50 Book Challenge 2018 Part Five

I’ve been in love with Ben Whishaw since Bright Star. I think he’s a great actor. And he and Hugh Grant have previous in Paddington.

Epoisses stinks about as much as Wolf Hall but it's always obvious who's being referred to - one knows where one is with cheese, unlike with Cromwell.

I watched last night. Loved Hugh Grant and Ben Whishaw ( a local boy for me!) . t really captured a bygone age brilliantly and was strangely Wes Andersonesque I its aesthetic and editing style.

26. A Very English Scandal - John Preston

Not sure if "enjoyed" is really the right word for this book, but I found it fascinating. I didn't really know anything about it as I was too young to care at the time, but looking back now it's shocking to think this is a true story. The characters are unpleasant, and you do question how they could become MPs, given their apparent levels of ineptitude - but maybe I shouldn't go too far down that line of thought!

Will be interesting to see the TV adaptation - recorded it but haven't watched it yet. But Hugh Grant definitely doesn't fit my vision of Jeremy Thorpe!

I don't know scribbly as I have no idea what an epoisses is. Waitrose anything passes as a bit too posh for me let alone fancy French cheese!

I wouldn't teach Wolf Hall either remus : no fear!

This cheese talk is making me feel terribly lowbrow, can we get back to books

remus I quite liked WH trying to get a bunch of 6th formers to follow all the he, Cromwell’s and tell Tom from Tom from Tom is a thankless task if ever there was one.

If anybody tells me I have to teach Wolf Hall for A level, I will resign.

On the cheese spectrum I thought it was definitely towards the cheese that goes in sandwiches end. No judgement of that mind. Who wants an epoisses in their lunchbox at work?

I thought it thought it was literary fiction as well. I think.

Hope you enjoy Serpent dottie

Maybe it's Mozzarella or something? Or Brie...

Bit posh but not something no one's ever heard of.

My test is : will it make it on to A level syllabuses at some point? I am not sure anything I have read recently will. Perhaps Wolf Hall if it weren't so long. The Essex Serpent possibly might : but teenagers wouldn't on the whole like it, I feel.

I thought Mermaid was literary fiction. That's why I wanted to read it! I don't think Imogen Hermes Gowar thinks she is writing 'commercial fiction ' at all. So I agree with remus on that. I do love a good book debate!

I actually think that the Mermaid writer thinks she's writing literary fiction, and that's why it annoyed me. If it had only been froth, I'd have forgiven it more.

Agree that the racism issue/sub-plot was a bolt-on (I alluded to it in my review) and that the novel jarred because it couldn't decide if it wanted to be fun fic or serious lit and therefore ultimately failed at both.

Dottie - hope you enjoy Serpent

I'd say The Dry is definitely worth a punt at 99p. I liked it, other than the end - which I thought was lazy and too heavily reliant on coincidence. DP hated the whole thing though (but he did love Serpent)!

Dottie no my objection to comparing the two isn’t because they sit in the same genre of Victorian historical fiction (with elements of magical realism) it’s because it’s a comparison of literary fiction (Serpent) vs commercial fiction (Mermaid). On a thread like this full of intelligent and articulate readers Serpent is going to get more praise because it’s asking more of the reader, and in turn the reader receives more of a reading legacy from it (generalisation there, I hope you get my drift).
Mermaid isn’t a complex book, and I don’t think it was intended to be. The words used to describe it here, “frothy” and “shimmering” (iirc) are right. For me the bum notes in it occurred when the author tried to include deeper themes. I thought the racism story line felt out of kilter with the rest of the book. It worked for me as a listener (and I do believe that some books work really well, possibly even better as audiobooks) because it was a bright and vibrant but light and easy novel. I'm wondering if its Uplit in petticoats? Sometimes as a reader that’s what hits the spot, but I seriously doubt it will maintain the longevity of praise and respect that Serpent has. It’s like comparing that really fancy crumbly cheddar aged in a cave for a year with the (nice) sainsburys grated stuff.

God I hope Ms Hermes-Gowar doesn’t ever reads that I just likened her book to grated cheese. I like grated cheese Imogen.

If you liked False Colours, I'd try Black Sheep and A Civil Contract if you haven't read them TooExtra.

Okay Satsuki and Remus ordered a copy of 'The Essex Serpent' your comments made it sound too good not to, thanks!

71. Faro's Daughter, Georgette Heyer

Not as impressed by this - it wasn't as irreverent as False Colours or The Foundling. Ravenscar was a bit too brooding and masterful for me - and he was too bloody perfect. Handsome, incredibly rich, drives brilliantly, can floor ex-pugillists (who then wax lyrical about him in a very unrealistic way)...No.

72. The Star Scroll, Melanie Rawn

I've had this in my house for about 15 years and never finished it before. The first third is a hard slog. It suffers from a common fault - the author falls in love with her main characters so much, that even though she is meant to be telling the tale of the next generation, she can't resist harking back to the originals, and it winds up bloated and she hasn't managed to make the reader care about her new characters. That said, it did eventually get going and I want to know what happens next (and I have owned the third book in the trilogy for as long as this one and I am determined to read it). It's a very long book and could have done with some ruthless editing. I like the concepts (Sunrunners, the diarmadhi, the dragons) much more than the actual plot so far. And Pol is too perfect and has too many extra special gifts.

14. The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society – Mary Anne-Shaffer & Annie Barrows
Thoroughly enjoyed this story set in post-war Britain and told by means of correspondence sent back and forth between the main protagonists. Heart-warming tale of love, friendship and strong women. Maybe I was suffering from post-good-book loss but I found the afterward by the author's niece extremely touching.

Probably coming in on this far too late but it doesn’t seem unreasonable to compare ‘Mermaid’ with ‘Essex Serpent’ there are so many Victorian pastiches in bookshops isn’t it fair to say it’s become a genre in its own right? I just assumed that the success of books like ‘The Crimson Petal and the White’ prompted publishers to go for ‘look-a-likes’, in an attempt to cash in on successful titles and things just built from there: easy to market too. I was excited by the Michael Faber and by the take on the Victorian era by Sarah Waters but then, for me, it all got a bit tired. However, I might try ‘Essex Serpent’ now based on other posters’ recommendations. I’m a bit of a curmudgeon as far as contemporary fiction is concerned these days, so much stuff seems badly edited and poorly structured or just plain annoying like ‘The Miniaturist’ that I’ve pretty much given up on reading recent stuff: unless I read a really convincing review or someone I trust recommends something.

26. The Skylarks' War Hilary McKay

Another children's book. I've been in love with McKay's writing since I read Saffy's Angel, and this one is similarly joyful, despite the subject. Unloved siblings Peter and Clarry live for summers in Cornwall with their grandparents and their golden cousin Rupert. But then war is declared and Rupert is sent to the Western Front. And everything changes ...
There isn't much of a plot, but it doesn't really matter. It's really the story of Clarry's growth and fight both for an education for herself and for happiness for the people she loves. Despite the awful home she lives in, this is a story filled with hope and love and flawed people doing the best they can. An utter delight.
(Another proof copy I nabbed through work. Out September.)

30. The Roses of May - Dot Hutchison

This is the sequel to The Butterfly Garden by the same author. It feature the same three FBI agents and carries on after the first book with some of the characters filtering in with a different crime. Priyas sister was murdered by a serial killer who kills once a year at spring. When she begins to receive gifts from him can she stop him killing again?

I was hooked on this one and I thought i was going to be disappointed and it wouldn’t live up to the first book. While not as twisted as the first it kept me interested and I enjoyed seeing how life was after the first book. The third book is out soon.

I recommend The Dry for that price.

Have finished another three novels - #26 - Capital by John Lanchester set on a fictional street in South London during the financial crisis. At first, I thought some of the characters had stepped straight out of the Daily Mash (notably the banker's wife Arabella) but it was a lot more subtle than that. Very funny and enjoyable. #27 - the much-read Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine by Gail Honeyman - started off being reminded of The Rosie Project, but became much darker. I enjoyed it even if it stretched credibility at times. #28 Big Brother by Lionel Shriver about a morbidly obese man who comes to stay with his younger sister, who doesn't recognise him when she picks him up from the airport. I thought his ensuing weight loss seemed too good to be true until I got to the end...now I have started something completely different - #29 How to Build Houses And Save the Countryside by Shaun Spiers.

I didn’t enjoy The Dry but I don’t tend to go for crime usually anyway. It’s probably worth it for a 99p holiday read if you like that sort of thing though.

That’s a shame, chessie, I loved Victoria Wood too,

That should definitely say typical, not atypical!!