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50 Book Challenge 2017 Part Six

993 replies

southeastdweller · 05/06/2017 21:26

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?

OP posts:
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10
RMC123 · 11/07/2017 17:03

Maximilian I think I have read The Children's act but the fact I can't remember probably doesn't bode particularly well!!

RemusLupinsBiggestGroupie · 11/07/2017 17:09

Don't get me started on Susan Hill again!

I'm about 60% into a re-read of A Clockwork Orange. My goodness, it's good (she says, eloquently).

Sonnet · 11/07/2017 19:45

Sadik both DH and I enjoyed Child 44

Just finished book 31 Eleaner Olliphant is completely fine. I listened to this on Audio and enjoyed it. I only listen in short chunks so am never captivated by an audio book. This was just right for that purpose - a liner storyline is all I can cope with on Audio.Smile

Just realised I have 19 books lined up on my Kindle for my holiday! I have decided to make a start and I'm now reading The Sunrise by Victoria Hyslop. Hyslop has become, for me, a holiday must ever since I read 'The Island' whilst on holiday in Greece Grin
This novel is set in Famagusta in Cyprus during 1972. Typical holiday read Smile

Passmethecrisps · 11/07/2017 22:20

Dh has bought me Stardust by Neil Gaiman. I have never heard of him which surprised DH. Any opinions?

BestIsWest · 11/07/2017 22:52

Stardust was a bit too much like Enid Blyton does Tolkien for me but I'm no good with fantasy. I know others have loved it.

Passmethecrisps · 11/07/2017 22:54

Hmm. That doesn't sound too hopeful.

StitchesInTime · 11/07/2017 23:30

41. Flawed by Cecelia Ahern

So so YA novel. 17 yr old Celestine lives in a society where breaking moral rules results in being literally branded as Flawed and having to comply with various restrictions. She falls foul of this when she helps an old, sick, Flawed man to a seat on a bus, and ends up an outcast with 6 brands (she'd have been fine if she'd let him collapse and die in the aisle and tutted disapprovingly at the inconvenience).

The message about the deeply flawed nature of this society that's so keen to punish imperfections is very, very heavy handed. The moral of the story is that no one's perfect, to be human is to be flawed, and judging each other is bad.

Tarahumara · 12/07/2017 08:54

Passme I've never read Stardust but I enjoyed The Ocean at the End of the Lane which is also by Gaiman. And DS1 likes his children's books - Fortunately the Milk and Odd and the Frost Giants.

SatsukiKusakabe · 12/07/2017 11:39

I'm not a fan of Gaiman but some people LOVE him so you might be one of those Grin

Passmethecrisps · 12/07/2017 13:10

Thanks chaps. 50 pages in. Bit different from detective stories

RemusLupinsBiggestGroupie · 12/07/2017 16:55

Gaiman very overrated, imho. I really like Anansi Boys and think Coraline and The Graveyard Book are pretty good. American Gods was good until he reissued it as the 'uncut' version, which turned it into a bloated and flatulent monster. Hated The Ocean and didn't like Stardust or Neverwhere much.

Book 65
A Clockwork Orange
A re-read of this work of genius, and confirmation that my thoughts after the first reading of it were accurate. Oh my brothers, this tale of your humble narrator, Alex, his horrific behaviour and the horrors that are done to him to ‘cure’ him of this is incredible. Please, please read it, if you haven’t done so already. It’s certainly not an easy or comfortable read, but it is clever and moving and thought-provoking and what Burgess does with language fills me with awe and envy. There’s not a wasted word in it.

SatsukiKusakabe · 12/07/2017 20:49

I finished Tigers in Red Weather but I skim-read large portions of the second half of it so can't count it really. It was a glossy, frothy beach read type book, not wholly badly written, but it was too long and involved for what it was really; like it had pretensions to be more and fell short. The characters were superficial and some of the most annoying people I've met in print. So a time passer, with an element of thriller and a bit of retro glamour and distraction if you want that sort of thing, but not for me.

20. Today Will Be Different by Maria Semple

This was for me. It has very mixed reviews online so it may not be for anybody else but I really enjoyed it, liked the unlikeable main character, and found it all very funny and finely observed. A lot of people seem to be comparing it unfavourably to Where'd You Go Bernadette but I liked this one on its own merits. It is a day in the life of Eleanor Flood, a middle aged artist who is sleepwalking through life but begins every day with a promise to herself that she will do better. When her ever reliable husband suddenly goes awol she sets out to track him down and the book follows her comic misadventures to do so, interspersed with flashbacks as to how her life has been up to this point. Some of these are the weaker parts of the book, but I laughed a lot throughout and though parts of the story are exaggerated, the observational humour and insights into human behaviour and modern existence were very true to life, and sometimes poignant, and that's what I enjoyed the most. I'm seeking out her first one which I haven't read yet as I think her writing is really terrific, and so don't care too much what she's writing about to be honest. It's not the unadulterated success that Bernadette was, but I found much to like in it and will be looking forward to anything else Semple writes.

ChillieJeanie · 12/07/2017 20:56

I know what you mean about the ending of The Lie Tree, Remus. It did all seem a little rushed. From Sadik's comment it sounds like some of her others might be worth a go though.

RemusLupinsBiggestGroupie · 12/07/2017 21:04

Now reading The Bone Clocks. Veering between quite liking it and thinking it's all pretty stupid. Time will tell.

SatsukiKusakabe · 12/07/2017 21:20

Ha - I thought that about Bone Clocks too - overall I did enjoy it but it's absolutely bonkers.

SatsukiKusakabe · 12/07/2017 21:21

He's a great writer which kind of pulls you through relentlessly.

I'm about to start Rush-Oh.

BestIsWest · 12/07/2017 21:47

Remus reading The Bone Clocks! You'll hate it - or love it. I'm already looking forward to the discussion with Cote Grin

FWIW I thought it was ok but I didn't love it.

southeastdweller · 12/07/2017 22:10
  1. The Hate U Give - Angie Thomas. Inspired by the Black Lives Matter movement, this is a YA novel about a sixteen year old girl whose life is changed when she witnesses her friend being killed by a police officer. Agree with Cheerful that this was too earnest for me, but it felt good to read something different and I'd read another book of hers. An OK read but nowhere as good as what some people have said over the past few months.
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stilllovingmysleep · 12/07/2017 22:19

24 Hidden Nature by Alys Fowler

This is quite a lovely book. I've been recently reading more & more memoirs about nature, adventures...or going through a personal difficulty / transition through a particular relationship with a part of nature or a way of engaging with it. This is a gem within the genre (if you like that kind of thing).

Fowler is best known as a gardener (sometimes on TV), but in this memoir she documents her exploration of Birmingham urban canals over a year in an inflatable pack raft (ie something like a little red kayak). In the course of that year, she finds herself leaving her longlasting marriage & rediscovering her sexuality in a relationship with a woman. This is a traumatic & beautifully described transition, unexpected to her, and it is Fowler's deep and passionate relationship with nature in all its guises that saves her from despair & offers her guidance. Beautiful book.

noodlezoodle · 13/07/2017 02:04

That sounds lovely still. I think I read an excerpt from it in the Guardian a few months ago and enjoyed it. I love nature writing so this might be right up my street.

20. Last Breath by Robert Bryndza
Well. I don't quite know what to say about this one. It's the fourth in a series and I've read and enjoyed the other three, but this was not at all good. It's a police procedural, featuring Detective Erika Foster as our grouchy protagonist. I really like her as a main character - she's realistically written, particularly in the parts about policing 'office politics' and relationships with her colleagues. So far so good, and in this book the plot and the character were both still enjoyable, but my goodness it needed some serious editing. Some of the dialogue was absolutely appalling and some of it was just plain lazy. And there were bits that were so clunky that it really snagged my attention. I did wonder if it hadn't been edited but he thanks his editor in the acknowledgements so it can't be that.

I'm wondering if the others are in fact the same and it's just that I read this one with a more critical eye, or if it is in fact worse. Anyway, do not recommend and am feeling mildly peeved, particularly as it doesn't fit into any of my Popsugar challenge categories either.

Definitely feeling the need for a palate cleanser now!

greenleaves2017 · 13/07/2017 06:58

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Message withdrawn at poster's request.

Sonnet · 13/07/2017 14:21

The Semple book sounds lovely Satsuki. It sounds familiar but I know I haven't read it. Maybe a review somewhere? I'l look out for it.

SatsukiKusakabe · 13/07/2017 14:52

Sonnet I've ordered her first one - it seems that they're all kind of interlinked, set in same place (Seattle) and with some passing familiar names but different characters and directions. Semple was a writer on Arrested Development and it has a snarky sitcom feel to it but with more depth. It's grown up and witty and not "nice" - like a rom com about what happens after you meet the guy and so focuses on career and artistic life and other relationships and so on. BUT if it doesn't chime with your sense of humour you may dislike it going on Goodreads Grin

MaximilianNero · 13/07/2017 18:59

RMC Ah well, it's better than remembering it for being awful!

Currently reading The Translation of Love by Lynne Kutsukake

BestIsWest · 13/07/2017 19:07

I like the sound of the Alys Fowler book but £14 for a Kindle book Shock

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