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?

Murine - I enjoyed listening to the Moth Catcher on audio, Vera is a great character. If I didn't have the world's biggest TBR pile (kindle and real) then I could definitely get stuck into some more Ann Cleeves books.

Cote - the Forsyth sounds great. I will add it to my enormous list. I think I have already revealed that I believe Day of the Jackal is one of the great books of the 20th century.

The FF autobiog sounds great, Cote - another one for the TBR list :)

I'm not sure when it started but there's a very good kindle sale on at the moment. I bought The Bone Clocks, I'm a bit scared

Just stopping by as you dropped off my list. Almost finished Stardust. I am enjoying it actually.

38. Summer Knight (Book 4 of the Dresden Files) by Jim Butcher.

Wizards, fairies, goblins and a blast from the past for Harry Dresden. Quite good fun.

39. Jonathan Strange and Mr.Norrell by Susanna Clarke.

I don't think this needs any introduction. Suffice to say I very much enjoyed it. I didn't LOVE it but I wonder if that's because I saw the TV series first, which stayed true to the story. Characters great, writing lovely and I looked forward to reading it every night.

I also added the Forsyth book to my extensive tbr pile. 😱😊

Just stopping by to say 'Hello'. Currently struggling with 'The Romanovs'. This is real stop/ start affair for me. I've made my classic and oft repeated mistake of taking on a heavy book at a crazy busy time in RL. Taking me back to my 'Middlemarch whilst being induced' incident. Trudging on, I will not be beaten!

31. The Subtle Art of Not Giving a Fck: A Counterintuitive Approach to Living a Good Life* - Mark Manson. Self-help book about learning to embrace negativity and not being unique, this was way too long and should have been a magazine article. The borderline aggressive tone was also annoying and meant it took me a couple of months to finish the book, on and off.

32. A Manual for Heartache - Cathy Rentzenbrink. This is partly a follow-up book to The Last Act of Love but mainly it's a self-help book for people going through painful times. It was OK but I felt that much of what was in here was said already by Matt Haig in Reasons to Stay Alive.

36. My Cousin Rachel - Daphne DuMaurier Not seen the film, but thought I probably will at some point (wait for streaming though) so I'd read the book first. Very much what you'd expect from DuMaurier and I liked the way it kept you guessing, and I liked the character of Rachel. Seriously disliked the narrator- I think maybe that was the point??? But his pomposity and obstinate obliviousness made for tedious reading at times.

I must have started my Cousin Rachel half a dozen times and never got last the first chapter. Worth persisting then? I usually love Du Maurier.

30. Stardust - Neil Gaiman

In a lovelorn moment, Tristran Thorne promises to retrieve a fallen star for the beautiful Victoria Forrester. In order to do this he leaves the normality of the Victorian town of Wall and enters Faerie where he embarks upon an adventure which includes mystical creatures and dangerous foes.

It was ok. Nice. Easy to read at 4am. It felt a bit young adulty - which is not a criticism.

Think I might get back to Vera Blake. I have a couple of Denise Mina books I bought for £1 but I think they will be hard to read one handed so kindle it is.

And I forgot to mention - is anyone else put off by book group questions at the back of books? I find them irritating and it reminds me of the worst of English lessons at school. And I say that as someone who loved English. It's just the very contrived questions and the sense of "let's all sit and ponder this together". They read like essay topics for the Higher English exam

passme yes I had those in one recently and ignored. So weird and almost makes the book in question seem more lightweight. I wouldn't have thought adults needed
prompts for discussion (in a non-educational setting) We manage to argue ourselves hoarse on here without any agenda

24. Moving by Jenny Eclair Elderly widow Edwina is moving from the house she's lived in for fifty years. As she gets ready to leave, the story of her time there unfolds, different memories prompted by each room of the house. Later we hear the story from the different perspectives of her stepson, and her own son's girlfriend.

The story was a little predictable, but pacey enough to keep interest, and I think Eclair writes well.

passme, yes, I feel quite patronised by the cheery "Now discuss!" thing.

Have decided that Black Lamb, Grey Falcon will join Tristam Shandy and The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire on the shelf of "Books I love the idea of reading, but will have to wait for the right occasion. Possibly circumnavigation of the globe by tramp steamer. Or travelling to another galaxy if they haven't sorted out the hibernation option".

103. Five Red Herrings, Dorothy L Sayers. I must have read this about 6 times now and there's something in it that just really appeals to me. Objectively it's not as good/thrilling as Gaudy Night but somehow it's Five Red Herrings that I go to for comfort reading on a hungover Saturday. I think it's the Scottish brogue and the endless train times that just wash over you. (Am still loving Middlemarch but my brain was hurting too much to focus on it on Saturday and once I was into FRH I wanted to finish it.)

"is anyone else put off by book group questions at the back of books?"

Very much so. I didn't know that was a thing until I was made to read several specimens of faux-profound "women's fiction" in our book club.

They have started sticking them in the back of new editions of modern classics and popular literary fiction too.

74. Wexford Short Stories
75. From Doon With Death - Ruth Rendell

Finally finished the Inspector Wexford series of detective novels. I've loved almost every word. You have to suspend belief towards the end as Wexford would have been 114 by the time of his last case but Rendell herself said that she never realised there would be more than one book when she wrote the first about a 55 year old detective. I love the way she entwines literature and social history with psychology and good old fashioned murder. George Baker who played Wexford on TV looks very much like my Dad so I've always had a soft spot for him for that reason alone. Lovely Wexford. I shall miss him.

76. Sunday Morning Coming Down - Nicci French

Last ( I hope) in the 7 book series about psychoanalyst Frieda Klein. there's an overarching storyline across the series which I felt didn't conclude properly and by the end I'd come to really dislike Klein. Disappointing.

62 The Ruby in the Smoke by Phillip Pullman, listened to on audio.
Pastiche Victorian melodrama. Fine for an easy listen while working (especially as I got it from the library audio selection), but I didn't think this was anything special.

I'm not entirely sure of the intended audience. Really it feels like a children's book, with pantomime villains, good hearted messenger boys and a riproaring yarn type plot. The amount of violence and the fact that the plot centres around opium smoking would make it pretty unsuitable for primary age kids though, so I imagine it's meant to be a YA novel.

I'll probably listen to the sequel, but only because it's also available free from the library and I haven't decided on my next Audible purchase.

And I agree, questions at the back of the book are definitely a major turn off for me - would tend to put back something I picked up if I saw them.

I really like the Pullman series, Sadik. I think they strike a good balance of darkness and good humour. I challenge you to read The Shadow in the North without a tear or three.

My niece is 10 and has ploughed through the Harry Potters and I was wondering when the best age is for the Pullman trilogies? Would Dark Materials be better first than the Victorian ones? Quite tempted to read those myself now, sadik.

I think the Sally L books are much more accessible than the Dark Materials series.

The questions in the back don't really bother me at all. In fact if they help some people think further about what they have read then they might actually be a good thing. I started a book group and quite a few people who joined were people who read very few books but wanted to read more and different books. On several occasions they have said the questions made them think about the book in a different way. I rarely look at them but they certainly wouldn't put me off a book.