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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
SatsukiKusakabe · 29/07/2017 22:12

21. My Name is Lucy Barton

I found this quite slow-moving and dull-ish, but it did improve on me toward the end. A meditation on poverty, illness, and childhood trauma seen through a woman's interaction with her mother during a period of sickness, and after a much longer period of estrangement. The stilted, short sentences probably represented something about the character, but I have to say I found the style irritating, and didn't like the almost child like voice it gave to her. It has some emotional insights and nice writing but didn't really move me. I didn't rate it as highly as I did Olive Kitteridge but ok for a short, thoughtful, read and anything I can finish at the moment is welcome.

SatsukiKusakabe · 29/07/2017 22:14

Hi Luna and cece Smile

I need to finish the Handmaid's Thingy this week as it's due back at the library, so I'll be pushing through the bleakness with you, luna. I've been avoiding it for too long Smile

VanderlyleGeek · 29/07/2017 23:41

Hello, new 50 Bookers!

City on Fire : I read it when it was published because I was so curious about the type of book that would fetch $2 million at the Berlin Book Fair. I did finish it, and I did like it. But, it was gratuitously long. I felt it would have been just as effectiveif not moreat about 1/3 of the length.

Satsuki, guess who I saw speak at the library? Grin She was there promoting her new book, which features characters from Lucy's hometown.

RMC123 · 30/07/2017 07:48

Welcome new comers.

82. Cousins - Salley Vickers Not perfect but a readable tail about family connections and history repeating itself through the generations. Hard to review in detail without giving spoilers. Compelling enough to make me want to read on to finish it last night but suspect I won't remember much about it in a few months time.

CeCeDrake · 30/07/2017 09:40

Thank you, thank you! I'm hearing a lot about this handmaiden's tale, my kindle is going to explode this week with new purchases Grin

TheTurnOfTheScrew · 30/07/2017 10:42

26. Eileen by Ottessa Moshfegh. Eileen lives with her alcoholic father and works at a juvenile prison. She passes her time by stalking various colleagues, and wondering how she can escape the depressing banality of her life

Bag o'shite. Eileen appears to be drawn as a common-or-garden sociopath, but is missing any of the superficial charm that normally accompanies this. Seemingly a thriller, but with no thrills, and the ending is preposterous and incongruous.

CoteDAzur · 30/07/2017 13:01
  1. Musicophilia by Oliver Sacks

This book about our pervasive & near-universal interest in music as a species was truly fascinating and also served to feed my ongoing hunger itch taste for Baroque music and its long-dead composers.

The author is the neurologist Oliver Sacks (of Awakenings and The Man Who Mistook His Wife For A Hat fame) and has very interesting stories to tell about how musical memory persists even during severe Alzheimer's & extreme amnesia, and how people who can't remember for more than a few seconds (like in the film Memento) can lean to play new pieces of music.

It also talks about sudden musical obsessions after strokes and other brain trauma where people in their 40s start a new instrument and practice it for many hours every day (and now I'm wondering if I had a minor stroke or head trauma about 2 years ago Shock)

In all, interesting book well worth reading, if a bit overlapping with his other books.

SatsukiKusakabe · 30/07/2017 13:33

vanderley you have the best library, you get to see so many authors Grin I do think she is a good writer and has interesting things to say but if this was the only one I'd read I may not have bothered with another - as it is I might give her another go but wouldn't go out of my way.

Lincoln in the Bardo made the booker long list I see; I still need to read Swing Time, too.

RMC123 · 30/07/2017 13:38

Satsuki just started Swing time

SatsukiKusakabe · 30/07/2017 13:38

cote my grandmother had dementia and one of the only things I could still have lucid and enjoyable conversations with her about towards the end was music. Listening to her favourite songs and singers brought her peace even when she couldn't remember their names, and she could still learn to enjoy and even have favourite new songs at this time, when she was resistant to change in other areas. It is both fascinating and comforting to think of.

noodlezoodle · 30/07/2017 14:19

I'm having a frustrating run of mediocre reads at the moment.

21. Feminist Fight Club by Jessica Bennett. This drove me a bit mad. There are the bones of a good book in here - it has some good, practical advice, but it's delivered in a very jokey/cutesy way, with lots of lists, doodles and phrasing that trivialises the topic. Might be better for a young woman just starting her career than for a grumpy fortysomething like me.

22. American Gods by Neil Gaiman. I really enjoyed this take on the modern gods vs the old gods, but like others I agree it was too long and would have benefited from some editing for length.

23. The River at Night by Erica Ferencik. I adored the first half of this book but the plot took a turn for the ludicrous halfway through and she lost me a bit. Four women go on a whitewater rafting trip in Maine and Bad Things Happen. Despite being grumpy about the plot line, I thought it was well written and could be an enjoyable good beach read.

24. In Farleigh Field by Rhys Bowen. WW2 espionage mystery, enjoyable plot but fairly thin characterisation. Made more annoying by characters saying "Crikey!" and "Gosh" left, right and centre. I'm unconvinced that even posh people in the war spoke this way but I could be mistaken.

VanderlyleGeek · 30/07/2017 15:10

My library system is truly a gem and one of the city's best public services. I feel very lucky to have access to this series and other programs it provides!

During the last season of the interview series, I saw five of the Booker long list nominees: Auster, Hamid, Saunders, Smith, and Whitehead. The interviews are uploaded to YouTube; I'm happy to PM people the link. Smile

CluelessMama · 30/07/2017 21:05

Haven't posted for a while but have still been reading...
25. Better than Before by Gretchen Rubin
I'm a Gretchen Rubin fan, and this book about habits didn't disappoint. She puts the emphasis firmly on knowing yourself and your own traits so that you can identify what might work for you when making decisions and trying to change your habits.
26. Lincoln in the Bardo by George Saunders
I was curious about this from when I first read a review of it months ago. At first I felt that it didn't really flow but was clever, then felt that it was an author showing off his incredible imagination, then started to struggle as it just seemed unpleasant and I couldn't see where it was going. Ultimately it was my curiosity that kept me persisting, I wanted to know how it ended and really enjoyed the last 1/3ish as the conclusion was gradually revealed. So glad I stuck with it.
27. Open by Andre Agassi
Listened to the tennis champions autobiography as I got over the end of Wimbledon - watch so much tennis when it's on that I miss it when it's finished!
28. The Readers of Broken Wheel Recommend by Katarina Bivald
Was looking for a gentle read to enjoy on holiday and this fit the bill perfectly.

I've got about 100 pages left of my current non-fiction read, not sure what's next in fiction.

VanderlyleGeek I'd love the link to the interviews on YouTube please? Would be interested to see Saunders, and I have The Underground Railroad on my shelf waiting until I've psyched myself up...been picking lighter options since I came out of the Bardo!

MegBusset · 30/07/2017 21:42
  1. East Of Eden - John Steinbeck

The only major Steinbeck novel that I hadn't read, so was pleased to pick it up in the Kindle sale. It's a huge read with loads that could be said about it (the kind of book that would really reward in-depth study) as it's so rich with layers and allusion. In brief it's a kind of retelling of the story of Cain and Abel, over several generations of two families in the American West from the late 1800s to the First World War. It's not my favourite Steinbeck - I love the small scale of The Pearl and Of Mice And Men, and this is much more sprawling in scale, with some great characters falling by the wayside without a satisfying conclusion. But I enjoyed it hugely.

ChillieJeanie · 30/07/2017 22:26
  1. Shakespeare's Landlord by Charlaine Harris

After a brutal kidnap, torture and repeated rapes, Lily Bard moved away from her hometown of Memphis to start a new life in the small town of Shakespeare. She works as a cleaning lady, has taken up karate, and over the four years of living there has kept herself to herself. But returning from a walk late one night she discovers the body of a neighbour and local landlord. Although she tries to keep out of the whole business to prevent her past coming out, Lily is interested in working out who in the neighbouring apartment block could have killed him, and also finds herself finally starting to lower her guard a little to make more personal connections in the town she has made her home.

Short book, lightweight little mystery with not much challenge to it, to be honest. But sometimes that's exactly what my mood requires.

VanderlyleGeek · 30/07/2017 22:50

Sent, CluelessMama. Smile

Underground Railroad is on my reading list for August. I've been wanting to read it but didn't relish doing so when the weather was grey.

RemusLupinsBiggestGroupie · 31/07/2017 07:44

Book 71
Germany: Memories of a Nation – Neil MacGregor
Another one that I started back in February and then forgot about. MacGregor was director of the British museum and this book, in part, uses objects in the Museum to explore German history. It dos much more than that though, exploring how Germany’s past has marked and shaped the present and how the country has faced up to those memories through art and architecture etc. I thought this was excellent - a stand out of the year.

TooExtraImmatureCheddar · 31/07/2017 10:18
  1. A Handful of Dust, Evelyn Waugh. Cynical take on high society marriage/divorce in 1930s England. This was...odd. Started off light and frothy and very like a Mitford novel - which I was really enjoying - but the second half was very strange. I am not entirely sure what Waugh was trying to say with the Brazilian section - is it supposed to be the idea that stepping out of your comfort zone/homeland can be fatal if you aren't prepared for the consequences? I'm not sure that's it - was he experimenting with absurdism? I went off and read a number of reviews but didn't seem to hit any that shed any light, so if anyone has any insight, please share!

  2. The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon, Stephen King. I wanted something with a happy ending after the weirdness of A Handful of Dust, and this is an old favourite. It's got a little horror in it, but it's mostly the situational tale of a 9 year old girl lost in the woods.

  3. The Mysteries, Lisa Tuttle. After Museum's review upthread of The Somnambulist and the Psychic Thief I looked up Lisa Tuttle and downloaded this. I liked it - private eye investigates a missing girl who may have been taken by fairies, with interleaving of other well-known mysteries plus previous cases of his own, including his missing father. I've now bought The Somnambulist and Windhaven (collaboration with GRR Martin written in the 70s, now reissued). However, I've started The Somnambulist and am annoyed by the airy way she's skipping over the meeting between the two main characters without bothering to put any effort into building up the relationship - ie, the story takes a jump forward of a few months and we don't see how the two get to know each other and form a working relationship. There are an awful lot of happy coincidences so far as well and I'm only a couple of chapters in!

I've stalled with Middlemarch. I've got to 84% and my initial enthusiasm has waned. Dorothea's personality seems to have utterly changed, and the early promise with Lydgate hasn't materialised. Grr. I will finish it, having got this far, but it's turned into a slog. Maybe I'm just not grown-up enough for it! (Virginia Woolf described it as one of the very few English novels written for grown-ups, according to the back of my paper copy, and 'grown-up' always seems to be a synonym for boring, gloomy and depressing in my experience.)

RemusLupinsBiggestGroupie · 31/07/2017 10:45

I think it's saying something along the lines of 'It's a jungle out there' meaning the heart of British society, not just the actual jungle - it's supposed to raise questions about what so-called 'civilised man' actually is.

For me the most terrifying thing is having to read Dickens forever. The horror (see what I did there?). I keep meaning to re-read Conrad but never quite feel up to it.

RMC123 · 31/07/2017 10:59

Remus I only ever read one Conrad, Heart of Darkness during my degree. Nothing would ever persuade me to read another.

TheTurnOfTheScrew · 31/07/2017 11:18

I too have only read one Conrad, and found that one was plenty. I was on holiday in Italy and had finished all the books I'd brought, so ended up with an abandoned copy of The Secret Agent. Gloomy, and so dense as to be almost impenetrable. Both confused and confusing. Urgh.

RemusLupinsBiggestGroupie · 31/07/2017 11:22

I did The Secret Agent for A Level. That and Anthony and Cleo nearly put me off reading for life.

StitchesInTime · 31/07/2017 12:09

47. Heart-Shaped Bruise by Tanya Byrne

The story of notorious Emily Koll, incarcerated in a psychiatric unit of a Young Offenders Institute. She's in there because of crimes committed in her desire to get vengeance on the girl who stabbed Emily's gangster father. All is slowly revealed throughout the book.
Fairly average overall.

SatsukiKusakabe · 31/07/2017 12:14

I liked Handful of Dust - it is crazy but makes a sort of sense as remus says. Have you read Mr Pip? I felt that drew a lot from it. Dickens in the jungle and savagery vs civilisation taken a step further though I didn't much like it and wouldn't read again!

I've warmed to Dickens somewhat but yes torture and ditto Conrad.

22. The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood This was good, an accomplished and thought-provoking dystopia that hasn't dated that badly (unfortunately!) would recommend it.

Now starting Metroland by Julian Barnes and finishing the rather disappointingly bland Bossypants by Tina Fey.

RemusLupinsBiggestGroupie · 31/07/2017 15:08

I liked Mr Pip too.

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