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2019 50 Book Challenge

Fueco

Stylish Dinosaur
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117. Climbing With Mollie, by William Finnegan

An older guy discovers a love of rock climbing through his daughter's interest in the sport. This is a short one, but really resonated with me, as my kids are [too quickly] approaching the age where they will start "playing" sports.
 

California Dreamer

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Nov 6, 2006
Messages
6,814
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3,305
1. Andy Kaufman: The Truth, Finally, by Bob Zmuda and Lynne Margulies
2. Illustrado, by Miguel Syjuco
3. Kill 'Em All, by John Niven[
4. The Black Monday Murders, volume 1: All Hail God Mammon, by Jonathon Hickman
5. Bad News, by Edward St. Aubyn
6. Education, by Tara Westover
7. Europe: A Natural History, by Tim Flannery
8. No Tomorrow, by Luke Jennings
9. Scrublands, by Chris Hammer
10. The Kingdom, by Fuminori Nakamura
11. The White Darkness, by David Grann
12. Sacred Cesium Ground and Isa's Deluge, by Yusuke Kimura
13. The Black Monday Murders, Volume 2: The Scales, by Jonathon Hickman
14. Dark Echoes of the Past, by Roman Diaz Eterovic
15. Acute Misfortune, by Erik Jensen
16. The Low Road, by Chris Womersley
17. Steve Smith's Men: Behind Australian Cricket's Fall, by Geoff Lemon
18. River of Salt, by Dave Warner
19. City of a Million Dreams, by Jason Berry
20. Nagaland, by Ben Doherty
21. Queen of Kenosha, by Howard Shapiro
22. Daisy Jones and the Six, by Taylor Jenkins Reid
23. Saga, Volume One (Eps 1-3), by Brian
24. The Forest of Wool and Steel, by Natsu Miyashita
25. The Waiter, by Matias Faldbakken
26. Manchester Happened, by Jennifer Nansubuga Makumbi
27. This body's Not Big Enough For Both of Us, by Edgar Cantero
28. The Erratics, by Vicki Laveau-Harvie
29. Saga Book 2, by Brian Vaughan
30. Murder in the Crooked House, by Soji Shimada
31. The Brewer of Preston, by Andrea Camilleri
32. Eight Lives, by Susan Hurley
33. Fu Ping, by Wang Anyi
34. N, by John A. Scott
35. Adele, by Leila Slimani
36. Gretchen, by Shannon Kirk
37. An American Marriage, by Tayari Jones
38. The White Girl, by Tony Birch
39. The Trauma Cleaner, by Sarah Krasnostein
40. The Ballad of Captain Kelly, by Jonathan Wicken
41. Grief is the Thing With Feathers, by Max Porter
42. Dark Emu, by Bruce Pascoe
43. A Keeper, by Graham Norton
44. Saudade, by Suneeta Peres da Costa
45. The Murder Farm, by Andrea Maria Schenkel
46. Gallows Court, by Andrea Martin Edwards
47. Washington Black, by Esi Edugyan
48. State of the Union, by Nick Hornby
49. Being Black 'n Chicken, and Chips, by Matt Okine
50. Rather Be the Devil, by Ian Rankin
51. Forbidden Harbour, by Teresa Radice
52. The Grade Cricketer: Tea and No Sympathy, by Dave Edwards
53. A Fist or a Heart, by Kristin Eiriksdottir
54. There Was Still Love, by Favel Parrett
55. Bury the Lede, by Gaby Dunn
56. Eggshell Skull, by Bri Lee
57. The Yield, by Tara June Winch
58. Heida, by Steinunn Sigurðardóttir
59. My Life As An Alphabet, by Barry Jonsberg
60. Babylon Berlin, by Volker Kutscher
61. Too Much Lip, by Melissa Lucashenko
62. An Orchestra of Minorities, by Chigozie Obioma

63. The Cold Summer by Gianrico Carofiglio

In a summer dominated by mafia violence and gangland rivalries, carabiniere Marshall Pietro Fenoglio tries to keep on top of his job while dealing with his wife's departure. As gang violence explodes around Bari, the unwelcome news comes that the son of a senior mafioso has been kidnapped and held for ransom. The family refuse to co-operate with the police, preferring their own form of justice, but Fenoglio is determined to outpace them and solve the case before they can make things worse. The worst possible news comes to light though, and suddenly Bari is at risk of a conflagration. Then an informer comes forward, and the case takes on a new light.

This is a tautly plotted story that keeps one guessing right up to the end. It also has a bit of a philosophical nature about it, with both Fenoglio and his colleagues grappling with temptations to step across the line, and examining their own motivations. As he explains, people usually join the carabiniere to be on the right side of the fence, but there are a lot of holes in that fence. This might sound preachy, but its effect is to give more depth to the characters and to highlight the conflicts that they need to deal with in solving the case.

This is one of those novels that makes you keen to read of the author's work but, sadly, little appears to have been published in English. Hopefully that will change soon.
 

mak1277

Distinguished Member
Joined
Sep 25, 2019
Messages
3,910
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5,844
39. The Testaments by Margaret Atwood

Sequel the The Handmaid's Tale, which I read earlier this year. In my opinion, it was far inferior. I know it co-won the Booker Prize, but I thought it was just fair. It was a quick read and it was entertaining, I just didn't think it was up to the original.
 

LonerMatt

Distinguished Member
Joined
Nov 2, 2012
Messages
2,744
Reaction score
1,525
1. The Broken Kingdoms
2. The Kingdom of Gods
3. Semiosis
4. Bridge of Clay
5. Blackwater City
6. Bullshit Jobs: a Theory
7. Harry Potter: Goblet of Fire
8. The People vs Tech
9. The Outrun
10 Ancillary Justice
11. Words without Music
12. Digital Minimalism
13. When Rivers Run Dry
14. The Uninhabitable Earth
15. Do we need inequality?
16. Carbon Ideologies: No Immediate Danger
17. The Secret Life of Trees
18. Educated
19. River of Doubt
20. Holy Sister
21. A War in Crimson Embers
22. Ancillary Sword
23. Ancillary Mercy
24. One Way
25. The Raven's Tower
26. Dark Emu
27. A Memory Called Empire
28. A Forest of Wood and Steel
29. Makers
30. Pink Mountain on Locust Island
31. The Summon Stone
32. Fallen Gate
33. Senlin Ascends
34. Howling Dark
35. Arm of the Sphinx
36. Fall, or Dodge in Hell
37. The Hod King
38. Boy Swallows Universe
39. Ancestral Night
40 Inappropration
41. Ordinary People
42. 21 lessons for the 21st century
43. There There
44. Stumbling upon happiness
45. Dark Matter
46. Children of Time
47. Middle Game
48. Recursion

48. Recursion

A woman invents a chair that allows people to move back in time in their memories, but with their future consciousness. She's funded by a shadowy and odd billionaire who ends up trapping her after she refuses to continue her research. He reveals that actually he's from another timeline where he was a loser lab assistant to her, but was able to recognise how to make the chair do its thing.

The story becomes more complicated as the technology spreads and the different memories, timelines and realisations start to add up and make society break down.

This book is a banger, like Dark Matter there's an excellent balance between the technological innovation and the human side of the story.
 

LonerMatt

Distinguished Member
Joined
Nov 2, 2012
Messages
2,744
Reaction score
1,525
1. The Broken Kingdoms
2. The Kingdom of Gods
3. Semiosis
4. Bridge of Clay
5. Blackwater City
6. Bullshit Jobs: a Theory
7. Harry Potter: Goblet of Fire
8. The People vs Tech
9. The Outrun
10 Ancillary Justice
11. Words without Music
12. Digital Minimalism
13. When Rivers Run Dry
14. The Uninhabitable Earth
15. Do we need inequality?
16. Carbon Ideologies: No Immediate Danger
17. The Secret Life of Trees
18. Educated
19. River of Doubt
20. Holy Sister
21. A War in Crimson Embers
22. Ancillary Sword
23. Ancillary Mercy
24. One Way
25. The Raven's Tower
26. Dark Emu
27. A Memory Called Empire
28. A Forest of Wood and Steel
29. Makers
30. Pink Mountain on Locust Island
31. The Summon Stone
32. Fallen Gate
33. Senlin Ascends
34. Howling Dark
35. Arm of the Sphinx
36. Fall, or Dodge in Hell
37. The Hod King
38. Boy Swallows Universe
39. Ancestral Night
40 Inappropration
41. Ordinary People
42. 21 lessons for the 21st century
43. There There
44. Stumbling upon happiness
45. Dark Matter
46. Children of Time
47. Middle Game
48. Recursion
49. Convenience Store Woman

49. Convenience Store Woman


I read this based off a recommendation a few pages back. A story about a woman who finds the only way for her to be accepted in the rigid and public life of Japan is to take a job in a convenience store, however as she ages this is no longer a job that gives her cover and people start to ask and pry into her life again.

She briefly considers a sham romance, but through this she ends up just owning her position in society as someone who is good at working in a convenience store.

Not bad, I didn't find it as funny as many people, and I wished that the narrator was a bit more emotionally articulate. In saying that the way that the author makes well meaning normal Japanese people seem incredibly investigative and invasive is done in a way that really irritates the reader, so there are some great strengths to the writing.
 

California Dreamer

Distinguished Member
Joined
Nov 6, 2006
Messages
6,814
Reaction score
3,305
1. Andy Kaufman: The Truth, Finally, by Bob Zmuda and Lynne Margulies
2. Illustrado, by Miguel Syjuco
3. Kill 'Em All, by John Niven[
4. The Black Monday Murders, volume 1: All Hail God Mammon, by Jonathon Hickman
5. Bad News, by Edward St. Aubyn
6. Education, by Tara Westover
7. Europe: A Natural History, by Tim Flannery
8. No Tomorrow, by Luke Jennings
9. Scrublands, by Chris Hammer
10. The Kingdom, by Fuminori Nakamura
11. The White Darkness, by David Grann
12. Sacred Cesium Ground and Isa's Deluge, by Yusuke Kimura
13. The Black Monday Murders, Volume 2: The Scales, by Jonathon Hickman
14. Dark Echoes of the Past, by Roman Diaz Eterovic
15. Acute Misfortune, by Erik Jensen
16. The Low Road, by Chris Womersley
17. Steve Smith's Men: Behind Australian Cricket's Fall, by Geoff Lemon
18. River of Salt, by Dave Warner
19. City of a Million Dreams, by Jason Berry
20. Nagaland, by Ben Doherty
21. Queen of Kenosha, by Howard Shapiro
22. Daisy Jones and the Six, by Taylor Jenkins Reid
23. Saga, Volume One (Eps 1-3), by Brian
24. The Forest of Wool and Steel, by Natsu Miyashita
25. The Waiter, by Matias Faldbakken
26. Manchester Happened, by Jennifer Nansubuga Makumbi
27. This body's Not Big Enough For Both of Us, by Edgar Cantero
28. The Erratics, by Vicki Laveau-Harvie
29. Saga Book 2, by Brian Vaughan
30. Murder in the Crooked House, by Soji Shimada
31. The Brewer of Preston, by Andrea Camilleri
32. Eight Lives, by Susan Hurley
33. Fu Ping, by Wang Anyi
34. N, by John A. Scott
35. Adele, by Leila Slimani
36. Gretchen, by Shannon Kirk
37. An American Marriage, by Tayari Jones
38. The White Girl, by Tony Birch
39. The Trauma Cleaner, by Sarah Krasnostein
40. The Ballad of Captain Kelly, by Jonathan Wicken
41. Grief is the Thing With Feathers, by Max Porter
42. Dark Emu, by Bruce Pascoe
43. A Keeper, by Graham Norton
44. Saudade, by Suneeta Peres da Costa
45. The Murder Farm, by Andrea Maria Schenkel
46. Gallows Court, by Andrea Martin Edwards
47. Washington Black, by Esi Edugyan
48. State of the Union, by Nick Hornby
49. Being Black 'n Chicken, and Chips, by Matt Okine
50. Rather Be the Devil, by Ian Rankin
51. Forbidden Harbour, by Teresa Radice
52. The Grade Cricketer: Tea and No Sympathy, by Dave Edwards
53. A Fist or a Heart, by Kristin Eiriksdottir
54. There Was Still Love, by Favel Parrett
55. Bury the Lede, by Gaby Dunn
56. Eggshell Skull, by Bri Lee
57. The Yield, by Tara June Winch
58. Heida, by Steinunn Sigurðardóttir
59. My Life As An Alphabet, by Barry Jonsberg
60. Babylon Berlin, by Volker Kutscher
61. Too Much Lip, by Melissa Lucashenko
62. An Orchestra of Minorities, by Chigozie Obioma
63. The Cold Summer by Gianrico Carofiglio

64. Shamus Dust by Janet Roger

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

Christmas 1947, and London is still recovering from the depredations of the war. Private Investigator Newman gets hired by a Councillor anxious to get to the bottom of an incident at one of his properties. This very soon leads to the discovery of a dead body in the nearby church, and Newman finds himself embroiled in a vice murder investigation. The only witness to this murder was a nurse who was in the church at the time, and Newman has plenty of reason to disbelieve her account.

As Roger develops her plot, murders pile up and Newman's suspicions turn elsewhere. He in turn also attracts suspicion for his propensity to be in the vicinity whenever matters take a turn for the worse. The cops and the acting police pathologist both take a set against him, and there is also a collection of underworld figures wishing to do him harm.

Roger is clearly a fan of hardboiled detective fiction in the style of Chandler and Hammett, and she gives Newman a bit of the same attitude as Marlowe and Spade have, but it just seems less authentic in wintry London than in the big cities of the USA. She does capture the feel of London in the winter, and the post-war era, quite well and her plot has a depth and complexity that keeps the twists coming until almost the very end.
 

Geoffrey Firmin

Distinguished Member
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Dec 4, 2010
Messages
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4,128
50.The Woman In The Dunes by Kobo Abe

An etymologist misses the last bus home after spending the day collecting in an obscure remote rural village in Japan. What happens next is an existential transposition of the Myth of Sisyphus via Poe and Kafka. Facing a task akin to Heracles cleaning the stables of Augeas with the company of a woman.

Weirdly intoxicating, I think Abe is something of an acquired taste if this is the standard of his works.
 

Fueco

Stylish Dinosaur
Supporting Member
Joined
Mar 8, 2012
Messages
21,480
Reaction score
41,487
118. Finding Ultra, by Rich Roll

Another book on a man's journey into the world of ultra-endurance sports after recovering from alcohol and drug addiction that nearly cost his life. Yet again, I know some of the people mentioned in his stories, and have done some of the events he talks about. It was especially enjoyable to read his account of the Ultraman World Championships, which he did in 2008 and 2009; and I raced in 2011.
 

LonerMatt

Distinguished Member
Joined
Nov 2, 2012
Messages
2,744
Reaction score
1,525
1. The Broken Kingdoms
2. The Kingdom of Gods
3. Semiosis
4. Bridge of Clay
5. Blackwater City
6. Bullshit Jobs: a Theory
7. Harry Potter: Goblet of Fire
8. The People vs Tech
9. The Outrun
10 Ancillary Justice
11. Words without Music
12. Digital Minimalism
13. When Rivers Run Dry
14. The Uninhabitable Earth
15. Do we need inequality?
16. Carbon Ideologies: No Immediate Danger
17. The Secret Life of Trees
18. Educated
19. River of Doubt
20. Holy Sister
21. A War in Crimson Embers
22. Ancillary Sword
23. Ancillary Mercy
24. One Way
25. The Raven's Tower
26. Dark Emu
27. A Memory Called Empire
28. A Forest of Wood and Steel
29. Makers
30. Pink Mountain on Locust Island
31. The Summon Stone
32. Fallen Gate
33. Senlin Ascends
34. Howling Dark
35. Arm of the Sphinx
36. Fall, or Dodge in Hell
37. The Hod King
38. Boy Swallows Universe
39. Ancestral Night
40 Inappropration
41. Ordinary People
42. 21 lessons for the 21st century
43. There There
44. Stumbling upon happiness
45. Dark Matter
46. Children of Time
47. Middle Game
48. Recursion
49. Convenience Store Woman
50. Black Friday

50. Black Friday


Series of short stories, some good, some bad, didn't love it and found some of the narration a bit too much, good emphasis on racism and capitalism as concepts. Not much to say, a bit of a meh book.
 

Fueco

Stylish Dinosaur
Supporting Member
Joined
Mar 8, 2012
Messages
21,480
Reaction score
41,487
1. The Broken Kingdoms
2. The Kingdom of Gods
3. Semiosis
4. Bridge of Clay
5. Blackwater City
6. Bullshit Jobs: a Theory
7. Harry Potter: Goblet of Fire
8. The People vs Tech
9. The Outrun
10 Ancillary Justice
11. Words without Music
12. Digital Minimalism
13. When Rivers Run Dry
14. The Uninhabitable Earth
15. Do we need inequality?
16. Carbon Ideologies: No Immediate Danger
17. The Secret Life of Trees
18. Educated
19. River of Doubt
20. Holy Sister
21. A War in Crimson Embers
22. Ancillary Sword
23. Ancillary Mercy
24. One Way
25. The Raven's Tower
26. Dark Emu
27. A Memory Called Empire
28. A Forest of Wood and Steel
29. Makers
30. Pink Mountain on Locust Island
31. The Summon Stone
32. Fallen Gate
33. Senlin Ascends
34. Howling Dark
35. Arm of the Sphinx
36. Fall, or Dodge in Hell
37. The Hod King
38. Boy Swallows Universe
39. Ancestral Night
40 Inappropration
41. Ordinary People
42. 21 lessons for the 21st century
43. There There
44. Stumbling upon happiness
45. Dark Matter
46. Children of Time
47. Middle Game
48. Recursion
49. Convenience Store Woman
50. Black Friday

50. Black Friday

Series of short stories, some good, some bad, didn't love it and found some of the narration a bit too much, good emphasis on racism and capitalism as concepts. Not much to say, a bit of a meh book.

50!!
 

Geoffrey Firmin

Distinguished Member
Joined
Dec 4, 2010
Messages
8,592
Reaction score
4,128
1. The Broken Kingdoms
2. The Kingdom of Gods
3. Semiosis
4. Bridge of Clay
5. Blackwater City
6. Bullshit Jobs: a Theory
7. Harry Potter: Goblet of Fire
8. The People vs Tech
9. The Outrun
10 Ancillary Justice
11. Words without Music
12. Digital Minimalism
13. When Rivers Run Dry
14. The Uninhabitable Earth
15. Do we need inequality?
16. Carbon Ideologies: No Immediate Danger
17. The Secret Life of Trees
18. Educated
19. River of Doubt
20. Holy Sister
21. A War in Crimson Embers
22. Ancillary Sword
23. Ancillary Mercy
24. One Way
25. The Raven's Tower
26. Dark Emu
27. A Memory Called Empire
28. A Forest of Wood and Steel
29. Makers
30. Pink Mountain on Locust Island
31. The Summon Stone
32. Fallen Gate
33. Senlin Ascends
34. Howling Dark
35. Arm of the Sphinx
36. Fall, or Dodge in Hell
37. The Hod King
38. Boy Swallows Universe
39. Ancestral Night
40 Inappropration
41. Ordinary People
42. 21 lessons for the 21st century
43. There There
44. Stumbling upon happiness
45. Dark Matter
46. Children of Time
47. Middle Game
48. Recursion
49. Convenience Store Woman
50. Black Friday

50. Black Friday

Series of short stories, some good, some bad, didn't love it and found some of the narration a bit too much, good emphasis on racism and capitalism as concepts. Not much to say, a bit of a meh book.
The big five oh. Congratulations.
 

Geoffrey Firmin

Distinguished Member
Joined
Dec 4, 2010
Messages
8,592
Reaction score
4,128
51 QUARANTINE by Greg Egan

What begins in 2064 as a cyber noir, with some stylish wet wear augmentation The Night Switchboard (Axon $1700), story quickly morphs into elements of space opera, doomsday cults, rioting in Hong Kong and Quantum Mechanics and probability theory. Or as the humble narrator explains it “The meat in my skull has been rearranged.That explains everything.”

Recommended.
 

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