50 Book Challenge 2021 Part Two

Hi Everyone! Checking in

I think I need someone to root for (which is probably why I dislike Wuthering Heights so much - I can appreciate great writing but dear lord what a horrible bunch of people)

I don't mind a meandering plot as long as I like the characters.
I do get frustrated when there is a potentially great story in there but the writer doesn't get to the point (Sing Unburied Sing - I'm looking at you)

The Slap was unremittingly awful Tarahumara. Not just the terrible characters but also the writing and plot. I think I often hate hyped books. Another one I really can't stand that people seem to love is Shantaram.

I think I'm in the likable characters and plot camp which probably makes me quite shallow.

Also enjoying the Dick Francis love. When we were teenagers I had loads of Agatha Christie's and my brother had Dick Francis's. I think the one I remember most clearly was Hot Money where he wins "on the nod".

Oh, and I also don't mind little/no plot (although I'm a big detective fiction fan!) - which is just as well, as I'm currently reading (and loving) Ducks, Newburyport, which is pretty much plot free

For me it's....

• don't need likable characters (but I struggle if I hate all the characters - I'm thinking of The Slap here)
• happy with a long ramble and v little plot (in fact these are some of my favourite books)
• don't care about speech marks

@Taytocrisps when I mentioned to my MIL I was reading a Kate Mosse novel she said, oh is that the model?! 😂

finisterreforever, I am happy for you to blame me whenever you buy a Dick Francis. I am looking forward to re-reading the Kit Fielding books - not sure how far away I am from them....

You say : "tragic figure"

I say : Superior, snobbish, prejudiced, anti-Semite, pain in the arse!

I dont need likeable characters... but I did quite like lily bart! I mean yes, its a very sad book... and she is a very flawed and repressed character.. but I related to her a lot. Its a tragedy and she is a tragic figure but she's very realistically drawn and that book is so interesting for showing how negatively a womans character could be effected by the type of society she was living in... you don't often see that in novels from that time.. its usually heroines or put upon victims, or true vilainesses... not complicated, flawed but clever women who are architects of their own demise, at war with themselves... I think shes a brilliant character.
I also love the Age of innocence!! LEAVE EDITH ALONE lol!!

I don't think I fit either camp

I need lots of plot

But I can't hate everyone in it

The only exception to this rule in my life was Sons And Lovers

Thought it was great, hated almost everyone

noodle excellent theory, I'm in the Don't need likeable charcters, Do need lots of Plot quadrant of your graph!

noodle I'm firmly in your camp (re likeable characters, but also re speech marks)

Thank you Time. I'm starting with Break In as it's one of the Kit Fielding books and I remember enjoying it and Bolt first time round, I'l get Bolt next month, conveniently forgetting my vow not to buy books this year but that's OK - I can blame you

finisterreforever - do it, you won’t regret it (I hope!). Here’s the first twenty (in case you get tempted to do more than one a month....):

Dead Cert
Nerve
For Kicks
Odds Against
Flying Finish
Blood Sport
Forfeit
Rat Race
Bonecrack
Smokescreen
Slay Ride
Knock Down
High Stakes
In the Frame
Risk
Trial Run
Whip Hand
Reflex
Twice Shy
Banker

Chessie, I like the look of Apple Of My Eye - doesn't seem to be on kindle so I requested a hold at the library. I think at one point I may have had the Helene Hanff Omnibus and I wish I still did because a paperback of it is available on Amazon for $870!!!

Tayto, yes I loved The Queen and I as well, I must re-read. I thought she predicted how each would cope very well! Such a funny writer.

Eine I have a theory that people are very firmly in the camps of 'needs likable characters vs. don't' and 'needs a lot of plot vs. happy with a long ramble and v little plot' and that people in either camp often hate each other's favourite books I am firmly don't need to like characters, and don't need a lot of plot and I think a few of the people on here who have similar tastes to me are probably the same. I may have to expand the theory to include 'must have speech marks vs. don't care about speech marks'.

Raven

It is one of two Great Divide books of the thread

You will love it

OR

You will hate it.

Which it shall be, roll the dice.

Going off your previously expressed tastes I'd say you're on my team

oh dear Eine I am about to start Station Eleven

I'd say my most hated in the last couple of years (Based on my 1 star reviews on Goodreads). Am I likely to hate Station Eleven?

Normal People by Sally Rooney
Three Things about Elsie by Joanna something
Tinman and When God Was a Rabbit by Sarah Winman (not touching anything by her again
Sing Unburied Sing by Jesmyn Ward
The Librarian by Sally Vickers
Wuthering Heights
The Hive by Gill Hornby
The Color of Magic by Terry Pratchett
Crosstalk by Connie Willis
The Cazalet Chronicles - granted I only read the first one

I read The Age of Innocence a few years ago. Definitely one of the worst books I've ever finished, and put me off touching anything else by her ever again.

[quote Unicant]@EineReiseDurchDieZeit ... im afraid too I dunno if I want hear it haha! The House of Mirth has been a favourite since I was a teenager... whats hateable about it? I could understand it not being to someones taste... but what is there to hate?[/quote]

I cannot cope with deeply unlikeable characters and I found Lily Bart insufferable (it is Lily Bart?)

The novel is an ongoing misery fest.

Total Absence Of Mirth

I snapped up the latest Jodi Picoult book the other day as it's 99p and her books are a guilty pleasure of mine. Unfortunately I didn't read the blurb and the protagonist is a death doula and I'm not in the right place to read that right now.

Tara I enjoyed your review of the Wendy Mitchell book, it's one i intend to read some day.

I'm appreciating the Dick Francis love, I really enjoyed his books as a teenager. I'm tempted to treat myself to one a month this year, I think I need to find the chronological list and work my way through it.

@EineReiseDurchDieZeit ... im afraid too I dunno if I want hear it haha! The House of Mirth has been a favourite since I was a teenager... whats hateable about it? I could understand it not being to someones taste... but what is there to hate?

1. The Humans by Matt Haig

Book club choice for us, supposed to be quite an easy read, and I guess I started it not expecting any great life-changing things to happen. I have two simultaneous reactions; some criticisms of style and story, which both have big limitations, but also a huge emotional wave that resulted in me spending a large chunk of the morning crying after reading it. It's about love, really, and there are some truly lovely passages in it that I won't forget. The limitations mean that I'm unlikely ever to re-read it. I felt that the author wasn't entirely certain what the point of his own story was, and the prevention of the future issue, having been hugely present in the first few chapters, disappeared almost completely. I get that the protagonist also loses track of this quest, but I still felt as if the spine of the book had been cut short. I also thought the writing was fairly ordinary at times (obviously much better than I could do). I was also moderately unconvinced by the main female character. But the emotional response was so strong that I'm very very glad I read it and am likely to seek out more of his books.

Loving the Dick Francis adoration on here. Hmm, haven't read Rat Race for ages, the last one I re-read was Flying Finish which is so great.

1. Somebody I Used to Know by Wendy Mitchell. The author was diagnosed with early onset Alzheimer's at the age of 58. She is determined to raise awareness of the disease while she is still articulate, and this memoir tells the story of her deteriorating mind as she gradually has to give up first driving, then baking, then paid work, and other distressing milestones, in an honest yet positive voice. She still lives independently (having been a single mum of adult daughters for many years before the diagnosis), and she talks about the challenges of living alone and her active involvement with the Alzheimer's Society, as well as the impact on her daughters and her fears for the future. She is an amazing and inspirational woman and this is an extraordinary memoir.