.

Agreed re misogyny and awful female characterisation but that doesn't mean a man has written the book. My observation was that it gets really soppy in places and there is no way a Robert wrote those pages.

Trying to catch up on the thread a bit tonight. I haven't got anything to add yet, as work has been ridiculously busy, so less reading time despite the long weekend.

I loved Engleby but also loved Birdsong. Admittedly, I was 15 when I read it though, so that might have had something to do with it...

Puffinity - good luck with reading your way through the GCSE English reading lists. One of the best bits of the job is the amount of reading you get to justify as work!

Book 16 Margaret of York The diabolical Duchess by Christine Whightman. This is the story of Margaret of York who was sister to Edward v1 and Richard 111 who was married to Charles of burgandy. She dies childless but was to prove a good step mother and step grandmother to the Burgundian loyal family as well as a ambassador to England. Perhaps her most important addition to the history of the period was her support for lambert Simnel and Perkin Warbeck.

This book took a bit to get into (Alison Weir the author is not) however having said this the book did actually fill in a few gaps in my knowledge. As usual with books about women in the Middle Ages there is very little actual surviving evidence so much of the book is guess work. I do feel however the guesses are educated and backed by alternative surviving evidence.

If you are a fan of the plantagenants and the early Tudors this book is an interesting aside which serves to fill a few gaps.

Checking in so the thread doesn't fall off my current list. Haven't read any 'proper' books for a bit, though I got The Martian out of the library on Saturday, and will be interested to see what I think of it following everyones rather mixed reviews.

Inbetween times, I picked up a copy of an old 2004 Jackie Fleming cartoon book, Demented - very funny (and very MN) despite being a bit dated. I always love her cartoons - can't quite justify the price of her new book given they take about 10 mins to read, though. Apart from that (inspired by Tanaqui, and partly because I was rather hungover on Sunday & needed something mindless) I've been reading Cassandra Clare's old HP fanfic Draco trilogy, not great writing, but entertaining and interesting in that you can see what became her own characters in the making.

I would second All Quite on the Western Front. It's really good.

I really didn't enjoy Engleby but did enjoy Birdsong but I wonder if I would still enjoy it if I read it again.

Welcome Monty, never too late to join!

Has anyone read Gone with the Wind? I've never read it and feel I should but it's a long un. Would love to know what you think!

Sorry, Quiet, not Quite. Sigh.