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.

31. The Outsiders - E H Hinton
My DD is reading this at school and as I've never read it I thought I probably should. Quite blown away by the fact that a 15 year old girl wrote this. Even more so that she narrated it from the view point of a young boy as the main protagonist. Quite gruelling but definitely recommend.

37. Things I don’t Want To Know by Deborah Levy

A response to Orwell’s “Why I Write” from a female perspective, Levy uses events in her life to kick off meditations (if you can do such a thing...) on what it takes to be a woman who writes, it is personal, but always mindful of the company she keeps. I found some of the ideas in this very interesting, especially as regards women’s language.

38&39 Harry Potter Philosopher’s Stone/Chamber of Secrets I’d forgotten about these were rereads for me at bedtime for my son, but thought may as well include them as I did spend a lot of time reading them! I enjoyed reading them with ds, but would have liked better punctuation. The characters and the wit with which the story is told carries some uneven writing, looking forward to books 3 and 4 as those were my favourites first time around.

75. Wilkie Collins - Miss or Mrs? / The Haunted Hotel / The Guilty River

A collection of three novellas involving attempted murder and abduction, blackmail, commercial fraud, and in one case a possible supernatural influence. I thought the first two were better than the last, but having thoroughly enjoyed The Woman in White and The Moonstone it was interesting to read how he dealt with the shorter form.

40. The Road by Cormac McCarthy Am sure everyone knows this is a story of a father and his son walking America, trying to survive the aftermath of a catastrophic event that has wiped out most life on the planet. Unrelentingly grim and filled with despair, some truly harrowing parts and the boys hopelessness is truly saddening. Was gripping throughout and you truly are rooting for them. The relationship between them has been captured so well. A starkly simple writing style, a raw portrait of humanity.

Having a book on my phone is really working for me - I’m spending much less time on Twitter and nonsense. I think it has to be relatively easy things, since they’re being read on the bus and in Pret. Crazy Rich Asians was only 99p, but it seems quite long!

87: Iron Gold – Pierce Brown

The 4th in the Red Rising series, and first in a new trilogy. Must admit I was disappointed with this. It’s still got Darrow in and one or two other old friends from the previous books, but it felt quite confusing and disjointed. It was really hard to tell who was on which ‘team’ and even whose side we were supposed to be on.

It’s narrated through various viewpoints, but all of the voices are pretty similar, and don’t really feel authentic. I also got rather tired of Brown writing in sentence fragments. My feeling is that he wrote this one too quickly to take advantage of the success of the other three.

Hello! I'm going to jump in on this thread for the last quarter of the year -I hope that's ok. I posted all throughout 2017 but for some reason I missed out this year although I have been a steadfast lurker... I am now on my 50th book of the year. Last year was a better reading year for me - I had a run of duds this year but favourites of this year so far are:

Fates and Furies by Lauren Groff
Lincoln in the Bardo by George Saunders
Unbroken by Laura Hillenbrand
My Cousin Rachel by Daphne du Maurier

I've also really enjoyed Louise Penny series, they are a guaranteed treat. I think she is a great mystery writer but I don't know anyone else who reads her. All her books are set in a small town in Quebec, Inspector Gamache is the lead detective. They are a bit cosy as murder mysteries go but as I said, a sure thing. I also really like Tana French series as well.

I finished Crazy Rich Asians by Kevin Kwan this weekend and I don't think I will be reading the sequel although I would go see the movie.

Looking forward to Kate Atkinson and William Boyd new releases very much. Two of my favourite writers.

Listening to Lonesome Dove by Larry McMurtry and loving it. I read it when I was a teenager and absolutely adored it. Glad to know I love it just as much all these years later.

Reading The Chalk Man by CJ Tudor which is book 50 this year (too lazy to type out the full list right now).

spinningheart, you're very welcome. I'm glad you mentioned the Louise Penny books, as I was dithering over one the other day when it was a Kindle daily deal (didn't buy it in the end) - you'd recommend them, then? I don't know anyone who reads them either!

Gosh - do you think amazon know we’re all going to dither now about starting the Louise Penny series? I’ve just had a look and the first One is £2!

32. "Snap" by Belinda Bauer

A loaner from a colleague. Enjoyable crime romp. Doesn't seem like a 'typical' booker prize nominee (whatever that is).

I had a quick look at Louise Penny in my local library and think I'll sample her there....

Still ploughing on through Gaudy Night - over 500 pages to deal with the writer of poison pen letters? I've seen serial killers tidied up more quickly.

YesILikeItToo oooooh.........they're watching, you know!

72 China Rich Girlfriend by Kevin Kwan Sequel to Crazy Rich Asians, and equally enjoyable though (even more) improbable. One thing which did strike me was the parallels between the world described here, and (non fiction) The Husband Hunters which I read earlier in the year about the rich in late 19th/early 20thC America. The jockeying for social position, women with high status but low funds coaching the newly rich into society, and extreme spending in search of social cachet are all remarkably similar.

Biblio - I feel your pain re Gaudy Night. I got quite irritated by it.

Terpsichore yes I would recommend Louise Penny and I think they get better as you get further in the series. I think I'm on the 8th one now - I usually save Louise Penny after either I've read something very intense or difficult or else after a run of underwhelming choices. I've had such a looong Monday. I wish I could have just stayed home, drank tea, read my book, and generally hide.

I’ve had a rubbish month or so of not reading much at all, the last few were:

44. Why I’m no Longer Talking to White People About Race- Reni Eddo-Lodge
45. The Penelopiad - Margaret Atwood
46. Winter - Ali Smith

All excellent. The Penelopiad in particular a good complement to Circe which so many of us on this thread loved.

Bolding fail

AliasGrape, I really enjoyed reading all the three books you have mentioned above!

88. Under the Banyan Tree - R.K Narayan
Short (sometimes very short) stories from the Indian master of 20th century fiction, all set in the same fictional area of Southern India called Malgudi. Some of these I liked, especially the stories that captured the tumultuous life in Indian towns, others not so much, but on the whole I prefer his novels and will read more of those.

*89. Pretend I'm Dead - Jen Beagin
I really loved this well written novel, even though Mona, the twenty-something central character is pretty messed up and makes bad choices, including dating a recipient of clean needles at the needle exchange where she volunteers. A rather unusual coming of age story set in New England and then New Mexico, which is ultimately very satisfying and in parts, rather amusing.

90. Sunburn - Laura Lippman
Mediocre and wholly unbelievable thriller already reviewed on here. I wanted to read this because it's set in Delaware in the USA and I lived there for a year as a child, so I did get some enjoyment from this read, but I wouldn't recommend it otherwise. It didn't take me long to whizz through it.

Also a bold fail. Sigh. It's still too early for me.

Thanks for the heads-up on Louise Penny, spinningheart

66: West of Eden - Jean Stein

I love non-fiction books about films and Hollywood. This is a wonderful oral history that's loosely hooked around a selection of the ostentatious mansions inhabited by various movers and shakers, from oil tycoon Edward Doheny (a model for the Daniel Day Lewis character in 'There Will be Blood') to Jules Stein, father of the author and founder of the Music Corporation of America, the immensely powerful talent agency which engaged in very questionable activities and dealt with very dodgy people (they were deeply involved in Reagan's eventual rise to political prominence).

Along the way we hear about monstrously egomaniacal studio tycoon Jack Warner, movie star Jennifer Jones, and pitiful rich-but-schizophrenic heiress Jane Garland ('guarded' by a stream of college boys hired by her grasping mother, desperate to get her hands on Jane's trust-fund).

A seam of tragedy runs through all the accounts: the families, and most of all the children of the assorted tycoons and movie stars are the ones who suffer, commit suicide, have breakdowns, rebel, are unable to function in 'normal' environments. It's a strange, dreamlike narrative that drifts along, with testimony from the famous (Lauren Bacall, Arthur Miller) and the not-so-famous (gardeners, butlers, staff). I couldn't stop reading it. A gritty, compelling book if you're interested in the reality of Hollywood.

Remus, too true about Gaudy Night by Dorothy L. Sayers. I know it has a place in a lot of people's affections, but it didn't quite do it for me. I wasn't much taken by all the angst about whether academic women were unnatural freaks as a result of their renunciation of physical pleasures, and after going on and on for hundreds of pages, the unmasking of the villain was fairly underwhelming.

Lonesome Dove 99p on the Kindle daily sale today.

33. "Don't Let Go" by Harlan Coben. OK so I have a confession. I have a crush on a fictional character! Harlan Coben's Myron Bolitar. He makes a cameo in this standalone novel which was otherwise enjoyable but forgettable.

62. Washington Black by Esi Edugyan Washington is an 11year old slave on a sweltering plantation in Barbados whose life is turned upside down when he becomes personal assistant and travelling companion to the owners eccentric brother. I really enjoyed this and didn’t want it to end.
63. Snap by Belinda Bauer what a page turner! Decent thriller but I agree with previous comments: it’s not amazingly well written, but I found it still very engaging, easy to read and enjoyable.
64. The Corset by Laura Purcell written in the style of a Victorian gothic novel, this didn’t live up to expectations for me. Privileged Dorothea Truelove (!) goes against her father’s and societies expectations and visits imprisoned women, including 16 year old murder suspect Ruth. She gains Ruth’s trust (despite constantly inspecting her cranium for changes, fuelled by her fascination with phrenology) and learns the horrifying story of Ruth’s upbringing and the crimes Ruth is accused of. Several not entirely necessary gory scenes were unpleasant to read and suffered from too many characters distracting me from the main story (which is easily done to be fair).
65. Rubbernecker by Belinda Bauer good crime thriller, I thought this was better than Snap. An Anatomy student becomes convinced that the body he is dissecting has been given the wrong cause of death and is in fact a murder victim. I enjoyed this, and am currently trying another of Bauer’s novels, Blacklands.

Biblio - Yes - the unmasking was a huge anti-climax. The whole thing could have been substantially shorter.

I still get shivers at those few pages of HV looking at LPW though. Superb writing - such a pity DLS didn't do more of this and less of the dull stuff.