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've also put Redshirts on my TBR list - along with The Unwinding and Dark Money. Have just got Citizen Clem (biog of Attlee) from the library after a bit of a wait, so that should keep me going for a bit though.

Hi Spud . You might like In Order to Live by Yeonmi Park . I found it complemented Nothing to Envy really well - I liked them both. I also have The Aquariums of Pyongyang on my kindle, but haven't got to it yet.

Book 74 - Revenger by Rory Clements
2nd in the John Shakespeare series, and I liked this one better than the first. The world building and political intrigue is fairly well done, although he’s a bit too keen on shoving in a history lesson and some of the dialogue isn’t very credible – more like a lecture occasionally. Still, not bad for whiling away a couple of hours, and I’ll move straight onto the third I think.

I haven't read Redshirts, but Scalzi's blog is worth a look if you enjoy blogs in general.

23. The CIty and The City by China Mieville. I have been waiting for this on overdrive since Remus and others were discussing it several threads ago- I swear some of you are in my county as I am also waiting for The Power and Days Without End! I really enjoyed City, and totally bought into the idea that citizens of each place would learn to "unsee" each other. I did find the last third weaker- I was hoping for an explanation of the strange geared objects from the dig- but overall I thought it was excellent.

Like Satsuki (I think!) I have a degree in eng and am lit- I wonder if from the same place?! I really enjoyed the American lit modules I did; was less keen on the earlier British stuff, but am surprised what has stuck- saw the RSC Titus Andronicus (live streamed at the cinema, would 100% recommend) last week, haven't read it for at least 25 years and remembered it far better than i can remember what I did last Tuesday!

70 Winning Colours by Elizabeth Moon (Book 3 in The Serrano Legacy)
Sequel to Sporting Chance reviewed above - harmless easy reading sci-fi, but nothing particularly special. I only read this one as I'd been given the trilogy as an omnibus edition and wanted to finish them as I'm trying to read & get things off my shelves. So I guess good enough not to want to give away unread . . .

30. The Chess Men by Peter May
Last part of the trilogy. Enjoyed this, interesting to see how some of the threads from the earlier books were resolved and which ones were left open ended.
31. The Reader on the 6.27 by Jean-Paul Didierlaurent
A short, sweet novel. Very descriptive writing and fantastically eccentric characters. The key theme is probably loneliness, but this is still the most feel-good book I've read for a long time.

Returning to the chat about how we all find time to read, I started listening to audiobooks a year ago and my total for the year so far would be far, far less without counting these. Both of the titles above were enjoyed as audiobooks, love how it turns driving, tidying the house, doing the dishes etc. into time when I can enjoy a good book.

24. My not So Perfect Life by Sophie Kinsella. Lighthearted - chick lit I guess, but better than most of its kind.

I tend to listen to podcasts rather than audiobooks, and I miss commuting time for reading! Although, if I read instead of mumsnetting, I'd be well over 100 books by now I think!

Book 6: (I'm a bit behind) Rupi Kaur -milk and honey a collection of poetry. I thoroughly enjoyed this and will reread again (I never reread books!). I really felt I was taken through a journey through some very troubling times but found a lot very relatable and some poems truely inspiring. I've just preordered her second book due out in October too.

Hi Spud - just popping in to recommend Tanya Byron's The Skeleton Cupboard for you. It's a memoir of her years training as a psychologist - really good.

34. No Way Down - Life And Death On K2 - Graham Bowley

An account of the 2008 tragedy on the world's second highest mountain, in which 11 people were killed in two days. Written by a New York Times journo so I expected the writing to be decent quality but it was a bit crap. Some interesting bits of the mountain's history included, but I'm still on the search for a really good K2 book.

Back to Marr's History of the World now - had to switch to a real book when I left my kindle in a hotel room earlier this week, but thankfully the housekeeping staff found it and posted it to me!

Phew Meg. I had a very stressful holiday a few years back when I dropped my Kindle on a hotel room floor and smashed the screen.

43. Exposure - Helen Dunmore. Loosely about spies at the start of the 1960s. But also taking in homosexuality, the second world war, not belonging and fear. I'd recommend it.

Thanks al lot to all of you who have recommended books to me, I now have a bigger THE list on my Kindle

10. His Bloody Project
I really enjoyed this, it's a beautifully written piece of work about a triple murder case in Victorian rural Scotland. I found the discussion of mid 19th century 'psychiatry' and criminal psychology fascinating, so this book would be a great read for someone interested in that. It is very bleak though, and one particular aspect I felt wasn't explored enough in the trial scene (Jetta). I loved the way the novel was constructed from different types of writing such as witness statements, court documents and Roddys own narrative.

Currently a third way through 11. The Handmaids Tale

TBR list*

37. By Blood by Ellen Ullman

This was about a stalker eavesdropping on an adopted woman's psychotherapy sessions & identifying with her to the point of obsession. It had the potential to be a fantastic book but in the end the stalker plot was not at all developed and the book turned out to be just written to tell us about Jews during the Holocaust and shortly afterwards. A shame.

Hovever, it did remind me to rewatch Eye Of The Beholder, with Ashley Judd and Ewan Mc Gregor. That fantastic film about a mysterious woman with multiple aliases and a surveillance guy who ends up following her around and covering up her murders. Very weird and beautiful.

37. Dead Now of Course - Phyllida Law. Forgettable book about the author's misadventures performing in theatre in the 1950's.

38. Swing Time - Zadie Smith. This tells the stories of two mixed-race girls who grew up together in London and whose lives diverge in their teens and then intertwine again in their 30's. I found the middle section set in West Africa not hugely engaging and a bit lumbering - I felt she wasn't as confident writing about that as she was with the chapters set in London and New York. But mostly the book is a delight and Zadie Smith is on dazzling form here, with brilliantly written passages, often uncomfortable to read, on the currants of friendship, family relationships, identity, the British class system, and racism. I hope she makes the Man Booker shortlist next month for this.

This thread is very bad for my TBR list!

25. The Hate U Give by Angie Thompson. I really loved this one. I thought it was very convincingly written, never dragged, and was a really important read, without ever preaching.

26. Brushback, by Sara Paretsky. I always enjoy a good VI Warshawski novel and this one didn't disappoint. Good brisk pace, interesting plot, and less of the ever-annoying Lotty who I find to be an extremely annoying character in this series.

27. The Silence Between Breaths, by Cath Staincliffe. Bought on the recommendation of this thread and another that I enjoyed. It wasn't at all what I expected - for some reason I thought the whole book was set on a single day and that turned out to not be the case. I was expecting a gripping thriller, which I got, but I also found it unexpectedly moving and had a bit of a tear in my eye towards the end of the book.

Just bought Dominion - C. J. Sansom spy thriller 99p on Kindle Daily Deal. Anyone read it?

I tried reading Dominion but couldn't get into it. It's nothing like his Shardlake books.

It's an alternate history story, where UK has become a satellite state of Nazi Germany.

I thought the first half of Dominion was superb - truly terrifying. Thought it lost its way in the second half and the ending was silly.

Book 75
Prince - Rory Clements
The third in the John Shakespeare series, and the weakest, I thought. It all felt rather disjointed. Have had my fill of these now, for a while at least.

I don't know much about UK history so couldn't tell which parts are real & which are alternate reality. It might be more interesting if you can.

44. Nobody Told Me by Hollie McNish.
Enjoyed the poetry and thoughts of Hollie McNish about pregnancy, childbirth, parenting and life. I particularly identified with the words about child birth, the terrible 2's and teenagers and her daughter's thoughts on the squishy mummy body.

45. The Broken Kingdoms (Book 2 of The Inheritance Trilogy) by NK Jemisin.

Second book of this fantasy series about Gods, godlings and humans. This was a solid "OK" but I am interested to see what she does with the characters in the final book of this trilogy.

Hmm, the Sansom book about the Spanish civil War started well, got a bit silly (the dogs) and ended terribly. It will be ages before I get to it anyway as my DM has snaffled it. At least that means she's finished with Shardlake 3.

Agree entirely, Best.

59. Ausperity by Lucy Tobin

A book of lots of tips to save and make money - possibly a bit dated now, since it's four years old. But I might actually give cashback sites a try...

25. The Various Haunts of Men by Susan Hill. Another rec from an earlier thread- I thought this was quite well done (I like a detective story), but it felt a little dated- more 1980s than 2000s, and at time and rather hackneyed- I didn't need the murderer's narrative. I liked the multiple women narrators at the start, and was disappointed it ended up with 2 men; but I will read another as there were good points and I believe it was the first one, so I hope some things might improve.