50 Book Challenge 2019 Part Five

36. The Idle Parent - Tom Hodgkinson

This was pleasingly different from the average parenting book, with a philosophical backing to the advocacy of hands-off parenting. Read as part of my efforts against my acknowledged control-freakery.

I particularly liked his admission that children should have a regular bedtime because parents need an evening. (I have noticed that in both Jo Frost's and Sarah Ockwell-Smith's books, so different in approach in other ways, this ulterior motive was strictly disallowed - children should be put to bed on time purely for their own good.)

Hodgkinson wants to give children space to become resilient and able to make their own fun - not shaped into the dependent, subservient consumers required by the capitalist system. He also urges parents to curtail their spending so they can reduce the amount of time working and spend more time with their children and (crucially) being idle. I don't disagree with this per se. However, I suspect it is considerably easier to be idle if you have Hodgkinson's privileged background (he was educated at Westminster School and Jesus College, Cambridge); the nannies and au pairs he mentions have probably helped.

Over a month since my last proper review update and precious little reading going on, like a pp I've been distracted by a rewatch of Game Of Thrones, and also the garden. However audio books come into their own when gardening and I've listened to:

20. David Copperfield by Charles Dickens. As always with CD the coincidences the plot relies on are a little far fetched but the characters he brings to life are wonderful, my favourites were Wilkins McCawber ("Annual income twenty pounds, annual expenditure nineteen pounds nineteen shillings and six pence, result happiness. Annual income twenty pounds, annual expenditure twenty pounds ought and six, result misery.") Betsy Trotwood, Rosa Dartle and the despicable Uriah Heep. The less said about Dora Spenlow the better, I appreciate she's meant to be a simpering airhead but my god couldn't she have had some redeeming features other than looks! The character of Agnes is also very one dimensionally drawn, a pure angel with no other sides to her personality. Overall though I loved it and I'm glad I haven't seen a dramatisation for decades because much if it was fresh to me. The audio book was brilliantly read by Richard Armitage. I've already ordered the BBC serialisation starring a pre Harry Potter Daniel Ratcliffe as the young David Copperfield and Bob Hoskins as Micawber to watch post GOT.

21. The Girls by Lisa Jewell. I got this in a three for two Audible deal thinking it was a book with the same title by Emma Cline about a girl who joins a cult so for a long time I was thinking well she's taking a long time to get to the crux of the story!
    The synopsis of the book I actually read is: Clare and her two pre-teen daughters, Grace and Pip, move into Virginia Terrace, a cluster of flats and houses surrounding a communal garden. It's a place where families feel safe and children can run free. Neighbours have known each other for years, and trust each other implicitly. But then, after the annual garden party - a glorious summer's day of getting together and enjoying a barbecue, listening to music, having a few glasses of wine, letting the children play - the unspeakable happens. Grace is found by Pip, unconscious and half undressed, her face a bloody mess. And as a police investigation is launched, the secret games that the residents of Virginia Terrace have been playing for decades are about to be horribly, brutally exposed ...
    Not to put too fine a point on it this book was a load of tosh. Not recommended.

I've spent silly money on kindle books in the last couple of days as many on my wishlist were down by 50-60%.

I've bought A brief history of time as it's 99p, The House across the street by Lesley Pearce - a light read for when I'm stressed, Consumed: how we buy class in modern Britain by Harry Wallop which has been on my wishlist for ages, The Hidden Ways: Scotland's Forgotten Roads (another wishlist long timer), First Bite: how we learn to eat, East of Croydon by the lovely Sue Perkins, plus Everywoman after seeing it mentioned on here.

Good job it's half term! (nobody mention lesson planning....)

20. A History of the World in 21 Women by Jenni Murray
Listened to this on Audible which worked well - each of the selected women gets a chapter approx. 20-30mins long which for me works out as a good length for doing the dishes! The selection covers different continents and periods of history (although there seemed to be more from the last century than before that), and there are representatives of the fields of science, politics, art, literature and more. A lot of it was interesting to listen to but I've already forgotten the detail, but certain themes seemed to recur - it was more feminist than the History of Britain version and it was fascinating how many of the women had opportunities because their fathers nurtured their potential. The chapters on Angela Merkel and Hillary Clinton were also particularly interesting as the author gives her personal views and tries to cut through some of the misconceptions about them and their successes and challenges.
21. Shine by Andy Cope and Gavin Oates
A short, upbeat, rambling self-help book from a former teacher and a happiness guru. This has a very chatty conversational style, jumps around a lot and doesn't have one clear message but lots of anecdotes and metaphors that are intended to prompt a bit of reflection and help the reader see things in a different light. I read this last week when I wasn't well and flitted between feeling it was cheering me up and getting irritated by the style of writing and the whole message that we should all just make up our mind to be Mary Poppins instead of Mr Banks. Think I'll have to dip into it again when I'm on an even keel and see if it there's anything that resonates with me...or if any of it even makes any sense.
Currently reading Mad Girl by Bryony Gordon

32. Women and Power A Manifesto Mary Beard Very short book based on two lectures Beard gave in 2014 and 2017. Feel I’m cheating including it as so short, but I’m struggling with This Thing of Darkness and not making much progress so I need to make up my numbers Interesting and thought provoking, though I wanted more - in her afterword she talks about how she wants to go on to develop the ideas and I look forward to reading when she does.

OhGod, 100 Years of Solitude. I read it, and copied huge chunks of beautiful prose into my Everything Book (kind of journal/quote collection/musings) but feck me the magical realism thing is not for me.
(anyone read the Wimbledon Poisoner- made me l-o-l several times in the wannabe murderer's views of magical realism)

100 YOS looks like one of my most-thumbed books on my shelves- only because it took me almost 100 years to get through it.

I vaguely recall reading something about the Panacea society as well, somewhere. Very possibly Stuart Maconie.

41 La Belle Sauvage by Philip Pullman

First in a prequel trilogy to the Northern Lights books. I didn't have great expectations of this having read various reviews (including on here), but I really enjoyed the first half in particular. Pullman is always good at world building, and the descriptions of the main character, Malcolm, and the pub he lives in / his family are just lovely.

Just finished Stacey Halls' The Familiars.

Tales of witchcraft and Tudorish times seem to be all the rage , especially from first time authors. This is one of the better ones . It moves along at a pace and the plot is involving. I did think much of the independence of the 17 year old, pregnant narrator stretched credibility and wasn't massively keen on some elements of the ending.

It's very popular on Amazon having gained no 2 or 1 star reviews, which is quite an achievement. The cover design is lovely and coincidentally matches my bookmark!

I am getting a bit bored now of all these historical novels. It's lucky this is not an era I know much about since I am sure there are yawning inaccuracies and anachronisms!

That is correct, Keith.

I have no idea about that Keith. But it is quite possible, they were very conservative and seems to believe in a 'natural order' - viewing any kind of socialist movement as indicative of the end of days. This book is set around the time of the General Strike. Apparently there is a museum in Bedford which is going on my list of places to visit.

Pepe are yo worried that you have sexy jaguars that live in your head?!

I may be wrong but don't the Panacea Society appear in the Maconie Jarrow Crusade book? I love it when the thread throws up these little synchronicities.

Pepe
I was starting to wonder. I don't even like magical realism, but this was on the bucket list. Glad I didn't go for it in Spanish as was the original plan. I'd have been even more confused.

fortuna, I may have made up the sexy jaguars. We used to laugh about the magical realism tropes and a friend used to talk about sexy jaguars. When I finally came to read the book I was so befuddled by the million people with the same name and plot machinations I couldn't tell you if the jaguar actually made an appearance.

62. The Rapture - Claire McGlasson. This one was an Advanced Reader copy that I was sent to review. It's out on 6th June and I really enjoyed it.
It is based on the true story of the Panacea Society; a religious group of almost exclusively women who lived in Bedford in the years after WW1. They were led by their self styled guru Octavia, who after a period of mental illness claims she is the daughter of God. The society is based on the claim that in the later 1700's a woman called Joanna Southcott has sealed a box containing a prophecy which would save mankind. The box could only be opened by the 24 bishops of England, but only when they accept women into the church.
The story is told from the point of view of Octavia's timid daughter Dilys and centres on her growing relationship with the group's newest member Grace. Grace is an unsettling and questioning force in the group.
When I first began the book there was a real Oranges are not the only fruit feel about it. That black humour of a very British cult where domestic details like choosing the right cushion covers are very important to the second coming. The book gets darker as time goes on and members start to fight to control each other. Definitely worth a read.

63. A man called Ove Book club read. I was quite cynical about this one. But actually I found it quite an easy and pleasant read. The story of a grumpy widower, mourning his wife and brought back to life by being thrust unwillingly into his community.

Pepe Thank goodness it's not just me with One Hundred Years of Solitude. Alas at only halfway I am yet to encounter any butterflies or jaguars, sexy or not. Oh the joys to come!

Best Yes to following events on Everest. Such a tragedy as it does not need to be like that. My cousin climbed it in 2001 and it was busy then. He did a round of goodbye visits to family before he went just in case. Very sobering. Two in his team made the summit, but a combo of illness and weather drove the rest back (2 deaths in other teams while they were up), they were desperate to get back down as soon as possible. Criminal to see deaths as a result of overcrowding (although there are many other contributing factors and issues).

The Climb by Anatoli Boukreev and Left for Dead by Beck Weathers are other very highly recommended books by those who have personally experienced the 'Everest Circus'.

Storied is a weird word but it fits the book..it's a good read.
Don't judge a book by it's strange title

42. Dragon Keeper by Robin Hobb

Book 1 in the Rain Wild Chronicles. Follows on from the Liveship Traders series.

The tangle of serpents have now emerged from their cocoons as misshapen dragons, and are soon seen as a burden by the Rain Wilders. So plans are made to pack the dragons off in search of the fabled city of Kelsingra along with a band of humans to help them on their way.

I enjoyed reading this, a good start to the series.

Daisy Jones is fiction isn't it?

Yes, it is. It’s got an unusual format in that it’s a transcript of a fictional documentary.

Pepe ha! I can't abide 'storied' either, fwiw.

floral, I have an irrational and entirely disproportionate loathing of the word "storied". I can't explain it but it fills me with rage. I have to keep abandoning articles in the New Yorker because of it! I've never seen it in a book title before - I wonder if I could get over my hang up if the book was good enough??

I regularly DNF lots of stuff that others seem to like on here . It’s a mystery to me. It’s what makes this thread so addictive I think

Not read the Maconie Jarrow book yet but suspect it may depress me.

Anyone been following the sad events on Everest this week? It has made me think of this thread and Into Thin Air etc.

Btw The Familiars is ridiculously cheap in hardback on Amazon at the mo. not at all annoyed I bought it at full price

I must be the outlier here. I DNF two Maconie books a few years back. It's normally my kind of thing but I just didn't like his authorial voice.

These are the books I have read or listened to in the last fortnight:

68. A Note of Madness- Tabitha Suzuma A novel, recommended on another thread, about a gifted pianist at music college who has a breakdown. I am a musician and I was feeling pretty stressed out when I read this, so it was probably the wrong book for me at the time! It was moderately enjoyable, but the ending was too neat and a cop-out.

69. The Best of Adam Sharp- Graeme Simsion Another novel related to music, this was not up to the standard of the Rosie books (although I haven’t read the most recent one). I just didn’t care enough about the characters and only kept going out of bloody-mindedness: I wasn’t particularly interested in how it would end.

70. Before I Go to Sleep- SJ Watson A novel about a woman with severe amnesia, who wakes up each morning with no recollection of the last umpteen years of her life. As time goes on and she starts to keep a diary, it becomes clear that she is not being told the truth. It was quite gripping and the story was well handled. In the acknowledgements, I discovered that the novel is influenced by the true story of Clive Wearing, the musicologist featured in Musicophilia by Oliver Sachs, who I have mentioned before on one of these threads. I also discovered that his wife Deborah has written her own account of their story, Forever Today, which I will definitely read. I also intend to watch the film of Before I Go to Sleep, starring Colin Firth.

71. Lion: A Long Way Home- Saroo Brierley This tells the tale of a very young boy in India who gets lost, boards a long-distance train and doesn’t know where he came from. After some time living rough on the streets of Calcutta, in a young offender’s institution and then an orphanage, he ends up being adopted by an Australian couple and moving to Tasmania. Despite living a happy life, he is desperate to find his birth family and, after several years combing Google Earth and looking for the few landmarks he can remember, he manages to do so. This is a short but moving book.

72. Long Road from Jarrow- Stuart Maconie I have already read this on the Kindle, but I loved it and, as a huge fan of Maconie, I decided to get the audiobook in addition. In it, Stuart recreates the route of the Jarrow March, meets many interesting people and uses it as an opportunity to sound off about Brexit, Corbyn, Trump, football, popular culture and anything else that takes his fancy. I particularly enjoyed his visit to a stand-up comedy night in Sheffield (about which he says ‘I would have been more relaxed at the controlled explosion of a suspect package’) and to a gurdwara in Leeds.

73. Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them- JK Rowling I found the audiobook on BorrowBox: it was mildly diverting but didn’t add much to the Potterverse. It is pleasing that this dictionary includes a number of ‘real’ creatures- dragons, fairies, mermaids, werewolves etc.- in addition to those invented by JK Rowling eg. the Golden Snitch.

74. The Sense of an Ending- Julian Barnes I got through the whole audiobook in a day, while driving around as part of my job. Beautifully written (and wonderfully read by Richard Morant), this is a miniature gem.

75. The Librarian- Salley Vickers This is a very light and easy read of no great profundity, but I liked the influence the children’s librarian had on the local youngsters, which became particularly clear in the book’s very short Part Two (which is really more of an epilogue).

76. The Handmaid’s Tale- Margaret Atwood I am keen on dystopian fiction and this had some very interesting scenes, but perhaps wasn’t as incredibly good as I was expecting.

77. The Cut-Out Girl- Bart van Es This was also not quite as good as I was expecting. It was shocking to learn that about 15 of Lien's relatives were killed at Auschwitz.

Thank you thecanterburywhales useful to know

I have been trying to listen to Dissolution but have swapped jobs and now can't plug in during the day, found it today on Kindle for 1.99