50 Book Challenge 2019 Part Five

[southeastdweller]

Welcome to the fifth thread of the 50 Book Challenge for this year.

The challenge is to read fifty books (or more!) in 2019, 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 and the fourth one here.

I loved A Thousand Ships! Give it a go (I'm on the This a
Thing of Darkness team too). Really enjoying We, the survivors so far too - written as an interview with a poor SE Asian man and his ascent out of poverty.

Hello, I was hoping I could slide onto this thread halfway through the year. I have just got back into reading seriously after a very long period of not really being able to read much at all and would love to join in the conversation and share.

As my first offering here are the last few books I've read:

1. Children of Ruin by Adrian Tchaikovsky

This the sequel to Children of Time which is one of my favourite books. It has similar themes in terms of looking at the evolution of species over millennia with a good dose of spaceships and aliens thrown in. I'd say it didn't have the same impact at Children of Time but had some fascinating zoology and great aliens.

1. Whispers Under Ground by Ben Aaronovitch

Magician/policemen gets called in to assist in the investigation of a murder on the London Underground which may of may not have some sort of magical element to it. I chose this as a bit of a light palate cleanser after the epic Children of Ruin and it was a fun enough read to keep me reading. There are lots of passages just describing bits of London and history which I couldn't decide if I enjoyed or if they were unnecessary and tedious. But I finished it pretty quickly so I guess it can't have been too bad.

1. The Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch by Philip K. Dick

Set in a future where we have extreme high temperatures and colonies on mars there is a drug that allows you to hallucinate being in a nicer place. Then Palmer Eldritch turns up with a whole new drug that promises to be even better. It is all very realities within realities and gets a bit confused in places. There is also Dick's usual habits of going of on religious tangents and having some pretty eye-rolling depictions of women. I don't think this was one of his worst books but certainly isn't his best.

As you can see I am currently leaning heavily into the SF and Fantasy at the moment. I've just started Revelation Space by Alastair Reynolds and have The Raven Tower by Ann Leckie on audiobook.

Thanks fish wish I'd got a signed copy now.
Welcome PowerBadger slide right in and join us

Thanks Desdemona

Hi PowerBadger, I like your username

40. Monkeys with Typewriters - Scarlett Thomas Novelist and creative writing teacher Scarlett Thomas shares what she has learned about how plots work, and how to go about writing a novel. This will enhance my understanding of novelistic structure and what makes a piece of writing good or bad, even if I never go on to produce my own work. Very readable (almost conversational), plus it's got a monkey on the cover, so a winner for me.

Didn't know there was a sequel to Children of Time - thanks for both the heads up and the review PowerBadger (and welcome).

Mainly re-reads here, plus no. 3 of the DTTMOT books.

48. Weapons of Math Destruction by Cathy O Neill
    Exploration of some of the problems and issues around the way big data is affecting people's lives - from school rankings to credit scores. I read this first a year or so back, but wanted to re-visit it in the light of other books I've read since.

49. Band Sinister by KJ Charles
    
    Delighful Heyer pastiche, another re-read, this time because I needed something funny and zero effort after a long day.

50. The Acceptance World by Anthony Powell
    Third in the Dance to The Music of Time series, listened to on audio. Won't review this as it's been covered a number of times on previous conversations, but it was an excellent note on which to reach book no. 50. I'm enjoying these more and more as the series progresses, and I'd particularly recommend the audio, they're exceptionally well read.

51. The Merlin Conspiracy by Diana Wynne Jones
    I recommended D W-J to someone, and it reminded me that I've been meaning to re-visit this for a while. Nick lives on our earth, though he comes from a parallel world, while Arianrhod (aka Roddy) lives in Blest, yet another parallel world in which magic and ritual form the backbone of life. They end up working together to stop a plot to take over Blest and it's magic. As always with D W-J, it's not really the plot so much as the world & the characters which form the centre of the book. Sadly I don't think there's a sequel to this one (Nick features in a previous book, but not Roddy), which is a shame as it's very enjoyable.

Keep falling off the thread.

I'm BORED. Bored of rubbish books. Bored of mediocre books. Bored of writers who churn out the same old stuff over and over again. Bored of non-fiction books which are inadequately punctuated or paragraphed. Bored of crime, and Communism and stupid attempts at comedy which aren't comic, and writers claiming to give me answers to things whilst giving me no answers. Bored of love stories, and loss stories and love and loss stories and love that springs out of loss stories and stories where everybody hates each other. Bored.

What the bloody hell can I read?

Oh dear remus. You sound a bit bored.

Remus I felt like that and read Rachel's Holiday. Not my usual cup of tea at all but I chuckled all the way through

Remus, is it possible you’re bored?

I am genuinely trying to think of a book that does not fit into your boredom categories and struggling. I haven't read an amazing book for a long time either, to be honest.

I often enjoy John Scalzi's blog, possibly more than the books of his I have read.

I have lost count (and possibly my marbles, life has been insane!), but I have read one book I loved and one I was very immersed in, so definitely a win.

I loved Sarah Rees Brennan's In Other Lands. I am a big fan of hers anyway, and this was first published in parts on her blog (as The Turn of the Story), so I had read it in pieces before. However, all at once and somewhat edited, it hit all my buttons - it's a YA fantasy, but it's funny and snarky and detailed and clever and character driven and long (and funny). I loved it. If you like Diana Wynne Jones/ Margaret Mahy/ Sarah Monette then totally give this a go.

A Little Life by Hanya Yanagihara. If you have ever read h/c fan fiction (or possibly some h/nc), then this is familiar territory, but it is really very well done. Long, well balanced over time, wide cast of characters that ebb and flow, I found this world absorbing. On reflection, it has irritations - how can everyone be so successful? Why does the hyper intelligent central character never try therapy (the long time frame of the novel makes this harder to believe, it might have worked better over a few shorter years)? Why does the whole time frame seem current?, but as an emotional experience/ fable about love it mostly worked for me. Apparently it's very long (I read it on kindle), but it didn't feel it.

@Sadik, I didn't see your review above before I posted; if you haven't read In Other Lands, I think you might love it - to me it is funny like Heyer and Jones are funny.

@Remus, don't read A Little Life! How about having a reading ban - watch TV, podcasts, films - forbid yourself to read for a fortnight, or a month? Or sit down with a pencil and write the book you would like to read right now!

I guarantee that Against Nature by J-K Huysmans doesn’t fall into any of your categories, Remus. You might hate it but it won’t bore you. I’m due my once-a-decade reread of it. In fact, I may put it to the top of the TBR pile. Insane and if I remember rightly, contains a whole section about being dissatisfied with one’s reading choices.

I'll definitely add In Other Lands to my TBR list Tanaqui, thank-you for the recommendation. (Off on a long train journey tomorrow, but I've already bought two books for that so can't really justify another!)

Have you read Another Day in the Death of America Remus? I know our tastes tend not to overlap, but I know several other people on here have read and recommended it.

Remus - I feel just like you re books & that is why I've dropped off posting on this thread (but still lurk).

I want to read books that thrill, challenge & provoke me & the only one this year has been This Thing of Darkness - and that is not the usual type of book I go for.

Remus - I really felt like you last year, hence taking a year out to revisit some old favourites. It's helped to reset my reading head and I've been putting aside a list of books to look forward to next year. Meanwhile if you haven't read my next one I guarantee it won't bore you:

22. Waterland - Graham Swift

One of my very favourites and just such a fantastic book. With the setting of the East Anglian Fens playing a major role, it's a bleak, very clever but very readable kind of family saga that's also about the brutality of history on a grander scale.

Welcome, powerbadger

Oh remus awful predicament. Backlisted recently did Daniel Defoe’s Journal of a Plague Year which might be up your street “it’s got plagues in it” she said temptingly.

Alternatively I’ve just started reading Words Best Sung which May yet turn out to be about love and loss but is purported to be about coming of age in the Midlands in 1960s to the soundtrack of the Kinks et al. It was cheap on the Kindle.

Talking about a ‘reading reset’ - I had one with Lord of the Rings twenty years ago. Part of it was that I had a good bit of time to race through it, but part of it was just feeling the storytelling powering along and remembering how childhood reading felt.

Lost track of numbers but rushing on to rave about Milkman by Anna Burns - all over the thread I'm sure but OMG I loved it. Clearly inspired by Tristan shandy which i must read one day. Glorious, complex, intense and funny. Real characters and situations anyone can relate to despite its very individual setting in NI of the ?late 70s and early 80s?

temporary yes I loved Milkman too - one of the best recent books I’ve read for a long time.

Thanks for the welcomes :)

Children of Ruin only came out last month Sadik. I would definitely recommend.

I remember reading Waterland for uni many years ago now, Meg. Was one of the ones that has really stuck in my mind. Some amazingly vivid imagery and I kinda loved all the stuff about eels.

I'm not exactly recommending this to you Remus because I don't really think it's your cup of tea, but I'm currently reading Bird Therapy by Joe Harkness and finding it refreshing and unpretentious. It's also currently £1 on Kindle, which I know is your cup of tea.

31. A Perfectly Good Man by Patrick Gale The good man is Barnaby, a priest in rural Cornwall, whose life is told in snapshots jumping back and forth through time, each focusing on a key person in his life. This worked really well, as a picture of his character and the events that shaped him built up. It was emotionally intelligent, sad but life affirming at the same time. I've already reserved Notes from an Exhibition from the library, as apparently there is some overlap with the character set, and I'm keen to visit this world again.