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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?

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10
Passmethecrisps · 17/07/2017 20:45

RMC you are quite right really. I just find them a bit irritating. I don't need to read them though!

I am a bit tempted by the Wexford series now actually. I have never read any but they sound like it might be my cup of tea. While I still love a good detective / police procedural I am still a bit hormonal and would struggle to cope with anything too gory or intense

SatsukiKusakabe · 17/07/2017 21:02

I was thinking 12 plus for HDM to really get the most of out of then, wasn't sure if Ruby etc might squeeze in before that or about the same. When she finished book 7 of HP she started right back at book one Smile

The thing about the questions in the book is that it is furthering marketing so people choose it for their club and they ultimately sell more copies and it just feels like everyone gets channeled into reading the same stuff and it's a bit depressing. But I'm just grumpy and I'm sure some people have found them helpful.

Composteleana · 17/07/2017 22:02

@BestisWest If you've not loved it on the previous tries I'm not sure the end will justify renewed effort! I found myself skim reading a lot towards the end - especially the bets that went

  • person letter or thing - hey Phil, here are some things that are definitely very shady, this is absolutely what is happening
  • Narrator- lalala that obviously isn't true everything is wonderful lalala

I guess the ending was fairly satisfying but ymmv

Matilda2013 · 17/07/2017 22:03

42. The Wicked Girls - Alex Marwood

They were jailed as child killers when only children themselves. But when they find themselves in the midst of a serial killer can Amber and Kirsty manage to keep their true identities secret to those around them?

This book had a lot more promise but I found the outcomes lacking a little. Ultimately I enjoyed it enough to get into it but was left a little deflated. Good choice for reserving in the library rather than buying.

ChillieJeanie · 18/07/2017 06:42
  1. The Hanging Tree by Ben Aaronovitch

The latest in the Rivers of London series sees PC Peter Grant investigating a suspicious death at a party in one of the most expensive apartment blocks in London. It's not usually his concern, but Lady Tyburn's daughter was present and Peter owes Lady Ty a favour. While investigating he stumbles upon sales of dangerous arcane items and also finds addition information about the Faceless Man. It pushes the overall story arc on a bit but does feel a little like a placeholder in the series.

Ladydepp · 18/07/2017 07:13
  1. The Silence Between Breaths by Cath Staincliffe - this was recommended in some crime/thriller section of a newspaper that I can't remember and is currently cheap on Kindle. This novel is a proper page turner about a train journey from Manchester to London which may or may not have a suicide bomber aboard. I read this in a day which is super quick for me. The story follows 8 people's experience of the day, and I thought the characters were drawn really well. I recommend it if you want a quick page turner, but the subject matter is obviously harrowing and very topical so it's not for anyone looking for something light and frothy.
BestIsWest · 18/07/2017 08:30

passme Wexford starts in the sixties so the early ones are a bit dated, just to warn you. I love them though.

Passmethecrisps · 18/07/2017 11:41

Thanks, best. I found the first one for a couple of quid on kindle so thought it was worth a punt. I don't mind them being a bit dated when it is true to the era of that makes sense?

BestIsWest · 18/07/2017 13:34

Yes I know what you mean. I think they improve as they go on.

BestIsWest · 18/07/2017 13:36

@LadydeppI like the sound of that. Am a regular train commuter on a Manchester bound train

Sadik · 18/07/2017 17:23

Remus I've been listening to the 2nd Sally Lockhart book today, and liking it much more. The characters just feel a bit more developed, (and the melodrama a bit toned down).

RemusLupinsBiggestGroupie · 18/07/2017 17:41

Glad to hear it, Sadik. I think the third is also v good and then the 4th reverts back to a bit of a romp (bit I rather like the romping!).

Currently reading a book for work and not enjoying it much. I won't count it, but am very much in need of some great books for the summer. But WHAT?!

Sadik · 18/07/2017 21:04

My summer books recommendation would be the Europe in Autumn trilogy, really good fast paced thrillers set in a near-future Europe fragmented into mini-states. I'm going to take all three on holiday for a re-read, the first time through I read them too fast wanting to find out the ending Grin
In the meantime I've just started Rethinking the Economics of Land and Housing, which looks very good (but possibly something of a minority interest! though having said that obviously it's rather important to most of us . . .)

SatsukiKusakabe · 18/07/2017 21:41

I recall you enjoyed Fatherland remus do you fancy any more Robert Harris - Conclave was quite good had a touch of the Shardlake's about it, in definitely going to seek out some others.

The new book by the guy who wrote HHhH is out but dear on kindle atm. Also I'm quite tempted by a Gentleman in Moscow but same problem.

RemusLupinsBiggestGroupie · 18/07/2017 21:46

I definitely need a break from historical thrillers, war zones and the like, I think.

CheerfulMuddler · 18/07/2017 21:55

Just had a catch-up of the thread - Nods enthusiastically to those recommending Sally Lockhart and Digging to America, which is my favourite Anne Tyler. And a wistful sigh for the days when I was a young English student and could sit in a chair all summer and read Middlemarch and call it work. Blimming marvelous book.

Sidelong glance at Five Red Herrings though, which is the only Sayers I found actively boring. Too many railways, not enough unresolved sexual tension.

  1. The Summer Book Tove Janssen
    A little girl and her grandmother spend a summer pottering about on a small Finnish island. Funny, sweet, thoughtful, wistful, very well written. I didn't love it, but I did like it.

  2. All Change Elizabeth Jane Howard
    Fifth Cazalet book, set in the fifties. I liked this better than I expected, given the reviews on here, and it's just as absorbing as the others. I also liked how sympathetically she manages to portray people like Edward who in many other books would be a simple villain, and how honest she is about the effects of Hugh's traditionalism on his business and sons, despite Hugh being generally pretty sympathetic.
    Agree it's less good though - she seemed to have lost a handle on how everyone is related - several characters call their mothers aunts and sisters cousins. And the nine years are related at breakneck speed. And I didn't believe Louise would just forgive her father like that. And she seems to just make everyone breed and breed so she can write more children. And the Neville storyline was bonkers.

MuseumOfHam · 18/07/2017 22:17
  1. Christine Falls by Benjamin Black First mystery featuring 1950s Dublin pathologist Quirke (just Quirke, no first name, very...quirky). Apparently these have been made into a TV series but that completely passed me by, so entered this with no preconceptions. It was just OK. Lots of telling not showing; lots of laboured hinting at terrible dark secrets that were a bit obvious. The best written characters and story were going on in a subplot, but, maybe on realising that the whole book was chugging to an end, the author just killed that off in a most unsatisfactory manner. The second of these is on my dad's kindle, and I'll read it because it's there, in the hope that the writting is more in the style of the 'good' subplot, but I wouldn't buy it if I didn't already have it.

  2. No Wonder I Take a Drink by Laura Marney Been saving this on my kindle for my West Highland holiday, as it's about a Glasgow woman who has lost her way in life a bit, who unexpectedly inherits a house in the West Highlands and goes to live there. It's funny, well observed, touching and engaging. I'd say if you liked the Bernadette book you'd probably like this. I liked this better because I could relate (all too well) to the places and the characters. Recommended. And there's a sequel. Relevant to recent discussion, I was extremely surprised to find a list of book group questions at the end. Odd.

  3. The Commando Pocket Manual 1940-1945 edited and intro by Christopher Westhorp Planned West Highland holiday reading part two. This was on my dad's kindle, there is a family connection, and we were (not coincidentally) in the area where commando training took place during WW2. This is a selection of contemporary documents and extracts which cover the rationale for the founding of the commandos, instructions for all kinds of situations, e.g. use of weapons, making shelters, movements at night, scaling a cliff, nutrition, keeping your feet dry, disabling an enemy soldier with your bare hands...and much more. Fascinating. I wouldn't recommend this to just anyone as 'great summer reading' but - Remus ?

Started My Ántonia on the train back - so lovely.

BestIsWest · 18/07/2017 22:56

I need some nice, light, dare I say, 'fluffy' reads. Too many detective books of late. I'd like a good old-fashioned doorstep of a beach read.

Matilda2013 · 18/07/2017 23:17

43. You Will Know Me - Megan Abbott

Another update with a very quick read. YA easy read book about Devon, a promising gymnast, who is the centre of her parents, her coach's and her teams dreams for olympics. When a car crash effects their lives will they hold it together?

This was a very easy read. The ending bothered me as I wanted some sort of justice.

FortunaMajor · 19/07/2017 12:22
  1. The Girl Who Fell From The Sky by Simon Mawer - About the recruitment and mission of a woman in the Special Operations Executive dropped into France during WW2.

I enjoyed it, but didn't love it. I think I had expectations too high of it because I enjoyed The Fall so much by the same author. I would read more of his, but this wasn't anywhere near as gripping or interesting.

It also had the dreaded 'book club' questions in the back. I hate these. Especially when the book is nothing more than average fiction with no profound message, literary merit or cultural importance. If a book is worth talking about, then people will talk. They shouldn't need to be prompted.

I like nothing more than someone I know and respect enthusiastically demanding that I have to read a book. Which brings me to my next read Not So Quiet by Helen Zenna Smith, suggested after I raved about All Quiet to friends. This one is the Great War from the perspective of a woman who served on the front line as an ambulance driver. It's been dancing on the coffee table since it arrived demanding my attention.

CheerfulMuddler · 19/07/2017 13:09

PS For the Dorothy Sayers fans on here - I know there are a couple - your next read should absolutely be this. Lord Peter/Sherlock Holmes crossover fan fiction written by Sayers in the 50s for the BBC. Very short, absurdly sweet.

mayhap.livejournal.com/147571.html

RemusLupinsBiggestGroupie · 19/07/2017 17:04

Ham!!! I'm now wondering what on earth makes you think I'd like it?! I'm strangely flattered, but also rather disconcerted! Grin

Sadik · 19/07/2017 18:33

That's lovely Cheerful - thank you for posting the link :)

ChillieJeanie · 19/07/2017 20:25
  1. Victory of Eagles by Naomi Novik

Temeraire has been removed from military service and sent to the breeding grounds, whilst his captain Will Laurence has been sentenced to hang for treason. But the needs of the nation become desperate as Napoleon's forces invade southern England and seek to occupy London. The tide of invasion needs to be turned, and Temeraire is going to war.

CoteDAzur · 19/07/2017 21:11

Best - I tend to think of Jack Reacher books as beach reads so you might like to disregard my suggestions Grin but how about I Am Pilgrim, Shantaram, and Shardlake books?

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