50 Book Challenge 2018 Part Seven

[southeastdweller]

Welcome to the seventh 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, the third one here, the fourth one here, the fifth one here, and the sixth one here.

I don't have any book updates (am 2/3 way through a psychological thriller which is turning rather unpleasant, but I want to know now who did it so I am reading on) but just wanted to give some to Pepe and anyone else who needs any at the moment.

pepe : I, too, have put worthy books on my tbr pile and have managed a few this year but Midnight's Children hasn't come up yet on my random number generator, nor has Vikram Seth or War and Peace. Am going to be busy at some point....

Hope you are battling on. With books and life. Nil desperandum!

Thank you both. Am indeed grimly battling on. With worthy novel and with life.

Piggy, you might be surprised. I’ve never read any Rushdie (actually, that may not be true - possibly The Ground Beneath Her Feet) but War and Peace and A Suitable Boy are two of my favourite books. And I am in no way a lover of “worthy” novels. But on both occasions I got caught up in the story and the people and was hooked.

Well, that's at least hopeful! I like the sound of ASB , just look at its length and despair a bit...!

No! It flies by, honestly. I don’t think everyone agrees (my sister claims it is the most boring book she’s ever read but she likes DH Lawrence so I doubt her judgment ). But I was captivated.

I loved A Suitable Boy but then I also enjoyed Midnight's Children, which a lot of people don't like plus I am partial to some D.H Lawrence. Confusing

My reading is on the go-slow because work and life are getting in the way at the moment. Why don't my children and my employer realised I need more time to read?
Managed 86. My Abandonment by Peter Rock, a YA novel based on a true story about a man and his 13 year old daughter who were found living in a national forest park; the first two thirds were good but the last third lost momentum and I wasn't keen on the ending. The (very much better) film 'Leave No Trace' is based on the book. Also finished 87. Ordinary People by Sally Rooney and going against the almost universal praise I thought this was only ok and rather uninspired, although I admired it's subtlety and very much liked the character of Marianne.

I loved War and Peace. Midnight’s Children isn’t hard going at all but I didn’t enjoy it that much I have to say.

I am really struggling to have time to read anything at the moment I’m falling asleep by 9.30. Hope things lighten up for you pepe

I have a singular aversion to Lawrence, even though we share a birthday!!

A Suitable Boy is wonderful and v readable (I feel like doing a Mumsnet gavel here but will hold myself back)

My literary birthday mate is Laurie Lee, whose work I'm very fond of. Could take or leave Laurence though. OK, leave.

47. Never Forget by Lisa Cutts Reasonable police procedural. The 'procedural' part will no doubt be watertight, as the author is apparently a serving police officer. Too many characters, too much non relevant dialogue and plot, even when the murderer was revealed
    I was struggling to understand the motivation and how and why everything tied together. Redeemed by likeable main character, but ironically, given the title, pretty forgettable.

48. Delusions of Gender by Cordelia Fine I really wanted to love this and nod along to it, as it debunked myths about gender differences being 'hardwired' into female and male brains. For the most part I did, and I needed little persuading to agree with the overall message. The problem is mine, as I got bored of one academic and scientific study after another being trotted out, without much extrapolation into what that might look like in the real world (wah, book with science in the subtitle which aims to set out the scientific evidence and does just that is too sciency!) Also, I just thought she enjoyed too much the rubbishing of other people's work, ancient and modern, which made claims for inherent sex differences. I thought women were hardwired to be nicer than that (joke!)

Just googled to discover I share a birthday with Chekov, but more importantly, also with Tom Selleck. What's not to like?

Oops, that should read Chekhov! Obviously too distracted by my Tom Selleck connection...

Ooh literary birthday mates!

Jeffrey Archer
😐

I haven’t in fact read any Lawrence in years. As a teen and young adult I loathed it - so much introspection and moping and faffing around with nonsense. And his terrible sexual politics - all that soft yielding and penis-centric crap. I do wonder what I’d think of it now. If Gabriel García Márquez or general life rubbish doesn’t finish me off, perhaps Lawrence can take the November slot in the “books I am forcing myself to read to be a better person” challenge.

Just finished 39 Transcription by Kate Atkinson - much reviewed on this thread I see. I enjoyed it and got through it quickly but didn't like it as much as either Life After Life or A God In Ruins. I thought the 40s stuff was great, but the 50s parts dragged a bit and I wasn't sure about the ending, although I thought it had echoes of both the two aforementioned books, in that it moved out of the big picture of "war" and "ideals" and reiterated that most decisions are made for (and have the biggest effect on) personal ends.

Moving on now to Asymmetry by Lisa Halliday, which was a Kindle Daily Deal a week or so ago.

Jeffrey Archer

Hello everyone.

31. "Death's End" by Cixin Liu Wow. Where did the author get his ideas? Everything he describes sounds so plausible yet is so so so so fantastical. Loved it.

Scribbly my only options are Caroline Gordon (never heard of her) or Thor Heyerdal ...

Famous people in general doesn't improve my birthday mates options much either with the exceptions of Le Corbusier, and Helen Wills (though the only reason I know who she was is that the Provincial Lady's children named their cat after her, so not sure that really counts )

I was intrigued to google my birthday date too and discovered that Susan Hill and I share a birthday - but I've never read anything by her. I can hear you all gasp in horror!! I must remedy this :)

My eldest DD shares her birthday with Roald Dahl. How cool is that?!

Sadik I had to google who Thor Heyerdahl was (with a name like that he's going to have done something exciting isn’t he?) and yup, he led the Kon-Tiki expedition, and then wrote about it. That's not too bad a result I reckon. Hardly a literary giant but still not Jeffery bloody Archer is he?
Roald Dahl is indeed very cool.

If anyone gets Tolkien I don’t want to know.

Ogden Nash is my best offer for a literary birthday twin. Not particularly stellar. From the non-literary world I have Bill Clinton (who I believe has written a book, so maybe he counts), Orville Wright and Coco Chanel. Better.

Good Lord. It’s amazing sometimes where a MN thread will lead you. Had a look to see if there was a kindle version of the Kon-Tiki book (only available on Audible in German sadly) and this work of literary fiction is number seven on the suggested titles. Do you think Gaylord Fancypants is a pseudonym?

I remeber with fondness reading Thor Heyerdahl at primary school.

I would like to believe Gaylord Fancypants is a real name!

My birthday is also shared with Barry Sheen (you may be too young..)

.. and the attack on the World Trade Centre. Not the best.

.. and my DH. Not a writer.

An ideal alternative suggestion if you couldn't read about dramatic raft journeys Scribbly And of course Gaylord Fancypants has to be his real name...