50 Book Challenge 2017 Part Four

22. The Woman in White by Wilkie Collins

It has been a good few years since I last read this, and I really enjoyed it again. Walter Hartright finds himself having to unravel a conspiracy surrounding Laura, wife of a baronet who he first met when she was single and he was teaching her and her half-sister Marian drawing, and Anne Catherick, the mysterious and tragic woman in white.

Just caught up with the thread. Glad you all enjoyed the gonads, wanking vicars and all.

I really rate A Heartbreaking Work, as I've said before. It's definitely not for everyone and Cote would think it's dreadful, but I like the way it combines showiness and chaos and humour and pathos and bathos and probably some other 'osses' too. I think it's both clever and moving, and also pretty pithy and pacy for something so big and self indulgent.

Book 31
The Seven Dials Mystery - Agatha Christie
Thoroughly enjoyed this until the revelation, which I felt was a bit of a cheat. This was a wonderfully funny romp though, with some great characters and it really made me smile. Some fantastic pen portraits and a great female lead. All jolly good fun.

23. The Vegetarian by Han Kang.

A translation of a South Korean book about family, desire, inner turmoil, fitting in with societal norms; this story was really quite different to any book I've read recently. Intense imagery and characters, I was swept away by this novella told in three acts with the only constant being the central character's decision to stop eating meat. Very good.

I lost you all for a bit there!

Reading ground to a halt over the past couple of weeks due to insane amounts of work. Looking forward to taking a couple of books on holidays with me. Do four-year-olds and reading mix well?

Loving the reviews!

Chessie
He has quite a flowery writing style which won't suit everyone.

I thought it was an incredibly detailed account of a childhood which was fascinating, different and ultimately well worth reading. But yes, his sentences are laden with description, multiple clauses etc. (In that respect, the book reminded me a little of Kevin Powers' The Yellow Birds where I was put off by the writing style.)

I really want to read that chessie

42. Fingers In The Sparkle Jar by Chris Packham

I listened to this on Audible read by Chris himself which added an extra layer. This isn't a typical autobiography - it jumps around in time and sometimes it's in the first person and sometimes in the third person. He has quite a flowery writing style which won't suit everyone. I really liked this though, a really good insight into what it's like growing up with undiagnosed Asperger's.

AHBWOSG yes cote he's knows it's going to be overblown but he's aware of that and documenting his grief and doesn't give a toss. I would not recommend it for you, though don't think you'd like it at all

"There was rum, sodomy and the lash, the odd wanking vicar (remember that stupid bloody alien book I reviewed last year with the wanking vicar, folks?) and masturbation galore"

Outstanding review, Remus

"The title of A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius pretty much sums ups the style of the book."

Is that style called Hyperbole?

I must admit that title put me off for that reason and I never felt like reading the book.

Yes - very much enjoyed your review remus I know it's a bit out of context but loved the juxtaposition of these two sentences, made me roar:

I feel I must report that I have never seen the word ‘gonads’ written so many times in such quick succession. I thoroughly enjoyed this.

Remus, I enjoyed the Berkowitz book too. It reminded me a lot of Reay Tannahill's Sex in History, although the latter was published more than 30 years before Berkowitz's book.

satsuki yes I agree that the circle was chilling and yes very significant, taking the way we live now to its logical extreme and making a story of that.

magimedi just catching up with thread - glad I was able to help, very sweet of you blow your cover and post; hope you will again

No gin, it's a matter of taste, that's all, de-pleb yourself

ontopofthesunset yes exactly. It is as much about the difficulty of capturing life and death without reducing it. Big stuff happens but the trivial stuff marches on at the same time. I only found out once I finished it that his sister committed suicide in 2001, which made the book even more poignant.

stillloving I read and enjoyed The Circle last year, which is what made me go back and seek this out. Not the best book I've ever read, but probably one of the most significant for where we are now with social media and the commercialisation of private life. I thought it quite chillingly prescient and I've thought about it a lot since and recommended it. The film is coming out soon I think. I will read more of his if/when I can get round to them too.

Last year I read Dave Eggers' The circle which I loved. Not written in a stream of consciousness way at all, quite a "standard" narrative but an impressive dystopian book about social media. I imagine many of you must have read it, wonder what you thought

The title of A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius pretty much sums ups the style of the book. I read it quite a few years ago but felt rather like Satsuki - overall I found it moving and an impressive piece of work, but at times it is exactly like the title, which of course Dave Eggers knows.

You're probably right and it says more about me than the author. It did so well, I feel I ought to like it. I read dept of speculation which was poetic but accessible. I like different styles but stream of consciousness isn't my bag. Nor magical realism. I'm a pleb, aren't I?!

ginswigmore It doesn't really "get good" - it is what it is, and if you don't get on with the style early on it won't change at all so maybe it's just not for you, and that's fine! I didn't love it, and found it quite hard work at times, but I was moved by it enough to see it through. It's not one I'd recommend unreservedly.

1. Bee Wilson 'this is not a diet book'
2. Harry Potter & the chamber of secrets (read with DC)
3. Jennifer Weiner 'all fall down' (crap)
4. Lauren Sandler 'one and only'
5. Rene and Goscinny the Nicholas Book (children's book)
6. Katja Rowell fussy eating book
7. Nicola Yoon 'everything everything' (YA book)
8. JD Robb 'echoes in death'
9. JD Vance 'Hillbilly elegy'
10. Jonathan Kellerman Heartbreak Hotel

Right, here I am again, after having slowed down in my reading for a while I've picked up speed and finished no 10 on my list very quickly. This was my first Jonathan Kellerman book, number 30+ in the Alex Delaware series (as I'm on a roll currently with easy crime fiction like this or JD Robb. This wasn't bad. Psychologist and LAPD advisor Alex Delaware meets 100 year old Thalia Mars at a decrepit hotel in LA; she hands him a massive cheque, telling him she wants to talk about psychopathy, but doesn't get around to saying anymore as the next day she's murdered. Won't say more to avoid spoilers. I think Kellerman's writing is good (in this category of books) hence his work being number 1 bestsellersI found this on the NY Times bestsellers list at number 1 a couple of weeks agobut I imagine other Alex Delaware books may be much better than this. Still, I'll persist with the series.

Anyone read any other Jonathan Kellermans?

Poetic, I agree with your review of Little life. It made me too feel like a voyer, and was wondering whether the author was joking or what, taking things continuously a step further!

Currently reading various other things--and as I said have picked up speed with my reading again thanks to lurking on this thread. One of the things I'm halfway through is Hidden Figures which I think is great (and would love to see the movie too).

^ aaarggh. I have tried to read AHWOSG at least four times and just end up putting it down again. When does it start getting good?! I'm mean obviously
big little lies was unputdownable. Chick lit but with a whodunnit plus some dark humour and then some serious shit very literate review there

15. A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius by Dave Eggers

A memoir of the author's life in the years after losing both parents to cancer in quick succession, leaving him as guardian of his 7 year old brother. This is a tricky one to write about. It feels impossible to separate the writing from the subject - if you feel he is being at any point tacky, arrogant, self absorbed, superficial... well he thinks it too and acknowledges it along the way as he tries to play with the hand he has been dealt, and come to terms with the painful memories of his own childhood whilst trying to create a stable one for his sibling. Any criticism feels personal and mean spirited and I think that's testament to the style of the book; it is almost stream of consciousness, all boundaries apparently down. Writing-wise, story-wise - it is sometimes brilliant, sometimes patchy, but always searingly honest, sad, and often moving. The 90s moment it captures was nostalgic to read about and I enjoyed that aspect of it, too. Not for everyone I would say, but I liked it.

I paused Red Rising halfway to finish that so back to it now.

23. His Bloody Project: Graeme Macrae Burnet This was extremely enjoyable to read, an excellent page turner and nicely managed voices within the different types of document. Very cleverly conceived and almost entirely achieved. Two flaws for me: the self-confession which despite the authorial voice's best endeavours was too unbelievable in its literary quality, and the unsatisfactory ending. I didn't expect a massive twist or surprise but I felt I was left slightly hanging.

I've been giggling at all your Dan Brown "love" and thanks for the kind comments about my review - I think it was the renowned Oscar Wilde who said "we are all in the gutter, but some of us are looking at Dan Brown".

Oh Keith, expanding breasts, so funny. There's something hysterical about the use of "smoothen" there.

whippet Really looking forward to My Week With Marilyn after your review. I've had a strange obsession with the film The Prince and the Showgirl since I was about 10, despite not thinking it especially good, there is something oddly compelling about it. I wonder if it is because of the tensions underlying the making of it.

ladydepp I read the first couple of chapters of Imperium but put it aside and haven't gone back so will interested in what you think.