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?

Ironically I've just looked on the library audiobooks service with that in mind and the only two of his they have are Perdido St Station and Embassytown.

Ruby in the Smoke is brilliant. A rare example of historical YA done properly.

Welcome Gregorie

I've got another Wexford to finish but then will give The City a go. Lots of challenging work stuff going on ATM - my concentration is not great so I may be a while.

Finished book 5 Ready Player One - started promisingly, liked the dystopian future and 80's references, but I'm not a gamer and didn't enjoy the descriptions of video games, epic virtual battles, robot transformers etc. Also found the ending a bit twee. Agree with the poster who thought it was more of a YA novel, will be interested to see what the film is like next year though.
Onto book 6 A Man Called Ove, read nearly half of it in one day yesterday, excellent going for me!

I read the sample of Ready Player One and I agree, liked the premise to start with but soon lost interest and didn't enjoy the writing 😕

I was more hopefull about all our lost days but about halfway in it got clichéd and I gave up
I read Karl Ove A Death in the Family: My Struggle Book 1 really enjoyed it and have samples of his other books ready in my kindle app

Currently reading Homo deus and really enjoying it 😊

59. A History of Britain in 21 Women by Jenni Murray

Reviewed upthread, this is Murray's choice of 21 women who have had an influence on British history. I really enjoyed this, as there were many people I hadn't heard of or only knew a tiny bit about. My only issue was that I listened to it on Audible read by Murray herself, and when quoting people she has a habit of doing so with a vague attempt at the appropriate accent which I found offputting.

60. You Are Awful (But I Like You) by Tim Moore

Travelogue, where Moore visits all the places that feature inBitain's worst places to live polls. He also stays in the worst hotels and eats the worst food. Occasionally the prose is a bit overblown, but he's an entertaining writer. There's a lot of focus on places from the Midlands upwards, with very little in the south of the country. Inevitably the book is critical of the places visited so you might not like this much if you come from any of them. I thought he could have made more effort to try and find the good in these places instead of focussing only on the bad.

The Virgin Suicides and Mortal Engines (this one YA) are 99p on Kindle today. Both excellent.

1. Bee Wilson, 'this is not a diet book'
2. Harry Potter & the chamber of secrets (with DC)
3. Jennifer Weiner, 'all fall down'
4. Lauren Sandler, 'one and only'
5. Rene and Goscinny, the Nicholas Book (children's book)
6. Katja Rowell, fussy eating book
7. Nicola Yoon, 'everything everything' (YA book)
8. JD Robb, 'echoes in death'
9. JD Vance, 'Hillbilly elegy'
10. Jonathan Kellerman, Heartbreak Hotel
11. Haemin Sunim, The things you can see only when you slow down
12. Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie We should all be feminists
13. Sarah A. Denzil Silent Child
14. Anna Bell The bucket list to mend a broken heart
15. Elin Hilderbrand The Rumor
16. William Styron Sophie's choice

Here I am again, after a long disappearance from the thread. I return after having read a wonderful, wonderful classic book Sophie's Choice by American writer William Styron. I imagine most of you will have already read it-- as it was written back in 1979. If you haven't read it already, and you are up to it (as it's a harrowing read) go get it now, it is truly a remarkable novel.

The story is well known but here goes. A young author from the Southern US, living in a guesthouse in Brooklyn after the second world war, meets and is drawn to a couple who live in the same guest house & have an extremely intense love affair. They are Nathan, a jewish man who suffers from what appear to be mental health difficulties (although it's unclear in much of the book what exactly his difficulties are), and Sophie, a beautiful Polish holocaust survivor. The book jumps between the 50s in Brooklyn and the experience of Sophie in Auschwitzh. I will not say more in order to experience this remarkable book on your own. I am sorry I hadn't read it earlier.

On a side note, I have previously read William Styron's memoir on his experience of depression, which is also an excellent read.

I loved The Ruby in the Smoke too. I must have been about 11/12 when I read it. I know I read the sequel, but I must hunt down the rest.

28. The Ides of April by Lindsey Davis on audiobook. This is the follow up to her brilliant Falco series, about a Roman private investigator during the time of the Emperor Vespasian. The new main character is the adopted daughter of the original PI, and has taken over his business.

I had really high hopes for this as I loved the Falco series and have long since read them all. I always felt with those that I was walking the streets of Ancient Rome. It took a long time to set the scene (12 years later and a different emperor) and build her up as a character, so it felt very slow to get going. I thought the plot was a lot weaker than usual and it was easy to guess 'whodunnit'. It was ok, but I would like to read the next one before deciding how I feel about them. It felt like a shadow of the previous series and I missed the character from that. Hopefully she gets back on fine form with the next one.

I've also been dabbling with a bit of poetry, but don't want to count it as one of my books. I read Ariel, by Sylvia Plath, but found I prefer her earlier work in Collected Poems. I'm still drifting in and out of that at the moment.

ChessieFL I listened to History in 21 Women on Audible too, and I thought Jenni Murray's narration was really good except when she was in Scotland, mispronouncing place names and putting on a Scottish accent that made me laugh out loud!
Finished book 17. A Month in the Country by J. L. Carr which I hadn't heard of until this thread and picked up on a whim when I recognised the title in the library. I struggled to get into this at times as I keep falling asleep whenever I sit still, but I don't think that has been the book's fault! I loved the setting, both the location and the time it portrays at the end of the horse-drawn, lamp-lit era. It made me think of my ancestors lives in 1920 and, in one of the themes of the book, made me nostalgic of a time I didn't live through.

YY Still Sophie's Choice is a wonderful, wonderful book. I first read it years ago before I had kids. Now that I have kids of my own, it's a book that always come back to me especially when I read fiction about that era.

I have just finished 27. Ordinary Grace by William Kent Krueger which I devoured. It's set in 1960s Minnesota and follows a summer of tragic events experienced by 13 year-old Frank Drum whose father is the town pastor. It's a story of compassion, hope, human frailties, love and death and how we deal with them, how we move forward from tragedy. It is written beautifully; simple yet descriptive with endearing characters. Superb!

I am intrigued about The City after the discussion on here so have added it to my to do list.

30 Me before You - Jo Jo Moyes - Having finally got round to reading this i am not sure what all the hype is about. Whilst, I did enjoy it I didn't love it and guessed the ending well before the end.

31 Words In her Hands - Guinevere Glasford - This is set in 17th century Netherlands and tells of the love been Helena a maid and the philosopher / mathematician Rene Descartes. This is a sad and poignant book in which the author captures so wonderfully the constraints faced by Helena and women like her in terms of class and status.

I have just started Birdcage Walk by Helen Dunmore

Going to have to put The City in The City on my to-read list. TBH, the idea of a city that's divided reminds me of Neverwhere - London Above doesn't "see" London Below - in this case it's "because magic" but also because they see them as tramps. And you can see the "tramps/beggars are invisible" effect in almost any big city every day.

Recent reads:

Cryptonomicon by Neal Stephenson. Excellent read that I have no idea how to review - but it was recommended by Cote so you can probably find an extremely detailed and brilliant review from her somewhere . Part of my difficulty in reviewing is that this was enjoyable because I liked the cryptography discussions in it, so I have no clue how well it would read if you skip them. It's basically two timelines, WW2 and 1990s, following several characters through the war, and the grandson of one of the characters through the modern part. Or, um, more recent history to younger readers. I did find the presentation of computing/mathematical thinking as exclusively a male preserve rather teeth grinding. I suspect without the cryptography stuff (there's an appendix by Bruce Schneir discussing an encryption system used in the book) I would have found that seriously detracted from the enjoyment.

EmGee, I was surprised at just how beautiful I found Ordinary Grace. I rather expected not to like it very much but was so moved. I recommend it to friends all the time.

Just added Ordinary Grace to my never ending TBR list and reserved it at the library, sounds like I would enjoy it.

Ooh, I've actually just spotted it's only 99p on kindle right now so I've splashed out rather than borrow it from the library!

The Exorcist is 99p today on the Kindle. Is it any good?

I knew you would enjoy Cryptonomicon, slightly Well, of course, the reader has to read (and not skip) the cryptography discussions in the book. What would be the point of reading such a book if one doesn't enjoy reading about math / cryptography?

I haven't reviewed Cryptonomicon on here, by the way, because I read it over a decade ago. It might be due a reread, actually.

EmGee ordinary grace sounds very good I'll add it to my to read list

Sophie's Choice - I read this many many years ago, I found it absolutely gruelling and that was way before I had children. I really don't think I could handle reading it again..

Ruby in the Smoke was so good, I just loved the characters and of course the setting. I will be saving it for my dd to read soon.

25. Right ho, Jeeves - PG Wodehouse - just needed a bit of light relief.

The Exorcist
I read it when I was about 15, pretty sure I thought it was good at the time but I cant say I remember it, worth a go

20. The Girl Who Saved Christmas Matt Haig
There are elves with names like Dimple who live in gingerbread houses and get paid in chocolate money. There are evil workhouse owners, and plucky young chimney sweeps, and if you only hope hard enough, ANYTHING can happen!
I hated this quite a lot for the first two thirds. It picked up in the last third once Father Christmas actually started doing something, but Matt Haig's relentless Hallmark Calender approach to life was still a bit much.
Only read it because it was a present.

Ladydepp yes Sophie's Choice was certainly gruelling to read because mainly of the Auschwitz material...but at the same time, it included so much humour, the characters were so vividly drawn, and it included evenyessome hope, that I wouldn't want people not to approach it because of the unbearable nature of some of it...it's a greatly worthwhile reading experience I think.

In addition to Sophie's choice as a book, I also watched the movie last night on DVD. I think I had watched it years ago (maybe when I was a child? really don't remember) but watching it now as an adult & a mother was in some ways close to unbearable. More so than the book I think. But what a performance by Meryl Streep!

Sophie's Choice - I've always avoided the book because I found the film so devastating but you've made m e want to read it now Still.