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?

Meanwhile, check out my latest beach read. I finally got my hands on Madonna In A Fur Coat in original Tr print

106. Wildfire, Ilona Andrews. Urban fantasy, third in a series. Plusses: chirpy writing, kickass heroine, interesting world building and magical powers. Downsides: Plot lost itself a bit - at one point the heroine goes 'information has been leaked - we must have a traitor in our midst!', heads off to the final battle and then goes 'oh no, actually, it was sophisticated surveillance tech', with no other mention of traitors at all. Fine to have an actual traitor, fine to suspect one and worry about who to tell what, but don't have literally one line mentioning a possible traitor, then no other reference to it, and then one line dismissing the possibility! Final battle seemed to be resolved ridiculously easily, too. I'm getting a bit fed up of massively violent heroes restrained only because they know the heroine would be annoyed if they start killing anyone that hits on her. And by restrained, I mean, twists cars into pretzels using telekinesis in rage. Yeah, because that's sexy.

It's so very, very, very boring, Cote. Hope it's better in the original.

Well, I'm enjoying it so far. Its introspection and subtle insight into people's inner worlds are very much like Ian McEwan's stuff imho.

It's not easy to understand, though, because it's written with loads of Persian & Arabic words that have since been (consciously) weeded out of the language & replaced with words derived from Turkish roots. Some definitions are given in footnotes but the rest takes a bit of guess work for those of us born in the last 50 years.

For example, I would not have guessed that Sanayii Nefîse Mektebi means Güzel Sanatlar Okulu (School of Fine Arts) without the footnote.

Catching up:

37. Imperium - Robert Harris. The first in his Cicero trilogy, i'd put off reading these as thought Cicero was a bit of a tit when I did Latin A level, but it's quite a sympathetic portrait. I got a bit bogged down in the middle, but in general it's a good story - maybe a decent holiday read for anyone heading to Italy.

38. He Said/She Said - Erin Kelly. Page turner/thriller about a girl who was possibly raped and is possibly delusional. Lots of jumping back and forth, easy read.

39. Number 11 - Jonathan Coe. This is touted as the follow-up to What A Carve Up. It's basically a series of loosely connected stories satirising various aspects of modern Britain - reality TV, rich people, politicians. It's interesting but not LOL funny.

40. A spool of blue thread - Anne Tyler. Pretty typical Anne Tyler fare which you either like or hate. It's about a family but not much happens really, although it's weirdly compelling.

Is your beach in Turkey Cote ? haven't heard much about the earthquake since it happened and am going in a few weeks time. I haven't got much in the way of holiday reading yet. Maybe i need something based in that area.

Yes, the beach in question is in Turkey

Hope it's better in the original too cote, looking forward to your review if not though

The inner world stuff was the strongest part, and it did make me wonder if something was lost in translation - but it became very dull and syrupy for the most part unfortunately, for me.

Is What A Carve Up a good read stokey? Had it hanging round for ages.

52. Cloud Atlas by David Mitchell

Six interlocking stories ranging from the southern hemisphere in the 19th century to probably Hawaii in a post apocalyptic future, via England, the Far East, and the US. The stories are split so you get half the stories as they step towards the future, then the other half as it regresses to the past. It was okay, some of the stories were more engrossing than others.

46. Brand New Me - Charlotte Crosby

Very light reading about the Geordie Shore star. Was curious to see if there was anything more about her relationship with Gary and the ending of it but most of this was already in the press. Fast read after spending a lot of time when I was younger watching them get together

I liked What a Carve Up, Satsuki but read it a long time ago. I think it was more coherent as a novel than anything I've read of his since. I feel his satire is a bit obvious now, but maybe it's just because there are such obvious targets - in the latest book there's a whole bit about billionaires digging into the bowels of basements in their Chelsea manors to create ever more underground floors.

So I take it it's business as usual post-quake Cote?

I fell off the last thread in May (May!) and have only managed 3 in all that time- The Essex Serpent, a Micheal Connelly (am watching the Amazon Bosch series), and The Luminaries and I am here to beg a favour re the latter!

I bought it in the January Xmas sale and I think way back then someone linked to a thread, or a review, that explained all the zodiac stuff; but I can't find the link now. I made the mistake of having it as my "dip into on my phone" book, so I read it in tiny chunks, would have been better in a bigger bits I think, and now I would love a bit of an explanation! Does anyone know what I am talking about?

Thank you- and off to catch up on this thread!

Tanaqui it might have been this thread:

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/what_were_reading/2544681-the-luminaries

36. The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls. A memoir of the author's journey from a childhood of rootlessness and extreme poverty, with an alcoholic father and an ineffective mother, to a successful career as a journalist in New York. I found this startlingly good and very thought provoking. The author strikes the right note of honesty without sentimentality, and it's also interesting to read about how her siblings dealt with their experiences.

37. A Place Called Winter by Patrick Gale. Set in the early 20th century, the opening scene, revisited at intervals throughout the book, is of the protagonist Harry Cane in a mental institution. In parallel, the main body of the story builds up his life in England, and later Canada, to get to that point. Not sure how I feel about this one. It's original and well written, but I found one character and some of the scenes so unpleasant and disturbing that it really coloured the book for me. I feel a bit pathetic for saying this, but I read with a sense of dread. Although maybe that was the author's intention?

"it became very dull and syrupy for the most part unfortunately, for me."

I'd be interested to compare Eng & Tr versions. I might ask y'all to post pics of some pages once I'm done (which should be tomorrow).

36. A Conspiracy of Violence by Susanna Gregory (audio). First in the Thomas Chalenor series. Very Shardlake-esque but set during the Restoration, about an out of favour government spy with a dodgy leg. I had a few false starts and it took me a while to get into it, but I think it was more tiredness than the subject I was struggling with. I'd listen/ read the rest of the series if at a loose end, but wouldn't rush to do so.

37. Not So Quiet by Helen Zenna Smith (Evadne Price). This was originally planned as a spoof of All Quiet due to be called All Quaint on the Western Front about women in the war. The author decided to do a serious take on the subject based on the war diaries of a female ambulance driver instead. It tries to mirror All Quiet in several ways and although very good, fails to match the quality of writing and impact of it. Worth a read, but is not as shattering or as damning.

102 Adventures on the High Teas: in Search of Middle England by Stuart Maconie

This looks at middle England in two ways; firstly towns and villages that are in the middle of England; and secondly aspects of life that characterise the phrase 'middle England'. Chapters are based around food, music, books, the fascination with detective programmes, railways etc. I liked this, he's got a good engaging writing style.

This year's Man Booker longlist was announced today:

www.theguardian.com/books/2017/jul/27/man-booker-prize-2017-longlist-led-by-arundhati-roy-return-to-fiction

Just been looking at the Man Booker list. Half tempted to try and read them all over the summer but will see. Have read a couple.

tanaqui I did a review of the zodiac parts of The Luminaries on here as people asked at the time. I think I also linked to a Guardian article with the author where she spoke a bit about it. I'll try and find it for you.

Tanaqui here is the review:

28. The Luminaries by Eleanor Catton

Fantastic book. Worthy prize winner, I enjoyed this so much.

Set in 19th Century Gold Rush New Zealand, it is an old style adventure mystery story, told in an original way. It is structurally inventive - the first half of the story is told in the last sections of the book, in chapters of decreasing length to represent the waning of the moon - but without losing any of its narrative drive. It is intricately plotted enough to inspire admiration for the author, but not so much so that it is impenetrable for a reader. The way all the threads of it came together was beautifully done, and very satisfying. The writing is exquisite; her use of language capturing the feel of the time without ever being overwrought.

I'll write a bit about the astrological aspect and how it works in the book since others mentioned it - I don't think it constitutes a spoiler (especially since I may have misunderstood it!) but you might want to skip it if it's on your tbr, or simply due to its length grin

12 men meet to discuss a mystery in which they are all implicated in some way. These men each represent a different zodiac sign, and the first half of the book reveals their individual stories leading up to the time of their gathering, with a great deal of emphasis on their particular character traits and personalities, which reflect those of their respective 'star signs', and throughout the novel these characters consistently act according to these traits. There are 6 further characters who are symbolically identified with the planets (Mars, Venus, Mercury, Jupiter, Saturn, Earth) and who display characteristics traditionally associated with each. There are then two characters, the 'luminaries' of the title, who represent the Sun and the Moon.

These latter characters move within the circle of the 12 zodiac signs, influencing them in some way, and their movements apparently reflect their actual charted astrological positions over NZ in during the period of the novel in 1865/66. This sounds complicated, but actually it just means that by the middle of the book when you see a chapter called "Mars in Capricorn" you know that X is going to have an interaction with Y and move his story along in some way, and you can identify which characters the others actually revolve around and begin to predict how certain characters might behave. The book can be read and enjoyed without paying much attention to this, but it does add an intellectual frisson when you realise how comprehensive it is as an underlying structure. I also liked the metaphorical resonance of fortune-telling and fortune-finding.

Here is the Guardian article

Hope they help a bit.