50 Book Challenge 2017 Part Eight

[southeastdweller]

Welcome to the eighth and final 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 and please try to let us all know your thoughts on what you've read. To anyone who hasn't posted, feel free to de-lurk and share with us what you've read this year.

The first thread of the year is here, the second one here, the third thread here, the fourth one here, the fifth one here, the sixth one here, and the seventh one here.

How have you got on so far this year?

Aagh, hadn’t realised it was so long since I’d posted!

165. A Second Chance by Jodi Taylor

Third in the St Mary’s series. Love this series although this one is slightly confusing.

166. The Bucket List To Mend A Broken Heart by Anna Bell

Predictable chicklit, but good fun.

167. A Trail Through Time by Jodi Taylor

4th in the series.

168. Dear Amy by Helen Callaghan

An agony aunt starts getting letters from a girl who vanished 20 years ago. The twist didn’t do it for me.

169. Why Was Queen Victoria A Prude? by David Haviland

Selection of myths and questions covering historical events.

170. At The Captain’s Table: Life On A Luxury Liner by Hugh Thomson

I thought this was going to be one of those behind the scenes books, but it was just one guest’s view of what it’s like on a luxury cruise. More about the places they went rather than the cruise liner.

171. Did You See Melody? by Sophie Hannah

Enjoyed this, although the storyline was a bit bizarre like all her books!

172. The Holiday by Jane Green

Three novellas set at Christmas. Not great.

173. The Most Wonderful Time Of The Year by Joanna Bolouri

Festive chicklit

174. The Lottie Project by Jacqueline Wilson

DD wanted me to read this!

175. The Gift by Cecelia Ahern

Enjoyed this more than I expected - liked the magical elements of the story although not sure about the ending.

176. The Children Of Green Knowe by Lucy M Boston

One of the books I read every Christmas!

177. The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe by C S Lewis

Another wintery reread.

178. Christmas With The Chrystals by Noel Streatfeild

Another festive book - short stories and her memories of Christmas.

179. Five At The Office Christmas Party

Got this free - ok for a quick read but glad it was free!

It's ages since i posted as well, I've read and enjoyed these this year:

1. Swimming pool sunday, Madeline Wickham
2. The Teatime islands, Ben Fogle
3. 21st century dodos, STeve Stack
4. No fixed abode, CHarlie Carroll
5. The couple next door, Shari Lapena
6. Chosen Child, Linda Huber
7. His kidnapper's shoes, Maggie James
8. The food of love, Amanda Prowse
9. The lost art of letter writing, Menna von Praag

10. 99 Red Balloons, Elisabeth Carpenter 11. Around the coast in 80 waves, Jonathan Bennett 12. The woman in the wood, Lesley Pearse 13. The stolen child, Sanjida Kay

Not enough good books out of 110 read.

I read others but wouldn't recommend them

43. And Then There Were None by Agatha Christie. I am probably the only person on the thread not have read any Christie before. In case anyone doesn't know this one, ten strangers are invited to an island by a mysterious man with whom they all believe they have some loose connection. It transpires that each has been involved in a suspicious death, and none has ever been brought to justice. One by one they are killed, and each in turn becomes detective, suspect and eventually victim.

This was bloody brilliant. Stark and scary enough for the fact that it's utterly unbelievable to be quite unimportant. Pacey, but manages to get into the heads of the characters as well marching along.

59. East West Street by Philippe Sands.

2016 winner of the Bailey Gifford Prize for Non-Fiction, I listened to this book on Audible. Philippe Sands is a professor and international law academic and this is a very interesting and personal memoir, history and commentary on the development of the terms Crimes Against Humanity and Genocide. A very good listen/read.

Turn I have never read any Christie either!

I went through an Agatha Christie phase a few years ago. And Then There Were None was one of my favourites of hers.

Question for Stephen King fans - is Under The Dome worth a read?

I saw some of the TV version and didn’t think it was all that great, but then books and their TV adaptations can be very, very different....

I enjoyed Under The Dome.

Under the Dome = good, apart from the v silly ending.

117. 17 carnations : The Windsors, the Nazis and the cover up - Andrew Morton
Account detailing the links between the Duke and Duchess of Windsor and the Nazi party. Highlights how Secret German papers discovered at the end of the war were suppressed to hide the true extent of the involvement, although they were eventually published by the US in the late 1950s. Therefore nothing in the book is a true revelation. Began ok but became quite repetitive. The main thing I learnt was what a childish and entitled man the Duke If Windsor was.

I too have read many Agatha Christie's in my time and I agree that And Then There Were None is about the best. The only one of hers I really didn't like though was Endless Night.

93 - The Betrayals - Fiona Neil - Told from the point of view of four members of the family we see the reaction to each to events in the past which are resurfacing in the present. Light, easy to read thriller which is just the thing I need at the moment. Kept me gripped throughout and I was pleasantly surprised by the ending.

Currently reading Dangerous Crossing by Rachel Rhys - So far finding the narration a bit clunky in places. I hope it improves over the course of the book.

Now to decide on my top reads from this year.

39. The Running Hare: The Secret Life of Farmland by John Lewis-Sempel
Listened on Audible, parts were beautifully poetic but sometimes there were lists that didn't work on audio (and I would have skipped if reading in paper form). Made me think, but not quite what I was expecting.
40. Dangerous Crossing by Rachel Rhys
I LOVED the setting of this. Passengers from different nations and different social classes on a ship together bound for Australia, just as World War II is breaking out in Europe. We know from the start that there's a death on board and someone is escorted off the ship by the police at the end of the voyage, but we don't know who or why. I was really absorbed by the setting as I was reading, and loved finding out afterwards that it was based on a real memoir, but I hade mixed feelings about the ending, particularly one specific plot line that seemed to be wrapped up only as an after thought.
41. No Wonder I Take A Drink by Laura Marney
I got this on Audible after reading about it on here, and it is narrated by the author who sounds like she's sitting at her kitchen table chatting while drinking coffee. At times it felt like the plot was moving us on awkwardly as a way of getting us to a funny incident the author had lined up, but different threads came together nicely in the end. And she was speaking my language - words like 'oxters' and 'dry boak'!
42. The Little Book of Hygge by Meik Wiking
I love the idea of hygge, but this is really a handful of good magazine articles stretched too far to turn them into a book.

Look forward to seeing what you think about Dangerous Crossing Vistaverde :)

Time for my pre-Christmas update, and possibly the last update of the year!

70. The Man in the High Castle: Philip K Dick. Very interesting. I did find myself rereading and then looking up reviews/plot synopses to see if what I thought had happened or not happened was what other people thought. Open to different interpretations.
71. The Prime Minister: Trollope (audiobook). Reaching the end of my Timothy West Trollope fest.
72. The Duke's Children: Trollope (audiobook). I've so much enjoyed listening to all of these and felt quite bereft when they were finished.
73. Reclaiming History: Vincent Bugliosi: This was the enormously long (1600 pages) book debunking all the Kennedy assassination conspiracy theories in exhaustive and exhausting detail.
74. Beloved: Toni Morrision (audiobook). This was read by the author who had an annoyingly oversensous way of reading, coupled with extraordinarily long pauses between adjective and article, or article and noun. But I enjoyed this, and its uncertain ending.

"to see if what I thought had happened or not happened was what other people thought"
That sounds like Philip K Dick

Yes, that’s trademark PKD

52. The Reluctant Fundamentalist by Mohsin Hamid. I love it when this thread gives me a book I would have never otherwise come across- I really enjoyed the narrative voice in this (thank you Sadik!), and (unusually for me!) didn't mind the open ending. Also nicely short for upping my numbers!

Glad you enjoyed it Tanaqui!

Book 117
Rush OH! by Shirley Barret
Hmmm. Really liked the first half of this but thought it lost its way in the second half, and by the end I was bored. It stopped being a comic novel or potential love story, but didn’t really seem to know what it wanted to be instead. Not worth £4.99, I’m afraid!

86. Brideshead Revisited by Evelyn Waugh

The only other Waugh novel I've read was Vile Bodies and I can't say I was taken with it, but Brideshead Revisited is utterly glorious. I adored this book and feel a little bit in love with Sebastian Flyte (inevitably), which made his decline all the more heartbreaking. For those who don't know, it is the reminiscence of Charles Ryder who, during WWII, is a Captain in the army and finds himself billeted at a camp based in and around an old country house, Brideshead, which he knew in his youth. He tells about his time at Oxford where he meets Sebastian, an aristocratic and troubled youth with an affection for his teddy bear Aloysius, Catholic guilt, and mummy issues. The story progresses through the 1920s and 1930s, detailing Ryder's involvement with the Flyte family including his affair with Sebastian's sister Julia, and in so doing covers the dramatic changes to society which tool place between the wars. The language is stunning, and the mood changes are subtle and brilliantly done. It moves from a feeling of gilded youth into the oppressive feel life under the shadow of the coming war. Utterly, utterly brilliant.

Is the v. silly ending to Under The Dome bad enough to spoil the book?

I’ve been trying to declutter, and found a copy of Under The Dome that I’d forgotten I had in a mountain of books. Wondering whether to start reading it once I’ve finished with the current batch of library books...

CJ _ Try Decline and Fall or A Handful of Dust next, maybe? Both excellent.

Stitches - it is a v silly ending, but I do think there's enough good stuff in Under the Dome for it to still be worth a read. Other than the ending, it felt like a return to form for King, after a few duff ones, when it was published.

50. American Gods by Neil Gaiman

I really enjoyed this surreal ride Created by men's imagination and sustained by their adoration, prayers, and sacrifices, men come to America in the hearts and minds of immigrants. But now their strength is fading as people turn away from the old Gods and worship more and more at the altars of their new Gods - television, shopping malls, etc. A conflict between the old Gods and new ones seem inevitable.

I liked the writing style and character building. The plot was secondary, which is unusual for me. It felt similar to The Goldfinch in that sense - enjoying the ride without worrying too much about where the story was going.

And that makes 50 books. Music has taken over my life this year, with 2-3 hours of practice per day plus evening classes on 2 week nights, leaving very little time to read. This is a big drop from the 64-65 books I have been reading in the past 3 years, but I'm pleased to have at least completed this year's 50-book challenge

Thanks Remus. I saw Decline and Fall when it was on TV recently and really enjoyed it, so I may well try the novel.

103 The Mother of all Questions by Rebecca Solnit

A collection of essays written between 2014-2017, subtitled 'Further Feminisms'. A standout book for me overall, though as often the case with essays some are stronger than others, and there's a certain amount of overlap.

The strongest essays for me deal with the nature of language, and the way in which different groups of people have been silenced throughout history. I'll definitely look for her other books, and I hope that my teenage dd will read at least some of the essays in this one.