Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. Child-safe in minutes.

Meet the Other Phone.
Child-safe in minutes.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
What we're reading

Find your new favourite book or recommend one on our Book forum.

Original poster

50 Book Challenge 2016 Part Seven

753 replies

southeastdweller · 03/11/2016 20:00

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.

OP posts:
bibliomania · 06/12/2016 09:58

I love the scathing reviews, Cote.

Yes, I think the Austen book would annoy you, Remus. I would love to know what JA herself would think about it - I'm sure there would be bits when she would have given a sharp nod, pleased the hint had been noted, and others where she would have rolled her eyes. It's still worth a read as a summary of more complex readings of her novels.

Still loving the Adam Rutherford book on genetics - one of the most enjoyable books I've read in a long time.

CoteDAzur · 06/12/2016 10:12

Good to hear biblio, for I've got one on the way (if I ever manage to get through the pointless torture that is The Fifth Heart Smile

JoylessFucker · 06/12/2016 14:22

Books 72 & 73 were both short (or shirt Grin ) at under 250 pages. I'm pretty sure it was the quality of the writing rather than their lack of length that made me enjoy them.

Slade House by David Mitchell was first up. I was prepared to be disappointed, but actually ended up really enjoying it. It was the beautiful characterisation of the guests which I simply loved. The ending was rather unsatisfactory, but I didn't mind much.

The Children Act by Ian McEwan was next. I find him such an up-and-down writer but, for me, this was an up (although not him at his finest). I was particularly pleased that they didn't do the whole "oh dear, emotional woman, what did you expect? thing, rather one saw the struggle behind the professional facade. Another unsatifactory ending, but I'm getting used to the idea I may be becoming more difficult to please ...

Oh & Satsuki, thank you for the best laugh ever. The mental picture of you stroking a book and moistening it will surely live on Wink

And welcome Debb Smile

EverySongbirdSays · 06/12/2016 15:03

I read Talking As Fast As I Can by Lauren Graham, last night, in about an hour.

Autobiography. Absolute waste of money, not impressed, anodyne, completely insincere absolutely free of anything real, skating thinly over 13 years in 2 popular TV shows - the high quality of catering on Parenthood passes as an anecdote, we hear almost nothing about how her relationship developed with Peter Krause or her friendships with Alexis Bledel and Mae Whitman. There's even next to nothing about her childhood, her mother left her at a young age, but there's nothing about how that effected her, or how she rebuilt that relationship later.
A long section is devoted to her rewatching 7 seasons of Gilmore Girls and saying which bits she likes best. NO behind the scenes insights or even stories. Everyone who she has ever met is wonderful. Flannel.

There's literally nothing personal in this book, no revelations, and it feels like someone blabbering small talk at you out of politeness for an hour.

Massively disappointed. Waste of money.

SatsukiKusakabe · 06/12/2016 20:48

joyless I may have to name change...

I listened to the Zadie Smith podcast vanderly and enjoyed it a lot, I hadn't been going to get her new book as, though I like her as an academic writer, I haven't really gelled with her fiction, but I think I'll keep an eye out for Swing Time now. I love the old 1930s Astaire movies and thought she had some interesting insights on how people can identify with a culture and a time that is not their own, and even feel a nostalgia for it. She is very much known for writing about her specific area of London, I wondered, listening to this, how much she really identifies herself with it, or whether she feels herself like the narrator of Swing Time, an "eye" that takes it all in, but is actually searching for meaning elsewhere, outside her own experiences and geography.

everysongbird Do you think it was just churned out as promotional material for the new Netflix episodes of GG? Sounds like a marketing exercise. How disappointing.

SatsukiKusakabe · 06/12/2016 20:50

Also, would really recommend the Penguin podcasts - I've just stumbled across them - lots of writers on there. I don't really listen to audiobooks, but found this quite good to have on while doing other things. A good accompaniment to wrapping, I would think Smile

RemusLupinsBiggestGroupie · 06/12/2016 20:51

Cote - I can't wait to read your review of The Fifth Heart.

EverySongbirdSays · 06/12/2016 20:55

Very much a marketing exercise Satsuki if it was any more sanitized and surface it would have been Dettol. I feel conned Sad and it has made me infinitely less likely to read her novel.

SatsukiKusakabe · 06/12/2016 21:13

I'm so glad I didn't get The Fifth Heart Grin

Yy prob one to skip, everysongbird

CoteDAzur · 07/12/2016 09:19

I'm tempted to start posting reviews on Amazon just to trash this book and warn unsuspecting readers. It's not the worst book I've ever read (not likely anyone will take that particular crown from John Dies In The End, tbh) but it's pretty damn close.

bibliomania · 07/12/2016 09:47

120. A brief history of everyone who ever lived : the stories in our genes by Adam Rutherford

Great fun - one of the most enjoyable books I've read this year. What genes tell us about ourselves - from mating with Neanderthals and Denisovans, to inbreeding amongst the Habsburgs, racism, the history of Iceland and many another byway. Eye-opening (I didn't realise humans had fewer genes than a banana), enthusiastic, and full of jokes and stories. And for those scorning my recent reading, he pauses to deliver a quick kick in the pants to Oliver James. Highly recommended.

SatsukiKusakabe · 07/12/2016 11:31

I too enjoy your negative reviews cote as long as it's not a book I happen to like

LookingForMe · 07/12/2016 11:47
  1. Eileen by Ottessa Moshfegh - 2nd in my Booker shortlist reading. This is set in 1960s New England and tells the story of a young woman whose life pretty much only consists of living with her alcoholic father and her job in a boys' prison. It's quite dark and the cover acknowledges that it's in the Shirley Jackson tradition. If you don't like that type of thing, you definitely won't like this. I quite enjoyed it, although thought the ending was a bit of a cop-out in a way.

I'd love to hit 75 this year but I don't think it's going to happen. Ah well. Am currently reading The Angel's Game by Carlos Ruiz Zafon - the sequel to The Shadow of the Wind - and loving it. I don't know how I've only discovered him this year.

Tanaqui · 07/12/2016 13:16
  1. Blood Line by Lynda La Plante. I was disappointed in this- I remember La Plante as a competent detective story writer, but the prose in this was leaden, the dialogue totally stilted and unbelievable, and the characterisation poor. Don't bother with it!
Stokey · 07/12/2016 13:52

I've just got Eileen out from the library Lookingforme

I really enjoyed We Have Always Lived in The Castle so look forward to trying it.

  1. Occupy Me - Tricia Sullivan. Bonkers sci-fi reviewed by Museumofham a couple of pages back. It features an anel, a weird briefcase that has a hole to another dimension inside it, a pterosaurus, oil and Scotland. I'm not sure I completely understood it but did enjoy it, I'd recommend it.

Those of you who have read North Water and His Bloody Project - do you think either is a suitable Christmas present for a 70 year old man? He is Scottish so I think he'd be quite interested int the crofter bit of HBP, but was also a vet so my enjoy North Water but worried it's too visceral sweary

Stokey · 07/12/2016 13:53

*angel not anel Blush

Ladydepp · 07/12/2016 17:25
  1. Missing, Presumed by Susie Steiner - I think I got this as a free ebook with a newspaper subscription. Young woman goes missing, police investigate. DS Manon had sad childhood, can't find a man and her flat is very messy - the usual. It all started out very promisingly, the writing is pretty good and the ending was a bit of a surprise. I think the author is talented but needs to find her own voice and spend less time analysing her characters. I liked it about a million times better than Girl on a Train, which I loathed.
alteredimages · 07/12/2016 17:47

I think The North Water would make a fine Christmas present Stokey so long as he isn't especially squeamish or delicate. If he is from the North East or Angus he might quite like the whaling aspect too. Even though it wasn't set there, the writing gave off a no nonsense North East vibe at times. What kind of books does he usually read?

I am just off to start His Bloody Project now so will let you know once I have read it!

Ladydepp · 07/12/2016 17:59

Joyless - I have had Slade House on my TBR shelf for ages and completely forgot about it, thanks for the reminder!

I am currently reading a collection of Christmas murder mysteries called Murder under the Christmas tree which is good fun so far (although first one is a theft, not a murder...)

I'm not sure why Christmas and murder go together so well but they just do somehow Grin

RemusLupinsBiggestGroupie · 07/12/2016 19:25

Bloody Project probably fine, unless he's squeamish about sex (just one particularly horrible image, if my memory serves).

PhoenixRisingSlowly · 07/12/2016 19:56

Just popping back in to say that I have finally, FINALLY finished All The Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr. Good God it took me a long time to finish. And okay I've had loads on, but still. I think the short, constantly interrupted nature of the flow of storytelling because of switching back and forth between characters made it a really disjointed read for me. But I loved the last bits of the book and felt it ended very satisfyingly, so overall I did love it. I was perhaps not able to sit down and really get into it at any point, but I'd still recommend it!

I'm now starting Exposure by Helen Dunmore which I don't like so far but we shall see. I shall go back and read the thread/s I have missed when I get a sec.

MuseumOfHam · 07/12/2016 22:09

Stokey I'm in agreement with you on Occupy Me - I really enjoyed it. I read Shadowboxer by her earlier this year, which is more aimed at a YA audience, and has a more, er, graspable narrative, but also its fair share of bonkers moments, a kind of bonkers SF lite. I enjoyed that a lot too.

Tarahumara · 08/12/2016 06:38
  1. A Constellation of Vital Phenomena by Anthony Marra. Set in Chechnya in 2003 during the second war with Russia, this is a story of love, humanity and betrayal. It's the story of surgeon Sonja and her sister Natasha, 8-year-old Havaa and her father Dokka, informer Ramzan and his father Khassan, and their friend Akhmed. Beautifully written, achingly sad but suffused with humour and hope, this is a simply incredible book. Highly recommended, especially for those of you who enjoy wartime fiction.
CoteDAzur · 08/12/2016 06:58

"Bonkers sci-fi" Grin

RemusLupinsBiggestGroupie · 08/12/2016 20:09

Book 125
Nod by Adrian Barnes
Post-apocalyptic and pretty trashy, although with a slightly higher level of vocabulary than complete schlock. Overnight, most of the people in Vancouver discover they can no longer sleep. Craziness sets in quickly and the few who can still visit the land of Nod every night soon find themselves in terrible danger. This was okay – mildly diverting nonsense. It was a quick read and I quite enjoyed it in the moment, but probably wouldn’t read any more by this writer.