50 Book Challenge 2017 Part Four

[southeastdweller]

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?

Thank you for the warning, Lady. I'll keep clear of FF's other books.

You might want to stay away from The Odessa File yourself. I doubt if you will continue to love it if you read it again, after 25 years.

12. Bridget Jones's Baby by Helen Fielding

Bridget Jones sleeps with the steadfast Mark Darcy and dashing cad Daniel Cleaver within 2 days of each other, and gets pregnant. But which one is the father?

A very light, fast read. Suspension of disbelief a must in order to enjoy this book. Darcy and Cleaver seem remarkably unfazed by the whole situation, and continue competing for Bridget's attention. Bridget gives birth within 3 hours of having the first contraction. And they've got the results of the paternity test before she's even left the delivery room.

@stitches How similar is it to the baby columns published in 2006?

I have just finished Dept of Speculation and thought it was interesting writing, poetic quality if that doesn't sound too pretentious.
Now reading Little big lies fab lightweight frothy akin to desperate housewives in book form!

Gin no idea. I never read any of the Bridget Jones columns in the newspapers, just the novelised books.

Although I never got around to reading Mad About The Boy.

Gin, from memory it's fairly different to the BJ pregnancy story as it appeared in the columns, although I'd be hard-pressed to give specifics after this much time.

Not been around recently as work has been a bit full on but now things are a bit quieter again I have not got a bit of time for an update.

16 - Belgravia by Julian Fellowes - This starts on the Eve of Waterloo in Belgium and quickly flicks forward to 1840's Belgravia and the connection between an aristocratic family and one from the nouveau riche. This started with so much promise but I found the majority of the book a bit of slog before it became interesting again at the end.

17 - The Mother by Yvette Edwards - I chose this on impulse from the library and whilst in many ways not an easy read I am so glad that I did. It is the fictional story of Marcia who is attending the trial of the boy who is accused of her son's murder. Her son was not the type of boy to be mixed up with gangs etc and it becomes painfully clear that he fancied the wrong girl. This book dealt really well with the parents grief and how this had affected them individually and a couple. I also felt like it was a look into a world which feels such alien to my own. I would recommend.

18 - The Vanishing Act of Esme Lennox - Maggie O'Farrell - Iris has no knowledge of her great Aunt Esme. This all changes when Iris receives a letter to say that Esme is to be released from her long term psychiatric care. Flicking between the 1930's and the present day this book unravels the events that led to Esme being locked away and being removed from the family history. I loved this book and read it in a few days. I am looking forward to reading more by the same author.

19 - The Black Water LIllies - Michael Bussi - I don't want to say too much about this book because I wouldn't want to spoil it for anybody else who is likely to read it. Just to say it is set in Giverny the home of Jean Claude Monet. It starts with one murder and 13 days later ends with another. This book has a very clever plot which is executed well. However the author did have an annoying habit of ending most of the 80 something chapters with a cliff hanger.

Now reading 1984 - George Orwell - Although written 70 odd years ago it is chilling at how much of this is still relevant today.

Will now try and catch up with the rest of the thread.

Thanks Cheerful and Grifone, couple of nice non-fiction books to add to my TBR ( Prisoners of Geography and NutureShock). In a similar vein to the latter, I have been looking out for a copy of The Game Theorist's Guide to Parenting by Paul Raeburn and Kevin Zollman; read an extract somewhere and found it very interesting.

20. The Accident, Ismail Kadare

This is a book for people who like strange dream-like story-telling where you are never quite sure whether things are actually happening and, indeed, whether the characters are actually real or not. Sadly, that's not me. I went into this book with very high hopes (much lauded literary thriller set against a background of European politics and the aftermath of the Balkan war. The story cleverly pulls together diverse threads from Albanian legend, Greek myths, Don Quixote. Sadly, though, I found the book to be written so opaquely that it was almost unreadable. Kadare deliberately prevents the reader from understanding what has happened or is happening.

I was also extremely irritated by the way he wrote about the female protagonist, both her weird expanding breasts (which "grow" and "smoothen" when she meets her lover - WTF?) and her mysterious foofoo, which apparently is a dark cave where the normal rules of life do not apply.... Seriously?! By the end of the book you realise that she's maybe more a symbolic character than a real one; however, I would have thrown it across the room in frustration long before that had it not been for the gushing blurb telling me what an amazing writer Kadare is.

I can't write as amusingly as the rest of you about books I hated. Suffice to say, therefore, that I hated this one.

Keith, I read The Ghost Rider by Ismail Kadare a few years ago. I can relate to your review and I usually enjoy slightly magical, mythical tales. Suffice to say it didn't tempt me to pick up another book by this author.

I'm currently ploughing my way through Pillars of the Earth and a non-fiction title called It Didn't Start With You. The latter includes some exercises to do so it is taking longer than normal to get through.

"both her weird expanding breasts (which "grow" and "smoothen" when she meets her lover - WTF?) and her mysterious foofoo"

May I say again that I luff you lot

The Game Theorist's Guide to Parenting Another book I now want to read based entirely on the title.

I do not luff you lot. My to-read shelf was overloaded enough before I joined this thread!

18. Do No Harm - Henry Marsh
Thoroughly enjoyed reading this book and learning about a speciality I knew not very much about. Yes at times as previously mentioned he sounds very aware of his own importance but he also seems to realise that this is due to the way that patients etc view him as a "godlike" figure who can perform miracles. Also enjoyed his insight into how illness and disease can strike anyone, even doctors.

19. Silent Child - Sarah A Denzil

This was a 99p kindle buy and I thoroughly enjoyed it. Emma's son went missing from school ten years previously. His jacket was found in the river and, although a body was never found, it was presumed he has drowned. Ten years on she has built a new life with a new job, new husband and a baby on the way.. until her son appears wandering out of the woods and silent.

I had a few ideas at roughly what was going to be involved but I enjoyed the read and following the twists and turns.

LadyDepp I'm currently reading Imperium by Robert Harris. Anyone read it?

I did over new year and did all 3 in a row. I enjoyed them, but found the second a bit of a chore compared to the other two, so if you are not that bothered with Imperium then I wouldn't continue the series.

I have abandoned yet more books and have now started Isabel Allende's The Japanese Lover. Deliberately chosen as an easy read. It's the first of hers I've read in English translation, I've always read her in Spanish before, so it will be interesting to see if her style comes over the same. I'm still mad busy at work and dealing with the house move so physically and emotionally exhausted.

I was enjoying The Bonesetter's Daughter by Amy Tan, but some perfectly reasonable really annoying person requested it at the library, so I had to take it back before I was done. To Rise Again at a Decent Hour started to get a bit too god-dy for my liking, so I let it go.

Laughing along at some of the reviews here and keeping up with the thread. I will admit to having read all of the Dan Brown books and feel if you haven't read the non- Robert Langdon ones then you are missing a treat. It is possible for his work to get worse than The Da Vinci Code, but it has to be seen to be believed. Who publishes this turgid tripe and where do I get my contract?

Can't remember offhand who said that they found the Do No Harm writer a bit of an arrogant tosser, but I agree.

13 Marry in Haste by Jane Aiken Hodge
14 Appletree Yard
15 His Bloody Project
16 Rock Courtship by Nalini Singh
17 Rock Hard by Nalini Singh
18 Woman in Black by Susan Hill
19 4-50 from Paddington by Agatha Christie

Just back from holiday,enjoyed all of these but in particular His Bloody Project and the Agatha Christie

35. Sovereign Still loving the Shardlake series and absolutely wallowing in them. Although I have to say I did guess the villain of the piece in this one. On to the next. Keep thinking maybe I should savour them and read something else in between but I just too greedy!

30 LIon by Saroo Brierley
Reviewed upthread by fatowl. Saroo Brierley was born in India, and then adopted by an Australian couple - this is the story of his early life, how he came to be adopted, and his search for his birth family. A really good read - I bought it having watched the film, as I was interested to see how closely it had kept to the original story, and would definitely recommend both.

I didn't think Do No Harm's author was an arrogant tosser. It thought he was a pointless navel gazer. "Ooh look at me. I'm touching someone's thoughts..." etc etc

YY Cote, I'm with you. Very different to Being Mortal, where the author was always considering how we as individuals and as a society could usefully make changes either in our attitudes or actions.

Speaking of arrogant tossers (admire segue), am currently reading Paul Theroux, The Last Train to Zona Verde

This is a travel writer I love to hate (I don't read his fiction). Every other visitor to Africa is a slack-jawed tourist or a self-satisfied do-gooder, while he alone is humble and intrepid and can See the Truth. He has a lousy time - Namibia sounds interesting but he absolutely hates Angola. His credit card is ripped off and I'm just coming up to the part where he jacks it in and goes home early, which is rather refreshing to read in a travel narrative.

Also read The Woman in Cabin 10 by Ruth Ware. It's a fairly blatant rip-off of The Girl on the Train (oh noes, can our heroine be an Unreliable Narrator?) and Agatha Christie (here is your cast of suspicious characters. Spot my sleight of hand and work out whodunit!). But I was in the mood for something along these lines so it scratched the itch.

biblio, I'm oddly fond of Paul Theroux, both his travel writing and his novels. I'm waiting for his travel book on the deep south of the USA to drop in price. I can't really articulate why I like him though! I think the Mosquito Coast is an excellent novel that says a lot about the state of American society/masculinity and I am due a re-read soon.

Massively on the go-slow at the moment. Have read:
29. My Week With Marilyn - Colin Clark
I really enjoyed this book which consists of the diary of Colin Clarke, third assistant director on the set of the film The Prince and the Showgirl with Laurence Olivier, an account he wrote about one of the weeks filming that he spent with Marilyn Monroe and a letter to friend explaining why he didn't write about his week with Marilyn in his diary initially (afraid of the fall-out if it became known).
This was fascinating because not only does it give a real insight into the process of film studios, it's somehow rather enthralling to read about Monroe and Olivier from the point of view of someone who had to work for both of them. It's all too easy to see how Marilyn really never stood a chance - very sad.

30. Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them (Screenplay) - J.K Rowling
I'm not really sure why I read this. I'm not even a Harry Potter fan but it was an ebook from the library so I borrowed it. I actually quite enjoyed reading a screenplay and forming my own interpretation of how it might all look. I will watch the film but I suspect it's CGI-tastic and not that good really... Apologies if I'm wrong though.

14. A Little Life - Hanya Yanagihara

So, I did take the plunge and read A Little Life. To be frank, while I was reluctant, I was intrigued by the comments on this thread and I wanted to make my own mind up.

Well, I didn't like it. No, wait, it is actually a good book, and the writing is complex and yet accessible - I especially liked how she never really wrote out a description of the characters but let us build them in our heads as the story progressed. It was also interesting how the viewpoints in various chapters changed but the author didn't point out whose head we were in - we had to work it out by clues. Frankly though, I found that annoying sometimes. I had to read and re-read some chapters just to figure out who the blazes the narrator was.

HOWEVER, I did not like the experience of reading it. The life of the central character made me feel miserable. It was like a tiny little ball of darkness was inserted into my soul while reading this book. I felt like a voyeur and I hated myself for feeling like that and still continuing. I raced through the book because I wanted to be rid of it. The climax is supposed to be desperately sad, but instead I felt ecstatic that the book was over! I think my exact words were, "Thank fuck that's over".

Thanks for that vivid review, Poetic. Not sure I fancy darkness being inserted into my soul at this point in time.

whippet, Paul Theroux does keep me turning the pages, even if I'm muttering under my breath about him. He's just so up himself while being all faux humble. I saw his book about the Deep South in the library, but his phonetic representation of speech annoyed me and I put it back. Might give it a go when I feel in need of a good vent.

at the Paul Theroux hate. I didn't realise he provoked anything more than a mild hmmmm. I enjoy his books but they don't set my world on fire. He's....what Dairy Milk is to chocolate

If you really want to see Paul Theroux spleen, I recommend this hatchet job - "the final sub-Conradian wreckage of [the travel] genre".

at that review.
Thanks biblio for that, especially because it made me realise it's Louis Theroux whose work I enjoy, not Paul

Loved the phrase "out-Naipauls both Naipauls"