50 Book Challenge 2017 Part One

[southeastdweller]

Welcome to the first thread of the 50 Book Challenge for this year.

The challenge is to read fifty books (or more!) in 2017, 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.

Who's in for this year?

I'm in. Got a long to read list on my kindle. I used to have my nose in a book all the time but since having my children I often don't have the energy/brain power and choose to veg in front of Netflix on my down time instead. Would rather read though so need to force myself back into it.

I currently have Nothing Lasts Forever by Roderick Thorp (the book Die Hard is based on), Deschooling Gently by Ivan Illich, Siblings Without Rivalry by Adele Faber and Anna Karenina on the go, so should probably start by finishing them!

Book 5 Trainspotting by Irvine Welsh. A reread, and as good as ever.
Currently also reading a book of short horror stories which is a mixed bag, but just fancied something light after the road

the handmaid's tale has been on my 'to read' list forever, I must get round to it this year.

Atwood : The ones I have read are as follows

Handmaid's Tale was on my A Level syllabus, still my favourite of hers. Basically what the consequences of the rise of the religious right and erosion of womens reproductive rights would look like, the thing with this and

Oryx and Crake is that both are visions of the future that feel like they could foreseeable happen and that's what makes them both a bit shit yourself, I still feel disturbed by some of the content of Oryx many years later and I've never read the follow ups.

Surfacing Very 70s Feminism novel. You will be shocked and amazed at this womans non conformity Dated.

Blind Assassin - a writer, her sister and a novel within a novel. Very good.

Alias Grace A work based on a true story about a murderess, heavy going in parts but good

The Penelopiad from The Canongate Myths, has a recurring Greek Chorus who were rather irritating as I recall.

They are the ones I've read.

Thank you for your thoughts on Atwood.

I have read surfacing I think (maybe 20 years ago) and the edible woman.

Alias grace sounds good as does oryx and crake.

I have been given another week off work thanks to infectious diseases so I may get more reading done.

I think Surfacing does show the author she goes on to become in the future, but she's not there yet.

Surfacing is also worthwhile as a piece of CanLit, if you have any such interest.

I loved The Edible Woman, Handmaid's Tale etc in my late teens/20s, but haven't got on with her later books. I think she suffers from the 'I'm not a SF writer, I'm a serious author' syndrome somewhat.

Sorry, that refers to Oryx & Crake etc, obviously many of her books aren't SF at all.

You might get on with Alias Grace or Blind Assassin from that view Sadik

Heart Goes Last definitely underwhelming for me

Adore Miss Pettigrew. It's a chicken soup/comfort food/duvet and hot chocolate/bubble bath of a book.

Currently re-reading American Gods but it seems Gaiman's initial version had been heavily culled by his editor/publisher and that the version I'm reading now is as he 'originally intended' - translation: ridiculously bloated.

Well I tried. I really tried with Gilead....I breathed through it and tried to find a connection and debated whether it was good for my soul (yoga is my other new year resolution!)
In the end I just haven't been able to finish it - and I find it very sad. Sad that I would never have read Lila which I loved - if I had read this first in the 'proper' series order. Sad too that I think its a good premise with big themes and ideas that in principle I love - in particular the connection with our natural world and the idea of being connected through the heritage of generations....but in the end it was just....boring.

I have a day off tomorrow and time to read - need a real page turner and something to get me going again!

Breakfast at Tiffany's is on my bookshelf and is an option - I've got The Essex Serpent and a voucher I could use for This Thing of Darkness. As someone said - I could have read another 100 pages while I've been deciding.

I loved Miss Pettigrew.....a heartwarming, funny read for a day when you have to batten down the hatches....(stay safe if you're out and about in bad weather for the next few days everyone!)

I read The Edible Woman for my CSYS (Scottish qualification in your last year of school - prob A level equivalent) dissertation, on Women and their Relationship with food in literature. I was a bit of a pretentious teenager. My other books were Mrs Dalloway and Like Water for Chocolate. I'd recommend them both.

I found American Gods a little bloated in the initial version Remus- I always really like Neil Gaiman as a person when I read interviews and such, but I never like his books as much as I want to (good omens being my favourite, though I'm not a massive Patchett fan either!).

4. Cat Among the Pigeons by Agatha Christie. Much better than The Big Four; didn't really need Poirot popping in. Set in a girls school so not entirely unlike Josephine Teys Miss Pym Disposes which I read last year. Have now downloaded a Christie audiobook via Overdrive, so will see how that goes!

I haven't read much Atwood but I did really enjoy The Edible Woman and it has stayed with me. It gave me feminist rage .

Tanaqui I enjoyed American Gods when it came out (that and Anansi Boys) but find I can remember almost nothing of it. I do remember it not seeming as much of a slog as this though! I really like the central character and some of it is quite amusing, but Gaiman's yet another writer who likes the sound of his own voice rather too much. I haven't liked his more recent stuff at all. Don't think I've read Good Omens. Find Pratchett hit and miss.

Songbird (and Satsuki) - ha, I did say my comments were like blasphemy. I just don't think it's as outstanding a play as many of his others. I saw the Ken/Em film years ago and enjoyed it as a film. Not seen the other one you mention.

I admit my opinion may be influenced by how much the plays appeal to teenagers and, therefore, how easy they are to teach. There are so many others that they can really engage with, either because of the plot, the characters, the language or a combination of all those things.

Don't worry, I have been massively enthusiastic about it over the last couple of days teaching it to Year 8. They've had great fun with the insults in Act 1 Scene 1 and would never guess that it's not my first choice when it comes to Shakespeare at all!

Quite relieved to hear you say that about Gilead Getting there. I found it a real struggle to finish compared to Housekeeping which I really liked. You've inspired me to try Home and Lila.

I loved Blind Assassin and Alias Grace, hated Oryx and Crake so haven't tried any of her others.

Good Omens was the first Pratchett I read and really enjoyed it. It's not set in Discworld.

1. Whose body by Dorothy L Sayers. Read it based on discussions on a couple of other threads. I like crime. I love Poirot. I love the period the book is set in. But although I really wanted to like it, I struggled to gel with Lord Peter Wimsey. By the end I was starting to sympathise with him a little so now I'm not sure whether to read any more in the series.

I think the black and white version is on Netflix Looking it has a much younger vibe - you might assign it as homework but I don't know the rating

"I am interested in people's reviews of Margaret Atwood"

Well, I read just one book of hers and wasn't terribly impressed with it (see below) and I have nothing but scorn for her dog-headed insistence that she doesn't write sci-fi because (and I quote) "if a book is realistic or plausible, then it's not science fiction" which has to be one of the stupidest quotes in print, ever.

All good SF is both realistic and plausible and judging by the one book of hers I have read, most are far more so than the ones she is capable of writing.

Of course Atwood writes SF. Just not very well. Which is not surprising, since you wouldn't expect an author to be good at a genre she sneers at.

Anyway, my thoughts on Stone Mattress:

This was about old people doing old people stuff, which was all very boring. There was no effort (none!) to develop the few potentially interesting ideas to any meaningful level. Is this woman supposed to be a sci-fi/fantasy writer? The fantasy elements were just add-ons to some very dull & geriatric stories. I kept hoping that the stories would somehow come together (as indicated by the shared characters of the first two stories indicated) but was disappointed.

The prose wasn't terribly impressive, either: "The quality of writing isn't impressive, either. "He's here, forsaken by her, abandoned. In time, which fails to sustain him. In space, which fails to cradle him.". Huh?

If anyone is interested in the sort of social phenomena that Atwood explores with the story where young people are burning down old folks' homes with cries of "It's now our turn!", "Burn the dusties!" etc, check out J G Ballard's books. He does this sort of thing much better.

And I was going to read her book Positron but a friend told me about it: Apparently, this is a society with 40% unemployment so the solution is that people alternate one month in jail (huh?) with one month in a guaranteed job & nice home. A couple shares their home with this other couple who takes over the house when they are in jail and vice versa.

Leaving aside the complete unworkability of this scenario re strangers taking over incomplete jobs at the end of the month, the amount of resources necessary to feed half the population in jail, etc it then gets sillier - the woman is apparently an assassin for the state, killing the undesirables, has an affair with the man using her home when she is in jail, etc. I was still holding it all together when my friend said at the end that one of the dead came back as... ELVIS. What?

I'm a big SF reader but I don't think Margaret Atwood is for me. Maybe when she accepts that she is a SF writer and tries to do it better

I think the narrator of Gilead was the least interesting character in a way, but it left me intrigued to read more about some of the others. I do feel Gilead picked up in the last half when you find more about the history of the the people around him. I'm in no rush, though!

I see what you're saying about Much Ado - it is much funnier and the characters more relatable than say, The Tempest, but the latter just drops riches upon you in left right and centre in terms of language. I love seeing it but I don't think I've ever laughed!

passmethecrisps I haven't read much A L Kennedy, only Day which I really enjoyed.

I did see her interviewed at the Edinburgh Book Festival a couple of years ago and she was very funny and likeable. As a huge fan herself, she'd been commissioned to write a Dr Who novel and was talking about that. I knew she was also a stand-up comedian too .. she's an unusual and interesting woman.

I should get around to reading some Atwood but I always feel like they seem dull. Complete prejudice.

Oh and Atwood also said on BBC Breakfast that science fiction is no more than “talking squids in outer space” which frankly tells me that she is an idiot .

3. Beauty by Robin McKinley.

A light easy-reading fantasy re-telling of Beauty and the Beast. Very much to the letter of the original story, a sweet undemanding fairy tale. Would be re-classified these days into the YA category.

4. Prisoners of Geography by Tim Marshall.

A very accessible geography and history lesson. All very interesting. Life and technology may advance but mountains, rivers, oceans and deserts are stubborn to change. As to that matter, are people and deep seated animosities.

And that is four books from my pile. Onwards!

I've read Handmaid's Tale more than 20 years, can't remember very much about it and have it in my re-read pile and listened to Alias Grace on audiobook, which I enjoyed. I would like to read Oryx and Crake, The Robber Bride and The Penelopiad.