50 Book Challenge 2017 Part Two

[southeastdweller]

Welcome to the second 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, it's not too late to join, and please try to let us all know your thoughts on what you've read.

The previous thread is here.

How're you getting on so far?

Satsuki yes give it a try. And have a look at the reviews on Goodreads - the one by Jukka Sarkijarvi is particularly good. Having had a mooch about there this afternoon, it's really made me want to read SS again, which alongside My Antonia would be really interesting.

SS Is not free of violence to be honest! LGG writes lyrically and poetically but at the same time doesn't shirk from showing how harsh life could be, particularly for women at the time. There are some pretty hard-hitting episodes.

There's a fair bit of Scottish dialect too, and the rhythm of his language is what makes the book stand out for me. It's the Scottish equivalent, style-wise, of The Long Song by Andrea Levy. Which is not for everyone but once you get into it it works very well I think. (The start of the book, as a PP said, is notoriously slow though).

Clueless I enjoyed the film and was very impressed by Agyness Deyn. I know she was a model and not sure if this was her first film role but she convinced as Chris Guthrie for me. Pretty good Scottish accent too .. but admittedly as you say not a hugely fun night out!

I didn't get on with My Antonia at all, but admit I didn't give it much time to impress me. Still got it, so might try again at some point.

Book 9
Magpie Murders - Antony Horowitz
Thought I’d give one more AH book a go, after the nonsense that was Moriarty. This one is playing with the theme of Christie-esque whodunnits, whilst bringing in a modern whodunit in the sense that a whodunit writer is killed and his editor is now trying to work out whodunit using his latest whodunit to try to work out whodunit. It was kay, except I didn’t really care whodunit and I didn’t like the editor and was sort of hoping somebody might dunnit to her too. I think AH and I will now be parting company. Oh and the ending was utterly stupid.

Book 10
Warm Bodies - Isaac Marion
Half way through this, I realised that I’d read it before and forgotten about it. Oops. It’s the story of a zombie who isn’t quite the average grunting, shuffling blob, who rescues and falls in love with a girl, which causes ‘the change’ in him from typical grunting, shuffling brain-eating blob to escalate. It’s actually really good fun and some of the prose is very effective, but it’s too long and a bit self-indulgent in places. Could have done with more brutal editing.

His Bloody Project lovers might also like Burial Rites.

1. At Lady Molly's 5. Casanova's Chinese Restaurant and 6. The Kindly Ones - all by Anthony Powell.

The next three books in 'A Dance to the Music of Time' series. I read the first three this time last year and getting back into all of the character's lives again was really easy, even after such a long break. I'm not sure I can wait another year to read the next three.

Thanks highland - it is under 3 quid on Kindle at moment so have given it a go.

Posted before I saw cluelessmama's bleak girls' night out

highlandcoo I agree that Agyness Deyn was very good. Chris is a character that anyone who has read the book would have quite a clear mental image of, so for me it was really central to the film that she came across as true to the character Grassic Gibbon created, and she did.
"Hard-hitting episodes" is spot-on!! I think the film felt more grim than my memory of the book (admittedly from 16ish years ago) because there were long passages of the lyrical, poetic portrayal of land, seasons and character in the book, where on film it is possible to show the landscape more briefly than it can be described in words and therefore proportion of time dedicated to hard-hitting plot episodes compared to description and setting is greater in the film. Have I made any sense at all there?! The internal struggle Chris has with her identity was also one of my favourite themes of the book and I felt it was dealt with quite quickly in the film, but maybe I remember it being a bigger aspect of the book than it really was just because it resonated with me.
Enjoy Satsuki!!

6 The Wonder Boys, Michael Chabon

I loved Kavalier and Clay, and I so wanted to love this but.... I couldn't. Overweight, middle-aged writer and professor smokes too much pot, drinks too much, can't finish his novel, can't be faithful, is unexplainably attractive to many women including his most attractive and talented female student....... Yes, it is The Great American Men's Novel again.

Chabon is a brilliant writer, his descriptions were beautifully accurate (a tiny baby ""waving its hands around in the air in a declamatory manner. Its fingers curled and uncurled and struck odd poses like the significant fingers of a stone bodhisattva") and the turn of many of his phrases was truly, cleverly funny (unlike all the silly running around with dead dogs etc).. But I felt like I'd read this all many times before. He wrote touchingly about male friendships but the female characters were just shadowy bit parts.

Thank you Cheerful, I wonder if I had just read too many other WW2 ish stories at the time? I do remember bits, even though I read them nearly 20 yrs ago (the girl putting a frock on, going to the hotel and sleeping with the ships captain to get home; and the bright little girl tied to the table), so there must have been something there! Still, I would prefer the writing of a Noel Streatfeild.

I'm a big Heyer fan Compost, but I don't think Beauvallet is one of the best! My favourites are probably The Grand Sophie and These Old Shades.

I read on my phone mostly- Overdrive (the library app), cheap kindle (am plodding through the Luminaries!); but also library, charity shop, and lends!

Checking in to place mark, but also to remind myself that I am missing reading. Had a really bisy week and haven't read anything but the news, threads here and students' essays. TBH I am also still 'mourning' Eileen and not gripped by either of the books that I am reading!

I listened to The Wonder on Radio Four last year and was captivated. It was heartbreaking and so real. It made me think about children who are involved in miracles in a completely different way. It also brought the Ireland of that period to life so completely that it was as if I was there.

1. The Three-Body Problem, Cixin Liu. This took a while to grab me but I liked it once I got into it. Been reviewed a few times already, so I won’t cover old ground except to say that I liked the direction it took and enjoyed being confused for a bit whilst trying to work things out.

1. Murder At The Vicarage, Agatha Christie. The first Miss Marple book. I’ve only read And Then There Were None and her Poirot books previously, so wanted to see what the Marple ones were like. Surprised to find that Miss Marple wasn’t actually in it that much! The plot kept me entertained for an afternoon while I was unwell. Light, easy-going stuff.

1. Anna Karenina, Leo Tolstoy. I loved this but good god is it long! Listened to it on audiobook, borrowed on the Overdrive app. 33 and a half hours long with an excellent narrator. I had to borrow it three times, starting in 2016, to get through it all as you can’t renew on that app. I doubt I need to summarise the plot for anyone; I’d guess that many of you have already read it. I’m in my late twenties and am only just getting over school ruining classic literature for me. I’ve started making my way back to it, easing in last year with Jane Eyre and A Christmas Carol, and now Anna. I’m glad to say that I’ve enjoyed all three immensely.

As light relief I am now reading True Grit by Bear Grylls, and listening to Gangsta Granny by David Walliams on audiobook. I’m enjoying the stories in True Grit, but not Grylls’s way of telling them. Gangsta Granny is good and has earned me a few funny looks in Sainsbury’s from sniggering at inopportune moments.

Can you get the Radio 4 books as Podcasts? And if not, how do you know when a new one is starting?

Monty I hadn't read any classics since school either, but have just started to in the last 2 years. I'm a similar age, and I always just thought I wouldn't enjoy them. I read (and enjoyed) Jane Eyre quite recently, and have got Anna lined up to read soon so glad you liked it. I would also recommend Wilkie Collins, The Moonstone is probably the best classic I've read.

Monty You could try counting how many times Bear says, 'That showed real grit' in his book. Agree entirely that the stories are interesting but the telling leaves much to be desired.

bella I started The Moonstone last year or the year before, and only got about 30 pages in. I can't remember why I stopped reading it, because I was interested. I think it might have been because the font in my copy was miniscule and I was having a job concentrating on it! I'll keep it in mind for the next time I fancy another classic.

Remus Yes I have noticed a certain repetition of that particular phrase. I'm trying to ignore the childish delight he seems to take in some cases, and his anthropomorphising of mountains. If you took him at face value you'd think all mountains are out to get their climbers.

14. The Mirror Crack'd - Agatha Christie Miss Marple - first time I'd read a Christie for years and then I remembered I'd read it before about halfway through. Easy reading though.

I've now run out of things to read until I can get to the library. There are a few things on Kindle I want but don't want to pay for.

I did have Jeanette Winterson's The Gap Of Time but failed to get into it so far.

That was 15 not 14.

1. Apple Tree Yard - Louise Doughty

I'd been meaning to read this for a while but never got round to it. Then the BBC adaptation that started on Sunday was so irritating that I thought I'd read the book to see what it was really like.

In fairness to the BBC, it's a pretty good adaptation. I couldn't get on with the narrator but I did find the book engaging and wanted to know what happened (see earlier discussion on needing to like the characters - I didn't like Yonne but I found her interesting). Not sure if the twist was much of a twist - I think there were a few unpredictable moments as you went through, which is what kept me reading (although having relayed the plot to DH he reckons he could have predicted it all from the first episode we watched in Sunday so what do I know?!).

1. Detour from Normal by Ken Dickson: a free kindle book that I was tempted to abandon many times, it's a memoir describing the author's treatment in the US healthcare system when he develops mania as a result of medication given during unrelated surgery. It gives a good insight into the nature of mania, the effect on his family and the dreadful lack of help available, but too much of the writing consists of the author describing his visions and plans he had had for a new world, Utopia, in such minute, lengthy detail it becomes tedious and like listening to someone describe last nights dream for hours on end.

I've also started Our Endless Numbered Days by Claire Fuller which I'm enjoying so far.

I'm still here but nothing to update at the moment - still going with When Will There Be Good News on audible and Jane Eyre. I had to go away for work on Wednesday and ended up packing in a hurry, and managed to forget both my book and my kindle! Luckily I have the kindle app on my phone so started reading The Mermaids Singing by Val McDermid. I therefore have 3 on the go at the moment, hopefully will finish the McDermid this weekend then back to Jane Eyre!

argh - not read the thread as it's moving so fast.
have a long train journey later though so will catch up properly then to make a note of everyone's recommendations.

4. Alias Grace - Margaret Atwood

My first Atwood. Quite liked her writing style, very compelling book until about 4/5ths of the way through, when everything got a little frantic, and the exchanges of letters to try and tie off all the plot arch seemed a bit desperate.

Second book in a row that I've read where the ending feels rushed and hasn't sat well with the rest of the book. Am hoping for better with 5. The Muse.

I think the film felt more grim than my memory of the book (admittedly from 16ish years ago) because there were long passages of the lyrical, poetic portrayal of land, seasons and character in the book, where on film it is possible to show the landscape more briefly than it can be described in words and therefore proportion of time dedicated to hard-hitting plot episodes compared to description and setting is greater in the film. Have I made any sense at all there?!

Yes, absolutely Clueless. As so often with films and books, the two are a very different experience. It's a real skill for a screenwriter to turn a great book into a film that really works in its own right I think. It would have been impossible to convey cinematically all Chris's feelings about her bond with the land without the pace of the film being lost. And the dialogue in the film was well done alongside the occasional voiceovers from Chris, but much more musing on the theme would have been tedious. Whereas in the book these passages work really well.

I'm adding to my TBR pile at a huge rate thanks to this thread! Would now like to read Sunset Song in conjunction with My Antonia. and just finishing a brilliant novel about slavery called Homegoing which I'll review later and now want to reread Sacred Hunger by Barry Unsworth to accompany that.

Also I'm waiting to have time to tackle the Barchester Towers series, and have books for two separate book groups waiting to be read too. I think I'm going to have to give up work and stay indoors reading for a few months - it's the only solution

Forgot one:

1. Best Served Cold, Joe Abercrombie. Stand-alone fantasy that takes place in the same world as his First Law trilogy, which I really enjoyed. I liked this. Friendly and Cosca were particularly well written.

9. The Bolter - Frances Osbourne.
The true account of her Great Grandmother Idina Sackville's life. Fascinating account of upper class England beginning in the 1900's. Idina married well just before WW1. Both she and her husband were openly promiscuous, but as woman were at this point not allowed to divorce for their spouses in the grounds of adultery Idina was 'divorced' and had to give up her rights to her two young boys. She 'bolted' to Kenya where she was a founding member of the extravaganza that was The Happy Valley set. Bed hopping, drinking, drugs abound, suicide and murder too! She married 5 times and never really found the happiness she was searching for.
I first heard about the Happy Valley Set when I read Circling the Sun last year about the female horse trainer and pilot Beryl Markham. Out of Africa is also linked to this apparently which I have neither read or seen but will now put on my to-read list.
Idina was the inspiration for Nancy Mitford's character 'The Bolter' in several of her novels. The whole world that is depicted in this book is very much the high society world of the Mitford's - the real life cast of characters is very much the same. So for those Mitford fans it is worth a read.
Very well researched and engaging. Really pleased I didn't know until half way through that the author was George Osbourne's wife as I would probably never had started it!

highlandcoo giving up work to make more time for reading sounds a brilliant idea