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50 Book Challenge 2017 Part Three

993 replies

southeastdweller · 06/02/2017 08:00

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.

OP posts:
Sadik · 22/02/2017 18:34

But why on earth would she want to, Remus - he's spent the last part of the novel trying to get off with Maria (and Julia). Wouldn't that put you off a bit too?
DD's best friend is a dead ringer for Fanny Price - very, very quiet, very shy, physically frail (can't do PE / swim etc) - and she hasn't been taken away from her family & friends aged 11 and dumped with a bunch of people who tell her how crap she is all the time. She's also kind hearted, a loyal friend and generally all round lovely (even if it is a bit challenging finding out what she'd like to eat for tea when she comes round!). Mary Crawford might make a more amusing party guest, but I certainly wouldn't want to rely on her if I was in trouble. Ditto Henry / Edmund - which one do you think would get up at 4am to change nappies?

HappyFlappy · 22/02/2017 18:39

No need to apologise Satsuki - my sloppy use of language was to blame.

Smile
SatsukiKusakabe · 22/02/2017 18:50

sadik I always wished there was a third option. Edmund spends most of the book pining after someone else too. It always feels bleak Fanny ending up with him. I don't dislike her (probably rather too uncomfortably identify with her) but wished for more for her. I might try and reread it this year - it's the only one I don't revisit often.

SatsukiKusakabe · 22/02/2017 18:52

Anne in Persuasion is quiet, put upon, stoic, does the right thing, and she gets Captain Wentworth!! No comparison.

RemusLupinsChristmasMovie · 22/02/2017 18:56

Edmund is settling for Fanny and Fanny knows it. I don't think it bodes terribly well for a happy and fulfilled relationship for either of them. They will be kind to each other and do plenty of good deeds in the community, I'm sure, but Edmund will always be yearning for the sparkiness of Mary and Fanny will always know that she's second best.

DementedUnicorn · 22/02/2017 19:02

Posting and running because the thread is moving too quickly for me! I do intend to go back and catch up though.

  1. Kill me again - Rachel Abbott
A thriller based around murders replicating a killing spree a decade previous. I enjoyed this and definitely didn't guess the twist at the end.
  1. While you were sleeping- Kathryn Croft
Another thriller with a brilliant plot and a surprising ending. The story focuses on a woman who was found guilty of killing her newborn but couldn't remember the event. It started from her release and her determination to find out what happened. Would definitely recommend
  1. Nowhere Child - Rachel Abbott
A quick read, that would have been better if bulked out with more detail. It's a simple thriller about a 12 year becoming homeless and finding her family again. I usually enjoy Abbott but definitely not her best.
RMC123 · 22/02/2017 20:10
  1. Crown of Blood - Nicola Tallis Nonfiction concerning the life of Lady Jane Grey. I admit to being a bit Tudor history obsessed, so this book didn't really tell me anything new, although it did paint Jane's mother in a much more favourable light than other accounts. It was well researched although it was quite 'wordy' and repetitive in places. As usual I came away with an burning fury that Jane was simply a pawn in powerful men's political games and she paid the ultimate price. Trying to catch up on the thread after being away in glorious isolation with very limited internet connection! Regarding Goodnight Mr Tom I was certainly about 10 when I first read it, so definitely Children's Literature. Have probably read it nearly every year since then and never tire of it. Reading it again as a teenager I got more from it, but reading it as a parent gives it a whole new heartbreaking perspective. Regarding Mansfield Park was an A level set text, so read it to death and studied it from back to front. Always though that Fanny got her man on the rebound and that there was likely to be big trouble ahead!!
LookingForMe · 22/02/2017 20:30
  1. A Mother's Reckoning: living in the aftermath of the Columbine tragedy by Sue Klebold - This is a memoir by the mother of one of the Columbine school shooters. The publication of this last year was the first time she'd spoken out in the 17 years since the shootings and her share of profits from the book are going to charity. I lived near Columbine in 1999/2000 (although not until a few months after it happened) and remember how the families of the killers were vilified in the local media almost constantly that year. Reading her side of the story all these years later is tragic. It raises some really interesting questions about whether parents can ever really know their children and what can be done to prevent teenagers resorting to suicide, as well as violence.
Sadik · 22/02/2017 21:03

Fair point about Edmund - although I've always read it as him realising that he's loved her all along. They're both so very young though (obviously always the case in that era, but these two seem particularly young for their age), they really need another 5 years each and a wider selection of acquaintances to choose from (I guess a pretty common problem back then).

ShakeItOff2000 · 22/02/2017 22:11

15. Steelheart (Reckoners Book 1) by Brandon Sanderson.
Fantasy spin-off of The Way of Kings. Set in the modern day. Some people develop super human powers and become megalomaniacs. The Reckoners are trying to change the hierarchy. It was fine, I'm not going to rush off and read the second one but I might read it one day.

I have been enjoying catching up on The Great Children's Books Debate. I read a lot when I was young. A Great Aunt gave me a fantastic book when I was around 8 or 9 and that set me off! I think young voracious readers will read anything. And I would agree with Cote that children's books lack an adult dimension. It doesn't mean you can't enjoy them as an adult but it all depends on what you like to read. Would any of the books you read as children stand the test of time now? Have the same impact reading them as an adult for the first time. Probably not. A lot of the enjoyment comes from nostalgia and remembering the love you had for the book the first time round.

CheerfulMuddler · 22/02/2017 22:22

6. Pride and Prejudice Jane Austen
Well,I liked it - though I'm ashamed to admit how much of it I spent comparing it to the BBC version. I think their Mrs Bennet is the most successful actress of the lot.

Cote Oh dear. You didn't think the ability to get across one of the central points of Anna Karenina without pages and pages of Levin waffle was a point in its favour? (Don't bite my head off.I'm very fond of Levin. But I do think making a complex point in simple English is a hell of a lot harder than making it in head-melty English.) And you must admit that the main character felt a lot more than 'mummy good, chocolate nice'?

I think Henry Crawford is an entitled prick and Fanny Price ought to have socked him one. And no, I don't think Edmund is settling for her. (Despite what I said before.) I think she's insufferable, but he sees her as a child he's moulded into his perfect woman.

What I object to is the idea that a clergyman's wife ought to sit at home lecturing you on the evils of theatre. I like my heroines less priggish and Jane Austen's women are usually much human.

CheerfulMuddler · 22/02/2017 22:24

Much more human. And, er, much human.

SparrowandNightingale · 22/02/2017 22:39

So book 2 turned out to be Cider with Rosie - audio book. Read by Laurie Lee. Just delicious to listen to although it strays very much in to the work of fiction in my opinion but still just so wonderful to listen to.
Book 3 - The girl on the train. God awful. I liked the idea but really three women just being pathetic. Couldn't care less about any of them.
Book 4 - A monster Calls a reread. Why do I do it to myself. I love this book but I'm in bits after. Enjoyed the film but it missed some of my favourite parts espepically the tree slowly invading the house.
Book 5 - Finally read Under the skin. Loved it. Much better than the film which I wanted to like and had a feeling had a much deeperror plot than I was getting. It helped I was really cross with DH at the time so having her harvesting men rather hit my mood. Loved the Setting and her pure joy at natural world around her. Will rewatch the film and see if I get more out of it this time.
Book 6 - Rumblefish another reread as Ds2 was reading it and wanted to discuss it. I like S E Hinton a lot. The Outsiders is one of my favourites.
Book 7 - another audiobook. Wishful Drinking by Carrie Fisher. Just manages to tip toe the line between excruciating tedious and really funny. What a life! Told with humour and a huge personality that bursts out at all times.
Currently reading Book 8 - The Trouble with Goats and Sheep - so far so good.
Also book 9 - My Beautiful Friend. It's an audiobook and it is read by an American, I think, so it really jars with the setting, may give up on the audio and just borrow the book.
Book 10 will be Strange Weather in Tokyo I think.

All my books are library ones. Haven't bought a book for myself for over 3 years but I'm lucky as I have two brilliant libraries close by.

CoteDAzur · 22/02/2017 22:40

"You didn't think the ability to get across one of the central points of Anna Karenina without pages and pages of Levin waffle was a point in its favour?"

Err no. I actually enjoy reading books. If I didn't, i would have just read the three-sentence "moral of the story" and be done with it.

"I do think making a complex point in simple English is a hell of a lot harder than making it in head-melty English"

There are a zillion shades of prose between "head-melty English" and simplest possible prose written with a 100-word vocabulary and for a 7-year-old.

I was reading this stuff when I was 4. I was reading encyclopedias by the time I was 8 (not banging my drum, just how it was). There is nothing in this book that I would want to read about even as a 20-year-old, let alone as the middle-aged woman that I am.

"And you must admit that the main character felt a lot more than 'mummy good, chocolate nice'?"

No. There was no mummy or chocolate in the book, so it was more like "garden good, jumping rope nice".

Passmethecrisps · 22/02/2017 22:42

How many people here move immediately on to the next book on finishing one? Or do people leave a wee gap?

I sometimes find myself needing a wee gap of a night or so before moving on. Mostly because I can't decide what to read next.

Passmethecrisps · 22/02/2017 22:43

How many people here move immediately on to the next book on finishing one? Or do people leave a wee gap?

I sometimes find myself needing a wee gap of a night or so before moving on. Mostly because I can't decide what to read next.

CoteDAzur · 22/02/2017 22:43

I move on immediately. Why wait? Smile

Passmethecrisps · 22/02/2017 22:46

It feels odd sometimes I think. Maybe a bit disloyal?? Sometimes i like to cogitate it a bit.

I seem to have fallen into a habit of needing a day or two between.

I wish I could decide what to read next more quickly

CoteDAzur · 22/02/2017 22:48

That has only happened to me after a few singularly magnificent books, after which everything was sure to be a disappointment:

Cloud Atlas

This Thing Of Darkness

Anna Karenina

Composteleana · 22/02/2017 22:54

I'm a bit like you Passmethecrisps If it's a book I enjoyed well enough but didn't leave a massive impression then I move on fairly quickly, but if it's one that's really got under my skin then I find that if I start something else straight away then I can struggle to make the mental shift.

RemusLupinsChristmasMovie · 22/02/2017 22:58

I move on immediately. In fact, I generally have at least three on the go at once.

Composteleana · 22/02/2017 23:08

Just thought I'd copy my list here by the way, for my own reference more than anything else. Won't bother highlighting as the only one that's made a lasting impression so far is the Ali Smith.

  1. The Dark is Rising - Susan Cooper
  2. The Adventure of the Christmas Pudding - Agatha Christie
  3. Our Endless Numbered Days - Claire Fuller
  4. Love Letters of Henry V111 to Anne Boleyn (totally counting this even though it's only about 70 pages, I'll read an extra long one at some point to balance it out!)
  5. How to be Both - Ali Smith
  6. Toast - Nigel Slater
  7. A Man Called Ove - Fredrick Backman
  8. Chess - Stefan Zweig
  9. Beauvallet- Georgette Heyer
10. The Book Thief - Marcus Zusak

Working on 11. The Glorious Heresies by Lisa McInerny now - very good so far, and 12. The Story of a New Name by Elena Ferrante which I'm absolutely loving but I'm listening on audiobook and it's looooong.

Composteleana · 22/02/2017 23:11

Oh I also have Diary of a Provincial Lady on the go too, by E M Delafield. It's taken a bit of a backseat to the others but I will pick it up again at some point.

wiltingfast · 22/02/2017 23:20

I move on immediately too. I can find it hard to fully settle into the new book tho definitely.

Sorry to drag the chat down Grin but am yearning a bit after a 3000 page zombie fest Blush Am quite stuck on Margaret Drabble's pure gold baby and have been reading the very long sample instead of Margaret... anyone read pgb? Am a bit stymied as to what it is actually about. V tempted to abandon for the zombies.... hmmm

BestIsWest · 23/02/2017 06:07

I have read Pure Gold Baby but can't remember liking it much.