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?

[Tanaqui]

37. The Underground Railroad by Colton Whitehead. An absolute standout, this is a densely written novel, part fiction, part history and part allegory, can't recommend highly enough.

[boldlygoingsomewhere]

49. Inferior: How Science Got Women Wrong - Angela Saini

Really interesting book with a feminist look at science and the bias which can underlie research. I enjoyed this very much and would recommend to fans of Cordelia Fine.

Tanaqui, I also loved The Underground Railroad. It should have made the Booker shortlist.

[Matilda2013]

60. Red Queen - Victoria Aveyard

A world split by blood colour. Silvers have powers and reds are common and mistreated. Mare is common and doomed until she finds herself tangled up in the silver world.

Another YA and I enjoyed this one. Will hopefully get to the sequels one day to see how it goes. Has anyone read them? Worth it?

Need to do Pet Sematary now!

[SparrowandNightingale]

I have totally fallen off these threads. I haven't posted my books since thread 3. I shall iron my hands.
I will try to get a list together but for now just finished "The rest of us just live here" by Patrick Ness which I enjoyed especially the first half. The indie kids storyline reminded me of Buffy and her Scooby gang.
Now reading La Belle Savage by Philip Pullman
Also listening to Dave's Gorman vs the world on audio.
Book after will be something totally different to anything I usually read as it will be a suggested by a colleague.

[MegBusset]

46. No Picnic On Mount Kenya - Felice Benuzzi
    
    In 1941 Benuzzi, a member of the Italian colonial service in East Africa, was interned in a British civilian POW camp. Bored rigid with imprisonment, and with no hope of reaching neutral territory in an escape bid, he set his sights on another goal - to escape from the camp long enough to summit the nearby Mount Kenya (Africa's second highest mountain), guided only by hearsay and a sketch of the peak from a tinned meat label. A fascinating and irresistible true-life tale of escape, adventure and the indomitable human spirit.

[Tanaqui]

I think so too Boldly- although I haven't read anything that did make the shortlist, so might be being unfair. It might have been your review that made me read it, so thank you!

[southeastdweller]

46. One Good Turn - Kate Atkinson. The second in her Jackson Brodie crime series and just as enjoyable as the first book. I love her shrewd observations and sharp characterisations. A hugely entertaining and thoughtful book.

[bibliomania]

boldly, we seem to have very similar book piles! I've got Happy and Inferior waiting to be read.

Still ploughing my way through Caesar's Last Breath and on balance enjoying it, although I wouldn't care to be tested on the contents afterwards. I'm in it for the human interest rather than the action of the molecules (it's a popular science book about gases, in case the previous sentence makes no sense).

[RMC123]

108. Civilwarland in Bad Decline - George Saunders. A collection of short stories and a novella by the author of Lincoln in the Bardo. Published in 1997 these stories are dystopian in nature. They are set in the future US where society has broken down completely and people are living in a series of dark theme park/ virtual reality type scenarios. The final story/novella concentrates on how pollution/ genetic mutations have caused large chunks of the population to be born with physical abnormalities such as tails, clawed feet, eyes in the back of their skulls. These people, called ‘flaws’ have become a new breed of slave in the US. Undoubtedly bizarre but full of black humour this book is a commentary on the future of the human race. Throughout people in desperate situations are showing their true colours by exploiting or being exploited. Interesting that this book was conceived 20 years before the election of Donald Trump as some of its parallels are quite scary. Even the title sounds like something he would say!
Like Lincoln it has left me with lots to think about and it is one of those books you really need to digest and discuss.
109. Not Thomas - Sara Gethin Read about this on this thread. Heartbreaking book, all the more so for the fact that I know it isn’t so far from the reality for too many children. Have to say the teacher’s character just annoyed me. Felt her actions when she found Tomos at the height of his emergency were so bizarre even accounting for the personal back story.

[Tanaqui]

38. Snowdrift and other stories by Georgette Heyer. This is a repackage of the short story collection Pistols for Two with 3 rediscovered extra stories at the end. Heyer is not at her best in the short story format- there isn't the time for developing the charm or the complex plots that are so engaging in her novels, but as a fan it is interesting to see where some of those novels may have started, or what other stories she may have told. Worth a read if you are a fan, but don't start here if you are not!

[boldlygoingsomewhere]

Biblio, it will be interesting to compare our lists at the end of the year - we may have a lot of overlap!

In which case, I'll be following your picks closely next year.

[bibliomania]

Absolutely! I like to compare without the pressure of making recommendations. Far too much responsibility.

[Cherrypi]

28. The threat level remains severe by Rowena Macdonald.
    I was intrigued by this one when looking through the guardian not the booker shortlist. It is about a woman who works in admin at the House of Commons, her new colleague and her mysterious email admirer. It was a quick, light read. It does go in a different direction to what you would expect halfway through. The author works in the House of Commons herself and the details from that are fascinating.

[Tanaqui]

I think my numbering has gone awry, but my paper list says this is 40, so:

40) The Dry by Jane Harper . I wanted to read this since I heard about it on Open Book, and it did not disappoint - a really good crime thriller and I am looking forward to the next one.

[Sadik]

Cherrypi I've just started the second section of The Threat Level Remains Severe - enjoyed the first half and interested to see where it goes.

I got diverted from it by no. 86 The Hallowed Hunt by Lois McMaster Bujold - really excellent high fantasy with gods, shamen and a sprinkling of romance. Loved this series, and will definitely re-read.

[boldlygoingsomewhere]

Sadik, I love a bit of high fantasy - perfect escapism. Will keep an eye out on kindle for the series.

[StitchesInTime]

65. The Darkest Minds by Alexandra Bracken

Dystopian YA.
A mysterious disease has killed most of the children over the age of 8 in the USA (not clear if it's spread further) and left the survivors with superpowers. They’re split into 5 groups by colour - super smart greens, telekinetic blues, electricity controlling yellows, fire starter reds, and telepathic mind controlling oranges. 16 yr old orange Ruby has been locked up in a “rehabilitation” camp masquerading as a green for 6 years, when she escapes, and starts a journey to find her family and master her mind reading / control powers.

Generally enjoyable - I’ll be keeping an eye out for the next in the sequence in the library - but with some annoying plot holes.
For example, every affected child is locked up because their powers might be dangerous, and the government has outlawed having babies because the resulting babies, if they survive, will grow to have dangerous powers. This clearly isn’t sustainable as a long term solution unless you want your country to die out.
And while you can see how powers like mind control, firestarting, electricity control and telekinesis could be misused or be dangerous in the hands of a child who can’t control them, it’s not clear why the supersmart greens are also getting locked up - what’s so dangerous about them? The only reason I can see to have the greens locked up, is so that the orange protagonist Ruby, has a place to hide herself in the rehabilitation camp.

[boldlygoingsomewhere]

50. Tower of Dawn - Sarah J. Maas

Latest in the Throne of Glass series. A light, fun, high fantasy story. Lots of tortured characters, fantastical creatures, repressed lust which inevitably gets unleashed...an undemanding read. Entertaining if you are not bothered by stories which follow a formula.

[Sadik]

87 The Threat Level Remains Severe by Rowena Macdonald

Reviewed just upthread by Cherrypi - I also found this a quick light read. Sympathetic characters and a few twists to the story kept it going, and as said above the details of life working in the House of Commons were a nice extra.

[ChillieJeanie]

81. The Tiger and the Wolf by Adrian Tchaikovsky
    
    Maniye is the daughter of Stone River, the chief of a Wolf clan, but she is still an outcast, seen by her father only as a tool to be used and hated by the priest who tries to supress her other side. Because she is also the daughter of the Tiger queen, ruler of an enemy clan who had been captured, raped, and killed once the child of Wolf and Tiger had been born. The people of the world's tribes can all shift into the form of their tribe's totem animal but Maniye can become both wolf and tiger. She rebels against her father's plans and escapes her clan, with hunter and killer Broken Axe hard on her heals.
    
    From the south comes a group seeking the support of the Wolf in determining the new ruler of the people of the Crocodile, but across the world the priests foresee danger and the possibility of a great war coming. In the midst of this Maniye seeks to find her own place and path in the work, with danger at every turn.
    
    It's a pretty good world that Tchaikovsky has created and this is the first in a series.

[Tanaqui]

41. Seveneves by Neal Stephenson . Recommended by Cote - I really enjoyed it. I do have a few reservations so review (with spoilers) below:
    
    I think this would have been better as a trilogy, some potentially interesting parts are only skimmed over, and a few plot points would have benefitted from expansion. The first third (where an unknown disaster splits the moon apart and the human race realise that the Earth will be destroyed) is really well done scientifically, but I am very doubtful that people working in hotels and restaurants would still have been doing so knowing they had only a year or two to live. It would have been really helpful to have a doomed humans pov. The middle third was skimped rather - I wanted to know why Julia had cheated to get up there, how she had persuade the Arkies to revolt (this was told, but not shown iyswim), why and how the team that went to get the comet had done it. The final third, set in the future, had some good parts, but I did find it hard to believe 5000 years had passed and so much history was known, language so unchanged - 5000 years ago is another world. Several times it reminded me of Vonda McIntyre's Starfarers series (so the appearance of the Pingers wasn't a surprise). So good, but annoying that I felt it could have been even better!

[doctorcuntybollocks]

I shall be joining you. I've got a stack of books on my desk and a virtual stack on my Kindle, some of which have been there for years. For the purposes of the challenge, my year will begin now and run until the end of 2018. As a lot of the books are rather long I can only commit to reading 25 (rather than 50).

[CluelessMama]

Haven't posted in ages, reading pace has slowed throughout Aug/Sept/Oct compared to earlier in the year, but the books I have completed since my last post are...
33. Knowing the Score by Judy Murray (Audible)
Won't be of interest to everyone but I found this fascinating. As I am Scottish/a Mum/a PE teacher/a tennis fan, there was lots that I could identify with and some of her views on coaching struck a chord.
34. We Should All Be Feminists by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie (Audible)
Much reviewed on this thread. Interesting to listen to this straight after Judy Murray's book, as both women have similar anecdotes about male dominance in the world and they share a very common-sense, down to earth view of what feminism is and should be.
35. Big Little Lies by Liane Moriarty
Well written, good quality chick lit, based around a group of mums who all have children starting in their first year at the same Australian school. I loved this! Great characters, I felt that their inner thoughts seemed very realistic. Some really funny observations about parenthood and primary school life, and a death that is alluded to from the start but not revealed until the end. I've already been recommending this to friends and colleagues. Anyone read Liane Moriarty's other books? Which do you recommend, or which other authors are similar?
36. The Pink Suit by Nicole Mary Kelby
A novel set in New York in the Sixties, revolving around the main character Kate who makes clothes for First Lady Jackie Kennedy. The pink suit of the title is the outfit she was wearing on the day of her husband's death. This was a bit of an odd one. I found Kate's story was told in a very stilted way as the flow of the telling of events was interrupted for long passages describing fabric, fashion and dress-making processes. This was sometimes symbolic (fabric unravelling as Kate's life unravelled, for example), and with hindsight I realised that it also probably represented the way that Kate's obsessions with her work and The Wife (as Jackie Kennedy is referred to) take her away from real life, but at times I found it frustrating. The descriptions of the Irish immigrant community in New York were interesting, but the main character made so many odd choices that I got annoyed with her. Not a highlight, but I finished it even though I've abandoned several books recently, so it can't have been all bad.
37. The Silkworm by Robert Galbraith (Audible)
Reviewed on here previously and I think I share the views of others - more of the author's politics in this one (which I didn't mind) and we've now heard A LOT about Strike's leg (which had me wondering if we could have managed without quite so many references to it). The death is more gruesome than in The Cuckoo's Calling which I didn't like, but I'm finding the main characters interesting and look forward to catching up with Career of Evil, probably on Audible as I'm enjoying the narration on these.
Don't think I'll make it to 50 books this year, but will aim for 45 which is a big advance on 20 last year. Next up I've got All Quiet on the Western Front from the library having seen it so widely recommended on here

[EmGee]

58. The Moment by Douglas Kennedy. Quite liked this - the bulk of the story is set in 1980's Berlin. Thomas is a young American writer who comes to Berlin to prepare for writing a book about East Berlin. He meets and falls in love with a dissident from East Berlin. A bit schmaltzy in places but the descriptions of life in East Berlin under the Stasi are fascinating and horrible.

[RemusLupinsBiggestGroupie]

Nothing to add. Reading the new King which is allegedly co-written with his son, Owen, but I suspect is all Owen with Stephen's name on it to get it published. Not loving it.