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.

40. His Bloody Project, Graeme Macrae Burnet. I really enjoyed this. It's been reviewed on here before, so I won't go over the plot details again. I liked the tone of Roddy's memoir; I found his calm, observant way of recounting his life and background quite soothing, despite its content. Recommended.

41. Cogheart, Peter Bunzl. Read and reviewed for MN. A children's book set in steampunk Victorian England. A young girl's father goes missing. When her mechanical fox brings her a letter from him she sets out to find him, and discover why he was being hunted. A light, enjoyable read that kept me entertained over an afternoon and evening. Victorian England with dirigibles and mechanical servants who exclaim "Cogs and chronometers!" at every opportunity is quite a nice place to settle down in for a bit.

42. The Martian, Andy Weir. Loved this, although not at first. Initially Mark Watney's voice irritated me a tad, with all his "Yay!"s and "Boo!"s and so on. It seem incongruous with the plot. But of course astronauts are presumabley chosen, in part, for their positive, problem-solving, resilient natures, and after I reminded myself of that I found it far less annoying. He'd really grown on me by the time I got to potatoes and disco, after that I was hooked. I borrowed a digital copy from the library, if I come across a paper copy without Matt Damon's face plastered over the front I'll buy it.

43. Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, J.K.Rowling. I was happy to delve back into the wizarding world, and I enjoyed the story well enough, but I think the characters were a bit paint-by-numbers. Some really obvious choices were made about the next generation. It was all a bit too unsubtle. I still liked it though. It is Harry, after all.

95 The Copper Gauntlet by Holly Black and Cassandra Clare

Children's fantasy, sequel to The Iron Trial reviewed above. Not particularly original, but an easy read and the plot zips along nicely.

84. Life Class by Pat Barker. I know this has had mixed reviews on here, but I liked it very much and will continue with the trilogy. Admittedly I haven't yet read her Regeneration trilogy, so have nothing to compare, but plan to read them too. Anything to do with WW1 interests me so any other recommendations welcome :)

85. We Have Always Lived in the Castle by Shirley Jackson. Really enjoyed this. Understated and chilling. The truth is fairly obvious from the start but it didn't detract from my enjoyment. Well written and an author I shall add to my list to read more of her books.

Next up, The Loney by Andrew Michael Hurley. Another one that's had mixed reviews here but will wait and see.

Mermaid, I've just finished the Regeneration trilogy. The first is great but I wasn't keen on the other two ( Remus was right). I much preferred the Life Class trilogy.

If you haven't yet read All Quiet On The Western Front, you must do so.

60. The End Of the World Running Club by Adrian J Walker Unpleasant. Loved the concept of this: asteroids devastate Britain, and much of the rest of the northern hemisphere, with few survivors. An ordinary, unfit, dad has to get from Edinburgh to the south coast, to join his family before rescue ships leave. Not enough running, and far, far too much graphic violence and grimness, based on really depressing assumptions about human nature in the face of a crisis. Admittedly was well written, but left a nasty taste.

I haven't read All Quiet on the Western Front, yet. Will add that to my list of WW1 books. Thanks, Best.

Mermaid I enjoyed Life Class too. Sharing a theme but even better I thought was Earth and Heaven by Sue Gee, which explores the art world of the 20s and 30s as well as telling the poignant story of a family living in the Kent countryside. I really like SG's writing and think she deserves to be more widely read.

All Quiet is just stunning. I urge you all to read it, if you haven't done so already!

Book 109
Mansfield Revisited by Joan Aiken
I loved this! We revisit Mansfield Park, but without the boring sops that are Fanny and Edmund, who’ve been shipped off to Antigua to manage things over there after the death of Sir Thomas Bertram. Mary Crawford is back in Mansfield, having just missed Fanny and Edmund. Unfortunately Mary (the best character in the original novel) is dying. Meanwhile, Susan Price has grown up into a young woman utterly unlike her boring and prudish older sister. Could a girl with spirit be exactly what both Henry Crawford and Sir Thomas Bertram the younger both be looking for?

Sadik Thanks so much for the recommendation. It was just what I needed at the end of a long and rather difficult half term. I've now bought and begun her Lady Catherine's Necklace too.

I'm glad you enjoyed Mansfield Revisited, Remus. It's a long time since I read them, but I think it was probably the best of her Austen sequels, sadly (clearly because Mansfield is the best of the novels, and there's so much good material to work with . . . )

44. Heart of Darkness, Joseph Conrad. This didn't do much for me. Some parts were beautifully written, but others seemed like superfluous waffle. I'm a bit grumpy today though, so maybe that clouded my judgement.

Monty I read at uni, and felt absolutely the same.

Conrad makes me cross. Some great ideas but man, it's dull.

I loved Heart Of Darkness and didn't find it dull, at all. The subject matter, execution, and the writing style were very good. It's astonishing that English wasn't Joseph Conrad's native language.

I have come to believe that it is not a favour to teenagers to make them study books like Heart Of Darkness, Anna Karenina, Shakespeare, or 1984. It is just not possible to appreciate such works in their fullness as a teenager.

Ohh thanks for the review, Museum - I think I might give End of the World Running Club a miss then, I also really liked the premise but it sounds way gorier than I'd be comfortable with. Ah well.

"
I have come to believe that it is not a favour to teenagers to make them study books like Heart Of Darkness, Anna Karenina, Shakespeare, or 1984. It is just not possible to appreciate such works in their fullness as a teenager."

I totally disagree with this! As a general rule i read much more challenging books as a teenager than as an adult, mostly because I had more time and brain space to give to reading. All the above books I read and loved as a teenager in fact.

I read and loved 1984 as a teenager, too. It is only upon rereading it decades later that I realised how much of it has passed over my head the first time.

I read Anna Karenina recently for the 1st time. Talking about it with friends who read it at school as teenagers, I was surprised to see that all they remembered of the book was the love story between Anna and Whatshisname which, frankly, was not the most important part of the book.

54. Hex by Thomas Olde Heuvelt

This is set in a small town, haunted by a (very solid) 17th century witch who wanders around with sewn up eyes and mouth and wrapped in chains. The townsfolk are cursed to remain close to town and live in fear of the witch's eyes opening. The whole thing is top secret, with angry mobs of townsfolk likely to panic and lynch people perceived to do things likely to provoke the witch or deliberately expose the town secret.
But a foolhardy group of teenage boys start pushing the boundaries, filming the witch in a plan to take the haunting viral, and predictably, things start to go horribly, horribly wrong. So far, so spooky and grim. Disaster looms for everyone.

Which is the bit where things started falling apart for me. Witch has grudge against town because she was put to death for witchcraft? That's understandable - until the bit where it's revealed that the original town inhabitants mysteriously vanished. The current inhabitants have no connection to the ones who murdered the witch, except for the fact that they (or their ancestors) moved into the area after the witch and all her contemporaries were dead and gone. So why would the witch have it in for them?
The author implies at the end that the witch is neutral, but if that's the case, the horrible things happening to the townsfolk at the end are pretty well inexplicable. Especially given all the ooh, try to leave town or mess with the witch and people drop dead or kill themselves business laced throughout the book.

But the bit that really annoyed me was the authors note at the end. The book was originally written in Dutch. The author decided to change the setting to the USA rather than the original Dutch setting for the English translation. And, he says, the last couple of chapters are all new. But no, he won't share the original ending. He's not gonna tell. Instead, he suggests bribing a Dutch person
I don't know any Dutch people. But even assuming everyone reading this book has a Dutch friend, does the author seriously think the notion of buying this hypothetical Dutch friend a copy of the Dutch version and paying them to read and translate the last few chapters is likely to appeal to many people? It's just coming across as a really annoying attempt to double book sales.

I just think that some books lend themselves well to working at one level as a teen and then another later. I know I got far more out of, for example, Austen's 'Emma' when I wasn't reading it for A level.

On the flip-side, it's my firm belief that Hardy's 'Tess' and 'Jude' can only be enjoyed by sulky teenage girls with an inclination to the morbid.

Stiches Is it a lie? eg A clever device that the author has invented as a pretend? Like a fourth wall break? Seems likely. eg there is no Dutch original

I read Tess 7 years ago Remus. Utterly adored it. I was 28 at the time. Also loved Madding Crowd, but otherwise have struggled with Hardy

Every - a bit of a Google suggests that Thomas Olde Heuvelt is Dutch and that the Dutch version was published first, so if he's making a Dutch original up, he's gone to a fair bit of effort to back this up.

A fourth wall break type made up Dutch original would be equally annoying though.

Had a bit of a google myself and it appears the changes are exaggerated or something there's a whole Reddit about it.

Ooh. Must Google again, I missed the Reddit thing.
If the changes are exaggerated then it's sounding even more like a marketing ploy.

I got it from Googling the phrase "hex has no dutch original"

www.reddit.com/r/horrorlit/comments/4qvb4y/some_questions_on_hex_by_thomas_olde_heuvelt/

American Pastoral

American Pastoral by Philip Roth has become the sixth book I've read this month (and also year, as I've only just got my concentration back after ill health)

I'm a bit mystified. I read it because there is a forthcoming film with Ewan McGregor and Dakota Fanning. It's basically the story of an All American couple who are rocked by their teenage daughters rebellion, which they don't understand.

What is weird about it is how it's told, it ends in mid air at a dinner party, which isn't particularly relevant, except for simmering below surface resentments. The problem is that it's like half a story, we never really find out anything, it's like getting the beginning and middle of a story and no end. I've just got lots of questions now.

Anyone read it?