50 Book Challenge 2018 Part Two

[southeastdweller]

Welcome to the second thread of the 50 Book Challenge for this year.

The challenge is to read fifty books (or more!) in 2018, 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.

What are you reading?

The Nix had a lot of influences in it - bit of a typical first novel in that way. It’s only around a pound on Kindle at the moment and a long but easy read so worth a punt.

Just finished Exit West - Mohsin Hamid
This is my book 4. Not sure what I think really. Enjoyed it but found his style of writing to go on a but but not really say anything half the time. Feel decidedly meh about it.
I bet it's been done to death on here but would love opinions of anyone who has read it. I feel it could have done more.

Ah thanks - I'll look it up anyway as I'm after something new. Just wondered with last name being Hill and then mentioning SK

1. The Witch Finders Sister by Beth Underdown was an OK read. Plenty to keep you interested but nothing special.

Can't go wrong for a quid-odd in any event!

Still on with American gods. Can't believe how much more I'm enjoying it this time round.

clash did you watch the series?
Its a great book, I could probably do with a reread at some point, you can miss do much on a first reading.

Iris I felt pretty much the same about Exit West. It lacked depth for me and I was engaged by either of the main characters. For that reason it feel flat. Didn't think it deserved its place on the ManBooker list- can't remember whether it was short listed .

Should be 'wasn't' engaged Not was!

I haven't yet, but I've heard it's good? Is it worth watching?

1. Britt-Marie was here by Fredrik Backman

I needed something lighter to read after my previous 6, all of which involved death, to a greater or lesser extent. I really don't like chick lit! I had read a review of Beartown by the same author and thought it sounded interesting and while my library didn't have that, it did have this one. I really enjoyed it, and it's always great to discover a new author. Translated from Swedish (and kudos to the translator for capturing the feel of the book), it tells the story of Britt-Marie, whose marriage has just ended and who is seeking something to do with her life. After unknowingly harassing her jobcentre worker, she ends up as a caretaker in a sports hall which is due to be demolished in a town with nothing left in it. The story goes from there, but it's really about finding meaning in unlikely places. I liked that the ending wasn't predictable - one of the things I hate about chick lit!

I've finished deal breaker Harlan Coben. A man is investigating the disapearence of his exs sister, whos photo has just been printed in the adds in a porn magazine. It was good, the ending tied it all up well. But I seemed to be reading it for ages.

Starting number 13, backwards Rob Grant. The 3rd eed dwarf book, I haven't read this one before.

Scribbly, I didn't get on with the The Ladies of Grace Adieu - not sure why...it just didn't grab me the same way.

1. Finished Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine on audiobook. I really enjoyed this, though there’s a bit at the end that I think was meant to be a ‘twist’ that could be seen a mile off, still enjoyed getting there though. I also found myself slightly disappointed as the backstory unfolded, in a way I’d almost rather it had been about a lonely, depressed character who had more common/ pedestrian reasons for that rather than this very dramatic and horrifying picture that emerges, but that’s not to say I didn’t find the book well written and quite moving in parts. I’ll use this for a book recommended by a celebrity book club - it was included in

Oops, copying over from the popsugar challenge board on good reads, meant to delete the incomplete bit at the end!

3. Mount! - Jilly Cooper

Rupert Campbell-Black is back and the race is on for Leading Sire and Leading Trainer titles. A little revenge and romance is also thrown in.

Upthread I was advised to give up and try a different Jilly Cooper as my first but it was a library Christmas surprise book and I felt a need to keep going. It was alright but it felt like a slog to finish it and like nothing much spectacular happened. I may just be too accustomed to people being murdered in my books though

Really pleased to hear that Jonathan Strange is a good read - got given a copy as a present and it was NOT on my reading Wishlist.

Have however bought Skellig (for the DC...) but have resisted This thing of darkness so far...

I have had such a slow start to the year for reading, so have only just finished my second book (have a couple of quiet weekends coming up though so should be able to catch up a bit)

1. Death of Kings by Bernard Cornwell (Saxon Series #6)

1. *The Pagan Lord by Bernard Cornwell (Saxon Series #7)

This was the immediate follow on from "Death of Kings", the sixth book of Bernard Cornwell's Saxon series. It is a series I have enjoyed, but after Death of Kings thought it might have run its course.
However, I think I enjoyed this installment far more than the previous couple.
It's Uhtred at his best, gritty and finally making a move on his ancesteral home, which is rightfully his, but occupied by his uncle and family. But as usual, the Saxon cause distracts him.

The fact that I enjoyed this one means I probably will complete the series.

Just adding my first few of the year:

1. pet semetary by Stephen King. Very scary and gruesome. I loved it! I only discovered King last year and I intend to read some more this year.
2. Eleanor Oliphant is completely fine by GAIL Honeyman. Entertaining easy read. Well set for a sequel I suspect.
3. All the little children by Jo Furniss. My favourite genre of dystopian fiction. However this was poorly written and quite frankly too unbelievable to really work. And the ending was shite.

clash I really enjoyed the series but then it's such a long time since I read American Gods that I didn't remember that much so I wasn't constantly spotting bits they'd changed or characters that didn't feel right. Might be different for someone who has recently reread it. Spectacular to watch though.

16. Night Waking - Sarah Moss Anna is an Oxford fellow with a book to finish. She is also a mum to a very bright but death and disaster obsessed 7 year old and a demanding sleep avoiding toddler. She and her husband are living temporarily on a remote Scottish Island he has inherited from his father. Her husband is counting puffins and she is left to do everything else. They then find the skeleton of a baby in the garden. Lots of dark humour. The feel focus is on the relationship between mother and child, how we should parent and conflict in families. This isn't perfect, quite a bit feels unresolved at the end, but I did enjoy it. I could relate to lots of her feelings about being with small children 24/ 7. I also felt nostalgic for the picture books that are peppered throughout the text. I too could, and probably still can recite the Gruffalo from memory!

Does anybody else out there get stuck in mid book limbo? Am reading Marjorie Morningstar sort of want to know the ending but can't be bothered to pick it up. Help !.

plus3 I gather from comments on this thread last year that JS & MN is rather a marmite book. I can understand why.
It’s long. The text is peppered with footnotes (which I personally loved and made the experience much richer), but I can imaging for some constantly being pulled out of the story to read, what can be in some cases, an entire mini short story about the history of English magic, could be rather tiresome. The pace is slow, there are lots of characters, and sometimes you feel like you have been reading for ages and really not a lot has happened.
It’s still wonderful though. Rich, immersive, clever and funny (it’s really funny. I have so many highlighted passages of little ripostes that are just wonderful). I loved the story and I loved the characters.
There is a tiny fragment of a scene where Mr Norrell is trying to give one of his beloved books about magic to Mr Strange and he is such an impossible imposssible exasperating man that all he can manage to do is tip his hands up and let the book slide out of them into Strange's. I don’t think I'll ever forget that scene, it captures his personality so beautifully and I had a huge smile on my face while reading it.

I am still feeling sad that its finished. Picked up and put down about seven books yesterday and couldn’t get into any of them. Had to watch the tv mini series of The Thorn Birds instead as a book mourning balm.

boldly, thanks. I'll leave that world for a bit then. I was happy to see that The Ladies of Grace Adieu featured, well, ladies, as one of my few disappointments with JS was the lack of any seriously developed female characters.

*3/50 My Name Is Leon - Kit de Waal
*
I bought this last year and just got round to reading it, so I don't know if it features heavily on last years thread.

Joyful and heartbreaking in equal measure. Told from Leon's perspective throughout. Leon is nine years old and him and his baby brother are taken into foster care as their mum can't look after them properly. As a mother to a nine year old boy, I found some chapters really hard to read.
Leon is also mixed race and the story is partially set against the backdrop of the Brixton riots. There are themes of abandonment, family and racial identity.
I discovered afterwards that the author is an expert on fostering and adoption, which explains why the book feels very genuine.
An excellent, if somewhat difficult read.