50 Book Challenge 2017 Part Three

[southeastdweller]

Welcome to the third 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 first thread of the year is here and the second one here.

Have you Norrell fans read The Ladies of Grace Adieu by the same author? Set in same world, some same characters, apparently. (Didn't finish JS&MN myself)

Sorry, forgot to add its short stories.

*It's

Cote it's actually quite hard to summarise - which I think is one of it's main virtues given how many copycat YA fantasy series there are.

It's set in a small US town (presumably on the East Coast) which hosts a super-posh private boys' school with the sort of hostility between locals & pupils you might imagine. A group of teenagers end up brought together (including the town psychic's daughter, a trailer park boy who is funding his own way through the posh school by working multiple jobs, and others) and interacting with various supernatural events. There's no big 'good vs evil' quest, and although the book cover makes a big deal of a prophesy involving the daughter kissing her true love, there's also minimal romance.

Good tip Invisiblekitten thanks!

11. The Skeleton Cupboard Tanya Byron. Fictionalised account of her experiences training as a clinical psychologist based on the various patients she met. I found this fascinating and appreciated how honest she was about her faults and mistakes. Another one I saw recommended on this thread so thanks!

22. D is for Deadbeat by Sue Grafton

Part of the alphabet series featuring private investigator Kinsey Millhone. I enjoy these, although they're hardly great literature, and the early ones are a bit dated now ( she started the series in the 80s). In this book, Kinsey is asked to deliver something by an ex convict who then turns up dead in suspicious circumstances, which she then investigates.

Sounds like DD might enjoy it, thanks Sadik

Satsuki - Ladies Of Grace Adieu is already on my Wish List. I'm waiting for its price to drop

14. Palestine by Joe Sacco.
This is a famous graphic novel by Maltese journalist Joe Sacco published in 1996. He spent two months with Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza Strip detailing their stories under occupation by the (often brutal, nervous) Israeli soldiers. Not much hope for a peace process there, on either side. A disquieting read about human facets of this side of the Palestinian/Israeli struggle.

He has also written a graphic novel about Bosnia which I would like to read at some point.

Next I wanted something more light-hearted and so am one-third of the way through Steelheart, another Brendon Sanderson fantasy series. It's a spin-off of The Way of Kings. It's alright but not particularly grabbing me.

11. The North Water, Ian McGuire. This was brilliant. Set in the latter half of the 19th century as the whaling industry is coming to an end, the story focuses mainly on two crew members of a whaling ship setting out for the Arctic circle. They represent the two sides of human nature - the violent, instinctive animal side, and the evolved man of modern society. It was definitely grim and gritty, not something to pick up when you want a light, happy read, but beautifully written and well worthy of its place in the Booker longlist. Recommended.

5.The Gustav Sonata by Rose Tremain. This was a poignant read with interesting characters and an engaging story. My favourite sections were those from Gustav's childhood but I liked the scenes which involved the character of Lottie too. All the female characters were interesting. There were some really moving sections about Gustav, and the effects of his childhood experiences.

Next I have committed to The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society as it has been sitting on my to-read shelf for a number of years. Judging by the mixed reviews on Goodreads though, I'm not sure if I'll make it to the end!

LadyMachet - I liked the Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society - bit whimsical and silly in parts, if you like your war stories grim and gritty, not for you. Consider a little bit light read.

Cote - Yes, Measuring the World alluded to all of the things you mention, but still (imvho) did it in a completely humourless, faux-whimsical and essentially bloody DULL manner. I thought it made Humboldt (who I've read a lot about and been v interested in) both dull and ridiculous, and the other one (Mr Sums whose name I've forgotten already) dull, ridiculous and unpleasant.

Book 17
The North Water
I liked this, but was disappointed with the ending. Whales, snow, shipwrecks etc are all right up my street, although I found the character of Drax rather too carton-villain and I thought the ending was first a bit silly and then a bit of an anti-climax. Glad I read it but not sure I’d rush out to buy another of his.

Book 18
Berlin: Portrait of a City - Taschen
This is mostly photographs, with limited text but I'm counting it because I 'read' the photographs as carefully as I would a non-fiction book, and then researched anything I didn't know about already, so actually did a fair bit of reading-around. It's beautiful - I loved it.

Got the numbers wrong - that was 18 and 19.

Pippi Uzunçorap

Is that Pippi Longstocking, Cote?

I HATE Pollyanna! So freaking cheerful - I'd strangle the little git with her own plaits.

BestisWest While I agree with everyone else that Night Watch is the best Pratchett, I'm not sure it's the best one to start with. So much of the humour lies in seeing familiar characters as teenagers etc, and there are loads of in-jokes you just wouldn't get. I'm not sure which one I'd recommend as a first read - Nation, maybe?

I love The Ladies of Grace Adieu - though obviously not as much as I love Jonathan Strange. I love fairytales.

I started off liking The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Society a lot, and then it didn't really seem to go anywhere. It also kept reminding me of 84 Charing Cross Road, for some reason - perhaps the epistolary format and the post-war setting and the fact that it's all about books. And, well, Charing Cross Road is better.

And a big BOO HISS to all of you dissing children's books. Just because a book is written for children doesn't mean it can't also be wise, funny, well-written and interesting.

I'm still rereading Pride and Prejudice.

Finished 7. Today Will Be Different by Maria Semple*. One crazy day with Eleanor Flood, a main character with aspirations that today will be different because she will be a better person, who instead has a day that is VERY different when her son is sent home from school and she finds out her husband has been lying to her about...something.
I enjoyed it. It is witty in a very cynical, kinda bitchy way but with some fab observations, and the characters are interesting. The best thing about listening to the audiobook was the fantastic narration, one of the very best performances I've listened to. The downside is that I believe there are illustrations that I missed out on. And there were A LOT of American references that went straight over my head. And the more I think about it, the more I remember plot threads that actually didn't go anywhere. Hmm.

Can't read and keep up with threads!

5. Joan Didion, Slouching towards Bethlehem. A collection of essays about the USA in the 1960s, some autobiographical. I read this because I kept seeing her name everywhere. She writes beautifully, but none of the essays have much substance.
6 Laila Lalami, Hope and Other Dangerous Pursuits. I read The Moor's Account last year, and was a bit disappointed as I follow Lalami's blog, and like her non-fiction. It was good, but a bit rambling and I lost the thread a few times. Hope is her first novel, quite short, but much better IMO. It's the story of four Moroccans trying to get across to Spain, told as before and after the trip. Unsentimental, but very moving.
7. Dorothy Whipple, The Priory. An English country family, short of money and clinging to the past, in the 1930s. Not a huge amount happens, but it's very good on how little choice women had then over what happened to them. The ending would be far too Hollywood except there's a twist which only the reader can know.
8. Annie Ernaux, La femme gelee (The Frozen Woman) Don't know if any of her books have been translated. I liked the ones about her parents (La Place and Une Femme). This one is I think also quite autobiographical, a woman realising slowly that all her dreams of independence are being stifled by marriage and children. Well-written, but I did find myself thinking 'so what?' at the end.
9. Monica Dickens, Mariana. A woman gets bad news one night and lies awake thinking back over her life up to that point - quite a standard novel about growing up, again, in 1930s England, but likeable characters and quite funny in places.
10. Katherine Mansfield, Journal. Reading this because I like diaries, but this isn't a proper diary, just random descriptions and notes for stories. Don't bother, is my advice, unless you are a big fan of her stories.

Now need to make sure I keep up with these threads, as half the fun is reading the reviews!

cluelessmama I was looking forward to the Semple book, having really enjoyed Bernadette, so glad you - mostly - liked it.

Liked it enough to look out for Bernadette in the future Satsuki, already checked that audiobook has same brilliant narrator. Will be interested to know what you think of Today Will Be Different when you get to it.

Remus - "Yes, Measuring the World alluded to all of the things you mention"

It doesn't "allude" to all that. It is about all that. They are a huge part of the book and what makes it interesting. If you have zapped them and focused on "One likes sex, the other doesn't", I am not surprised that you didn't like the book.

"but still (imvho) did it in a completely humourless, faux-whimsical and essentially bloody DULL manner."

I disagree completely. The humour is definitely there, and for those of us who are interested in science, mathematics, and the struggle of rational thinkers throughout history with ignorant masses, there is nothing dull about the beginnings of the scientific method. I also found interesting the discussions between Humboldt & Gauss as well as Gauss & his (ordinary and hence disappointing) son, not to mention anecdotes from his childhood & life such as that easy method he devised to quickly sum up all numbers from 1-100 (which is true, by the way).

"I thought it made Humboldt (who I've read a lot about and been v interested in) both dull and ridiculous"

Again, I don't think so. He comes across as a very enlightened man who is also diligent, meticulous, and humble despite his aristocratic background.

" the other one (Mr Sums whose name I've forgotten already) dull, ridiculous and unpleasant"

If you have never heard of Gauss (who is only the most famous mathematician who has ever lived ) recommending you this book was clearly a mistake, as you are obviously not interested in the subject matter.( I know that you had skipped "sciencey" bits in The Martian, for example, but thought that the science & math in this book was vague and simple enough to hold your interest.)

Gauss did MUCH more than "sums", which you really should know if you even skim-read this book Even as a teenager he made staggering discoveries, going on in the next two decades to make contributions to geometry, number theory, field theory, probability, and astronomy that amounted to huge leaps in these fields.

Anyway, the book clearly wasn't for you. My mistake

Cheerful - "a big BOO HISS to all of you dissing children's books. Just because a book is written for children doesn't mean it can't also be wise, funny, well-written and interesting"

Oh yes no doubt it can be... for children

The fact is that no 8-year-old is going to read and understand the morally ambiguous and complex world of pain, necessity, betrayal, and sacrifice that us middle-aged women live in. It is actually not possible for a book written for an 8-year-old to take place in an adult world, with adult concerns and adult struggles. It can't help but be woefully simplified and black/white.

Happy - "Is that Pippi Longstocking, Cote?"

Yes, it is, indeed

Book 8. The Power of Habit by Charles Duhigg
Fascinating read about how habits are formed. He breaks them down into stages, cue/behaviour/reward, to help us understand how our particular habits are formed and allow us to identify how we can intervene and change a negative habit into a positive one. There are many examples of how the ad agencies use this knowledge to get us to buy more. Particularly fascinating was his description of how a man with no short term memory was still able to build and carry out certain habits in his daily life. I would recommend this well written, easy to read book if this sort of thing interests you. I'm still working on creating the habit of jumping out of bed and going for a half hour walk every morning instead of hitting the snooze button!
Book 9 The story of the lost child by Elena Ferrante blew me away? It is the fourth and last of the Neapolitan Novels which describe the friendship of two girls Lila and Elena from their childhood in the slums of Naples in the early 50s to the present day. I had got a bit bogged down in the third book and had to force myself to finish it. I'm so glad I persevered as this final book left me reeling. The wealth of characters and the depth and sometimes raw brutality of relationships and events is mesmerising and shocking in parts. Elena is the narrator so we see most things from her point of view but in this last book, she recounts more of what home truths other characters challenge her with forcing the reader to rethink Elena's true character and her reliability as a narrator. It's hard to say more about the effect this book had on me without slipping in to spoilers but it's the first book this year that I've felt unable to put down.

1. Gang Leader for a Day: A Rogue Sociologist Takes to the Streets (Sudhir Venkatesh). Loved it. It's a non-fiction about a sociology postgrad who decides to survey residents in a Chicago housing project for his thesis, and ends up befriending a gang leader. He then spends the best part of a decade hanging out with the gang, studying their hierarchy, and life in the projects. The murky morality of gang life was fascinating, and I'm very keen to read from Venkatesh.

1. The Slap (Christos Tsiolkas). Hated it. I enjoy flawed, unlikable characters; but the ones in this book were all so relentlessly horrid that they became caricatures. A chore to read. So much so that I didn't actually finish it .

I fancy something lighthearted now, so my next book will be Cold Comfort Farm (Stella Gibbons).

Book 16 (I think, will have to check) was:

Victorians Undone, by Kathryn Hughes
5 non-fiction accounts related to body part that took on some significance - accusations of an illegitimate pregnancy by one of Victoria's ladies-in-waiting; did George Elliott have an enlarged hand due to her early years doing dairy work?; Darwin's beard (weirdly, the most enjoyable chapter); Fanny Cornforth's mouth (on the pre-Raphaelites) and Sweet Fanny Adams. I thought the last chapter was a bit ill-judged. The subject matter - the murder and dismemberment of a child - sat uneasily with the overall jauntiness of the book. Overall, however, I really enjoyed this book.