50 Book Challenge 2018 Part Three

[southeastdweller]

Welcome to the third 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 and the second one here.

What are you reading?

Flat is a good word to describe those two Strout books I've read. I felt the same about A Spool of Blue Thread - lovely cover, though...

I wasn't overly impressed by My Name is Lucy Barton but I did enjoy Amy and Isabelle. I felt it had more depth of character. I do have a couple of others by her on my Kindle.

I didn’t mind Olive Kitteridge , enough to read Lucy Barton, but found that deadly dull and it coloured my view so I won’t read anything else by her I don’t think.

I like Elizabeth Strout's novels. Olive Kitteridge was the first one I read and enjoyed the format of interlinking short stories.

My Name Is Lucy Barton is my favourite so far together with its companion novel Anything is Possible.

I have Amy and Isabelle and The Burgess Boys on my tbr pile. Small town America (good description, Kikashi) is the kind of novel I really enjoy, often where not much happens, like Anne Tyler, although A Spool of Blue Thread wasn't the best.

11 The Secret Casebook of Simon Feximal by KJ Charles

Victorian set occult romance - if Charles' Society of Gentlemen series is pastiche Heyer with gay sex, this is pastiche MR James / Conan Doyle (with gay sex). Harmless fun, but I didn't like it as much as I have done her other books - each chapter is a separate ghost story, and I found it rather bitty.

Yes crampton they are good examples of that genre, it’s whether you enjoy it. I do at times but have to be in the mood for it ifyswim.

Yes, of course, Satsuki. I wasn't criticising you, or anyone else, for not liking Elizabeth Strout. Just adding my comments ☺

We all like different books at different times. I like to mix and match, maybe picking a thriller or some non-fiction or whatever.

Oh no I didn’t think so crampton sorry if it came across that way. I was just pondering what you were saying and...chatting

My comment did seem a bit short, that’s what happens when you post when you’re supposed to being playing Dobble

That's ok, Satsuki . I was busy trying to get DS to do some of his schoolwork - akin to herding cats, and overseeing DD finishing her work. It's a bit of a stressful day here and I really want to go somewhere quiet and read a book but that's not going to happen any time soon . Joys of parenting.

9. Murder At The Vicarage by Agatha Christie
The first Miss Marple, and although she cracks the case Marple has a lesser presence here. I quite liked our straight laced clergyman narrator, and the little details of village life, but the plot dragged a bit, which I don't usually find with Christie.

1. The Break by Marian Keyes

I enjoyed this one. Amy - PR woman and mum of three's husband suddenly calls a six month sabbatical on their marriage. The book describes what she does and what happened leading up to this. I liked the new family and hope we hear from them again.

(I am team Austen, Dickens is better if you take it slowly and I am too impatient, Hardy I find uncomfortably intense)

Pondering that Guardian list @Sadik, have you read Poppy Z Brites Lost Souls? It’s intense angst ridden gay vampire (quite niche I think so was surprised to see it), but if you never came across it I think you would love it! (Might have to bear in mind it must be late 80s).

I don’t know what to read now I am
pausing my Ngaio Marshes! I have a huge pile- might have to close my eyes and grab one- but am too worried it will be something I have to concentrate on!

18. The Historian by Elizabeth Kostova Think I've had this in the tbr pile since it was released. I quite enjoyed this tale of historians tracking Dracula. Told through a mixture of letters and various characters. I do love vampire stories though I even read the sparkly ones

No, haven't read it Tanaqui - will look out for it (I do love an angst ridden gay vampire )

I have read a lot of articles about this book. Looks uplifiting and intriguing:

www.amazon.co.uk/Reading-Cure-Books-Restored-Appetite/dp/1474604641/ref=sr_1_1?keywords=the+reading+cure&dpID=51TqvQhvxcL&preST=SY291_BO1&tag=mumsnetforum-21&ie=UTF8&qid=1518906039&sr=8-1,204,203,200_QL40&dpSrc=srch

23. No Middle Name by Lee Child. A collection of all the Jack Reacher short stories- a change in style from Ngaio Marsh, but not in genre! I had read some of these before, but I enjoyed the ones that were new to me, although I think Child is better at the novel than the short strory (although I think that about most crime/detective/thriller writers, so maybe it is just a genre thing). I would say only bother with it if you are already a fan.

Smoke Gets In Your Eyes, as recommended upthread by (I think) Remus is Kindle Daily Deal today. I have bought it, hope it’s good!

31. Burnt Paper Sky by Gilly Macmillan

I think I may have read this before although it obviously didn’t make much impact as I couldn’t remember much about it. A woman’s 8 year old son goes missing in the woods and inevitably suspicion falls on her. Well written but plot formulaic. Set in Bristol where I work so I liked that aspect.

Thanks for that Chessie - just bought Smoke Gets in Your Eyes. Will go in my non fiction stash.

13. Every Last Lie - Mary Kubica

When Clara’s husband dies in a car crash leaving their four year old daughter untouched she begins to discover things she never knew about him. And when Maisie starts having nightmares about a “bad man” Clara begins to wonder if the crash really was an accident.

Second last of my library books getting there slowly. And one of my favourite books so far of the year. I was totally engrossed to see what was happening to Clara in the present day and Nick in the time before the crash. Another great book by Mary Kubica!

6. The Secret Life of Bees - Sue Monk Kidd
Really loved this tender story of women supporting women. I laughed, I cried, I learnt some more about the struggles and inequalities suffered by black americans in South Carolina at that time and I loved discovering more about the fascinating habits of bees to boot. All in all my favourite read so far this year.

(1) Witch is When Life Got Complicated by Adele Abbott
(2) Witch is Where It All Began by Adele Abbott
(3) Coming Clean by Kimberly Rae Miller
(4) Die Last by Tony Parsons
(5) Restaurant Babylon by Imogen Edwards Jones
(6) The Sugar Men by Ray Kingfisher
(7) The Hospital by Barbara O'Hare
(8) Fade Out by Rachel Caine
(9) Yellow Crocus by Laila Ibrahim
(10) Into Thin Air by Jon Krakauer
(11) Would You Like Some Magic With That by Annie Salisbury
(12) The Ride Delegate by Annie Salisbury
(13) The Magdalen Laundries by Lisa Michelle Odgaard
(14) Just What Kind of Mother Are You by Paula Daly
(15) Amber Earns Her Ears by Amber Michelle Sewell
(16) Breathe by Sarah Crossan
(17) Kiss of Death by Rachel Caine
(18) Ghost Town by Rachel Caine
(19) A Pocketful of Holes and Dreams by Jeff Pearce
(20) Dead Man Running by Martin McGartland
(21) The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins

Nothing to say about this book that I am sure hasn't been said before.

Oh another note I managed to lose a lot of hours over the past few days watching Booktube. I have more than doubled the books on my wishlist...lol

As it always goes with half term, I think I'll have lots of time to read as I'm not at work, but it never quite works out that way. ..

Crampton I am a big fan of the small town America genre and really enjoyed My Name is Lucy Barton. Did you know there is now a play of the book, at The Bridge Theatre in London in June? I'm not sure how it would translate into a play as so much of it is Lucy's interior monologue.

Also really enjoyed Anything is Possible. Haven't read any of her others, they are on my (ever lengthening) TBR list.

13. Testosterone Rex: Unmaking the Myths of Our Gendered Minds – Cordelia Fine
A very thorough and scientific de-bunking of some of the myths constructed around gender difference. Fine systematically takes apart the premise that males are more competitive than females because of higher testosterone levels, and explores the social and economic reasons which may actually account for gendered thinking. I loved this book. It manages to be scientific and convincing without becoming dry or alienating the non-scientific reader. Her style is really engaging, lively and warm. Recommended!

15 1606 : Shakespeare and The Year of Lear by James Shapiro

Continuing the haul of non fiction books my random generator has thrown at me! This was interesting. It deals with a year in which Shakespeare almost certainly produced three great tragedies : Antony and Cleopatra, Macbeth and Lear. Some bits interested me more than others, notably the description of the king of Denmark's logging of his hangovers and drunkenness in a diary, in which a double asterisk indicates he had to be carried to his bed!

I learnt some context I did not previously know and I like the parts where he analyses the language of the plays. The stuff he writes on Lear is more interesting than on Macbeth.

The random number generator now wants me to read Rise Up! the new book about the suffragettes (more non fiction!1) but that won't arrive until tomorrow!

So, in order not to overrule its magic , I now require the next poster on here to choose a number between 1 and 21 and that will generate a stand in book for me! I will read Rise Up! (all 628 pages... ) after this.