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50 Book Challenge 2019 Part Five

991 replies

southeastdweller · 09/05/2019 22:08

Welcome to the fifth thread of the 50 Book Challenge for this year.

The challenge is to read fifty books (or more!) in 2019, though reading fifty isn't mandatory. Any type of book can count, it’s not too late to join, and please try to let us all know your thoughts on what you've read.

The first thread of the year is here, the second one here, the third one here and the fourth one here.

OP posts:
floraloctopus · 10/05/2019 21:44
  1. From source to sea, Tom chesshyre
  2. So disdained , Nevil Shute
  3. Cruise ship sos, Ben macfarlane
  4. Rosa parks, hourly history
  5. Stephen hawking, hourly history
  6. 101 bets you will always win, Richard wiseman. Returned for a 99p refund! shock
  7. This is going to hurt, Adam Kay
  8. Old man and the sea, Ernest Hemingway
  9. The best friend, Shalini Borland
10. Triple crime, felix Francis 11. Beneath the surface, Heidi Perks 12. Crossing the bridge of autism, Stephanie Maddux 13. 365 surprising rock star quotes 14. I'd rather be reading, Anne Bogel 15. The wheel of justice, Stephen Livingston 16. The Librarian, Sally Vickers 17. Tickling the English, Dara O'Briain 18. Reading allowed, Chris Paling 19. Cottage by the sea, Debbie Macomber 20. Unbelievable - the bizarre world of coincidences, Jenny Crompton 21. Hello World, Hannah Fry 22. The Birthday, Carol Wyer 23. Kept: an American house husband in India, Gregory Buford 24. I use my thumbs as a yard stick, Andy Frazier 25. Upsticks, Tim Thomas 26. Wars of the Roses, Hourly History 27. Prince George, Brian Hoey 28. The Lighter Side, Andy Thompson 29. Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania Rough Guide 30. Post-modernism - a graphic guide 31. Gigantic world of gags 2 32. The Dark Side, Andy Thompson 33. The Perfect child, Lucinda Berry 34. Read all about it, Paul Cuddihy 35. The Secret Mother, Shalini Boland 36. After the crash, Michel Bucci 37. The Donor, Helen Fitzgerald 38. I know nothing, Andrew Sachs 39. The next big thing, Rhodri Marsden 40. The wife's shadow, Cath Weeks 41. In France we eat sofas 42. How to do your research project 43. Only daughter, Sarah Denzil 44. The little book of poems transporting you to a time long passed 45. Very British problems, Rob Temple 46. Martin Luther, Hourly Histories 47. Learning theories 48. Florence Nightingale, Hourly Histories 49. A thousand paper birds, Tor Udall 50. The best ways to teach primary science 51. The Mayflower, Hourly Histories 52. Race, ethnicity and crime 53. Identity in question 54. The sleep of reason (James Bulger case) 55. King George VI. Hourly Histories 56. War of the Roses, Patrick Auerbach 57. Adolf Hitler, Hourly Histories 58. Which way to lead (schools) 59. Which way to teach 60. The secret life of librarians, 44 61. The bookshop that floated away, Sarah Horshaw 62. Silent Tears, Kay Bratt 63. The 100 greatest novels of all time 64. The '86 fix, Keith Pearson 65. The chain of curiosity, Sandi Toksvig 66. Understanding the British 67. The things we keep, Sally Hepworth 68. Good ground, Tracy Winegar
Sadik · 10/05/2019 21:17

Thanks for new thread southeast. Your review of Infinite Jest almost makes me want to read it Pepe - maybe at some magical point in my future when I have more time and concentration I will.

In the mean time:

  1. If I Could Tell You Just One Thing: Encounters with Remarkable People and Their Most Valuable Advice by Richard Reed, listened to on Audible, read by the author.

Reed (one of the founders of the Innocent drinks company) interviews a wide range of notable people and asks them for their one best piece of advice. I was a bit dubious about this - it was published to raise money for various charities, and definitely had the hallmark of a book to be given as a Christmas present and sit in the loo (in fact Margaret Atwood says more or less this when interviewed).

In practice it actually worked really well for me, particularly as an audio book - it was more like listening to a series of short radio profiles of interesting people. The advice - unsurprisingly - isn't particularly earth shattering (listen to people - do something you're passionate about - that sort of thing) but the surrounding conversations as reported by Reed were interesting. (My only real disappointment was that Bill Clinton's advice wasn't 'don't sleep with the intern' - or even 'don't get caught'... though tbf I think the interview may have pre-dated this.)

Now moved on to the Chernobyl book reviewed on the previous thread as my next audible listen, and finding it fascinating, so many thanks to whoever it was who recommended it :) Also managed one chapter of TTOD, enjoyable so far, but hoping to get some proper reading time over the weekend.

Cherrypi · 10/05/2019 21:16

I'm not getting This thing of darkness either. I'm 13% through. Is it better when Darwin gets there?

AliasGrape · 10/05/2019 21:05

Copying my list over while I’m here - a few bolds but some are a little generous I feel, there’s not much/ not really anything that’s knocked my socks off yet this year.

  1. Tied up in Tinsel - Ngaio Marsh
  2. Nine Lessons - Nicola Upson
  3. Bookworm - A memoir of childhood reading - Lucy Mangan
  4. A History of Britain in 21 Women - Jenni Murray
  5. The Mystery of Three Quarters (New Hercule Poirot Mysteries #3))
by Sophie Hannah
  1. Cider with Rosie - Laurie Lee
  2. Mythos - Stephen Fry
  3. The Bear and The Nightingale - Katherine Arden
  4. Heroes - Stephen Fry
10. Don’t you forget about me - Mhairi McFarlane 11. Amy and Isabelle - Elizabeth Strout 12. Lethal White - Robert Galbraith 13. Parsnips, Buttered: How to baffle, bamboozle and boycott your way through modern life. - Joe Lycett 14. Swing Time - Zadie Smith 15. Born a Crime - Trevor Noah 16. The Cater Street Hangman - Anne Perry 17. Callander Square - Anne Perry 18. The House Between Tides - Sarah Maine 19. The Essex Serpent - Sarah Perry 20. Girl Meets Boy -Ali Smith 21. The Masqueraders - Georgette Heyer 22. My Name is Lucy Barton - Elizabeth Strout 23. Bonjour Tristesse & A Certain Smile - Françoise Sagan 24. Pure - Andrew Miller 25. Season of Light - Katherine McMahon 26. The Autograph Man - Zadie Smith 27. Becoming - Michelle Obama 28. Anything Is Possible - Elizabeth Strout 29. Classic Scrapes - James Acaster 30. Black Sheep - Georgette Heyer 31. Paragon Walk - Anne Perry

I hated The Autograph Man - just stating that again for the record. I really hated it.

AliasGrape · 10/05/2019 20:59

Thanks for the new thread southeast.

Thanks also for the review of Secret Lives of Colour on the last thread from YesILikeittoo - adding that to my wishlist now.

I’ve started This Thing of Darkness - only a few chapters in. I am not enthralled as yet and quite scared of being the only person on the threads that doesn’t ‘get’ it - I hope I get more into it.

Off to check out The Long Song - another thank you for the heads up!

DecumusScotti · 10/05/2019 20:44

I think there was another similar themed book out recently too, but I can't quite place a name.

The Silence of the Girls by Pat Barker, perhaps? Also supposed to be excellent.

Tanaqui · 10/05/2019 20:25

Thank you for the new thread South.

Circe by Madeleine Miller. I loved this, recommended by you lovely lot, and a beautifully written reinterpretation of Greek Myth and The Odyssey. I have enjoyed other retellings of myth - Margaret Atwood's The Penelopiad; and a children's retelling of The Odyssey by Tony Robinson and Richard Curtis stand out; and my favourite of all is Diana Wynne Jones' 8 Days of Luke, but somehow had missed this, and Song of Achilles which I shall look forward to! I think there was another similar themed book out recently too, but I can't quite place a name. Highly recommend this if you haven't read it already.

RemusLupinsBiggestGroupie · 10/05/2019 19:37

I hated Wild Swans and didn't reach the end of it. So boring. So badly written. DP loved it - but he knows nothing...

BestIsWest · 10/05/2019 19:32

Thank you for the new thread SouthEast.

I’m sorry to say that I’ve lost count completely and will have to go back through the threads.

Currently reading Stuart Maconie - Hope And Glory

ChessieFL · 10/05/2019 19:02
  1. Cider with Roxie by Paul Hending

A series of walks Paul took around the borders of Somerset with his dog Roxie. If you know Somerset this is worth a read, but if you don’t know the area you wouldn’t get much out of it.

  1. The Confusion Of Karen Carpenter by Jonathan Harvey

For the first two thirds this was an average slightly amusing novel with a slightly unbelievable heroine (I struggle to believe that a 36 year old teacher would think and act in the way Karen does) but then it took a twist I just did not expect and that made the whole book much better. Not the best of his I’ve read though.

toomuchsplother · 10/05/2019 18:28

Oh and I liked Wild Swans but it is years since I read it and I remember it taking an age!

MuseumOfHam · 10/05/2019 18:17

Thanks Desdemona I don't think it was Life and Death in Shanghai although that does look interesting. I have a feeling it was more based around the early 20th century pre communist years, and there was lots of hanging around tea houses. Alternatively, it could be a figment of my imagination.

toomuchsplother · 10/05/2019 18:15

Fortuna that is very kind of you. Thank you.
My list is :

  1. The Salt Path - Raynor Winn
  2. Everything Under - Daisy Johnson
  3. An almond for a parrot- Wray Delaney
  4. Courage calls to courage everywhere- Jeanette Winterson
  5. Admissions: A life in brain surgery- Henry Marsh
  6. Ghost Wall - Sarah Moss
  7. Snap - Belinda Bauer
  8. Chronicle of Youth : Vera Brittain’s War Diary, 1913 - 17 - Vera Brittain
  9. Transcription - Kate Atkinson
10. Votes for Women - Jenni Murray 11. Henry VIII and the man who made him - Tracy Borman 12. The Woman in the Window - A J Finn 13. The Tudor Crown - Joanna Hickson 14. How to build a girl - Caitlin Moran 15. The silence of the girls - Pat Barker 16. The Song of Achilles- Madeleine Miller 17. A long way from home - Peter Carey 18. The Binding - Bridget Collins 19.The Glass Woman - Caroline Lea 20. Bodies of light - Sarah Moss 21. Scrublands- Chris Hammer 22. From a low and quiet Sea - Donal Ryan 23. Bookworm . A memoir of childhood reading - Lucy Mangan 24. The Casual Vacancy- J K Rowling 25. Is there anything you want? - Margaret Forster 26. The lion the witch and the wardrobe- C S Lewis 27. The daughter of time - Josephine Tey 28. All that remains: A life in death - Sue Black 29. London lies beneath - Stella Duffy 30. Old baggage - Lissa Evans 31. Crooked Heart - Lissa Evans 32. The five - The untold lives of the women killed by Jack the Ripper - Hallie Rubenhold 33. After the party- Cressida Connolly 34. The Hidden - Mary Chamberlain 35. The Queen and I - Sue Townsend 36. The lost words - Robert Macfarlane 37. Abide with me - Elizabeth Strout 38. Parliament of rooks : Haunting Bronte Country - Karen Perkins 39. Beyond Black - Hilary Mantel 40. Human Croquet- Kate Atkinson 41. The Bloody Chamber - Angela Carter 42. The complete poems of Rupert Brooke 43. Letters from a lost generation- First World War letters of Vera Brittain and Four Friends- Ed. Alan Bishop and Mark Bostridge 44. Boy of my heart - Marie Connor Leighton 45. Because you died : Poetry and Prose of the First World War and After - Vera Brittain 46. The Familiars - Stacey Halls 47. Graceland - Bethan Roberts 48. The Cut Out Girl- Bart van Es 49. The Cutting Season- Attica Locke 50. My sister the serial killer 51. Bottled Goods - Sophie van Llewyn 52. Lost children archive - Valeria Luiselli 53. Picking up the pieces - Jo Worgan 54. Signs for lost children- Sarah Moss 55. A Little Life - Hanya Yanagihara 56. This Stolen Life 57. Stanley and Elsie

The last one was fascinating. Tells the story of artist Stanley Spencer and his very unconventional marriages and love affairs. The Elsie in question was the Spenser's Maid who became almost part of the family and who both her and his first wife Hilda painted on various occasions. He is as commissioned to paint the walls of a purpose build chapel in memory of the patrons Brother who died of malaria caught during WW1. Because he didn't die of wounds he was not allowed to be remembered on the village war memorial. The chapel is stunning and still exists, managed by the National trust. www.nationaltrust.org.uk/sandham-memorial-chapel

Planning a visit soon!

50 Book Challenge 2019 Part Five
ScribblyGum · 10/05/2019 17:53

Foundryside does sound fun Decumus. Thanks for your review.

ScribblyGum · 10/05/2019 17:50

Thanks for the new thread southeast

No updates as still happily plodding along with Pillars of the Earth on audible and Game of Thrones on the kindle. It’s nice to be enjoying reading again.

DesdemonasHandkerchief · 10/05/2019 17:44

MuseumOfHam, Life and Death In Shanghai was published in 1986 is that the book you're thinking of? I loved Wild Swans so much I read that afterwardsSmile
Thanks for the solidarity Nowanearlynicemum!

nowanearlyNicemum · 10/05/2019 17:34

ditto Desdemona (although I only read it once!!)
and double ditto for The Long Song - fantastic book. I have 3 books on the go at the moment, one of which is also an Andrea Levy book Fruit of the Lemon.
We have friends visiting this weekend so I doubt I'll get much reading done!

Thanks for the new thread southeast
Here's my 2019 list so far:
1. Featherboy – Nicky Singer

  1. Three Cups of tea - Greg Mortenson & David Oliver Relin
3. Bookworm: A memoir of childhood reading – Lucy Mangan 4. Leap In – Alexandra Heminsly 5. Half of a yellow sun – Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
  1. Fasting & Feasting – Anita Desai
  2. The Millstone – Margaret Drabble
8. A Midsummer Night’s Dream – Shakespeare
  1. After You – Jojo Moyes
10. The Bean Trees – Barbara Kingsolver 11. Normal People – Sally Rooney 12. Becoming – Michelle Obama 13. Conversations with Friends – Sally Rooney 14. Return to the little Coffee Shop of Kabul – Deborah Rodriguez
DesdemonasHandkerchief · 10/05/2019 17:28

Just to confess that I though Wild Swans was wonderful when I read it several times in the 90's Grin---- and also to say that Andrea Levy's The Long Song is on the Kindle daily deal today and it's well worth a read.

Jenniferturkington · 10/05/2019 17:12

Just transferring my list over

1.Insomnia, Stephen King

  1. The missing girl, Jenny Quintana
  2. The backpacking housewife,
  3. Close to home,Cara Hunter
  4. The woman who kept everything, Jane gilley
  5. The handmaid’s tale, Margaret Atwood
  6. Her last day, t r ragan
  7. Deadly recall , T R Tagan
  8. The unit, Ninni Holmqvist
10. Vox, Christina dalcher 11. Carrie Stephen King 12. The tattooist of Auschwitz heather Morris 13. The Power, Naomi alderman 14. The lido, Libby Page
DecumusScotti · 10/05/2019 17:00

Thank you for the new thread, southeast.

50.) Foundryside, by Robert Jackson Bennett — I’m pleased that this happened to be my fiftieth book, because oh my god I loved it. It’s the first, and so far the only, book in The Founders Trilogy, a fantasy series set in the city of Tevanne, which is ruled by four merchant houses that effectively act as separate civilised city states, while the rest of the city is given over to lawless slums. Sancia is a thief and former slave who is able with some effort and pain to sense the layout of buildings, traps and locks, a useful thing for a thief. And there’s a complicated magic system too, involving scrivings, a system of sigils, which, when inscribed on objects, compels them to act in certain ways.

I game a bit, and my favourite games are generally the ones that involve a certain amount of stealth and thiefyness. I’d be fascinated to know where RJB got his inspiration from because I recognised some elements from a couple of my favourite games, namely Elder Scrolls: Oblivion, Dishonored, and the granddaddy of them all, and the games that singlehandedly invented stealth gameplay, the wonderful Thief trilogy. It all works very well, is fast-paced and entertaining, and even if the writing wasn’t absolutely stunningly brilliant, oh damn, it was so much fun.

51.) Agatha Raisin and the Walkers of Dembley, by MC Beaton — Agatha and her sexy neighbour James (who’s a bit of a dick, if I’m honest — when’s she going to get together with Bill, that’s what I want to know) go undercover as a married couple to investigate the murder of a militant rambler, obsessed with rights of way. They’re sort of addictive, these books, even if they are utter nonsense.

52.) Murder in the Caribbean, by Robert Thorogood — the fourth in the Death in Paradise spin off novels, featuring DI Richard Poole. The team investigate a boat explosion, which they soon link to a jewellery heist, and realise there may be more murders to come.

Unfortunately I think this was the weakest so far. The other books are all locked room mysteries, which I think was a selling point, both of the books so far and the TV series from series 2 onwards. This wasn’t a locked room mystery, and unfortunately I found the identity of the killer/killers so screamingly obvious that at first I thought it had to be a double bluff. Sadly not. The subplot wasn’t as substantial as in previous books either, so a bit of a disappointment all round. Still, it’s always nice to see Richard up and about again.

bibliomania · 10/05/2019 16:43

Starting to worry that I am the Widmerpool of my friendship group. I tend to pop up unexpectedly in unfortunate outfits.

Oh Fortuna, I love that!

TheCanterburyWhales · 10/05/2019 16:32

My list carried over:

1.The Woman in the Window- AJ Flynn

  1. Good Friday- Lynda La Plante
  2. I invited her in- Adele Parks
  3. A Very British Christmas Rhodri Marsden
  4. The Darkest Secret- Alex Manford
  5. You Let Me In Lucy Clarke
  6. Things Can Only Get Worse Jon O'Farrell
  7. A Fatal Inversion- Barbara Vine
10 Take Me With You When You Go- Stephanie Allen Early 11. Always a Pilgrim -can't remember author, some gung ho ex-army type 12 Watching You- Lisa Jewell 13. The Angel's Game- Carlos Ruiz Zafon 14. The Rumour- Lesley Kara 15. When Christ and his Saints Slept Sharon Penman 16. The Best Friend- Shalini Bolland 17. Close to Home Cara Hunter 18.Bookworm 19. The Lost Words 20. In This House of Brede Rumer Godden 21. No Way Out Cara Hunter 22 A Caribbean Mystery Agatha Christie 23 A Pocketful of Rye- Agatha Christie 24. The Suspect Fiona Barton 25. Never Alone Elizabeth Haynes

Currently reading Agatha Christie They do it with mirrors. Was going to be The Mirror Crack'd but then I realised that after Orient Express, Then there were none and Murder on the Nile it's the one I remember the most- from the Elizabeth Taylor TV film version.

FortunaMajor · 10/05/2019 16:22

Thank you for the new thread southeast

Splother well done with the blog, it is intelligent and eloquent and deserves the praise. I've really enjoyed reading it.

In a real book funk at the moment and have abandoned some historical fiction books that I was wading through with no joy. Hoping my new library love will get me back into the mood. I only live a few doors down from my local library, but I have been visiting another in the borough as I was bored of looking at the same books over and over again and I am too tight to pay the 90p per book to have them brought over. I've been like a kid in a sweet shop today and discovered the lending limit noise on the self service machine. Computer said no, so I had to put 3 back. Blush Big variety to choose from and can't decide which to start first.

The list...

  1. The Odyssey - Homer (trans. - Emily Wilson)
  2. Bookworm: A Memoir of Childhood Reading - Lucy Mangan
  3. The Song of Achilles - Madeline Miller
  4. Eleanor of Aquitaine: - the Wrath of God, Queen of England - Alison Weir
  5. Picnic at Hanging Rock - Joan Lindsay
  6. Too Much Happiness - Alice Munro
  7. The Last Hours - Minette Walters
  8. Conversations with Friends - Sally Rooney
  9. The Woman in Cabin 10 - Ruth Ware
10. A Killer of Pilgrims - Susanna Gregory 11. Beloved - Toni Morrison 12. Lullaby - Leila Slimani 13. Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland - Lewis Carroll 14. A Dog’s Purpose - W. Bruce Cameron 15. Commonwealth - Ann Patchett 16. Frenchman’s Creek - Daphne du Maurier 17. Mutiny on the Bounty - John Boyne 18. The Secret History - Donna Tartt 19. Lamentation - CJ Sansom 20. Mystery in the Minster - Susanna Gregory 21. Witches Abroad – Terry Pratchett 22. Wolf Hall – Hilary Mantel 23. The Secret Adversary – Agatha Christie 24. Planet of the Apes – Pierre Boulle 25. Circe – Madeline Miller 26. Atonement – Ian McEwan 27. Partners in Crime – Agatha Christie 28. The Good People – Hannah Kent 29. The Salt Path – Raynor Winn 30. Murder by the Book – Susanna Gregory 31. Jane Eyre – Charlotte Bronte 32. Wide Sargasso Sea – Jean Rhys 33. Reaper Man – Terry Pratchett 34. Reader I Married Him – Tracy Chevalier 35. From Doon with Death (Insp Wexford #1) – Ruth Rendell 36. Shadow of Night – Deborah Harkness 37. The Last Detective (Peter Diamond #1) - Peter Lovesey 38. The Lost Words by Robert Macfarlane 39. The Book of Life – Deborah Harkness 40. The Lost Abbott – Susanna Gregory 41. Displaced - Malala Yousafsai & Liz Welch 42. Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine - Gail Honeyman 43. A Place of Greater Safety – Hilary Mantel 44. House of Names – Colm Tóibín 45. Autumn – Ali Smith 46. Fruit of the Drunken Tree - Ingrid Rojas Contreras 47. The River – Peter Heller 48. Birdcage Walk - Helen Dunmore 49. Danny the Champion of the World – Roald Dahl 50. Madame Bovary – Gustave Flaubert 51. Death of a Scholar (Matthew Bartholomew #20) – Susanna Gregory 52. The Silence of the Girls – Pat Barker 53. A Question of Upbringing – Anthony Powell 54. The Turn of Midnight – Minette Walters 55. A Buyer’s Market – Anthony Powell 56. The Acceptance World – Anthony Powell

Latest read
57. At Lady Molly’s (A Dance to the Music of Time #4) – Anthony Powell
More inter-war society shenanigans. Really getting into these now. Starting to worry that I am the Widmerpool of my friendship group. I tend to pop up unexpectedly in unfortunate outfits.

TimeforaGandT · 10/05/2019 15:49

Thank you for the new thread southeast. Bringing my list across:

  1. The Hunting Party - Lucy Foley
  2. Men without Women - Huraki Murakami
3. The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society - Mary Ann Schaffer
  1. How Hard Can It Be? - Allison Pearson
  2. Christmas Pudding - Nancy Mitford
  3. Hangover Square - Patrick Hamilton
  4. The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde - Robert Louis Stevenson
8. Any Human Heart - William Boyd 9. A Gentleman in Moscow - Amor Towles 10. Testament of Youth - Vera Brittain 11. The Mysterious Affair at Styles - Agatha Christie 12. Harriet - Jilly Cooper 13. A Buyer’s Market - Anthony Powell 14. Charity Girl - Georgette Heyer 15. New Boy - Tracy Chevalier 16. The Acceptance World - Anthony Powell 17. Our Man in Havana - Graham Greene 18. Here Be Dragons - Sharon Penman 19. Venetia - Georgette Heyer 20. The Five: The Untold Lives of the Women Killed by Jack the Ripper - Hallie Rubenhold 21. At Lady Molly's - Anthony Powell 22 The Suspect - Fiona Barton 23. Bath Tangle - Georgette Heyer 24. My name is Lucy Barton - Elizabeth Strout 25. 4.50 from Paddington - Agatha Christie 26. The Age of Innocence - Edith Wharton

Currently reading The Rules of Civility - Amor Towles

I read Wild Swans for the first time last year and whilst I didn't particularly warm to the narrator, I did find the book fascinating as I knew so little about the subject - but certainly not an easy read.

Baloonphobia · 10/05/2019 15:06

Well I'm on number 2. Conclave by Robert Harris. Nothing too taxing. I'm due to have DD next week so I've been spending a lot of time in hospital waiting rooms. This was perfect for that.

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