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?

36. Out of Time – Miranda Sawyer. Part memoir, part handbook, the author reflects on what it means to be middle-aged today. Brilliantly written, funny, wise and insightful, there was so much here that resonated with me.

37. The Swimming-Pool Library – Alan Hollinghurst. Set in early 80’s London, this novel looks at a few months of the life of Will Beckwith, a young, privileged upper class gay man who swans around the city doing not much except observing his surroundings, exercising and having lots of sex. When Will goes cottaging one day, he meets an elderly Lord who wants him to write his life story and Will discovers from the Lord’s diaries how gay life was in an earlier age. Like Mermaid, I liked this but I didn’t love it. The writing was superb but I was never gripped by the plot and the ending felt abrupt.

Dominion is worth a read at 99p, I'd say. I really liked the first half of it but thought the final quarter or so was a bit daft.

44. A Colder War by Charles Cumming also known as The Book That Remus Really Really Hated It was a reasonably good spy thriller. No, really, it was. The backdrop was modern day Turkey, under the current regime, but the problem I have with all spy books is that they're about spies. The alleged political or diplomatic background to the story was almost non existent as it focused on these narcissistic, empathy lacking, selfish people, who are apparently almost all irresistible to the opposite sex, and their relationships and mind games with each other. Entertaining up to a point, but hard to care about the characters. Nowhere near as good as the Cumming book I read earlier this year - The Spanish Game.

Museum - I liked it, too and I rarely enjoy English books set in Istanbul because they nearly always get it so wrong. I give the author lots of cookie points for having actually done his homework & got the details and especially the spelling right.

As is usual with Cummings, it is a good story, modern & realistic in a way that books by the older generation spy book writers just are not anymore.

And I don't "care about the characters" in any case I just care if the story is interesting and that there isn't anything conspicuously stupid or wrong.

Oh dear. Just for the record, I've dug out my review of the Charles Cummings:
Dreadful. Boring. Clunky. Dull characters, written about in spectacularly dull prose. Predictable rubbish. I’d sooner read a trainspotter’s notebook than read another of Cummings’ novels. This was another book that felt as if it was written by a spotty teenage boy with inch-thick glasses, who has wet dreams about Lara Croft and wishes he was James Bond whilst writing lists about who he'd like to kill (good looking boys) and who he'd like to screw (good looking girls).

Ham and Cote - we will have to agree to disagree on this one.. Anybody else who's planning to read this nonsense - I am right, and Cote and Ham are deluded! ]

Ha ha - I love this thread for reasons like the exchange above. I'm sure it's the most civilised place on Mumsnet for people being honest about their wildly differing opinions and the good grace in which they are received

Thanks for Stephenson suggestions cote, have wishlisted

51. The Stand – Stephen King. This was a very welcome reread of one of my favourites as a teen/young adult. If anything it has improved with age and remains one of my favourite books of all time with really well drawn and memorable characters and a great story line. A very infectious and deadly virus is accidentally spread from a US military base and kills most of the population. As the survivors struggle to make sense of what happened and rebuild some sort of a life the battle lines are drawn between the forces of good and evil.

52. Perfect People – Peter James. John and Naomi’s first son dies from a rare genetic disorder. They opt to go to the controversial geneticist Dr. Dettore, who promises them that he can help them to conceive a baby where they can have more options in terms of the baby’s design. After Naomi’s pregnancy is confirmed, Dr Dettore is killed by a fundamentalist Christian sect who are against interfering with nature. The family is considered to be at risk so they move from California to England where the babies are born. But all is not as it seems! This book was recommended to me but while it raised some interesting and thought provoking questions about designer babies I have to say it really wasn’t my cup of tea.

53. Americanah – Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie. This is the story of Nigerian born Ifemelu who emigrates to the USA for her degree and then stays for work before making the decision to return to Nigeria. This was a book of many parts for me. There is the love story between Ifemelu and Obinze (her first true love in Nigeria) and then there is the love story between Ifemelu and Nigeria. I loved the portrayal of life in the US and the struggle for Ifemelu to find herself in a place that she has to learn to understand in order to survive. Interesting portrayal also of the difference between being African American and African in America. Highly recommended and one of my top rated audiobooks.

54. The Book of You – Claire Kendall. This is a story of stalking and obsession. Rafe is obsessed with Clarissa and after she spends a night with him (possible after having a drink spiked) his obsession grows and she becomes increasingly threatened. I so wanted to like this but am afraid it didn’t do much for me at all. It started well but I found the idea that she would not involve the authorities until almost the end very irritating and not very believable really.

Delighted to see all the love for Landmarks here. It was one of my favourite reads from last year.

The Holy Thief is 99p on Kindle today. I enjoyed it.

Remus and Cote I don't think my opinion of the Cumming book is as polarised as either of yours. I didn't love it but I didn't hate it. I am the well balanced voice of reason - or the splintery arse of fence sitting.

Grifone - Americanah is one of my favourite reads so far this year too, but I wish that, like you, I had listened to it on audio, because I've only heard good things about that narrator.

I hadn't realised how long it has been since I updated this thread!

105. A Daughter's Secret by Eleanor Moran

A psychotherapist is put under pressure by the police to reveal anything that is said by a girl she's treating - the girl's dad is on the run and the police think the girl knows where he is. The psychotherapist also has a past which comes back to her. I found this a bit boring and now can't really remember much about it!

106. Never Knowing by Chevy Stevens

Woman discovers her real dad is a serial killer who was never caught. This gets into the papers and the killer gets in touch with her, and she then has to try and lead the police to him. I liked this, especially the way that you're almost made to feel sorry for the killer at times despite the awful things he has done.

107. Beside Myself by Ann Morgan

I loved the idea of this - twins swop identities as a joke, then one refuses to swop back and no-one believes the other one when she tries to tell people who she really is. I thought this was going to be a thriller with a twist at the end but it wasn't really, it was more about the effect the swop had on both their lives. The problem was (SPOILER ALERT!!) that it makes clear at the beginning that one twin had learning difficulties and the other was quite bright, and I just cannot believe that the swop wouldn't have been spotted as soon as they went back to school!! Unfortunately that coloured the whole book for me.

108. Rivers of London by Ben Aaronovitch

I think this has been reviewed upthread. Started well but lost its way a bit and by the end I didn't really care what was going on. Not sure I'll bother with any others in the series.

109. Library of Souls by Ransom Riggs

Third in the Peculiar Children series. I think this should have been left as one book rather than a trilogy! Glad I read it though to know how it all ended and enjoyed the weird photos. The first one has been made into a film which I will be interested to see.

110. Eileen by Ottessa Moshfegh

I can't say I enjoyed reading this, as it's not a happy book and the main character is very unlikeable, but the writing style pulled me in to keep reading and find out what happened. I felt the ending was rushed though - it didn't really explain what happened to Eileen after the event, and while I could see why Eileen did what she did, it doesn't really explain why others act in the way that they do.

111. Try Not To Breathe by Holly Seddon

A teenage girl is attacked and left for dead. 15 years later she is still in a coma and a journalist wants to tell her story, and ends up discovering who attacked her. Good idea, but the journalist character is not very likeable and I find it very hard to believe that she would be capable of solving a crime that the police were unable to solve.

112. Mums On Strike by Laura Kemp

This is exactly what you would expect from the title - a few mums who are fed up of doing everything go on strike! It was extremely predictable, but good fun if you like that sort of thing and want to read something that doesn't require too much thinking!

113. Black Rabbit Hall by Eve Chase

I really liked this. Similar to Kate Morton, where a story from the past ties up with a story in the present day. The writing gave me a really good picture in my mind of what was going on, although the ending felt a little rushed.

114. Swallow This by Joanna Blythman

Non fiction, looking at processed food and what goes into it. I don't recommend you read this if you are fussy, you might never eat anything again!

115. Carrie by Stephen King

A couple of years ago I read 11.22.63 and loved it. That was the only King book I've ever read so I thought I would try more. I was very disappointed with Carrie. I knew it was more in the horror genre than 11.22.63 is, but even so the story was just bizarre and the writing style incredibly amateurish. It was his first book and it shows. I was expecting better given how highly rated King is as an author. I will give him another chance though!

116. Titanic: Minute by Minute by Jonathan Mayo

Description of the Titanic disaster - as the title says, minute by minute, explaining what everyone was doing/what was happening at the same point in time. I've read quite a lot about the Titanic and while this didn't really tell me anything new, I liked the timeline idea.

117. Agatha Raisin and the Walkers of Dembley by M.C. Beaton

I needed something fluffy after the Titanic book, and while Agatha Raisin investigates murders they cannot be described as gritty! Good fun.

118. Harry Potter & The Cursed Child by Jack Thorn

Obviously reading a script is not the same as reading a novel, and I missed all the scene setting that you normally get in a HP novel. However I enjoyed the storyline and would be fascinated to see how they do some of it on stage!

119. The Versions of Us by Laura Barnett

Described as Sliding Doors meets One Day. Jim and Eva meet while at Cambridge. The book tells three versions of their meeting and how that goes on to shape the rest of their lives. I loved it. You do need to concentrate a bit to keep track of which version you're reading but I didn't find it that hard and I thought it was really clever the way certain events happened in each version.

Now reading Number 11 by Jonathan Coe - never heard of him before but picked this up on a whim. Enjoying it so far!

Thank you Whippet and Tumble for my welcomes somewhere round p16. I went off on holiday and couldn't find a link to this thread to update! Afraid I won't do full reviews, in part because I suspect I'll double up somewhere with someone else reviewing the book! So since p16 I have read:

12. Five children and It. - re-read this one after a long gap of 25 years? This was one of my favourites when I was a child. I even dressed up as Anthea for a fancy dress day at school. Obviously the phrases are even more dated now, but I loved revisiting it. It flowed very quickly and a joy to read.

13. Katheryn the Wanton Queen - Maureen Peters. I enjoy historical fiction, and did rather enjoy this telling of the Katherine Howard story. Hearing it told from a Lady's Maid PoV, did mean there was an element of poetic license, but none the less, I enjoyed this portrayal of her.

14. Time to say Goodbye - SD Robertson. Loved this book. It felt very 'film like'. Does anyone know if it's been picked up for a film yet? Would be amazed if it hasn't! Not really sure how to describe the story without ruining it for people but in short it tells the story of the 'spirit' of a man killed in a road accident who finds he doesn't want to move over. I found it very charming and enjoyable.

15. My sister lives on the Mantlepiece - Annabel Pitcher. I loved this one too! There seems to be a trend for stories where the protagonist is a child and you see the story through them, this is one where it works. I actually cried in parts at this story. I really enjoyed the writing too.

16. You and me Always, Jill Mansell. After two book club type books, I thought I'd read a chick lit, light read on the beach. Big mistake. This story seemed much weaker in writing style and content after the last two books and I didn't really enjoy the read. It felt too far fetched a story

Sorry clicked post too soon.

17. The White Queen - Phillipa Gregory. In all honestly it felt too long. Around a third of the way in it felt like the story was ending, even though you're nowhere near. I persevered because I used to read her books all the time, buying the latest book at the airport. If this wasn't the first in the series, I'm not sure if I would have continued with the story.

ROAR @ "I am the well balanced voice of reason - or the splintery arse of fence sitting."

And I would go on to say that Remus may have read a different book by mistake. I didn't get any teenagey juvenile vibe from it at all, nor do I remember anything about Lara Croft fantasies. Remus, are you sure that your review isn't about one of your YA (or worse, children's fiction) books?

Meanwhile, I'm reading The Epigenetic Revolution in the daytime (yes, my beach read ) and rereading The Girl Who Played With Fire at night. The latter is the sequel to The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo & is perfect if you are looking for a strong feminist character in a good thriller.

I love "splintery arse of fence sitting", . That's normally me too.

I've been away on holiday and managed to finish a few very interesting books.

31. The House in the Sky by Amanda Lindhout - true story of a young Canadian woman who travels the world and ends up getting kidnapped and held captive in Somalia for 15 months. She suffers terrible abuses, much worse than her fellow male captive. Really well written but I just couldn't get over the fact that she should never have gone to Somalia. She wasn't an aid worker or diplomat, she was just a young person in search of adventure who ignored all warnings about travelling to one of the most lawless places on the planet.

32. Brilliance by Marcus Sakey - mentioned already on this thread and always seems to be cheap on Kindle. An enjoyable action thriller with a bit of SciFi thrown in. I don't think this one is going to stick in my memory for long.

33. The Girls by Emma Cline - I think this is going to be a marmite sort of book. It's a coming of age story of a 14 year old girl in 1960s California. She ends up in a Manson like cult with a predictably horrible outcome. I found parts of it quite overwritten and overly descriptive of the girl's feelings, but I also really enjoyed the underlying tension as the story moves back and forth in time. I could really relate to some of the girl's teenage angst, but I also found it boringly self indulgent at times. Overall, I liked it and I think the writer is very talented. I would be very interested in hearing what others think of it.

I probably need to learn some splintery arse skills tbh - am far too opinionated!

Cote - maybe you accidentally read Raymond Chandler instead of Cummings? Now there's a man who can write, and who doesn't create central characters who have all the charisma of a greasy teenage trainspotter.

Not been doing much reading lately, apart from historical guides etc connected to my holiday. Having read them all before though, I'm not counting them.
Book 83
All the Light we Cannot See by Anthony Doerr
This focuses on two main characters, a young German boy and a blind French girl, during the Nazi occupation of France. I feel mean complaining about it, because I absolutely loved about 97% of it, and if the ending had been as good as the rest of it, it would have been a serious contender for best novel of the year for me so far. It’s beautifully written, poetic but still maintaining a tight focus on plot, pace and character (things that are often lost when writers try to be too ‘purple’ in novels). Unfortunately I was really disappointed by the ending. I can’t decide if this is because I naively hoped for a ‘happy’ ending, or if it’s because the writer hadn’t really planned it very well. Either way, it felt rushed and patchy and really lacked the elegance of the rest of the novel. Such a shame. I recommend this, but wish it had stopped a little earlier than it did!

45. Andy Weir - The Martian

Astronaut Mark Watney is abandoned on Mars after his crewmates mistakenly believe he's been killed in an accident.

I found this quite hard going. It's taken me months to finish this as I kept getting distracted by other books.
The technical details all seemed plausible. Watney's practical attitude to his predicament seemed very believable - I'd imagine astronaut selection processes would tend to favour the sort of person who goes "This is a bad situation. Now what can I do that's going to keep me alive longer?" over the sort of person who sits there and panics and frets about how they're completely doomed because they've got marooned on Mars in some terrible twist of fate.

But I struggled to maintain interest through all Watney's logs about technical modifications and growing potatoes.

Remus - No doubt I also need to learn some splintery-arse fence-sitting skills and would propose we practice together, if not for the near certainty that we would just bicker about the books everyone's discussing from where we are perched, like the two old men in Muppet Show

Oh and re "maybe you accidentally read Raymond Chandler instead of Cummings? Now there's a man who can write" - When I said modern, I didn't quite mean the stories of a man who died 40 years before mobile phones were invented

Loving the old men in the Muppet Show comparison.

You should trust me on Chandler. You liked CJ Sansom, even though you thought you wouldn't! He's not 'modern' but he was definitely ahead of his time.

Muppets! It's just not a book that's worth fighting over. I would probably have forgotten about it already, if it wasn't for the entertaining ongoing bickering.

Reading time being severely eaten into by the Olympics, but next week I have a solo trip to an elderly relative, who is happy to sit in companionable silence and read for long stretches, and lives pretty much at the other end of the UK - two long train journeys - bliss!

Oi! I never said I didn't think I'd like C J Sansom (Or did I?)

We must have had this conversation before, because I have 2 Chandler books in my Amazon Wish List. I looked one over the other day and wondered why the hell I have a book about "Moose Malloy and cute little redhead Velma" in my List. I should have known that it was a recommendation by friend Remus who likes On The Beach

Well, I'll keep those two books in my Wish List now and get them when their prices drop. We'll see how that goes.

No comment

Don't get me started. I'll mention The Death of Grass again and then we really will be the old Muppet men.