50 Book Challenge 2019 Part Six

Remus - What's the difference between a surgeon and God?
God doesn't think he's a surgeon.

I still found Henry Marsh's books interesting enough to be able to tolerate the ego, though.

I'm afraid Henry Marsh figures in my Writers who come across as arrogant tossers list.

The other Henry Marsh book is called Admissions and mostly covers his work overseas iirc.

Grabbed :) I had an eye surgeon a decade ago who took pioneering eye surgery to South America. I found myself thinking after reading/listening to Do No Harm how compelling a book of his would be. Sadly, he's retired now and seemingly has no plans.

I'm re-listening to Marsh's first title now, then it shall be Admissions tomorrow :)

I love how Marsh focuses on the human nature of surgeons in the first couple of chapters, it's a very important point.

Amazing thread, wish I'd found it sooner!

does listening to one of the 'Great Courses' series of lectures on Audible count as a 'book' for the purposes of this forum? They are listed on Goodreads, if that helps. (I've just bought two in the 2-for-1 sale!)

They are fabulous, I adore the medical ones by Roy Benaroch; the Practicing Mindfulness title by Mark W. Muesse is pretty good too.

83. The Ghost - Robert Harris
    A ghost writer is drafted in last minute to complete the memoir of a former Prime Minister after the original author has taken his own life. With only a month to complete the book, the politician is accused of war crimes and the writer finds some shocking discoveries in the original author's research. He is determined to reveal the truth while others are determined to conceal it. So so thriller with thinly veiled references to the Blairs.

84. Gingerbread - Helen Oyeyemi
    I can't even begin to tell you what this was about as I have no idea. Starts with a mother trying to get in with the PTA and wanders off with the daughter to a fantasy land with Gretel of 'Hansel and ...' fame. Calling it surreal would be a kindness it does not deserve. Largely incoherent storylines and lacking any discernible plot, which is a shame as there was was some gorgeous lyrical writing in places. I think it was trying to be a modern day Alice in Wonderland which it spectacularly failed to be. As with Alice I have either spectacularly missed something, or drugs were required.

85. The Adventures of Tom Saywer - Mark Twain
    Joyous tales of a naughty boy in the Deep South during the mid 1800s. Brilliant writing, bring on Huck Finn!

86. Everything Under - Daisy Johnson
    Reviewed a lot recently here, so I will just say that I really enjoyed this, the author pulled everything together so well.

24. Becoming, by Michelle Obama Much reviewed and lauded everywhere, and it's just as good as everyone says. I often struggle a bit with autobiographies, particularly the 'early years' parts, but I found her account of her early life just as compelling as the rest, if not more so. Recommended.

25. Late in the Day, by Tessa Hadley. I absolutely loved this but I think (and Goodreads reviews seem to confirm) that Tessa Hadley is a very marmite author. This is the story of two couples who have known each other for decades, and how their relationships are affected when one of the men dies in later life. It's very slow with a limited amount of plot but absolutely beautifully written. I thought it was brilliant but if you're not already a fan of hers then this is unlikely to change your mind.

26. The Scholar, by Dervla McTiernan. Police procedural set in Galway. I hadn't realised it was the second in a series but you don't need to have read the first one. Detective Cormac Reilly is drawn into a case when his girlfriend stumbles across the victim of a hit and run. Set on campus and in the world of bio research, I enjoyed this very much. I checked and saw the first was on kindle for 99p at the moment, so snapped that up as well.

What's the general consensus - does listening to one of the 'Great Courses' series of lectures on Audible count as a 'book' for the purposes of this forum? They are listed on Goodreads, if that helps. (I've just bought two in the 2-for-1 sale!)

Busy at work / home, so not much 'proper' reading happening here right now - but fitting in a fair bit of audio book time around things, so:

63. Temeraire by Naomi Novik, listened to on Audible. This was a real hit for me - light fantasy with good characters & not too challenging a storyline was exactly what I needed right now. For those who don't know it, it's the Napoleonic wars with added dragons. I've read it as a paper book before many years back (when dd had a full on dragon phase ), but it worked beautifully on audio, really well read by Simon Vance who is always good value.

I'm tempted to go straight on to book 2, but IIRC the sequels don't quite live up to book 1, so I'll probably wait a bit & listen to something else in between.

Hello everyone, I haven't been on here for a while and just had a nice long catch up on the thread. Sorry to hear of your troubles Meg and Toomuch

Here's my list so far, with highlights in bold. I also have a few new reviews to post, but they will have to wait until later as dd has just returned home and is demanding food

1. Everything Under – Daisy Johnson
2. A God in Ruins – Kate Atkinson
3. Asymmetry – Lisa Halliday
4. Poverty Safari – Darren McGarvey
5. The Travelling Cat Chronicles – Hiro Arikawa
6. The Rotters’ Club – Jonathan Coe
7. Kindred – Octavia E. Butler
8. We Were the Mulvaneys – Joyce Carol Oates
9. Milkman – Anna Burns
10. The Amateur Marriage – Anne Tyler
11. Things Bright and Beautiful – Anbara Salam
12. A Woman in the Polar Night – Christiane Ritter
13. Barbara Hepworth – Penelope Curtis
14. Shrill: Notes From a Loud Woman – Lindy West
15. The Western Wind – Samantha Harvey
16. Notes to Self – Emilie Pine
17. Transcription – Kate Atkinson
18. The Summer Without Men – Siri Hustvedt
19. Go Went Gone – Jenny Erpenbeck
20. Memories of the Future – Siri Hustvedt
21. Ordinary People – Diana Evans
22. The Tenderness of Wolves – Stef Penney
23. The Closed Circle – Jonathan Coe
24. From a Low and Quiet Sea – Donal Ryan
25. An American Marriage – Tayari Jones
26. West – Carys Davies
27. My Sister the Serial Killer – Oyinkan Braithwaite
28. The Song of Achilles – Madeline Miller
29. Gun Love – Jennifer Clement
30. The Cost of Living – Deborah Levy
31. The Cut Out Girl – Bart Van Es
32. The Silence of the Girls – Pat Barker
33. End of Days – Jenny Erpenbeck
34. The Doll Factory – Elizabeth Macneal
35. To Throw Away Unopened – Viv Albertine
36. Visitation – Jenny Erpenbeck
37. What Red Was – Rosie Price
38. Surrender – Joanna Pocock
39. Signs Preceding the End of the World – Yuri Herrera
40. All the Lives We Never Lived – Anuradha Roy

The other Henry Marsh book is called Admissions and mostly covers his work overseas iirc.

We'll have to agree to differ on Suzanne O'Sullivan

Steve - yes, I really enjoyed the Henry Marsh books too.

Books, plural? Seems I missed his second. Think the Grisham book can wait!

As for Suzanne O'Sullivan I have one of the conditions she profiled in her book and it made me feel uncomfortable, the condition is joked about and shrugged off already when it's massively debilitating and the treatment options she detailed have been proven not to work and removed from NICE guidelines, and she would have known this was the plan when writing her book.

Off to find Henry's latest!

Remus - thanks, I will look up The Butchering Art. My degree is in history, but my career has been supporting medical research, so that's where my interest comes from.

Steve - yes, I really enjoyed the Henry Marsh books too.
Re: Suzanne O'Sullivan's All in Your Head - yes, she did argue that many illnesses are psychosomatic. However, I thought her whole aim was to stop 'psychosomatic' being a dirty word and show that, while the origins of the illnesses may be mental, the symptoms are still very real and debilitating. They just need psychological, rather than medical, treatment - and this should not be a source of shame.

This Butchering Art is a history of surgery, and well worth a read.

Love medical books, I highly recommend Henry Marsh - Do No Harm.

Steve - welcome!

Idiom - The Descent of Man is excellent. This Butchering Art is a history of surgery, and well worth a read.

It's All in Your Head Suzanne O'Sullivan Thought-provoking and sympathetic account of psychosomatic illnesses written by a consultant neurologist. She makes a compelling case for more understanding of the underlying psychological issues manifesting as unexplained physical diseases. As she points out, we all display physical responses to emotion, for example crying when we are upset.

Grr, Ms O'Sullivan can do one, she's a pompous asshole who essentially demonises people with certain conditions, and is far too fond of the word "psychosomatic".

(If anyone can recommend fantasy books in the style of Eddings my number will become bloated very quickly....)

Wish I'd found this sooner! Can I join, I'll be good and start at 1?

1. Starting - John Grisham - The Chamber.

137. Odd Girl Out- Laura James This book describes how autism, including a late diagnosis in her mid forties, has affected the author’s life and relationships. As someone on the edge of the spectrum, I can particularly relate to her feelings about her career: she enjoys her job, is good at it, but finds many aspects really difficult. Her thoughts about Brexit are also very interesting: she points out that all the uncertainty is even worse for autistic people, who struggle with change (the book was published in 2017 but her comments are still very relevant!).

138. Reading Aloud- Chris Paling This book has been discussed several times before on these threads. Ostensibly about libraries, it is mainly about the various oddballs, homeless people and other interesting characters who frequent them. I was very happy that my local library- whence I borrowed this book- was mentioned! I also learned an new, interesting fact, that ’reading silently to oneself reduces stress levels by up to 69%’. This is a rather eccentric- but mainly enjoyable- book. Towards the end, the focus inevitably shifts to the recent cuts to library services, and therefore becomes rather bleak.

MuseumI can definitely recommend reading Children of Ruin. A really solid flow up with some equally interesting ideas. I'm audiobooking Cage of Souls also by Tchaikovsky at the moment and really enjoying it. I think I might give some of his fantasy ago at some point.

36. Children of Time by Adrian Tchaikovsky I think before reading this I somehow had it conflated in my head with Outcasts of Time by Ian Mortimer so I wasn't expecting this perfect slice of space based hard sci-fi. I loved it. It spans vast stretches of time and space, introduces the best space spiders ever, and explores big subjects, including the survival of the human race, while still managing to have a story line with human interest. Glad to see there is now a follow up (Children of Ruin) and will definitely be reading that.

37. Europe in Autumn by Dave Hutchinson Picked up through a recommendation on this thread, this was sci-fi on a more domestic and intimate scale. Europe has fractured into many tiny idiocyncratic states, making the movement of people and goods a bit of a lottery. Which is how Rudi, a chef with a flair for languages, gets recruited to a mysterious organisation of courers. Written in a wry humourous style, I really enjoyed this, but could see it wasn't perfect. For example, I don't think his writing of female characters was great. I also found myself mentally arguing with the author's new map of Europe as extrapolating from the cultural / social / economic situations prevalent at the time of writing (pre-Brexit) I would have argued for things panning out in different ways - but, you know, it's his book, and it's sci-fi, and it's certainly a fantastic concept and a highly entertaining read.

On holiday in Gran Canaria. Rather lovely! Have managed to get through Love Is Blind by William Boyd. It's a good read and I won't say too much about the ending. I did think the protagonist left trails everywhere and then seemed astonished to be tracked down. The lovely loyal Brodie was a bit dim, really.
I feel obliged to report in on Breastwatch. They belong to only three women, I think but are copiously mentioned at points. As are a few other things. DH looked over my shoulder at one point and declared I was reading porn.

51. Conversations with Friends - Sally Rooney

This is well known to be a marmite book, but luckily I really like marmite. Briefly (as I know lots of you have read it), Dublin-based student Frances and her ex-girlfriend Bobbi form a complex relationship with older, wealthier married couple Nick and Melissa. What I loved about this was the 360 degree psychological portrait of Frances, damaged and not often likeable, acutely observant of those around her but constantly misinterpreting their behaviour, and tragically unable to communicate her own feelings. This was very much a 'realist' novel in that there was little pandering to the reader in terms of character development or resolution; Frances learned a little about herself, but not a lot, and (like everyone) at age 21 she still has a long way to go.

Bracing myself for book club on this on Monday, where I already know most people didn't like it!

32. A Little Life by Hanya Yanagihara. Goodness this was bleak. Not sure I would have finished it if I hadn't been away with huge chunks of the day to devote to reading. The blurb tells you it's about four friends who meet at College but it's really the story of the, abandoned as a baby, Jude St Francis (unlikely name aIert) who has been emotionally, physically and sexual abused from a young age until he leaves the care system aged 16.
    Although the abuse was depressing and disturbing it wasn't told in a gratuitous way and was told gradually in flashback throughout the book I therefore found it easier to deal with than the many and varied passages dealing with self harm. Many of which I had to skim read being squeamish. I didn't buy into the central relationship which seemed to be a little too convenient for my liking and I found the love and devotion inspired by Jude unlikely as he was unable to open up about why he was the way he was and would therefore probably come across as a distant and difficult person to those who he crossed paths with.

    33. This Is Going To Hurt by Adam Kay. I think everyone knows the premise of this by now - Ex Junior Doctor spills the beans - and I quite enjoyed it, certainly a lot more laughs than A Little Life! Although as mentioned above being squeamish I did skim read some passages, therefore don't know and don't want to know what 'ungloved' means in a medical context!