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?

46. Exile by James Swallow

This was the sequel to Nomad which I read this summer. Nomad was nowhere near the best thriller I ever read but there were some interesting aspects to it so I thought the sequel would be worth a go. Big mistake. This was shockingly dull for a book about Somalian pirates getting their hands on portable nuclear weapons. Reading 2 pages put me to sleep, which is partly why it took me over 3 weeks to read it

Terrible book. Don't even think about it.

62. The Good Daughter - Karin Slaughter

Sam and Charlie’s mum is murdered and they are forced into the woods. One is left for dead while the other runs for her life. Twenty eight years later tragedy strikes again and the family are brought back together to discover more about the event that shaped their lives.

I was completely sucked into this book and didn’t see some of the twists coming! Well woth a read and another library book to be returned.

I like the ideas of Patrick Ness but none of the books have ever quite come alive for me.

43. (I think) The Unfinished Clue by Georgette Heyer. Not a bad one, worth reading if you like a Christie or similar.

This was shockingly dull for a book about Somalian pirates getting their hands on portable nuclear weapons.

This wins review of the week for me.

59. The Dry Jane Harper. Found it in a charity shop for a pound last week when back in UK on holiday and remembered positive reviews from here.

Extremely readable and I liked the fact that it was set in the Australian outback which made it a bit 'different'. Quite similar to Ordinary Grace which I loved and think is a better book.

Cheerful That was a review similar to the one I wrote for Robert Harris's Pompeii. With that one, I was actually quite impressed by how dull a book Robert Harris could make out of one of the most epic and impressive natural disasters in the history of humanity

LadyDepp, I also loved the Adam Rutherford book. If anyone's looking for a book about genetics, I'd go for that one over The Emperor of Maladies, which I didn't love.

104: Faro’s Daughter – Georgette Heyer
I needed some fun after Hitler’s bunker, and this was just right. It’s as frilly and frothy as a chorus girl’s knickers, blatantly rips off Austen’s portrayal of Elizabeth and Darcy and is just marvelously silly. I thoroughly enjoyed it.

90 Spectred Isle by KJ Charles

After court-martial and disgrace in the 1st world war, Oxford educated archaeologist Saul has taken the only job he can get - with an eccentric elderly major who believes in all things supernatural. Whilst following his employers various whims, he keeps bumping into the charming but reticent Randolph Glyde . . .

This was a recommendation from Ann Leckie's blog, and is an absolutely delightful paranormal romance. Great characters (including the various side characters) excellent worldbuilding, enough but not too much of the romance, and a good plot to carry the whole thing along. It's the first in a series, and I'll definitely read more when they come out. I'm also going to have a look at KJ Charles' other series.

And also 91 Occupy Me by Tricia Sullivan

Sci-fi thriller. A mysterious 'angel' is trapped in our dimension - a doctor working for an oil tycoon who has exploited his homeland is taken over by another intelligence - and the oil tycoon is seeking immortality, which he believes can be obtained from alien beings.

I really wanted to like this book, there were lots of interesting ideas, and some good characters. Sadly overall it didn't ever really come together for me - it felt like the author just kept throwing more and more stuff into the mix, without ever really making sense of it all.

37. Troublemakers Catherine Barter YA novel. Alena has been brought up by her brother and his boyfriend, who always seem reluctant to talk about her activist mother, who died when she was three. Alena decides she wants to find out more, and maybe follow in her footsteps. But the intersections between political and personal are more fraught than she could have imagined ... I liked this a lot. It's a sweet, angry, kind, sarcastic, anxious, adolescent book about trying to do the right thing, and not always getting it right. Probably best read over your Fairtrade organic latte and the Sunday Guardian.

38. H is for Hawk by Helen Macdonald Memoir of how Macdonald tries to manage her grief after the sudden loss of her father by training a goshawk.

I didn't fancy this in the slightest, but was given a hardback of this a couple of years ago by someone who obviously knows better. Beautifully descriptive nature writing. Loved the reflection on both the importance of, and the limits of relationships, between humans and animals.

110. Underneath the Lemon Tree, Mark Rice-Oxley
Memoir by a man who was leading a busy life in his forties (job, 3 dcs) and was juggling it for years when he suddenly collapsed into a depression. Well-written, nicely self-deprecating about his career, not the kind of downer you might expect from the subject-matter.

111. Dead Rich, Katie Lief
Mindless thriller. Private investigator, family-in-peril, must solve mystery, yada yada. Some fairly dodgy leaps of logic, my favourite being a character who reveals a murky past by recognising (gasp!) the name of a poker game.

111. Men on the Menu, Bambi Smyth
Non-fiction. Australian woman decides to visit countries in alphabetical order, tasting typical local food and interviewing a typical local man (she rather optimistically refers to this as "dating", but as it includes a Catholic priest, various married men and her cousin, that's not entirely accurate). Intended to sneer, but she won me over by her willingness to laugh at herself. I wouldn't say it's highly recommended, but it was a reasonably amusing airplane read.

112. Sea and Sardinia, by DH Lawrence
His famously grumpy account of a brief trip around the island in 1921 with Frieda. He complains endlessly about the food, the accommodation and the Italians. I don't know how Frieda put up with him. The only thing that sparks his enthusiasm is the local peasant dress. A bit of an oddity.

113. Fight the Good Fight, by Catherine Fox
A novelist writing about how she worked to get her black belt in judo. I'm probably the right audience for this in that I love her novels, am interested to know more about her life, and I did judo for a few years so I have patience with lots of technical detail about holds etc. I wouldn't really expect it to have a very widespread appeal.

83. The Bear and the Serpent by Adrian Tchaikovsky

Second in the series. Maniye is the Champion of the Crown of the World and child of both Wolf and Tiger clans, but the people of the north are not sure whether she is an asset or a threat. So together with the collection of misfits that have surrounded her she heads south with the Champion of the Crocodile clan to support Prince Tecuman's claim to the crown of the clan. But in the north an ancient enemy has returned and Loud Thunder of Bear clan must attempt to unite the tribes to defend their land and their very souls.

Blue - keeping the peace and falling to pieces by John Sutherland

Memoir of a senior Met police officer who has a breakdown, and reviews his funny experiences and exposure to trauma. Having read some social media blogs from him, I was keen to read this. Very funny stories, sobering asides and inspiring leadership objectives made this an excellent read. It is an ode to London, and the frantic pace, and beauty of landmarks and people in the small hours. Can't recommend highly enough

EmGee, I also loved Ordinary Grace.

Right now I'm reading The Power by Naomi Alderman. When I'm able to muster a shred of concentration, that is.

Rosehip, I enjoyed Blue too.

114. Did you see Melody? by Sophie Hannah
Normally I get sucked into her plots only to despise the ending. This time I didn't even get sucked in at the start. Silly, and not enjoyably so.

63. Friend Request - Laura Marshall

Louise gets a friend request from a girl she went to school with. However, this can’t be right as she has been dead for 25 years. Who is it on the other side?

For a debut novel this was rather interesting to see how social media can be used against you and for the insight into the heirachy of teenage girls. I must be getting terrible at guessing the twists though as I had no idea and had suspicions about all the wrong people.

Morning Star (Red Rising #3) is 99p on the Kindle, just for today

105: Murder on the Orient Express - Agatha Christie
A re-read, but I read it over twenty years ago. I saw the film recently, and really enjoyed it (had forgotten most of the novel!), so I thought I’d re-visit the text to see how the film compared to it (I haven’t seen the original film). This was a light and entertaining read, and it was easy, in retrospect, to see how Christie ‘clues us up’ to the revelations and decisions at the end of the novel.. One of her best, if not THE best.

Hi guys. Missed you loads and haven’t posted since before the summer. I started a PhD so no time for leisure reading but have just given it up…as no time for leisure reading!

The last few books I have read are:

90. Wonder – R.J. Palacio
91. The Mystery of Edwin Drood – Charles Dickens
92. The Gunslinger – Stephen King
93. I Am, I Am, I Am – Maggie O’Farrell
94. The Murders in the Rue Morgue – Edgar Alan Poe
95. The Halloween Tree – Ray Bradbury
96. The Lost Words – Robert Macfarlane and Jackie Morris
97. The Clock Winder – Anne Tyler

I’ve enjoyed them all although the Clock Winder is not her best.

I went to hear Robert Macfarlane and Jackie Morris talk about The Lost Words and got a signed copy for my youngest so I actually got to speak to Robert Macfarlane which is great because he is a brilliant nature writer -and also lovely-

I read it a couple of months ago Remus, completely agree, it’s up there with the best. Going to see the film at the weekend, glad to hear it’s enjoyable. The trailers look sumptuous. Unfortunately I now remember the ending though.

85. The Moon’s A Ballon - David Niven. I had read this before many years ago but had absolutely no recollection of it. He can certainly tell a tale. What a life.

He writes about his schooldays, Army life, his early days in Hollywood, his experiences in WW2, it’s a book full of stories (not all his own apparently). It’s funny, tender and heartbreaking.

The first two thirds are a brilliant read. The last third becomes a bit tedious. There is loads of name dropping - but what names.

Cote - your review of Knife of Never Letting Go really made me laugh, thank you. And I have no desire to read any more about Master Gormless.

I was coming on to share the fact that Morning Star is 99p on Kindle, but I see you beat me to it. I have been holding back, possibly for over a year for the price to drop

I just started an Alexander Hamilton biog, but it's 860 pages so I might need to have something fictional to alternate with it. Morning Star should fit the bill! The only small problem is I can't remember exactly what happened in the last one: there were space ships and some sort of planet, and a fancy party, a few people weren't who they seemed to be and quite a few people died -

The Lost Words sounds fab whippet

59. In Patagonia by Bruce Chatwin Classic piece of travel writing from the mid 1970s in a distinctive style. Bruce mooches round Patagonia, charming the best stories out of all the most interesting folk he meets, and remodelling (possibly embellishing?) them to weave into his own tapestry, giving a feel for how the land was peopled and how it feels to live there but feel strong ties to another 'homeland' you may never visit. If you are looking for an account of the flora, fauna, geography, tourist sites, or even a straight travel narrative of how he got from A to B and what happened on the way, you won't find it here. A lovely, intelligent, dreamlike read.

60. The Shape of Water by Andrea Camilleri Mercifully short police thriller featuring Sicilian Inspector Montalbano. Silly plot, too many underdeveloped characters, none of which were likeable, horrible attitude to women. Rubbish.

LadyDepp my DH is slowly ploughing through the Chernow Alexander Hamilton biography, and thinks it's brilliant. I need him to hurry up and finish it so that I can read it before we see Hamilton in April.