50 Book Challenge 2019 Part Five

Carrying my list across:

Educated-Tara Westover
The Tattooist of Auschwitz- Heather Morris. Hated this- thought it was very poorly written.
Pieces of Me- Natalie Hart- very good debut novel.
Normal People- Sally Rooney- think she is a very good writer.
No Further Questions- Gillian McAllister
A Ladder to the Sky- John Boyne- loved almost as much as THIV.
Travelling in a Strange Land- David Parks- beautifully written.
The Hunting Party- Lucy Foley- good fun.
The Only Story- Julian Barnes
I Am, I Am, I Am- Maggie O'Farrell (usually love her writing, thought this was a bit self-indulgent)
The Burning- Jane Casey
Transcription- Kate Atkinson
State of Wonder- Ann Patchett
The Lost Man- Jane Harper (her best book yet)
Crooked Heart- Lissa Evans

Currently reading:
An American Marriage- Tayari Jones
Warlight- Michael Ondaatje

35. A Streetcar Named Desire - Tennessee Williams

Fragile Southern Belle Blanche DuBois seeks refuge in her sister's New Orleans flat in this 1947 play. What I love so much about this is the 360-degree portrait of Blanche - as a damaged woman who has sought fleeting solace by (in modern terms) sleeping around, she makes absolute psychological sense. The play also shows how brutally men steeped in the culture of toxic masculinity treat such women. Outstanding read of the year so far.

Pencil I read and really enjoyed The Female Persuasion! I know a few others on here were going to read it around the same time but can't remember what the general thread reaction was - but I'm amazed that there are one star reviews on Amazon. Am going to have to check what they didn't like now!

Remus I think it's my favourite Macfarlane so far, and well worth the tenner on Kindle.

I've read Lolita five or six times. The first half is sublime. I was bored in the second half last time I read it.

Sapat I read Lolita last year. I thought the quality of the writing in Part 1 was phenomenal, but agree that the subject matter is hard to bear. I put it down for about 4 days or so in the middle as I had a real crisis of conscience about whether I could continue reading. I was disgusted with myself. Ultimately I'm glad I've read it and found it very thought provoking. Not one to be forgotten in a hurry and I'm very careful about who I recommend it to. I do rank it very highly though from a literary perspective and intend to read more of his work.

I'm fine & neither are you Camille Pagan - (around no. 57 I think) - have been away with only a kindle & 1 print book so decided to get a Kindle Unlimited free trial. Luckily managed to cancel in time as nothing I really wanted to read. I'm fine was one such - American chic lit touching on opioid addiction. Dr House, Nurse Jackie and Justified were ahead of the game here. Bit of a ho-hum effort, completely forgettable but a reminder of how expensive it is to live in America for health care, education and nearly everything else by the sound of it.
The overdue life of Amy Byler by Kelly Harris more of the same except by a librarian.
I am watching you by Teresa Driscoll - psycho thriller set in Devon or Cornwall packed full of on trend topics: child abuse, teenage and matrimonial angst, farming & as a novelty - florestry. I was going to post a scathing review on Amazon but the end of the Kindle edition had a humble note asking for reviews by the author so I couldn't bring myself to do so.

new sub-category - samples I downloaded from Kindle and did not pursue:
The power - Naomi Alderman - dystopian tale with good initial concept but drearily written.

the female persuasion Meg Wolitzer - college drama. I was hoping for shades of The secret history but the one star reviews on Amazon convinced me not to buy.

A man called Ove - what must pass for Scandi humour with stereotypical grumpy old man. Somehow reminded me of Alf Proyson's children's books about Mrs Pepperpot.

My print book was The secret barrister a sobering assessment of the failing British justice system seemingly caused by lack of funding and government mis--management.

Luckily I also had Muriel Spark's Loitering with intent on the Kindle and like a previous poster (Welsh wabbit?) I enjoyed the sparkling prose and lively style which allowed the story to progress without wading through 400 odd pages of turgid prose describing people's dull everyday actions.

back to the library next week ...

I've lost my main big book list but noted down that I'm on

37. Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov Got this on a 99p Kindle Daily Deal I'd kind of always meant to read it but never got round to it. I don't really know what to say about it. So repugnant and strange. Humbert definitely misjudges the thoughts and reactions of his "audience". Can't say I enjoyed it. I almost dreaded picking it up to continue. Wow, I'm a bit stumped with this one. What do others make of it?

I have just finished Agatha Christie's Five Little Pigs. It was OK . I didn't actually recall much of this , although I know I will have seen it on TV. This one had an interesting structure, but this is also its downfall as it is constructed through five different perspectives and voices , plus lawyers and police, and then Poirot pieces it all together. It just becomes a bit piecemeal in the end. Also, there is only one death and it's 16 years prior to events, so that's a bit disappointing, body count wise!

I'm waiting for Underland to come down in price. It looks right up my street.

41. A Clash of Kings by George R R Martin

Second in the Song of Ice and Fire series that began with A Game of Thrones.

I’m sure most people will be more or less familiar with what this series is about, either from the books or the TV series, so I’ll just say that I thoroughly enjoyed reading this.

I often feel I have to keep a bit quiet in any discussions about David Sedaris because I'm afraid I just don't feel the love. I've read a few of his books and while I'm happy to say I find them mildly amusing, I'm baffled by the 'weeping with laughter' reactions that a lot of other people have.

So I've tried again with:

31: Theft by Finding: Diaries 1977-2002 - David Sedaris

Again, funny in parts - and much of this is source material for his published books, for example, the French class in 'Me Talk Pretty One Day'. Actually I found this better than the actual book. And there were plenty of moments when I snorted out loud, but on the whole, I was more struck by the epic quantities of drugs and alcohol that the younger Sedaris ingested, and the scuzzy neighbourhoods he lived in (which seemed quite dangerous places to me). In fact he spends most of the period of the diaries fairly seriously on his uppers, scratching around for a living doing odd jobs, and then only near the end meeting his boyfriend Hugh and finding fame and success. Apparently there's another volume to come. I read the whole book (he recommends dipping in and out) because I really like diaries as a genre, but it hasn't really changed my opinion of David Sedaris, I'm afraid.

Hi All and slightly belated thanks South for the new thread!

I'm reading three books at the same time so a bit slow to finish any this month:

Wind, Sand And Stars by St-Exupery - current top 50 reread

Watership Down at bedtimes with DS2

Underland by R Macfarlane which I got on Kindle for a weekend away - anyone else reading this? It's fantastic so far.

Whippet, I have been intending to read Coal Black Mornings since it came out- I'm glad to hear it's good!

For anyone else who likes books associated with music, Riding So High: The Beatles and Drugs is 99p (for about 100 mins longer). I read it last year and learnt a lot I didn't know about The Beatles.

Shake it The Backlisted Podcast have done an episode on Return of the Soldier

33. The Mystery of Three Quarters - Sophie Hannah (Poirot #3)

Four individuals receive letters accusing them of the murder of Barnabas Pandy, purportedly signed by Poirot himself. Inevitably, the great detective is intrigued enough to investigate... As so often with Hannah, this was a page-turner but the ending was a let-down. Marginally better than the first two in the series as the plotting was more streamlined.

34. Bloody British History: Winchester - Clare Dixon et al

Short simple guide to the history of Winchester, from its Roman foundations to WW2, written by Blue Badge Guides. Read because I'm visiting Winchester this weekend with a two year old, so opportunity to read informational panels is likely to be limited

I've read Ammonites and Leaping Fish and enjoyed it, haven't read Oleander, Jacaranda (another one for the tbr pile!) but I absolutely love Moon Tiger and The Photograph by the same author.

29. The Return of the Soldier by Rebecca West.

A birthday gift from DH, I loved this novel set and written during the First World War. Chris Baldry is an injured soldier who loses his memory, transporting him back 15 years to a time when he loves another woman and does not recognise his wife. Although slim it has so much to say about love, grief, class and the effects of war. And this Virago Modern Classics Edition has a lovely front cover too.

30. Quiet: The Power of Introverts by Susan Cain. (Audible)

This is a very American-centred book where it appears that results of personality tests are very important when applying to college and jobs. Susan Cain puts forward the case that there is too much lauding of the ‘extrovert’ personality over the ‘introvert’ type, particularly in the USA. She uses this book to explore the introverted personality in detail, to point out that both introverted and extroverted personalities are needed for the best result and uses examples from law, the stock market and banking to demonstrate this. I liked the in-depth look at the introvert personality but have a few reservations. Firstly the backing up of a lot of her points by one-off non-reproducible psychology experiments and neuroscience in its infancy gave me some disquiet. I felt the author was trying to sell me the concept with all the positives but little discussion of the negatives. And although it is useful to be aware of your personality and what you are good at and what you have to work on, I am wary of being boxed into certain behaviour especially at a young age (she discusses introverted children). And, lastly, the chapter about Asian versus Western characteristics put my teeth on edge - too much stereotyping.

An interesting topic that is obviously close to the author’s heart but several flaws in there too.

Cedar03 I haven't yet read Ammonites & Leaping Fishes (it's in my TBR pile) but Oleandar, Jacaranda is one of my favourite books - I have bought several copies, as I keep lending it to people and not getting it back...

Joining the new thread rather late...

My list so far:

1. The Anxiety Solution - Chloe Brotheridge
2. Me - Tomoyuki Hoshino
3. Arlington Park - Rachel Cusk
4. The Beast - Alexander Starritt
5. A Sense of Direction - Gideon Lewis-Kraus
6. To Throw Away Unopened - Viv Albertine
7. The Lady and the Little Fox Fur - Violette Leduc
8. The Dead Ladies Project - Jessa Crispin
9. Cassandra Darke - Posy Simmonds

Currently reading about four different books, so will probably be back with a batch of reviews in a week or so.

These are my most recent reads:

45. Putney - Sofka Zinovieff
Essentially a Lolita story set in the bohemian world of 1970s London and the present day. I wasn't sure if I wanted to read this but I'm glad I did. It's well written and evocative of both the place and the time, where attitudes and freedoms were different to now, creating spaces in which relationships and abuse could flourish. The unpleasant subject matter is handled well and I would actually recommend this.

46. Sumer Before the Dark - Volker Weidermann
In the summer of 1936 a number of German writers either fled, voluntarily removed themselves or were banned in Germany and congregated in Ostende, where they drank, wrote and socialised. Amongst them were lifelong friends Stefan Zwieg and Joseph Roth, around which the book centres, but many other famous writers of the time are also mentioned and involved. Zwieg, the more famous of the two, and Roth (poorer, less well-regarded) had a troubled relationship which is examined in the book. A cross between fiction and biography and if you like the authors involved, which I do, this is a good read.

47. Coal Black Mornings - Brett Anderson
I really enjoyed this. On the whole a very well written and interesting autobiography of Anderson's early life up until his record deal with Suede. A good picture of growing up in suburbia and of life in London in the nineties, of which I was a part.

48. The Provoked Wife - John Vanbrugh
I saw this at the RSC last night, so read it first. It was a great production faithful to its period setting and it's an interesting and in places very funny play but, as is the case with all restoration comedies (1697), the misogyny is still a bitter pill to swallow.

28. The Song of Achilles – Madeline Miller

I am going to go completely against the flow with this one, as judging by the reviews on Amazon and Goodreads, everyone loves this…except me. It started well. I was interested in Patroclus’s account of his childhood, but I started to enjoy it less and less as Patroclus and Achilles became young adults.

I thought the characterisation was really weak and consequently I didn’t feel invested in the characters. I felt that Achilles Mother, Thetis was particularly hard done by in this respect, portrayed as a sort of one dimensional pantomime villain. I didn’t get the relationship between Achilles and Patroclus; it felt unconvincing.

For a story where there is so much drama, I felt the plot was actually pretty monotonous with too many battles and too many moments of high drama rattled through at lightning speed, with no space left in the narrative to consider anything or feel any impact. For me, there was a lack of dark and shade in this book, which made it quite dull. Disappointing. I don't think Greek myths are my thing.

29. Gun Love – Jennifer Clement

I liked this one very much. Margot runs away from her abusive, but incredibly wealthy family as a pregnant school girl and she and her daughter Pearl have lived in their car on the edge of a decrepit Florida trailer park ever since.

Pearl, aged 14 narrates the story and the writer describes their unusual life almost romantically, just as a child might see it. They live in abject poverty but eat their food off Limoges china plates, and the trunk of the car is full of priceless decorative objects Margot bought with her from her former life. It’s a chaotic, but not unhappy existence. A fascinating cast of their fellow equally eccentric trailer park residents are described perfectly, setting the scene for events to come brilliantly. I was particularly intrigued by Pastor Rex and his “Give your Guns to God” programme.

Guns are omnipresent in this story, and this lends the book a sinister air. Margot is vulnerable and lonely, and soon falls prey to the predatory but charismatic drifter, Eli Redmond with life changing consequences.

A fantastically written, satisfying read. I haven’t heard of Jennifer Clement before but would like to seek out more of her work.

I was listening to R4 on the way home from work and they were talking about a beautifully illustrated book about Von Humboldt, unfortunately it's not listed on Amazon despite being new.

19. A Thousand Acres by Jane Smiley
"Larry Cook's farm is the largest in his county in Iowa, and a tribute to his hard work and single-mindedness. Proud and possessive, his sudden decision to retire and hand over the farm to his three daughters is disarmingly uncharacteristic. Ginny and Rose, the two eldest, are startled yet eager to accept, but Caroline, the younger daughter, has misgivings. Immediately, her father cuts her out. It is a decision that causes chaos."...say the blurb on the back.
This is a retelling of King Lear which I am not familiar with - I'm sure that the experience of reading this novel would be very different if you know King Lear and have the plot and characters in mind.
I really enjoyed this. My early impressions were that I liked the setting and that a big plot point came along surprisingly early. The narrator, Ginny, seemed fairly steady and reliable, describing events and other characters in a way that seemed trustworthy. Lives begin to unravel quickly and dramatically, with shifts that I really didn't see coming. It becomes clear that we haven't really known the characters and their motivations at all. The narrator doesn't really know what others are thinking and her own memories are questionable, and she reaches a point where she can't ask others so we are left with her own fuzzy interpretations which sometimes means huge revelations are mentioned but left unproven or up in the air. Large details are left open to interpretation. I definitely found this easier to follow when I had time to read in one hour chunks rather than 5 minutes before falling asleep, but it definitely got me thinking. A good read.
Halfway through listening to A History of the World in 21 Women, lots in the TBR pile but no idea what will be next.

Place marking. I finished another book about forensics but can't remember title or writer and cba to walk upstairs to check! It annoyed me, so my review, when it comes, won't be great.

This is my worst year for reading that I can remember in a long time. :(