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.

Hmmm. Never going to trust you again on the Dan Simmons front, Cote.

I'm no use on Dickens - can't stand him.

Remus, you're breaking my heart

I did agree with you on The Fifth Heart, didn't I? It was indeed crapola. This one really isn't.

I really think he has had a lobotomy. This is one of his earlier novels and is very good.

Drood was stupid as well though. And I hated his introduction to Carrion Comfort to the extent that I didn't want to try the book at all. I think he's joined the list of 'Writers who Remus has dismissed from her life forever' I'm afraid.

Can you not download the first chapter of Song of Kali for free on the Kindle and see how you get along with that? I really think you could find it interesting.

58. A Vision of Fire by Gillian Anderson and Jeff Rovin

Following the attempted assassination of her father, teenager Maanik starts to have violent visions, and child psychologist Caitlin is called in to try and treat her. Caitlin finds out about other young people suffering similar visions. She eventually concludes that the troubled youngsters are fighting possession by traumatised souls, who are stuck in a sort of limbo, still trying to "ascend", following the long ago cataclysmic destruction of their civilisation, and tries to find a way to stop the long dead souls from possessing present day people.

This is book 1 of at least 3, but it reads well enough as a stand alone novel. Entertaining enough, although Caitlin did seem to defuse the threat very easily in the end, but I don't think I'll be in any particular hurry to read the next installment.

You can't tempt me, Cote. Dan Simmons will never darken my Kindle again.

Book 131
The Secrets of Wishtide by Kate Saunders
By the writer of Five Children on the Western front which I enjoyed. Unfortunately, I didn’t enjoy this one. It ought to have been right up my street – a lady detective, in a big house, in Victorian England. Unfortunately it was all terribly middle class, middle aged and middle England – our heroine gains the trust of pretty much everybody purely through the pouring out of tea and sympathy. I found the narrative voice irritating, and some of the prose was very clunky (another writer guilty of the piling on of useless adjectives) and irritatingly self-conscious too. It also had far too much of a Kate Atkinson-esque use of coincidence about the whole thing. Trite and annoying.

Oh yes I can. Go on. You know you want to

107. A Symphony of Echoes by Jodi Taylor

I thought a bit of a lightweight read would be in order since I've been concentrating on history and politics. The historians of St Mary's have to deal with issues in their own future, as well as resolving an anomaly in the past. Trips to the Victorian London, the Hanging Gardens, and the court of Mary, Queen of Scots are in the offing.

Inspired by others on this thread, I think this evening I will curl up with a large hot chocolate and start on a re-read of The Dark is Rising.

Happy Christmas all What books did everyone recieve today? I didn't get any but I did get Waterstones vouchers.

I got a new Kindle! 3G paper-white. Over the moon with it.

I also got a detective book set in the Cotswolds, some old Bill Brysons (I've already got them but the thought was there) and Pevsner on Herefordshire. (I have a thing about old guide books and maps)

Happy Christmas all.

No new books for me, but the kids have all received Waterstones vouchers, so we'll be having a family trip out there to select books before too long.

Happy Christmas all

Merry Christmas everybody. Here's our family's book gifts.

My dh gave me a tea cake stand thingy it's quite nice really. Was a bit bemused he knew such a thing even existed!!!

People rarely give me books. Possibly they are afraid

remus you got your festive corpse book

I also got a paper white, I have not had a chance to take it out yet, too busy with turkey and Lego etc but very excited. I am to download Lonesome Dove on it according to dh who couldn't find it in paperback.

Also got David Mitchell Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet.

Merry Christmas 50 bookers

Hurray for festive corpse books! I may be even more excited about the Grayson Perry though, which dp's mate bought him.

I got Birth of a theorem by Cedric Villani. Looks right up my street.

Happy Christmas everyone! I too got a Paperwhite, very pleased because my old Kindle Fire is painfully slow. No books but £30 of Amazon vouchers so looking forward to stocking it up with a few good reads to kick off the 2017 challenge

I got "Seven Brief Lessons in Physics" by Carlo Rovelli.
It sounds like it's aimed at people with no science background (haven't had a chance to start it yet), but after not cracking open a physics textbook for 25 years am using DS as an excuse/reason to start again now. (I ended up with a CS degree instead of physics, always wanted to go back and do physics.)

Happy Christmas!

Cote, I really enjoyed Daryl Gregory's "We are all completely fine" (a novella), and the prequel/sequel Harrison Squared (which is YA).

73)closed Casket by Sophie Hannah. I had read a Hannah book before and not thought much of it, but I saw her in that Andrew Marr BBC4 thing on genre fiction, and thought she came over well- this is an Hercule Poirot story, and it's not bad- the plot is fine but some of the characterisation isn't great. A good holiday read though.

Merry Christmas all!

I got DH the Seven Brief Lessons in Physics for his birthday but he wasn't too impressed (he's got A Level physics but hasn't used it for the last 20 years).

I gave lots of books, but the only one I received this year was a cookery book! (Rick Stein.)

Happy Christmas everyone!

I got two new sci-fi books, Crashing Heaven and Rebel of the Sands, and a copy of the Dung Beetle "We Go To The Gallery" book (the woman that Ladybird sued and then ripped off ) from an artist friend.

I'm very chuffed that DD got (from my Mum who reads the same reviews as me) a copy of The Thrilling Adventures of Lovelace and Babbage - which I bought for a friends dc and then had to struggle very hard not to read before wrapping.

She also got the second Small Angry Planet book, vanished into it for most of the day, and only re-appeared in time for Doctor Who, so will be able to swipe that one too. And a £20 book token and £40 Amazon voucher Older DC are a definite plus on the Christmas book front

Not Kindle (at least I don't think so) but Verso books have 90% off all of their e-books until January the 1st.
(Buying 8 ebooks at £1.50 each is a bargain, right . . . not at all like buying 1 book for £12 . . . at least, that's what I'm telling myself )

Hey spoke too soon, my db gave me The Life Project by Helen Pearson about the cohort studies in Britain. Think someone read it during the year, looks good...