50 Book Challenge 2016 Part Seven

[southeastdweller]

Welcome to the final thread 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, please try to let us all know your thoughts on what you've read, and to anyone who hasn't posted, feel free to de-lurk and share with us what you've read so far this year.

The first thread of 2016 is here, second thread here, third thread here, fourth thread here, fifth thread here and sixth thread here.

Shake
I didn't get on at all well with Poisonwood Bible. Never understood the love for it on here.

104 Orange is the New Black: My time in a Women's Prison, by Piper Kerman
A re-read. Less sensational and (for me) much more interesting than the TV series.

I quite liked the Poisonwood Bible, but agree it drops off in the final third shake

I've got the Dan Simmons blues too Remus at the moment, just can't get into the second Hyperion just all seems a bit silly.

I'm enjoying the musical interludes too cote

Place marking!

Stitches, I'm chuckling at the idea of you reading a book about the importance of sleep when you are 37 weeks pregnant! Good luck with the birth, I hope all goes well

Welcome back tessie!

Oh the irony of reading about the importance of sleep when 37 weeks pregnant

I meant to add: Good luck with it all Stitches

114. The Secret Library, Oliver Teale
Snippets of literary history, the kind of thing that's enjoyable on a short commute, although a bit less satisfying if read straight through. The formula for the sections is a description who sounds like a well-known writer - Dickens or Darwin, say, then ta-da! he's actually talking about a forgotten figure.

115. A Dangerous Innocence: A life of Elizabeth Jane Howard
While I'm not a fan of hers, I enjoyed this biography - she lived an interesting life. It looks good from the outside - beauty, talent, lovers - but sounds less enviable the more you hear. So many of the men she encountered were predators or users of one kind or another.

Missed that you were so close to being due stitches, all the best.

Thanks for the good wishes.

By the time the irony of reading a book about the importance of sleep so close to my due date hit me, I was far enough through it to think that I might as well finish reading the book!

Good luck Stitches! This time last year I was coming up to my due date! Time really does fly even through sleep deprivation!

31 - My Antonia. Recommended and reviewed on the last thread, so I won't repeat what everyone else has already said. I feel a little disappointed in myself that I hadn't read this before. In fact before it was mentioned here, I'd never heard of it before. A delightful read. Just what I needed.

Very impressive Cote

69. Natural Born Heroes by Christopher McDougall I've had Born to Run on my wish list for ages, so when this came up cheap, I decided to give it a whirl. Big mistake. This book didn't know what it was, apart from maybe an exercise in how to make something less than the sum of its parts. Ostensibly about tapping into stores of body fat and harnessing a more free and instinctive form of movement, it kept coming back to the Cretan resistance movement in WW2, based on the premise that this MUST be how they did their acts of derring do, and because folk did stuff like that in Greek / Cretan legends, which are probably all actual factual accounts, apparently. Some interesting snippets, but overall too much disjointedness, leaping to conclusions and testosterone fuelled nonsense for me. It's kind of put me off reading Born to Run - should I still?

70. Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe A modern classic I'd never read, but was tipped towards by reading Chimamanda Ngozie Adiche and The Poisonwood Bible (I was in the love camp). A short, powerful account of one man's (mis)fortunes in his traditional Nigerian village, and how things change after Christianity and white people arrive. Things are in no way portrayed as idyllic before this, but there was an accepted way of life and set of rules to live by. My problem was that I hated the main protagonist, and felt that no amount of taking into account cultural differences or his bad early life experiences could excuse his behaviour.

71. A Calculated Life by Anne Charnock An enjoyable quick sci-fi read. Set in a future Manchester, people can be divided by whether they are organic, bionic, or simulant. The narrator, Jayna, falls into the last category, and this means her skills at processing and analysing data are highly prized by her company, but her life outside work is heavily regulated. Things get interesting when she begins to challenge this. If you read sci-fi you will probably have read other books with a similar premise / concept, but this is none the worse for that, and like the best of them, it examines what it is to be human. Enjoyed this. The citrus groves surrounding Manchester were a nice touch!

Good luck, Stitches!

Cote, I've listened to about half of Castor and Pollux, and I'm enjoying it very much. The opera has put me in mind of a favourite of mine, Henry Purcell's Dido and Aeneas. I can't link to it right now, but Anne Sofie Von Otter's interpretation of Dido's Lament is wonderful.

Museum I'm one of the Born to Run fans from earlier in this thread, but I read the blurb for Natural Born Heroes after I'd finished it and decided against. They sound like two very different books, so I wouldn't rule out Born to Run if I were you!

Thanks Tarahumara I'll keep it on the list then.

Inspired by Stephen King fans on this thread, I've just started my first SK book since a teen, 11.22.63. Gripped by it so far, but may not complete this year, as it's 30 hours on audio

Just started Justin Cronin's latest. A bit slow going so far, but I'm enjoying after the nonsense that was Dan Simmons. At least it seems to have a sense of purpose.

I would like to read Justin Cronin's latest too but... 9.99 on the Kindle?

I've already forgotten about the first two books, so can't hurt to wait a bit longer to read this one.

Museum - Definitely read Born To Run. It is fantastic.

I got that other book of his as a Kindle deal, too, and am regretting it now.

Vanderly - I'm glad that you are enjoying Castor et Pollux Don't forget to also listen to Dardanus, which is imho, one of Rameau's best operas.

Purcell is a Baroque composer, just like Rameau, so I am not surprised that you like Rameau's music if your favourite opera is Dido & Aeneas!

I'm an opera "imbecile" but even I know Dido's Lament! Anne Sofie Von Otter's interpretation is beautiful, thanks for that. I think is also outstanding. AND one of my favourites is . I know, I know, but give him a chance

Museum - I thought 11.22.63 would take ages but I got addicted to it! Audio might be different though - imagine it's harder to fit in the odd bit here and there.

67. Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix - 5th in my read/re-read of the series. I'm enjoying how the series becomes convincingly more mature as the characters grow up but am starting to wonder at what point the books might move beyond DS's understanding. He's 10 and loved this one but is still stalled on book 6. Think we may need to read that one together.

Am now about to start the Booker shortlist. I know there've been mixed reviews on here but any recommendations for which one to start with?

51. The High Window - Raymond Chandler

What can I say, it's Chandler so every sentence is sublime and I'm totally in love with the "shop-soiled Galahad" Phillip Marlowe. The plot hangs on a stolen rare gold coin but it's the characters and their relationships that make it, even the 'bit part' characters are beautifully drawn. I don't think any other writer can create a full character in as few words as Chandler can. Anyway I'll stop gushing now and just say that everyone should read his damn books

Cote, those interpretations are wonderful! I'm also partial to Jessye Norman, Susan Graham, and Jeff Buckley, who recorded this version in 1995 (apologies for the ugly link): m.youtube.com/watch?v=TMBGOCr22po

And, I'm planning to listen to Dardanus soon. I really appreciate the suggestions because as much as I appreciate the more popular operas, I'm tired of them. I want Bartók, Britten, Adams, Schoenberg. The local opera company seems to be focusing on bel canto and the entire Ring Cycle. All 1724 hours of it.

And, to get back on topic, my current book choice was inspired by discussion in a previous thread: I'm about 50 pages into The City & The City.