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?

48. The Dark Is Rising - Susan Cooper

Somehow had never really been aware of this children's fantasy classic, but was alerted to it after a mention by Robert Macfarlane, who likened it to Alan Garner's books for their setting in the eerieness of the English landscape. This is actually much, much better, I think - a gripping and beautifully written tale of a boy (the seventh son of a seventh son) who discovers that he is the last of the Old Ones with powers to fight against the ancient forces of the Dark.

It's set at Christmas which makes it even more enjoyable to snuggle up with, and I'd heartily recommend to fans of His Dark Materials, Box Of Delights, Narnia etc. Apparently this is book two of a five-part series (though works as a standalone read) so will be checking out the others.

38. The Book of Dust Part One: La Belle Sauvage Philip Pullman Malcolm Polstead is the son of the landlord of the Trout Inn in Godstowe (also a favourite of Inspector Morse). One day, the nuns across the river take in a guest - a baby girl called Lyra ... Mixed feelings about this. I started off being SO excited to be back in that world, and he's a wonderfully competent storyteller, which was thrilling. But it's a much slower, smaller story than HDM, and I felt like it was saying/doing a lot of things that had already been said/done in HDM - lots of familiar preoccupations and character types, which was annoying. And the world feels much less fantastical - Malcolm reads Agatha Christie and Lyra wears disposable nappies, which jarred a bit. It does get a bit more magical towards the end, which I liked. Definitely enjoyable and worth reading - by any other author I'd probably be raving - but I expected a bit more, I think.

59. Lords and Ladies by Terry Pratchett
    The elves are trying to get back into Discworld and the witches are trying to stop them. This was a reread for me. I do like this one, it's got lots of drama and funny parts, and Shakespearean references.

60. Mapp and Lucia by E F Benson
    Another reread. Set in the interwar years is a comedy about the social rivalry between Mapp and Lucia as they jostle to lead their local community. I enjoy the awfulness of half of the characters.

Now part the way through The Essex Serpent which I am enjoying so far.

92 Rivers of London by Ben Aaronovitch

Light urban fantasy police drama - re-read of the first in the series. I enjoyed this - I read it from the library years ago when it first came out, and had pretty much forgotten how the plot played out. It's currently 99p on kindle if anyone hasn't read it and is looking for something light.

51. A Gentleman in Moscow by Amor Towles. This is set in Russia in the 20th century (1922 to 1954). It’s told from the perspective of Count Rostov, confined to house arrest in the Metropol hotel in Moscow. Recommended by a couple of people on this thread already (sorry, I can’t remember who), I adored this. In turns funny, tragic, shocking and heartwarming, it is beautifully written with wonderful characters and interesting historical details. I read it quite slowly (it’s fairly long and I’ve been busy at work) but it’s a book best savoured, I think, not rushed. Definitely one of the stand outs of the year for me.

111. The Crow Girl - Erik Axl Sund. A long, dark and intense crime thriller which was actually written by two authors in collaboration. Set in Sweden it begins with the discovery of a child’s body, the first in a chain of seemingly unconnected deaths.
The subject matter is very very dark - systematic child abuse, and at times it is hard to read. There are the usual twists and turns, nothing is quite as it seems and it does explore how abused becomes abuser.
I am not sure I could say I enjoyed this book but I couldn’t put it down. And sometimes that didn’t make me feel particularly comfortable.

Book 106: Giants: The Dwarfs of Auschwitz by Yehuda Koren and Eilat Negev
Had been wanting to read this for ages but couldn’t find a copy of it. Recently discovered it on Kindle so snapped it up. It’s an account of the Ovitz family of seven dwarfs, who managed to survive Auschwitz and countless ‘medical’ examinations and texts by Nazi ‘doctor’ Mengele. Their story is interesting, but I was really rather disappointed by the book itself, which I thought was quite poorly written and contained an awful lot of padding. A few sections were well done and moving (especially when the writers describe their visit to the Auschwitz camp museum) but overall I thought this trivialised and patronised, and also that it could have been half the length and better for it.

44. Footsteps in the Dark by Georgette Heyer. Another jolly Christie-esque murder, great for a dark evening! Not a patch on Faro's Daughter though Remus.

Book 107
The Villa, The Lake, The Meeting: Wannsee and the Final Solution – Mark Roseman
I found this in a charity shop earlier in the year but wanted to wait until a) I’d visited the villa and b) the dark nights were drawing in. The book was fine, but not a patch on a visit to the actual place where these horrors were discussed in one of the most beautiful places imaginable. Not at all a fun read, but a very important one.

The pictures show in exactly what beautiful surroundings those bastards made their vile plans.

Ripped through no 60. The Lost Explorer: Finding Mallory on Mount Everest by Conrad Anker and David Roberts. This is a compelling account of the discovery of George Leigh Mallory's body on Mt Everest in 1999. Told in two 'times' - the actual discovery and subsequent successful summit by Anker in 1999, and the piecing together of Mallory and Irvine's last attempt in 1924 using historical material.

Absolutely fascinating.

Apologies for massive gap since last posting. Bloody rl. Have enjoyed lurking and catching up on everyone's reads over the last couple of days.

My list so far

1. Golden Hill by Francis Spufford
2. The Sellout by Paul Beatty (audio book)
3. Armada by Ernest Cline (audio book)
4. A Closed and Common Orbit by Becky Chambers
5. The Light Between Oceans by M. L Stedman (audio book)
6. Y: The Last man, Vol.1: Unmanned by Brian K Vaughan (graphic novel)
7. Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury
8. Reasons to Stay Alive by Matt Haig
9. To the Bright Edge of the World by Eowyn Ivey (audio book)

10. Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince by J.K Rowling (audio book) 11. The Essex Serpent by Sarah Perry 12. The House at the Edge of the World by Julia Rochester (audio book) 13. Norse Mythology by Neil Gaiman 14. Harry Potter and the Cursed Child Parts 1 & 2 by John Tiffany, Jack Thorne and J.K Rowling 15. The Museum of You by Carys Bray 16. Giant Days, Volume 1 by John Allison (graphic novel) 17. Snow Crash by Neal Stephenson (audio book) 18. Milk and Honey by Rupi Kaur (poetry) 19. How to Build a Girl by Caitlin Moran 20. Eucalyptus by Murray Bail 21. Giant Days, Volume 2 by John Allison (graphic novel) 22. Being Mortal by Atul Gawande 23. The Improbability of Love by Hannah Rothschild 24. The One Hundred Nights of Hero by Isabel Greenberg (graphic novel) 25. Days Without End by Sebastian Barry (audio book) 26. Station Eleven by Emily St.John Mandel 27. Mothering Sunday by Graham Swift 28. The Muse by Jessie Burton (audio book) 29. Do Not Say We Have Nothing by Madeleine Thien 30. The Bees by Carol Ann Duffy (poetry) 31. The Trouble with Goats and Sheep by Joanna Cannon 32. A Whole Life by Robert Seethaler 33. Exit West by Mohsin Hamid 34. The Sport of Kings by C.E. Morgan 35. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows by J.K Rowling (audio book) 36. Stay With Me by Ayobami Adebayo 37. Oranges Are not the Only Fruit by Jeanette Winterson 38. The Dark Circle by Linda Grant (audio book) 39. Dear Ijeawele, or a Feminist Manifesto in Fifteen Suggestions by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie 40. The Power by Naomi Alderman (audio book) 41. Meadowland: The Private Life of an English Field by John Lewis-Stempel 42. Fun Home: A Family Tragicomic by Alison Bechdel (graphic novel) 43. Holes by Louis Sachar (audio book) 44. How to Be Both by Ali Smith 45. Mend the Living by Maylis de Kerangal 46. The Book of Strange New Things by Michel Faber (audio book) 47. Assassins Fate by Robin Hobb 48. Inside the Wave by Helen Dunmore (poetry) 49. Love Poems by Carol Ann Duffy (poetry) 50. This One Summer by Jillian Tamaki and Mariko Tamaki (graphic novel) 51. Slade House by David Mitchell (audio book) 52. Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine by Gail Honeyman 53. The Tidal Zone by Sarah Moss 54. Undying A Love Story by Michel Faber (poetry) 55. House of Names by Colm Toibin (audio book) 56. A Rising Man by Abir Mukherjee (audio book) 57. Black Swan Green by David Mitchell 58. The Door by Margaret Atwood (poetry) 59. Brilliance by Marcus Sakey (audio book) 60. Eileen by Otessa Moshfegh 61. The Heart Goes Last by Margaret Atwood (audio book) 62. The Butcher’s Hook by Janet Ellis 63. Are You There God It’s Me Margaret by Judy Blume 64. Interesting Times by Terry Pratchett (audio book) 65. The Gustav Sonata by Rose Tremain 66. The Murder of Roger Ackroyd by Agatha Christie 67. How To Stop Time by Matt Haig 68. The Vegetarian by Han Kang 69. Leviathan Waves by James Corey (audio book) 70. Seinfeldia by Jennifer Keishin Armstrong 71. A Prayer for Owen Meany by John Irving 72. Standard Deviation by Katherine Heiny (audio book) 73. Tin Man by Sarah Winman 74. Maus by Art Spiegelman (graphic novel) 75. Lincoln in the Bardo by George Saunders 76. Boxers by Gene Leun Yang (graphic novel) 77. Saints by Gene Luen Yang (graphic novel) 78. Company Town by Madeline Ashby 79. The Arab of the Future 1 by Riad Sattouf (graphic novel) 80. The Arab of the Future 2 by Riad Sattouf (praphic novel) 81. Autumn by Ali Smith 82. Amy and Isabelle by Elizabeth Strout 83. The Gigantic Beard That Was Evil by Stephen Collins (graphic novel) 84. Northern Lights Philip Pullman 85. The Subtle Knife Philip Pullman 86. Graceling by Kristin Kashore (audio book) 87. The Amber Spyglass by Philip Pullman 88. Elmet by Fiona Mozely 89. North and South by Elizabeth Gaskell (audio book) 90. Plum by Hollie McNish (poetry) 91. The Dispatcher by John Scalzi (audio book) 92. Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi (graphic novel) 93. Little Deaths by Emma Flint 94. The Wonder by Emma Donoghue 95. The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson (audio book) 96. The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafón 97. The Book of Dust by Philip Pullman (audio book) 98. The Running Hare: The Secret Life of Farmland by John Lewis-Stempel 99. The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain (audio book) 100. All Quiet on the Western Front by Eriche Maria Remarque 101. The City and the City by China Miéville (audio book)

Don't need to review my last two reads as I think they have been discussed plenty on previous threads. Rather glad I don't have to hear the word Breach! again. The City and the City is probably best not listened to when unwell, lying sweatily in bed and likely to drop off to sleep regularly throughout the proceedings. No idea what the hell happened apart from Breach! Breach!

About to start 41 hours of The Crimson Petal and the White audio book

That sounds great, Emgee, though I'll leave it a while before reading, having already read Ghosts of Everest this year.

I'm really late to this, sorry! I'm trying to get to 100 books this year which I would never have thought possible, these threads have meant I've read some wonderful books and discovered new authors that I never otherwise would have.
I've never been very confident expressing my thoughts about books but doing so on here has given me much more confidence to do so, thankyou everybody

My list (those I most enjoyed in bold)

1. Frog Music by Emma Donaghue
2. After the Crash Michel Bussi

3.Work Like Any Other Virginia Reeves

1. The Kept Woman Karin Slaughter
2. American Gods Neil Gaiman
3. Everyone Brave Is Forgiven Chris Cleave
4. Detour from Normal Ken Dickson
5. The Comfort of Strangers Ian McEwan
6. Our Endless Numbered Days Claire Fuller

10. The Lewis Man Peter May 11. The Testament of Mary Colm Toibin 12. Deceived Wisdom David Bradley 13. Silent Child Sarah A. Denzil 14. This Thing of Darkness Harry Thompson 15. The Detectives Daughter Lesley Thomson 16. Burning Bright Tracy Chevalier 17. One Little Mistake Emma Curtis 18. Lie With Me Sabine Durrant 19. Golden Hill Francis Spufford 20. Them Jon Jonson 21. Raven Black Ann Cleeves 22. The Tidal Zone Sarah Moss 23. Bodies of Water V.H.Leslie 24. Do No Harm Henry Marsh 25. White Nights Ann Cleeves 26.Nora Webster Colm Toibin 27. The Men Who Stare At Goats Jon Ronson 28. Kill Someone Luke Smitherd 29. The Lie Helen Dunmore 30. Red Bones Ann Cleeves 31. The Psychopath Test Jon Ronson 32. The Power Naomi Alderman 33. Night Waking Sarah Moss 34. The Hundred Year Old Man Who Climbed Out of the Window and Disappeared Jonas Jonasson 35. Remember Me This Way Sabine Durrant 36. The Good People Hannah Kent 37. Island of Wings Karin Altenburg 38. Good Me, Bad Me Ali Land 39. The Crow Trap Ann Cleeves 40. The Siege Helen Dunmore 41. The Dark Circle Linda Grant 42. Capital John Lanchester 43. Commonwealth Ann Patchett 44. The Radium Girls Kate Moore 45. Dead Certain Adam Mitzner 46. The Return Hisham Matar 47. Apple Tree Yard Louise Doughty 48. Burial Rites Hannah Kent 49. First Love Gwendoline Riley 50. The Woman In Cabin 10 Ruth Ware 51. Stay With Me Ayobami Adebayo 52. I'm Travelling Alone Samuel Bjork 53. The Good Neighbour AJBanner 54.Black Water Louise Doughty 55. Lincoln In The Bardo George Saunders 56.The Book Collector Alice Thompson 57. A Girl Is a Half Formed Thing Eimear McBride 58. Birdcage Walk Helen Dunmore 59. A Man Called Ove Fredrik Backman 60. Harry Potter and the Philosophers Stone JKRowling 61. Still house Lake Rachel Caine 62. No is Not Enough Naomi Klein 63. Telling Tales Anne Cleeves 64. The Dry Jane Harper 65. See What I Have Done Sarah Schmidt 66. New Boy Tracy Chevalier 67. Leaving Time Jodi Picoult 68. The Farm Tom Rob Smith 69. The Owl Always Hunts At Night Samuel Bjork 70. The Sport of Kings C.E. Morgan 71. What Belongs to You Garth Greenwell 72. Dark Places Gillian Flynn 73.Restoration Rose Tremain 74. The Gustav Sonata Rose Tremain 75.Pride and Prejudice Jane Austen 76.The Underground Railroad Colson Whitehead 77.Hidden Depths Ann Cleeves 78.Silent Voices Ann Cleeves 79. Home Fire Kamila Shamsie 80.The Glass Room Ann Cleeves 81.Days Without End Sebastian Barry 82. Harbour Street Ann Cleeves 83.Swing Time Zadie Smith 84.The Moth Catcher Ann Cleeves 85.Into the Water Paula Hawkins 86. Two Stories Mark Haddon and Virginia Woolf 87.The Pier Falls Mark Haddon 88.Exit West Mohsin Hamid 89. You Don't Know Me Imran Mahmood 90. Elmet Fiona Mozley 91. These Dividing Walls Fran Cooper 92.Masque Bethany M Pope 93. The Snowman Jo Nesbo

Phew! I'm about to start My Absolute Darling by Gabriel Tallent and hoping it lives up to the hype.

Just finished listening get to Dave Gorman Vs the rest of the world. I really enjoyed this. If you like playing games not video games but board games, pub games that sort of thing I would say give this a try although may want to like Dave Gorman too, if you do read this book to the end that sentence will make more sense.
I laughed out loud a few times which I rarely do and smirked a lot.
I learnt some new pointless but enjoyable facts and now have a healthy board game wish list for Santa.

Also finished La Belle Savage by Philip Pullman. I loved the first half, the second day half was OK but I was left unsatisfied. I didn't mind the chasing or the woo bits so much as it seemed so disconnected to the first half. The little hints you get in books that make you feel you know a trick or two just weren't fulfilled.

Starting To the lighthouse by Virginia Woolf tonight.

Wow Cote you really didn't like The knife of letting go. I really enjoyed the first one. I like the dog and noise and Viola. Todd I admit is tedious. I liked parts of the second two but not as much as the original story.

Welcome back, Scribbly and Murine!

Thanks Tarahumara!
I'm not sure about My Absolute Darling, it's been a bit gratuitous in just the first chapter.....anybody else read it and have any advice about whether I ought to persevere?

Sparrow that Dave Gorman book sounds a perfect stocking filler for DH. We have a bit of a board game passion so that's right up his street.

46. Alias Grace by Margaret Atwood based on the true story of Grace Marks, a 16-year-old girl convicted of the murder of her employer and his mistress in 1843 in Canada. Claiming not to remember anything, Grace is spared the noose but moved between prisons and mental asylums until a reform group take up her case. They engage a young doctor of psychology to try and ascertain her mental state and whether she is guilty or innocent .

It looks at gender, class and social order at a time of political upheaval. This is well written, but sometimes long-winded. I did enjoy it, but it didn't shake me in the way that A Handmaid's Tale did. Atwood is such a diverse author and far from a one trick pony, but I think Handmaid set the bar so high I will always be left wanting something more from the rest of her work.

I was really cross with the ending of Alias Grace.

The ending is a let down. A complete cop out after you've read so much to get there. It's a long book.

I can only hope the real Grace had it better.

Just finished Ann Leckie's Provenance, which I bought a while back but have been saving.

Firstly, I'll say that if the pronouns in Ancillary Justice annoyed the fuck out of you, then don't pick this one up. Leckie makes frequent use of em, eir as pronouns for some of the characters - it's not a critical bit of the story but seems to be background worldbuilding, and for me it worked well and rapidly receded into the background.

Provenance is a standalone novel set in the same universe as Ancillary Justice, but well away from the Raadchai part of it - events in the previous books are tangentially referred to. Similarly strong world building - we see more of different worlds & species and they are well portrayed with obviously different cultural expectations & motives playing a part in the plot. Leckie, as in the Ancillary books, doesn't spell stuff out but reveals things like social status/structure etc through the interactions between characters.

Ingray Aughskold is the protagonist, and the book follows her viewpoint exclusively. It starts with her in the middle of a risky plan to impress her powerful foster mother, in the rather desperate hope that it will encourage her to choose Ingray as her heir instead of Ingray's brother.

Instead, things rapidly go off the rails and it becomes clear that Ingray hasn't really thought very far ahead and is soon caught up in the middle of a murder investigation with political ramifications well beyond her home planet, still hoping to please her foster mother somehow.

I thought the ending was simply a tool for MA to get her, "All men are bastards and must be punished" line across for the zillionth time.

93 NonViolent Communication: A Language for Life by Marshall B Rosenberg
Explanation of the basic principles behind NVC, and how to integrate them into everyday life. I reviewed another NVC book upthread - reading that made me want to re-read this one. I find lots of things about NVC useful - as much for understanding and examining my own motivations & needs as for communicating with others. I also find NVC really helpful in relating to my teenager - for me it's kind of the theoretical backdrop to books like 'How to Talk . . .' if that makes sense.

Dropped off the thread so bringing over my list with updates:

1. Even Dogs in the Wild - Ian Rankin
2. Cheer up Love - Susan Calman
3. The Noise of Time - Julian Barnes
4. I'll Have What She's Having - Rebecca Harrington
5. Leap In - Alexandra Hemingsley
6. The Goldfish Boy - Lisa Thompson
7. Wishful Drinking - Carrie Fisher
8. The Liar's Chair - Rebecca Whitney
9. Shockaholic - Carrie Fisher

10. Chavs: The Demonisation of the Working Class - Owen Jones 11. Letter from New York - Helene Hanff 12. Jonathan Unleashed - Meg Rosoff 13. Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde - Robert Louis Stevenson 14. Adventures of a Terribly Greedy Girl: A Memoir of Food, Family, Film & Fashion - Kay Plunkett-Hogg 15. Film Stars Don't Die in Liverpool - Peter Turner 16. A Month in the Country - JL Carr 17. Let's Make Lots of Money: Secrets of a Rich, Fat, Gay, Lucky Bastard - Tom Watkins 18. Keeping On Keeping On - Alan Bennett 19. A Survival Guide for Life - Bear Grylls 20. The Pier Falls - Mark Haddon 21. The Indian in the Cupboard - Lynne Reid Banks 22. The Princess Diarist - Carrie Fisher 23. Into the Water - Paula Hawkins 24. A Little Life - Hanya Yanagihara 25. Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine - Gail Honeyman 26. The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying - Marie Kondo 27. The Girls - Emma Cline 28. Significant Others - Armistead Maupin 29. The Hate U Give - Angie Thomas 30. A Very English Scandal - John Preston 31. The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck: A Counterintuitive Approach to Living a Good Life - Mark Manson 32. A Manual for Heartache - Cathy Rentzenbrink 33. Adele - Sam Smith 34. The Racehorse Who Wouldn't Gallop - Clare Balding 35. The Silence Between Breaths - Cath Staincliffe 36. My No Spend Year: How I Spent Less and Lived More - Michelle McGagh 37. Swing Time - Zadie Smith 38. Days Without End – Sebastian Barry 39. I’m Not With the Band – Sylvia Patterson 40. Dead Now Of Course – Phyllida Law 41. Get Me the Urgent Biscuits – Sweetpea Slight 42. The People at Number 9 – Felicity Everett 43. Standard Deviation – Katherine Heiny 44. Mummy’s Boy – Larry Lamb 45. Wonder 46. One Good Turn – Kate Atkinson 47. help – Simon Amstell

I recently finished number 48. The Examined Life: How we Lose and Find Ourselves, by Stephen Grosz, a non-fiction book of vignette's from the point of view of a psychoanalyst. I was very disappointed with this as most of the stories were trite and not insightful. But I'm intriuged to read more about psychoanalysis, partly because I want to know if it's part of the training to be directive and judgemental as this author often is with his clients

152, 153 and 154: You Are Dead, Dead Simple and Dead Man’s Grip by Peter James

Three books from the series about the detective Roy Grace. I do find these gripping, but James does come up with some horrible things for people to do to each other!

155. Just One Damned Thing After Another by Jodi Taylor

A reread for the first in the St Mary’s series. Listened to this on audiobook. Love this series so nice to go back to the beginning again.

156. Decline And Fall by Evelyn Waugh

I really enjoyed this social satire novel. I bought it following the TV adaptation earlier this year which I also enjoyed. I did wonder why Pennyfeather was so accepting of all the things that happened to him though!