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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
RMC123 · 14/06/2017 23:07

63. The Glass House - Ann Cleeves. The fifth Vera book. Didn't find this one as convincing. Think the fact she was investigating a friend was implicated in jarred. It felt all wrong procedurally. Also there was less emphasis on the relationship between Vera and her sidekick Joe. In fact they were at odds and the book felt weaker for it.

Stokey · 15/06/2017 13:34

Have you read her Shetland books RMC? I'd definitely recommend. I also like Louise Penny crime series, based in a little village in Canada. Best read in order for the background story.

I was going to say almost exactly what Satsuki said re Gatsby Vanderlye. I'm always looking for the parallels between the Divers & Fitzgeralds in Tender is The Night.

Catching up a bit late and bringing my list over

  1. It -Stephen King
  2. Swing Time -Zadie Smith
  3. Pandemonium – Daryl Gregory
  4. The Mirror Crack’d from Side to side – Agatha Christie
  5. The Murder of Roger Ackroyd -Agatha Christie
  6. The Essex Serpent – Sarah Perry
  7. How to be Both – Ali Smith
  8. The Way of Kings – Brandon Sanderson
  9. The Word for World is Forest - Ursula Le Guin
  10. The Merchant’s House – Kate Ellis
  11. Commonwealth – Ann Patchett
  12. The Year of our War - Steph Swainston
  13. No Present like Time – Steph Swainston
  14. Wishful Drinking – Carrie Fisher
  15. Wolf Winter – Cecilia Ekback
  16. To Kill A Mocking Bird -Harper Lee
  17. Go Set A Watchman
  18. The Passage – Justin Cronin
  19. The Twelve – Justin Cronin
  20. A Day in the death of dorothea Cassidy – Ann Cleeves
  21. The deaths – Mark Lawson
  22. The Humans – Matt Haig
  23. The Power – Naomi Alderson
  24. Breakfast at tiffany’s _ Truman Capote
  25. The Hydrogen Sonata – Iain M Banks
  26. Surface Detail – Iain M Banks
  27. My sister and Other Liars – Ruth Dugdall
  28. The KLF – Chaos, Magic and the Band who Burned A Million Pounds - John Higgs
  29. The Dust that Falls from Dreams – Louis de Bernieres
  30. Gone Without a Trace – Mary Torjussen
  31. Sea Stirred – Caroline Williams
  32. Planes Runner – Ian McDonald
  33. The City of Mirrors – Justin Cronin
  34. The Devil’s Feather – Minette Walters
  35. The Handmaid’s Tale – Margaret Atwood

I finished the Handmaid's Tale last week which I loved. And started watching the TV show last night, quite impressed that they've managed to get some humour into it.

I started The Atrocity Archives - charles Stross art the weekend but am finding it rather slow moving, and I normally like that sort of thing. Have given up and moved on to Elizabeth is Missingfor now.

I am finding the news is so all-encompassing at the moment that I'm struggling to look away and read instead!

RemusLupinsBiggestGroupie · 15/06/2017 20:20

Book 57 - Lincoln in the Bardo - can't be bothered to look up the writer's name right now

Hmmm. This was an interesting concept, but, for me, it didn’t entirely work. President Lincoln’s son has died, and there are many, many people with an opinion about it all. This multi-voiced novel had a fair bit going for it, and there were a few sections of genuinely beautiful, and moving, prose poetry, but overall I found it all a bit wearing and annoying. I think it could probably have made a good novella. Oh, and I thought that the ending was really poor.

BestIsWest · 15/06/2017 20:25

I prefer Vera to Shetland, though both are good.

ChillieJeanie · 15/06/2017 20:47
  1. I Am Legend by Richard Matheson

Classic horror novella about Robert Neville, the last living man on an Earth where all the other men, women and children have become vampires. By day he is the hunter, seeking out and destroying the undead, while by night he barricades himself in his house and prays for the dawn. It packs a powerful punch - the loneliness and isolation of Richard Neville is as horrifying as the threats he faces each night. I've never seen any of the film versions, but the book is brilliant.

MuseumOfHam · 15/06/2017 21:51
  1. Berlin Noir by Philip Kerr Crime trilogy, first two set in pre war Nazi Germany, the third mostly in post war Vienna. The evocation of the cities and the social and political feel of the times was great, as was the language, which was sharp and sassy, with a keen eye for description. However, and I'm sorry Remus, I just don't like Bernie Gunther, and that's kind of important if you're going to spend over 800 pages with him.

  2. The City and the City by China Miéville Loved the concept. Found it was more enjoyable once I learned to unthink all my rational questions about how the hell it actually worked. Loved the imagined cultures and languages of the two cities and how you could almost, but not quite, pin down their influences from the real world. The audible narration was good but I wanted to see some of the unfamiliar words and names written down. The plot and characterisation were weak to the point I was beyond caring, I only kept going to find out more about the cities.

I finished the above on the train today, and then had an opportunity to practice my unseeing skills on a horrible ex line manager who was walking through the station straight towards me. It works, I tell you. Unseeing, it's the new pretending to be on your phone.

RMC123 · 15/06/2017 23:23

64. Girl A - By Girl A This is the account of the key witness in the Rochdale Grooming Scandal. I would usually avoid this kind of book. However I watched the brilliant and harrowing Three Girls and was so heart broken for the girls who tried to get help and were ignored. I really felt I had to read the book, I wanted to hear this Girl's voice. I have no words to describe what she went through. This book could never be about enjoyment, I can't offer any critique. The things I read will honestly never leave me .

Best and Stokey I haven't read the Shetland book or the other one you suggested ( name escapes me sorry!) but I have added to my every growing list!!

Matilda2013 · 16/06/2017 00:00

36. Misery - Stephen King

My second ever Stephen King book and I'll definitely be going back for more. It did take me a little bit to get hooked but once I was there I didn't want to stop. I am slightly concerned that I was most disgusted by him having to drink dirty mop water than anything else Grin. Fabulous book that had me hooked right to the end.

Murine · 16/06/2017 09:17

I really like the Ann Cleeves Shetland and Vera books too,they are very engaging and I never seem to guess the culprit!
I've just finished and enjoyed my no. 55, Lincoln In The Bardo and I agree with you about the ending, Remus, there were several points at which I thought it would be better for the book to have finished.
I was reading on my kindle and actually thought it had ended a couple of times, I expected to see a few pages of acknowledgements next rather than three or four more chapters!
It's a really unusual book which took me a while to get used to, it didn't flow very well for the first few chapters and having to scroll forwards to see who was "speaking" for the longer quotes was a little annoying.
I am aware that I'm making it sound like I disliked it but I actually enjoyed it despite the above!

bibliomania · 16/06/2017 10:23

54. The Shadow Land, Elizabeth Kostova
No vampires. Heroine must solve mystery in the present by digging into Bulgaria's past. I wasn't that keen on this book. While I think the story of political persecution in Bulgaria in the late 40s/early 50s deserves to be told, this didn't quite work for me. There was something lacking in the plotting/packing - heroine follows clue to village, talks to old person who reminisces about the past for a chapter, heroine follows new clue to the next village, talks to old person who reminisces for a chapter etc. etc. Abrupt start, abrupt end, but the middle goes on and on.

55. The Return, Hiram Matar
Memoir of son's attempts to find out what happened to his father, who disappeared in Libya. Was rather dreading another book about political persecution, but this was well done and a compelling read. He doesn't go into harrowing details - there is more about emotional strangeness of it all, and what it has meant for his own life. It's ultimately a book about love rather than horror.

56. Sexual Selections, Marlene Zuk
Non-fiction - she takes a thoughtful look at the messages we draw from evolutionary biology (of the "Why Men Don't Talk and Why Women Can't Read Maps") and challenges them: our own biases make us selective about what animals we look at and what lessons we surmise and they get in the way of our looking. I was interested and I agree with her, but found it a slightly plodding read.

CheerfulMuddler · 16/06/2017 10:29
  1. Autumn Term Antonia Forest Reread. Lovely 1940s girls' school story. Having DNFed several other awful 1940s children's books recently (including one that won a Carnegie), I'm beginning to think the awfulness of 1940s children's books is another thing George Orwell was right about, so it was nice to read something so well-written and enjoyable.

Next up is another work book, then I'm going to give up on my TBR shelf for a bit and read something I actually want to read.

Tarahumara · 16/06/2017 12:41

Loving your unseeing skills Museum!

Cedar03 · 16/06/2017 13:44
  1. Brush Back by Sara Paretsky Detective is asked to look into the murder of an old friend's sister. Mum served 20 years for her murder but claims that she didn't do it. Detective reluctantly agrees to investigate and soon finds herself embroiled in various plots. Well written, she always evokes a strong sense of place - the contrast between the fancy downtown area of Chicago and the gritty run down gang infested neighbourhoods of South Chicago. Wasn't too sure of some of the plot developments - there is a cliche kidnapping of young woman later in the plot - but an enjoyable read nonetheless.
RemusLupinsBiggestGroupie · 16/06/2017 16:54

Murine Agree about the longer sections of 'voice' too - would definitely have been better to have the speaker's name first, like a play.

Forgot to mention that a lot of the while that I was reading, I kept thinking that the writer was trying to come over all Samuel Becket, but not quite managing it.

Oh and all the 'enormous member' and 'fucking fuckers shit fucking god damned' stuff got very tedious.

RemusLupinsBiggestGroupie · 16/06/2017 16:55

Ham Grin Grin Grin

KeithLeMonde · 16/06/2017 16:59

Not sure that I've posted my whole list, certainly not for a while. I haven't done the bold thing so the fact that none of them are bold doesn't mean that I didn't like them :)

  1. NW, Zadie Smith
  2. A God in Ruins, Kate Atkinson
  3. The Marble Collector, Celia Aherne
  4. Did you Ever Have a Family, Bill Clegg
  5. Lucky Break, Esther Freud
  6. The Penelopiad, Margaret Atwood
  7. Wonder Boys, Michael Chabon
  8. Longitude, Dava Sobel
  9. Marking Time, Elizabeth Jane Howard
10. Confusion, Elizbeth Jane Howard 11. River of Ink, Paul MM Cooper 12. The Burgess Boys, Elizabeth Strout 13. All That Man Is, David Szalay 14. Big Brother, Lionel Shriver 15. Today Will Be Different, Maria Semple 16. Cold Light, Jenn Ashworth 17. Our Endless Numbered Days 18. The Likes of Us: A Biography of the White Working Class, Michael Collins 19. The Elegance of the Hedgehog, Muriel Barbery 20. The Accident, Ismail Kadare 21. Railhead, Philip Reeve 22. The Various Haunts of Men, Susan Hill 23. We were Liars, E Lockhart 24. So You've Been Publicly Shamed, Jon Ronson 25. Don't Stop Me Now, Vassos Alexander 26. Us, David Nicholls 27. The Nightingale, Kristen Hannah 28. Swimming Home, Deborah Levy 29. Mariana, Susanna Kearsley 30. Restless, William Boyd 31. The Elephant in the Room, Jon Ronson 32. The Smell of Other People's Houses 33. The Tidal Zone, Sarah Moss 34. Beck, Mal Peet and Meg Roscoff 35. Golden Hill, Francis Spufford 36. Nobody has Sex on a Tuesday, Tracy Bloom 37. The Stars at Oktober Bend, Glenda Millard 38. The Sellout, Paul Beatty 39. Testimony, Anita Shreve

40. A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius, Dave Eggers
Hard to be fair to a book which has received so much enormous hype. I did enjoy this, it was energetic, and moving, and very original. Full of that youthful arrogance that allows you to mess about with the novel form and think you are oh-so-clever, but at the same time - WOW. For such a young man to write so movingly about death, and intersperse it between random witterings about trying to let laid, or the revolting meals that he eats with his brother.... Definitely worth reading if you haven't read it already.

41. The Perks of Being a Wallflower, Stephen Chbosky
Another one which got loads of publicity and (interestingly) also compared to The Catcher in the Rye. This is like the king of YA angsty books isn't it? Checked all the boxes - drugs/alcohol/teen pregnancy/dysfunctional family/bullying/abuse - check check check. Actually it was a rather sweet book, if a little meandering, and nice enough to read. I don't get why it was such a Thing for people but then I guess I am not a 13 year old girl.

KeithLeMonde · 17/06/2017 06:32

The Song of Achilles is 99p on Kindle today.

StitchesInTime · 17/06/2017 07:53

35. Someone Out There by Catherine Hunt

Divorce lawyer Laura seems to have a great life - good career, great husband, lovely horse. Then a series of accidents lead Laura to believe that someone means her harm, but she's struggling to convince anyone else that the danger's real.

A pretty mediocre thriller, which I'll have probably forgotten entirely by this time next year.

CoteDAzur · 17/06/2017 08:19

"Unseeing, it's the new pretending to be on your phone."

Museum Grin

SatsukiKusakabe · 17/06/2017 13:07

museum enjoyed your comments on it more than the book!

And remus Oh and all the 'enormous member' and 'fucking fuckers shit fucking god damned' stuff got very tedious no idea what you're talking about yet but had a good giggle at this too Grin

SatsukiKusakabe · 17/06/2017 13:08

museum enjoyed your comments on it more than the book!

And remus Oh and all the 'enormous member' and 'fucking fuckers shit fucking god damned' stuff got very tedious no idea what you're talking about yet but had a good giggle at this too Grin

DesdemonasHandkerchief · 17/06/2017 17:22

Finished Book 10 Alan Bennett's Writing Home, gentle humour and I always 'hear' it in my mind read by him, or at least a terrible OTT Yorkshire parody of him as my mind sees fit to provide. Did get halfway through, to the Lady In The Van section, and realise it was a reread though. Now on to Keeping On Keeping On also by Bennett which I'm sure I haven't read as it's his latest I think.

RemusLupinsBiggestGroupie · 17/06/2017 18:07

Glad it made you giggle, Satsuki, but it gets very annoying in the book. Will await your thoughts!

Ontopofthesunset · 17/06/2017 19:28
  1. Mothering Sunday: Graham Swift. Slight and forgettable, really a novella.
  2. Single and Single: John Le Carré. I always enjoy JLC. I didn't think this was as psychologically gripping as the Smiley books but he writes well and the plotting is always tight.
  3. Snow Crash: Neal Stephenson. An extremely interesting and dense novel, with some stunning ideas, alarming premonitions and a lot of humour too. What let it down, for me, was the characterisation and ultimately the plot. The plot started off really well but became just a bit silly. There was a lot of fighting and chasing. And in the end I found reading it a little like watching an action movie. As for the characters, any author who names his protagonist Hiro Protagonist is telling us that they're not real. For me, though, this meant that the book, however clever and packed with ingenuity, lacked emotional depth.
  4. Lincoln in the Bardo: George Saunders. This was very cunning and interestingly executed (though, embarrassingly, I didn't know what the Bardo was even by the end of the book and kept expecting Lincoln to be going off to Venice or somewhere). I really liked the telegraphic different voices and the very clear questioning of the authenticity of any historical or personal record. Some of the Bardo scenes got somewhat repetitive. Other posters on this thread have reviewed it more amusingly than I can. Agree it could have ended earlier.

Now what? I've had some great recommendations on this thread so will keep reading everyone's comments.

CheerfulMuddler · 17/06/2017 20:48
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