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50 Book Challenge 2017 Part Seven

999 replies

southeastdweller · 02/08/2017 22:26

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?

OP posts:
RemusLupinsBiggestGroupie · 12/10/2017 17:45

Popping in to say 'Hi' and keep up with the thread. Have lost my mojo. Work is ridiculously busy and I'm ridiculously tired. I've had the new King in hardback for a fortnight, but am too tired to try to lift it (it's huge). Instead I'm reading nonsense on Kindle.

CheerfulMuddler · 13/10/2017 12:38
  1. Nine Coaches Waiting Mary Stewart Young girl goes as governess to a nine-year-old French Comte in a chateau in the forest. Here she meets his devilish uncle and his devilishly handsome cousin. But what devilry is at work amongst the pines? Thoroughly enjoyed this. I liked the slow build, though I agree with Remus that there were a lot of repeated elements from Madam - the furious repressed hero, the uncertainty about who was good and who wasn't and the chasing around France in fast cars. I didn't like Linda nearly as much as Charity, but I liked the tighter, claustrophobic focus of this one a lot.
EmGee · 13/10/2017 14:00
  1. Into the Air by Jon Krakauer. Oooh I did like this! So much so that when I finished it, I had to re-read it as first time round I kept forgetting who was in which team/what the Western Cwm was etc etc - I read it on my Kindle and I never know how to scroll back to the beginning/previous chapters). It's been on my mind ever since and I keep googling to find out more about the climbers and also to be able to visualise what it is like to climb Mt Everest. Not that I have any plans or desire to

I found it utterly compelling!! I can kind of imagine (on a teeny scale!) what it must be like to be 'on the rooftop of the world' as I visited Bhutan in 2003 and went on a trek which took us quite high up. I recall a magnificent vista of snow capped mountains against a bright blue sky in the distance and the guide saying 'There are the Himalayas'.

MegBusset · 13/10/2017 14:44
  1. Turning Blue - Benjamin Myers

Got this as a Kindle freebie having enjoyed one of his other books. It's a brutal rural noir tale set in the Yorkshire Dales; Myers has a few stylistic tics that grate a bit, but he writes landscape really well and gives the crime-fighting 'odd couple' an interesting spin with the uptight detective Brindle and boozy journalist Mace. Recommended to Remus and fellow crime fans.

KeithLeMonde · 13/10/2017 15:32

70. The Testament of Mary, Colm Tóibín

A short, vivid novel told from the POV of the ageing Mary, mother of Jesus. She's haunted by her memories of her son, as well as the paranoia that the people who condemned him to death are still around and mean her harm. I wish I'd heard this read aloud - it's very lyrical and sometimes a bit densely written for my speedy reading.

71. I'll Take You There, Wally Lamb

I love Wally Lamb but I didn't love this. A middle aged film buff is visited by the ghost of a pioneering female film director, who takes him through scenes of his own life. It was all a bit mansplaining-feminism for me, especially the execrable blog post by his feminist daughter, explaining to her mother how modern feminism works.

72. Man Overboard, Tim Binding

Fictional account of a real life mystery - Commander Crabb, a diver and war hero, disappeared during a visit to the UK by Nikita Khrushchev. I'd never heard of him but apparently there was huge speculation at the time that he'd either been captured/murdered or had defected. This book cleverly tells his story in the first person - he's not always very likeable. Fabulous writing, I'd never heard of Binding before but he writes beautifully.

73. The Woman in Cabin 10, Ruth Ware

More water, more mysteries. Claustrophobic thriller set on a luxury yacht. The plot was pretty silly but it was a good page turner.

Now reading Mrs Robinson's Disgrace by Kate Summerscale, about the scandalously honest diaries of an unhappily married Victorian woman.

Biblio, I have An Odyssey on my TBR list, it looks really interesting.

FortunaMajor · 13/10/2017 17:02

The Panopticon by Jenni Fagan. 15 year old Anais is a messed up product of the care system. A policewoman has been found in a coma and Anais has been found with blood on her school uniform and can't remember how it got there. She is moved from her foster home into a children's unit, a former prison built in the round with a central watch tower from which there is nowhere to hide from observation. And the experiment are watching.

I don't know where to being with this. It's an uncomfortable book to read and it will stay with me for a long time. It feels like it should be YA, but is anything but. There's no plot to speak of and little character development beyond Anais. It's largely just the drugged up ramblings of a paranoid mind. It reminded me a bit of The Bell Jar and it felt very Trainspotting, probably due to be being written in scottish dialect and involving a lot of drugs. There's a lot left unresolved and it's horrible to read how easily the characters accept what life has dished out to them. While nothing is covered in too much detail it touches on various forms of abuse or lifestyle that is all too inevitable for children in these circumstances. You know these things happen, but don't really spend too long considering them. I hate that this is real life for some people.

BestIsWest · 13/10/2017 17:22

Also just keeping up. Started a new job on Monday and my brains are fried with all the jargon and new technology.
Just about finished the Harriet Harman which has been great - will review when I get some oomph back.

SatsukiKusakabe · 13/10/2017 17:40

Checking in too before I fall off thread, having awful bout of anemia and struggling to focus on anything but enjoying reviews.

RemusLupinsBiggestGroupie · 13/10/2017 17:53

Hope everybody feels better/less frazzled very soon. I've finished another but too tired to write a review at the moment!

RemusLupinsBiggestGroupie · 13/10/2017 17:56

Has anybody looked at the Kindle Autumn sale btw?

BestIsWest · 13/10/2017 18:02

No Remus

boldlygoingsomewhere · 13/10/2017 18:03

No, haven't checked the kindle sale yet. As usual I'll be looking out for the recommendations from this thread. Grin

BestIsWest · 13/10/2017 18:18

There’s a few nice things. Have just bought Hidden Figures and The Moon’s A Balloon although I’ve already read the latter many years ago, well worth a re-read I hope.

Also tempted by a Jeeves and Wooster omnibus which I already have in paperback but would be handy to have on kindle.

RemusLupinsBiggestGroupie · 13/10/2017 19:10

I just bought the J&W! Also one called Fever Tree which I seem to remember people on here mentioning before.

RemusLupinsBiggestGroupie · 13/10/2017 19:16

Book 96
Song of the Spirits - Sarah Lark
Second in the trilogy beginning In the Land of the Long White Cloud which I reviewed down thread. This veered between a load of absolute rubbish (basically all of the many, many sex scenes & most of the scenes involving one particular character) & not bad (particularly the developing love between two characters in the second half of the novel). It definitely suffers both in writing and in translation, I think, & the writer seems particularly interested in having good women being treated appallingly by bad men. Mostly a bit wearing, but I like the time period and evocation of place, so will probably plod on with the third as it's on Kindle and my tired fingers can cope with holding it!

TheTurnOfTheScrew · 13/10/2017 19:24

not getting much reading done here either. lots of work demands, plus re-fitting the kitchen.
Anyway:
36. Waking Lions by Ayelet Gudnar-Goshen A neurosurgeon believes he has got away scot-free when involved in a hit-and-run accident in which a man is killed. However, he is blackmailed by the man's wife, who threatens to ruin his marriage and career.

Initially tense and promising, but ultimately the story lost both believability and interest. I did however find it interesting reading about modern-day Israel and the issues there with migration.

SatsukiKusakabe · 13/10/2017 19:40

I bought the J&W last time it was on sale, I don't include it in reading tallies but often dip into it when I need a laugh.

Really want to watch the film of Hidden Figures.

I have earmarked a couple but don't know if I'll buy them.

KeithLeMonde · 13/10/2017 20:55

The Line of Beauty is in the autumn sale, and is brilliant if anyone here hasn't yet read it.

KeithLeMonde · 13/10/2017 20:55

Flowers to everyone feeling poorly

Sadik · 13/10/2017 21:19

Would definitely recommend the Hidden Figures film Satsuki.

Another sloooow reader here at the moment - part way through Algorithms To Live By (ok but not amazing), a few chapters into The Bees (can't quite get over the fact that its not really like a beehive IYKWIM) and have given up for the moment on Trevor Noah on audible (just not in the right mood).

VanderlyleGeek · 13/10/2017 22:49

Flowers to all who are unwell or overwhelmed or just blah. I've been preoccupied too, but I've started Manhattan Beach by Jennifer Egan and am enjoying it tremendously.

Hidden Figures is a most excellent film for trying times.

MuseumOfHam · 14/10/2017 08:20

Flowers wishing a speedy return to form to all the frazzled 50 bookers, for whatever reason. I have a couple of updates, will be back later with them. Off on holiday tomorrow, but will be quite an active one, so don't know how much reading I'll get done.

ChessieFL · 14/10/2017 10:17
  1. Dancing In The Dark by Susan Moody

Only read this as my in-laws know the author, not something I would have picked up otherwise. Ended up quite enjoying it, although probably won't stick in the mind for long. Middle aged woman discovers her father isn't who she thought he was, so tracks down her real father.

  1. The Pie At Night: In Search Of The North At Play by Stuart Maconie

Non fiction about the various things Northerners do to fill their spare time. Not ground breaking, but enjoyed the descriptions of brass bands etc and Maconie writes well.

MuseumOfHam · 14/10/2017 22:28
  1. I Know This Much is True by Wally Lamb This was hard to read right from the start, opening with a disturbing act of violence from the main character's schizophrenic twin brother, a catalogue of abuse and misfortune spanning more than one generation is opened up. The writing made me think, in a good way, of Stephen King, how he can take a seemingly regular American guy, and really get inside him, revealing all his complexities, and what makes him tick. Great writing, but overall just too gruelling for me.

  2. The Uncommon Reader by Alan Bennett The Queen gets into reading. This reminded me why I love reading, and made me think about her life of duty and obligation. Short and sweet.

  3. The Paying Guests by Sarah Waters Genteel but down at heel 1920s household takes in paying guests. And that's it, for the first half of the book anyway. I guess this was meant to build up the feeling of ennui and repression for females of this class and time, but I really wouldn't have minded this being portrayed in a more broad brush way Rather than than live through every effing minute myself. The second half warmed up, but I couldn't forgive them all for boring me so much at the start. Then the end was a bit rubbish. Somewhat saved by being beautifully written, and also because the audiobook was narrated by Juliet Stevenson, whose voice is just perfect for this sort of thing.

ShakeItOff2000 · 14/10/2017 22:33

Also lost my reading mojo but this always happens to me towards the end of the year. Listening to Sapiens - interesting history/philosophy non-fiction. Not sure what to read next..

Fortuna - I read The Panoptican a couple of years ago and the emotion of it has stayed with me. I also find it hard to think about the poor children out there somewhere, in similar situations. Very sad.