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2018 50 Book Challenge

Geoffrey Firmin

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48 THIS CENSUS-TAKER A Novella by China Mieville
There has been a war, then civil disturbance then a diaspora. Some people live in a city some like the key maker, his wife and son live on the hill. Then murder most foul ensurse and the childs world is torn asunder. The child decamps from home to be embraced by a group of parentless children, however he is soon returned to his father. After a number of futile attemps to escape then the Census-Taker arrives.

A very weird disassociated stroy from beginning to end. No explanation is given as to how or why this story occurs. It is just a fragment but highly entertaining.

Recommended.

49 Black Panther & The Crew: We are the streets by Ta-Nehisi Coates & Yona Harvey
Begins with an interesting premise about social justice, revolutionary politics and a murder most foul. Told from the perspective of multiple voices. However as it was cancelled and only ran for six issues it doesn’t live up to the potential that the long story arc which was originally envisaged could deliver, pity.

50 Out of the Wreckage A New Politics For An Age of Crisis by George Monbiot
As the old Chinese curse sates ‘May you live in interesting times” and indeed we do. Dominant ideologies on both the reactionary right and the left are fractured. People on both sides of the political spectrum want an alternative to rearranging the deckchairs on the Titanic. The reactionary right with its white supremacy, fascist demagogues and narrow mindedness offer only fear and anger. The left is a broad church has too many parishioners with varying agendas petitioning the public consciousness to provide specific solutions to the current imbroglio.

What is a citizen to do?

Monbiot joins a growing number of citizens who seek sanity in politics and is willing to look beyond failed party dogma to propose solutions for a shared future. After all we all have to live on planet Earth together and he is not proposing that the UN run the world. He proposes that citizens generate new political narratives. Ones which express intelligence, compassion, and activism via ideas which can cut through the entrenched impasse of our times.

An impassioned plea to change the script of the political narrative’s we have been living with since 1945. Positive food for both the body politic and the individual attempting see past the global miasma that evolves mainstream political discourse. And he is not just preaching to the converted or sermonising from the pulpit. Highly Recomended.
 
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California Dreamer

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50 Out of the Wreckage A New Politics For An Age of Crisis by George Monbiot


An impassioned plea to change the script of the political narrative’s we have been living with since 1945. Positive food for both the body politic and the individual attempting see past the global miasma that evolves mainstream political discourse. And he is not just preaching to the converted or sermonising from the pulpit. Highly Recomended.
Monbiot's an excellent journalist. I should seek this out.
 

California Dreamer

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65. Through the Sad Wood Our Corpses Will Hang, by Ava Farmehri

I would like to thank NetGalley and the publisher for the opportunity to review an advance copy of this book.

In a concept similar to that of <i>Midnight's Children</i>, Sheyda is a young Iranian girl born on the day that the mullahs came to power. She is a rebellious fantasist with an unerring ability to drive others away, and the despair of her parents. Theft and self-harm are just some of the frustrations that she poses for them.

It becomes clear that Sheyda is to die, executed by the regime. Farmehri takes a long time to develop this side of Sheyda's story (with echoes of Laurence Sterne, it takes 50% of the book for Sheyda to be born) but it is far stronger and better when she gets to the scenes of Sheyda's adulthood and her life during incarceration.

This book was a bit hit-and-miss for me. I found Sheyda as a child to be a tiresome and annoying character that I did not warm to, and the writing in those early chapters was trite. The latter half was much better, with elegiac prose, and heart-rending plot developments. I did not think that the author did much with her Rushdie-like concept of Sheyda's birth date, and that seemed little more than contrivance. I'm torn about this book; I did not personally enjoy it a whole lot, but I could definitely see others getting a lot more out of it.
 
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California Dreamer

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66. The Master Key, by Masako Togawa

* I would like to thank NetGalley and the publisher for the opportunity to review an advance copy of this book. *

The K Apartments are a tower of residences reserved for single women. The young ladies in residence since the war, and the staff, have now grown to become old maids.

The book's opening recounts a car accident in which someone is killed outside the K Apartments. Surprisingly the victim, dressed as a woman, turns out to be a man. What was a man doing in the K Apartments dressed as a woman?

Togawa twists this initial mystery as he introduces us to a series of unhappy women who were involved in this scandal and its aftermath. Resentments and jealousies between them lead to acts which compound the scandal, all of it set against a backdrop of an impending construction project that may reveal the grim secret of the K Apartments.

This is an unusual crime story. There is no central investigator character and the plot gets developed through the agency of several characters who gradually learn more about what is going on. For most of the book I felt that this was pretty mundane, but Togawa pulled off some plot twists towards the end that totally reversed my opinion. I'm definitely going to seek out more of his work.

This book is being released in a new series of international crime novels from Pushkin Vertigo. I've read this one and Emma Viskic's Resurrection Bay and both were very good, so it looks like this imprint is worth keeping an eye out for.
 

California Dreamer

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67. Soul Cage, by Tetsuya Honda

The second book in the Reiko Himekawa series begins similarly to the first, with some background narrated by one of the characters. Honda then moves onto the crime that forms the basis of this procedural, the discovery of a severed hand in an abandoned van. The Tokyo Homicide squad sets up a task force to investigate, including Reiko.

As with the first novel, Reiko has to compete with an implacable colleague who dislikes her methods, this time the process-bound Lieutenant Kusaka, who detests Reiko's intuitive approach. Reiko also detests him, although she has trouble identifying exactly why.

Reiko once again gets partnered with Ioka, who continues his slaveringly sexist disrespect of the first novel. One of the things that turns me off about this series is the extent to which this blatant sexual harassment of the main character goes uncriticised, is treated as humorous and bears little consequence for Reiko's harasser. I'm afraid that I cannot go along with that. Reiko's family and personal life are also sloppily treated by the author, with really quite ridiculous actions that seem totally out of character for his protagonist. It's not clear what he is trying to do with that side of his character, but it's pretty unconvincing so far.

That aside, Honda's plot is deceptively clever, with plenty of plot twists. I don't think it's quite as good as The Silent Dead, largely because Kusaka is not as strong an adversary as Katsumata in the first novel, and the other supporting characters have much less to do.
 

Journeyman

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67. Soul Cage, by Tetsuya Honda

Reiko once again gets partnered with Ioka, who continues his slaveringly sexist disrespect of the first novel. One of the things that turns me off about this series is the extent to which this blatant sexual harassment of the main character goes uncriticised, is treated as humorous and bears little consequence for Reiko's harasser.

CD, although I can't be sure, it's quite possible that it's because the novel and characters are Japanese.

Things may perhaps have improved over the past couple of decades, but sexual harassment certainly used to be rife in Japanese workplaces, with absolutely no consequences for the perpetrators. I know many Japanese women - including my wife - who were propositioned, asked about their sex lives, had their breasts or buttocks poked with pencils as they walked past the desks of male colleagues and more.

In many cases, they didn't report it, as they knew that nothing would be done - in fact, the manager was sometimes one of the harassers and even if he wasn't involved, would have simply asked "So what?".

I agree that it's unacceptable, but it's an unfortunate facet of Japanese society.
 

Geoffrey Firmin

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Seeing your on a Japanese crime odyssey at present @California Dreamer have you read OUT by Natsuo Kirino? Highly recommended.
 

Journeyman

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Speaking of Japanese crime, I can highly recommend Miyabe Miyuki and Higashino Keigo.
 

California Dreamer

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Speaking of Japanese crime, I can highly recommend Miyabe Miyuki and Higashino Keigo.
Seeing your on a Japanese crime odyssey at present @California Dreamer have you read OUT by Natsuo Kirino? Highly recommended.

I'm not really on a Japanese crime odyssey, just a coincidence that NetGalley offered me a Japanese book to review the same day that I found a new Japanese writer at the library. I have read a couple of Keigo's books and have also enjoyed crime novels by Fuminori Nakamura and Hideo Yokoyama. Japanese crime writing can be good stuff, but I find that there are cultural barriers when reading it; the politics and other interplay between the characters is very strange at times, to a Westerner.
 

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1. The Perks of Being a Wallflower - Stephen Chbosky (3/5)
2. Magyk - Angie Sage (3/5)
3. From Russia with Love - Ian Flemming (4/5)
4. Murder on the Orient Express - Agatha Christie (3/5)

5. The Great Railway Bazaar - Paul Theroux (2/5)
6. 13 Reasons Why - Jay Asher (2/5)
7. Genghis Khan and the Making of the Modern World - Jack Weatherford (3/5)
8. The Cathedral and the Bazaar - Eric S. Raymond (3/5)
9. The Five People You Meet in Heaven - Mitch Albom (4/5)
10. To Kill a Mockingbird - Harper Lee (3/5)
11. Slaughterhouse Five - Kurt Vonnegut Jr (3/5)
12. Love in the Time of Cholora - Gabriel García Márquez (3/5)
14. Go Set a Watchman - Harper Lee (2/5)

15. Proud Man Walking - Claudio Ranieri (3/5)
An insightful account of the first year of Roman Abramovich's ownership of Chelsea FC taken from the eyes of Claudio Ranieri, the clubs manager.

The book has a great format and goes through each month and accounts many historic games, including the clubs furthest run into the Champions League, eventually losing out in the Semi Final to eventual runners up Monaco.

Throughout the season, Ranieri held his head high amidst constant rumours and pressure about his possible sacking and replacement as he was constantly questioned by press concerning his future.

The book chronicles his activity in the transfer market as he explains his transfer policy that the core of the playing group should represent the country in which the club belongs, and be complimented by great international talent. Ranieri drafted in many great players including John Terry, Frank Lampard, Claude Makelele, Damien Duff and many others who went on to win many trophies in the subsequent years for the club, which must be accredited to him.

16. Prometheus Rising - Robert Anton Wells (3/5)

A highly interesting book that gives a very peculiar insight into the fundamentals of human evolution and both ways to interpret the actions of others as well as techniques to handle our own emotional state.

Each chapter goes through each Emotional Circuit and explains, from Wilsons point of view what this circuit controls, what influences it has on external behaviour, and at what stage during human evolution it most probably came out.

Whilst the book must be taken with a grain of salt, many of the ideas in the book seem quite plausible and give great explanations.

One major negative is that Wilson loves to refer to other books, sometimes with minor spoilers.
 

LonerMatt

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1. Roadside Picnic
2. Fifth Head of Cerebus
3. You are not a Gadget
4. Is the future going to be a better place?
5. The Three Body Problem
6. A Cold and Common Orbit
7. A Gathering of Shadows
8. Laurinda
9. Short Stories inspired by Laurinda
10. The Pier Falls
11. A Darker Shade of Magic
12. A Blade of Black Steel
13. Naveed
14. Terra Nullius
15. True Girt
16. A Conjuring of Light
17. The Grace of Kings
18. Porno
19. The North Water
20. Jasper Jones
21. That Thing Around Your Neck
22. Divergent
23. Wall of Storms
24. Insurgent
25. The Messenger
26. When the Night Comes
27. Glow
28. Shot in the Heart
29. Common People
30. Walk Away
31. Name of the Wind
32. Wise Man's Fear
33. Infomocracy
34. Borne
35. Art Can Help
36. The Museum of Modern Love
37. The Fifth Season
38. Underground Airlines
39. The Emperor's Blades
40. Everywhere I look
41. 10.04
42. Sleeping Giants
43. The Providence of Fire
44. Last Mortal Bond
45. What Technology Wants
46. Shadowboxing

45. What Technology Wants

This book was the reason for such a slow down. It's a non-fiction book that is trying to trace technology's rise as a force in our world. The novel's scope is wide and it's incredibly conceptual. The author lays out several key ideas:

1. Technology is best considered as another kingdom of life
2. As another kingdom of life we should see if technology follows patterns of evolution (it does)
3. Therefore, we can determine what technology 'wants' (several key wants I've forgotten but basically to be diverse, robust, etc, etc)
4. If it's a part of life it is inevitable, but not non-navigable (ie, there will be technology, it will exist, but what exactly it will look like and how exactly we use it are within our power)

It's a pretty heavy going book. There's nothing particularly light about it and the first two points are laboriously detailed, evidenced and explored. Largely because they are the core premises for the author's POV, but still it was putting me to sleep.

There are a lot of good ideas here, I don't know if they are true, or real, or fair, but they are thought provoking and frame the world in new ways, which is often good in of itself.

46. Shadowboxing

Re-reading an old favourite. Not quite as stirring as the first time, and I definitely felt that the father character was less awful the 2nd time around. Still enjoyed, totally smashable.
 

Foxhound

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1. The Perks of Being a Wallflower - Stephen Chbosky (3/5)
2. Magyk - Angie Sage (3/5)
3. From Russia with Love - Ian Flemming (4/5)
4. Murder on the Orient Express - Agatha Christie (3/5)

5. The Great Railway Bazaar - Paul Theroux (2/5)
6. 13 Reasons Why - Jay Asher (2/5)
7. Genghis Khan and the Making of the Modern World - Jack Weatherford (3/5)
8. The Cathedral and the Bazaar - Eric S. Raymond (3/5)
9. The Five People You Meet in Heaven - Mitch Albom (4/5)
10. To Kill a Mockingbird - Harper Lee (3/5)
11. Slaughterhouse Five - Kurt Vonnegut Jr (3/5)
12. Love in the Time of Cholora - Gabriel García Márquez (3/5)
14. Go Set a Watchman - Harper Lee (2/5)
15. Proud Man Walking - Claudio Ranieri (3/5)

16. Prometheus Rising - Robert Anton Wells (3/5)

17. Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy - John Le Carre (4/5)
An enjoyable spy thriller set in the height of the Cold War. The book is tense, the characters believable, and the plot extremely immersive. It is clear that Le Carrè worked in foreign intelligence.

The book follows the hunt of a mole inside the most secretive organisation by a disgraced outsider struggling with his own later life insecurities. Smiley is an unlikely hero who is quite endearing as a protagonist.

The writing style was quite confusing at times, changing scenes across both countries and time periods sometimes mid sentence, and always without a line break.

I had already seen the 2011 film, which was a detriment to the story, as I already knew who the mole would be. I look very much forward to reading the next book in the Smiley trilogy.
 

Geoffrey Firmin

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51 The Hanging Girl A Department Q Thriller by Jussi Adler Olsen
This book precedes The Scarred Woman which I’ve previously read and puts the events which transpired in that novel in proper perspective. The joy of the ACT Public Library system I guess.

So another cold case with enough twists and turns and demented antagonists. Not one of the best books in the series found it somewhat long winded at 590 pages. Will be taking a break from this series. That said the film versions of these books have been very good.
 

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