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50 Book Challenge 2018 Part Seven

999 replies

southeastdweller · 06/08/2018 21:23

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.

OP posts:
CorvusUmbranox · 30/09/2018 10:26

Regarding Stephen King, I think The Shining is and remains one of his best, but it's very definitely horror. Bag of Bones is a creepy ghost story, with less overt horror, and The Gunslinger series could be worth a look. Cell wasn't hugely popular, but I quite liked it. It could be worth looking into some of the novellas too, things like Rita Hayworth and the Shawshank Redemption.

He writes beautifully about childhood, in my opinion, but his endings can leave something to be desired. The Stand's ending is, uh... but as a representation of the end of the world, and how society falls apart, I'm not sure it can be beaten.

What is it exactly that you're looking for?

Oh, and Amazon's Daily Deal is officially trolling me. Today's big deal is the Preston & Child Agent Pendergast books. Which. I. Adore. and I have been wanting to read the entire series in their entirety. It's not the whole series, but the first 5 books are on there. A genius super-rich FBI agent with a suitably gothic investigates cases that appear on the surface to be supernatural, but usually have a quasi-scientific explanation. They're kind of horror, kind of gothic, a little bit silly and just very, very fun.

CorvusUmbranox · 30/09/2018 10:26

*suitably gothic PAST that should say.

ChessieFL · 30/09/2018 10:29

Noodle I do like Polo although it’s not my favourite - I just happened to be rereading it when it came to choosing a Mumsnet username!!!

Terpsichore · 30/09/2018 10:32

Still plugging away at No Name (my Kindle tells me I've hit the halfway mark) but have had to shelve it temporarily because of our next looming book club, for which the pick was:

67: The English Patient - Michael Ondaatje

I hadn't read it or seen the film, although I remember it coming out and being very successful (and it won this year's 'Golden Booker' award too), so I was vaguely aware of the plot. Slightly to my surprise, I was captivated by the book, which I'd expected for some reason not to be my sort of thing at all - not helped by the cover photo of K Scott Thomas & R Fiennes in a passionate clinch.

It was a bit like entering an intense, heightened dream-world, described in extraordinary writing, but at the same time finding out all sorts of arcane and absorbing details about eg defusing bombs and navigating through deserts. I now have to admit (slightly reluctantly, and not for the first time) that our oft-reviled book group has introduced me to a book that gripped me and that otherwise I wouldn't have read.

virginqueen · 30/09/2018 12:05

I've been absent for a while, but need catch up now.
41. The Gustav Sonata - Rose Tremain
Usually love her books, but found this a bit weak.
I didn't care very much about the characters, so I wasn't bothered about what happened to them. Disappointing.

  1. The Alchemist's Daughter - Katherine McMahon
    This was a great read for fans of historical novels,
    which I certainly am. It features a strong female heroine, and a lot of detailed instructions about alchemy, which may come in handy one day !

  2. History of Wolves - Emily Fridlund
    A girl growing up with her parents as the last survivors of a failed commune becomes friendly with a woman and her small child. She inadvertently witnesses the child's abuse, and then suffers the consequences. I enjoyed this, as it told the story from a different perspective.

  3. A Place Called Winter - Patrick Gale
    A young in Edwardian England is caught in a relationship with another man. He has to emigrate to rural Canada to avoid scandal. He learns to farm, and comes under the influence of a deeply unpleasant man, who has a huge effect on his life. He also falls in love and the book lets you get to know the characters in all their aspects. Really enjoyed this.

Piggywaspushed · 30/09/2018 13:04

terpsichore, whilist it is really not very much like the book (as is so often the case!!), The English Patient is a truly wonderful film. I recommend you watch it. It is up there with my favourites. Beautiful to look at,and wonderfully acted.

Frogletmamma · 30/09/2018 13:32

44. A man lay dead Ngaio Marsh . This has taken me a long time to read. I have been busy, I haven't felt very invested and kept forgetting who everyone was. The solution was plain silliness and a bit of a cheat for me. Maybe its because its so early...

Now reading the Adam Kay book. Enjoying the black humour but the young man with the lamppost is haunting me

ScribblyGum · 30/09/2018 14:18

As is The English Patient Seinfeld episode, in which Elaine detests the movie while everyone else loves it.

Piggywaspushed · 30/09/2018 15:07

I haven't seen this . Must look it up!

ScribblyGum · 30/09/2018 15:43

Terrible recording of the episode highlights.

“I don’t know if I can be with someone who doesn’t like The English Patient.” Grin

Terpsichore · 30/09/2018 15:55

Scribbly and Piggy haha thanks! I did have a quick google or 3 while reading and discovered that the film and book diverged quite a bit - especially the ending. Cinema likes its resolutions to be unambiguous!

AliasGrape · 30/09/2018 15:59
  1. Burial Rites - Hannah Kent Added to my list as a result of reviews on this thread I think. The story of Agnes Magnusdottir, the last person to be executed in Iceland in 1830. This is one I’d find hard not to give a 5 star review to on goodreads, extensively research, beautifully written, visceral and haunting and full of ambiguity. And yet I didn’t particularly enjoy reading it and found it hard to get through, putting it aside often and then struggling to pick it back up. I’m not really sure why, the bleakness I suppose. I’m glad I read it though.
Piggywaspushed · 30/09/2018 16:18

Thanks scribbly !

noodlezoodle · 30/09/2018 17:18

Ooh thanks Corvus! I think this big daily deal thing could get quite expensive, quite quickly. I read the first Prendergast book on holiday a couple of years ago and absolutely loved it; a bit silly but enormously entertaining.

Piggywaspushed · 30/09/2018 17:38

Just finished Hag-Seed, Atwood's reworking of The Tempest. Compared to recent reads this took all of two days as it moves at a speedy pace and (like The Tempest) is quite brief and thin. I am not a fan of The Tempest but it did actually make me look at it in a new way and has a jolly useful summary of the plot in the back. The last 30 pages add nothing until the epilogue and seem to be padding. It aims at humour so I felt no symapthy or comapssion for prison inmates who were very flat characters. Atwood is only interested in Prospero, really. As it is on the face of it a story about grief, redemption and the loss of a child, I wanted to be moved. I wasn't.

I have yet to be bowled over by an Atwood.

BestIsWest · 30/09/2018 18:19

  1. Day of The Dead -Nicki French. Final book in the Frieda Klein series. This was better than the last few have been and Frieda wasn’t quite as annoying though her actions were still somewhat implausible.

  2. The Various Haunts Of Men - Susan Hill. First of the Simon Serrailer series. In which he is really a background character and the women in the book are far more interesting.

  3. Lethal White - Robert Galbraith .As always with JKR, a massively complicated and somewhat overlong book with a huge cast of characters. Could have done with serious editing. Loved it though.

Now reading Tara Westover’s Educated which is riveting.

BestIsWest · 30/09/2018 18:22

Re Stephen King, I’ve read only a few, not really being a fan of horror, but It stands out for me. Brilliant book.

RemusLupinsBiggestGroupie · 30/09/2018 20:57

It is his best, I think (and I say that as somebody who loves him and would happily read his shopping lists).

Welshwabbit · 30/09/2018 21:40

Thanks for the Stephen King recommendations. I am going to try the first of the Dark Tower series as it seems to have some overlap with The Stand. I have a lingering childhood uneasiness about clowns so based on what I know of It I think maybe I should give that one a swerve!

PepeLePew · 30/09/2018 22:15

Ah, yes, IT not good if you are scared of clowns, for sure.
The Dark Tower series is an interesting one (and I did find it took me a while to get into them...I read The Gunslinger then left the rest for years before reading all the rest over the course of a couple of months. In some ways they aren't like any of his other books. But then lots of his other books cross over with them in interesting and unexpected ways. So the whole of the King oeuvre is part of the Dark Tower series in some way.
Thinking about it, if you liked The Stand then (and this is a bit left field and causes gasps of horror from many King fans I know but bear with me) you may want to try The Eyes of the Dragon. It's fantasy, and a young adult book, but it has a very obvious and striking link to The Stand (I read it as a teenager and was gobsmacked when I got about half way through The Stand to discover the connection). But for me it has some of the empathy and compassion of The Stand plus is just a great tale and an interesting way of telling it. He does things with the narrative voice that I think are clever and well executed. However, as I say, not everyone may agree with me - I believe it is quite divisive!

Matilda2013 · 30/09/2018 23:23
  1. Lethal White - Robert Galbraith

Lots of reviews for this lately and a great way to hit the 50 mark. I’m a big fan of both these and HP so not surprising I enjoyed this and it’s a million times better than the second one which I wasn’t a big fan of! Wanted to know what happened but also didn’t want to get to the end Smile

ChessieFL · 01/10/2018 06:32
  1. The Rise And Fall Of Becky Sharp by Sarra Manning

Modern retelling of Vanity Fair, with Becky and Amelia becoming friends in the Big Brother house. It’s a lot shorter than the original, but as a result loses out on a lot of the nuances. In this it’s hard to understand why everyone likes Becky as she really doesn’t have any redeeming features - I know she’s not meant to be a likeable character but the Becky in the original had more depth than here. I’m not really sure who this is aimed at - fans of the original will probably be disappointed, and those who don’t know the story probably won’t get much out of it either as there are no likeable characters to root for.

Welshwabbit · 01/10/2018 07:22

Thanks Pepe I may well try that one too.

bibliomania · 01/10/2018 10:31

114. The Life of Stuff, by Susannah Walker
A sort of family memoir - after her hoarder mother's death, the daughter is sorting out her house and pondering how and why her mother became a hoarder. She is compassionate at the pain her mother went through, but angry her mother was never able to love and take care of her properly. The author trained as a museum curator, and I liked the reflections on the meaning we attach tp things, and how a museum like the V&A is another form of socially-sanctioned hoarding. Very readable.

bibliomania · 01/10/2018 10:33

I agree The Reading Cure is fab, splother.