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?

The Last policeman series are on offer on amazon, £1.75 each for kindle edition, luckily my DH can't see the books when buy them on there.

9 Ethan Frome by Edith Wharton
A novella really. Found this well written but a bit over the top. Wasn't convinced by the main plot point. I'd have probably found it very convincing and romantic if I'd read it at about 18 though. I've enjoyed others books by her more.

10 Before the Feast by Sasa Stanisic
Interweaving fable and history into a story of the people of a small town in Germany the night before a Feast/festival. The town is a character for some parts. The novel is split up into small sections telling each story in parts until some of them come together. I enjoyed this one a lot.

Well my bid to simply read what was on my kindle in order came to nothing. After finishing the wonderful Burial Rites then next up on my kindle was The Trouble the Goats and Sheep which considering we were at the start of snowmageddon and it is based in a heatwave seemed wrong.

So I downloaded the first Shetland book by Ann Cleaves.

Raven Black introduces detective inspector Perez and the community within which the stories are based. The involved mystery of a missing child and murder of a sophisticated young incommer were a good introduction. My only criticism if any was that the ending seemed a bit rushed. And the 16 years olds taste for wine was unusual in my experience - maybe not on Shetland though!

I have no idea where to go next. My pace is extremely slow

Cedar, I agree, I think endings are tricky and the author did well. I just wasn’t convinced by the first half of the book and that was a bit disappointing as I loved the first one of the series. I’m reading SPQR just now and enjoying it too.

Ignores, Cote.

Have you read His Bloody Project yet, Cote (stops ignoring Cote). I actually think it could turn out to be one of the rare novels we agree on.

I have put A Very British Scandal in my wishlist. I remember sneaking my granny's paper and reading about it when I was a teenager. Very strange.

Thanks whoever tipped us off that you can rank your wishlist in price order. Never knew - duh?

I'm waiting for A Very British Scandal on order from the library - really looking forward to it.

16.My Cousin Rachel - Daphne du Maurier

Wow, what a read. It was almost painful at times to keep reading. Talk about a knife edge. She really is a master at building suspense. It’s been a while since I finished a book and wanted to read it again immediately. I won’t, but next time I read it, it will be slowly so that I can savour it and won’t be rushing to find out what happens in the end.

I still prefer Rebecca though.

44. The Passion - Jeanette Winterson
This was short book but also quite brilliant. Set in the Napoleonic Wars it is the story of Henri, a foot soldier who gets close to Napoleon for a time and Villianelle, the web footed daughter of a Venetian boatman. Their stories come together. It is full of fantasy and magic realism and is peppered with beautiful writing. It looks at themes of love, passion, madness and charisma.
One for a reread, as I am sure it will reveal more. Also one that will stay with me.

However it has been a long and stressful week. So diving into a light Elizabeth Chadwick historical fiction.

I realise I've been lurking but not posting. I think this is complete but I may have missed a few books off.

My old list brought over:

1. Without a Doubt: Marcia Clark
2. A Horse Walks into a Bar: David Grossman
3. Can't and Won't: Lydia Davis
4. JR: William Gaddis
5. Ada's Algorithm: James Essinger
6. Over Sea, Under Stone: Susan Cooper
7. The Naked Lunch: William S Burroughs
8. Steppenwolf: Hermann Hesse
9. The Comedians: Graham Greene
10. A Tree Grows in Brooklyn: Betty Smith

Thoughts on my most recent reads:

11. My Name is Red: Orhan Pamuk: OK, not brilliantly translated, but a pleasing enough structure and a fascinating insight into miniature painting and technique
12. Fire and Fury: Michael Wolff: Nothing I didn't know but passed a plane journey comfortably enough.
13. No is Not Enough: Naomi Klein: An interesting read in the light of the Trump book, but strong on what's wrong, a little flaky on what would be better and how to fix things. There were a coupole of genuinely interesting project suggestions at the end but the whole manifesto was a little woolly.
14. This Thing of Darkness: Harry Thompson: I enjoyed this very much even though my second hand copy fell apart and I was constantly picking up pages and reordering them. He did overwrite a bit and some descriptive sections were rather florid. And some of the heavily signposted dialogue made me laugh: "I wonder why there are seashells on this side of the range, but not the other." "What? Three different types of cattle? In only 60 years?" And frankly old priggish religiously-hidebound Fitzroy got a bit on my nerves, even though I think I was supposed to find him the hero. Fascinating about the Fuegians and the meteorology too.
15. Tropic of Cancer: Henry Miller. I suppose it got banned because he talks about sex and prostitutes a lot and uses the word 'cunt' liberally. I found it very dull in a "Naked Lunch" kind of way - failing writers on the breadline in Paris picking lice out of their pubes and contemplating the various virtues of different prostitutes. But I can see why it was groundbreaking it its time. Also, I think the writer really despised women, or at least contemned them.
16. Atlas Shrugged: Ayn Rand (audio). At 63 hours of listening, I am fully Galted and objectivised. The plot is of course very silly. And she's a pretty dreadful writer too - everyone 'screams' and 'yells' and 'shouts', rather like a Y6 story when the child is avoiding 'said'. And everyone is constantly 'incredulous'. But as a historical and sociological work it was fascinating to me. People talk about it so frequently yet hardly anyone seems to have actually read it.
17. Next Stop Execution: Oleg Gordievsky: A great romp through KGB subterfuge from the 60s to the 80s. I remember his exfiltration and was studying Russian at the time. Given the events of this week, it was a prescient read.
18. The Nix: Nathan Hill: Really enjoyed this. Don't think it was perfect, and the ending was, as my kids say, 'meh'. It was a little overexplicatory at times, but I loved the range, the characters, the Chicago 1968 storyline. I'm not convinced by all the shifting between viewpoints - the novel wasn't evenly split between them so suddenly you'd be in the head of a really minor character for a short period of time - and it made me feel slightly vertiginous. But I raced through this in 2.5 days. Easy reading, plot-driven page turner.

Currently listening on audio to The Silmarillion, which makes me really miss Ayn Rand, and reading The Faber Book of Reportage.

Best and other du Maurier fans, have you read Julius? I stumbled across it in a charity shop last year and had never heard of it. It is her 3rd novel written in 1933 when she was 26; so long before she found fame in the 50's. Perhaps it lacks the finesse of her more famous novels but it is a great read with her trademark suspense, chilling characters etc. Quite astonishing for a young woman of her time to have created a character like Julius.

I have eventually finished The Book Of Dust . I feel a bit non committal about it to be honest. It's years since I read His Dark Materials but this just felt like an adventure yarn without much of the cleverness of the older books. He uses quite complex language for his intended audience so it could be a challenging read for youngsters. There is some very strong language and sexual images, too, which took me aback! I feel its was 540 pages of setting things up for his next book. DS2 has read it and said it was 'ok'.

Next up, the randomiser has selected another YA book :I, Coriander. I bought this because it is by the same writer who wrote An Almond For A Parrot under her real name , Sally Gardner. This is also historical but, I am assuming less saucy! Am looking forward to reading it.

1. Land Rover:The story of the car that conquered the world - Ben Fogle.

As quintessentially British as a plate of fish and chips or a British Bulldog, the boxy, utilitarian Land Rover Defender has become an iconic part of what it is to be British.

It is said that for more than half the world's population, the first car they ever saw was a Land Rover Defender. It mirrors many of our national traits, stiff upper-lipped and slightly eccentric. The car has remained relatively unchanged for nearly seven decades and has spawned an industry that includes dozens of publications, car shows, clubs, associations and even model car collectors who dedicate their lives to the Land Rover.* After 67 years and 2 million vehicles the Land Rover Defender has ceased production, and this book is a fitting tribute to this most British institution which has stood as a beacon of durability and Britishness across the world. Every Land Rover has its own unique story to tell. This is the story of the world's favourite car.
*
Some^^ interesting anecdotes (both the pope mobile and the getaway cars from the Great Train Robbery were Landy's). Some parts are repetitive as Fogle jumps around the Land Rover timeline, but still a fun read for any "green oval enthusiast". Not sure non Land Rover owners would enjoy this one!

Next book is Station Eleven by Emily St John Mandel. This was my first book from a book subscription service, so it will be interesting to see how well this book goes down.

39. The Last Tudor by Philippa Gregory

Historical chick lit. This one is the story of Lady Jane Grey and her sisters Katherine and Mary. Jane’s story is well known but I didn’t know much about her sisters. They both married in secret and ended up imprisoned by Elizabeth. Unfortunately being imprisoned doesn’t make for an interesting story so once Jane got beheaded it was downhill from there. This definitely isn’t one of Gregory’s best.

7. The Cupboard - Rose Tremain

At the ripe old age of 87 a highly successful British author tells her life story to a young American journalist. Whilst she is clearly fictional the story is a wonderful insight into life in the UK, France and Spain during various parts of the 20th century. Not my favourite book by Tremain and the way the Suffolk accent was written was highly irritating but fortunately not present throughout the book. It was an enjoyable read nonetheless. Funny coincidence that I’m also reading William Boyd’s Any Human Heart in parallel and it covers the same era and talks about their encounters with many of the same authors in both London and Paris.

ontopofthesunset so FitzRoy was priggish and got on your nerves? Noooo. I'm Team FitzRoy.

11. To Say Nothing of the Dog by Connie Willis Why did I read those crappy St Mary's time travel books? Because I didn't know this existed. What a gem. Historian Ned specialises in the 1940s, and has been sent on multiple jumps to Coventry cathedral to ascertain what treasures it contained at the time it was bombed, particularly to find the hideous Bishop's Bird Stump. After getting a severe case of time lag, he is sent to the Victorian era to recuperate, where he gets to spend time with fellow historian and love interest Verity. She is a specialist in 1930s mysteries (the two of them compare themselves to Lord Peter and Harriet) and pretty soon they are embroiled in a mystery of their own. This was funny and clever, and the pace never lagged. Just what I needed.

I'm also on Team Fitzroy. Sob...

I'm Team Fitzroy, too. Isn't everybody?

Bell - "Next book is Station Eleven by Emily St John Mandel... it will be interesting to see how well this book goes down."

Oh dear

If you like SF, you'll hate it. If you have never read any SF before, you'll like it. That's how it seems to go, anyway.

No, I was Team Darwin! I liked Fitzroy at the beginning but he was so inflexible and ..... doomed. Maybe I'm just a contrarian.

Ontop - re My Name is Red by Orhan Pamuk:

I tried reading it in Turkish original and gave up after about a chapter, thinking it was the dullest, most pointless book I've ever come across. Orhan Pamuk has much better books imho.

"OK, not brilliantly translated"

I thought you might like to know that Orhan Pamuk's books are said to be relatively easy to translate from Turkish to English because he is a product of English-language international schooling (like yours truly) and his books read like the author was thinking in English.

Team Fitzroy all the way. His inflexibility was his Shakespearean tragic flaw, what made him human.

Ah, well, I don't know Turkish (and I know you do), but it had that clunky formal tone that so many translated books do. But of course that could have been the tone he was going for in Turkish, and I can't compare. I don't think I've ever read a translated book that doesn't feel translated, though I may be oversensitive and imagining it. But maybe it just wasn't one of his best books. I've read a couple of others and never really got into any of them - 'Snow' and 'Silent House'. What would you recommend?

Human, but intensely irritating. You wouldn't want to be married to that level of intransigence.

Nooooooooooo. Please don't start the Station Eleven fights again.