50 Book Challenge 2016 Part Five

Ooh, nearly forgot:

55. In the Land of Giants, by Max Adams. Non-fiction - the author is an archaeologist, and this book is about him wandering around various parts of the UK looking for remnants of the Dark Ages. It's rambling in every sense - lots of hiking (as well roaming on motorbikes and boats) and musing. He told me something knew about the place where I live. It might get a bit boring to read straight through - I've read it in bits and pieces in between other books. The kind of thing you'll like, if you like this kind of thing.

Chessie, I like the sound of Read all about it and have ordered it. Did you ever read Anne Fadiman's book Ex Libris? It's the best book about books I've read.

53. The millionaire and the bard : Henry Folger's obsessive hunt for Shakespeare's First Folio, by Andrea Mays Does what it says on the tin - a non-fiction account of a rich American book-collector. Written by a Professor of Economics, and shows it: it's mostly about doing the deal rather than the works themselves. She is highly indignant about Rockefeller and Standard Oil (the source of Folger's wealth) being accused of anti-competitive practices, and she touches on the objections to Shakespeare's works leaving the UK, without making any real points about it. It was okay - there are better books about the afterlife of Shakespeare's work.

54. Pomfret Towers, Angela Thirkell No point taking a hatchet to fluff. 1930s tale of the doings of the upper classes; a weekend house-party, complete with middle-aged lady authoresses, gels who discourse knowledgeably on horses and hounds, and one bounderish artistic sort. I enjoyed it immensely.

Ah, Grendels, that might explain it. I do have a fascination with the USA and studied English with American studies for my degree as well as living there as a child for a year. I am going to look at some of the books you reviewed

16. Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone - JK Rowling I forgot how short this story was but still enjoy it. This is my 2nd reread i think and still feel such a part of the world.

17 is Harry Potter and Chamber of Secrets.

whippetwoman I'm half-American! Usually doesn't affect my reading that much (I don't think...maybe I'm deluding myself), but a lot of American books have clustered at the top of my pile recently. Funny, that.

Aww Stokey, I'm bummed you didn't love After Me Comes the Flood. You're right, the mystery is defused pretty early on. I liked that she maintained the sense of something awful being about to happen, though. Thought that was a pretty clever trick, since she'd already given away the reason behind them all being there. But I can see why that would disappoint, too.

Oh and finished
41. After Me Comes the Flood - Sarah Perry. This was reviewed on the last thread and sounded intriguing. A man leaves his life, gets into his car and ends up at a country house where the people seem to know his name and be expecting him. But there isn't really much of mystery. It becomes clear quite early on why they know him and why they are all there. The writing and atmosphere were well written, it's a hot summer and there is an oppressive, apathetic feeling that pervades the story. But I wanted more mystery and plot which I felt were a bit lacking.

I've just started A Fortunate Age by Joanna Rakoff, which was recommended to me by someone. So far a lot of naval gazing by twentysomethings in Brooklyn at the end of the 90s. Cote would hate it.

Grendels, you've read a lot of interesting books there. I do like the sound of the Essex Serpent, but they all sound good. Do you have a particular interest in the USA?

46. A Week at the Airport: A Heathrow Diary – Alain de Botton
I have always loved airports, particularly large international airports such as Heathrow, so this short book of musings based on the author spending a week as ‘writer in residence’ at Heathrow in 2009 for one week was enjoyable for me. It’s brief, and very light, there’s nothing profound or deeply philosophical going on here but I found it diverting and enjoyable to think about how and why we travel and what airports represent to us.

I think you're right Sadik. Actually Dd1 knows very little about religion anyway, I think the only biblical story she's aware of is Christmas, so maybe it's a good introduction for her.

Cote I think by cerebral I meant it is more ideas and philosophy driven rather than plot driven. It's definitely not a space opera in the ilk of Iain M Banks. It's also not really about "feelings" - as opposed to A Long Way from A Small Angry Planet which I really liked but I think has the trademarks of space opera that you are worried about.

I can't think of another book to compare it, although The Glass Bead Game randomly popped into my head just now. I think it was cheap on Kindle so may be worth a punt.

Thanks for that Grendel. Good idea to check university publishers. I'm not in the UK so brick & mortar bookstores are not an option, sadly. I will see if I can find something on those websites & get it delivered here.

Vanderly, I'd love to read some George Packer. I'll keep an eye out for that one.

Cote - I'm intrigued by your quest for a Rameau book. Try the university presses? Oxford, Cambridge and Manchester are all decent bets. Quite possibly not available on Amazon, but a bricks-and-mortar bookshop would order for you. Their catalogues are all online.

33. Five Children in the Western Front by Kate Saunders Thank you for the suggestion Remus, I enjoyed this. The prologue is very heart wrenching, although I didn't think the rest of the book quite lived up to it. I thought her portrayal of the girls from the original book was excellent and very believable, but wasn't so convinced by the boys- I didn't quite buy Robert, who fought the baker's boy, as a scholar.

I also had this mental itch that I have read another, sadder, children's book about WW1- not that bit in Noël Steatfeild's Vicarage Family when John has to go back to the war (which is devastating and so well done). Possibly a set of 4 books where each was narrated by a different sister, though I think that was WW2. I don't suppose anyone knows what I migh be thinking of?!?

84. Different Class by Joanne Harris

This was great. It's set in the same boys' school as her earlier novel Gentlemen and Players. In this book the story is told by two voices - one is the Latin master, the other is a boy at the school. The story is set in the present day and in the early 1980s. Gradually the stories come together and you find out the influence that the boy from the 1980s has on the school now. This is beautifully written although I did have to sometimes stop for a second just to work out which voice was speaking. I definitely recommend it though!

37. Secret Seven Mystery I was more eager to find out what happened in this than my own book, which I'm still struggling to pick up. Have been away this week thought and busy so determined to just get on with it now.

I'm not keen on the later poems in Birthday Letters but there are some beautiful, resonant images and phrases in there. One about eating a peach off a stall and being 'dumbfounded afresh by my ignorance of the simplest things' and in the Pink Wool Knitted Dress where he describes her eyes as like jewels in a dice cup always stick with me.

Plath and Hughes got married on Bloomsday, which brings me back to Ulysses - looking I think a bit of reading around it to give you a framework is probably helpful, I would have liked to go into it a bit deeper but didn't really have the brainpower available at the time . I did find the language quite pleasurable to read once you allow yourself to just concentrate on that, though, so see how you find it. There is a book called Ulysses and Us that I read a bit after that was quite good on the cultural impact and so on, and goes into each chapter and what is great about the book as a whole, written by a real enthusiast. That's the only one I really looked at so don't know how it compares to others as a guide, I dipped in and out of it and found it quite interesting.

Thanks, Remus, but I'd call my taste in music fringe rather than highbrow There seems to be just one book ever written on Rameau on Amazon (can this even be true?) and it costs.... £16.37

54 HHhH by Laurence Binet
Finally got a free evening to sit and concentrate on this. I really liked the way it was written, and the author's grappling with the ethics of his trade and it made an interesting companion piece to Beyond the Beautiful Forevers, which took a completely opposite approach to relating real events.

Reading Amazon reviews, I think I feel completely the opposite to most of those who had reservations - they liked the story of Heydrich, but not the style. I loved the writing and approach - but I just really struggle with WW2 novels/accounts. (A bit like Testament of Youth - I'm glad I read it; I'm not going to read it again.)

Next up I think will be Undercover by Rob Lewis & Paul Mason, about the police who infiltrated protest groups.

Sorry, Cote - absolutely no idea at all for you. Your musical tastes are clearly much more highbrow than mine!

Glad to see more HHhH love!

Chillie - I quite enjoyed The Poisoned Belt although seem to remember thinking it all got a bit daft at the end. Challenger is a great character.

I'm really enjoying the book by a surgeon that some of us bought on Kindle the other day. Will hopefully have a review for you by tomorrow night, although work is a bit crazy this week so it might slow me down!

Cote, I'm a bit late, but I do hope you like Lab Girl as much I as I do should you read it.

Grendels, have you read The Unwinding by George Packer? It was recommended to me and deals with how the space left by the decline of certain US public institutions has been filled with 'organized money' to the detriment of the social fabric and economy. I've not yet read it, but it's on my pile.

55. The Poison Belt by Arthur Conan Doyle

Short one, just a novella really, following the experiences of Professor Challenger and his three companions from The Lost World. This one begins with a letter from Challenger in The Times in which he puts forward the idea that the earth is entering a poisonous belt of ether which threatens the lives of everyone on the planet. He summons his friends with the instruction to 'bring oxygen' and they effectively seal themselves in a room to await the end of the world. As preposterous as the story is, it is well told and the descriptions of the 'dead world' once the four emerge from their isolation are good.

Stokey - I'm not sure you can get away from religion in the Narnia books Caspian perhaps not so much, but Dawn Treader is pretty heavy on the religious themes. Does it matter, though - is it really that different from reading a re-telling of stories from the Mabinogion?

Lots to look out for there, Grendels - The Essex Serpent sounds wonderful. I loved Birthday Letters when I read it years back, but haven't picked it up for years, should definitely read it again.

I've been enjoying HhHH - thanks to Remus and everyone for the rec - but I'm going very slowly. I'm coming to the conclusion that I should just accept that summer isn't the time for me to read anything serious; too busy at work & with other stuff, so I tend to sit down to read because I'm shattered, & then can't concentrate. Poetry is probably the answer - I can just read 1 page at a time!

Friends, I need your help. I'm desperately a bit obsessed by Jean-Philippe Rameau's music at the moment - I'm listening to his music rather often neglecting DH & DC, earphones in ears and have started playing his stuff on the piano, too. Long-term sufferers of this thread might remember how I get when fixated on a dead Baroque musician so I thought a book about his life & music would be the perfect companion to my present mania about Rameau.

Something like John Eliot Gardiner's Music In The Castle Of Heaven about Bach's life & music would be great. Any ideas?

Pleasure, Grendel

First post on the new thread! It sounds like you lot have had some excellent reads recently (although Cote, thanks for warning me off Hugh Howey. I was vaguely interested in the Wool trilogy and am delighted to know I don't need to be anymore.)

60. Birthday Letters by Ted Hughes. Gorgeous, electric, sad poems about his life with Sylvia Plath. Worth reading with a grain of salt, since it's only one side of the story, but the imagery is very strong. My favourite is the poem about meeting a man on a bridge in London who has a fox cub in his coat.

61. A Tale for the Time Being, by Ruth Ozeki. Man Booker shortlisted in 2013; it's a split-narrative novel, one half of which belongs to Nao, an excitable Japanese teen writing a diary in the early 2000s, the second half of which belongs to Ruth, a half-Japanese novelist (quelle surprise) who's found the diary washed up on a beach in 2013. It's clever about quantum physics and Zen Buddhism; it never entirely ties the two stories together, but in a way the open-endedness is preferable.

62. The Essex Serpent by Sarah Perry. Brilliant, brilliant book. Set in 1891 - Cora Seaborne is widowed and takes her young (probably autistic) son Francis to Aldwinter, a village in Essex where she hopes to pursue her academic interest in geology, and where the villagers claim an ancient monster has returned to wreak vengeance. There's a wonderfully non-standard love story; there's a heroine who's big and tall and likes to eat and whose intellect is counted her main attraction; there are incredible descriptions of the countryside and of food; and there's a deep, generous sense of human nature that made me feel utterly emotionally invested in the characters. A book of the year contender, for sure.

63. Evicted: Power and Profit in the American City, by Matthew Desmond. A huge non-fiction study of how eviction shapes the lives of poor renters in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Desmond keeps himself out of it; he writes almost like a novelist, giving us portraits of the individuals he's writing about, letting us get inside their lives. It's a deeply distressing read, but his final chapter is a series of suggestions about how the US can improve conditions for poor renters - it can be done, he suggests, if politicians wanted to do it.

64. A Crime in the Neighbourhood, by Suzanne Berne. Told in retrospect by Marsha, who, when she was eleven, became convinced that she knew who had killed a boy in their quiet suburban neighborhood. Berne is incredibly good at describing the dynamics of angry children, lonely adults, and the meanness of suburban communities. It's a painfully sad read in a lot of ways, but very good.

65. Negroland, by Margo Jefferson. A memoir about growing up black and middle-class in Chicago. Incredibly illuminating about the amount of strain that middle-class black people in the States were put under: they knew that any weakness or failure, professional or personal, would be put down to their race. Jefferson also examines the intersection of class and gender in this segment of mid-century society. I thought it was excellent.

66. The Book of Memory, by Petina Gappah. A black albino woman on death row in a Zimbabwe prison for killing the white man who had adopted her writes her side of the story. It ought to be better than it is - the set-up has a lot of promise, but we never get a good sense of Memory (our main character) as a person; the whole book keeps the reader at a distance, which may be realistic but doesn't make the experience of reading it very satisfying. I've heard her first book, a story collection, is better.