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?

I have a total soft spot for Misery - I actually really like the florid overblown Misery novel within a novel bits - I could see myself reading that!

Yes I love Misery too. I need to read Dark Tower too especially as I do like cowboy stories!

I really enjoyed Misery and 22.11.63 was my first! Not into cowboys though so may just leave the Dark Tower books alone

36. Prayer Of The Dragon (Inspector Shan #5) by Eliot Pattison

I like this series about a disgraced Chinese investor who met Tibetan monks in the gulag he was sent to and converted to their ways. Here again, there is murder in the mountains and he has to find out who & why in order to save his friends and other Tibetans.

It was particularly interesting to read about the similarities between the languages, customs, and deities of American Indians and Tibetans.

I recommend this book, like the rest of the series starting with The Skull Mantra.

And bringing my list over:

1. The North Water by Ian McGuire
2. The Snowden Files: Inside Story Of The World's Most Wanted Man by Luke Harding
3. The Virgin Suicides by Jeffrey Eugenides
4. The Cambridge Companion to Handel by Donald Burrows
5. Revelation by C. J. Sansom (Shardlake #4)
6. The Mask Of Dimitrios by Eric Ambler
7. The Ladybird Book Of Mid-Life Crisis
8. The Schirmer Inheritance by Eric Ambler
9. The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgkin Burnett

10. Mindplayers by Pat Cadigan 11. The Dark Net by Jamie Bartlett 12. Wolf Of The Plains by Conn Iggulden 13. The Day Of The Jackal by Frederick Forsyth 14. The Odessa Files by Frederick Forsyth 15. Heartstone by C. J. Sansom 16. Night School by Lee Child (Jack Reacher #21) 17. Gorky Park by Martin Cruz Smith 18. The Worthing Chronicle by Scott Orson Card 19. Genius and Discovery: Five Historical Miniatures by Stefan Zweig 20. The Fixer by Joseph Finder 21. Raising Boys by Step Biddulph 22. Papillon by Henri Charrière 23. Le Clavier: Techniques, Factures, Interprétations by Cahier de la Société de Musique Ancienne de Nice 24. The Intercom Conspiracy by Eric Ambler 25. The Whisperer In Darkness - Collected Stories Vol. 1 by H. P. Lovecraft 26. A Divided Spy by Charles Cumming 27. Les Règles de l'Interprétation Musicale à l'Époque Baroque (XIIe-XVIIIe s.) générales à tous les instruments by Jean-Claude Veilhan (1979) 28. How We'll Live On Mars by Stephen L. Petranek 29. The Rise and Fall of D.O.D.O by Neal Stephenson & Nicole Galland 30. Along Came A Spider by James Patterson 31. The Outsider: My Life In Intrigue by Frederick Forsyth 32. Lamentation (Shardlake #6) by C. J. Sansom 33. Dark Matter by Blake Crouch 34. Kürk Mantolu Madonna ( Madonna In A Fur Coat ) by Sabahattin Ali 35. Musicophilia by Oliver Sacks

My list:

1: The Essex Serpent – Sarah Perry
2: Fatherland Robert Harris
3: Stasi Child – David Young
4: Golden Hill – Francis Spufford
5: American Gods – Neil Gaiman
6: The House by the Lake – Thomas Harding
7: 84 Charing Cross Road – Helene Hanff
8: The Duchess of Bloomsbury Street – Helene Hanff
9: Magpie Murders – Anthony Horowitz
10: Warm Bodies – Isaac Marion
11: Ashes of London – Andrew Taylor
12: Left for Dead – Beck Weathers
13: The Burning World – Isaac Marion
14: Age of Wonder: How the Romantic Generation Discovered the Beauty and Terror of Science By Richard Holmes
15: Ghosts of Everest: The Search for Mallory and Irvine – Jochen Hemmleb
16: An Astronaut’s Guide to Life on Earth – Chris Hadfield
17: Measuring the World – Daniel Kehlmann
18: The North Water - Ian McGuire
19: Berlin: Portrait of a City - Taschen
20: It Stephen King
21: On her Majesty’s Secret Service – Ian Fleming
22: White Boots – Noel Streatfeild
23: A Place Called Winter – Patrick Gale
24: The Painted Dragon – Katherine Woodfine
25: Black Plumes – Margory Allingham
26: The Nine Tailors – Dorothy L Sayers
27: Plague 99 – Jean Ure
28: Black Out – John Lawton
29: The Companion Guide to Berlin – Brian Ladd
30: Sex and Punishment: Four Thousand Years of Judging Desire - Eric Berkowitz
31: The Seven Dials Mystery – Agatha Christie
32: One – Sarah Crossan
33: The Secret Diary of Adrian Mole
34: The Growing Pains of Adrian Mole
35: Friday’s Child – Georgette Heyer
36: The Grand Sophy – Georgette Heyer
37: The Descent of Man – Grayson Perry
38: South Riding – Winifred Holtby
39 Madonna in a Fur Coat
40 Our Endless Numbered Days Claire Fuller
41: The Man in the Queue – Josephine Tey
42: Grey Mask – Patricia Wentworth
43: The Singing Sands – Josephine Tey
44: The Cornish Coast Murder – John Bude
45: Murder in Stained Glass – Margaret Armstrong
46: The City and the City China Miéville
47: Agatha Christie – Endless Night
48 Decline and Fall by Evelyn Waugh
49: The Pursuit of Love – Nancy Mitford
50: A Christmas Party – georgette Heyer
51 The Handsome Man's De Luxe Café – Alexander McCall Smith
52: The Three – Sarah Lotz
53: Persuasion – Austen
54: Prussian Blue – Philip Kerr
55: The Lost City of Z – David Grann
56: Call for the Dead - John Le Carré
57: Lincoln in the Bardo
58: A Man of Quality – John Le Carre
59: Wild – Cheryl Strayed
60: Howard’s End is on the Landing – Susan Hill
61: A Convenient Marriage – Georgette Heyer
62: The Literature Book – Dorling Kindersley
63: Oscar Wilde & the Vatican Murders – Giles Brandreth
64: Oscar Wilde and the Murders at Reading Gaol: A Mystery Gyles Brandreth
65: A Clockwork Orange
66: Mort – Terry Pratchett
67: Cogheart – Peter Bunzi
68: Dirt – Wellcome Collection
69: Elephants Can remember – Agatha Christie
70: Soul Music – Terry P
71: Germany: Memories of a Nation – Neil MacGregor
72: Thin Ice – Michelle Paver
73: Martyr – John Shakespeare

Not many standouts, and several of the ones that do stand out are re-reads.

I'm quite surprised by how many books I have liked out of my 2017 books so far. I must be growing old mellow

And I'm quite surprised by how few I have really liked of mine. I must be growing old (jaded)!

54. The North Water: Ian McGuire: I thought this was pretty good, surprisingly for this year, though I'm so fed up of present tense, multiple viewpoint narratives. I think it would be really bold of someone (not Ian McEwan, coz I can't stand him) to write a sequential, one POV, past tense novel. BUT McGuire writes well and I thought his depictions of the brutal likely realities of life on a whaler were very well done. The plot was resolved in a rather unsatisfactory and implausible way.

In Plain Sight: The Life and Lies of Jimmy Savile - Dan Davies

This was an uncomfortable read, but well worth it. Here is my review from Goodreads:

It became very clear as the book unfolded just what a slippery character Savile was, and I admire Davies for persisting in his attempts to get to know his subject. As was remarked upon in the book, the man was a pure psychopath and the scale of his deceptions and manipulations was incredible. I found the insights from the psychological professionals particularly interesting. One psychiatrist suggests that Savile's behaviours were a projection of the unbearable feelings within himself.

The final few chapters felt rushed, as if Davies just wanted to get the book over and done with, which was a shame as this is where he attempts to sum up the culture of complicity which allowed the offending to take place. The diversity of individuals and institutions caught up in Savile's web of crime was staggering and ultimately Davies suggests that Savile groomed the nation.

The style of writing is quite journalistic and could do with some more editing. Certainly towards the end of the book, there were many sentences that were missing words and the use of acronyms was inconsistent.

I'm not sure it would be right to say that I enjoyed this book; the subject matter was hideous and at times I was revolted by what I was reading. However, as previous reviewers have said, the gruesome details of the acts of abuse themselves were not sensationalised. This is a book that will stay with me and give me a lot to think about for a long time to come.

1. The Wolf and The Raven - Steven MacKay

2.The Hobbit - JRRR Tolkien (Audible) 3. Greenwitch - Susan Cooper 4.Child 44 - Tom Robb Smith 5.Fellowship of the Ring - JRRR Tolkien (Audible) 6.Into the Heart of Borneo - Redmond O'Hanlan 7.The No1 Ladies Detective agency 8.The Two Towers - JRRR Tolkien (Audible) 9. Crosstalk - Connie Willis (Audible) 10. The Forest - Edward Rutherfurd 11.Tom’s Midnight Garden - Philippa Pearce 12.1066 - Kaye Jones (Audible) 13.The Reformation - Edward Gosselin (Audible) 14.The Return of the King - JRRR Tolkien (Audible) 15. Lion by Saroo Brierley (for Bookclub) 16. The Muse by Jessie Burton (on Audible) 17. Henry VIII's wives - Julie Wheeler 18. A Wizard of Earthsea by Ursula de Guin 19. Fall of Giants by Ken Follet 20. Stig of the Dump by Clive King 21. Edward I - A Great and Terrible King by Marc Morris 22. Nomad by Alan partridge (on Audible) 23. Saigon by Anthony Grey. 24: Charlotte's Web by EB White 25: Behind Closed Doors by BA Paris. 26: The Light Years (The Cazalets 1) (Audible) 27: The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Attwood 28: Empire of the Sun by CG Ballard. (Audible) 29: A Place Called Winter - by Patrick Gale. *30: The Winter King by Bernard Cornwell (#1 of the Arthur Warlord series) on Audible 31: Enemy of God by Bernard Cornwell (#2 of the Arthur Warlord series) on Audible 32: Excalibur by Bernard Cornwell (#3 of the Arthur Warlord series) on Audible* 33: The Gunpowder plot by Sinead Fitzgibbon (Audible) 34: The 39 Steps by Richard Hanney 35: The King's Speech by Mork Logue 36: The Ginger Tree by Oswald Wynd 37: Macbeth: A novel by AJ Hartley (Audible) 38: 1984 by George Orwell 39: My Antonia by Willa Cather 40: Her Father's Daughter by Alice Pung

41: I Am Pilgrim by Terry Hayes
Pretty sure this has been reviewed before. I did enjoy it- it's an easy read and a gripping (if slightly far fetched) plot, and though some of it was a bit predictable, I'd still recommend if you fancy a thriller.

42: The Girl in the Glass Tower by Elizabeth Freemantle
Quite an interesting read, on two time lines. One story of a lady called Ami who has now fallen on hard times towards the end of James I's reign, but used to be at court in the final years of Elizabeth I's reign, and was friends with Arbella Stuart who was a potential candidate for the crown once the aging Elizabeth died. Ami's story is written in the present tense, and she is now tutoring children, but being an educated woman, is often suspected of witchcraft. She is reading through old papers of Arbella's, whose story is seen in flashback, but is then written in the first person.
I did find it a bit confusing at times, not the two timelines, but I found the first person narration of Arbella's story a bit odd, and engaged much more with Ami than with Arbella.

An interesting historical fiction novel, would recommend.

109. The Good, the Bad and the Dumped by Jenny Colgan

I was feeling ill and a bit sorry for myself and wanted something light that required no brain power and this certainly fitted the bill. Posy's boyfriend proposes but she's not sure she's ready for marriage, so goes tracking down her ex boyfriends to see if she made the wrong choice letting them go. Predictable but easy to read which was exactly what I was looking for.

110. Greatest Hits by Laura Barnett

I really enjoyed her debut, The Versions of Us, but couldn't get into this. It's the story of Cass, a fictional singer/songwriter, now in her 60s and reviewing her music for a greatest hits album. As she listens to the songs, we hear about her life at the time. It was well written but I wasn't particularly engaged with any of the characters. There is a CD to go with the book, featuring the songs that are part of the novel. I haven't listened to it though!

Hi everyone :)

I've been reading through these threads for a while now, and thinking about contributing! I'm in awe of how many books some of you are reading, I've been in a bit of a slump this year, hopefully I can pick up the pace. Here's my little list so far.

1. Nothing To Envy: Ordinary Lives in North Korea - Barbara Demick
2. Carrie's War - Nina Bawden

1. The Stepford Wives - Ira Levin
2. The Cement Garden - Ian McEwan
3. Behind Closed Doors - B.A Paris
4. Agatha Raisin and the Quiche of Death - MC Beaton
5. Why Be Happy When You Could Be Normal? - Jeanette Winterson

8. Another Day in the Death of America - Gary Younge

1. Death of a Gossip - MC Beaton

Currently Reading 'His Bloody Project'

I really enjoy non-fic, and find it generally easier to rate highly. Does anyone have any suggestions for non-fic set in the UK with a similar feel to Another Death?? I'm quite interested in Social Work type themes, and good quality true crime.

Welcome, Spud.

For true crime, Truman Capote's In Cold Blood is probably up there with the best. Not UK though.

I thought I'd just put up some mini-reviews too.

1. Nothing To Envy: Ordinary Lives in North Korea - Barbara Demick

Seen this mentioned a lot on MN. Completely worth all the praise it gets, I knew very little about North Korea before reading this, and it really stuck with me, I loved Mrs Song, especially.

1. Carrie's War - Nina Bawden

Well-know children's book, seen a as WWII classic, but written in the '70s. I really wasn't too bothered about this at all, despite being seen as a wartime book, the war was really quite incidental throughout most of the story, and seemed a bit of a catalyst just to get the children off to rural Wales. The whole business with the skull was beyond bizarre too. That said, I found Mr Edwards very interesting as a character.

1. The Stepford Wives - Ira Levin

Quick easy read, well-written. I enjoyed this quite a lot and I was pleased to read it. Written in the '70s, the ending seems very predictable now really, but it still was suitably creepy.

1. The Cement Garden - Ian McEwan

Ian McEwan's first book, and in my opinion, much less over-written than his more recent novels. Very strange and disturbing read about children left to fend for themselves when their parents die. I did find the incest in this pretty nauseating, and it did leave me with some concerns about IM's psychological well-being!

1. Behind Closed Doors - B.A Paris

Bit trashy really, but I enjoyed this and flew through it in two days. I quite liked the discussion of Down's Syndrome in this novel, and it did succeed in making me feel quite panicky as I read it! The bit with the dog really bothered me though, and I'm not someone who gets excessively sentimental about dogs usually!

1. Agatha Raisin and the Quiche of Death - MC Beaton

Fun, easy read. Very British in language which was quite cosy. Decent mystery.

1. Why Be Happy When You Could Be Normal? - Jeanette Winterson

Listened on Audiobook. Very enjoyable read, although some say the content is too similar to Oranges (which I am yet to read). I find it's always good to hear memoirs narrated by their own writers, and JW's accent/voice really added to the experience. I would have liked some more info/insight at the end, especially about JW's wishes to not start a relationship with her birth mother. The literary discussions were right up my street, too.

1. Another Day in the Death of America - Gary Younge

Excellent non-fiction discussing the stories of 10 young people killed by gun violence on a single 'ordinary' day in America. I think Younge writes with such maturity and insight, and this book really added to my knowledge of gun politics in North America. I found particularly interesting Edwin and Tyler's stories, just from memory.

1. Death of a Gossip - MC Beaton

Again, an easy and cosy Hamish Macbeth novel. Told over a seven day period surrounding a murder on a fishing holiday. Slightly underwhelming solution, but very readable.

Welcome Spud.

Still on holiday, weather not the best so more reading time.
88. All things bright and beautiful- James Herriot Another nostalgic, comfort read. Very funny in places. Still leaves me feeling warm and gooey.
89. The improbability of love - Hannah Rothschild Most have got this on Kindle Daily Deals. A satire of the cut throat art world. Focuses on the discovery and sale of a lost masterpiece. The paintings history includes Catherine the Great, Madame Pompadour, Queen Victoria and crucially is caught up in the lost Art of the Jewish people in WW2. I started off hating it and certainly some of the history is decidedly dodgy but actually it was reasonably entertaining.
Now back to the ManBooker list with Reservoir 13

Welcome Spud

62 - Fatherland - Robert Harris - Previously reviewed on this thread already. I enjoyed this much more than Conclave and I liked that the fact that gradually and subtly through the book you discovered how history as perceived in the book diverged from what actually happened. He also created a very realistic and chilling account of how the world may have looked if Hitler had indeed won.

63 - Aftermath - Rhidian Brook - This tells the story of Colonel Lewis Morgan and his family who move into a requisitioned house in Hamburg in 1946 where the Colonel is overseeing the rebuilding and restabilisation of the city. Instead of forcing the owners of the house to move to a displaced persons camp the Colonel suggests they share the property. The inspiration for the book was actually Brook's grandfather who did exactly this for five years.. I liked the descriptions and the unsentimintal way the author described what Hamburg was like in this period. I also thought the way she captured British attitudes as occupiers (which made uncomfortable reading) was very good but I was less enthused by the characters.

64 - The Witchfinder's Sister - Beth Underdown - Matthew Hopkins was England's self styled Witch Hunter General who in the mid 17th century was responsible for the deaths of about 300 women found guilty of witchcraft. This book tells the story of his sister (who may or may not have actually existed). Having studied this subject as part of my history degree at university as I was interested to give this a read. I found the historical references and details in the book interesting including transcripts of the some of the actual trials of these women. However, in terms of the actual story it failed to live up to it's promise.

Currently reading Lincoln in the Bardo and for the first part of the book I was wondering why it has been recommended so highly on here but about half way through I think I suddenly got it and I can now understand the praise. It is a very cleverly thought out and executed piece of writing.

I'm on holiday too - will do a proper update when I get home, but just wanted to write a special entry for The Lacuna by Barbara Kingsolver, the best book I've read so far this year. It's set in Mexico and the US between 1929 and the early 1950s, and consists of the fictional journals and letters of Harrison Shepherd, who is half Mexican and half American, from age 13 onwards. Superb characterisation of the protagonist, who lives through some fascinating real-life events and records them from a personal viewpoint.

Cote, have you read any Kingsolver? I'm going to stick my neck out and recommend The Lacuna as a book by a woman that I think you would like.

Vista cheering silently at another Lincoln convert.
Tara - The Lacuna is on my 'physical' rather than Kindle to read pile. It's been there a while. I have started it and abandoned it at least twice. Seem to remember I did the same with The Poisonwood Bible . Not sure Kingsolver and I are destined to get along.

Just marking my place after a massive break from the thread (life and work both got super busy!), will post back with my list soon.

Welcome Spud. I read a lot of non-fiction, and thought Another Day in the Death was excellent.

It's not UK set, but I would also very highly recommend Evicted: Poverty and Profit in the American City if you're interested in 'social work' type themes. It was one of my stand-out reads last year (I had it on Audible, and the reading was also very good.)

Other standouts for me in the last couple of years very loosely on similar themes have been The Life Project (about UK cohort studies) and The Dark Net (widely liked on here - about the darker sides of the internet).

I'm currently listening to Narconomics, all about the drugs trade on Audible - very well written, and by a British author though not specifically about the British experience.

40 The Life of an Unknown Man by Andrei Makine
A Russian dissident living in Paris finds that his life has less relevance in the post Soviet world. He decides to return to Russia and look up an old girlfriend. He finds life much changed. He then meets an old man who tells him about his life - a testimony of suffering. It is a brilliantly written book - how even in the middle of great suffering there can be moments of pleasure and joy. Enjoyed this even though it is quite grim in places so not an easy read.

41 Wreath of Roses by Elizabeth Taylor
Didn't enjoy this one as much as I'd hoped I would. Three women meet up for a holiday but find that this year they are not entirely comfortable with each other. It started well but I didn't really like any of the characters that much. Good descriptions of life in a small English market town and particularly the down at heel hotel where a couple of the characters end up staying.

Thanks sadik for your reccomendations :)

I do have 'Evicted' on my Kindle actually. Thanks for reminding about that one! I have read "The Dark Net', that was excellent reading.

I will check out 'Tge Life Project', thanks :)

Last year I read a book called The Sleep of Reason, about the James Bulger case. Obviously very harrowing, but it was an intelligently written and researched book and very thought provoking in a number of ways. I would recommend to anyone who would be interested, although of course it's a very difficult subject matter.

49. Day Four by Sarah Lotz

This is connected with Lotz's previous book, The Three, although it's not a sequel - it's clear from early on that events in The Three didn't happen in the same way in this book's backstory.

For the most part, it's a fairly straightforward tale of the cruise from hell - cruise boat breaks down in the Caribbean, they can't summon help and no one seems to be looking for them. Tensions rise, exacerbated by diminishing supplies, inoperative sanitation, norovirus, and the discovery of a corpse in one of the cabins.
But then we get towards the end of the book, and things take a strange turn. Can't say much without spoilers, but it's all very wooo and aiming for the mystical.

It's readable enough, relatively quick and undemanding, but it's definitely not one to read if you've got a cruise booked.

50. Redshirts by John Scalzi

This was great fun to read. I'd recommend this to anyone who's enjoyed watching Star Trek or similar TV shows.

Set on board the flagship spaceship Intrepid , and very reminiscent of the Enterprise from Star Trek, only here, the crew have noticed that at least one low ranking crew member gets killed (in a variety of ridiculous ways) on every Away Mission, and the 5 senior officers always survive.

Everyone's desperate to avoid the Away Missions and the attention of the senior officers. But our protagonist, Ensign Andy Dahl, new to the Intrepid, is determined to find a way to save himself and his fellow redshirts....

1. The Year of Living Danishly - Helen Russell
2. Exposure - Helen Dunmore
3. Leap Year - Helen Russell
4. Ready Player One - Ernest Cline
5. A Place Called Winter - Patrick Gayle

6. The Gustav Sonata - Rose Tremain

1. Three in a Bed - Joanna Benfield

8. Americana - Chimimanda Ngosi Adichie

1. Days Without End - Sebastian Barry

10. The Help - Kathryn Stockett 11. Wild - Cheryl Strayed 12. The Life of a Scilly Sergeant - Colin Taylor 13. My Name is Leon - Kit de Waal 14. The Snow Child - Eowyn Ivey 15. Norse Mythology - Neil Gaiman 16. Alone in Berlin - Hans Fallada 17. His Bloody Project - Graeme Macrae Burnett 18. Elizabeth s Missing - Emma Healey 19. My Cousin Rachel - Daphne du Maurier 20. This Must Be the Place - Maggie O'Farrell 21. Stay With Me - Ayobami Adebayo 22. Fire in the Blood - Irène Némirovsky 23. The Power - Naomi Alderman

According to GoodReads I'm 7 books behind so I'd better get cracking! I have Bad Feminist by Roxane Gay on the go at the moment on audible and am enjoying it, and I have a few books I have started and not been able to really get into (The Life of Pi, The Goldfinch, Prozac Nation) sort of on the back burner but I need a good gripping page turner to get me back into reading after a month where I have read almost nothing because I haven't had time.

This thread always has great recommendations so I'll trawl back through in a mo and have a look. I'm extremely excited that Philip Pullman's The book of Dust (vol 1) is coming out in October, I've loved the His Dark Materials trilogy since I was about 15. Woot. Anyone else excited for it?

Welcome, Spud.

You might also like The Unwinding: An Inner History of the New America by George Packer, which looks at the break in the social contract in the US.

I'm also very interested in reading Dark Money: The Hidden History of the Billionaires Behind the Radical Right by Jane Meyer, who writes for The New Yorker (as has Packer).

Redshirts sounds fun stitches, have wish listed