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?

I liked The Secret Life of Bees a lot, but read it a long time ago. I seem to recall I was very readily engaged by it though so if you are not liking it now Ladydepp , I suspect it won't improve.

1. The Life Project by Helen Pearson

2. Gone to Ground by Marie Jalowicz Simon

3. The Dreaming Void by Peter F Hamilton; I really enjoyed this. It's a densely plotted Sci-Fi thriller that builds on previous characters and world building in other books so leading to a very rich narrative, but does mean you benefit more if you have read prior works. Specific to me, it meant this books actually contained a lot of spoilers for a book I haven't read yet as I am waiting for the never coming price drop .

This particular story is in respect of "The Void" which was previously thought to be a black hole at the centre of the galaxy but is now understood to be an artificial construct, purpose unknown, but which periodically enters destructive expansion phases which if left unchecked will shorten the normal life span of the galaxy.

In the meantime, humans being humans, a huge religious cult has developed around The Void and the dreams which emanate from it. These dreams are interlaced as separate chapters in the book. They concern a medieval type world where people have telekinetic and psychic powers. It is not at all clear to me why this world is so compelling to humans of the 36th century, but a pilgrimage is planned and the powers that be (and various alien species) are v concerned it will precipitate a new devourment phase.

To be honest, that all sounds quite mad and yet it is only a tiny portion of what goes on in this book. There are different types of humans, and ANA (sentient artificial intelligence) itself appears to be divided internally and fighting over the future of the humanity's direction. It's great fun and full of politics and action, but it is not high literature . This book is also in no way a stand alone. It literally ends mid air. And the sequel is currently over £6 not sure how long I'll manage to wait for a price drop Don't shoot me if the science is dodgy either I suspect it might be . I take that stuff at face value

Finally, if you are interested in Hamilton, I wouldn't start with this series. Pandora's Star predates this and is definitely an easier starting point, and harder sci-fi. I would think anyone who enjoyed the Red Rising series might enjoy Hamilton. They are far bigger books however, and no YA feel to them.

Book 2: The Accidental Life of Greg Millar Aimee Alexander

Easy to read, and tackled a tricky subject of bipolar disorder - but I felt it lacked depth. I didn't think any of the characters were particularly well formed. 5/10

Yowza, this is fast-moving.

I'm on book 5. Four Dreamers and Emily, by Stevie Davies. It was published in 1996, which suddenly seems a long time ago (smoky pubs, parents casually inflicting "mild violence" on children in public, university professors taking their pick of their more nubile students). The four main characters take refuge from their unsatisfactory real lives in the world of Wuthering Heights - they're all brought together at an academic conference in Haworth, where mildly comic hi-jinks ensue.

I'm quite enjoying it, although I don't think it would be everybody's cup of tea. Anyone who has been at an academic conference will wince in recognition at certain parts.

Oh ffs, just went to the library armed with a list off this thread, and three of the four books I wanted were not on the shelf, despite the catalogue insisting they were. Oh well, I managed to get The Dark Net, which I am looking forward to.

I would say i'm not into the 'cosy cottage' type books but then i realise the vast array of books i have read. Although not my go to there have been a few i have enjoyed in spite of the cheesiness of them.

biblio you are very bad for my resolution not to buy any booked this year, that's another one added to my wish list!

Booked = books. Must learn to proofread before I post!

ROAR @ "I could practically hear the violins in the background and that irritated me hugely."

I'll use this line in the future. Not often, I hope, as I avoid this sort of book

Remus - thanks for the Scott book tipoff (cheap Kindle deal on Ranulph Fiennes bio). Have read it but would recommend to other polar fans. Also while I'm at it the Fergus Fleming books are a great read.

3. Penelope Fitzgerald, The Gate of Angels Like all her novels reads way better than it sounds (semi-comic romance set in early C20 Cambridge). Fabulous read - vivid characters and setting, and her wry, clever style. Genuinely sad I've read all her novels now, saved that one up for a tedious bus trip

Keith - John Updike & Arthur Miller were a while ago, though. Can you think of any contemporary author writing bestsellers about boring men's boring everyday lives in boring cities? I can't.

1. The Virgin Suicides by Jeffrey Eugenides

This was sort of OK. There wasn't much of a story - it was more of an 'atmosphere' piece, I felt. Five blond girls, each just a year apart, commit suicide while boys of the neighbourhood obsess about them in a rather creepy & stalkerish way.

I think it was symbolic but I don't want to go into spoilers here. So Remus, Ladydepp, EverySongbird, Happy, and others who have loved/hated it, please come & talk to me about The Virgin Suicides on this thread.

Meanwhile, I can't keep myself from the Handel book any longer and have just bought the Kindle copy for.... £17.94!

< wails >

I may have to give up work in order to keep up with this thread.

Potato (WAS it Potato?)
Holes is a great story and I recommend the film too.

I'm now reading this. Interesting enough but padded (this seems to be a theme now).

Satsuki the time travel through a portal in his mate's diner makes me wonder whether SK had been watching Goodnight Sweetheart.

I have a real aversion to reading SK though I don't really know why. I had to read Pet Sematary and Dolores Claiborne at school and maybe that element of compulsion is what put me off. I have a DS not far off the son in Pet Sematary's age and I couldn't read it again.

Ladydepp I agree with everyone else that The Secret Life of Bees is tiresome. I felt as though Sue Monk Kidd must be a real admirer of Alice Walker, Toni Morrison and Zora Neale Hurston so ended up with characters that were a really bad pastiche of theirs.

Has cote set the record for the most expensive Kindle book of the year? Still if It takes ages to read.

Re: Red Rising

Cote - exactly right. It is a sci-fi beach read and that's why I was so flummoxed as to why I didn't like it. Sometimes you can't tell what you're going to like...and vice versa.

MuseumofHam - I should have trusted my instincts too! I've started it several times and given up. I'd say that if you don't like the Kindle sample, you won't take to the rest of it.

Thought The Night Circus was entertaining and yet to read JS & Mr N but very much enjoyed the TV series so I am waiting until that memory has faded.

Passmethecrisps - I like the Jasmine Sharp books as well. Part of my appreciation comes from the settings in Scotland and the Glasgie chat!

I finished book 4 last night, The Kept Woman by Karin Slaughter (I've a soft spot for her books, and finding out the latest in the soap opera-esque lives of Sara and Will) It's a fast paced crime thriller with many big reveals connected to the previous novels in the series, I'm not sure how much sense a lot of it would make if you hadn't read any of the others! A body is found in an abandoned nightclub which happens to be owned by an elite basketball player. It transpires that the dead man is a retired crooked cop, and that there is evidence of another victim at the scene who is nowhere to be found. An easy to read page turner, I borrowed it from the library because it's not the sort of book you can read more than once!

I'm also midway through Anerican Gods on my kindle, and will be making a start on Everyone Brave Is Forgiven by Chris Cleave later tonight.

1. Night Waking - Sarah Moss

Academic Anna accompanies her husband to a remote Scottish island where he is undertaking a study of puffins. She is supposed to be writing a book about childhood but finds her husband largely absent while she cares for their toddler and 7 year old. While planting trees with the 7 year old she finds the skeleton of a baby buried in a shawl in the garden. Anna's story is interspersed with the letters of an English nurse sent by the Victorian land owners t help the local women in childbirth.

I loved this, it was a slow grower but Anna's exhaustion and frustration at motherhood alongside the tragedy of the islanders existence was really well written.

Has anyone read this?

Sounds similar to the Year of living Danishly (except set in Iceland) and Sarah Moss is an excellent writer.

"Has cote set the record for the most expensive Kindle book of the year?"

Oh I wish it were just the year. It might be the most expensive Kindle book anyone on these threads has ever bought. I'm a mug

Sorry Handel cost a bundle on the Kindle cote

So finally succumb to this virus that has been bugging me since Xmas and had an afternoon of lounging on the sofa. Managed to finish the Summer Queen . Book 3 As I suspected I have been completely sucked in and about to head of to bed with the second of the Trilogy when I have prised the middle teenager from the X-box. I think it is the escapism of this genre I enjoy and the fact that I find the role of woman in history fascinating. How Eleanor manages to manipulate her situation with what little power she has. And how her power lies many in her ability to have children. The book is well written, it's not going to win the Booker Prize but it is entertaining and actually informative. We were actually on holiday near Poitiers last year ( think that's spelt right but too knackered to look it up!)
wishing I had read this before I went .
Went to the Oxfam bookshop today for a look! Came out with 5 books!!

Just started book 5 - "Cloud Atlas". Taking a bit of getting into, but better now I'm into the second "bit".

Re: "If This is a Man" - yes, it is harrowing. One of the bits that always sticks in my mind (though it may be in "The Truce") was where Levi writes of the barracks at night. When he was a "new" prisoner - before he was so exhausted that he collapsed onto his bunk and slept before he was supine - he would lie awake, terrified and in shock, wondering what the strange grinding noise was that went on all through the night. He found out that it was starving men chewing in their sleep,, their teeth grinding together as they dreamed of food.

There is hope in it, I think - though I agree that the hope that is there is the kind of the simple joy of a spring day heralding the end of the freezing weather. There is kindness between some of the prisoners though, and (apologise if this is "The Truce" again) Levi tells of a civilian "volunteer' (i.e. slave) worker from Italy who provided him with a petrol can full of soup whenever he could, made of whatever the man stole or found (one day it contained a sparrow's wing - feathers and all!) . Levi said that without this soup he would have been dead. after the war he also learned that this particular man had done the same for a number of other prisoners, at great risk to himself.

I couldn't help but compare this to Shalamov's "Kolyma Tales", about the Gulags, where it was every man for himself in another brutal environment. I think maybe the difference was that the Gulags contained more "career" criminals in proportion to the rest of the population that the concentration camps did.

Keith - John Updike & Arthur Miller were a while ago, though. Can you think of any contemporary author writing bestsellers about boring men's boring everyday lives in boring cities? I can't.

Fair point. I think that someone like Zadie Smith could fairly be compared to Ian McEwan, for example - books domestic in scope but where unusual things happen, and where the lives and characters are portrayed so as to transcend their everyday settings.

There are a lot more boring domestic books about women these days than there are about men. Men like reading books about the SAS and retired intelligence agents who have to go undercover in the Middle East and all that stuff. Women, apparently, like books with shoes on the cover about scatty mums embarrassing themselves in front of hot men in the school playground.

I've slowed down, due to inescapable and tedious real life crap, even if this thread hasn't.

1. Where the Bodies are Buried by Chris Brookmyre First Jasmine Sharp novel, the series having already been mentioned by crisps et al upthread. This was fun, once I'd broken through the Glasgow hard man bit at the beginning. I know, it is about Glasgow hard men, but he always seems to open on some shocking / violent scene. This featured likeable female characters, witty but believable dialogue, good plotting, and a punchline I really didn't see coming. Thank goodness I loved this because I always want to like him, but the last one I read of his was drivel (A Tale Etched in Blood and Hard Black Pencil - to be avoided unless you want to read a tedious account of Scottish schooling in the 1970s - I think he was going for the nostalgia factor in his target audience and hit the insomnia cure instead).