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?

28. The Wasp Factory by Ian Banks.
    Audiobook.
    This book always seems to come up on lists as one to read. It is the story of a teenaged boy (Frank) living in an isolated house on a poorly populated Scottish island with his father. The book follows his thoughts, past (including stories of mother, siblings and cousins) and day to day goings-on and how he deals with the news that his brother Eric (who had been sectioned) escapes from 'hospital' and returns home. Well, first of all, Frank freaks me right out with his psychopathic tendencies. The book has an 80's feel and reminded me a bit of American Psycho where I felt uncomfortable a lot of the time and left wondering if all that violence is really necessary. I quite liked the ending but not the final soliloquy and overall I'm not sure if I liked this book or not! It certainly sparked a few conversations, even if most of them were in my head 'worried parent emoticon'.

29. The Atlantis Gene by A.G. Riddle.
    Rubbish. Reminded me of the Da Vinci code, nuff said.

Daphne - I'm really tempted to read The Stand again, I would say it's been more than 20years but don't want to be disappointed.

Grendals, what a great set of reviews. I've added about 3 to my tbr pile!

I read The Dark Tower series about 15years ago and I laughed at the lobster quote, that's kind of how I felt about it Cote. Got to book 4 but didn't finish it and have never gone back. Not for me, I think.

Remus the price of the kershaw one has not changed in over 1,121 days!!!!

You're right though I should check the library...

Book 27: What Maisie Knew Henry James. Not read any of his before, unlikely to do again. Clearly a great observer of people and their weaknesses, but on my does he go on. Great story, wish he'd had a brutal editor.

Book 28: The People in the Photo Helene Gestern. A photograph containing her mother and his father bring together two people. Whilst uncovering the full story behind their family secrets, they fall in love. This is a gentle and lovely read. I very much enjoyed it.

Grendel you've done it again, haven't you? You read a bunch of fabulous sounding books, most of which are going to end up on my creaking, groaning TBR list. Thank you!

I'm glad you all like the look of 'em

I'd love to read What Maisie Knew--agree James could use a good editor, but I like the idea of a little girl observing a marriage breaking down, and seeing much more than either of her parents think she sees.

I read What Maisie Knew last year and although the premise was very interesting (and sad) I didn't enjoy it nearly as much as some other Henry James novels I have read. Washington Square, The Ambassadors and The Bostonians are IMHO all much better novels. I find that James can be quite off-putting with his long, ponderous sentences sometimes!

Have never managed to finish a Henry James novel. Strongly suspect it's too late for me now.

Book 62
Lord of the Flies by William Golding
A re-read (probably the 10th or so!). What can I say? This book is an absolute work of genius, and anybody who doesn’t appreciate that is clearly a bit bonkers. Golding’s writing is exquisite and the journey the boys on the island take is gripping, and terrifying, and heart wrenching and infuriating. The Simon scene is one of the best pieces of writing EVER, as far as I’m concerned. Just perfect. If you haven't read it, I urge you to do so.

I love how people blithely talk about editing works of classic literature - what pieces of genius might end up on the cutting room floor to allow easier readability

Portrait of a Lady is a masterpiece.

I haven't read LOTF since I was 16 and it was our set book for O level Remus. I can't tell you how much I detested it at the time. Maybe it's time to revisit it as an adult.

LOTF an amazing book, but I'm still so thoroughly haunted by it I won't be reading it again soon!

76. Her by Harriet Lane

Described as a sinister psychological thriller. Nina and Emma meet. Emma doesn't remember Nina, but she remembers Emma because of an event from the past. Nina sets about becoming Emma's friend and being involved in her life. I enjoyed reading this as it built up but was very disappointed in the ending - such a let down.

Career of Evil is so bloody long. I love the two main characters so I won't give up on it but she needs someone at publishers to be more strict with her! Hopefully I'll finish it over the long weekend.

51) 'The smell of the continent' : the British discover Europe 1814-1914, Richard Mullen and James Munson A non-fiction account of the early days of European tourism. Getting in the holiday mood. I like reading about Victorians bumping over the Alps in diligences and moaning about the lack of home comforts in Italian inns, so enjoyed this. It was a bit longer than strictly necessary - I wouldn't re-read it, but overall I liked it.

Satsuki You have a point! But I'm very wary of treating authors, even classic ones, as infallible. Trollope is a marvelous writer and I wouldn't be without any of his books (at least not the ones I've read), but many of them are clogged with sentences that simply say the same thing twice, and not in an interesting or enlightening way. His plotting could also be a bit shaky (have you read Doctor Thorne? There's enough plot for two volumes but he was contracted to write three, and, well... it shows.)

Chessie I read Her a while back, and found it annoying in general, despite the promising start. When the reason for Nina's obsession with Emma was finally revealed, it just didn't seem 'big' enough to justify Nina's efforts to get involved with Emma's life.

And as for the ending... definitely a let down. It read like the author couldn't decide which way it should go, so just ended up leaving it hanging there without a proper conclusion.

Argh! Place marking as I seem to have fallen off thread!

Yes to the lame ending of Her, totally unbelievable and very irritating. Her first book was better.

That sounds like my sort of book, Biblio!

Book 63
*Wolf of the Plains' by Conn Iggulden

The first in his Conqueror series, about Genghis Khan. I absolutely LOVED this. It’s a fiction series, based largely on the GK biography that Cote recommended and that I read a large section of, before finding it too repetitive. This follows the young Khan from boyhood, through the death of his father and the story of how the family were betrayed by one of his father’s bondsmen and left to die on the plains. Obviously the boy (and most of his brothers – there’s a story there!) survive, and grow up to become fearsome warriors. This novel takes Khan’s story up to him becoming Genghis Khan and beginning to unite tribes across the plains. It was so good that I immediately bought the second one.

It was also fascinating reading it alongside Lord of the Flies and considering what turns a child into a ruthless killer. Here though, the sympathy is with the child that turned into the Khan, rather than with his victims.

I wasn't that keen on her first book, so I definitely won't be trying her second!

Sorry, that was about Her.

I managed about three pages of Her. Not my sort of thing.

51 Behind the Beautiful Forevers: Life, death and hope in a Mumbai Slum by Katherine Boo
I struggled with this one. The author has clearly spent a lot of time researching the book, and it's an important and fascinating topic, but I really didn't get on with the way it was written. It reads almost like a novel, whereas I felt a more straightforward piece of reportage would actually have let the stories of the people Boo met come across more clearly.

77. Behind the Scenes at the Museum by Kate Atkinson

I've been listening to the audiobook on my commute. I read the book several years ago and loved it, and also enjoyed the audiobook - I found myself driving more slowly so I could listen to more!

I suppose I didn't mean that they are infallible grendel but I do think differently about certain works. When you read Henry James for instance you're not just looking for plot and readability, you're seeing the ways in which he creates mood, character, and conveys subtle changes in a person's outlook and their perceptions of themselves and their experiences. His method is challenging and convoluted, but that's his method. If I have difficulty with passages, it may be down to me and not him, but if it is down to him then I am challenged to articulate why, and that is one of the things I enjoy about reading difficult books. I also think the parts in a novel where a writer like this perhaps isn't as successful in their method as others are important for throwing into relief the passages where it works to great effect - you are seeing his working, and getting a better sense of what he is trying to achieve. When someone is approaching the form artistically, I tend to view what they're doing from that perspective. I wouldn't apply that thinking to Career of Evil for e.g as JKR isn't trying to reinvent the wheel.

You could cut swathes of War and Peace to make it read much more accessibly and pleasurably as a novel, but it wouldn't be the thing it was intended to be. There are lots of things I think are shit struggle with in novels like the whole of Midnight's Children but my first thought isn't that it shouldn't be there. Armchair editing seems to be quite common now, I wonder if we are just more demanding of what we choose to engage with, rather than accepting something warts and all.

I agree with you in a lot of ways, Satsuke, but I think it's also worth bearing in mind that a lot of Victorian authors were paid by the episode for serialised novels, and wrote to that format - one reason that novels of that era were so long, perhaps? I also think there's a fair few chapters of classic novels out there that were written because there was a magazine deadline looming, rather than for any deeper artistic reason . . .
(Not including Henry James afaik - and though it's a long time since I read any, I don't recall his books being particularly long.)