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.

Have bought The Luminaries - based on previous history between Cote and I, it's unlikely I'll feel indifferent to it. Interesting to see which way this goes!

Oops: I mixed up Gatsby and This Side of Paradise, which was which was written when Fitzgerald was 22-23 and published when he was 23-24.

I have bought The Luminaries too- must be mad as I struggle with even short books at the moment!

Not a huge Gatsby fan, but it did grow on me a little after a re-read.

I've also got The Luminaries- doubt I'll get round to tackling it this side of Christmas. I may tackle it as my first book of the new year (when I have plenty of time to reach 50 books!).

Gave Brave New World a rest and will try and pick it up in a few weeks. I think it's one of those books that needs to be read everyday to keep the thread of the ideas going. At the moment, I need something I can put down and pick up again a few days later and not lose the thread.

39 Faerie Tale - Raymond E. Feist

I have a bit of a love/hate scenario with the fantasy genre. I love Robin Hobb but have tried to read other celebrated writers in the genre and find they just come up short - clunky world building, cliched characters and just a struggle to get into. This is the first Raymond E. Feist book I have read and I wasn't too convinced at first. I struggled with the female characters initially. The idea of menacing faeries lurking in the nearby woods was a good one, the plot started to build well but I found the ending a bit of a let down. Some things were never satisfactorily explained for me although perhaps that was deliberate - enigmatic fairies and all that. It was an easy read and had enjoyably creepy elements but not the best I've read. Fine if you want something a bit darker and supernatural in feel that isn't too challenging.

62. Even Money by Felix Francis. I don't know if it's true that the Dick Francis novels novels were written by his wife Mary, but I believe that his son Felix was credited with researching many of them. However, somehow a Dick Francis novel is an excellent read and this was awful- wooden, clunky, almost impossible to follow with noticeable editing mistakes (another thing coming!). This was definitely one to avoid.

Cote, I meant to ask earlier if you've seen the film adaptation of The Revenant? I'm curious how the two compare (I've seen the film but not read the book).

140. On Writing by Stephen King

A recommendation from this thread. I'm afraid I didn't love it! I liked the autobiographical parts, but found the writing parts a bit dull (probably because I have no intention or trying to write anything!) and a little bit smug - it came across as if everyone should write like King and no other style is acceptable. I do appreciate that he is allowed to be a little smug after selling as many books as he has, and I'm probably not the best judge as I'm not a massive fan of his - I have read two King books, 11.22.63 which I loved and Carrie which I really didn't like. I do intend to try some more of his books though.

141. Dear Bill Bryson: Footnotes from A Small Island by Ben Aitken

A young man retraces Bill Bryson's route from Notes From A Small Island (Aitken's book was published a few months before Bryson's own recap in The Road To Little Dribbling). As far as possible he uses the same modes of transport, stays in the same hotels, eats the same meals, s the same things as Bill. It's an entertaining read if you like travelogues and nice to see the changes that have happened since Bryson's book was published.

142. Various short stories by J K Rowling

Rowling has published 3 collections of short stories and explanations of her inspirations for names etc. in the Potter books. Although there's 3 I'm only counting it as 1 book here because each one only took me about 30-45 minutes to read. If you love Harry Potter these give you background on some of the characters from the books and are a must-read for fans.

I have also been wanting to try The Luminaries but was worried I might find it dull or a bit of a slog. I'll probably give it a try at some point in 2017.

I have recently finished:
15. The Sex Lives Of English Women by Wendy Jones which I really enjoyed, probably more than I thought I would as I went into it without many expectations. Especially impressive that I enjoyed it as so much of the book keeps coming back to the various abusive or difficult experiences the women have had in their lives to date. It's a collection of real life interviews with English women of all ages and professions, they talk frankly about sex and their attitudes to it and the different voices of the women really transmit from the page - each chapter is so different in feel and tone. I laughed out loud when I got to the end and also had tears in my eyes. Recommended because it has been an illuminating and moving non fiction read.

I have now started All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr and I can tell this is going to be an absorbing and exciting one, I'm already hooked.

52. The Revenant by Michael Punke

This was brilliant! And I say that as someone who has zero interest in Wild West tales, Indians, etc. As Leonardo di Caprio's film made known to many, The Revenant is the story of a fur trader that gets attacked and horribly mauled by a huge bear, who then gets abandoned by his colleagues and fights to survive harsh elements, hunger, and hostile Indians, with a burning desire to get his revenge.

There are a number of things I found exceptional in The Revenant. One of them is the very detailed way in which the day-to-day survival of everyone in the book is explained. Just like finding the next meal is a major part of their day, it becomes a major part of the book. The reader is absorbed into the actual daily worries and (gruesome, gruelling) work that goes into surviving in the wild.

I also loved how the narrator goes from one character to another, sometimes in the course of a dialogue, and tells their life stories, often starting from childhood. I was again surprised to find out at the end that this is a true story and that most of these characters, including Hugh Glass and his two betrayers, were real people on whom quite a few books were written

Aside from the amazing and very worthy story it tells, this is a book that can (and should imho) be studied at Literature classes. There are layers of meaning and it has important things to say about character, loyalty, life in general. Some of these are imparted to the reader while talking about hunted animals. The parallels with the characters are stark and unavoidable.

The narration is cool and matter-of-fact, refraining from tugging on heartstrings despite the extraordinary hardships and pain on every page. As regulars of these threads well know, I like that. A lot.

I heartily recommend this book to everyone here. I find it similar to This Thing Of Darkness in many ways - tone of narration, well-researched historical novel that is almost non-fiction, etc.

Vanderly - I came across the film The Revenant on a plane and watched it for a while, until the gruesome scene of the bear attack. It was a bit too much for me at that time so I didn't watch the rest of it.

Re differences: I can only comment on the first 10 minutes or so of the film, but I remember that there was a young half-Indian boy in the film, who I thought was Glass's son? There is no such character in the book.

I might watch the film at some point because I wonder how they showed the inner worlds and life experiences of various characters, if at all.

Also, I wouldn't be surprised if the end is different in the film because the book's ending was not very Hollywood, at all.

Actually, I forgot to say below that the ending of the book was a little strange, I thought. I'd be interested to discuss it if anyone else here has read it.

I got the Revenant on a daily deal a while ago on a whim, and promptly forgot about it, looking forward to it now, cote

Cote - Have you read The Terror by Dan Simmons? It sounds right up my street but is fiendishly expensive on Kindle.

Satsuki - I got it that day when it was Kindle Deal of the Day, too. Very pleasantly surprised by how much I enjoyed it.

Remus - No I haven't read The Terror. I read his Carrion Comfort, which was a similar kind of supernatural terror kind of story and it was very good.

Cheers - will see if I can order either/both from the library.

Ah - I hadn't realised that he was the writer of Drood too. I really liked the first half of that but found the second half increasingly silly iirc.

91 Planetfall by Emma Newman

Sci-fi set in a small human colony living at the foot of a mysterious structure known to them as 'God's City', the colonists believing they have found the divine. The story begins as an outsider comes to the colony - son of one of a small number of colonists believed lost in an accident during planetfall - and is told from the point of view of one woman, engineer Ren.

This wasn't what I'd expected - the story is essentially an exploration of Ren's mental state, and an untangling of events from the early days of the colony. The sci-fi background is well done though, and generally satisfying, up until the ending, which I wasn't really convinced by (looking at reviews it's definitely a marmite ending). Overall I was pleased to have read it, though.

Oh yes, I remember talking to you about Drood some years ago. (How long have we been doing this? )

It may have been that your expectations were a bit too high re Drood, as a Wilkie Collins fan. I came from a position of ignorance into both Charles Dickens' life and Wilkie Collins as a character, and found it quite interesting. I didn't know about Dickens' involvement in the Staplehurst rail crash or that he died exactly five years to the day of that accident. I didn't know about Wilkie Collins' doppelgänger "the other Wilkie", either.

I know what you mean by the second half, but I thought all in all it was quite a worthy read, although I went quite a few times while reading it towards the end.

I found the Dickens/Collins stuff interesting. It was as things got more and more fantastical that I started to lose interest. How long HAVE we been doing this, I wonder?!

Well, I remember you back when you were Captain Something-or-other

I like books like Drood that take known facts (Dickens' train crash, name of the last book he was working on, Wilkie Collins' claim that there was another one of him, etc) and weave them into an internally consistent fantasy/SF story.

Snow Crash did the same thing with Sumerian legends and that story was bloody fantastic.

Hmm The Revenant sounds brilliant, might have to add that to my tbr list.

I’m another one that has The Revenant waiting to be read on Kindle. I did see the film at the cinema and because I’m a wuss a spent I spent a lot of the time hiding my eyes, particularly through the long and graphic bear mauling. Let’s put it this way, the bear was extremely cross. It was a brilliant film though.

I’ve managed 83. Dark Matter: A Ghost Story – Michelle Paver
This was a fairly enjoyable read, with good scene setting and well written descriptions of midnight sun, the polar dark and the sense of isolation and emptiness in the arctic circle. Unfortunately I didn’t find it scary, which is odd as I am easily scared. So a bit meh ultimately.

84. His Bloody Project – Graeme Macrae Burnet
This was good! It’s on the Booker Shortlist and is made up of different documents recounting the murder of three individuals by the son of a crofter in 1869. There’s the murder’s own account, witness statements, court proceedings etc. A creative and imaginative way to write a novel and I’m glad I read this.

"The bear was extremely cross"

40 - The Good People - Hannah Kent

This was a proof copy as the book isn't due for release until Feb 2017.

I loved this book. It is set in rural Ireland at the beginning of the 19th century and follows the story of a widow who believes her grandchild is a changeling. Her grief and desperation are well-written and it is hard not to have some sympathy with her plight. The role of the other villagers and life in a small, superstitious community is compelling. It builds to a satisfying climax and I was a bit surprised at the outcome of events.

I would recommend this if you enjoyed 'Burial Rites'.