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?

20% into the Saint Mary's time travelling thing. Not enjoying it so far. :(

I haven't read Brave New World for ages, but my dd did read it recently, her comment was that it was very much a book of ideas, and she felt the characters were very (too?) much subsidiary to Huxley's message and didn't really live for her.

My feeling is that it was groundbreaking when written, and worth reading because of that, and because it has been the stimulus for so many other books that you miss something if you haven't read BNW.

I haven't read 1984 for years either, but my recollection is that it probably stands better as a novel in it's own right. In fact, I find it very hard to read just because it's so easy to empathise with Winston Smith.

I couldn't get on with St Mary's at all. IIRC I gave up about halfway. Just not for me.

37. Friday on My Mind - Nicci French. No 5 in the Frieda Klein series about a psychotherapist who gets involved in police cases. I've really enjoyed the previous ones but this was disappointing.

Best - am finding it terribly adolescent and terribly boring. I like some YA stuff, but only if it has something to say. So far, this doesn't. It's trite and dull.

What is Saint Mary's time traveling thing?

The St Mary's time travelling thing is the series of books by Jodi Taylor. I read the first 3 and quite enjoyed them, although the sort of deus ex machina tossed in at the end of the 3rd book would have had me throwing it at the wall if it hadn't been on the kindle.

It definitely falls into the light hearted romp sort of read though. Fun (mostly) if you like that sort of thing but fairly insubstantial.

See, I don't mind fun and insubstantial, but this is just badly written and dull so far. I'll probably toil on because I haven't currently got anything else on my Kindle and only bad news books (Titanic and German history) irl.

Spooky Remus, i just finished The Mysterious Affair at Styles too, book 36 for me.

Weirdly I'd never read it, but agree it's not one of her strongest. I actually don't like the ones with Hastings that much. He is such a bumbling oaf. I do quite like the formality though. The mother who he is supposed to have stayed with as a boy calls him Mr Hastings throughout.

Stokey Don't think I've read any other Hastings ones. Might not bother!

40. Shakespeare by Bill Bryson. Amazingly he managed to create a very interesting book when there is very little known information about his subject. There is, of course, a lot of "padding" with general history about the time in which Shakespeare was writing ie Elizabeth I and James I, and quite a bit about the workings of the theatre in those days - what they probably looked like, atmosphere, presentation of the plays etc. The only bit I found a little dry was when he was discussing the preparation of and printing of the First Folio.

41. The Tent, The Bucket and Me by Emma Kennedy. My audio book for the week. Very funny, with lots of 70s references I recognised. Recommended reading/listening for anyone in need of an undemanding funny book.

42. The Wizard of Oz by L Frank Baum. DS's bedtime story for the last couple of weeks. A much darker tale than the film with some quite unpleasant bits especially where the Tin Woodman explains how he came to be. We did enjoy it though, and it probably satisfied DS's taste for the slightly weird :)

Wizard of Oz gave me nightmares as a child especially the poppy field. It was still one of my favourite books though. Wonderful illustrations by WW Denslow too.

46. Cold Days by Jim Butcher

The bargain that Harry Dresden has made with Mab, Queen of Air and Darkness, lands him with a seriously hazardous task. He has to kill an immortal. And while he's figuring out how to do that, he also has to prevent a world shattering catastrophe that could kill millions. And he only has 24 hours to do it.

Just one more to read, then I'm back to waiting for Butcher to hurry up and bring out the next one.

My DM has read every Agatha Christie ever written (several times) and reckons Mysterious Affair at Styles is her worst. Apparently Mrs McGinty's dead is her best.....I had never heard of it until our recent mother daughter discussion of Agatha Christie

I'm totally over the St Mary's books now. When I was ploughing through Game of Thrones, I'd read a St Mary's between each one for light relief. I thought the first one was raw round the edges (codeword: badly written) but fun, and had potential. The potential still hasn't been realised. The characterisation and character development, especially, is very poor, so several books later I'm not invested at all in these people.

I bought the first St. Mary's box set and so far have read the first two. Like Museum I thought lots of potential but I really don't think they are for me either. The concept is great but there are way too many 'trips' included at the expense of some solid story development. I keep putting off reading the third book but will have to at some point as the 66% completed status every time I open my kindle is disturbing my inner calm

That should gave been a not a

DD might be interested in those St Mary's books. Do you think they would be intersecting for a 10-year-old who loves to read?

She read & loved Percy Jackson books, Hunger Games trilogy, and is currently blazing her way through Stephen Hawking's books about a teenage boy exploring space.

The St Mary's books do have some sex scenes in them, which would put me off recommending them for a 10 yr old.

God, no to St Mary's for a ten year old. I've just read an excruciating sex scene where he 'takes' her over the bonnet of a car, and then several million times more in the shower. I'm carrying on reading in sort of horrified boredom now, nothing more.

It's really, really crap. Basically it's like The Martian, in that it's got an infuriatingly adolescent narrator, but without a modicum of the (albeit extremely slight) intelligence, and with boring sex and dinosaurs instead of boring science. In fact, it's even making the horror that was the tedium of Charles Cummings seem reasonable in comparison.

Just got Anatomy of a Soldier - anybody read it?

How is it like The Martian? Constant problem solving, mathematics, chemistry? If so, it would be interesting (and I would be very surprised).

Having said that, "sex scene where he 'takes' her over the bonnet of a car" sounds like the opposite of what I want to read

I'm only about 1/5th of the way through The Martian, but so far I'd say it's nothing like St Mary's. At least the first 3 St Mary's books.

The Martian is far more intelligent and character driven so far.

I would love for there to be other books like The Martian. Neal Stephenson's most recent book Seveneves is quite similar in some respects.

No no no Cote, St Mary's is nothing like The Martian. I loved The Martian. Don't even think about going near St Mary's. You would hate it.

Tbh I wasn't planning to. Sex on the bonnet of a car & dinosaurs in the first book of a female author - No, Thank You

I was just intrigued by the comparison to The Martian, which was great.