50 Book Challenge 2017 Part Six

No English Lit after GCSE for me. Maths, French, Economics A-levels (so studied French literature at a higher level than English Lit.), and a degree in Philosophy. So I'm another one who's not had much experience of the classics other than those I've chosen to pick up.

vanderly I love that he talked you out of reading the book by giving too thorough an interview

Misread Cote's question. I did A level E.lit.

I did Eng Lit for A level but then went on to do psychology for my degree. Never read any Conrad, although Heart of Darkness is on my kindle so may get round to it one day!

I did Higher and CSYS English and got As in both (not often I get to boast about that! CSYS stands for Certificate of Sixth Year Studies and is a Scottish qualification considered to be equivalent to the first year of an undergrad degree).

Degree was Law and French, which included French Literature modules. Bloody hated Law!

I did degree & postgraduate English & American lit.

I enjoyed reading and studying Conrad and found him endlessly useful for references but I wouldn't want to be stuck with him on a desert island

Me - I got a C grade too. Economics degree (I still ask myself why).

Never read any Conrad.

I did Eng Lit at A Level (got a very undistinguished C grade!) then went onto do English Lit and History at Uni. Much preferred the Lit part of my degree and two of the modules were the American Novel and Feminist Literature which were particularly interesting.

Out of curiosity, how many of us here studied English/Lit at uni? And which degrees do the rest of us have?

I studied engineering, art, math, and economics at undergraduate + master's. So no Eng lit lessons after 18 for me, which is I have limited knowledge of classics and never read any Conrad until a few years ago (for pleasure)

I'm going to read ST and the underground railroad I think but not sure about the others. Lincoln seems a slightly off beat choice, pleased to see it on there. I wasn't a huge fan of Roy's first and the title alone of her latest has put me on my guard - interested in what others think though (see, titles are all you need to make an informed decision)

Welcome back Joyless I'm glad that you enjoyed Ballard's Miracles of Life.

Satsuki

I definitely won't be able to read the whole list, but I do want to read Underground Railroad, Reservoir 13, the Roy book. I'm on the fence about the Auster (so long!) and the Hamid (his interview at the library was v thorough).

Desdemona, I love My Family and Other Animals!

I've never read any Conrad - doesn't sound like I'm missing much! Haven't read Mister Pip either. Uncultured! Thank you for the insight into A Handful of Dust, Remus and Satsuki!

I'm the only one who feels absolutely sure I'm right about the best book in the list despite never have read ANY of the others?! My way is a lot less work - judging by covers all the way

I also read Heart Of Darkness as part of my degree course, sounds like it must have been mandatory as so many of us did! I really didn't enjoy it although I'm glad I've read it and the classic line 'The horror! The horror!' does stay with you. I found it a very rewarding book to dissect and study but like many others I've given Conrad a wide berth ever since.
Just started My Family and Other Animals and finding it surprisingly well written and engaging, I think I was expecting a adolescent/children's book. Also have The Siege on the go, hoping to finish them both next week when I have a poolside holiday

to all new threadees & to all the regulars - I've missed you guys, and see that I've missed a great Lincoln in the Bardo discussion

I plan to make sure I don't slip off the thread again ...

It's been so long since I last posted, that I truly believed you'd be onto the next thread by now (and you are only nearly there!) I'd been having a real struggle with reading and have three unfinished books behind me - Slaughterhouse Five, Hallucinations and Keeping On, Keeping On - all of which I thought would be right up my streeth. But here's what I have managed:

29. Barkskins Annie Proulx: the sweeping tale of two lines, that of Rene Sel who marries a native indian and that of Charles Duquet who becomes a Duke and forms a logging dynasty. The real story is of forests, how everyone believes they are so huge as to be ever constant, until they aren't. Slightly uneven in parts, but still a great read.
30. Second Wind Dick Francis: re-read of an old favourite, helped to get me going again.
31. Miracles of Life J G Ballard: recommended by Cote for which many thanks I found it a beautifully observed memoir of growing up in extraordinary circumstances, yet descrbing it such that it was clearly the only normal he knew. This rang so true, as something that is shared by all of us who had a childhood in the troubled world of "overseas", even if I not during a World War.
32. The Count of Monte Cristo Alexandre Dumas: a book club selection and one I found disappointing. There was too much "hand of god, avenging angel" bollocks for me. It turned a detailed revenge tale into something altogether dense and hard work.
33. A Place of Greater Safety Hilary Mantel: her annoying writing tics are even more present in this early book - a tale of the French Revolution - but I still really enjoyed it. It cracked along at a good pace and let's face it, it's one hell of a great backdrop.
34. Faithful Alice Hoffman: I seem to have found myself in an unexpected online book club with two girls I was in school with who are FB friends. I really liked the premise - how do you keep on living when you're the girl who lived while your best friend remains in a constant coma ... especially when you were the one driving the car? Despite her early struggle feeling real - heavy, burdened, bogged-down, lonely and unconnected - there was too much which lacked realism. Nearly something good.
35. Eligible: A modern retelling of Pride & Prejudice Curtis Sittenfeld - witty modernisation, but ultimately lacking the sharpness of the original.
36. This Must Be The Place Maggie O’Farrell - what I call good quality chick-lit. The story jumps around time and POVs which could annoy some, but I found it a good examination of the consequences of loving a charming but ultimately weak man.

RMC - I'm looking forward to reading about your Booker read-along. I've done it for years but after last year turning into a hellish struggle, I promised myself I wouldn't this year. I totally get you wanting to find out first hand if anything beats your experience of Lincoln in the Bardo, that's how I got drawn into doing it

40. Mad Girl by Bryony Gordon. I enjoyed Gordon's first book The Wrong Knickers which is a jolly, funny romp through the crazy things she got up to in her 20s. Unusually, her second book is better. At the start, she confesses that she left out a huge factor - the serious mental health issues that she has suffered from since her teens. Still managing to be very funny, but far more interesting and honest, this sheds a light on mental health problems including OCD (surely one of the least understood conditions) and depression.

Glad you're enjoying it too @noodlezoodle, do you take part in the discussion group at goodreads at all? I sometimes post on the update threads but I've kind of lost touch with it now, there were some good ideas for choosing books initially though. I think you're right though, mixing in some stuff you're reading just because you fancied it is the way to go.

Going to look up The Silence Between Breaths now.

22. Commonwealth by Ann Patchett. Really enjoyed this - a rec from these threads- although the ending came unexpectedly quickly for me. I haven't adjusted to looking at the page counter on kindle/Overdrive, and often I am caught out by not being paced right at the end! I will definitely look for other books by her.

33. The Ballad Of Peckham Rye - Muriel Spark

A short, funny novel set in post-war Peckham in which a mischievous and possibly devilish newcomer, Dougal Douglas, upsets the status quo and blithely turns upside down the lives of those he encounters. The story doesn't have a huge amount of meat to it but is full of great one-liners and I enjoyed the setting, having grown up not far away from "the Rye" myself.

23. Bossypants by Tina Fey

I found some of this interesting, particularly the behind the scenes SNL\sitcom writing parts, but overall it reads like a book she was asked to write rather than a story she had to tell, and it feels like a mishmash; a sense highlighted rather than diminished by her wry self awareness. At the end there are a couple of chapters covering breastfeeding and childcare that felt tacked on. She's best when she is being more personal - not as in telling personal things, but when what she is saying is more obviously from the heart. I like her and am interested in her, but I didn't really like this book as much. A good time passer if you like comedy and comic writing but not hugely insightful. There were other things that didn't sit that well but I can't be bothered to go into them. I see Amy Poehler's book is on the monthly deals - has anybody read it or TF's to compare? Is it worth a punt or much the same?

104. Victorians Undone: Tales of the Flesh in the Age of Decorum by Kathryn Hughes

I was really looking forward to this - the title makes it sound really interesting and I thought I would get more perspective on how the Victorians viewed their bodies and dealt with body related issues. However, I was disappointed. It's actually the stories of 5 people, with the main perspective being a part of their body. The first story, Flora Hastings' Belly, was interesting as it was about a suspected pregnancy in Victoria's court. Charles Darwin's Beard turned out to be just about a load of me who had beards and why. George Eliot's Hand was basically just her life story with a bit of extra focus on the story that she had one hand bigger than the other. Same story with Fanny Cornforth's Mouth, and it ends with the story of the trial following the murder of Sweet Fanny Adams. I did learn some interesting snippets about some of these people but overall it wasn't as interesting as it sounded.

Composteleana, yes, that's the one. I've really enjoyed it so far and it has definitely got me out of my reading rut (last year I rarely read anything that wasn't a detective novel), but I feel exactly the same way about just wanting to choose my next book without having to meet a prompt. I just bought The Silence Between Breaths based on recommendations on this thread and I'm dying to read it, but I can't fit it into any of the prompts! I'd still like to finish the challenge if I can but will definitely have to go off piste every now and then I think.

Going to get back into reading after stopping in May. Am reading a free american book currently and will then read its sequel but any recommendations?