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?

Thanks, Cote :)

Sooo excited about my new Paperwhite!

46. Tangleweed and Brine Deirdre Sullivan Feminist retellings of fairytales (by which I mean she takes familiar fairytales and uses them as a jumping off point to some surprising places). Well written and unexpected, and looks very hard at some of the more unsavoury parts of traditional stories. I liked.

54. In The Unlikely Event by Judy Blume. Fiction based on the true events of 1952, when three major plane crashes occurred within a matter of weeks in a small town in New Jersey. I loved Judy Blume as a child / teen, but this didn’t work for me I’m afraid. Blume’s amazing skill of writing characters that you grow to know and love and identify with seemed almost entirely absent. Disappointing.

Ooh thanks for posting about the kindle sale, I must go and look!
I'm already a third of the way into I Am Watching You by Tessa Driscoll after just one evening; I read Matilda2013's review of it and remembered it was languishing on my kindle, very compelling!

I also read:
105. The Keeper of Lost Things by Ruth Hogan read for book club: ridiculous, predictable and oversentimental but nowhere near as bad as expected! A very easy, light "cosy" read which suited me just fine at the time.
106. Mindhunter by John Douglas A reissue of the FBI's Behavioural Science unit leader's memoir detailing his 25 year career profiling serial killers. Some interesting accounts of how the science was developed and its role in catching high profile killers, however Douglas comes across as rather arrogant and condescending (and writes his life story outside the FBI like Alan Partridge talks)

I’m glad you liked A Tale for Time Being too, Keith. I enjoyed your review, that’s what I thought too! It was a surprisingly good read.

60. Temeraire by Naomi Novik.

A sweet (dare I say, slightly dull) dragon fantasy where the goodies are good (a flaw, no sir!) and the nastiest the baddies get are a few shouty words and raised swords.

Off to look at the Kindle sale.. 😊

Got the Arnie, Cote. Thank you, I remember you recommending it before.

Well that should keep me busy! My kindle buys:
I Contain Multitudes Ed Yong
The Good Daughter Karin Slaughter
The Boy On the Bridge MRCarey
Testosterone Rex Cordelia Fine
Whatever You Love Louise Doughty
The Ashes of London Andrew Taylor

47. The Snow Goose and The Small Miracle Paul Gallico Bit of a cheat as they're basically two short stories. A girl falls in love with a hunchback on a lonely marsh over a wounded goose, then watches him sail off to Dunkirk, and a small boy asks the Pope to let him take his sick donkey to the crypt of St Francis. Can't quite decide what I thought of these. On the one hand, they're overblown and sentimental, full of liquid brown eyes, simple faith and wild Saxon spirits, etc. On the other hand, they are exceptionally well done - the Snow Goose in particular is wild and eerie and beautiful. I feel like there's a poet and a realist in my head and one of them is sighing happily and other is going "Bah! Humbug!"

Cheerful I have a real soft spot for The Snow Goose as it is based on the Lighthouse on the edges of my Grandparents village. It was a deserted ruin of a place when I was growing up but we used to go all the time. Right on the edge of the marsh it was the home of Peter Scott, naturalist and first husband of Elizabeth Jane Howard ( Portrayed as Michael for any Cazalet Chronicles fans) He set up a Wild Fowl reserve there. My Nan used to take him milk and provisions when she was a teenager/ young woman. He asked her to be his housekeeper but she refused as the place was remote. Scott illustrated the first edition of The Snow Goose.

Chessie - The Christmas Mystery is a beautiful book, last year I read it as an advent calendar. A page day until Xmas Eve.

After an initial glance at the Kindle sale I went back and bought
When Hitler stole pink rabbit - Judith Kerr For both me and my daughter
The music shop - Rachel Joyce - enjoyed Harold Fry
Swimming lessons - Claire Fuller - giving her one more chance on the recommendation of a friend. Was underwhelmed by Our Endless Numbered Days
My Family and other animals- have never read and hoping for the Herriot vibe
*The lie - Helen Dunmore
Night waking - Sarah Moss
Gut symmetries - Jeanette Winterson
*
Overflowing Kindle, but happy RMC

Have just finished 120.Home Fire - Kamila Shamsie. Found this a really extraordinary read. I wasn't familiar with the story of Antigone so had no idea what to expect. Beautifully constructed book, although I agree with Scribbly further upthread that the balance of character experiences doesn't always feel right. I have just downloaded Antigone to compare the two.
Think this has become one of my highlight books of the year.

107 The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern

Two magicians are chosen by their mentors and set against each other in a mysterious challenge of magic, the setting of which is Le Cirque des Rêves, the Circus of dreams.

Usually wouldn’t enjoy a book like this. It’s fairly light on the plot and there is hardly any character development. The main characters of the book areng really the two magicians, it’s the Circus itself, and it’s the descriptions of the Circus that fill the book. The prose is opulent and detail saturated. Food, lights, smells, fabrics, costumes and most of all descriptions of the magical contents in the many individual tents that make up the Circus are pretty much what the book is all about.

I think if I’d read it in March I would have been annoyed with it. Reading it now though has complemented the season and I surprised myself by just enjoying just being swept away by descriptions of beautiful magical things within a sparkly elegant story.

Glad you enjoyed Home Fire RMC. I’ve thought about it a lot since finishing it. Hope you enjoy reading Antigone, it’s well worth reading the original to see how Shamsie has altered the story to fit a modern retelling.

Hi everyone. I wasn't all that enthused by yesterday's selection for the 12 Days of Kindle sand, although I was a bit tempted by The Spy Who Came in From the Cold since I enjoyed Call for the Dead far more than I was expecting to, but I held off. Today however I caved and picked up SS-GB and The Ashes of London.

I'm currently resisting some of the first instalment in fantasy trilogies that I've never heard of. I used to read a lot of fantasy, and always did have great luck picking things up on a whim. But nope, resisting, since I've got far too much to read already.

If anyone's interested in bottom-up history, The Time Traveller's Guide to Mediaeval England is only 99p, and I really enjoyed it. (Also, ooh, didn't realise there was a new one out for Restoration England. It's pricy still as the paperback isn't out yet, but I will be adding it to my keep-an-eye-out for list. The Elizabethan one is good too).

3.) Call for the Dead, John le Carre -- After a supposedly reassuring informal interview with George Smiley, Sam Fennen returns home and kills himself. Smiley visits the widow, but finds discrepancies that suggest Fennen's death may have been murder.

Really enjoyed this. My first and last encounter with JLC was an Audible version of Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, which I had trouble following. I kept missing details. With le Carre I think I'm far better reading rather than listening. It's half-murder mystery, half-spy thriller, although John le Carre is no Agatha Christie. The solution (to the puzzle that snags Smiley's interest) is fairly simple, but the real heart of the novel is the depiction of life as a spy and Smiley himself, who is humane and decent and beautifully rendered.

Next up I plan to reread Red Seas under Red Skies by Scott Lynch, the second in the Gentleman Bastards sequence, and the sequel to the Lies of Locke Lamora (which I reread earlier this year, and loved).

RMC Wow! (It is definitely growing on me - I can't stop thinking about it. I just wish it wasn't so sentimental.)

Scribbly - You must read Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell if you haven't already. If you thought The Night Circus was good, you will be blown away by JS & Nr N.

I read it years ago, then gave it a year before reading it again. I'm still grieving that there is no sequel

I really wish there were a prequel about the Raven King.

I second the rec for Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell. It's wonderful. I had heard whispers of a sequel, but it seems unlikely now.

Chicken - The Spy who Came in from the Cold is much better than Call for the Dead - as if call is just a gentlewarm up, but Spy is a full on run!

I was distinctly underwhelmed by Ashes of London.

Johnathan Strange and Mr Norell downloaded onto kindle. £1.99 bargain too. It shall be my Christmas read. Thank you for the recommendation Cote and ghostie. Very happy that I can continue to immerse myself in magic over the next week.

Cheerful I agree it is sentimental but for me it's a sentimental place so it doesn't really jar. Visiting my Grandad tomorrow so might have to take a drive down there, although it is private residence now. There is a book called Kenzie about a local man who worked alongside Scott. That might be a bit niche though!
Have had JS and Mr N on my kindle for an age. Might have to give it a good. I really enjoyed the Night Circus, shades of wise Children if I remember rightly
Remus I too was underwhelmed by Ashes of London

Those of you planning to start JS & Mr N - Make sure you read every footnote. Half of the story is told in the footnotes.

I very much enjoyed The Night Circus.

51. Saints and Misfits by S.K. Ali: Janna is a Muslim teenager whose life is in some upheaval. She's navigating family issues, school pressure, and the inevitable tension she feels between her religious and cultural background and her crush on a non-Muslim guy. Most difficult, though, is dealing with the sexual assault that she's hiding from everyone.

I have very mixed feelings about this book: in many ways, it's excellent. Janna has a rich life and while a good person, works through some self-centred behaviour and myopic views about other people, particularly her brother's "saintly" girlfriend. Also, not everything is resolved perfectly, which I appreciate.

But...I was frustrated at times as I felt that Janna didn't fully address the role that religion had in creating her situation, particularly as related to her assault. This aspect of the book really bothered me, probably because I have left the Catholicism of my youth firmly behind me. However, I realize that I am not the target audience for this novel and perhaps can't judge it fairly on this level. I'd be most interested to read reviews of it from modern young Muslim women.

Bugger on The Ashes of London. Oh well, I'll give it a go. And I've caved on The Spy Who Came in From the Cold - thank you, Remus. Does it make much of a difference if the Smiley books aren't read in order?

I've also made a list of all the library books I need to read and return -- there's 18 titles on there. That's almost half of next year's challenge alone.

ghostie I don’t think so because Spy centres on different characters that intersect with Smiley. V good.

rmc I left off reading the Durrell for a long time and didn’t love it when I did get round to it. Not a patch on Herriot in terms of laughs, interested to hear what you think of it. I was a bit bemused by its popularity.

Scribbly you’ll either be raving about JS&MN in a few weeks, or have been bored to tears by it, seems to go one of two ways oh and was it you on another thread that mentioned The Bees collection by Duffy? Reading and enjoying it now, so thank you.

I don't think it will matter about the order. I read Spy first and then the other two.

CheerfulMuddler The Man Who Was Magic by Paul Gallico is one of my favourite ever children's books (both as a child, and when I re-read it to dd when she was small).

88. Hogfather by Terry Pratchett

Seasonal re-read. It's the night before Hogwatch and the Hogfather has disappeared so Death is taking his place and delivering presents to keep the space open. Susan Sto Helit, Death's granddaughter, is working as a governess in Ankh-Morpork and has been told by her granddad to not get involved. So, assisted by the Death of Rats, an eyeball-fixated raven, and the oh god of hangovers, she sets out to find out what has happened to the Spirit of Hogwatch.