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?

56. Swallow This by Joanna Blythman

Non-fiction. Subtitled "Serving Up The Food Industry's Darkest Secrets", it's about how the food processing industry make the foods that go onto the shelves in supermarkets etc. And it's primarily about how the food industry work when things are going well, not about food scandals that pop up in the news from time to time.

It's pretty grim reading and made pre-prepared food look increasingly unappetising as I got further through the book.

Just popping on to cheer that Lincoln in The Bardo has made the ManBooker short list.
Was underwhelmed with Exit West Autumn was good but quite disjointed. History of Wolves beautifully written by so depressing! 4,2,3,1 was very good and original. Half way through Elmet and enjoying it so far. Still think Lincoln in the Bardo stands out head and shoulders above the others.
Pleased that Zadie Smith didn't make the short list. Wasn't nearly good enough.
Disappointed that Sebastian Barry didn't make it,

Best - So glad you stuck with it. That tower section is terrifyingly good! If I remember correctly, the others don't have the pacing problems of Sovereign.

Have finished another book but currently too tired to review it - mountaineering disaster. Was okay only.

I'm reading Swing Time at the moment and, lets just say I can't imagine having to read it more than once.

I'm surprised former winner Arundhati Roy didn't make the shortlist today. I feel the opposite to RMC - I'm delighted Sebastian Barry was snubbed, and disappointed about Zadie Smith.

Book 85
Denali's Howl: The Deadliest Climbing Disaster on America's Wildest Peak – Andy Hall
An account of a disaster on Alaska’s Mount McKinley, in which 7 young men died during a horrific storm. The writer’s father was a park ranger at the time. I hadn’t heard of the disaster, or even the mountain, before, but think that somebody on MN recommended this once. It was okay. What happened was interesting to find out about, and obviously desperately sad, but unfortunately I didn’t think the actual writing was terribly good.

Quick question about It.

Quite enjoyed the film but would have liked to know more about what It was, where it came from and why it was there. Would I get this from the book?

No It spoilers on here please, I plan to read it soon! Haven't seen the film.

No, I don't want spoilers, just an indication of whether I'd get more from the book.

I'm very pleased that Lincoln in the Bardo is on the Booker shortlist. I must admit I'm a bit surprised that Exit West made it.

TheTurnOfTheScrew
I need to turn off one-click on my kindle account. This morning, while checking the daily deals on my phone, my fat fingers accidentally bought something called Who Moved My Cheese .

Ha ha. I have that book (short, allegorical book about workplace attitudes and methods).

48. Kolmysky Heights by Lionel Davidson. A great read! Not really my preferred genre (it's one of DH's) as I prefer more feeeeeeeelings in my books ;) This reminded me a bit of the Jason Bourne films. Once the book gets going, it's non-stop action with the hero managing to get himself out of all manner of scrapes and always be one step ahead of the 'enemy'. However, it's an absorbing read, very detailed and has a 'serious' almost intellectual tone especially when describing the scientific scenes (perhaps completely unplausible - I don't know as I am not a scientist but the premise is a fascinating one). I also loved the descriptions of the Siberian tundra in all it's isolated, frozen glory.

The plot - a mysterious coded message is sent from a secret Russian research station in one of the remotest parts of Siberia to the hero, Johnny Porter, a Canadian native Indian via an academic in Oxford. Western intelligence services are intrigued and a plot is hatched to get Porter in and then back out (with the secret information). Easier said than done of course!

Best, yes, you'll get more details about It from the book - did the film not cover the smokehole scene with It's backstory? It's a great book apart from a certain scene that was deleted from the film because it's highly questionable.

52. Into the Water - Paula Hawkins

There is a mystery about why women come to Drowning Rivers to die. Multiple suicide and when Nel Abbott becomes the latest victim they start to question if it was suicide.

I enjoyed this more than I expected as the reviews hadn't been great but maybe that's because I had low expectations. Some nice twists and another library book so free read.

Onto book 53. You - Caroline Kepnes

47. Forty Rules of Love by Elif Shafak
    This book is set partly in the past and partly in the present. The parts in the past were really good, parts in the present were a bit stilted and unlikely. The past is the story of Rumi, Islamic scholar and poet in the 13th century and his friendship with Shams of Tabriz. Present is the story of Ella who is reviewing a book written about them. Enjoyed it but wish there had been less of the present nonsense and more of the past story.

48. Earthly Remains by Donna Leon
    I enjoy reading these books but the detective aspect of it has become lighter and lighter in the more recent books. The main plot of this one felt a bit like a sub Sara Paretsky plot without any confrontation of corrupt businessmen. All too often there seems to be an Italian shrug of the shoulders no matter what is uncovered. The main plot point was obvious from quite early on. But it was a nice diversion for a few hours.

49. A Spool of Blue Thread by Anne Tyler
    Think this has been reviewed on this thread several times so won't go into detail except to say that I really enjoyed reading this. Like many of her books it was funny and sad. It is full of the complications of family life and how we see ourselves and others within our families so if that doesn't appeal won't be your cup of tea but I loved it.

Cedar - Elif Safak (not spelled with an 'h', actually) is sort of persona non grata in Turkey at the moment. She lives in London with her husband. They had to flee Turkey after last year's so-called coup attempt because her husband's ties to Gulen's Islamist sect who was accused of orchestrating it.

Turkish expats I know who have met her in London say that she is one of the dumbest and least interesting people they have ever met.

I haven't read any of her books but her success outside of Turkey is considered a bit of a mystery

Though to be fair Eli Shafak is spelt with an 'h' on all the English translations of her books, presumably because we don't have the Turkish 's' variant (it doesn't even come up as an option on my keyboard when I hold down the 's' key, sadly). I thought the However Many Rules of Love was a dreary book with a poor structure and unsatisfying frame.

59. A Gentleman in Moscow: Amor Towles. I enjoyed this once I suspended my disbelief enough. I thought it was an interesting exploration of making meaning in a constrained life and the structure was quite neat.
60. Homo Deus: Yuval Noah Harari. A thought-provoking follow up to Sapiens.
61. 4321: Paul Auster. I really, really enjoyed this. In fact, notwithstanding the fact that it probably is a bit too long, I felt it was one of the best things I'd read in ages. The conceit is really well managed and although some reviews complain about the confusion and repetition of the 'versions', I thought, perhaps perversely, that that was one of the book's strengths. The fact that so much in each version was similar is part of the point. The endless reportage style can be wearing occasionally (mainly during the Columbia protests), but in a way it's like reading 4 novels at the same time. I loved the fact that the author makes the character constantly aware of his choices and his multiple selves within each of his single selves. I'm skim re-reading it to make sure I didn't miss any crucial diverging roads.

129. The Fire Child by S K Tremayne

Started well, describing the setting really well - manor house in Cornwall surrounded by old mines. However, about halfway through it went wrong. People very suddenly switched their behaviour, I struggled to work out who was mad and who was sane, and the ending was just completely bizarre. Not one I would recommend.

Ontop, yes, I know she spells her name like that on English books. I wasn't saying Cedar is making a mistake. It's just one of the things about her that get on Turks' nerves. To the best of my knowledge, no other Turkish author has ever bastardized their own name to look more Anglo-friendly. It's pathetic (is the general viewpoint).

Oh, sorry, Cote, I see - I misunderstood and thought it was a 'correction'. On the basis of the one book I've read of hers, though, you're clearly right not to read any of her work, because even if it were better written in the original Turkish, the one I read wasn't very good and I wouldn't read another.

32. Madam, Will You Talk? Mary Stewart It's the early 1950s. English schoolteacher Charity Selbourne is holidaying in Avignon when she makes friends with a young boy who seems to be dealing with problems beyond his strength. When she discovers that his estranged father probably assaulted him and murdered his best friend, she thinks she understands why. When she then bumps into the father and accidently lets slip that she knows David, she is determined that she will not tell him where he is. He is just as determined that she will. So begins a breakneck car chase across France, straight out of The Thirty-Nine Steps (if Hannay was a cool-headed young woman with a penchant for fast cars). But as the plot thickens, Charity begins to realise quite what a tangled web of murder and deceit she's fallen into ...

I've never read any Mary Stewart before, and I have that joyful feeling of discovering one of my authors with a juicy 60 years of backlist to read. The plot is completely bonkers, the action scenes are straight out of Boy's Own, and I guessed the main twist almost immediately (there are several). But the writing is pacy and assured, Charity is brilliant, and the male lead is a ravishing mixture of repressed English gentleman and "... Dictatorial." as Charity's friend Louise likes to murmur knowingly. Very hot.
It's not great art by any means, but if 1950s 'romantic crime' is your coffee and hot croissant, it's currently 99p on Kindle.

73 - A Year in The Life of the Yorkshire Shepherdess - Amanda Owen - Autobiographical account of the farming year on a fairly remote farm in Yorkshire. I enjoyed the style of the writing and there was some amusing anecdotes but I did get a bit bored by the end.

74 - His bloody Project - Graeme Macrae Burnet - Much reviewed on this thread already. I thought this was really good but I did become increasingly angry about Jetta's treatment as the book progressed.

75 - The Keeper of Lost Things - Ruth Hogan - Anthony Peardew collects lost things. He sees it as penance for losing, on the day she died, a keepsake she gave to him. Now reaching the end of his days he does not think that he has done enough to restore the objects to his owners. I had heard a lot about this book and I had high expectations sadly it didn't live up to them and whilst very readable I found it fairly mediocre.

75 - The Dry - Amanda Harper - Very readable thriller about the presumed suicide of Luke Hadler after supposedly killing his wife and son. I really enjoyed this and will look out for book 2 in the series.

46. Death's End by Cixin Liu Concluding part of the Three Body Problem trilogy. Extremely sciency science fiction, and a brilliant return to form after book two lost its way a little. My mind was boggled and I didn't want it to end.

The next two are my first ever library books. DS had been saying he wanted to join, and after lots of library love being expressed on this thread a couple of weeks ago, I decided to go for it. After a lifetime of buying books, why didn't I do this before?

47. Hag-Seed by Margaret Atwood This is only the second Atwood I've read, after the Handmaid's Tale, and I've heard Atwood fans, on this thread and elsewhere, saying it wasn't one of her best, so I went in with fairly low expectations. Well, I really enjoyed it, a very clever modern take on the Tempest. A theatre director who has been living in a shack in the wilds while stewing on loss of his former glory, takes a job teaching drama in a prison, and hatches a plot to get revenge on those who have wronged him. The prisoners and prison life all seemed a bit too cosy and non-threatening, but maybe that was meant to add to the fairy tale air.

48. I am Malala by Malala Yousafzai with Christina Lamb I've been meaning to read this since it came out. Great at giving the background to the rise of the Taliban in Pakistan and particularly the Swat Valley, where Malala is from, and describing her family life leading up to the shooting. I had not realised how involved in campaigning and media savvy she already was, leading her to be targeted. Told in a simple style, this was an eye opening read.

Madam, Will you Talk? sounds as if it could be my sort of thing. Thanks, Cheerful - will give it a go.

Hi Everyone
I have been following this thread for YEARS now, and having gained some reading momentum, may just managed fifty books, if I may join you?

29. Birdcage Walk by Helen Dunmore I have been ekeing this out, as I savour her books, and this is her last. Set during the French revolution it follows Lizzie, wife of a property developer in Bristol, and daughter of a libertine, and the conflicts between the two, and pulls upon her, as events in France ripple through her life. It is a period of history I know little of, but am familiar with Bristol, so felt very connected with the story. Hard to imagine living by candlelight, and felt quite immersed in this portrayal.