Challenge: 50 Books discussion

1.The Hollow Tree-Jacob G Rosenberg(2.5 stars)

I had high expectations for this book, following Jennifer Byrne's rave review on First Tuesday ookclub (ABC TV Australia). I must say, I was quite dissapointed with the finished product. I thought the book didn't deal with the subject material (the Holocaust) as effectively as it could/should have, and felt it was a bit too light-handed for me. Beautifully written, though.

2. This is How- M.J. Hyland (4 stars)

I really, really liked this book. It is such an effective and confronting look at how one moment (and one stupid action) can change the course of our lives forever. I don't want to ruin the big event in the book for people (though it has been widely publicised in reviews), but needless to say it left me quiet scared that the events in this story can happen to any one of us! Highly recommended.

3. We Need to Talk About Kevin- Lionel Shriver (5 stars)

I LOVED this book! Scary, distressing, engrossing, confronting, enraging....I haven't been able to stop thinking about it since I put it down! The novel takes the form of a mother writing to her estranged husband about their son, who committed a Columbine-style school massacre, trying to puzzle out where things went wrong. Gripping stuff!

4. The Alchemist- Paulo Coelho (1.5 stars)

I didn't like this book at all. I feel that there are far better Magic Realism authors out there and didn't enjoy the writing style or story in the slightest. On top of that, I'm not a religious person (quite the opposite), and thus felt a real aversion to the strong religious undertones.

5. Snakes and Earrings- Hitomi Kanehara (2.5 stars)

A short, simple book with anything but simple subject matter! Sadism, fetishes, tattoos, body modification, sex, murder...a very different read but not as unlikeable (or likeable, depending what you're into!) as it may sound!

6. Your Heart Belongs to Me - Dean Koontz (3 stars)

What can you say? Dean Koontz is Dean Koontz. Not one of his best (not as good as any of his pre-2000 novels), but still an enjoyable-enough read.

Coelho is not part of the magic realism genre. He's just a crappy new-agey preacher whose success as writer really puzzles me.

Heather wrote: "4. The Alchemist- Paulo Coelho

I didn't like this book at all. I feel that there are far better Magic Realism authors out there and didn't enjoy the writing style or story in the slightest. On..."

Coelho is not part of the magic realism genre. He's just a crappy new-agey preacher whose success as writer really puzzles me.

Heather wrote: "4. The Alchemist- Paulo Coelho

I didn't like this book at all. I feel that there are far better Magic Realism authors out there and didn't enjoy the writing style or story in the slightest. On..."

Mariana wrote: Coelho is not part of the magic realism genre. He's just a crappy new-agey preacher whose success as writer really puzzles me

Exactly how I feel! I just didn't want to offend people by stating what I really thought he was :)

7. Me Cheeta- James Lever (4 stars)

A very funny, insightful, bitchy take on the Hollywood memoir, written by 'Cheeta', the chimpanzee who starred in the Tarzan movies of the 30s and 40s. An excellent read, if you're familiar with Old Hollywood or the Tarzan films.

8. Quarantine - Jim Crace (4 stars)

An excellent book which tackles Jesus's 40 days in the desert, written from a realistic POV with Jesus playing the role of a religious young man who enters a self-imposed quarantine to get closer to his god. The book reminded me of the way Salman Rushdie wrote of Muhammad in Satanic Verses, but I thought this was much better. Crace is such a beautiful writer and the subject material is so interesting that I recommend people read this for themselves!

9. Money- Martin Amis (3.5 stars)

This book took me a LONG time to read, and the despicableness of the protagnosist, John Self, had a lot to do with it. I just couldn't get past how disgusting and loathsome he was, and didn't understand why anyone would want to waste their time reading about such an unlikable character. After struggling through the first half, however, the second half gripped me and I found that I couldn't put it down. Amis is an excellent writer, using witty, refined prose to describe a fairly abhorrent life and the consequences brought about by such a lifestyle. This is dealt with so effectively that you find yourself unable to stop thinking about it long after turning the final page. A strange, difficult, but ultimately enjoyable read on the pitfalls of induglence.

10. The Stranger- Albert Camus (3 stars)

I recently read This is How by M.J Hyland (which is essentially a much better re-telling of this story) and absolutely LOVED it, so I think my opinion of The Stranger is worse than it would have been had I read it a year ago. While the story is interesting and the subject-matter tackled fairly well, I found it to be too simply written for me to fully get into. Lost in translation, perhaps? A quick and easy read, nonetheless (and a great way to catch up on time lost reading Money!).

11. The Big Sleep- Raymond Chandler (3 stars)

My first tryst with the Mystery genre, and, while I wasn't blown away, I was left feeling pretty satisfied. It's clear from the get-go how pioneering this book (and Philip Marlowe) would have been for the mystery and detective thriller genres. Like the film Top Gun (:P), it seems to have set so many standards in mystery/detective story-telling that you need to keep reminding yourself that the apparent cliches weren't cliches back then! It doesn't make me want to run out to read more Chandler, but I'd still recommend it to anyone interested in the genre.

12. Touching the Void: The True Story of One Man's Miraculous Survival- Joe Simpson (4.5 stars)

I'm not a huge fan of non-fiction and had never read any Human Strength-type stories before being passed this book by my brother, but I have to admit that I was BLOWN AWAY by Joe Simpson's story. While he's no Salman Rushdie in the language department, any shortcomings in writing style are easily ignored once Simpson and Yates's trek up the mountain begins and you're presented with this incredible story of survival. This is a wonderfully-gripping tale of endurance, perseverance and inner strength, and I'd highly recommend it to anyone.

Heather wrote: "12. Touching the Void: The True Story of One Man's Miraculous Survival- Joe Simpson (4.5 stars)...I have to admit that I was BLOWN AWAY by Joe Simpson's story..."

This is a goodie. I only had 2 issues with the book. The first that the POV of Yates is presented as Yates but was actually written by Simpson. It would have been interesting to hear Yates' voice directly in the book. I just felt misled that I was reading Yates when it was Simpson's best guess.

Second - I always wondered how Simpson created such detailed descriptions of his delerium - if he was that out of it how did he know how to describe all those particulars?

The story itself is absolutely incredible. I have read several adventure stories but I think this one was the most impressive example of the determination of survival. They made it into a movie which was eerie to watch - but not as awesome as this book. The two friends had a falling out after the book and movie which is sad considering all they went through together.

I completely agree. I think he took a lot of artistic license in this book...I can barely recall the conversations I had last week, let alone years ago! I did think he did a great job of capturing the insanity of those thoughts, though.
I'd like to read Simon Yates's book, to see what he thinks about the whole thing. In the afterword of the version I read, Joe mentions that Simon felt he did a great job of capturing Simon's thought process, but I think it'd be better to hear it from the horse's mouth.

13. The Gunslinger- Stephen King (3.5 stars, at the moment)

I feel I can't really rate this book until I've read a few more in the series, as it's so random and disjointed. I really enjoyed it, though, and am looking forward to seeing how the story progresses. The only other encounter I've had with Stephen King was The Tommyknockers, which I half-read when I was 12 or so and absolutely HATED. That completely put me off reading Stephen King up to now (15 years later), but this book has made me think that maybe I should give him another chance...

Heather wrote: "13. The Gunslinger- Stephen King (rating pending)

I feel I can't rate this book until I've read a few more in the series, as it's so random and disjointed. I really e..."

Heather, I can relate to being put off of SK by trying to get into one of his books...the one I couldn't stand was IT. I started to watch the miniseries and the clown was so creepy/scary that I thought I would read the book...that also was creepy/scary, too much so, so I decided I didn't like SK. (My nephews just love his work, one even wanted to be a writer because of him, but I just couldn't see it at all)

Long story short, I saw a couple of his other books-into-movies (The Dead Zone, The Langoliers) that were not so creepy and scary, but still far-fetched. I liked them and that made me think perhaps I could at least try some of his other ones, in book form even.

Carol wrote: "Heather wrote: "13. The Gunslinger- Stephen King (rating pending)

I feel I can't rate this book until I've read a few more in the series, as it's so random and disjoin..."

My husband read IT and didn't like it at all. He's read a few of his others, though, and says they're really good (The Stand, Needful Things, Four Past Midnight), but not really sure how scary they are. After reading Gunslinger I think I'll give him another shot, so I might read The Stand in the coming months.
Let me know if you end up a SK convert!

OK, LOL

Carol, ease yourself in by starting with The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon, and then perhaps go to Misery. I am not a fan of horror stories, but I like these, as well as a number of King's short stories.

Heather wrote: "13. The Gunslinger- Stephen King (rating pending)
I feel I can't rate this book until I've read a few more in the series, as it's so random and disjointed. I really e..."

Heather, my who family LOVES Stephen King and has been reading him since the 70s. I tried to read him when I was younger (pre-teens & teens even in my 20s) and didn't like him. But I read Dreamcatcher, which I thought was a great book (terrible movie) and now I'm reading Under the Dome which is a really good book as well (although over 1000 pages). I'm going to read The Stand this year as well. Maybe King is for older readers IDK or maybe I'm just a different kind of reader now that I'm older.

I do recommend Dreamcatcher & Under the Dome though.

Peg wrote: "Carol, ease yourself in by starting with The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon, and then perhaps go to Misery. I am not a fan of horror stories, but I like these, as well as a number of King's short stories."

I was going to suggest the same thing. The movies Shawshank Redemption and Stand By Me were based his short stories (Rita Hayworth and Shawshank Redemption, The Body) and are not horror tales at all. If you enjoyed those movies you would likely enjoy his short stories that they came from and perhaps get a smaller taste of his writing.

14. The Little Stranger-Sarah Waters (4 stars)

This book is a hard one to rate; on the one hand, I loved the tone, pacing, and characters in this book (thought Dr Faraday's scepticism started to grate on my nerves, towards the end!), but on the other hand, I found myself fairly dissatisfied upon finishing it. I was left wanting more, which shouldn't happen with a 500 page book, and I felt quite robbed of a satisfactory ending. I know this was clearly Waters's intent and it made the book all the more realistic, but I felt that there was so much set up in this book that was left unresolved at the end, and this really irritated me. Wonderfully written, though, and a real page-turner.

15. One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest- Ken Kesey (4 stars)

I really enjoyed reading this deceptively-large book detailing one man's rebellion against the "system". At times I felt it was a little long-winded, but overall I was moved by Patrick McMurphy's ultimately selfless quest to improve the lives of his fellow asylum inmates and his refusal to allow himself to be beaten down by the powers that be.
I feel that one issue did restrict my enjoyment, however: the copy I read was borrowed from my University library and had every single quasi-religious sentence underlined! As such, I found myself drawing a million parallels between McMurphy's struggle against "evil" and that of Jesus Christ! An extremely distracting way to read a book, I must say.

16.Ficciones- Jorge Luis Borges (3 stars)

This book took me FOREVER to read, and completely threw me off the pace of this challenge! At first I did not like it at ALL, and couldn't get my head around both Borges's writing style and the apparent-randomness of his stories. Once I read a bit about him, though, and heard from others about why they like him so much (thanks, Lauli!), I started to understand where he was coming from and found myself enjoying some of his pieces. This isn't at ALL an easy-reading kind of book, and I feel it is more suited to English/Literature courses at University than general interest reading, but I was quite impressed by his ideas and excellent literary skills in the end, so am glad I persevered.

Heather wrote: "16.Ficciones- Jorge Luis Borges (3 stars)

This book took me FOREVER to read, and completely threw me off the pace of this challenge! At first I did not like it at ALL..."

I'm glad you persevered also. I had just the opposite reaction when I first read Borges. About three years ago a friend recommended
him and I bought "Collected Fictions" - a volume that includes "Ficciones". I was absorbed from the first story on and since then I've been getting whatever I can by him. I've recently been reading interviews and lectures and enjoying them. For me Borges awakens and reinforces a desire to read more and hopefully better literature.

17. The Drawing of the Three- Stephen King (4.5 stars)

I absolutely LOVED this book! It was so well done, with such an excellent cast of characters, and I found this to be much more of a page-turner than the first book. I've never read any dark-fantasy before, so this series is turning out to be an unexpected-but-wonderful surprise, and I can't wait to see what's in store for Roland and his crew.

18. Lord of the Flies- William Golding (3 stars)

Like every other person in the English-speaking world (and many from NESBs!), I did this book to death in high school- read it twice over a semester, had to watch BOTH the movies, and wrote about a billion essays on societal constraints and the tenuousness of our civility. Due to this, the story line and plot twists of this book have been ingrained into my memory, and I thus felt that I didn't get as much out of reading it this time around as I would have had I never read it in school. That said, it's still an enjoyable- if simple- read, and is a chilling reminder of how close we actually are to reverting to savages (and how innately evil children are :P).

19. Alice's Adventures in Wonderland / Through the Looking-Glass- Lewis Carroll (4.5 stars)

I absolutely LOVED this book! Although I've been an avid reader since childhood I'd somehow never read Alice in Wonderland before, and I now wish I had picked it up all those years ago. Literary nonsense is definitely my thing! I absolutely fell in love with Carroll's writing style and wonderfully absurd use of the English language, and can't wait to have my own children to read this to. I giggled my way through Alice in a few hours (which I'd rate as 5 stars), and then struggled a bit more through Looking Glass (which I'd rate as 4), so overall I'm giving this 4.5 our of 5. If you haven't read this before, do yourself a favour and pick it up! Truly wonderful.

Heather wrote: "4. The Alchemist- Paulo Coelho (1.5 stars)

I didn't like this book at all. I feel that there are far better Magic Realism authors out there and didn't enjoy the writing ..."

I felt precisely the same way. The Alchemist seems to be a rather 'Marmite' book, either you love it, or you hate it (how dare it pretend to be more profound and meaningful than it actually is!). I had high expectations when I started it and felt it just never delivered.

Is it just me, or are there far too many "Heather"s here? lol. Glad to have finally found your list. Interesting perspective on the Coelho book. I'm a die-hard fan of his early stuff (he's lost it a bit after The Witch of Portobello).

I'm not very religious either, but I like his slant on things. As Amanda says, it's a Marmite book. I like that.

I'm trying to get through One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest. It's very dense. A lot going on in there. I think I like it.

haha yes, there are TONS of Heathers! Plus there's another Heather P, which makes it all the more difficult.

I think my problem with Coelho is I'm a really scientific, rational person (I'm almost finished my psychology PhD and am a die-hard atheist) and seem to become more so as I get older, so I can't stand spiritual, mystical things these days. I actually read this book as an agnostic teenager and loved it, but my opinion was COMPLETELY different when I read it a few months ago, at the height of my atheism.
My mum's not particularly religious but she's very spiritual and "zen", so she loved this book, where as I didn't like that side of it at all. Give me a Carl Sagan book any day!
I hope you like Cuckoo's Nest! I found it quite hard to get through, too, and it took me MUCH longer than anticipated to finish it, but it ends really well and is one of those books that sticks with you afterwards. Good luck with it!

Hey Heather:

You might be interested in this book that explains why people so easily want to buy religions and spiritualism. SuperSense: Why We Believe in the Unbelievable

Cheers,
Faye

ooh, I haven't heard of that before but will have to give it a go! What'd you think of it?

It was quite interesting, with some arguments I'm still puzzling over (Who rules you - that little voice in your head or the tissue in your skull?)

20. Eating Animals- Jonathan Safran Foer (5 stars)

This book is the most awful, and the most important, thing I have ever read, and it has literally changed my life. Foer provides an (as much as possible) objective account of the common farming techniques employed today, and the prevalence of factory farming. I was shocked to learn of the treatment of animals in factory farms, both in terms of their welfare and the drugs/anitbiotics they're plied with, and was even more shocked to learn of the overwhelming prevalence of these techniques. I can't believe the majority of our pork and poultry is raised in these conditions.

The one fact which has stayed with me more than anything else is that normal chickens have a life-span of 15-20 years, yet the ones we consume are FULLY GROWN after 39 days (at which point they're slaughtered). 39 days! Think of the size of a dog or cat- which have similar life spans- at 5 weeks of age and ask yourself what the hell we're putting into our bodies.

I can honestly say that I personally will never eat meat again, but even if this isn't your thinking, I DEFINITELY recommend that everybody read this book. You need to know what you're consuming.

Heather wrote: "20. Eating Animals- Jonathan Safran Foer (5 stars)

This book is the most awful, and the most important, thing I have ever read, and it has literally changed my life...."

Good on you Heather. I don't like to be the preachy kind of vegetarian, but it does annoy me when people just won't stop and THINK about what they're eating. Eating meat could be a lot more humane for those who can't bare the thought of living without it, but I just can't understand those people who ignore where their food comes from - its disrespectful.

Heather wrote: "20. Eating Animals- Jonathan Safran Foer (5 stars)

This book is the most awful, and the most important, thing I have ever read, and it has literally changed my life...."

I'm sure Foer's right, but you also need to read something by or about Temple Grandin. She has done a great deal to improve many slaughterhouses, to the extent that some merchants won't buy meat from any slaughterhouse that does not use her humanitarian methods. I just wish we could find out which ones.

Yeah, he talks a lot about the work of Temple Grandin, but the problem is that money talks and it's much cheaper for corporations to treat the animals this way and pay the fines than for them to raise/feed them better and lose a big chunk of their profit. I think it's wonderful that there are farmers and merchants out there who engage in ethical livestock practices, but the problem is that they're few and far between, and the price of meat is forcing farmers to cut corners wherever they can and raise their animals worse than they might otherwise like to. I think that ultimately the responsibility comes down to government legislation and outlawing many of these practices, such as veal crates and sow stalls, because as long as the industry is permitted to engage in these practices (and as long as the demand for cheap meat is so high), they will continue to do so.

I agree Heather, it can be done. In Britain there is already legislation banning veal crating, sow pens and inhumane livestock transportation, but its still far from perfect - poultry are still treated appallingly, living in cramped and stressful conditions. I accept that other people eat meat, but still think more needs to be done to change industry practices. When you can buy a whole chicken for the equivalent of £2.50, you can't seriously believe that animal had a full and pleasent life before it went to slaughter.

Can I mention the whole issue of the current mind set that allows people to believe spending $100 on jeans or a pair of sneakers for their kid is fine, but spending $6/lb for ground beef or a gallon of milk is outrageous? I'm lucky enough to live in a place where there are numerous farmer's markets. I can get organic produce & meat from ethical growers. Sure, I pay more for it, but I care more about what goes in my body than what I put on or around it. And there's something to be said for being on a first name basis with the person who provides your food.

Exactly, Donna! Plus you're supporting their efforts to keep their head above water in an increasingly corporation-led industry. I try to buy all my fresh produce from farmers' markets now, and yeah, fair enough it may be a little more expensive, but those people can't possibly compete with the prices of supermarkets. Buying from them, you're undoubtedly getting better-quality food, and you're allowing them to continue doing what they love in a world where small businesses are a dying breed. By choosing to shop at a supermarket when you have a farmers' market available to you, you're directly responsible for those people going out of business, and all for what? Saving $2 on your chicken? People need to be made more aware of how the farming business actually works, rather than believing the propoganda the supermarkets and government agencies put out, and then we'd see a shift in the right direction.

21. The Witches- Roald Dahl (4 stars)

I needed a really light-hearted read after Eating Animals and had been intending to re-read my Roald Dahls for a while, so decided to pick this up. It's a wonderful children's book, a quick, easy read, and wholeheartedly reminded me why Roald Dahl spawned my love of reading when I was 8 :)

Sorry, back to previous. The local grocery chains are now heavily into advertising their "fresh" food. If it was picked green & spent two weeks getting to the shelves by way of Chile, it ain't fresh. And I love the instructions for ripening fruit when you take it home. If I'm buying a peach, it's because I want to eat a peach NOW, not a week from now.
And I wasn't big on Roald Dahl at 8; probably the wrong time period... But Frank L. Baum.. Oh, yes, I devoured all those OZ books.

:D I love all this food talk. I'm so glad people are becoming more aware of what they put in their bodies. The best thing to do would be to plant the foods you like best, and eat them when they are _IN SEASON_. Last night a professor was talking about how eating things out of season also affect our development. At least 3 generations of humankind has devoured fruit/ veg/ meat that has been genetically tampered with. It's only a matter of time before this passes onto our own genetic code thus ruining our children's futures.

Organic is the way to go people!

Exactly! Like many artificial sweeteners, growth hormones and other genetic modification devices haven't been around long enough for people to really study the long-term effects of their use on our bodies. Already we see increased rates of cancer and other heath issues, and researchers are starting to link these occurrences with the food we consume. It never fails to amaze me that people will be health conscious in terms of smoking, drinking, exercise etc, but they don't stop to think about the food they eat and what's been done to it.

22. The Bad Beginning- Lemony Snicket (3.5 stars)

I've been flat-out lately marking Psychology Statistics assignments and haven't had much time to read, so this was my filler audio book. I bought it on eBay for AU$3, and boy, did I get my money's worth! Brilliantly read by Tim Curry, it's entertaining, funny, and at-times exciting, but got a bit much towards the end. That said, I would highly recommend it as a book for children or the child-at-heart.

Heather wrote: "22. The Bad Beginning- Lemony Snicket (3.5 stars)

I've been flat-out lately marking Psychology Statistics assignments and haven't had much time to read, so this was m..."

Tim Curry read it?!?!?! I MUST hear this now. Have you read any of the other books in the series? This series is on my to-read list (since I got about halfway through then stopped while waiting for new ones to get published).