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?

Love that Shining review, Tolstoy.

Oh, I shall look forward to that then *satsuki^. I like a good weep.

I am not sure I'm built for non fiction either turn ! But I did find the last third of that book quite moving.

My list so far. Just given up on The Nix so needing to start something else.

1. Totlandia Book 8 by Josie Brown
2. Just what kind of mother are you? By Paula Daly
3. No-one ever has sex on Christmas Day by Tracy Bloom.
4. The woman who met her match by Fiona Gibson
5. The bookshop on the corner by Rebecca Raisin
6. #dearcancer: Things to help you through by Victoria Derbyshire and friends.

7. The Woman who Stole My Life by Marian Keyes. 8. Adele by Sean Smith

Place marking with book 9, will bring ,y list over tomorrow

9 The Disappeared by Kristina Ohlsson

If in doubt in a reading rut I head to Scandinavian crime, three bodies murdered over 4/5 decades but all linked are found in woods, many suspects each with motive, and the team have to sift through a few twists and turns until they find the killer. A bit crime by rote, quick read as you did want to find out in the end, some bits were obvious but others not so and I really didn't know who Dunn it until the last 50 pages or so which is quite good for me. will look out for her other books if they are ever in a sale on the kindle.

In no particular order
The Plantagenents by Dan Brown
The Unknown Ajax by Georgette Heyer
The Magic Study by Maria V Snyder
The quiet Gentleman by Georgette Heyer
Treasured by Thursday by Catherine Bybee
Not Quite perfect by Catherine bybee
Seduced by Sunday by Catherine Bybee
Taken by Tuesday by Catherine Bybee
Single by Saturday by Catherine Bybee
Fiance by Friday by Catherine Bybee
Married by Monday by Catherine Bybee
Wife by Monday by Catherine Bybee
Silent Threat by Dana Marton
Holy Island by L j Ross
Sycamore Gap by L J Ross
The Financier by Liz Maverick
Heavenfield by L J Ross
The Three Body Problem by Cixin Liu
A lot of light reading in this 18 .

Thank you SouthEast :)

Just finished...

1. As I Walked Out One Midsummer Morning - Laurie Lee

The follow-up to Cider With Rosie sees the 19-year-old Lee set off on foot from his Gloucestershire home to London and then across Spain on the eve of the Civil War, documenting the peasant way of life he comes across in a mostly poor and filthy, but undeniably romantic country.

Lee's attitude to women is not particularly admirable - they all seem to be either crones or prostitutes - and he is quite open in his appreciation of young girls - the descriptions of a "sexily confident" eight-year-old are pretty grim. But if you can park that, his writing is beautifully evocative of a long-disappeared landscape, place and time.

Thanks for the new thread.

My list so far, standouts in bold, shockers in italics:

1. A Wicked Deed (Matthew Bartholomew #5) by Susanna Gregory
2. The Underground Railroad by Colson Whitehead
3. The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie by Muriel Spark
4. A Masterly Murder (Matthew Bartholomew #6) by Susanna Gregory
5. The Graveyard of the Hesperides (Flavia Albia Mystery #4) by Lindsey Davis
6. Cold Comfort Farm by Stella Gibbons
7. The Third Nero (Flavia Albia Mystery #5) by Lindsey Davis
8. Revelation (Matthew Shardlake #4) by C.J. Sansom
9. Women & Power: A Manifesto by Mary Beard

10. Why I Am Not a Feminist: A Feminist Manifesto by Jessa Crispin

Abandoned: Three Men in a Boat

Currently reading: All the Light We Cannot See

Satsuki, what else would you recommend by Greene? I've never read him before (possibly The End of the Affair years ago when the movie came out but not 100% sure). And I did really love it. The very last but one chapter my heart was in my mouth. I kept willing him not to, while knowing he was going to. What an amazing talent to be able to take a reader on that journey with you.

Thanks southeast.

18. Two Kinds if Truth by Michael Connelly. Kindle bargain spotted on the last thread, thank you. I like the Harry Bosch books, but I have to say I preferred the earlier ones- in my memory they were denser, more textured, and they seem less satisfying now. However, I still enjoyed this enough to read it in one sitting (and btw I would recommend the TV series on Amazon Prime if you have it).

My list so far, pretty pleased as I've probably matched last year's total already. Feels good to be reading again

1. Norse Mythology by Neil Gaiman
2. North and South by Gaskell
3. One damned thing after another by Jodi Taylor
4. The Belle Sauvage by Phillip Pullman
5. The Lady of the Rivers by Phillipa Gregory
6. Dream Hunters by Neil Gaiman
7. Mrs Zant and the Ghost by Wilkie Collins
8. Surfacing by Margaret Atwood

The tell tale heart by Edgar Allen Poe

1. The Witch Finders Sister by Beth Underdown

10. The Curious Case of Benjamin Button by F.Scott Fitzgerald 11. Lord of the flies 12. Eleanor oliphant is completely fine 13. The Unbroken Line of the Moon by Johanne Hildebrandt 14. The Virgin Suicides by Jeffrey Eugenides 15. Fatherland by Robert Harris

Thanks Southeast! Checking in with my list so far:

1. The Sixteen Trees of the Somme by Lars Mytting
2. The Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follett
3. He Said/She Said by Erin Kelly
4. River of Teeth by Sarah Gailey
5. The Good Daughter by Karin Slaughter
6. The Girls by Lisa Jewell

7.Dead Sky by Tami Hoag

1. Fever by Megan Abbot

I'm currently reading Court of Lions by Jane Johnson and The Son by Jo Nesbo.
My next book club read is Wide Sargasso Sea, which I've never read before, so I treated myself to a brand new copy from Waterstones today and am looking forward to getting started!

Cheerful, I like the sound of Ruth Goodwin's book How to be a Victorian. I enjoyed the series Victorian Farm years ago; she was brilliant at bringing everyday history to life. Really likeable and enthusiastic. I'm not a huge non-fiction reader but might well give this one a go.

1. Sugar Money by Jane Harris.

Having loved The Observations and really enjoyed Gillespie and I by the same author, I had high expectations of this book. I do think Jane Harris has a real talent for creating an original narrative voice, and this story of an attempted escape by slaves from one Caribbean island to another, away from the British and back to their former French masters, is engagingly related by the teenage Lucien. This works well for the most part although at times I found the mixture of phonetically spelled French and Creole a bit distracting. It's a vivid tale and you find yourself willing the slaves to make their escape. A bit uneven in parts; I think having read The Underground Railroad recently which was more hard-hitting in its depiction of the horrors involved, it paled a little by comparison. Still well worth a read though.

1. Cousins by Salley Vickers.

Reading this for my book group and interested to hear what others have to say about it tomorrow. For the first 50 pages or so I found myself asking what the point of the story was, but it's a slow-burner of a novel, and as the narration switched from the young Hetta to her grandmother and then her aunt, the tragic events at the centre of this family, and the various loving/more distant relationships are teased out from different angles and it becomes quite engrossing.
The author is visiting our local bookshop next month so looking forward to that.

Next up is Women and Power by Mary Beard, and then Franny and Zooey by J D Salinger, a book group read.

Cheerful, I read that Ruth Goodman book a while ago and enjoyed it, but for sheer fascinating volume of Victorian detail you simply have to read 'The Victorian House' by Judith Flanders! It’s completely enthralling if you like that sort of thing. Which I do

15
The Strange Last Voyage of Donald Crowhurst - Nicholas Tomalin and Ron Hall – Okay only. This is the true story of a man who decided to enter a round the world sailing race, persisted in it even when obviously woefully unprepared, gave all indications that he was a strong contender to win, and then disappeared. It then turned out he was faking his progress and hadn’t ever left the Atlantic. There was nothing terribly wrong with this, but I just didn’t warm to it. I thought there was far too much padding, some pseudo psychiatry, a lot of attempts to make deep meaning out of the scrawlings of somebody who had almost certainly had some kind of nervous breakdown and then a weak ending, which would have been much improved by some actual interviews with some of the key players. I can’t really recommend this, but nor did I hate it. I hate the word ‘meh’ but it does suit my feelings here.

Apologies for any typos or lack of sense - insomnia!

(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

Not a bad book, starts with Jeffs extremely poor childhood, into his millionaire twenties which ended with him back working on market stalls before once again rising up. Found it lacked some details and made it sound like he managed to become a millionaire with very little work but a great deal of luck. All in all a quick read but nothing special

4: Murder on The Orient Express

The classic who-dunnit, as the title says, the Orient express is stuck in a snow drift, so it isn’t going anywhere, there is a murder and a cast of characters (the murderer undoubtedly among them), and several of them with secrets and false identities. If it was a new book written today, you’d say it was full of clichés, but it set the standard for the murder – mystery, so it’s best described as classic.

My list so far ( a slow start I know)

1: The Death of Kings by Bernard Cornwell
2: The Pagan Lord by Bernard Cornwell
3: The Strangest Family by Janice Hadlow
4: Murder on the Orient Express by Agatha Christie
5: King Javan's Year by katherine Kurtz.

Ooh, will look that up, Tepischore. Have also got hold of a copy of London Child of the 1870s from my beloved library stacks which is next on the list after I finish my current book.

Just checking in - almost finished Shadow of Night

fortuna : you didn't like The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie ??

Look forwards to hearing what you think of London Child, Cheerful

1: The Death of Kings by Bernard Cornwell
2: The Pagan Lord by Bernard Cornwell
3: The Strangest Family by Janice Hadlow
4: Murder on the Orient Express by Agatha Christie
5: King Javan's Year by Katherine Kurtz.

6: The Almost Sisters by Joshilyn Jackson

Honestly, I had a bit of a love hate relationship with this one. It was a book club choice and would not normally feature on one of my to read lists, as it is bordering a little bit on Chick lit for me.

It's the story of Leia, a comic book artist who finds herself pregnant after a one night stand with a guy dressed as Batman at a Comic convention. Her family drama doesn't stop there though, her perfect step sister Rachel is splitting up with her perfect husband (who happens to be an ex of Leah's), and her grandmother is declining mentally.
She goes to stay with her grandmother and takes her niece Lavender with her to give Rachel some space. Then a skeleton is discovered in the attic and it is obvious there is some family secret, but can the grandmother's account be relied on?

In some places I found it as irritating and banal as I had expected (mainly the parts with Rachel and Lavender), and rolled my eyes at Batman (especially when he turns out to be all lovely and too good to be true).
However, the story of the bones in Birchie's attic hooked me and was therefore compelled to finish it.
It was reasonably well written and both amusing and poignant in places.

7: The Snow Child by Eowyn Ivey
The story of a middle aged couple unable to have children, who leave their comfortable life “back east” to work a smallholding in Alaska, which has just become the newest State of America.
Their sadness of having no child creates a distance between them, but one night they build a snow girl in the snow, The next morning the snow girl has disappeared, but from that day they are visited by a mysterious girl who comes and goes, and never stays more than a few hours.
I thought the story was going to be a bit ridiculous and fairy tale like, but it was actually quite real and gritty, and even brutal in places,
Beautifully written. Definitely better than I though it was going to be.

tolstoy my favourite for a while was Brighton Rock. It also explores the Catholic guilt thing but with gangsters, and a great main female character. The Power and the Glory is another religious themed one. The Quiet American is a bit different, more political, and set in Vietnam, but based around the personal relationship of two men and the woman they both want, who is symbolic more than anything. It’s not a favourite of mine but still well written and memorable. Our Man in Havana is a comic spy story so different again, I read it a long time ago and I regret most of my Greene came from the library so haven’t reread as much as I probably would have!

fortuna likes shocking us all with the odd sacrilege on this thread Don’t ask about Lord of the Flies Having said that I don’t like Brodie much either.

Bringing the list:

1. I Love Dick by Chris Kraus
2. The Bees by Carol Ann Duffy

3.Game of Thrones 1 by George R R Martin

1. The Nix by Nathan Hill

5. This Thing of Darkness by Harry Thompson 6. Burial Rites by Hannah Kent 7. Mariana by Monica Dickens

1. Pachinko by Min Jin Lee

9. A Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich by Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn

This was a great book, and one probably everyone should read. It follows a single day in the life of a prisoner in a Soviet labour camp in the 50s. The fight each day for every scrap of food, of warmth, of comfort, is described meticulously and pragmatically. It is bleak, yet hopeful; this is perhaps the best possible day in the worst circumstances, and though the narrative is concerned only with essentials, by the second fraught meal time routine, the emotional weight of confining a man to such a small space, both literally and figuratively, really hits you without the need to state it outright. It is a brief, yet powerful and thorough examination of the nature of life and freedom, injustice, and human endurance, and leaves you really appreciating food, socks, and spoons like no other book.