50 Book Challenge 2018 Part Four

[southeastdweller]

Welcome to the fourth 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, the second one here and the third one here.

How're you getting on so far?

I started my book challenge in Jan, but I had winter exams after Christmas and have more at the moment so things have been slow! Personally I also love reading children's books as well even if it's childish.

1.Animal farm
2.The catcher in the rye
3.Down and out in London and Paris
4.The gift of therapy

1. Charlie and the chocolate factory
2. Don't sweat the small stuff and it's all small stuff

7.An unquiet mind 8.You can if you think you can 9.Harry potter and the philosophers stone 10.Fantastic Mr fox 11.A game of thrones - book 1 12. Harry potter and the chamber of secrets 13. The strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde

I also found out that the movie Jurassic Park was adapted from a book, so will add that to my list.

Best failed at lunch sorry . A few glasses of wine down and I couldn’t remember what sort of machinery I was meant to be shoehorning in (ooer) and all I could think of was Epic which was pretty sure wasn’t right. Couldn’t work out either how I could deploy any giant maypoles into a conversation dominated by the Australian cricket scandal either. Very disappointing

orangecake Jurrasic Park is great. I went off on a huge Michael Crichton splurge a few years ago after reading it.

Enjoyed your review of Ministry splother. Do you think it will be shortlisted?

Scribbly I haven't got a clue whether it will be short listed. There are certainly large sections which are worthy of a place on the short list but it really seemed to lose it's way in the middle.
I still have the six listed below to read:

H(A)PPY by Nicola Barker
The Idiot by Elif Batuman
Miss Burma by Charmaine Craig
Manhattan Beach by Jennifer Egan
The Trick to Time by Kit de Waal
Sight by Jessie Greengrass

My standouts, that I want to be shortlisted are:
The Mermaid and Mrs Hancock
When I Hit You: Or, A Portrait of the Writer as a Young Wife *
Sing, Unburied, Sing*

The more I read the more baffled I am about the inclusion of Three things about Elsie and Eleanor Oliphant is completely fine.

Will be watching with interest.
Just started Educated By Tara Westover. Really enjoying it so far

15. The Brooklyn Follies by Paul Auster. Nathan is retired, divorced, in remission from cancer, and looking for a quiet life. When he moves to Brooklyn he reconnects with his adult nephew, a failed academic working in a bookshop. His life becomes enriched by the various people with whom he becomes newly reconnected and connected, including a former fraudster, a selectively mute nine year old girl, and a drag queen.

I really, really liked Nathan as a character, and there's some decent jokes, but the plot is absolutely preposterous, and the ensemble cast carry on as if it isn't.

Has anyone read 4 3 2 1 by the same author? I saw it in the library but the hardback was as big as my head and I didn't fancy carting it about, but if it's recommended I might check out the e-book.

Turnof I read 4,3,2,1 last year. I really enjoyed it. I actually read it as a physical book and I think that made it easier. As he is basically telling the story of one boy whose life turns out in 4 different ways it can get quite confusing. I ended up make quick notes to remind myself which story line we were on. But I did really enjoy it. I learnt a lot about American politics and civil rights through the 1960's .

It's a poor Kindle monthly sale for April but I recommend Tales of the City.

Snow Crash is in the sale, often recommended here by cote

Also has anyone read any Meg Wolitzer? - seem to have heard of her a bit lately, there is one in there called The Wife.

Kindle sale is really disappointing. I've bought two veggie cookbooks (read both in bed this morning and neither of them particularly inspiring, sadly) and the Jeeves/Wooster one which I can't remember if I've read already.

I looked at the Veggie cookbooks too, maybe won’t bother with them!

On the cookbooks, may I recommend Persiana? Obviously not veggie, but there's a fair selection of veggie stuff in there, and the recipes are really great.

3 months into the 50 book challenge, I've read the following

1. How Hard Can It Be Alison Pearson. This was a Christmas present, I remember really enjoying her last book, quite a while ago. Kate re-enters the world of work after being a full time mother. She struggles with menopausal symptoms, teenage children and a pretty useless husband retraining to be a counsellor while she becomes the main breadwinner. Particularly poignant part of the story is her daughter, struggling with self image whilst being judged and bullied by her classmates. She portrays the downside of the teen years well. An easy light read.
2. Close to Home Cara Hunter. Forgettable not very good crime thriller.
3. Lincoln in the Bardo Another Christmas present. Really wanted to enjoy this book, it's been so lauded on MN. I found it almost unreadable seemed to comprise of umpteen citations. Not for me
4. Anatomy of a Scandal Thankfully after two dismal reads, this one I enjoyed. Court room thriller tells the story of another Kate this time a barrister prosecuting an MP accused of, I won't say what the crime is as it maybe a spoiler, murky and uncomfortable pasts for the main characters come into play as the narrative goes backwards and forwards. Fast moving I think I read it in a couple of days.
5. Before the War Fay Weldon. She was a favourite author of mine quite a few years ago, picked this book up in Waterstones sale for a couple pounds. Okish evokes the between the war period quite well.

6.I'll Keep you Safe Peter May. At his best he's a really good crime writer, this one was quite good.

1. The Woman in the Window A J Finn very over hyped imo, kept going over the same ground in the end pretty much guessed the outcome.
2. A Vicious Circle Amanda Craig I read a book by this author last year called Lie of the Land which I enjoyed so much it gave me the impetus to get hold of some of her earlier stuff. I believe this was her first book quite good set in 1990s London, written very much from the perspective of the privileged living a parallel live to those with very little. A common theme a couple of the other books I have read by her.
3. The New Mrs Clifton Elizabeth Buchan okish set in post war London. The main character returns home with German wife much to the consternation of family and friends.

10. Faking Friends Jane Fallon. Light easy to read, cheating boyfriend, good plot. 11. The Heart's Invisible Furies John Boyne, who also wrote The Boy in Striped Pyjamas. Every so often a book comes along that makes me glad I'm a reader. I just loved this one, best I've read since The Goldfinch, I'll be lucky if I read anything as good as this in the current 50 book challenge. The story starts in 1945 in rural Ireland. 16 year old, pregnant Catherine is expelled from her village by the censorious and hypocritical parish priest. Unmarried she makes her way to Dublin unable to support her child he is adopted by a worldly, wealthy couple who don't appear to have a lot of parental instincts.The narrative unfolds through her child Cyril struggling with his sexuality as he grows up in an unforgiving Ireland moribund by the strictures of the Catholic church and the establishment's double standards on perceived morals. This is a sweeping novel, the locations shift between Ireland, Amsterdam and New York, Catherine comes in and out of the story at certain junctures where her path crosses with that of Cyril's. The time span takes the reader more or less up to the present day when many of the old attitudes have been swept away, almost too late for Cyril. Like many of the other handful of great books I've read, this one deals with love and loss and the human condition. It made me laugh and it made me cry I just loved it, it's one of the books that will stay with me. Sublime! Never quite sure why some books go relatively unnoticed and others garner such interest, thinking of Elinor Olliphant, enjoyed it but....not like this one which will stay with me. It's 700 pages but I couldn't put it down read it in four days. 12. Sirens Joseph Knox drug gangs. Didn't like it. 13. The Seagull Ann Cleeves, one of her Vera books, I think she writes well her books are so much better than the tv series. 14 Let me Lie Claire Mackintosh. I loved her first book, I Let You Go thought she was really promising. This one is pretty mediocre in comparison. 15 The Child Fiona Barton. Conversely didn't like her first effort The Widow, but as this was passed on to me decided to give her another go. Liked this one more. 16 Bring Me Back B A Paris. Again I enjoyed her debut novel, Behind Closed Doors. This one was a load of implausible nonsense nothing like as good.

Book 37
Last Ditch – Ngaio Marsh
This one features Alleyn and Troy’s son, Ricky, who gets accidentally mixed up in some shady business. I enjoyed it.

I haven't read Sing,Unburied, Sing but started Salvage The Bonesand couldn't finish it. Relentlessly grim. Is Sing also unrelenting?

I love Toni Morrison as I have mentioned before so am quite open to disturbingness but I found Ward's dialogue offputtingly vernacular in places.

Mermaid still has not been picked out by my random book generator!

On another note, I was terribly excited to hear this morning that Joan Jonasson has a sequel to the 100 Year Old Man coming out in August. The opposite of unrelenting despair!

Wow - epic bold mess up there!!

and spellchecker fail : Jonas , not Joan...

carbuncle totally agree regarding "Heart's Invisble Furies". Masterful!

Finished Reservoir 13 and really enjoyed it. No plot at all, but really atmospheric study of the lives of people in a village where a girl went missing.

12. Misery - Stephen King

I'm sure most people have either read this or seen the film. I'd somehow managed to do neither so wasn't sure what to expect. In summary, a successful author is taken prisoner by a crazed fan who wants him to write the next book in a series.

Sounds like very little from a plot perspective, and I guess that's part of the genius of Stephen King, that he can make a story where very little happens and there are only two characters. That said, I thought it was maybe a little long - not that it's a long book, but as the ending is slightly inevitable, I found myself skimming a bit to try and move things on. That's a minor complaint though - overall a good read.

Misery is terrific. I read it last year as part of my plan to fill in my Stephen King gaps. It’s much scarier than his horror, I think, because it’s so plausible. Annie is a terrifying monster.

Mixed reading recently - not all good but am about to start The Grapes of Wrath so have high hopes of that.

36 Wasp Factory by Iain Banks

I read this because I thought I should - I’m trying to step outside my comfort zone and read some
of the books that crop up on “100 best novels” lists that have never really appealed. It was genuinely horrifying though much funnier than I expected.

37 Map Addict by Mike Parkes

Account of a man’s obsession with maps. I like maps, so it was hard not to like this. It’s sat around on the shelf for ages - no recollection of buying or being given it - so not sure why it took me so long to get round to it.

38 *The Weight of Numbers” by Simon Ings

Has hung around on my bookshelf for years. Wish I’d left it there. A much less successful pick than Map Addict. Too clever for its own good, and although he writes well I have no idea what it was all about.

39 Educated by Tara Westover

This was a bit over-written in places but is quite a story nonetheless - the daughter of a very strict (and completely insane) Mormon family in Idaho slowly breaking away from her emotionally and physically abusive family. I was really looking forward to this but it fell slightly short of my expectations. I have enormous admiration for her and what she did but would like to have had slightly more about her life now and how she feels.

40 How to Hang a Witch by Adriana Mather

Young adult story about a girl who moves to Salem and begins to piece together her family’s role in the Witch Trials. Bought this on Kindle for dd to read, as she’s a voracious reader and I thought she’d enjoy the history element, and she suggested we both read it. The whole thing was pretty limp - unconvincing magic, only a small amount of history (she could have done far more with that given the setting) and that generally odd vibe I note in lots of YA books where lots is over explained but lots (that needs to be) isn’t. Will see what DD thinks when she finishes it; am trying to keep my mouth shut so I don’t influence her too much.

41 Bookworm by Lucy Mangan

There was never a chance I wouldn’t love this. I love reading and loved it as a child, and so did she. We are close in age, background and temperament, and our reading histories are almost identical. I loved the way she talked about books and what they do for children, the power of rereading and the joy of discovering new worlds through books. I suspect it is quite a small target audience who’ll find this as wonderfully transporting as I did but it was a very happy few days of reading for me.

56. In The Unlikely Event by Judy Blume

I loved Judy Blume as a teenager. This is one of her books for adults. It’s a novel based around real events when three planes crashed within three months on the town where Blume grew up, in 1952. It took me a while to get into this as there’s a lot of characters and the narrative moves between their viewpoints. I enjoyed it once I’d worked out who was who.

Mina spot on about Reservoir 13. Was one of my stand outs last year.

Happy Easter 50 book types!

I've started and abandoned several books - finally read one all the way through,

18. The Pure of Heart - Susan Hill - 2nd in the DCI Simon Serrailler series that someone on a previous 50 books thread recommended, I recall them being discribed as 'incredibly middle class crime books' and while that's true, I've realised this book isn't really about the crime it's supposidly about, but really is a book about the people in the town and how they respond to events. The end chapters surprised me - without giving away too much, we think we know how 'crime/detective' fiction books will go; there's a crime then an investigation and the puzzle will be solved, with this being the main theme of the book, then the characters' storylines fitted round it. That's not what happens here. Read the first book in the series first though.

That's a tempting review of The Heart's Invisible Furies Carbuncle, another one for the TBR list. This thread makes me wish I was a faster reader.