50 Book Challenge 2016 Part Five

[southeastdweller]

Thread five 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.

The first thread of 2016 is here, second thread here, third thread here and fourth thread here.

How're you getting on so far?

60. Move Along, Please by Mark Mason

This is going to be of niche interest - a non-fiction account of a journey from Land's End to John O'Groats by local bus, enlivened with bits of trivia along the way. It's all very banal (typical stop is 30 mins of mooching around the bus station waiting for the next bus), not that funny or well-written, but I have a strange affection for banal travel accounts.

book 21 not Private Peaceful instead Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban Finally I actually get why everyone liked the Harry Potter books. Having left behind her dependence on other books Rowling IMHO comes into her own in the third of The Harry Potter stories. Rowlings writting becomes crisp, engaging and confident. A true story teller. If I had a hat I would eat it as I am so surprised bring on the next Harry Potter book. (Actually I am going to return to my first love Proper History books)

36. The Pie at Night by Stuart Maconie a non fiction book about 'the North at play.' Entertaining read about things from football to speedway to bowls to zombie hunting.

37. Mr Penumbra's 24 Hour Bookstore by Robin Sloan Young man gets a job in a mysterious bookstore where there are few customers and some only borrow books from the back of the store. Enjoyed it but was disappointed with solution to the central mystery. Could have been better.

38. Quartet in Autumn by Barbara Pym Four people share an office and are nearing retirement. Seeing life through each of their different perspectives. Wry comedy, quite poignant. But lovely observations of office life - how you have to get along with people that you don't have anything in common. And also how after you leave, life just moves on without you.

bibliomania - I've always wanted to find the right person to recommend this book to, but never managed it - you might really like and the art of Tractor travel.

Damn, link fail - Gwen and the art of Tractor travel

How could I resist, Sadik? I've ordered it!

31. The Flicker Men by Ted Kosmatka

This started out really well. So well, in fact, that I thought I was on to another 5* book and was counting my lucky stars. It is about the famous double-slit experiment that shows light is both wave and particle, and acts as one or the other depending on whether or not it is being observed. All this is fact in the strange world of Quantum Physics.

Brilliant twist in this story is that a scientist decides to check if observing animals change the light pattern in this experiment. Then they start doing it to various different people and get results they don't expect. This is when I thought that this was going to be a great book. Unfortunately it wasn't. The explanation provided in the book made no sense whatsoever and it sadly deteriorated into an action flick shortly thereafter. What could have been a 5 ended up a 2. Ah well.

Muskey, I agree that HP and the PoA is her best one - she'd hit her stride and it's before the books got very bloated. I also think it's the best film.

DD(8) is just finishing Chamber of Secrets, so looking forward to seeing her get stuck in to PoA as well.

Cedar, glad you liked Quartet in Autumn! There's a great quote in there when one character is reflecting that there is something to be said for a nice cup of tea and a cosy chat about crematoria that is essence of Pym for me.

15. (I think, may be 16) Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban - jk Rowling
Been mentioned up thread but I do think this is the best Harry potter book and has been my favourite, not too rushed but not so long its dull (order of Phoenix anyone?)

Currently reading goblet of fire as needing easy reads at the minute.

Hope you enjoy it, Biblio - I've a bit of a weakness for both MF35s and slightly surreal yet banal travel stories . . .

My tractor ignorance is shocking from someone who grew up in rural Ireland. I know Massey Fergusons seem to inspire particular affection for reasons I know not, but my knowledge ends there. I look forward to being enlightened!

25. A Female Genius: How Ada Lovelace started the Computer Age by James Essinger; Hmm the subject matter was fundamentally interesting but I found the execution a bit amateurish. The author in fact also spends a lot of time justifying his subject matter, which naturally undermines it, and manages to be patronising to Ada at the same time. I suppose in fairness to the man, in reality not much is known about Ada and her reputation appears to rest on one document, a translation of an Italian article accompanied by her own notes. On the whole, I found this a bit depressing, the loss to civilisation of the persistent insistence on limiting women's' potential to the domestic is clearly not limited to Ada, even now, and is enormous. I'm being a bit hard on it I think, it was a good enough read really, it just left me feeling a bit dismal.

26. The Settlers by Jason Gurley This was a goodish read, a little disjointed. No QUOTATION MARKS for dialogue which seemed pointlessly annoying anyway, Earth's climate has tipped over into calamity and humans leave for a space station built in its orbit. So far so good. I like the premise, how would we build it, do you think? how would we get there? how would we decide who goes? how would those left behind react, how would they deal with their situation on earth, would they survive, what does catastrophic climate change actually mean if you are living it anyway? Loads, you would think to fill a novel. The author didn't appear to think so and glosses over all of that in favour of jumping through hundreds of years here and there and, to give us a glimpse of this person and that person and the different roads humanity takes. Really, the book in the end leans far more towards space opera in the end than any effort at a serious depiction of what climate change and the exodus of man from earth would mean for humanity. The trouble is, if you read it as space opera, it doesn't really get going, it reads well enough, but it's like you are only 1/3 of the way through and it just ends. Hmm. I should say this was freebie . Might be why it is so short. I'm probably expected to go and buy the rest of it somewhere.

Cedar I was quite disappointed by Mr Penumbra's Bookstore too. Thought it really went a bit flat.

On Gaiman, I loved American Gods but have not read anything else. Think I have the End of the Lane book on my kindle though...

I think 3&4 Potter books are tied for me - Azkaban great, tight story, with a twist and the Dementors, but Goblet has so much going on and was a lot meatier than the other three in terms of subjects, and I liked the whole tournament concept. The balance was right in that the series could stand a longer novel at this stage, and everything in it had still earned its place.

Number 5 though....is.... terrible. I'm looking forward to re-reading them again soon in preparation for my ds becoming interested, but I'm actually dreading a re-read of 5.

I can't count it was 19 so clearly some of the books have been so memorable i havent retained the fact ive read them!

Satsuki: im doing a reread and wondering if to take a place between 4 and 5. Tbh i wasnt a huge fan of 7 as spent most of it in tears (not an easy reread for me either)

Five is definitely the weakest imvho. Hundreds of pages of nothing much happening, and then all the best stuff shoved into the last 60 pages or so. It does have some great moments though - 'Accio brain' always does it for me! :)

Yes it was a bit like a fanfic and she was just enjoying hanging out with all her too many bloody characters in a big house and forgot wizarding shit was supposed to be going down a bit more regularly.

I thought 6 and 7 were good with good conceits, but it never regained the momentum for me and some aspects of 7 reminded me a bit of what I disliked about the Narnia books, though must admit a little foggy on it now. The last one might be hard if you're feeling fragile eitak.

I really like 7.

Congratulations on your dd's wedding joyless, hope it's a lovely weekend.

Enjoying everyone's reviews too btw, though nothing to add.

I actually skim-read parts of Lovelace, wilting, as found the style off putting and the content a bit 'slight' ifyswim. Didn't feel I could count it.

I might leave 7 to be honest, lots of people dying who I kinda know and care about is not what I need. Seeing how I feel as I read and not being too hard on myself for stopping if needed.

Always number 1 ladies detective agency as light reads as back up.

Yes, the the way 7 pulled it all together was very well done. I can't explain the bits I was uneasy with as I don't want to unleash massive spoilers and I haven't read it recently enough, my opinion may well have changed

Good idea to see how you go eitak

". . . forgot wizarding shit was supposed to be going down a bit more regularly"
That has to be the best description of no. 5 ever

57 Fanny and Stella: The Young Men who Shocked Victorian England, by Neil McKenna.
I think this has been reviewed a fair few times before. I found it interesting, and ultimately very sad. It's quite novelistic in style, which I think I'd have found less distracting if I hadn't recently read HhHH (your fault, Remus!)

Not sure what next - I've given up on Master & Commander for the moment, not sure I'm really in the mood for anything new in the way of fiction. Waiting for Paul Mason's PostCapitalism from the library, hopefully that will come soon.

Maybe I'll re-read some Harry Potter in the meantime - I'm still listening to the HP and the Methods of Rationality podcast at work, don't intend to stick all the way through it, but it's entertaining enough for the moment.

My DS(9) is currently reading Prisoner of Azkaban for the first time and really enjoying it. He knows about the 50 book challenge and reckons he's going to do it too this year. He's read about four (more I suppose if you count school reading books). But he has a plan - he's going to read really, really short ones. I did point out that books 4 to 7 of Harry Potter are not compatible with this plan

That was my plan too museum somehow it didn't work

museum I love it! Perhaps we could count 5 as 2 books for him!