50 Book Challenge 2017 Part Seven

[southeastdweller]

Welcome to the seventh 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, the fifth one here, and the sixth one here.

What are you reading?

Thanks South for the new thread.

Just finished my 50th, The Reason I Jump, Naoki Higashida. I'm probably the last person in the world to read this. It was fascinating, hopeful and heart-breaking.

Off on holiday tomorrow and hoping to get some reading time :)

Anyone seen anything good in the August monthly kindle deals or new additions to the Summer Sale? Is Bridge of Spies a good read? (Didn't see the film)

I went for Gentleman in Moscow and Fatherland in the monthly deals Rules of Civility also there.

"Too much politics. Too many characters. Too few women. Which is a shame, because holy crap, this book is a masterclass in hire to write a historical novel. Such assured writing. Such a sense of place and time."

Such different tastes we all have

I like "too much" politics and don't mind few women but thought Wolf Hall was crapola. Garbled up, with illiterate & inconsistent punctuation. It really got on my nerves.

Keith nope, I still have The Reason I Jump on my shelves. I think the problem is it's a real book and I do a lot of my reading at night. Your review has made me decide to pick it up next.

Joyless it's quite short and organised in very short chapters, plus, y'know, it's written by a 13 year old :) so definitely not a dense read although a meaningful one.

Did English for the (Irish) Leaving Cert - Macbeth was our Shakespeare play. Was intoning to dd the other day - "For brave Macbeth/Well he deserves that name! /Disdaining fortune with his brandished steel/Which smoked with bloody execution!" She was suitably impressed.

Also did Charles Dickens, Hard Times. Aptly named.

Then we had a set list of poets, mostly Irish (Kinsella and Kavanagh - love the latter in particular) and some others like Emily Dickinson and Dylan Thomas, both great for that late teenage morbid stage - Because I could not stop for Death/He kindly stopped for me. And Death shall have no Dominion! And Gerald Manley Hopkins - I caught this morning morning's minion/Kingdom of daylight's dauphin....

Can still quote chunks of the above by heart, not necessarily that accurately, and I often do (to myself). Loved it. Glad I didn't study literature properly - I want to enjoy it, not dissect it. I did law - loved criminal law and the stuff about wills, but didn't get enthused about commercial/landlord & tenant stuff.

110. My Grandmother Sends Her Regards And Apologises, Fredrik Backman. I really enjoyed this - it had verve and style, and although the concept of the fairy tale lands was slightly twee, it was written so engagingly that I happily suspended my disbelief. Explores relationships and digs under the skin of people to show that no one is entirely black or white - there are likeable/unlikeable aspects of everyone. I haven't read A Man Called Ove, but I'm a lot more inclined to pick it up now!

111. The Somnambulist and the Psychic Thief, Lisa Tuttle. It may be just me, but the two main characters in this, Jespersen and Lane, read to me like an attempt at a Mulder/Scully relationship from the early X Files. Probably because I've just been watching the first two seasons! However, the female lead saying she wanted to be known for her rationality seemed like a dead giveaway. For this reason I think bits jarred - there wasn't much exploration of the relationship between the characters. As I said earlier, the first few months are skipped over so you don't get to see how the partnership really begins. I'd have liked to see that - how they built up their trust in each other and learned each other's skills and values. It could have been so much better! I enjoyed The Mysteries but this one wasn't quite there. Cliffhanger endings always pull me in, though - I still want to know what happens next! I'm now starting Windhaven.

I seem to remember someone saying Wolf Hall was a controversial one!

We did Othello, The Tempest, The Handmaid's Tale, Talking Heads, The Wife of Bath from The Canterbury Tales and The Importance of Being Ernest for A Level. All top choices. Lots of humour, lots of feminism.

Lovely shiny new thread!

Composteleana, I post on the goodreads threads when I can although I tend to give it a miss if I didn't finish anything that week. I definitely found them useful when I was choosing books for categories and will go back to them when I need to choose some new things, although at the moment I have my next few books already lined up.

Thanks for the new thread.

I did French, German and Spanish for A-levels/BA, so ended up studying/reading a fair bit of literature through those. Although doing literature generally ruined a lot of books for me, I will still try to read books in their original language if I can get hold of them. I do get in trouble with friends if they ask to borrow something and I've forgotten it's the original eg Madame Bovary.

Chessie I listen to a lot of audiobooks and do find my mind wanders, or I fall asleep if at home. I used to drive a lot in an old job and found audiobooks made the journey pass faster than the radio/music. I also had a job that I walked 35 mins each way to and I listened and walked which worked well. I've promised myself no more classics/brain-hurty books on audio, as I think the reading vs listening experience is very different. In the same vein, I keep saying no more Shakespeare books as it should be seen and not read.

Fetching the list...

1. Dictator by Robert Harris
2. Conclave by Robert Harris
3. Mistress of the Art of Death by Ariana Franklin
4. Murder As a Fine Art by David Morrell
5. Longbourn by Jo Baker
6. The Poison Tree by Erin Kelly
7. The Owl Killers – Karen Maitland
8. When she was good by Laura Lippman
9. Company of Liars by Karen Maitland

10. Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn 11. The Stranger’s Child by Alan Hollinghurst 12. The Nightingale by Kristen Hannah 13. Lord of the Flies by William Golding 14. The Book Thief by Markus Zusak 15. His Bloody Project by Graeme Macrae Burnet 16. The Help by Kathryn Stockett 17. The Plague by C. C. Humphreys 18. Saints of the Shadow Bible by Ian Rankin 19. Flowers in the Attic by Virginia Andrews 20. Flight Behaviour by Barbara Kingsolver 21. The Burning Air by Erin Kelly 22 Even Dogs In The Wild by Ian Rankin 23. The Testament of Mary by Colm Toibin 24. Dissolution by CJ Sansom 25. The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath 26. The Fall by Simon Mawer 27. Never Let Me Go by Ishiguro Kazuo 28. The Ides of April by Lindsey Davis 29. Alone in Berlin by Hans Fallada 30. The Gallow’s Curse by Karen Maitland 31. City of Thieves by David Benioff 32. All Quiet on the Western Front by Erich Maria Remarque 33. Lady Susan by Jane Austen 34. I am Malala by Malala Yousafzai 35. The Girl Who Fell From the Sky by Simon Mawer 36. A Conspiracy of Violence by Susanna Gregory 37. Not so Quiet by Helen Zenna Smith

I've just finished
38. Dark Fire by CJ Sansom - (audio) I enjoyed it a lot more than Dissolution.

I'm 2 chapters in to The Essex Serpent.

84. Days without end - Sebastian Barry
Can completely see why this one made the ManBooker Long List. A beautifully craft tale, an unexpected love story set against the backdrop of 1800's American, Indian and Civil War. Also with Trumps recent announcement regarding transgender recruits it has acquired a topic edge. Had strong echoes of Cold Mountain and also Trumpet (?) by Jackie Kay (?) ( Think that's right, it's a while since I read it. Still think lincoln is my favourite but this came a close second.
Think I might fall off the ManBooker wagon for one book. Following the sad news of Robert Hardy's death feeing the need to have an All Creatures moment. Downloaded them on daily deals a week or so ago.

79. Lee Child - Worth Dying For Jack Reacher. It was OK. I might read another. Not much in the way of character development - not many of the characters stayed alive long enough for that.

Place-marking & catching up. On my phone so am not going to bring a list over yet. I think I'm going to have to read the divisive Lincoln book RMC, you've convinced me. I normally try & do a few of the Bookers. I read Swing Time earlier this year. I'm surprised it made the longlist actually, I didn't think it was very well structured - got pretty bogged down in the middle - had an unsympathetic narrator and made pretty obvious points about slebs. The Arundhati Roy is my book club read so am planning to tackle it on holiday.
I nearly bought The Underground Railway but it does sound quite a tough read. I don't know if it's ideal for a baking beach.
I'm reading a Booker listed one from last year at the very moment. David Szalzy All That Man Is - apparently a lonely bundle of hormones thinking about sex. Not impressed so far.

I did English A level too, & a couple of years joint honours with philosophy at Uni before dropping the English. I did love it at A level, despite having to do Bleak House. Still can't read Dickens. And concur on Conrad and would add Hardy to authors I'm happy to never read again.

Biblio we did Kavanagh for O Level. A strange choice for a school in Swansea especially as we never did Dylan Thomas. I loved him though (Kavanagh).

So I need some advice! How long did it take everyone to read The Power? I picked it up from the library last night but it's a two week loan and it's reserved. However, I'm 200ish pages into Needful Things - Stephen King and as many will know there's still a way to go! Do I quickly read The Power or persevere with Needful Things and hope for the best?

Thanks, South, for the new thread! We are flying through them this year thanks to all the new posters.

Tarahumara - The Glass Castle was also a surprise hit for me when I read it four years ago.

Satsuki, I didn't like Bossypants either. I thought Amy Poehler's autobiography was better (but still not life-changing). She comes across as a lot more likeable. I'd quite like to be Amy Poehler!

TooExtra - we probably went to school in Scotland at the same time! I also did Sunset Song, Romeo and Juliet and Larkin for Higher English. And answering Cote's enquiry, studying English stopped for me at Higher but I've always enjoyed reading, with a particular resurgence since joining this 50-book thread.

Bringing over my list.

1. The Story of a New Name (Book 2 of Neopolitan Novels) by Elena Ferrante.
2. Grief is the Thing with Feathers by Max Porter.

1. Beauty by Robin McKinley.
2. Prisoners of Geography by Tim Marshall.

5. The Last Policeman: A Novel (The Last Policeman Book I) by Ben H.Winters. 6. Red Rising by Pierce Brown.

1. Breakfast at Tiffany's by Truman Capote.
2. Any Human Heart by William Boyd.
3. The Pure in Heart (Simon Serailler Book 2) by Susan Hill.

10. Joyland by Stephen King. 11. Jerusalem:The Biography by Simon Sebag Montefiore. 12. How to Meditate: A Practical Guide to making Friends with your Mind by Pema Chödrön. 13. Lord of the Flies by William Golding. 14. Palestine by Joe Sacco. 15. Steelheart (Reckoners Book 1) by Brendon Sanderson. 16. The Girls by Emma Cline. 17. The Hanging Shed by Gordon Ferris. 18. I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou. 19. Mindfulness: A practical guide to finding peace in a frantic world by Mark Williams and Danny Penman. 20. The Hanging Tree (Peter Grant series, Book 6) by Ben Aaronovitch. 21. Stasiland by Anna Funder. 22. Indemnity Only (VI Warshawski Book 1) by Sara Paretsky. 23. The Vegetarian by Han Kang. 24. The Wild Ways (Book 2 in the Enchantment Emporium series) by Tanya Huff. 25. The Magician by Raymond E Feist. (Audiobook) 26. Homegoing by Yaa Gyasi. 27. Roseanna (A Martin Beck novel) by Sjöwall and Wahlöö. 28. The Sellout by Paul Beatty. 29. The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms (Book 1 of The Inheritance Trilogy) by NK Jemisin. 30. Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury. 31. Mr Kiss and Tell (Veronica Mars Mystery) by Rob Thomas and Jennifer Graham. 32. Animal: The Autobiography of a Female Body by Sara Pascoe. 33. The Argonauts by Maggie Nelson. 34. Playing to the Gallery by Grayson Perry. 35. Bitten by Kelley Armstrong. 36. Commonwealth by Ann Patchett. 37. Countdown City (The Last Policeman Book 2) by Ben H. Winters. 38. Summer Knight (Book 4 of the Dresden Files) by Jim Butcher. 39. Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell by Susanna Clarke. 40. Deadlock (VI Warshawski Book 2) by Sara Paretsky. 41. The Summer Book by Tove Jansson.

Currently struggling my way through The Sympathiser, a Pulitzer Prize winner last year. Good writing but I'm still struggling.

Matilda - I haven't read The Power but when I've been in your situation I've read the library book and then gone back to my other one. Depends if you're in the mood for The Power!

Matilda it only took me 4/5 days to read The Power

I'll maybe take a break from Needful Things then and go read this. They're both library books I have nine just now but Power is the only one that can't be renewed!

Omitting Dylan Thomas seems a strange choice for a Swansea school, Best! Kavanagh is great though. "No-one will speak in prose/Who finds his way to these Parnassian Islands".

Thanks for the new thread.

34 The Strange Disappearance of a Bollywood Star by Vaseem Khan
A young Bollywood star is performing at a show designed to hype his next film. Something goes wrong and he is kidnapped. Who has him and why? An enjoyable diverting read. Nothing too challenging. Only thing I find hard to imagine is how the hero is able to bring his baby elephant into other people's houses and businesses without most people batting an eyelid.

35 The Comforters by Muriel Spark
This book is funny and weird as well. Caroline can hear the author's thoughts - is she going mad or not? Is Laurence's grandmother really in a gang? There are various other characters doing various odd things. I enjoyed it, just find it hard to describe!

36 Stormy Petrel by Mary Stewart
Young woman goes on holiday to remote Scottish island. Meets two men who, for varying reasons are behaving oddly. This read as rather dated for a book written and set in the early 1990s. Enjoyed it, just pictured it as set in an earlier time.

37 The Yellow Wallpaper by Charlotte Perkins Gilman
This is a collection of short stories that I picked up at random in the library. The author was American and was writing at the end of the 19th Century but many of her themes feel contemporary. What happens to a woman when all her children have left home - what does she do with her life? What happens if you want different things for your retirement years? The Yellow Wallpaper is a brilliant story about a woman suffering from depression. Towards the end of the collection the stories were a little repetitive but overall enjoyable.

38 Stork Mountain by Miroslav Penkov
Young American returns to a remote part of Bulgaria to find his grandfather who inexplicably cut off contact with his family 3 years before. I found this overlong - there is a good story in there but it could have done with some pruning.

39 The Beginner's Goodbye by Anne Tyler
This is the story of a middle aged man whose wife suddenly dies and his life is turned upside down. It is a very well written exploration of grief and the behaviour of others when faced with death and loss. Although that makes it sound very sad it is also funny as well. Really enjoyed this one.

I studied Murder in the Cathedral by Eliot, Barchester Tales, The Great Gatsby, Coriolanus, Measure for Measure, The Prologue and the The Pardoner's Tale for A level English. Not the best of Shakespeare's plays. I remember my teacher describing the ending of Measure for Measure as if someone said to him "Hurry up we need the script" so he just tied up all the endings to make all the good characters have a happy ending. I enjoyed English lit at school but it can kill a good book by making you over-study it. Or, to be honest, reading classic/great novels when you are too young to really understand/appreciate it.

Moving my list over

1. The One We Fell in Love With - Paige Toon
2. This Is Where It Ends - Marieke Nijkamp
3. The Girl Who Lied - Sue Fortin
4. Girls on Fire - Robin Wasserman

5. The Heat of Betrayal - Douglas Kennedy

1. Forget You Had a Daughter: Doing Time in the Bangkok Hilton - Sandra Gregory
2. Fangirl - Rainbow Rowell
3. Trust in Me - Sophie McKenzie

9. Close Enough to Kill - Beverly Barton 10. Anne Frank: The Diary of a Young Girl 11. How I Lost You - Jenny Blackhurst 12. The Girls - Lisa Jewell 13. The Breakdown - B A Paris 14. 206 Bones - Kathy Reichs 15. Daisy in Chains - Sharon Bolton 16. Off Sides - Sawyer Bennett 17. The Loving Husband - Christobel Kent 18. Do No Harm - Henry Marsh 19. Silent Child - Sarah A Denzil 20. The Escape Artist - Diane Chamberlain 21. Holding - Graham Norton 22. The Things We Have in Common - Tasha Kavanagh 23. You Can't Have My Daughter - Elizabeth McDonnnell 24. Truly Madly Guilty - Liane Moriarty 25. The Escape - C L Taylor 26. The Butterfly Garden - Dot Hutchison 27. Obsession - Amanda Robson 28. Cut - Hibo Wardere 29. The Mistake I Made - Paula Daly 30. Little Black Lies - Sharon Bolton 31. Dear Amy - Helen Callaghan 32. Don't Let Go - Michael Bussi 33. The Cry - Helen Fitzgerald 34. I Let You Go - Clare MacKintosh 35. Sisterland - Curtis Sittenfeld 36. Misery - Stephen King 37. A Year of Being Single - Fiona Collins 38. Emma's Baby - Abbie Taylor 39. Ragdoll - Daniel Cole 40. The Handmaid's Tale - Margaret Atwood 41. The Girl Before - J P Delaney 42. The Wicked Girls - Alex Marwood 43. You Will Know Me - Megan Abbott 44. Pretty Girls - Karin Slaughter 45. Eleanor & Park - Rainbow Rowell 46. Brand New Me - Charlotte Crosby 47. All is Not Forgotten - Wendy Walker

48. Needful Things - Stephen King - taking a break from this to read The Power which needs to be back at the library first!!

ShakeIt and TooExtra I did Sunset Song and Romeo and Juliet for Higher English too, poetry was a bit of a mixture rather than focussing on one poet. Cedar03 I agree that over analysing books sometimes put me off them when I was at high school, but sometimes when I read a 'good' book now, I feel as though there's bits going over my head and secretly wish that my brilliant high school English teacher could talk me through it!
29. The Shed That Fed a Million Children by Magnus Macfarlane-Barrow
This is the story of the charity Mary's Meals as written by one of the founders. Mary's Meals are probably best known for their work in developing nations, providing one meal a day in a place of education as a way of helping people living in poverty, increasing school attendance and providing more children with the opportunity to improve their life prospects through education, while also striving to alleviate the problems of hunger, malnutrition and related illnesses. While I was vaguely familiar with this work, I (perhaps stupidly!) hadn't realised that the 'Mary' of the charity's name is the Virgin Mary, and so the repeated references to the author's Catholic faith and it's influence on the charity took me by surprise more than they probably should have. That's not to say that it's overdone, it's just written about in quite a matter of fact way. The author is not an amazing writer but he tells some really interesting stories.
Halfway through The Chessmen by Peter May as an audiobook.

Waterstones has a buy one, get one half price sale on at the mo - any recs for stuff I should get? I got Prisoners of Geography due to the reviews on here, as it sounds like the maps make it better as a physical book rather than Kindle.

One of the few joys of a long day travelling is time to read. Finished book 85 All Creatures Great and Small. Gentle and joyous comfort reading. Read the whole series while on Maternity Leave with DS1 and used to watch the TV series with my lovely Grandad, who was a farmer. You need to read books like this every now and then - balm for the soul.