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?

17. My second audio book - The Poet by Michael Connelly, 15 hours long. Even though the narrator's voice was slightly irritating and the love scenes were toe curlingly awful I really enjoyed this crime thriller. A crime reporter tries to unravel the mystery surrounding his brother's suicide and unearths a serial cop killer (and worse). It's the first in a series and although it's not going to win any literary prizes I was really hooked and it wasn't too scary for me (I am a wimp when it comes to scary books!). The story is told from both the point of view of the crime reporter and the villain. A great listen for dog walking and laundry folding duties!

18. Another Agatha Christie but my first Miss Marple - Murder at the Vicarage. The usual quiet, single murder in a small town. I believe these types of murder mysteries are called "cozy" as there's no horrible serial killer running around torturing and mutilating people, quite refreshing really! And it was very cozy, I enjoyed it very much.

I am still flogging through Pillars of the Earth.....ho hum. I have FingerSmith on my shelf - might be next biggie if I can ever finish Pillars!

Hi there!
Book19 The Shock Of The Fall by Nathan Filer
Tells about 2 brothers, Simon and Matthew and after a tragic accident(?) and the death of Simon age 10 , the mental impact of young Matthew and schizophrenia is diagnosed . Very insightful and harrowing .
Book 20 A Family Life1939-1945 by Katharine Moore. True life diary of a middle aged mother and wife with teenage twins living in Sevenoaks inKent and her daily struggles and heartbreak living during the 2nd world war. I liked this book,very interesting.
Book21 Orchards in the Oasis by Josceline Dimbleby. A sumptuous recipe book and travelogue. Beautiful book and delicious recipes!
Book22 is going to be Her Son's Wife by Dorothy Canfield
Happy Reading!

9. The Girl in the Ice by Robert Bryndza I found this a suprisingly good read. Picked it up as a cheap book on kindle and found myself desperate to know whodunnit and i suprisingly didn't work out who it was either. Dci Erika Foster is called in to investigate the murder of a socialite who happens to be the daughter of a famous politicain. Lots of red herrings and of course the main police officer being thrown of the the case. I enjoyed the fact that Erika wasn't professional in a relatable way.

10. The Happiness project.

Great review, Satsuki. It made me want to read War & Peace. And I will, one day once my Kindle backlog drops under 100 books.

Satsuki - Congratulations on finishing War and Peace! Enjoyed your review.

Remus - I didn't think much of Fingersmith either. Agree it was predictable - most of the plot seemed copied from The Woman In White.

44. Ghost Story by Jim Butcher

After the events of Changes, Harry Dresden is finding he is still not able to rest. Three of his loved ones are in mortal danger, but there are some significant constraints on his activities, and a big nasty that Harry defeated some years previously is back in town.

45. The Travelers, Chris Pavone Travel journalist is co-opted by the CIA. Or is he? Who is on what side? Liked the travel journalism setting, but there was so much switching of perspective that it got a bit silly.

46. Cat Among the Herrings, L C Tyler. Another light-hearted take on crime fiction. Lots of knowing asides about the awfulness of literary agents and the tropes of crime fiction itself. Okay. I liked the first in this series but the joke is stretched a bit thin at this point.

20. The Lost Continent - Travels in Small Town America – Bill Bryson
    Bill Bryson returns to the States to drive around all the over the place, visiting places from his childhood and just random places he’s never been before. I usually really like Bill Bryson but for apart from a couple laugh out loud moments, I found this book incredibly dull, repetitive and just not interesting. If you want to ready one of his books I’d go for A Walk in the Woods or A Short History of Nearly Everything.

21. Clocks – Agatha Christie
    About the 8th Agatha Christie book I have read this year and all Poirot too. I can’t get enough of our little moustachioed friend! This one was really good. A typist is called to a house to do a job but when she gets there discovers a man murdered on the floor. But the man isn’t the homeowner and not known the blind woman who lives there either. In terror the typist runs from the house screaming into the arms of a man (who is a spy and in the area for his own reasons). A strange twist is that there are four clocks in the room, not owned by the woman, all set to an hour in advance. It’s just a nice change from the usual country house set up which is popular in quite a few Poirot books.

Book 55

Berlin Now by Peter Schneider
This was a disappointment, largely because I don’t think the writer knew quite what he wanted to do, or what he wanted his book to be. It claims to be an exploration of the allure of Berlin post-war, but I found it very meandering and disjointed. I wanted to love this, but it let me down.

26. Bring Up The Bodies by Hilary Mantel Much tighter than Wolf Hall, but still with that almost rambling style that lets you glimpse the characters' thoughts. Also much darker, as it marches towards the inevitable event - the beheading of Ann Boleyn. It is, as before, all viewed from the inside of Cromwell's head (or He, Cromwell as I now think of him), and HM makes him come out of these events with his integrity, and our sympathy, still intact. One of the devices she uses is to top and tail this novel of big historical events with Cromwell's own very human thoughts about his dead wife and daughters. And throughout he is portrayed as loyal and honest to himself about what it is he feels he has to do - it has its own internal logic and integrity. I really want to see how this develops - whether we will be on Team Cromwell to the end - given the events that part three must cover...if she ever publishes it. Hurry up Hilary!

35. A Long Way to a Small Angry Planet - Becky Chambers

Recommended by GrendelsMother, I really enjoyed this. It is a proper space adventure with a beaten up ship, various alien species and a few humans kicking around in the far future. The world building and characters were great, I'd definitely read the sequel.

Greymalkin I like China Mieville for steampunk stuff. Perdido Street Station is excellent.

Loved your review of War and Peace Satsuki, it's almost inspired me to read it.

My summer easy/comfort reading continues

17 Appassionata by Jilly Cooper, definitely not as good as the earlier books but still easy to read and something which you don't have to think about too much

Book 56
My Man Jeeves Wodehouse
This wasn’t quite what I expected. It turned out to be only 5 Jeeves/Bertie stories and 4 about somebody called Reggie. The Jeeves ones were a triumph; the Reggie ones less so. Unfortunately it only lasted me an hour or two too.

Thanks for the recommendations re steampunk. But I'm quite tempted to try some Agatha Christie - my mum used to love them!

36. In Plain Sight -The life and lies of Jimmy Savile - Dan Davies

Horrible but fascinating whilst managing to avoid being either salacious or voyeuristic. Dan Davies was taken to see Jim'll fix it at the age of 9 and came away feeling that Savile disliked children and as he got older began compiling a dossier on him eventually getting the chance to interview him on a number of occasions. This is a portrait of a man with a brilliant talent for self promotion, who had the ear of royalty and prime ministers, yet who had a very dark hidden side. Exactly how hidden is one of Davies' repeated questions throughout the book - how much did the authorities know and what did they turn a blind eye to?

Very very interesting because the background is one familiar to all of us over a certain age, TOTP, Jim'll fix it, all the fund raising for Stoke Mandeville. Absolutely riveting.

I much prefer the horsey ones five , a thing with taggie essentially!

ANYthing!

Also love Jilly's horsey ones, but Wicked was pretty hilarious too

*Chilli", are the Jim Butcher books best read in sequence or is it okay to read them out of order? I'm waiting for book 2 from the library, and not sure whether to scoop up the later books that are on the shelves.

47. Spinster: Making a Life of One's Own by Kate Bolick
A memoir with literary diversions. It's a meditation on what kind of life to choose - the author is torn between coupledom and wanting a life on her own, and she looks to female writers from the past for a vision of what life could be like. It's all very self-indulgent, of course, but I liked it anyway. She writes about some very interesting women and her ambivalence is more engaging than a straightforward polemic would have been.

Anyone read What Milo saw? Its a daily deal wondering if its worth reading?

30. Flight Behaviour by Barbara Kingsolver

I really enjoyed this novel about an unhappily married woman in small-town America whose life begins to change after a strange experience on a mountain. It's about climate change I suppose also about self-determination. The writing is wonderful and I was really drawn into Dellarobia's life.

31. Clariel by Garth Nix

Book 4 of the YA Old Kingdom series, it's a prequel to the three previous books. It feels darker and lonelier than the rest of the series so far, and Clariel isn't a very likeable character. She's unhappy after being forced to move to the city and becomes involved in various magic and political plots. It's OK.

32. The Magic Toyshop by Angela Carter

Magic realist novel about a teenaged girl and her younger siblings who have to move in with their estranged uncle in his flat above the toyshop he owns. I loved the opening chapters, but I didn't really like the toyshop or any of the characters really, so I was a bit disappointed.

Satsuki enjoyed your review of War and Peace. You've overtaken me in your reading of it! Am on page 837 with approx 400 to go ..

A good quote from the Times review on the cover of my copy (the Pevear/Volokhonsky translation) :
"If you've never read it, now is the moment. This translation will show that you don't read War and Peace, you live it". I thought it was an excellent translation - not sure if the version you read was the same one?

Am getting a lot out of it, but at the same time do share your experience of looking forward to reading something else

Best thanks for flagging up the Aline Templeton books. I love a good detective series and somehow those had passed me by. I know Galloway well so will be particularly interested in how she portrays the area and the local people.

Yes Satsuki, reading your review has added to my yearning to re-visit War & Peace, as I read it as a teenager and whilst I loved it then, I'm sure there's more I will get from it now. Damn that huge TBR ...

Tenar, I loved Flight Behaviour too but haven't read anything more of hers -yet-

I've really slowed down and have been reading some light stuff as life is being emotionally and mentally demanding atm.

Book 20: A God in Ruins Kate Atkinson's sort of follow-up to Life After Life. This was a book club selection that I was really looking forward to having enjoyed LAL. I was actually rather disappointed. It's a really clever book and so well-written, but I just didn't like Teddy - the main character - and that spoiled it for me. I was alone in my view of Teddy I'll admit and did wonder if I've been rather grumpy

Book 21: Second Chance Jodi Taylor more of the time-travelling historians at St Marys. It's all a jolly good romp and this is better than book 2 which I felt was a let down (as well as not especially well-crafted).

Book 22: Roman Holiday and Christmas Present two short books which Goodreads categorise as half each - both Jodi Taylor, both more of the above.

Book 23: Daddy Long Legs Jean Webster. Bought on the recommendation of Remus for which thank you muchly. I'd seen the film and knew the story, but I just loved this. I didn't find the scenario at all yucky and I just adored getting to know Judy.

Next book club read is a book about Monsanto. Whilst I'm normally thrilled to get a non-fiction read there, I do feel very about this one. I may take a month off ...

Joyless Fucker It's just lovely, isn't it? :)

I need cheapo Kindle recs, please folks. Just bought an Agatha Christie but that won't last me long.

Just bought the first Jodi Taylor for 99p.