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?

16 The Redbreast - Jo Nesbo

Another book that has been sat on my shelf in the bathroom waiting to be read, I like Jo Nesbo's books with the flawed Harry Hole as the main character. Unlike most crime books this got to almost the end before I figured to out which meant I kept reading. And for once I didn't read the end of the book

Not suer what to read next although trundling through another Jilly Cooper on the Kindle and a Terry Pratchett with the children.

Just checking in, my reading has really slowed down of late.

Can someone tell me a bit about steampunk and urban fantasy? And maybe recommend an ideal first foray into the genres?

I'm very aware that I tend to stick to high fantasy and historical fiction; it would be nice to branch out a bit maybe

42. Turn Coat by Jim Butcher

Due to a rather troubled youth (orphaned, taken in by a seriously bad wizard, killing said wizard in self-defense) Harry Dresden has always been wary of the White Council of Wizards and their tendency to deal out terminal punishment swiftly. His former 'probation officer', the Warden Morgan, spent many years dogging his footsteps and itching to deal out the suspended death sentence hanging over him. Even so, when Morgan turns up on Harry's doorstep badly injured and on the run from the Wardens for a murder he didn't commit, Harry agrees to hide him and attempt to find the real guilty party, the traitor at the heart of the White Council.

Checking in too? Typed a long list of reads and my tablet crashed. Will attempt it again tomorrow.

Greymalkin - Maybe try George Mann. Not great literature by any stretch of the imagination, but I've enjoyed a couple of them.

Grendels I've got The Long Way to a Small Angry Planet too! Excited about reading it now

24. Not Working - Lisa Owens. This is a well-observed debut novel about a twenty-something woman living in contemporary London who quits her job in search of a more meaningful life. I enjoyed this much more than I expected to. Although the main character's endlessly supportive boyfriend is implausible, lots of other character's rang true and the author has a good ear for dialogue.

Reading a couple of sleb memoirs and Man at the Helm at the moment, can't be doing with anything demanding for a while.

Book 31 Dark Fire by C J Sansom. Second shardlake book. It was good but upset me a bit because of the back story about Cromwell. Which is, I suppose , because of Hilary Mantel

Book 54
Fear Stalks the Village by Ethel White
By the same writer as The Lady Vanishes but, whilst that was good, this was terrible. A spate of poison pen letters in a peaceful village leads to a chain of suicides and to nobody trusting anybody else. Decent in theory but dreadful in execution.

I just bought the second Shardlake book, minsmum

43. Changes by Jim Butcher

This is number 12 in the Dresden Files series, and is an absolute corker. I'm not going to go into details because it brings up things from earlier on - just in case anyone else who started them wants to continue the series. But in my view this is possibly the best of them so far.

I am very envious of people reading the Shardlakes for the first time, and not having to wait for the next one to be published before they can carry on.

Greymalkin - for steampunk, The Watchmaker of Filigree Street is £1.59 on Kindle Daily Deal today. Reviewed in earlier threads.

30. Reasons to stay Alive - Matt Haig
31. Ada's Algorithm - James Essinger (loved this)
32. Runaway -Peter May

Disappointing, nowhere near as good as the Lewis trilogy.

33. Aline Templeton - The Darkness and the Deep
34. Aline Templeton - Lying Dead 35.Aline Templeton - Lamb to the slaughter

I'm really enjoying these Scottish police procedurals about DI Marjory Fleming.

Now reading In Plain Sight by Dan Davies about Jimmy Savile. Horrid subject matter but gripping and very well written.

38. A Very British Murder by Lucy Worsley - a very enjoyable and fascinating examination of our obsession with murder as a form of entertainment over the centuries, from public executions to crime novels. Loved it.

39. The Woman Who Went to Bed for a Year by Sue Townsend. One or two laughs, but really not that great, was very bored long before the end. A bit meh really.

Totally agree Mermaid about the Sue Townsend book. Did you read the book or listen to the audiobook? I did the latter and the best thing about it was Caroline Quentin's narration.

best I don't think I'll be reading the Saville book myself, but in the Hillsborough coverage over the last few weeks saw that the author Dan Davies was a survivor of the disaster. I was fascinated by the fact that he was drawn to telling the Saville story, in that it was another cover-up involving authority figures of the same era, almost like he had an intuition, so will be interested in your review.

And yes, the first Shardlake got passed around my family members in no time. my dad is always asking if I've got the next one yet!

Have just finished Winnie-the-Pooh (I was very stressed and needed something feel-good). Absolutely amazing! So funny! Can't wait until I have kids to read it to! Brings me to 6 for this year. I am reading To Kill a Mockingbird for the first time I know. Really enjoying it!

Satsuki, that's exactly what triggered my interest in the book! It really is fascinating so far. Apparently he was taken to see Jim'll fix It aged 9 and came away with the impression that Savile hated children. After that he developed a bit of an obsession with Savile's dark side.

southeast - I read it. Maybe I would have enjoyed it more listening to the audio book. I like Caroline Quentin and can imagine she would have injected humour into her reading of it. Quite a disappointment.

Aw Puffinty Winnie-the-Pooh is just great isn't it? I think it must be due a re-read here, as DS was probably too young to get it all when I read it to him. I remember lots of snorting from the next room, and "what's funny daddy?" from DS, so at least someone appreciated it.

25. Fingersmith by Sarah Waters Wow, what a book! A tricksy, twisty, thoroughly modern take on a Victorian melodrama. Starts off painting a picture of a cosy den of thieves, even referencing Oliver Twist in the opening scenes. Gradually asks the reader to suspend their disbelief and travel out of their comfort zone, as the lives of the two main protagonists, teenage girls Sue and Maud, one seemingly common, the other high born, become more entwined. Such clever plotting, and some beautifully drawn characters. Loved this.

Away to my bed now to continue listening to Bring Up the Bodies - I usually only listen to audiobooks on my commute, but this week I've had a mixture of working from home and days off, and I'm desperate to finish this.

Museum - I loved Fingersmith too. I listened to it on audio book and was gripped by the story.

22. Bitch in a Bonnet by Robert Rodi, about how Jane Austen is actually far more characterised by social satire than romance. I thoroughly enjoyed this - original, observant, slightly repetitive but very, very funny. Thank you to whoever recommended it up thread (possibly Remus?).

Tumble - yep, it was me. I thought it was hilarious, although I agree slightly repetitive.

I am one of the few people on MN who didn't like Fingersmith - I thought it was dull and predictable. Dp loved it though (although he likes Ian McEwan and therefore his views don't count).

34. War and Peace

I loved this. It follows several young people in 19th century Russia as they search for meaning in their lives and relationships during a time of war and social upheaval. Tolstoy captures the interior lives of people so well, such that the book feels like you are seeing the world through the eyes of different people, and they alter and grow, but remain recognisable. The 'war' is, for the most part, as gripping as the 'peace'; the descriptions of the battlefield are so well rendered and alive, and they are generally anchored around a character's experience of it, so you are carried seamlessly along with the action. There is a lot of philosophising on the nature of military strategy, war, history, and humankind in general, and much of this I found very interesting and readable, more so than I was expecting in fact, but that is not to say all of it is plain sailing, and it does begin to stretch your patience particularly towards the end, when some of the ideas begin to be repetitive, and are less integrated with the rest of the story. That said, I will definitely re-read this at some stage in the future, as I'm sure there will be new things to be found in it. Pierre, I think, is one of the great tragi-comic creations in literature and I'm glad I got to know him; he is the soul of the book and such a beautifully drawn character. All the characters are real and flawed and make irrational choices, and it is refreshingly unromantic, despite being, at its heart, a story about love in its many forms. There were many transcendent moments that I have thought about a lot and which I will remember. Hard going at times, but mind-expanding and life-enhancing, so glad I read it.

It took me three weeks from start to finish, though I read practically nothing for the middle week as was especially busy, so a fortnight with an interval. It did not feel like a slog, and I liked knowing it was there to pick up, but ready for some lighter reads now! I don't know if this constitutes one, but going with A Town Like Alice which I've been looking forward to for a while, my first Nevile Shute.