50 Book Challenge Part Five

[southeastdweller]

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

What are you reading?

The Hare with Amber Eyes by Edmind De Waal Finally finished this one aftr having it as my 'phone' book for a while. To be honest I was really disappointed with it. It is the story of 264 netsuke, small Japanese carvings which have been in the authors family since the late 19th century. The author is a member of the wealthy Jewish banking family, the Ephrussis. They were contemporaries of the Rothchilds, both in social circle, place and wealth with branches of the family across Europe. The Second world War has a predictable and devastating effect on the family and it's fortunes but some how the collection of netsuke survive. They are hidden in a mattress by the family's loyal gentile maid in Nazi occupied Vienna, and returned to the family after the war.
I should have loved this book. It was recommended to me by my MIL who loved it so much she still gives copies as gifts at least 5 years after reading it. I didn't love it. The first part of the story deals with Charles Ephrussi, wealthy art patron, collector and the first owner of the netsuke, back in 19th century Paris and to be quite honest I found it dull. It wasn't until roughly a third of the way through the book, when Charles sends the netsuke as a wedding gift to his nephew in Vienna that I became interested. Here the book is at its best. The descriptions of the family's life and wealth pre war and the dramatic turn of events in Vienna when the Nazis took power really held me. Finally I thought the book was picking up pace but then after the war, with the return of the netsuke to Japan I lost interest again. It felt to me that the real story was in those turbulent and heartbreaking war years and the rest felt like padding. Glad I have finally finished it!

That was book 45!

And Cheerful you are very welcome anytime! But i must warn you days into magical lands are fairly rare!

TheTurn, personally I like Le Carre's The Constant Gardener, but I'll admit I find some of his Cold War stuff fairly impenetrable so I may not be the right person to make recommendations.

RMC, I was bored senseless by The Hare with Amber Eyes, and it's the kind of thing I expect to like.

Finished The Romanovs. It all felt a bit too much - too many names, too much drama - and I felt that I didn't have the brain space to grapple with it properly. I won't count it as part of my total, but I did feel it rewarded even the fairly cursory attention I paid to it.

Also read The Widow, by Fiona Barton. Thriller that was being heavily touted as the new Girl on the Train last year. Fairly bog-standard. Was expecting something a bit more twisty.

I'm glad you liked The Lie EmGee! I'm reading Capital by John Lanchester now as I'm making an effort to read the poor neglected books that have been on my kindle for years, I'd been putting it off because I thought it might be a bit dry but it's really good so far.

18. Beasts and Super Beasts Saki
Short story collection I've been reading in the background for about a year, so hope it counts. I like Saki; he's a sort of horsehair PG Wodehouse, with a rather twisted sense of humour but a similar talent for one-liners. '"I must be going," said Mrs Eggelby, in a tone which had been thoroughly sterilised of even perfunctory regret.' Etc. His shorts get repetitive very quickly though - there are only so many times you can read about the upper classes inventively getting one up on each other - so I prefer him in short doses.

Tanaqui I did not. Hurrah!

Gosh. Obviously taking too long to read this book as I lost you all.

Although we are about to come to the end of The Giraffe, The Pelly and Me which I have never read before. Not sure I can really count that though.

I do enjoy seeing dd taking pleasure in proper stories now though. Many years of reading ahead.

Romanovs book is by the writer of the Stalin book that I've been reading for months and months. I'm determined to finish and count he damn thing, because I've invested so many hours in it, but I hate it.

Would love to know if any of JLC's Cold War ones are worth reading, as Spy is magnificent.

Romanovs is on my to read pile.

I love Saki Cheerful- the Clovis stories are my favourite, but the one I remember best is the one where the garden comes...and goes. This thread makes me want to do almost as many rereads as new reads!

Ooh, I don't know that one, what's it called?
Lots of his are available free on the internet.

Papillon by Henri Charrière is down to £1.99 on the Kindle. I'm pretty sure that you 50-Bookers are the reason why it's on my Amazon Wish List

20. The Pier Falls - Mark Haddon. Collection of nine short stories, some great, some average, some mind-numbingly boring. As with Curious Incident and A Spot of Bother, he's superb on family dynamics and tensions, but when he departs from this his writing just isn't compelling. Tentatively recommended, but only from your library or when heavily discounted.

Now on A Little Life and really enjoying it so far.

I just bought Barkskins by Annie Proulx for £1.99 in the weekend sale that Kindle have on, they have The God of Small Things by Arundhati Roy and The Godfather by Mario Puzo for the same price too.

I like a bit of Saki too, but I agree that he's best in small doses.

Romanovs - I don't mean to put anyone off, as the problem may lie with me rather than with the book. If you're in the mood for a long, in-depth read, this may appeal - but as Remus says, it's a slog. (It's not just about length, as I gobbled down The Strangest Family, which was a similar length but felt somehow sprightlier).

35. And then there were nuns, Jane Christmas
I wandered into a less-familiar part of the library and picked up a couple of books from the Faith section. This is an account by a Canadian woman in her mid-50s (twice divorced, three grown children, currently engaged) of spending time in Catholic and Anglican religious houses to explore whether she wants to be a nun. There's no fine writing (thank goodness) and she's prepared to poke fun at herself (a voice spoke to her from a tea towel telling her to go to Whitby). Through a previous job, I'm somewhat familiar with the environment she describes and I enjoyed this.

It's The Occasional Garden Cheerful, here:
www.eastoftheweb.com/short-stories/UBooks/OccaGard.shtml

Never occurred to me they would be online!

Bibliomania, have you read In This House of Brede?

I really enjoyed it. Fictional account of a middle aged woman who becomes a nun in a closed order.

Thanks Keith, I'll keep an eye out for it.

Thanks for the Kindle sale information Murine I've bought both The Godfather and The God of Small Things, and my 'to read' list is getting quite long now

Book 43
The Singing Sands by Josephine Tey
Another Inspector Grant novel. I didn’t like it much, I’m afraid. I still like Grant but I don’t think I like Tey!

I read the sample of Bratt Farrar, which I thought was fine, but not sure I was hooked enough to spend a fiver on it!

Here we go with books 22 -28.

22. Brilliance

23. A Better World and

24. Written in Fire by Marcus Sakey. This was a cracking trilogy and I had to read one directly after the other. These books are set in the future where a small percentage of children are born and demonstrate some extraordinary abilities that set them apart from their peers. As time goes by the gap between these ‘Brilliants’ and the rest of the population grows. The Brilliants can outthink and outsmart every else so are treated with a growing sense of unease and fear. The government, fearful of the Brilliants, implement a number of measures to try and control them but the results are catastrophic, resulting in terrorist attacks and growing social unrest. Nick Cooper is a Brilliant and a government agent sworn to protect the general population against terror but as he begins to realise that there are forces at play that are determined to completely destroy everything to achieve their own political ends. Ultimately these books were about the impact of change on society and how fear, anxiety and extremism are often the response as people try to maintain the status quo.

25. The Goblin Emperor - Kathering Addison. Maia’s father is the Elf Emperor and when he and Maia’s three brothers are killed in a airship accident, he finds that he is the legal heir to the empire. As a half goblin, he has lived his life in impoverished exile and he struggles with life in the court. This is a sweet enjoyable fantasy with great world building.

26. His Bloody Project – Graeme Macrae Burnet. This has been much reviewed on here this year so I won't go into detail but suffice it to say that I loved every single word.

27. All I Know Now: Wonderings and Reflections on Growing Up – Carrie Hope Fletcher. Listened to this as an audiobook on the school run with my teenager. Highly recommend to any teenager - or parent of a teenager.

28. Mortal Coil: Skullduggery Pleasant – Derek Landy. Fifth book in the Skullduggery Pleasant series. I read this with DS and again Valkryie, Skullduggery and the rest of the crew are battling with the forces of evil. In this instalment Remnants (evil spirits) are taking over the bodies of people and causing all sorts of havoc, distress and death. The good guys fight the good fight but in the end there are some who survive but the losses are significant. Good fun.

I have been reading Mary Beard's Pompeii for what seems like forever! It should tick all my boxes but I but I just can't seem to get into it.

I feel the same about Pompeii Grifone. I pick it up every now and then but it never engages me the way I'd hoped it would.

Books 49 and 50 The Vault and No Man's Nightingale. The very last of Ruth Rendell's Inspector Wexford books. I will miss him, he's far and away my favourite detective. Lovely man.

Going to have a re- read of some Rendell books and see if I can find any I haven't read.

18. Universal Harvester - John Darnielle

Darnielle's second novel (I read and raved about his debut, Wolf In White Van, last year) - an eerie story beginning with a video store clerk in a small Iowa town finding strange footage cut into videos, and leading down unexpected and unsettling paths.

Darnielle is a fantastic writer and reminds me of Stephen King (particularly in his obvious affection for small town America) - Remus and other King fans, I would love to know what you think of it. Not cheap on Kindle though - I got it from the library.

I absolutely love Skulduggery Pleasant and I'm counting down to June 1st. Mortal Coil is my least favourite of the lot though, I can't pinpoint anything really bad about it, it just pales in comparison to the others. Death Bringer (number 6) is the best IMHO. It's also the best one to watch other people read because it has a big twist in it which surprises nearly everyone Hope to see your review at some point Grifone

Just read it Tanaqui - thank you! You're right - that's the sort of story he does very well.

I have downloaded some Sheridan Le Fanu to try as my next background short story collection. I've never read any, but Harriet Vane likes him enough to spend most of Gaudy Night researching him, so he's probably worth reading. And he's out of copyright, so no great loss if I hate him.

55. The Bazaar of Bad Dreams by Stephen King

Collection of short stories, all with the usual macabre twists you would expect from King. Enjoyed it.

56. Local Girl Missing by Claire Douglas

Psychological thriller - twenty or so years ago a young woman went missing. Now, her remains have been found and her best friend is drawn back to their home town. The story is told partly in present day and partly in flashback and I struggled on occasion to work out who was talking and to whom. The ending used a plot device I personally don't like so probably not one I would recommend. Shame as I liked her first book, The Sisters.