50 Book Challenge 2016 Part Six

[southeastdweller]

Thread six 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, fourth thread here and fifth thread here.

"city which promises full employment, housing for all etc. The only catch is that the citizens alternate between one month in the city and one month in prison. When they're in prison, their homes and jobs are occupied by another person, who then takes their place in prison when they come out"

Old school SF That sort of moralistic, "deep", often socialist tale used to be all the rage back in the day, way before 1980s. Ursula Le Guinness used to love that sort of stuff. Interesting to know that it's still around.

Ursula Le Guinness Thank you, AutoCorrect!

Book 103
We by Yevgeny Zamyatin
A Russian dystopian novel, banned in Russia in 1921. This is a v obvious precursor of novels such as 1984 and Brave New World and I thoroughly enjoyed it. It’s very odd, and not an easy read – the central character is going a bit crazy for most of it, and that’s reflected in the writing style!

I'd be really interested to know if anybody else has read this.

Cote - It has plenty of Maths references and might be sufficiently quirky/crazy/unsettling to interest you (or you might hate the craziness of it andhate me for suggesting you read it!).

vanderley it's a difficult one - I read a lot in my teens and may have different opinions now, I fairly devoured Carrie, IT and Pet Semetary at the time! but I wouldn't be keen to reread the last two especially now I have children. I feel like I have missed a lot of good stuff as kind of felt like I outgrew it for a time! The Dark Tower series, for example.

I want to reread The Stand and I do like Misery, that's one I've gone back to. I think there's such a lot in it about writing and the power of a story, that I could even accuse him of literature . Love his short stories, too. I'm reading The Shining currently and have the JFK one! too.

Have ordered We Remus (as it's 99p on the Kindle, folks), thanks. I am reading Noise of Time by Julian Barnes, which is also "Stalinny", for want of a better word, so it might be a nice complement. I have never been let down by a Russian, literature-wise. Also 99p is Brave New World.

Haven't read any Margaret Atwood. Someone I didn't like was a huge fan and it put me off by proxy. I should possibly let it go, now.

There I go with the crazy exclamations again, please ignore, I don't think I meant any of them.

at I've never been let down by a Russian.

Remus - I read and reviewed We

" I've never been let down by a Russian"

Oh I have. How about Mikhail Bulgakov, the author of the complete and utter waste of time called The Master and Margarita?

139. Vanity Fair by William Makepeace Thackeray

I feel like I've been reading this for months! It's far longer than it needs to be, probably because it was originally written as a serial. I didn't find it gripping ( no 'couldn't put it down' here!) but I did enjoy it and am pleased I read it.

Cote - ha! I knew you'd either absolutely love or absolutely hate it! It's a very odd book, but I liked its oddness.

Urgh to The Master and Margarita - I gave up after about four pages of nonsense.

Cote - Ah, apologies, I didn't realise this was a widely-done-before SF concept! (I think I remember you saying you don't consider Atwood SF? I think I'd agree, if so, but I do think she does dystopia well.)

Satsuki - Try Handmaid if you decide to give Atwood a go. Definitely her best.

"I think I remember you saying you don't consider Atwood SF? I think I'd agree, if so, but I do think she does dystopia well.)"

Er no. That would be me laughing at Atwood claiming she doesn't write SF because (and I quote) "if a book is realistic or plausible, then it's not science fiction" which has to be one of the stupidest quotes in print.

All good SF is both realistic and plausible and judging by the one book of hers I have read, most are far more so than the ones she is capable of writing.

Of course Atwood writes SF. Just not very well. Which is not surprising, since you wouldn't expect an author to be good at a genre she sneers at.

Atwood also said on BBC Breakfast that science fiction is no more than “talking squids in outer space” which frankly tells me that she is an idiot

1. The City and the City - China Mieville
2. The Guest Cat - Takashi Hiraide
3. Lost in a Good Book - Jasper Fforde
4. John Dies at the End - David Wong
5. Childhood's End - Arthur C Clarke
6. The Humans - Matt Haig
7. A Tale For The Time Being - Ruth Ozeki
8. Rendezvous with Rama
9. Rama 2 - Arthur C Clarke
10. Ghostwritten - David Mitchell
11. The Stand - Stephen King
12. Cloud Atlas - David Mitchell
13. Isa and May - Margaret Forster
14. Welcome to Nightvale
15. The Carrier - Sophie Hannah
16. The Telling Error - Sophie Hannah
17. The Three Body Problem - Cixin Liu
18. Foxglove Summer - Ben Aaronovitch
19. Siblings without Rivalry - Adele Faber & Elaine Mazlisch

I'm not sure where I got up to with reviewing so I'll start randomly with the Sophie Hannah ones. Both were more of her usual, with fairly obvious twists but entertaining for a quick read. Foxglove Summer was another of Ben Aaronovitch's that I really enjoyed. PC Grant heads to Herefordshire to investigate the disappearance of two young girls, leading to some magical shenanigans and a bad tempered unicorn. Not enough Leslie May or Nightingale so I'm looking forward to the next in the series.

Siblings Without Rivalry was a re-read but much needed after a long summer holiday! Some good ideas, some of which kind of worked and some which are more of a work in progress. Still, cheaper than gin and therapy

Nearly at the end of The 3 Body Problem, and I'm really enjoying this. The science heavy bits are still accessible and interesting, it's a little bit strange, in a good way, and I'm really interested to see where the trilogy goes.

I've just realised I'm not going to make my 50 books this year I have very high hopes for next year though..

Ah, but I have not yet read Master and Margarita so I'm going to think of him as Schrodinger's Russian, both a disappointment and not a disappointment until I open the book and find out. I hope I don't have to adapt my motto with an "...except for Mikhail Bulgakov" as it is not as snappy, but it's not looking good.

Thanks looking, I will.

**

Ha, that strikes rather too close to home, Daphne (great user-name by the way).

Currently speeding my way through The Sex Lives Of English Women thanks to a free copy from Mumsnet, and really enjoying it. After this is done I think my next read will be All The Light We Cannot See because I really fancy a good yarn and am flagging a bit with all this non fiction I've been ploughing through.
Oh, and my current listen on Audible is Affinity by Sarah Waters, at this rate I will have read or listened to all her books in one year Apart from The Paying Guests which I read a few years ago and liked.

at biblio

53 The Noise of Time by Julian Barnes

What to say. A fictionalised biography of Shostakovich, providing an elegantly written view of his both his personal and artistic life under Stalin. Technically, I can't really fault this. It was an interesting subject, very well executed stylistically..but... I found it a bit...boring, I suppose. It is a slim book, less than two hundred pages, but felt longer. It started promisingly, and I thought it was going to be gripping, but the pace slackened disappointingly. HHhH trod similar territory in its novelisation of historical events and people, and was a tremendous read at the same time, so maybe I was expecting something different and it fell short. Only ok for me, but learned a few things along the way.

46. The Hare With the Amber Eyes by Edmund de Waal. Well, this was a pleasant surprise. It's a kind of biography, except that instead of a human life it tells the story of a collection of netsuke (small carved Japanese objects) and follows their path between different owners and cities. You may remember me moaning about how boring it was a couple of pages ago, but I ploughed on with it because I am bloody minded and the author's somewhat meandering style grew on me over time. I also found the story became a lot more interesting after the netsuke reached Vienna. Overall, I enjoyed this.

47. After You by Jojo Moyes, the follow up to Me Before You. This is pretty good as chick lit goes, but I find that I am not as keen on the genre as I used to be. Not sure if this is due to getting older, or maybe a result of all the great recommendations on this thread which means I'm setting the bar higher than I used to!

now that I am back at work and have a whole 20 mins per day each way reading while standing on the Northern Line, I can actually get some solid progress done.

I've not read that much this year - will need to do a review of the bookshelves to work out but recent progress:

1. The Ante Room - Kate Obrien - well that was one of the most depressing stories I've read. Follows a well off Irish family in the 1880s in a bit of a love triangle with an enormous dose of Catholicism thrown in to dampen everything down. The ending is utterly shocking and made me rage at the character's selfishness. It did cover some very taboo topics in an interesting way (parent in end stage cancer, sexually transmitted disease at a time when they were so beyond the pale) and I wish she's focussed on those plots and ditched the 'love story'. That said, I'd read another because I'm Irish so have a bias towards such authors which I will never give up!

Seveneves by Neal Stephenson - What would happen if the moon exploded? I enjoyed this immensely. Back to form for him and obviously going to be a new series. There was a bit too much techy detail in the second section of the book and it didn't really get going enough to make me care about the new characters but the first section was a brilliant exposition of how nations might (or might not!) work together in the face a terminal global crisis. But I do love a bit of NS - the Quicksilver/Systems of the World/Cryptonomicon books totally enthralled me and I've read them all twice.

Various Georgette Heyer - perfect bathtime snuggly reading. I will not hear a bad word about any of them!

The Bone Clocks - this might get me to reread The Thousand Autumns of Whatdoyacallhim which I hated first time round. In fact I think I need to go back and start again from Cloud Atlas and read the whole lot through. Loved the last section in particular - frighteningly realistic!

Slade House - David Mitchell again - nice gap filler for the fans. Probably more questions than answers. Anyone got an idea about the jogger in the orange tracksuit?! It's a detail that wasn't explained and it's really annoying me.

Rogue Male - Geoffrey Household - LOVED this. Hadn't heard of it but something tipped me off and it was brill. Of its time and all that but a good fast romp.

Penmarric - Susan Howatch - a MN recommendation. I enjoyed it and the differing views of each family member was quite entertaining and changed my perceptions. I liked that characters were allowed to grow and change but not sure it's an amazing read.

Glittering Images - Susan Howatch - bloody hell, the CoE is obsessed with sex. That's really all I have to say although the cliffhanger might tempt to read another in the (loosely linked) series.

I have quite a few aborted books as my mind just goes in pregnancy and when sleep deprived. I might go back to them at some point. I think I have most of last years Booker shortlist to read as I got them for DH and couldn't hack most of them.

God, that's a pathetic year of books. I must have a good run to Christmas. Might have a go again at some classics - I haven't read any Austen in many years.

I treated myself to Slade House this week free (a rare paper book purchase) and it is 2/3 books away on my to read list so might be able to come in on the orange tracksuit then, I have yet to read Jacob de Zoet, but read and liked both Cloud Atlas and Bone Clocks. As aside, I love the cover art on David Mitchell books, just great.

88. Orkneyinga Saga

Written around 1200 by an anonymous author, it is subtitled The History of the Earls of Orkney and is the only medieval work with Orkney as it's central point. It runs from the time that the Orkneys were conquered by the kings of Norway in the 9th century, which is skipped over a bit and has a certain sense of myth about it, and covers the likes of St Magnus the Martyr, Sigurd the Powerful, Thorfinn Skull-Splitter, and basically an awful lot of viking raids, general violence, nasty deaths (including an example of the blood eagle) and the occasional miracle, courtesy of St Magnus.

Ah, the northern line commute!

Welcome to the thread, Free.