50 Book Challenge 2019 Part Seven

[southeastdweller]

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

How've you got on this year?

Thanks southeast at £1.29 Normal People is difinitely worth a punt.

Half term here, so I’ve been reading/listening a lot:

202. The Alchemist- Paulo Coelho People take the piss out of this book, but I enjoyed it. I liked the fact that it is a fairy tale for adults; the use of language was lovely.

203. Dalek I Loved You- Nick Griffiths This is a memoir of the author’s Doctor Who obsession. It isn’t particularly well written, but it’s quite amusing. It’s not too geeky and contains plenty of other cultural reference points (pop music etc.) not just Doctor Who.

204. The Road to Wigan Pier- George Orwell I listened to this on Audible, after having read it years ago. It wasn’t quite as good as I remembered.

205. Evening in the Palace of Reason: Bach Meets Frederick the Great in the Age of Enlightenment- James Gaines I finally got round to reading this, recommended by CoteDAzur. As a professional musician with a love of contrapuntal music, the chapters about Bach were right up my street, but the sections on Frederick the Great fell a little flat in comparison.

206. Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland- Lewis Carroll Miriam Margoyles’ narration of this classic story was great fun, if a little OTT in places.

207. How to Be Famous- Caitlin Moran A teenager from Wolverhampton moves to London to become a music journalist. She has lots of bad sex and then some great sex. The basic premise (not sure about the sex) is strongly influenced by the author’s own life. It was fairly enjoyable, but I prefer her non-fiction.

208. State of the Union: A Marriage in Ten Parts- Nick Hornby A recent Kindle Daily Deal, this novella consists of ten weekly snapshots of a couple meeting for a drink before their Relate counselling session. It had much more humour than I expected and was classic Nick Hornby.

209. The Best Friend- Shalini Boland The first half of this book was very well done and reminded me slightly of Big Little Lies by Liane Moriarty. I’m afraid the second half just got sillier and sillier.

210. The Kindness of Women- JG Ballard I’d been warned in advance that this sequel to Empire of the Sun isn’t very good, but I wanted to find out what happened to Jim, so I read it anyway. (Answer, to save your time: he moves to England, goes to Cambridge to study medicine, continues his aviation obsession, sleeps with lots of women, fathers three children, drops acid, is involved with an exhibition of crashed cars- slightly echoing Crash- and is an extra in a film of his childhood- presumably Empire of the Sun ). It was annoying that the period covered in the earlier novel was rehashed with many details changed. Also, the jumps in time were sometimes disconcerting: Jim’s schooldays in England were missed out altogether and I would have liked to know how he adjusted.

211. A Concise History of the Vikings- Hourly History Not well written, but I learnt a great deal.

212. Norse Mythology- Hourly History This was really quite interesting- I previously had no idea that Norse mythology was so incredibly different to Greek, Roman etc.

78. And Then There Were None . This Agatha Christie took me all of three hours to read! I was a bit too familiar with it really to be too enthralled but I had forgotten exactly how it was all done. This is one of the more mysterious Christies with plenty of deaths to keep one reading!

Random Number Generator has now produced the latest Anthony Horowitz murder mystery. It does like to not be very random !!

Good afternoon, I'd like to rejoin you again for the umpteenth time. I fell off the thread before the summer as I couldn't keep up with the updates, my own reading as well as our summer project. We spent weeks and weeks researching chicken keeping and then building a coop and run for our little flock of four.

I have been keeping up with my list, but not so well with writing reviews. However, my most recent books are popular ones on here so I have little more to add. I must be the last person on these threads to have read any 'Shardlake* and am very pleased to have been initiated into their following!

1. Fire and Blood: A History of the Targaryen Kings from Aegon the Conqueror to Aegon III as scribed by Archmaester Gyldayn – George RR Martin

2. The Book of Death – Anonymous

3. Jurassic Park – Michael Crichton

4. Marilyn Monroe: A Life from Beginning to End – Hourly History

5. Whispers Underground – Ben Aaronovitch

6. All Creatures Great and Small – James Herriot

7. The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas – John Boyne

8. The Twits – Roald Dahl

9. Wait for Me! – Deborah Devonshire

10. Y: The Last Man, Book One - by Brian K. Vaughan

11. Octavia – Jilly Cooper

12. From Hell - Alan Moore

13. The Blade Itself – Joe Abercrombie

14. Before They are Hanged – Joe Abercrombie

15. Last Argument of Kings – Joe Abercrombie

16. Five on a Treasure Island – Enid Blyton

17. Lady Chatterley’s Lover – DH Lawrence

18. Geocaching in the UK (Techniques) – Terry Marsh

19. Gwendy’s Button Box – Stephen King & Richard Chizmar

20. War of the Wolf - Bernard Cornwell

21. Dissolution – C.J. Sansom

22. Unnatural Causes – Dr Richard Sheperd

Finished the morning

23. Bel Canto – Ann Patchett

A world famous Soprano diva performs for a birthday for a Japanese CEO at an international gathering which is taken over by terrorists. The terrorists and hostages become held in a siege as the intended target was absent and negotiations fail.

Much like some operas, Bel Canto drifted on almost aimlessly and was two thirds of the way through before it became engaging. The plot line was overly romantic and improbable with a suitably abrupt and tragic ending.

I wouldn't say that I disliked the book; I just wasn't especially moved by it.

This afternoon I am starting The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Society - Mary Ann Shaffer & Annie Barrows

I can't remember what I last updated

82. Erebus by Michael Palin
    Long. I thought it was interesting at the start but my interest faded. About a ship called Erebus, it wasn't terrible, it's just I'm not interested in ships!

83. Nine Perfect Strangers by Liane Moriarty
    I liked this - funny but dealt with some serious themes

84. Holy Island (DCI Ryan#1) by LJ Ross
    Murder mystery. A young woman is found dead with pagan symbolism present at the scene. Good. I bought the second one immediately.

85. Day Shift by Charlaine Harris
    Cosy enough read from the author of the Sookie Stackhouse books.

86. Jack of Spades by Joyce Carol Oates
    Very like Barbara Vine. An author has an evil alter-ego that seems to be getting stronger.

87. Sycamore Gap (DCI Ryan#2) by LJ Ross
    Book 2. A body is found that lay buried for years. The prime suspect is in jail for murdering other women.

88. Broken Angels (Altered Carbon#2) by Richard Morgan
    Still reading this. I loved the first altered carbon book but this is disappointing in comparison. Takeshi Kovacs is on a secret mission to... I'm not quite sure. Defend a Star Gate?

89. P is for Peril (Kinsey Millhone) by Sue Grafton
    I'm a Kinsey fan. A doctor has gone missing and Kinsey investigates. She also gets involved with a man who is bad news.

*90) Dream More by Dolly Parton
Short pleasant read. Dolly seems like a nice lady.

91. Convenience Store Woman by Sayaka Murata Odd. I understood it was a comment on society and found the glimpses into Japanese society interesting. I really didn't like the incel cock lodger. That was bizarre. Also, are people in any culture that hung up on marriage these days?

Tempted by Outcasts of Time & also Stories of Your Life and Others on monthly deal (I think someone reviewed the Ted Chiang book on here?). I'd definitely recommend Wilding, one of my best reads this year.

June - why on earth did you read Erebus if you're not interested in ships?!

The Time of our Singing by Richard Powers The story of the musically talented children of a mixed race couple in America during the second half of the twentieth century. This was potentially a really interesting historical background in which to explore issues of racial prejudice and identity, but I soon tired of the desperately overwritten and implausible talents of its main characters (including their genius German-Jewish physicist father). I abandoned it 300 pages in, as I couldn't face a further 300 pages.

The Plague Albert Camus One word - brilliant. I first read this some 40 years ago as a pretentious teenager, when much of its brilliance went over my head. I thoroughly recommend a more mature re-read to anyone who first read it during a similar phase in their youth!

sadik I reviewed it recently and I think temporarypermanent May have done before me? I do recommend it.

I read Erebus despite no interest in ships! I liked it!

I’m a bit worried that I’ve developed a Stephen King obsession. I’ve read 3 in the last month and just bough Dr Sleep. He’s pretty addictive!
The 3 Stephen Kings:
The Colorado Kid is a horror-free crime novella. Two old timey small town journalists talk a new recruit through the town’s biggest mystery - the unsolved murder of an unknown man. It’s upfront from the start that it’s a mystery with no solution and and a story with no resolution.

I’ve just finished 55. The Rules of Magic Alice Hoffman
As I mentioned upthread this is a prequel to Practical Magic. I enjoyed it enough to consider reading Practical Magic (have only watched the film before) but I didn’t love it.
I feel like I’ve said this about lots of books lately but the pacing was weird - chapters and chapters to get nowhere much and then 20 years goes by in one page. I get that it’s deliberate here but I found myself constantly wondering how old the characters were or how much time had passed, how were some characters still alive when seemingly much younger characters were dying at a ripe old age?

I was browsing the local Oxfam bookshop today but made myself walk out as I’ve got so many real books on my bedside pile, tons on my kindle and books I keep renewing from Borrowbox as I’m not getting round to them. I really need a kick up the bum to get catching up a bit.
That said I keep thinking I should get into the Shardlake series - you're not the last Mog!

The characterisation is well done, and the story cracks along nicely. But if you like your books with a clear ending, this may not be for you.

The Outsider A young boy is murdered in a small town. Based on the DNA evidence, the only possible suspect is a much loved local man - a man who was undeniably hundreds of miles away at the time of the murder. The details of the murder are horrific, but the investigation into who committed the murder and how was really well done.

Pet Semetary awful and amazing and horrific and heartbreaking.

And then to recover from all the King,
The Travelling Cat Chronicles, Hiro Arikawa
Nana, our narrator, is a stray cat rescued by Satoru, a young, quiet man who lives alone. Satoru takes Nana on a road trip to meet some friends from his past, while hiding a secret about his future. Even as told from Nana’s cool, standoffish perspective, it’s pretty emotional.

Sadik - I read Outcasts of Time with a book club earlier this year, none of us rated it very highly. It's a vehicle for Ian Mortimer to show off his historical knowledge (especially of the Exeter area) and doesn't function that well as a novel, was the general consensus.

I read the sample of Outcasts yesterday, and it didn't grip me enough to want to read any more.

Oh another person who ahs read The Cat Chronicles. I wept and wept on a plane reading that!

Piggy It’s not an easy book to read in public is it! Dh watched the film on a long haul flight and just sat there in tears through the last part. Then immediately bought me the book when he got home, as if I look like a woman who enjoys trauma

There's a film????

There is, but looks like Japanese language only at the moment. Dh thinks it may have had English subtitles but he can’t be sure (He’s Japanese so didn’t need them, rather than being terminally forgetful!) I was hoping that an English version would be out by now. He did say it was really good but that’s no help to us!

97. Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine by Gail Honeyman

Much reviewed previously - I think at least half the people on this thread must have read this already?
I didn’t find Eleanor’s obliviousness about things entirely believable, but on the whole I enjoyed this book.

98. Raven’s Gate by Anthony Horowitz

YA supernatural novel. A quick and easy read.

Utterly - Could you explain what you found so "heartbreaking" about the Pet Sematary? It's been a few decades since I read it so my recollection of it is probably not very reliable but I don't remember it as such.

43. First Family by David Baldacci

Badly written tosh about some hidden scandal involving the US President and his wife, coming back to haunt them many years later. This book accomplished the impressive task of making Jack Reacher books look like high literature. A waste of time.

I'll keep a lookout giraffe. It is such a lovely book.

209. Bitter Lemons Of Cyprus by Lawrence Durrell

Durrell lived in Cyprus for three years in the mid 1950s and this is his account of that time. His descriptions of the island are beautiful but this is mainly about the political situation there. At the time Cyprus was under British rule, but there was a lot of pressure for ‘Enosis’ - unification with Greece. This was all leading up to Cyprus becoming independent in 1960. This was really interesting to read given the current situation with Cyprus. I was on holiday in Paphos while reading this. There’s a bit where Durrell describes one of the historical sites there and I realised the main ones that Paphos is famous for now weren’t discovered until the 1960s so wouldn’t have been known about in Durrell’s day. Really glad I read this while in Cyprus, definitely added extra interest to what I was reading.

210. Operation Ironman: One Man’s Four Month Journey from Hospital Bed to Ironman Triathlon by George Mahood

George has surgery to remove a tumour from his spine and to encourage his recovery decides to train for an Ironman event (which involves swimming 2.4 miles, cycling 112 miles, then running a marathon, all within a maximum of 16 hours). Funny and inspiring.

211. The Outsider by Stephen King

As a pp mentioned the details of the murder in this book are horrific but the story and settings are good.

212. Don’t Let Go by Harlan Coben

Coben writes a good story and I tore through this in a day. A policeman investigates the death of his brother 15 years ago and how it might be linked to a local military base.

I’m still plodding through Captain Corelli’s Mandolin. I’m halfway through now. I enjoy some chapters then others seem very heavy. I will finish it now but at the moment I don’t get what all the fuss is about!

Cote I’d guess the part where the toddler (Gage) dies?