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.

That's a very good question, Stitches. I've certainly read fanfic I'd say had more literary merit than most some of the Jane Austen sequels that get published. Perhaps all one can say is that if the author considers it fanfic and publishes it somewhere like AO3, then it must be fanfic?

I do like a bit of fanfic myself on occasion - so I guess Cote I can answer the 'why read it' from my viewpoint. The main reason is that it's freely available (so I can read a chapter or so & see what I think) and often better in quality than a lot of published light fiction. It's generally the literary equivalent of zoning out with an episode of Bake Off or the like.

Stephen King's book Full Dark No Stars is 99p on the Kindle. Do I want to read it?

Sorry to be responding so late, but I fully agree with Sadik. I too read fanfic from time to time for the same reasons, and I too find that some of the work is really decent.

I have more to say regarding Stitches' question, but I don't want to derail this thread; I'm happy to start a fanfic thread is there's interest.

No insight on the King, Cote. Did you end up getting it?

30. One Small Act of Kindness, Lucy Dillon - adequate chick lit book, slightly lacking in the promised twist. Doesn't live up to the amazon reviews, but inoffensive enough to finish. Fine for a holiday read.

67. Bonjour Tristesse by Francoise Sagan. Reviewed in the earlier threads, but in brief short, sad, very French, a fantastic achievement by a teenager.

I sometimes read fanfic- it allows you to recast and replay stories- it ties into the oral tradition of folk tales and retellings- look at the different versions of Cinderella. Some is very good; most is awful!

46.The Three-Body Problem - Cixin Liu
47.The Dark Forest - Cixin Liu
48. Death's End - Cixin Liu

Loved these books so much. I'm not a huge reader of sci-fi but this series was epic in scope and included so many interesting ideas as to the development of human society. There was a lot of speculation of a scientific and philosophical nature which I enjoyed immensely.

Would highly recommend even if you're not a usual science fiction reader. The first in the series was a bit slow going but the next two were brilliant.

I'm really unsure what to read next as I'm not sure what is going to be able to follow this...

Yay boldly! Come over to the Death's End thread

101 The Shifts and the Shocks: What we've learnt - and have still to learn - from the financial crisis, by Martin Wolf

A really excellent analysis of the macroeconomic conditions that led to the financial crisis, and of the economic and political fallout, written by the FT's chief economics commentator. I can't recommend this highly enough - it is clear, well written, and not shy of suggesting radical changes to our economic system. Published in 2014, so pre-Brexit and of course pre-Trump, but an extremely apt read right now, as we're in the throes of the political fallout from the economic crisis.

While I suspect my politics are much closer to Paul Mason's than those of Martin Wolf this is a vastly more useful book than Postcapitalism.

I've just bought The Shifts and the Shocks - thanks Sadik.

I hope you like it, Tarahumana

I am reading horribly little due to on-going family stuff. I seem to be in the middle of a number of books, none of which are getting finished. Tellingly, they are all actual books, rather than on my kindle. I'm doing a lot of reading at night when the bloke is asleep and I'm not, which can only be done on the kindle.

Since I last updated, I have read:

Book 64: Hot Money by Dick Francis - another comfort re-read. I miss having a new DF to read each year.
Book 65: Murder in Absentia by Assaph Mehr. A writer I "met" via twitter. Based in Rome - not modern-day, not historical - so able to merge much from both. Our central character, Felix the Fox, is clever but also smart. Inhabiting one world but having grown-up in another, he is able to move between both without causing ripples in order to investigate a death. The story is pacy and ended in sufficient of a twist not to have been telegraphed early. Witty.
Book 66: Orphan X by Gregg Hurwitz. Basic premise is that orphans are selected and then trained by the (US) government to be extraordinary killing machines. Our hero is told that the programme is being wound up and his handler gets killed, so he goes freelance. His personal method of selection is to pick the worst of the "bad guys". Pacy but ... a bit trite. I really preferred the humour and light touch of the previous book.
Book 67: The Trespasser by Tana French. I really like French's combination of police procedural and psychology. The central character is Antoinette - chippy, prickly, certain that everyone has it in for her, because of both her gender and her skin colour. A murder does gets solved, but the Squad is left badly marked. Good ending. Not my favourite of the series as the psychology was more of the sledgehammer variety.
Book 68: On a Snowy Night by Debbie Macomber - light-weight seasonal tat.

Ah crap, total bold fail ...

Will bring over the full list in a while.

Catching up with the thread. I'm afraid I zoned out during the discussion of fan0fic, which holds precisely zero interest for me. Sorry.

Cote - Full Dark No Stars a bit of a mixed bag, but deffo worth 99p.

Book 117
Dead Mountain by Connie Elchar
An investigation into the deaths of nine hikers in 1959, in Communist Russia, in what became known as the Dyatlov Pass incident after the lead hiker. The group of students failed to return after a high grade hike in poor weather conditions. When their bodies were found they’d all clearly left the tent in a rush, inadequately clothed for the low temperatures, but the usual suspects – avalanche, bear attack and so on, didn’t seem to fit. I really enjoyed this. I’m not convinced it manages to solve the mystery of how they died but it was an interesting read and the ideas were at least pretty fully considered.

71. The Cazalets by Elizabeth Jane Howard.

Pre War tale of a well to do family. Started off well with detail of the servants lives as well as the wealthy individuals but they seemed to be forgotten pretty quickly as it jumped about between various posh bods. Pretty zzzzzz in truth and I'm heavily distracted by the Westminstenders threads on here at the moment so have only been reading on the train or in bed late at night. In both cases it's made me nod off easily so it's taken me ages to read.

Thank goodness best thought I was the only one to be bored rigid by the cazalets

66 Le Testament Francais by Andrei Makine A young Russian boy is entertained by his grandmother with stories of her childhood in France. At the time the book starts she is living in a small town in the Russian steppes during the communist era. It is a meditation on what makes you a particular nationality. Good but I didn't like the last part of the book. I thought it last its way slightly. It does have echoes of My Antonia although it is a very different book. Whereas in My Antonia the narrator is looking back with affection and nostalgia in this book the past is full of the horrific events that normal people found themselves caught up with during the 20th century.

67 Elizabeth and her German Garden by Elizabeth Von Arnim A bit of light relief after the previous book. The narrator is a well off German woman and begins to create a garden at her country estate. Interesting insights into prevailing attitudes at the time the book was written. Funny but also found myself getting annoyed with her husband and his attitudes towards women.

49. The Weather Experiment - Peter Moore

A very readable account of the birth of meteorology focused particularly on the 18th and 19th centuries, and the efforts of pioneering scientists such as Beaufort and FitzRoy - I'd recommend it to fans of This Thing Of Darkness as interesting background reading.

65. Radio Girls by Sarah-Jane Stratford - Read for book group. This was a bit of a disappointing read as, on the face of it, the premise sounded quite interesting. It's the story of Maisie who starts work at the BBC in its early days in the mid-1920s and, although Maisie's fictional, several of the other characters aren't. Unfortunately, it just felt poorly executed - too much dialogue, unconvincing characters and character development and a sense that the author was trying to cram in as many 1920s issues as she possibly could.

I also gave up on the Cazalets, and it's the kind of thing I would expect to like. I do have the biography of the author lined up to read at some point, along with her own autobiography.

Cedar, I think von Arnim does amazing portrayals of oppressive husbands. She's best known for Enchanted April, but that's really not representative of her work. Most of it shows men crushing their wives' spirits, not through beatings or anything obvious, but by their rock-solid conviction about what a proper Frau should be and their inability to accept any individuality.

I already mentioned 111. The Dead House, Harry Bingham. I like this series, but I strongly disliked the revelation of the Bad Guys in this instalment. It hit a bum note for me.

Also read 112. Hound Dog Days: One Dog and his Man: a Story of North Country Life and Canine Contentment, by Harry Pearson Does what it says on the tin - gentle musings about how nice dogs are and how pleasant it is to live in the countryside and how amusing the neighbours are. It would make a nice bedtime book for someone who loves dogs. It's not going to keep you up till 2am, feverishly turning the pages.

Bibliomania - yes Von Arnim wrote very well about oppressive husbands. And it's quite sad to understand that this was semi-autobiographical and therefore the fact that she isn't actually allowed to do any of the gardening herself in case someone sees is based on her own experiences.

Have you read the Caravanners? That's told through the eyes of the husband who fails to realise how little everyone else on their trip likes him because he's pompous and oppressive. They all show great sympathy towards his wife whereas he thinks they should all be sympathetic to him.

I love the Caravanners! Technically, I think it's a real accomplishment to use such an obtuse narrator to show the readers what he can't himself see.

Ah Cedar, my mum has been trying to get me to read Makine for a while now. There was one she read a couple of months ago, not the one you have just read but a different one, which she said was one of the best books she'd ever read. I will ask her which one it was. I had never heard of Makine until very recently so it's interesting that you've read one.

Whippetwoman I'd not heard of him either! It was someone's suggestion at the book group I go to. They had read 'The Life of an Unknown Man' and said it was good so we picked 'Le Testament Francais'

Bibliomania some of the Caravanners is set near to where I grew up which made me smile. You're right that she portrays him very well. I particularly like the way he keeps telling his relatives and friends that it's their silver wedding anniversary in the hope that they'll give him presents of silver. When in fact he's been married twice and it's only adding up the two marriages that gets him to 25. He doesn't feel he should miss out on silver gifts because his first wife died. You can just imagine everyone rolling their eyes behind his back.

102 The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying by Marie Kondo, listened to as an audiobook.

I'm rather late to the party on this one, clearly. The audiobook was very well read, and pleasingly soothing.

While some of her ideas are a bit bonkers, I really like the take-home message that we should own fewer things & appreciate them more. I can see why it's been so successful.

My home is actually quite tidy to start with (especially since I recycled STBXH), now I just need to tackle the shed, garage and store-room . . .

I have just weakened while buying a Percy Jackson set as a christmas gift from the Book People (anyone with small DC, there's a set of the first 5 books for £6.99 atm) and bought the latest Cassandra Clare book, Lady Midnight

I'm definitely more embarrassed by my love of CC than by my fondness for a bit of fanfic