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.

I just absent-mindedly typed 'a bit of cox' into Amazon to search for the Solar System book. I need more sleep.

Remus - I didn't realise you'd enjoyed Burial Rites, I am truly surprised. First book by a female author - how did that happen?

Ooh shiny new thread

ladydepp - I know! Cote is the one who objects to first novels, not me. But yes - female writer, female protagonist, emotions and all! It ticks all of my boxes otherwise though - murder, blood, historical setting in a specific time period (somewhere between about 1800 and 1945, essentially!), landscapes, bits of 'stuff' (eg letters etc) rather than straight narrative.

I wouldn't have read it all except that it was recommended by somebody I can generally trust, and I really enjoyed it. It was an easy read, but with enough 'meat' to hold my attention.

Haha yes, 1st book by a female author. Recipe for disaster

Anyhooo, bringing my list over:

54. Death's End (The Three-Body Problem #3) by Liu Cixin
55. Make Me by Lee Child (Jack Reacher #20)
56. The Revenant by Michael Punke
57. Morning Star (Red Rising # 3) by Pierce Brown
58. Buried Secrets (Nick Heller #2) by Joseph Finder
59. Company Man by Joseph Finder
60. Vanished (Nick Heller #1) by Joseph Finder
61. The Holy Thief by William Ryan
62. Time by Stephen Baxter (Manifold #1)
63. The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest (Millennium Trilogy #3) by Stieg Larsson
64. The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat and Other Clinical Tales by Oliver Sacks
65. One Shot (Jack Reacher #9) by Lee Child
66. HHhH by Laurent Binet
67. The Epigenetics Revolution: How Modern Biology is Rewriting our Understanding of Genetics, Disease and Inheritance by Nessa Carey
68. The Girl Who Played With Fire by Stieg Larsson
69. Guilty Minds by Joseph Finder
70. Nightfall by Isaac Asimov & Robert Silverberg
71. High-Opp by Frank Herbert
72. Under The Dome by Stephen King
73. The City & The City by China Mieville
74. Treatise On Harmony by Jean-Philippe Rameau
75. Echo Burning by Lee Child
76. Spy the Lie: Three Former CIA Officers Reveal Their Secrets to Uncloaking Deception by Philip Houston, Mike Floyd, Susan Carnicero, Don Tennant, Michael Floyd
77. The Flicker Men by Ted Kosmatka
78. Total Recall by Arnold Schwarzenegger
79. Half Way Home by Hugh Howey
80. Dark Fire by C. J. Sansom (Shardlake #2)
81. Reaching Down The Rabbit Hole: Extraordinary Journeys Into The Human Brain by Dr Allan Ropper
82. The Dark Forest by Cixin Liu (The Three-Body Problem #2)
83. Daughter of the Winds by Jo Bunt
84. Career of Evil by Robert Galbraith
85. The Girl In The Spider's Web by David Lagercrantz
86. Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov
87. The Year of Living Danishly: Uncovering the Secrets of the World’s Happiest Country by Helen Russell
88. Seveneves by Neal Stephenson
89. Lord Of The Flies - William Golding
90. Mother Of Eden by Chris Beckett (Dark Eden #2)
91. The Reluctant Fundamentalist by Mohsin Hamid
92. The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson
93. The Time Machine by H G Wells
94. The Knife Of Never Letting Go by Patrick Ness
95. Hot Zone - The Chilling True Story of an Ebola Outbreak by Richard Preston
96. Dissolution by C. S. Sansom
97. Limitless (The Dark Fields) by Alan Glynn
98. High Heat by Lee Child

1. Authority by Jeff VanderMeer8. Rivers Of London by Ben Aaronovitch
2. Dreamland: Adventures in the Strange Science of Sleep by David K. Randall
3. Ancillary Justice by Ann Beckie
4. Written In Fire by Marcus Sakey
5. The Psychopath Inside: A Neuroscientist's Personal Journey into the Dark Side of the Brain by James Fallon
6. The Day Of The Triffids by John Wyndham
7. Wolves by Simon Ings
8. Black Swan Green by David Mitchell

My list, highlights in bold, lowlights in italics:

1. Behind the Scenes at the Museum, Kate Atkinson
2. The Moonstone, Wilkie Collins

1. Gilead, Marilynne Robinson
2. Skellig, David Almond
3. Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Roald Dahl
4. The Exclusives, Rebecca Thornton
5. The Day of The Triffids, John Wyndham
6. 2001: A Space Odyssey, Arthur C. Clarke
7. A God in Ruins, Kate Atkinson

10. True Grit, Charles Portis 11. The Goldfinch, Donna Tartt 12. Cloud Atlas, David Mitchell 13. The Railway Man, Eric Lomax 14. The Narrow Road to the Deep North, Richard Flanagan 15. A Tale for the Time Being, Ruth Ozeki 16. Strange Weather in Tokyo, Hiromi Kawakami 17. The Nine Lives of Aristotle, Dick King-Smith 18. The Moving Toyshop, Edmund Crispin 19. Well Done, Secret Seven, Enid Blyton 20.The Uncommon Reader, Alan Bennett 21.Black Swan Green, David Mitchell 22. Daddy Long-Legs, Jean Webster 23.The Secret Seven Win Through, Enid Blyton 24.The Year of Living Danishly, Helen Russell 25.HHhH, Laurent Binet 26.Brooklyn, Colm Toibin 27.Where'd You Go Bernadette, Maria Semple 28. The Luminaries, Eleanor Catton 29 Bad Science, Ben Goldacre 30.Dear Enemy, Jean Webster Liked the story, hated the background theme 31. Persuasion, Jane Austen (reread) 32.Pride and Prejudice, Jane Austen (reread) 33.A Visit From the Goon Squad, Jennifer Egan 34. War and Peace, Leo Tolstoy 35.A Town Like Alice, Neville Shute 36. Dark Fire, C,J Sansom 37.Secret Seven Mystery, Enid Blyton 38.State of Wonder, Anne Patchett 39. Postcards from the Edge, Carrie Fisher 40. Secret Seven on the Trail, Enid Blyton 41.Ender's Game, Orson Scott Card 42. The Epigenetics Revolution, Nessa Carey 43. Go Ahead, Secret Seven, Enid Blyton 44. The Pedant in the Kitchen, Julian Barnes 45. The Art of Fielding 46. Hotel Du Lac 47.Sovereign 48. Good Work Secret Seven 49. Olive Kitteridge 50. Brideshead Revisited 51. On Writing 52. George's Marvellous Medicine 53. The Noise of Time 54. Slade House 55. The Revenant 56. James and The Giant Peach 57. American Wife 58. My Antonia reread 59. We Have Always Lived in the Castle 60. The Son 61. The Bell Jar reread 62. All Quiet on the Western Front

63. The Tenant of Wildfell Hall by Anne Bronte I enjoyed the story, and the subject was very interesting, particularly for the time, but it did lose its way at the halfway mark - the structure is a bit infelicitous; I like epistolary novels, but this was weak and I found the diary entries that made up the bulk of the latter half of the book to be a fairly relentless outpouring of the protagonist's thoughts and feelings, and the story was often neglected in deference to this. She writes with great intensity, but at times it was quite didactic, and the feelings and trials of the characters were never really elevated into something more universal. A good read nonetheless.

Looks like I need to give My Antonia some more time. Not feeling it at the moment though, so maybe one to save until the Christmas holidays?

Marking place. Will get my list together sometime. Have gone off The Cazalets a bit. 43% in.

My list for the year so far:

1. The Return of the Discontinued Man by Mark Hodder
2. The Invisible Library by Genevieve Cogman
3. The Masked City by Genevieve Cogman
4. The Inner Guide Meditation by Edwin C. Steinbrecher
5. Moriarty by Anthony Horowitz
6. Worlds of Arthur by Guy Halsall
7. Celtic Tree Magic by Danu Forest
8. Lawless and the Devil of Euston Square by William Sutton
9. Where Witchcraft Lives by Doreen Valiente

10. The Mangle Street Murders by MRC Kasasian 11. The Lost World by Arthur Conan Doyle 12. The Quest for the Wicker Man ed. various 13. Britain BC by Francis Pryor 14. Inquisition by Alfredo Colitto 15. Stonehenge by Mike Parker Pearson 16. Prince by Rory Clements 17. Ever After by Kim Harrison 18. Britain AD by Francis Pryor 19. The Undead Pool by Kim Harrison 20. The Witch With No Name by Kim Harrison 21. Johnson's Life of London by Boris Johnson 22. The Curse of the House of Foskett by MRC Kasasian 23. Traitor by Rory Clements 24. The Heretics by Rory Clements 25. A Cold Day for Murder by Dana Stabenow 26. Blood On Snow by Jo Nesbo 27. Make Me by Lee Child 28. Waterloo by Bernard Cornwell 29. Storm Front by Jim Butcher 30. Fool Moon by Jim Butcher 31. Grave Peril by Jim Butcher 32. The Girl in the Spider's Web by David Lagercrantz 33. Summer Knight by Jim Butcher 34. Death Masks by Jim Butcher 35. Blood Rites by Jim Butcher 36. Dead Beat by Jim Butcher 37. Burned by Benedict Jacka 38. Proven Guilty by Jim Butcher 39. White Night by Jim Butcher 40. Small Favour by Jim Butcher 41. The Hay Diet Made Easy by Jackie Habgood 42. Turn Coat by Jim Butcher 43. Changes by Jim Butcher 44. Ghost Story by Jim Butcher 45. Side Jobs by Jim Butcher 46. Cold Days by Jim Butcher 47. Skin Game by Jim Butcher 48. Boudica by Vanessa Collingridge 49. Runemarks by Joanne Harris 50. Friends of the Dusk by Phil Rickman 51. The Extraordinary Voyage of Pytheas the Greek by Barry Cunliffe 52. Great Britain? by Richard Abbot 53. The Loney by Andrew Michael Hurley 54. Uprooted by Naomi Novik 55. The Poison Belt by Arthur Conan Doyle 56. Beowulf 57. Ghosts of Karnack by George Mann 58. The Map That Changed the World by Simon Winchester 59. Beowulf: A Translation and Commentary by JRR Tolkien 60. The Ruby in the Smoke by Philip Pullman 61. The Long Cosmos by Terry Pratchett and Stephen Baxter 62. A Game of Thrones by George RR Martin 63. Splinter the Silence by Val McDermid 64. Death Descends on Saturn Villa by MRC Kasasian 65. Temeraire by Naomi Novik 66. What's Left? by Nick Cohen 67. The Miracle Morning by Hal Elrod 68. Just One Damned Thing After Another by Jodi Taylor 69. In the Land of Giants by Max Adams 70. SPQR by Mary Beard 71. Feel The Fear and Do It Anyway by Susan Jeffers 72. The Gospel of Loki by Joanne Harris 73. State of Wonder by Ann Patchett 74. Harry Potter and the Cursed Child by Jack Thorne 75. The Other Boleyn Girl by Philippa Gregory 76. The New Watch by Sergei Lukyanenko 77. A Clash of Kings by George RR Martin 78. Quiet Impact by Sylvia Loehken 79. The Witch's Vacuum Cleaner by Terry Pratchett 80. Throne of Jade by Naomi Novik 81. Curfew by Phil Rickman 82. How To Do Everything and Be Happy by Peter Jones 83. The Lies of Locke Lamora by Scott Lynch 84. Kraken by China Mieville 85. Time to Think by Nancy Kline 86. A Storm of Swords 1: Steel and Snow by George RR Martin 87. The Celtic Revolution by Simon Young 88. Orkneyinga Saga 89. Persian Fire by Tom Holland 90. Small Move, Big Change by Caroline L Arnold 91. A Storm of Swords 2: Blood and Gold by George RR Martin 92. A Feast for Crows by George RR Martin 93. Get Things Done by Robert Kelsey 94. Numero Zero by Umberto Eco 95. Britain Begins by Barry Cunliffe

And today I finished:
96. A Dance with Dragons 1: Dreams and Dust by George RR Martin

This one is contiguous with A Feast for Crows but rather than the events around King's Landing it focuses on Jon Snow and events at the Wall, Theon Greyjoy being tortured physically and psychologically as 'Reek', servant of Ramsey Bolton, Tyron Lannister as he travels into unfamiliar territory to meet Daenarys Stormborn, who finds herself surrounded by enemies and her people under attack. One more published novel in the series to go, then I will be joining many others in hoping George RR Martin gets on with it and finishes the next book.

Do I mean contiguous? Concurrent, possibly.

Wil add my full list in a couple of weeks as I'm nearly at 50!

Have just finished 47- The Dark Forest by Cixin Liu and have downloaded Death's End. Loved The Dark Forest - so many interesting ideas to explore. It started a bit slowly for me but that was mainly me trying to get my head round who was who. Once it all clicked, I could not put this down!

Yay, go boldly! Join us asap on the Death's End thread.

ChillieJeanie

I've never in my life heard of Jim Butcher - HOW MANY books as he written? What's he all about?

EverySongbirdSays That was his Dresden Files series which I felt like re-reading since it has been ages since a new one came out. Harry Dresden is a wizard, living in Chicago and working as a private investigator. He is also hired as a consultant by the police to assist with the weirder crime scenes that they encounter. There are inevitably vampires (the Red, White, and Black Courts), werewolves (of various types), fairies, demons, and he has trouble from other wizards as well. They regard him with suspicion because he was apprenticed to a dark wizard, who he eventually killed, in his youth so the Wardens of the White Council keep a very close eye on him and his own personal probation officer would like any excuse to cut his head off. As the series progresses you get the development of the politics side of it - a war between the Red Court of vampires and the White Council that Dresden inadvertantly starts, for example, but also the awareness of some other group at play amongst the wizards.

Butcher has also written a more traditional fantasy series, Codex Alera, and has started a steampunk series called Cinder Spires, but I haven't read any of those.

John Le Carre's Spy who came in from the cold currently 1.99 on Kindle

That's sounds so much like Rivers Of London (The Folly Series by Ben Aaronovich ) Chilli the series is quite hit and miss but I thought it was an original idea, obviously not.

The British series that is really closest is Benedict Jacka - right down to the main character having killed his evil master. Butcher is the better of the two, but Jacka's books are okay as well.

97. Designing Your Life by Bill Burnett and Dave Evans

This is the book of the course the pair teach at Stanford, and it's centred on using design principles to help get you to the sort of life you want to live. I would say its main focus is to do with your working life as opposed to any other elements. It's interesting, and I might try out some of the ideas to see how well it helps with gaining clarity on a direction, but I do have the feeling that it's possibly something that works better in a course because it does rely in parts on you having a team of people to work with and I can't really imagine asking 2 to 5 friends to join in as a discussion group on any ideas I might generate in any of the exercises.

Here's my updated list. Third attempt at posting so not fiddling around trying to highlight favourites etc, just getting it down before it disappears again.

1. The Road to Little Dribbling - Bill Bryson
2. The Exploits of Moominpappa - Tove Jansson
3. The Blackhouse - Peter May
4. Overcoming Chronic Fatigue - A Self Help Guide using CBT - Mary Burgess/Trudie Chalder
5. Disclaimer - Renee Knight
6. The Time Traveller's Guide to Medieval England - Ian Mortimer

6.5 The Tales of Max Carrados - Ernest Bramah

1. Sweet Caress - William Boyd
2. Coraline - Neil Gaiman
3. The Life Changing Magic of Tidying - Marie Kondo

10. Northern Lights - Philip Pullman 11. Grandpa's Great Escape - David Walliams 11.5 Mrs Zant and the Ghost - Wilkie Collins 12. Mystery in White - J Jefferson Farjeon 13. Wolf Hall - Hilary Mantel 14. Matilda - Roald Dahl 15. Call The Midwife - Jennifer Worth 16. Shadows of the Workhouse - Jennifer Worth 17. Farewell to the East End - Jennifer Worth 18. Billionnaire Boy - David Walliams 19. The Year of Living Dangerously - Helen Russell 20. Tricky Twenty-Two - Janet Evanovich 21. The Examined Life - Stephen Grosz 22. My Life in Houses - Margaret Forster 23. The Road - Cormac McCarthy 24. The Life and Times of the Thunderbolt Kid - Bill Bryson 25. Amelia Jane Again! - Enid Blyton 26. Bring Up the Bodies - Hilary Mantel 27. Spectacles - Sue Perkins 28. Reasons to Stay Alive - Matt Haig 29. Five on a Treasure Island - Enid Blyton 30. Heartstone - C J Sansom 31. Lamentation - C J Sansom 32 The Year of Marvellous Ways - Sarah Winman 33. The Bolds to the Rescue - Julian Clary 34. Engleby - Sebastian Faulks 35. Overcoming Your Child's Fears and Worries - Cathy Cresswell & Lucy Willetts 36. The Uncommon Reader - Alan Bennett 37. Company of Liars - Karen Maitland 38. A Very British Murder - Lucy Worsley 39 The Woman Who Went to Bed for a Year - Sue Townsend 40. Shakespeare - Bill Bryson 41. The Tent, The Bucket and Me - Emma Kennedy 42. The Wizard of Oz - L Frank Baum 43. Restless - William Boyd 44. A History of Loneliness - John Boyne 45. Just One Damned Thing After Another - Jodi Taylor 46. The Farm - Tom Rob Smith 47. Shop Girl - Mary Portas 48. The James Version - Ruth Dugdall 49. Six Tudor Queens: Katherine of Aragon, the True Queen - Alison Weir 50. The Universe versus Alex Woods - Gavin Extence 51. The Light Years - Elizabeth Jane Howard 52. HHhH - Laurent Binet 53. Grief is The Thing With Feathers - Max Porter 54. Marking Time - Elizabeth Jane Howard 55. One - Sarah Crossan 56. Where My Heart Used To Beat - Sebastian Faulks 57. Go Set A Watchman - Harper Lee 58. Forensics - Val McDermid 59. Confusion - Elizabeth Jane Howard 60. Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone - J K Rowling 61. The Swimming Pool Library - Alan Hollinghurst 62. The Lemon Grove - Helen Walsh 63. Never Mind - Edward St Aubyn 64. In Plain Sight: The Life and Lies of Jimmy Savile - Dan Davies 65. Bad News - Edward St Aubyn 66. Some Hope - Edward St Aubyn 67. Common Ground - Rob Cowen 68. Casting Off - Elizabeth Jane Howard 69. Somewhere Towards The End - Diana Athill 70. The Outrun by Amy Liptrot 71. The Parent Agency by David Baddiel 72. All Change by Elizabeth Jane Howard 73. Nutshell by Ian McEwan 74. The Trouble With Goats and Sheep by Joanna Cannon 75. Tennison by Lynda La Plants 76. The Fish Ladder by Katherine Norbury 77. The Lie Tree by Frances Hardinge 78. The Abominables by Eva Ibbotson 79. 11.22.63 by Stephen King 80. To Wee Or Not To Wee by Pamela Butchart 81. Siblings Without Rivalry by Adele Faber and Elaine Mazlish 82. Our Souls at Night by Kent Haruf 83. Diary of a Provincial Lady by E M Deerfield 84. Life Class by Pat Barker 85. We Have Always Lived in the Castle by Shirley Jackson 86. The Loney by Andrew Michael Hurley 87. The Vanishing Game by William Boyd 88. Meercat Madness - Flying High by Ian Whybrow 89. Dark Matter by Michelle Paver 90. Toby's Room by Pat Barker

Book 19 should be The Year of Living Danishly not Dangerously. There's no particular danger in Denmark :o

48. 22.11.63 - Stephen King

Much recommended on these threads, so I won't go into too much detail but I really loved this book, in which a high school teacher discovers a portal into the 1950s and tries to prevent the Kennedy assassination. It's a long book but didn't feel like it as the storyline rattled along at a good pace.

If I enjoyed this, which other King books should I try? Loved the Dark Tower, thought The Stand was hit and miss...

I haven't read that particular SK book but I've read most others.

My recommendations would be:

Firestarter
The Dead Zone
Duma Key
The Shining
Carrie
The Green Mile

Meg

Cote and I disagree on Duma Key. I think it's one of his worst (although not the worst - that title goes to Needful Things and then Pet Sematary).

I'd say:
The Green Mile
The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon
Misery
Bag of Bones

None of these are classic 'horror'.

Book 116
The True History of the Elephant Man by Michael Howell and Peter Ford
Read this back in around 92-ish and liked it. Unfortunately, this time around it made me really cross. It’s exactly what it claims to be – an account of Joseph Merrick (not John, as is popularly supposed), the so-called ‘Elephant Man’ in the nineteenth century.

So far, so Remus.

Unfortunately it’s let down badly by the fact that much of it is really shameful padding, in order to try to make it book length – so pages of unnecessary nonsense about Leicester (where he was born), back story on Tom Norman who showed him as an exhibit etc. A shame as the actual story of Merrick is both fascinating and v sad.

I like Misery and his short stories. I'm looking forward to 22.11.63 if I can squeeze it in before the end of the year.

I hated Misery. Really stupid and pointless, although SK's talent makes it bearable. Just.

Needful Things was indeed awful. It's funny how Remus & I almost never agree on books we like but we overlap quite often on books we dislike