50 Book Challenge 2017 Part Six

[southeastdweller]

Welcome to the sixth 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, the fourth one here, and the fifth one here.

What are you reading?

Yet another reason to dislike her! Her Christianity definitely came out strongly in the book. Each to their own, of course, but it is possible to be a Christian and not a self-aggrandising pain, and I'm not sure she managed the latter.

Congratulations Passmethecrisps :)

42. Sweets of Pimlico, AN Wilson

I was inspired, mainly by this thread, to widen my reading a little and pick up something that was neither a classic nor a recent (last 10 years) publication. I'm going to include some spoilers here so look away if you intend to read this.

I haven't read any AN Wilson before. This was described in the blurb as a "comedy of manners", which usually means posh people behaving in strange ways. From that perspective, it didn't disappoint. Evelyn is a posh girl who has recently split up with her boyfriend, and occupies her time reading books about entomology. As she wanders round London looking at beetles, she befriends a much older man, with whom she forms a bizarre semi-sexual friendship. He introduces her to another man, who makes a pass at her, then turns out to be a gay lover of her pretty younger brother, with whom she then has sex (the brother, not the man). It's all really very weird and seemingly obsessed with class and sex - I don't know whether it is just dated now or if AN Wilson deliberately made all of the characters so odd.

43. Eligible, Curtis Sittenfeld

Interesting to see this mentioned a few posts up :) Easy to read and entertaining. I enjoyed some of Sittenfeld's P&P jokes - I loved Bingley being the star of a version of "The Batchelor", and the crossfit-obsessed, carb-eschewing Lydia and Kitty. Overall I was a bit disappointed, as it had little substance, and doesn't IMHO compare either to the Austen original, or to Sittenfeld's own other books.

I loved Woman in Black. But everything else I have read by Susan Hill has been pretty mediocre. I was going to try Howard's End on the Landing, but my MIL warned me off it. Pretty much for all the same reasons identified here!

Congratulations Passme!

Congratulations passme for the sleep thief!!!

Right. Book number 20 I read was The Breakdown by BA Paris

Run of the mill psychological thriller. A woman is murdered on a quiet road during a stormy night. The female protagonist happens to drive past the stationed car of the murdered woman during the storm & doesn't stop. When she finds out this woman had been murdered she becomes obsessed with this murder and starts feeling she's slowly going mad & maybe is getting early onset dementia.

A really forgettable read as far as psychological thrillers go & a predictable ending. Waste of time really, not recommended. Wonder if others read it and felt differently to me?

38. Emma's Baby - Abbie Taylor

Another library book from my Amazon wishlist. Still saving money not buying books but don't seem to be working on my already purchased TBR pile...

This book is about a mother who's son gets left on the tube. A nice woman agrees to get off at the next stop with him and meet them. But when her son is kidnapped no one believes her. With signs of her not coping well beforehand the police are struggling to believe her story and she must find her son herself.

This was an okay plot but could have been much better.. I wasn't fantastically impressed with the reasoning behind things or sure why some people were given so much attention to not be important at all.

I have another couple of library books to take me to Friday when I am dying to purchase The Handmaid's Tale.

Congratulations passme . coincidentally I have also just finished...

33. The Crow Trap by Ann Cleeves First Vera book. I really enjoyed this and will continue with the series. She is so good at setting up her characters' back stories, motivations and complex relationships. Also great at setting a sense of place and season, although this didn't strike me quite as dramatically as in the Shetland books (though Shetland's such a unique place, so maybe not a fair comparison). There was a lot to keep in mind, with the point of view shifting between characters, a cast of thousands, and no strong central anchor point, as Vera herself isn't actually in it that much. Worth the effort though.

Oooh, I fancy the Shetland books, Museum. I've got family up there and both my parents grew up there but I've only been once.

24. To the Edge of the World Julia Green
Two children sail a dinghy from the Outer Hebrides to St Kilda. Quiet, rather lovely children's book with strong shades of Arthur Ransome. Had never heard of St Kilda before, so loved reading about that. Not out until next year.

61. Ancient wonderings : a tale of obsessions with prehistoric Britain
James Canton
Author moseys around ancient monuments with a Thermos of tea, musing about people in the past. This particular one isn't a great example of the genre, as he isn't either as poetic or profound as he fondly imagines himself to be, but I am well-disposed to this type of book, so rather liked it anyway.

62. Adrift : a secret life of London's waterways by Helen Babbs
I liked her account of life on the canal boat, although my appetite for information about urban regeneration projects and canal history turns out to be quickly satiated. Some parts are delightful, some skippable, at least to me.

21. The Magic-Weaving Business by Sir John Jones
I read this for work, 'the magic-weaving business' is teaching and I'd recommend this to other teachers. It combines some theory with lots of anecdotes and some practical approaches to try. Really inspiring in parts, takes you back to what teaching is/should be about.
22. The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald
American classic novel, reading this was a joy. The language was unlike anything I've read recently. It seemed so rich, so dense. I loved it. If you use Audible, you can hear this read by Jake Gyllenhall and he has an amazing voice!
23. Black Box Thinking by Matthew Syed
Non-fiction about the importance of learning from failure. The title refers to the aviation industry which is cited as an example of good practice, where near misses and accidents are recorded and studied in great detail in order to find every potential improvement that can be made to the systems involved. In many other areas, particularly in public life, attitudes are very different. The topic is fascinating, and the book gives lots of interesting examples. I've already found myself thinking slightly differently about aspects of my work and even things I've seen on the news - how often do we hear politicians say 'lessons must be learned', but are they? I found the book a bit of a slog, however, and I've been trying to figure out why. Some of the examples from criminal justice included details of crimes that I wish I'd never heard about, and there's some theoretical concepts that scrambled my brain a bit, but mostly I think it was just overly repetitive as the author laboured his point.
Next up, Better than Before by Gretchen Rubin and The Lewis Man by Peter May

32. Boy Made of Blocks by Keith Stuart, about Alex, his wife Jody and their autistic son Sam. I thought this was quite good. In terms of style and plot it was basically decent chick lit - which is fine, I like a bit of chick lit - but from the reviews I was expecting something a little more deep and meaningful.

Passme Huge congratulations

Interesting to read other posters views about The Circle. We all seem to have similar thoughts about it.

Clueless I really liked Suite Francais so hopefully you will enjoy the Nightingale too. I would also recommend Charlotte Gray.

50 The Power - Naomi Alderman - Much reviewed on this thread already. A thought provoking read and interesting read. Whilst I enjoyed it I didn't love it.

I have almost finished We Are All Completely Beside Ourselves and so far not living up to the hype. I am finding the narrator far too irritating. Will preserve until the end though.

When I joined this thread my aim was to read more than previously. I never expected to manage to read 50 books in a year so I am amazed that I managed to get to this figure in half a year.

44. The Couple Next Door by Shari Lapena

This had a decent suspenseful set-up but then kind of meandered off and the ending was disappointing. Sad use of mental health issues as well :( Last point aside, it was a decent enough page turner, easy to read - poolside reading really.

Cluelessmama I will be interested to see what you think of Better Than Before by Gretchen Rubin. I found it quite helpful & I also listen to her podcast weeply (called Happier). Have you read her book Happiness project?

Matilda definitely read The Handmaid's Tale.

Stillloving I felt the same as you about The Break Down.

89. The Girlfriend by Michelle Francis

A man's girlfriend and mother compete for his attention. All the characters are unlikeable and behave badly so you don't root for one over the other. Ending was predictable. Another one that's good as a quick poolside read!

90. Bridget Jones's Baby by Helen Fielding

Not as good as the original but much better than Mad About The Boy. Quite funny and only just over 200 pages so quick to read.

40. Jamaica Inn by Daphne Du Maurier

After the death of her mother, Mary Yellan goes to live with her aunt Patience and her brutal husband Joss Merlyn at the lonely and isolated Jamaica Inn. It soon becomes clear why people avoid the place - he and his sinister clientele are smugglers and worse. Determined to rescue her aunt and herself, Mary finds herself getting way out of her depth.

I read Rebecca many years ago and thoroughly enjoyed it. This one didn't really do a lot for me. Aside from anything else, I found it quite predictable and so ended up thinking Mary is an idiot for not seeing the obvious.

55 The Demon's Lexicon by Sarah Rees Brennan
YA urban fantasy (I think recommended to me by a 50 booker last year). Relatively slight, but I liked the worldbuilding, and will read the next one when I'm in the mood for something light.

ATM I've also got on the go Do Not Say We Have Nothing (very good so far, but definitely needs concentration, so not one for when I'm flopped on the sofa knackered), have returned to Quantum: A Guide for the Perplexed on audio (really enjoying it, sadly only a chapter left), and just bought Children of Time on a cheap kindle deal to have on my phone.

41. Llewellyn's 2017 Witches' Companion

A collection of articles on witchcraft and paganism in modern living, including such subjects as pagans and mental illness, music for ritual and magic, personal healing, living pagan at work, the place of thoughts and emotions in witchcraft, and much else. Always interesting.

69. A Dangerous Inheritance- Alison Weir I seem to remember this has had some fairly scathing reviews on here in the past. However having read Alison Weir in the past I thought I would give it a go. Pretty dreadful. The stories of two Tudor woman , eighty years apart told in parallel. Very thin attempts to link the stories which were tenuous at best. Neither story in its own right was fleshy enough for a novel, so guess that's why she put them together. Not a success.

27. The Snow Leopard - Peter Matthiessen

In 1973 Matthiessen set out with the naturalist George Schaffer into the Himalayas in search of the elusive snow leopard. But it was also an inner journey for Matthiessen, who wished to find peace and enlightenment after the death of his wife. This is his account of the journey, filled with stunning descriptions of the landscape, people, and wildlife they encountered, but also very personal and influenced heavily by his fascination with Buddhism. Highly recommended - Remus have you read this one?

Robin Hobb's Tawny Man trilogy
98. Fool's Errand
99. The Golden Fool
100. Fool's Fate

I do feel like Robin Hobb is at her best in these. Back to Fitz and the Fool, Chade, Kettricken, Burrich etc, back to Buckkeep and the familiar locations. Cracking good story, even if it does slow down a bit in book 2. I still think Molly gets zero character development and therefore I find her dull - she's just the object of Fitz's longing and no more. He and Burrich decide her life for her and that's that. Love the Fool, though!

We had Jamaica Inn played to us at school as a bed time story aged about 11 Chillie - 80s boarding school life - we were all terrifed.

I wonder if they're going to give the Handmaid's Tale more of an ending in the TV series Chessie? They've already given her a name.

I'm having a bad run of books at the moment. Have failed to finish the last two I started - The Atrocity Archives & Elizabeth is Missing - as just got too bored by them. But have managed to finish

36. The Terrible Privacy of Maxwell Sim - Jonathan Coe. This was a struggle too though, a dull everyman protagonist with no redeeming features, depressed, embarks on an ostensible sales trip to Shetland. There are glimpses of Coe's satire - the motorway service stations, the relationship he forms with his Satnav - she doesn't judge - but on the whole it's a slog. And the post-modern ending just annoyed me.

List so far (Highlights in bold, low points in italics)

1. The Wolf and The Raven - Steven MacKay

2.The Hobbit - JRRR Tolkien (Audible)

1. Greenwitch - Susan Cooper

4.Child 44 - Tom Robb Smith 5.Fellowship of the Ring - JRRR Tolkien (Audible) 6.Into the Heart of Borneo - Redmond O'Hanlan 7.The No1 Ladies Detective agency 8.The Two Towers - JRRR Tolkien (Audible)

1. Crosstalk - Connie Willis (Audible)

10. The Forest - Edward Rutherfurd 11.Tom’s Midnight Garden - Philippa Pearce 12.1066 - Kaye Jones (Audible) 13.The Reformation - Edward Gosselin (Audible) 14.The Return of the King - JRRR Tolkien (Audible) 15. Lion by Saroo Brierley (for Bookclub) 16. The Muse by Jessie Burton (on Audible) 17. Henry VIII's wives - Julie Wheeler 18. A Wizard of Earthsea by Ursula de Guin 19. Fall of Giants by Ken Follet 20. Stig of the Dump by Clive King 21. Edward I - A Great and Terrible King by Marc Morris 22. Nomad by Alan partridge (on Audible) 23. Saigon by Anthony Grey. 24: Charlotte's Web by EB White 25: Behind Closed Doors by BA Paris. 26: The Light Years (The Cazalets 1) (Audible) 27: The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Attwood 28: Empire of the Sun by CG Ballard. (Audible) 29: A Place Called Winter - by Patrick Gale. 30: The Winter King by Bernard Cornwell (#1 of the Arthur Warlord series) on Audible 31: Enemy of God by Bernard Cornwell (#2 of the Arthur Warlord series) on Audible 32: Excalibur by Bernard Cornwell (#3 of the Arthur Warlord series) on Audible 33: The Gunpowder plot by Sinead Fitzgibbon (Audible)

34: The Ginger Tree by Oswald Wynd
The story of a young Scottish woman in the early 1900s who travels to China to get married to a British Consular official. She ends up in a pretty loveless marriage and ends up having an affair with a Japanese nobleman and gets pregnant. She is thrown out by her husband and ends up living in Japan when the country was largely closed to foreigners. Her baby is taken from her to be adopted by a "decent" japanese family. It follows her life up to the bombing of Pearl Harbour in 1942(?).
It's a good story, but I got a bit frustrated in the way it was written - in the form of letters to her mother and later her friend, and the diary that she keeps. Therefore I felt it was all a bit flat, no dialogue, everything was described from a distance as it were. But a good read.

I feel I should like Robin Hobb, I generally like fantasy, but I read the first Assassin one (Assassin's Apprentice?) and it didn't grab me. Maybe I should try again