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.

I'm back with the Reaper and the Sons of Ares. Enjoying so far.

51. Morning Star (Red Rising # 3) by Pierce Brown

(I beat you to it, Remus )

A fantabulous end to the Red Rising trilogy. It's not high literature and it can get a bit predictable at times, but I immensely enjoyed each of these books. It's a great series - Game Of Thrones... in space!

I have a feeling that Red Rising readers will hate my guts if I go into plot details, so I'll end this review here: Loved it, totally recommend it, albeit not the smartest & most literary SF I have ever read.

Btw I am happy to hear that the author will be continuing with books in this universe. Next one will apparently be called Iron Golds. Can't wait.

Glad to hear that you enjoyed it. I'm charging my Kindle now, ready for an early night with Darrow and co! :)

Omg free I love Kate O'Brien, she's v underrated imo have you read Land of Spices? Excellent read. Again faith a big focus but done so well. V unusual really, few authors tackle it.

Glad to hear Morning Star a good buy. Still trying to decide whether to hold out for another drop...

oooh, I was waiting for Morning Star to drop in price - but I've just started a book and have to work my way through a Book Club book I don't want to read before I can download that...

42. The Immortals - S. E. Lister - time traveller book. A family repeats 1945 every year, at New Year's Eve they are dragged back on the 'tide' to the start of the year and move (to avoid meeting themselves), to live the year again. The father is the time traveller and the daughter hates this life. She runs away, gets caught by the 'time tides' - meets another traveller, has adventures. Is pretty good for the first half, I don't really like where it goes towards the end.

wilting no it was my first foray. Purchased from a charity shop in the arse of nowhere - 3 books for a Euro! I'll look that one out.

tarahumara luckily I'm very short so can duck under the armpits of big smelly men into tiny corners and lean til an intersection with another line. And obvs I read on the way up the escalator too!

Tarahumara - I feel the same way about chick lit now. Every now and then I read something as an easy read, but then end up criticising the writing style or find I'm bored by the characters. I am definitely not a highbrow reader either, but I do want something to make me think a little. I think my choices have become a little more meaningful, even if I don't always have the brain capacity after spending my day stopping one child from terrorising the world, and answering 72000 questions a day from the other!

I'm also a little concerned I won't make 50. If I start including all the bedtime stories in December you'll know why!

Whoops, clicked too soon. Just finished my latest book:

23. The Invention of Wings, Sue Monk Kidd

I loved this! The story is about a woman living in Charleston, US in the 1800s. When she was 11 she was gifted a slave by her parents, who were wealthy society people. She tried to refuse the girl, but she was told that she now owned her, and it couldn't be undone. The story swaps by chapters between the two girls Sarah and Handful, against a backdrop of the beginning of the abolition movement, showing what their experiences were of the time as they both struggled for their own freedom. Literally for Handful and freedom from expectation for Sarah (who is expected to marry well and to accept the status quo). It has a feminist undertone and as I found out at the end in the author's notes that Sarah was a real person, though most of the story is imagined.

I really enjoyed this. There were some remarkable female characters created by the author and it left me wanting more. In fact my only gripe is that it could have gone on longer, or at least there could've been another book about the later years.

Hi Free , I found the last section of Bone Clocks particularly poignant too, and actually sobbed intermittently throughout, which is a good way to get a double seat to yourself on your commute (this maybe wouldn't work in London though?)

56. An Examined Life by Stephen Grosz Absorbing and thoughtful collection of case studies from psychoanalysis. I have read collections of case studies before (admittedly from other disciplines) and always been left feeling uncomfortable at the author presenting a human freak show of extreme and unusual cases, with him (it's always a him) stepping in as the big genius who sorted it all out. This was different - the author let the real voices of his patients dominate, and focused on problems that any one of us can face - grief, loss, illness, relationship problems. No-one mistook their wife for a hat. If anything he downplays his own input into the solutions jointly reached with his patients. Enjoyed this.

45. Operation Mincemeat - Ben Macintyre

Bought after many recommendations on this thread, and I did enjoy it - an easy-to -read account of the scheme to dupe the Germans into believing that the Allies weren't going to invade Sicily by planting bogus plans on a corpse off the Spanish coast. Did feel a little padded out in places- I think it could have been a long essay instead of a book - but I liked it.

NeverNic - exactly! I pick something up as a nice easy enjoyable read, and end up finding it boring or irritating. Whereas Sue Monk Kidd is a good example of an author whose books are still relatively easy to read, but are also interesting and thought provoking (although I haven't read the one you reviewed).

I will definitely hunt out some more of hers. The book I read was definitely the balance I need of something easy to read and follow, without feeling like a waste of time. Just what I need after a hard day's -cat herding toddler persuading.

Death's End by Cixin Lu (Three Body Problem series) is just £2.63!!!

Death's End

Welcome free and enjoy the Northern Line! (Not something that gets said very often, I imagine).

Chillie, nicely unpredictable reading list you've got going!

wilting, I read Land of Spices in my long-ago teenage years, and it really lodged in my memory. I don't feel any great urge to re-read it, but there are one or two observations that really stuck with me.

And just to reiterate - nobody's under pressure to read 50 books! At least for me, the number is just a pretext to be here and talk about what we're reading.

Yeah I'm very unlikely to make it to 50 but given my progress this year (slow) but it's such an outlandish goal that I find it quite exciting. I am so including my offsprings bedtime stories in the mix; we have just started The Lion The Witch And The Wardrobe and he is loving it so far. It's really exciting to read a book I loved as a child to my child and find they love it too. I'm sure my enthusiasm is doing half the work here

36 The Outcast Dead - Elly Griffiths
37 The Ghost Fields- Elly Griffiths

Continuing the Dr Ruth Galloway series - still enjoying them but will give them a break for a while!

38 In Her Wake - Amanda Jennings
Woman discovers big family secret at her mother's funeral/wake. The novel deals with the fall out from this as she goes on to unravel it all. I downloaded when it was a kindle deal and I'm glad I gave it a try. It was an enjoyable mystery, kept me wanting to read more although I did guess a couple of the revelations.

Have started Brave New World but am finding it a bit hard going. Will persevere and hope it picks up...

I snapped up Death'a End. Thank you, wilting

28. Shadows of the Workhouse and 29. Farwell to the East End by Jennifer Worth. Having wanted to read these books for a while I've read all three at once. Shocking and compelling to read. A sympathetic look at how life was in the East End as late as the mid sixties. I think what struck me most was how the advent of the pill really did change women's lives. The really drastic reduction in the number of children following its introduction (along with the relocation of families from the tenements) is staggering. 30 mad girl - Bryony Gordon. A very honest memoir of her battles with drug addiction, bulimia, an abusive relationship and her ongoing issues with OCD. What could be a difficult read is balanced with humour and a positive message.
29. Missing Presumed - Susie Steiner. A gripping thriller, one of the Mumsnet giveaway books and a genre I don't usually read much as I am bit of a wimp and it makes my mind too active about all the horrible things that could happen. This book focuses on the lives of family and the police officers involved in the search for a missing person just as much as the actual police investigation. I found it fast paced and enjoyed reading it.

Oops, sorry, Cote! You're right, that quote does make her sound like an idiot! I still maintain she's not but am willing to admit that my love of Handmaid might make me slightly biased. I don't think of her as SF though - can see how comparing her to other SF authors would highlight some issues.

"I don't think of her as SF though"

Why on Earth not?

Is it about a possible future? If yes, than it's SF.

But cote. Most books start from a present and work into a future

I think Atwood is v over-rated. Don't mind 'Handmaid' but generally feel strongly that she lets her personality and prejudices get in the way of telling a satisfying story. Doubt I'll ever read any more of hers.

70% into Darrow's bid to put the world to rights. Still enjoying it, but getting a bit bored of the pages and pages of space ships blasting each other.