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50 Book Challenge 2017 Part Four

984 replies

southeastdweller · 05/03/2017 13:59

Welcome to the fourth 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, the second one here, and the third thread here.

What are you reading?

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5
alteredimages · 30/03/2017 16:57

YY to falling asleep and the kindle smacking you in the face. That's why I never get any books finished! Have been taking it to the park lately but as soon as I get into a passage DS throws sand in another kid's face or DD shouts that she needs to pee.

Completely understand about feeling robbed of reading time if someone arrives early. Had this at the dentist's office yesterday.

Reading The Janissary Tree which was recommended on here and I am quite enjoying. I am a bit puzzled about one thing though, which is why the main character would wash his privates while washing for prayer. I love the cooking references though and the descriptions of the city. Plus the bison grass vodka, of course.

I felt really uncomfortable reading A Little Life. I don't think that I am especially squeamish, it just felt to me like voyeuristic misery porn and that as a reader I was complicit.

There is also one character who was way too good to be true and I was constantly waiting for him to be revealed as a sociopath or a paedophile or something.

CoteDAzur · 30/03/2017 17:28

"Reading The Janissary Tree which was recommended on here and I am quite enjoying. I am a bit puzzled about one thing though, which is why the main character would wash his privates while washing for prayer."

It's been a while since I read (and recommended Wink) this book so no sure when/how that happened, but it sounds like Ghusl, full ablution to be performed after sex, end of women's period, and touching a dead body. Since Yashim is a eunuch, I'm guessing that it happened after he touched a corpse?

alteredimages · 30/03/2017 17:37

It was weird Cote because it definitely wasn't ghusl, he basically made wudu' but then instead of washing his feet washed his penis instead. Hmm

"When everything was done he picked up a swan-necked ewer and very carefully washed first his hands, then his mouth, his face, his neck and, lastly, his private parts."

Then he prays. No nose, ears, hair, forearms or feet.

BestIsWest · 30/03/2017 18:25
  1. A Month In The Country - J.L.Carr What a little gem of a book. A young man, shell shocked after WWI is employed for a month under the terms of an old lady's will to uncover a mediaeval wall painting in a Yorkshire church. There, he meets another young man, also a war victim, employed to dig in the churchyard to find one of her ancestors. It's a bittersweet look at youth, happiness, love and healing. Absolutely charming. It did put me slightly in mind of Hardy but not as doom laden. I'm glad I had the paper copy rather than the kindle copy because it has the most lovely drawings and woodcuts on the cover and through the book. It made me very happy.
CheerfulMuddler · 30/03/2017 18:44

I may have said yes to a work thing that's going to mean a three and a half hour train journey there and back just for the reading time. I was all, "Do I really want to spend seven hours on a train for this?" Then went, "Hang on, seven hours alone WITHOUT CHILD. Holy crap, yes."

alteredimages · 30/03/2017 18:58

You've just reminded me that I am going away this weekend, alone, for the first time since having DCs. Five hours of kindle time on the train! Grin

MuseumOfHam · 30/03/2017 18:59

The Ann Cleeves Vera Stanhope books are on sale for 99p each on kindle just now. I'm enjoying her Shetland series very much, so am going to add to my digital TBR pile with the first of these.

Cheerful can't beat a work trip. I never fully relax though until I'm completely sure that no pesky colleagues are tagging along / getting the same train, so I don't have to give up precious reading time talking to them and pretending to work.

CheerfulMuddler · 30/03/2017 19:05

I never fully relax though until I'm completely sure that no pesky colleagues are tagging along / getting the same train, so I don't have to give up precious reading time talking to them and pretending to work.

Are you actually me?

altered I love how its not the weekend away that you're happy about but the kindle time ... Grin

MuseumOfHam · 30/03/2017 19:15

Grin I don't think I'm you, but maybe it's another sign of the 50 book thread normality standards, like the kindle hitting the face thing.

BestIsWest · 30/03/2017 19:27

People ask me how I cope with an hour and a quarter each way train commute. They are not 50 bookers.

Passmethecrisps · 30/03/2017 19:38

Every time I have a medical appointment at the moment I am secretly overjoyed at the reading time. I had a midwife appointment then whooping cough vaccine a few weeks ago and they had to do them 1.5 hours apart. It was blissful.

My 4 year old is just starting to get into chapter books and it is lovely. The only issue is that I am finding I want to keep reading. We are doing James and the Giant Peach which I have never read before so I genuinely want to keep going. Not ideal really!!

RemusLupinsChristmasMovie · 30/03/2017 20:28

Popping in to say 'Hi' before popping out to read more of the book about the history about sex and punishments about sex I got in the Kindle spring sale. I'm really enjoying it! Grin

Murine · 30/03/2017 20:56

I also bought the reduced Vera books today. I'm hoping that book 4 onwards of the Shetland series will be reduced one day soon, I've read and enjoyed books 1-3 recently in quick succession after these were reduced to 99p.

Passmethecrisps · 30/03/2017 21:09

Thanks for the Vera heads up. Never heard of this series but worth a punt given my usual reading.

Do people generally check the deals every day? I glance through my wish list every week or so but the books on their are sticking stubbornly at their prices. Mind you, almost none of them are over a fiver but I am still hanging on . . .

spinningheart · 30/03/2017 21:15

Hi all, have finished two books today and I'm not sure but I think they are 23 and 24. Anyway...

Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close by Jonathan Safran Foer. I really really did not like this. I thought it was overwritten, cloying and just not believable. Am quite disappointed as it has a very strong rating on goodreads. Not my style and I can't think of other similar books off the top of my head but I do know that whenever I encounter this style I either struggle, start talking to myself, or just give up.
Not a wonderful review... not even half a sentence on the storyline. I think i may be in the minority with my negative opinion.

The second book I finished today was The One in a Million Boy by Monica Wood. This was quite good. I'm surprised it didn't get more attention when it was first published. It's about a young boyscout who becomes friends with a 104 year old lady he is assigned to do yardwork for. We don't hear much from the boy himself, instead we learn about him through those around him - his separated parents and the elderly lady. I don't want to give away any of the story. But I liked this, there were quite a few threads throughout, particularly to do with his father Quinn who, by his own admission, is not a good father but you know is not a bad person.

Started Rules of Civility by Amor Towles this evening. Already liking it. I'm years late with this one.
I have The Mountain Story by Lori Lansens ready to go on Audible, will start that tomorrow.
I hope all of you booknerds are having a nice evening and if not, then a nice weekend ahead!

spinningheart · 30/03/2017 21:18

I check Kindle daily deals every morning, although it's rare that I buy anything. I haven't used the Kindle at all this year. I have as many library books out as possible at a time and every time I finish one I take out another. It has completely curbed my spending on books this year. Even if they are only 99p..

BestIsWest · 30/03/2017 21:27

Vera series is excellent. I'm disappointed that I've read them all.

RemusLupinsChristmasMovie · 30/03/2017 21:29

Spinning I tried reading Extremely Loud either last year or the year before. I thought it was awful, and didn't finish it.

Sadik · 30/03/2017 21:39

Best - happy to see JL Carr love on here. I had a moment of glory when an older lady in my library group was telling me about her favourite author - who no doubt I'd never have heard of - and I could tell her that not only did I love his books, but I'd even met him (he used to bring his pamphlets into the bookshop where I worked when I was a teenager) :)

Ontopofthesunset · 30/03/2017 21:46

Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close is a bit like Room in my opinion. Overwritten, unbelievable narrative in the voice of the child, but deeply emotive subject matter that encourages people to think it is a good book.

I'm reading Sapiens at the moment inspired by this thread and enjoying it very much.

BestIsWest · 30/03/2017 21:52

Sadik, which of his other books would you recommend? Are they all so lovely to look at?

Sadik · 30/03/2017 22:02

My personal favourite is "What Hetty Did", though it's one of those books that I find hard to disentangle from the time when I first read it (I was 18, around the same age as the heroine). A Day In Summer would probably be a good choice after A Month in the Country, though it's more different than the titles would suggest. I also love How Steeple Sinderby Won the FA Cup. And yes, they're all beautiful, especially if you have the editions published by his own Quince Tree Press. The little pocket books are lovely too.

Sadik · 30/03/2017 22:04

All of my JL Carr recommendations do come with the caveat that I read them first as a teenager a very large number of years ago, so I'm perhaps not the best person for an unbiased viewpoint.

BestIsWest · 30/03/2017 22:06

Just checked - it was a Quince Tree Press edition.
I'll definitely look out for more of his books.

BestIsWest · 30/03/2017 22:08

I'm going through a phase of re-reading books I first read as a teenager at the moment so they should suit me down to the ground Smile.