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?

Definitely cote listened to Sinfonietta on the way home and def no idea what it is supposed to add philistine

No idea, Sadik. I didn't even know such a thing existed.

It's worth checking out, I think most libraries offer it, though which provider will depend on your county. I can get ebooks from here and ebooks & audiobooks from here. The selection isn't great, but I can usually find something to read.

Thank you. I will certainly investigate. In the meantime, I've got The Loney in paperback and a book about the Titanic, but I prefer my Kindle for commuting.

35. *Five Children On The Western Front by Kate Saunders - I won't give the plot outline as it's already been reviewed up-thread. This was the last of my reading of the Carnegie shortlist and it was OK. It was enjoyable as mild nostalgia for childhood reading but I'm not sure it really deserves prize nominations - it was just OK, in my opinion.

36. The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafon I LOVED this. I'm not sure how I've managed to go this long without reading it - it's been on my mental 'must-read-one-day' list for years. For anyone who doesn't know, it begins in Barcelona in 1945, when a man takes his 10 year old son to the Cemetery of Forgotten Books (a sort-of maze containing thousands of forgotten books). The boy chooses a book and sets out to discover more about its mysterious author. Some beautiful descriptions, fantastic Gothic elements and the plot was intricately plotted. Highly recommended if you like this sort of thing.

I'm now about to start Ulysses but think I will need to read other stuff at the same time, as light relief.

Satsuki - thanks for your comments. I'm going to have a look for a critical companion as I want to appreciate it properly. The one you recommend sounds good, so will take a look.

22. The Ocean at the End of the Lane, Neil Gaiman. Weird and wonderful and very typical of Gaiman. An unnamed character visits the lane he lived on as a child and remembers the strange events that occurred years ago. Other than that I've no idea how to summarise it without giving away too many details! Some of the weirdness is confusing and strange, some is very familiar and personal. I really enjoyed this.

23. The Uncommon Reader, Alan Bennett. The Queen discovers reading! Like most of us on here, it starts to take over her life and leaves her resenting any time where duty or life gets in the way of her books. Funny, compelling and very easy to relate to!

LookingforMe, which were your favourites from the Carnegie shortlist?

I've just started Master and Commander by Patrick O'Brien. I've meant to give this series a go for a while, and was reminded by the discussion of Naomi Novik's books upthread (apparantly Temeraire started as P O'B fanfic).

The Ocean at the End of the Lane is 99p on Kindle during June, FWIW.

I really disliked The Ocean at the End of the Lane - not Gaiman's finest moment imho. I thought it was lazy and derivative.

That's interesting Remus; when you say derivative, do you mean of someone else's work or his own? I've only read a few of his books so it'd be interesting to see if that was the case!

88. Man at the Helm by Nina Stibbe

I struggled to finish this and didn't find it funny. It's told from the perspective of a young girl whose parents divorce and they have to move to a new village. Their mum neglects them so they try and find a new man for her. Subject matter was depressing and the writing style felt to try-hard.

Totally agree, Chessie, on that book. A further instalment was published this month but I won't bother reading it.

I've given up twice on Man At The Helm. Currently reading Lab Girl as recommended up thread (can't remember who by, sorry) and enjoying t.

Just found the entire Shardlake series at Oxfam

I wasn't that sold on Man at the Helm either. It seemed a struggle to get through. Didn't find it funny either.

Monty
Not of anybody in particular, just of lots of children's stories generally. I found my review of it on an earlier thread:
"I found this distinctly underwhelming. It felt like a short story that had got out of control, and didn't really go anywhere. Lots of padding and little substance. I really enjoyed, 'Anansi Boys' and, 'American Gods' but I'm afraid to say that I think that Gaiman is getting to be a rather lazy writer. Not recommended, and it's a real shame because I think he can turn a phrase and has potential, but it's like his heart isn't really in it."

It felt to me rather like Bryson's Little Dribbling - something written to pay the bills, rather than something that had to be written because the writer really had something to say that he believed in.

I'm excited to have found a copy of a Nabokov that I haven't read before, Mary - has anybody read it?

I love The Ocean at the End of the Lane bit it is interesting that you saw it more as a novella Remus. I remember hearing an interview with Neil Gaiman and he said that it did start as a short story. It is loosely autobiographical and he wrote it for Amanda Palmer so she could get a greater sense of who he is.

89. And 90. A Proper Little Nooryeff and You Win Some, You Lose Some by Jean Ure

Story of Jamie who takes up ballet aged 16 and makes friends with Anita. Loved these as a teen and enjoyed them again now!

Now on to something proper, just starting Claire Harman's biography of Charlotte Bronte. It's a thick paperback though so will start something on kindle tomorrow for my commute. Not sure what - really want to reread Stephen King's 11.22.63 but I have so many books I've never read I feel that I should read those rather than rereading! Will see how I feel in the morning (starting new job so may just default to something easy!!)

Good luck with the new job Chessie

33. Between Two Thorns by Emma Newman Recommendation from this thread - sorry, can't remember who. First book in a fantasy series where the premise is that certain properties in our world (Mundanus) have a reflection in a magical, but stifling and rule bound world (the Nether). The main character is a young woman who has rebelled against life in the Nether, and escaped to Mundanus, but is dragged back and caught up in various intrigues there. I liked that attitudes to and treatment of women in the Nether ran through this as a theme. So many 'other world' fantasy books seem to create a world that resembles a period of history (Victorian and medieval seem popular) and assign their female characters the place they would have had in that society, because that's just the way it is, but not so this book. It was a rather busy book, with multiple characters, conversations, happenings, and rules about how the worlds operate, that didn't seem to add much value. Overall, a good read though, and I will read the next ones.

35. Spot the Difference by Juno Dawson This almost doesn't count as it was a very short world book day book. It was also rubbish- girl gets to be a beauty which has been done 1000 times before, and so American I didn't realise it was British until a Katie Hopkins reference. Still I suppose it was a very easy read and at least tried to have a moral message.

I always want to like Neil Gaiman more than I actually do.

Chessie, I think I am going to have to find my old Jean Ures!

Remus, the library app is called Overdrive, sadly in the Uk you can't borrow on a kindle. It works fine on my iPhone though- you just need your library card number and a pin, and then you can borrow any books your library has- as far as I can tell you can't borrow from other libraries though. It's really good, especially when you run out of books when you are away!

Best, that was me. I'm so glad you're liking Lab Girl. Have you read H Is For Hawk? I just picked it up based on a podcast review.

23. Mean Spirit - Phil Rickman - follow on from Cold Calling with the same characters in the main. A celeb spiritualist suddenly withdraws from public life and starts hiding away, it seems she has an evil spirit attached to her. She appeals to Marcus Bacton (publisher of 'woo' magazine from previous book) for help as he used to be her teacher, he's ill so sends Grayle (journalist, also main character from previous book) to see her, and then it seems real life people are also after her. It's twisty, not clear until towards the end if it really is supposed to be evil spirits or evil people after her/them. I would recommend it, but only if you read the first book first!

24. The Thirty-Nine Steps - John Buchan - one of those classic books I've never read, although have seen various film versions. It's very of it's time (written in 1915), but actually a good old spy /espinonage yarn. Bit too much of tramping over Scottish moorland, but generally a good (short) book.

I've got a few days at my parents house next week so have been downloading lots of these recommendations to keep me going!

24. Of Mice and Men, John Steinbeck. One that I've been meaning to get around to for years. I doubt you need a synopsis. I enjoyed it, and think he did well to let us get to know, and care about, George and Lennie, considering the length of the book. Often in short books I find that I wish I knew the characters better, that they had been fleshed out more, but that wasn't the case here.

Monty - I think OM&M might be worth a re-read as I last did it in English Lit at secondary school which rather sucks the joy out of any book.