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.

Dh loved the name of the wind, Satsuki, and it generally does well on best fantasy book ever type charts but didn't grasp me particularly. I keep thinking I should reread it but he hasn't (and may never) finished the trilogy. Actually he has written a very funny review of the unwritten third book on Good Reads.

The ending of Big Brother really annoyed me Keith, I felt like she'd wasted my time.

I saw a film last night called Love and Friendship based loosely on Jane Austen's letters. Fans might enjoy it, it's quite arch period humour with Kate Beckinsale clearly loving her role as an anti-heroine.

Oh and on the Stephen King front, I highly recommend The Shining. I think it gets a bit overlooked as everyone knows the film so well but the book is properly scary, and quite different.
Maybe I should read Dr Sleep.

Book of The Shining = vastly superior to the film.

I'd recommend It if you want a door stop and Misery or The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon or Mr Mercedes as a starting point, if you're not a horror fan.

Stokey - Kate Beckinsale's 'Emma' is just beautiful too.

Remus - there's no overt emotion on show in No Picnic - and it's not by a first time female author (assuming I've remembered your preferences as not Cote's)!

Sparrow - I think you're right; a terrible cartoon version of Dungeons and Dragons was as far as I went.

Finally caught up with galloping thread, really interesting discussions about children's books and lots of other good stuff!

1. Wolf of the Plains by Conn Iggulden, this was a kindle deal and what a bargain. Really enjoyable historical fiction about the childhood and formative years of...Genghis Khan. This is definitely NOT my usual genre but I really enjoyed this. Great page turner and really well written. First book of 5 part saga so lots to look forward to!

Dragon I'm not averse to a bit of emotion, though admit to being a bit mistrustful of female writers (except Jane, of course).

Ladydepp - I thought Wolf of the Plains was superb, but the second was nowhere near as good. Cote- you'd like Wolf I think.

Thanks stokey. I'm into it but not sure what I think of it yet.

I like Misery. 11.22.63 is pretty good too and not horror.

Murine, Dr Sleep is not particularly scary. And having read them out of order not as creepy as The Shining, but still entertaining.

Didn't get on with Kevin and found the film disturbing.

Satsuki, my DH has love for The Name of the Wind series, haven't read them myself.

I have Wolf Of The Plains in my Kindle & tried a few pages of it before but wasn't so taken with it. I do feel like a bit of Ghenghis Khan so might give it another go after The Dark Net.

Have any of you watched the film Mongol, about his early years? It's indescribably beautiful and epic.

Will look out for Emma, Remus, thanks. I did it as an A-level text, so would love to see her interpretation.

Did Emma for A level too and it's the one JA I've never read again. Though I learned my lesson with Lord Of The Flies.

Finally caught up on the thread, so will add my update.

1. A Clash of Kings - George R. R. Martin

The second Game of Thrones book. I enjoyed this, and am impressed by the authors ability to make numerous POV's distinct and individual. I found this gripping and enjoyed it, but as always with this genre found there was too much talk of whores/brothels for me. Can't wait to continue the series though.

10 Virgins - Diana Gabaldon
A novella in the Outlander series. I have enjoyed the Outlander series, but this felt like a pointless addition. Not a lot happens, and I didn't feel that it had any great insights into the characters. Would not recommend this, even to fans.

11. The Essex Serpent - Sarah Perry Much reviewed above. I loved the atmospheric writing, and it was great to read something slower paced after my last few reads. I enjoyed the themes of friendship throughout the book, and it has left an impression.

Still reading Neurotribes and have started Don Quixote on Kindle for night feeds.

Finally finished Nicholas Pegg's The Complete David Bowie, not a biography more of a reference book that includes biographical material. Pegg looks at every song in alphabetic order, revealing anecdotes and insights into lyrics. Every album in chronological order, delving into his state of mind whilst making them and who he had around him, videos, tours, including set lists, his acting career and then miscellaneous such as painting, internet etc.
Originally I thought I'd be using it as a reference work but actually I ended up reading it from cover to cover. Pegg is obviously a fan but he doesn't sink into the trap of sycophancy too often, and will call Bowie out on his creative lapses - Tin Machine gets quite a mauling for example. It's taken an age to read not only because it's a bloody thick book but also because, the Kindle edition at least, contains no illustrations or photographs so I was constantly on Google images to see a picture of the outfit, tour, album cover etc that Pegg was describing. I was also sent scurrying off to YouTube on many occasions to look up snippets of film and videos referred to. One for the Bowie fan rather than those with a casual interest but I really enjoyed it, despite a real melancholy that this is now a finite body of work, and would like to find the best Bowie biography (that isn't a hatchet job) to read about his life in a more straight forward chronological fashion. Any recommendations gratefully received.
Now on to books 3 & 4, Les Miserables that I've had at '33% read' on my Kindle for years and really need to finish and a YA coming of age book called Submarine that was lent to me by a work colleague after I said I enjoyed the film.

Every book I've finished so far this year was by a woman. Make of that what you will. (The two I've been reading in the sidelines - Beasts and super beasts by Saki and Austerity Britain are both by men though.)

18. Lie With Me by Sabine Durrant I liked this, a clever page turner of a psychological thriller. None of the characters are very likeable, particularly the narrator, Paul, who charms and sponges his way through life, lying to everybody he meets. He succeeds in wheedling his way onto a Greek holiday with his vulnerable new girlfriend and her friends and family but it soon becomes apparent he may not be the only one not being truthful.

I'm now reading Golden Hill by Francis Spufford and very much enjoying it, and Them: Adventures with Extremists by Jon Ronson (this is actually in a trilogy of his books with two other books on my kindle but I'm counting it as three separate books!) also very enjoyable and witty.

Book 3 - Go Set A Watchman by Harper Lee. Scout has returned home on vacation. She is now in her early twenties and is living in New York. She very disillusioned with life in the South and her basic tenets, principles and everything she holds dear are brought into question.
Sadly, I was disappointed with the book - it drifted along, with some amusing observations, but I found it lacked a clear resolution.

Desdemona I absolutely love the film of Submarine but the book is awful imvho.

Oh! I hope I like it better Remus, kind of feel obligated to read Submarine because a colleague went out of her way to lend it to me. I'll give it a go!

Andrews I read that last year. I thought it was definitely a book that was her trying things out, and getting to know her characters - she knew what she was doing, not wanting it published! I enjoyed it as background to TKAM, but that's what it was.

Go set a watchman would work as the opening and closing scenes of a any To Kill a Mockingbird film remake but nothing else.

I've missed most of this, wow! Speedy. I've read:

1. The Essex Serpent - Sarah Perry. Did not get the hype to be honest. Found the language a bit over laboured. I didn't really buy the characters, and I felt like the ending was a cop out.

1. Equal Rites - Terry Pratchett. This was a re-read. Loved it as usual, though lost the thread a bit.

1. Apple Tree Yard - Louise Doughty. Really enjoyed this, haven't seen the TV show, one of my kids randomly downloaded it whilst slapping my kindle I liked the crime / court element which I don't normally go for. I like some of the nuanced feminist points that she got across quite subtly. Apparently quite different to the TV show, might track it down.

22 The Complete Guide to Beekeeping by Jeremy Evans / Sheila Berrett

Teenage DD & I are currently going to beekeeping evening classes & planning to set up our own hive later in the spring. This is a re-read from when I last kept bees 20+ years ago, and it is all gradually coming back. I need to get a more up to date book as disease problems (and no doubt treatments) have changed, but this one is very good and clear on the basics. It was also quite a pleasing read as a lot of the pages are a little sticky and smell nicely of honey & wax

24. Last Train to Memphis -Peter Guralnick . A very detailed account of Elvis Presley's rise to fame, ending at the point he goes into the army. Left me feeling very sad really. Incredibly successful, incredibly lonely young man. Didn't truly appreciate how much he was hung out to dry by his manager. Truly from 1956 to 1958 he was followed pretty much constantly by reporters, even allowed up to Graceland in the hours after his mother's death. The army is seen as the watershed moment, but actually this book makes it very clear that his mother was his anchor and after her death things begin to go awry. Very dense book, took a surprising amount of digesting. Have the second volume Careless Love which runs up to his death, even thicker . Think I need to read something lighter first

1. The God of Small Things, Arundhati Roy - It was... ok. There was some beautiful imagery, and a lot of the character descriptions were wonderful (I particularly enjoyed Baby Kochamma's back story). However, overall, the language was a too flowery for my tastes, and the constant repetition of certain lines got a bit wearing after a while.

I think I might read Rebecca (Daphne Du Maurier) next. It's been on my to-read list for forever.