2020 50 Book Challenge

[Fueco]

The Teeth Of The Tiger, by Tom Clancy

I’m revisiting a series of books that I used to read. I thought I’d picked up where I left off, but I read this one before. It was still nice to read again.

Jack Ryan Jr. is newly hired at CIA, following in his dad’s steps. A new tortoise group has attacked America, and with his help, his cousins take them on.

 

[Geoffrey Firmin]

23.The Three Dimensions of Freedom by Billy Bragg

“This is a time of dismissive demagogues promoting a know nothing politics of swaggering arrogance driven by scorn and spit.”

Mr Bragg in his polemic against the hegemony of popularism, the bastard child of failed Neo Liberalism. Presents a case for civility and holding truth to power in this political pamphlet.

The basis of his argument rests on Liberty..Equality and Accountability. Food for thought as we consider how and why the world can’t return to the normal of failed Neo Liberalism and the encroachment of the Climate Emergency upon our lives.

 

[California Dreamer]

From Melbourne warehouse?

Don't know actually, and I've binned the box, so can't check.

 

[Journeyman]

A new tortoise group has attacked America, and with his help, his cousins take them on.

Thankfully, it must have been pretty easy for Ryan and his cousins to outpace them!

 

[Fueco]

31. American On Purpose: The Improbable Adventure Of An Unlikely Patriot, by Craig Ferguson

I like Ferguson’s comedy, and this was a great read about his life.

 

[Fueco]

Thankfully, it must have been pretty easy for Ryan and his cousins to outpace them!

Damn you, autocorrect!!

 

[California Dreamer]

Spoiler: Previously read

1. Damascus, by Christos Tsiolkas
2. Dr Knox, by Peter Spiegelman
3. The Hills Reply, by Tarjei Vesaas
4. Cold Fear, by Mads Peter Nordo
5. The Drover's Wife, by Leah Purcell
6. The Silent Death, by Volker Kutscher
7. Darkness for Light, by Emma Viskic
8. The Silent Patient, by Alex Michaelides
9. Recursion, by Blake Crouch
10. When All is Said and Done, by Neale Daniher
11. How the Dead Speak, by Val McDermid
12. Goldstein, by Volker Kutscher
13. Saving Missy, by Beth Morrey
14. Hi Five, by Joe Ide
15. Onwards Towards Our Noble Deaths, by Shigeru Mizuki
16. The Real Peaky Blinders, by Carl Chinn
17. Agent Running in the Field, by John le Carré
18. The Good Turn, by Dervla McTiernan
19. Amnesty, by Aranid Adiga
20. Downfall, by Inio Asano
21. Sheerwater, by Leah Swann
22. In a House of Lies, by Ian Rankin
23. The Glass Hotel, by Emily St. John Mandel
24. Pollock Confidential, by Onofrio Catacchio
25. The Brothers York, by Thomas Penn
26. Double Blind, by Sara Winokur
27. The Transaction, by Guglielmo D'Izzia
28. Drive Your Plow Over the Bones of the Dead, by Olga Tokarczuk

29 Journey Under the Midnight Sun, by Keigo Higashino

A pawnbroker is found stabbed to death in an abandoned building in Osaka. As part of Detective Sasagaki's inquiries he questions a woman who was a regular customer and forms a theory that she was the pawn-broker's lover. A year later that woman is discovered by her daughter Yukiho, gassed to death. It is ruled an accident, but suspicions of suicide, born of the scandal and shame, remain.

What starts out looking like a standard procedural then takes a surprising turn as the murder investigation is put aside and we follow the lives of Yukiho and the pawnbroker's son, Ryo, through their school and college years. Both of them seem to be doing well, but also seem to be magnets for trouble. As their lives unfold into adulthoood and the coincidences pile up, Sasagaki maintains a close interest in their doings.

This novel has a really good plot which cleverly subverts the usual police procedural, and has three engaging and fascinating characters at its core. Another winner from Higashino.

 

[samtalkstyle]

20. The Scent Trail - Celia Lyttelton

A woman chronicles her experience in commissioning a bespoke perfume, and trekking around the world to acquire natural ingredients for it.
A light hearted read, and a much needed break from the heavier content I'd been reading previously.

 

[FlyingMonkey]

Journey under the midnight sun

Yeah, it's one of my favourites in the genre. Far more than just a crime novel.

 

[Fueco]

32. Nature’s Silent Message, by Scott Stillman

A collection of essays and shorts stories about backpacking around the US as well as on ecology and connection with the natural world.

 

[California Dreamer]

Spoiler: Previously read

1. Damascus, by Christos Tsiolkas
2. Dr Knox, by Peter Spiegelman
3. The Hills Reply, by Tarjei Vesaas
4. Cold Fear, by Mads Peter Nordo
5. The Drover's Wife, by Leah Purcell
6. The Silent Death, by Volker Kutscher
7. Darkness for Light, by Emma Viskic
8. The Silent Patient, by Alex Michaelides
9. Recursion, by Blake Crouch
10. When All is Said and Done, by Neale Daniher
11. How the Dead Speak, by Val McDermid
12. Goldstein, by Volker Kutscher
13. Saving Missy, by Beth Morrey
14. Hi Five, by Joe Ide
15. Onwards Towards Our Noble Deaths, by Shigeru Mizuki
16. The Real Peaky Blinders, by Carl Chinn
17. Agent Running in the Field, by John le Carré
18. The Good Turn, by Dervla McTiernan
19. Amnesty, by Aranid Adiga
20. Downfall, by Inio Asano
21. Sheerwater, by Leah Swann
22. In a House of Lies, by Ian Rankin
23. The Glass Hotel, by Emily St. John Mandel
24. Pollock Confidential, by Onofrio Catacchio
25. The Brothers York, by Thomas Penn
26. Double Blind, by Sara Winokur
27. The Transaction, by Guglielmo D'Izzia
28. Drive Your Plow Over the Bones of the Dead, by Olga Tokarczuk
29 Journey Under the Midnight Sun, by Keigo Higashino

30 Impostures, by al-Hariri, transl. Michael Cooperson

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

Impostures is based on the Maqamat written by the Basran poet al-Hariri in the 11th Century. The book is a series of 50 anecdotes about a wandering conman called Abu Zayd, who ekes out a living through cunning and his mastery of language.

The stories are a bit formulaic and repetitive, but that is not the point. What this is about is the word games that Abu Zayd plays, and the cleverness of the prose. For example, in the original Arabic, there is a palindrome that occupies an entire paragraph, a letter that can be read forwards or backwards, and verse where the words alternate between having dots in them and not having dots.

This wordplay presents great challenges to a translator, and Cooperson really delivers a masterclass in translation and adaptation. Each story is rendered in a different English narrative style, depending on the subject matter. We get Chaucer, Dickens, Wodehouse, Twain, Defoe, Doyle, Fielding, Boswell and copious other writers used as models for translation, and also translations using Singlish, Spanglish and Strine, as well as slang used by '20s era diners and Western cowboys. Cooperson also solves the challenges of things like the dots and no-dots by posing similar challenges in English.

This is a book to dip into rather than read right through, as there is no real plot thread running through the 50 impostures. Fans of riddles, wordplay and slang should find plenty to enjoy here.

 

[California Dreamer]

Spoiler: Previously read

1. Damascus, by Christos Tsiolkas
2. Dr Knox, by Peter Spiegelman
3. The Hills Reply, by Tarjei Vesaas
4. Cold Fear, by Mads Peter Nordo
5. The Drover's Wife, by Leah Purcell
6. The Silent Death, by Volker Kutscher
7. Darkness for Light, by Emma Viskic
8. The Silent Patient, by Alex Michaelides
9. Recursion, by Blake Crouch
10. When All is Said and Done, by Neale Daniher
11. How the Dead Speak, by Val McDermid
12. Goldstein, by Volker Kutscher
13. Saving Missy, by Beth Morrey
14. Hi Five, by Joe Ide
15. Onwards Towards Our Noble Deaths, by Shigeru Mizuki
16. The Real Peaky Blinders, by Carl Chinn
17. Agent Running in the Field, by John le Carré
18. The Good Turn, by Dervla McTiernan
19. Amnesty, by Aranid Adiga
20. Downfall, by Inio Asano
21. Sheerwater, by Leah Swann
22. In a House of Lies, by Ian Rankin
23. The Glass Hotel, by Emily St. John Mandel
24. Pollock Confidential, by Onofrio Catacchio
25. The Brothers York, by Thomas Penn
26. Double Blind, by Sara Winokur
27. The Transaction, by Guglielmo D'Izzia
28. Drive Your Plow Over the Bones of the Dead, by Olga Tokarczuk
29 Journey Under the Midnight Sun, by Keigo Higashino
30 Impostures, by al-Hariri, transl. Michael Cooperson

31 A Walk Through Hell, Garth Ennis

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

This graphic novel opens with a killing spree in a shopping centre. Detectives Shaw and McGregor are shocked to learn that the perpetrator was one of their witnesses in a major paedophile investigation. Later, two of their colleagues, while on a drugs stakeout, enter a warehouse and do not come out. A SWAT team goes in and immediately comes out, refusing to ever go in there again.

Shaw and McGregor are disgusted with this and march into the warehouse themselves. This starts off a horrific journey for them where they relive the paedophilia investigation and are forced to confront their inner demons, dragging their colleagues into the mire with them.

More horror than noir crime, this is a great story from the writer of the Preacher series. The artwork is suitably gothic and gloomy, and convincingly scary at times. Very good.

 

[Journeyman]

31 A Walk Through Hell, Garth Ennis

Sounds interesting. I was thinking of Ennis recently because the I watched the TV adaptation of Preacher. I really enjoyed the comics when they first came out a couple of decades ago, and I quite enjoyed the TV series, although it lagged a little in parts.

I haven't read any Ennis since The Boys, which was a step up from Preacher in violence and obscenity (and that's really saying quite a bit!). I'll have to check out "A Walk Through Hell".

 

[Geoffrey Firmin]

24.Marvel Epic Collection Fantastic Four The Coming of Galactus by Stan Lee & Jack Kirby.

FF tales from Stan & Jack circs 1964 to 1966.

 

[Fueco]

33. The Infinite Game, by Simon Sinek

Blurb from the author's website. This is part business manual, part life manual.

The more Simon started to understand the difference between finite and infinite games, the more he began to see infinite games all around us. He started to see that many of the struggles that organizations face exist simply because their leaders were playing with a finite mindset in a game that has no end. The leaders who embrace an infinite mindset, in stark contrast, build stronger, more innovative, more inspiring organizations. They have the resilience to thrive in an ever-changing world, while their competitors fall by the wayside. Ultimately, those who adopt an infinite mindset are the ones who lead the rest of us into the future.