50 Book Challenge 2021 Part Eight

Janina - "What is "genre fiction"? SF, spy dramas, crime fiction, etc."

That is so broad a class as to be meaningless. I was talking about chick-lit, which Marian Keyes writes.

"What is "women's fiction"? Books written by half the world's population which you repeatedly have stated you aren't keen on."

I think you will find that you are mistaken there. "Women's fiction" refers to books about women's lives that are marketed to women, NOT to books written by women.

My point was that we should not assume that all or even most women read mainly or even any "women's" fiction.

I was not criticizing your taste of which I have no idea at all, since I don't remember you from earlier 50-Book threads. In any case, I read a lot of SF, historical fiction, spy/political fiction and some quite odd books about math, science, and classical music that most people find weird. It would be pretty boring around here if everyone read the same kind of books.

What I challenged was your idea that Marian Keyes writes "complex and meaningful literature", which I find unjustified for an author of chick-lit/popular fiction. There is nothing wrong with enjoying her books - we can call a spade a spade, and enjoy that spade for what it is.

"it doesn't really fit with the spirit of these threads"

I have been on every 50-Book thread since the first one in 2013, and we have always poked fun at books and authors people read/like, which is what I was doing re Marian Keyes when you stepped on the scene. Check out the epic Never Let Me Go and Station Eleven wars that played over many years not to mention the Nevil Shute debacle which is my personal favorite.

Merry Christmas all.
May Santa bring you lovely books.
Peace and love.

Merry Christmas Gang

What is "genre fiction"?

SF, spy dramas, crime fiction, etc.

What is "women's fiction"?

Books written by half the world's population which you repeatedly have stated you aren't keen on.

I'm not quite sure why you felt the need to speculate on and criticise my supposed taste in books, it doesn't really fit with the spirit of these threads.

Merry Christmas everyone! (It’s already Christmas morning in my part of the world.) Hope Santa brings you everything you asked for! He bought me the latest Sally Rooney

119. Hillbilly Elegy by JD Vance I read reviews of this when it first came out, but obviously not with that much attention, since I was expecting something much more directly political and right wing. Instead this was a really affecting memoir of the author's childhood growing up in a troubled family in rustbelt Ohio, intermixed with the story of his wider family and their origins as Kentucky hillbillies.
     Although the author has become a Republican politician, I didn't feel that his stories in the book necessarily led to either a right or left wing conclusion, but rather to the need to avoid simplistic sticking plaster solutions and look at people's lives and families as a whole. I particularly liked the acknowledgement of his good luck in having enough support at certain moments (especially from his grandparents) and the ways in which that enabled him to succeed.

I agree with MamaNewtNewt. I’ve often sung Marian Keyes praises on here. She covers some very dark issues. Her writing on abortion in Ireland in The Break is outstanding. Definitely not superficial.

There are quite a few of us who said we enjoyed Marian Keyes's books and I think we all know the term "chick lit" is used to diminish works by female authors.

We might not all have the same tastes but in my mind so-called chick-lit is just as valid a choice as the classics, or sci-fi. It's all about reading, enjoying, sharing and healthy debate where we can disagree without putting anyone else's choices down.

I'm also looking forward to the follow up to Rachel's Holiday and think I'll reread before the new one comes out.

Janina - I was joking but since you want to play...

"There's plenty of people reading genre fiction on here."

What is "genre fiction"?

"women's fiction is often dismissed as 'chick-lit'"

What is "women's fiction"? I hope that is not what you call superficial stories about everyday women's everyday feelings and minor squabbles with friends, husbands, and kids, marketed in pink covers and titles like The Errand Boy's Sister or The Tailor's Wife in cursive letters. As a woman, I would find that offensive.

To the best of my knowledge, we are all women here and those books are not universally appreciated or even frequently seen on these threads. So how do you justify calling them "women's fiction"?

"good writers like Marion Keyes are creating more complex and meaningful literature "

Really? Does Marion Keyes write complex and meaningful literature now?

I enjoy my share of beach reads all through the year, but I don't call them literature, let alone "complex and meaningful literature" in a world that has books by Leo Tolstoy, David Mitchell, and many others of similar talent and vision.

Everything is relative, of course, and Marion Keyes's stories might be complex and meaningful compared to the other books you read, but please don't assume that this viewpoint is shared by all women.

I love Rachel's Holiday and can't wait for Again Rachel although if it's not good I will be v disappointed!

Same here noodle!

I love Rachel's Holiday and can't wait for Again Rachel although if it's not good I will be v disappointed!

@VikingNorthUtsire I liked Ninth House very much but I was glad to read a physical copy because I had to spend so much time flicking back and forth between the text and the maps to remind me what on earth was going on. Much harder to do on a kindle.

36. Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day by Winifred Watson. Miss Pettigrew is a down on her luck 1930s governess who takes an interview with Nightclub singer Miss LaFloss and we follow that life changing day. Honestly this was one of the most perfect books I’ve ever read. Everyone is pretending to be someone else. Just joyous.
37. Sunburn by James Felton I have enjoyed Felton’s pandemic take tweets and so picked up this as my book to read on my phone if I’ve nothing else to hand. 99 headlines from The Sun and Felton’s unpicking of how influential The Sun actually is.I started this book hating The Sun but having avoided it for a very long time it’s a good reminder of its consistent awfulness. It is pretty light I suppose in that it targets ‘The Sun’ as an org rather than the genuine humans that wrote this garbage (with the odd Murdoch reference for good measure).
38. Shuggy Bain by Douglas Stuart. Much reviewed Booker winner that follows Shuggy and his mother Agnes living in poverty, drenched in alcoholism and violence in 1980s Glasgow. I loved this. Some beautiful writing and a good balance of realistic misery with touching moments (which makes it sound corny but it’s not). Staying with my Glaswegian MIL ‘I don’t have to read it, I lived it’. Which made me more curious about the stories she doesn’t talk about.
39. Milk and Honey by Rupi Kaur. A poetry collection published by the author in her early 20s. I felt it read her age, big dramatic statements of love and passion and break ups with a little less depth. But there was something quite raw about it too.

There's plenty of people reading genre fiction on here. We've talked before about how women's fiction is often dismissed as 'chick-lit' when good writers like Marion Keyes are creating more complex and meaningful literature than that title suggests (and 'lad-lit' gets more plaudits).

Who is talking?

I can't see you

I love Marian Keyes so she’s definitely been on my lists!

I don't remember seeing any Marian Keys books on 50-Book threads.

We may have scared off chick-lit fans a long time ago or I might just be zapping any memory of those books as soon as I see them.

There was some talk about Rachel's Holiday by Marian Keyes so some of you might be interested in this.

48. Emergency Skin - N K Jemisin

Another SF novella and a pretty decent one, too. The world's elite have upped and left for another planet as the climate crisis deepened and it looked like the Earth was doomed. Now, many years later, they send someone to get HeLa cells from what they fully expect is a dead planet.

I liked the premise of this story, and I also liked the interesting way it was told.

47. Summer Frost - Blake Crouch

This was a novella by the author of Dark Matter, which I read and favorably reviewed about 4 years ago.

A minor character in a new computer game starts acting outside the script, engaging with other characters and exploring the virtual world. The developer recognizes this as the accidental development of an AI, isolates and nurtures it. As the AI devours all human knowledge and becomes smarter with every second, he tries to align its interests with that of humanity.

This was an interesting take on the AI topic. Personally, I think developing AI a self-defeating quest for humanity for which we can have no winning strategy, and its interesting to see how other people view the challenges and potential pitfalls. Recommended.

The one that stuck with me was a re-read of The Box of Delights which is also set at Christmas and is quite strange and beautiful.

I love The Box of Delights, unfortunately my DC take after their father and find it far too weird. I've just bought myself The Midnight Folk as a little Christmas present.

Eine

I haven't done any Christmas reading as I have been very slowly reading Ninth House which is fulfilling a need for something escapist. Not sure if I'm finding it slow going because it's confusing (it chucks you into several unexplained plots at the start plus there's all sorts of magic and legends and other nonsense which I am letting wash over me) or because, like everyone, I'm busy and tired and sad.

I read The Dark is Rising either last year or the year before, and I can barely remember it! Which is strange as it's so well loved. The one that stuck with me was a re-read of The Box of Delights which is also set at Christmas and is quite strange and beautiful.

to you Meg and all those who've had a tough year. I hope this next week has happiness and love in it and that 2022 is a better year for everyone.

106: A Christmas Carol - Charles Dickens

Maybe a bit of a cheat to count this, as it's so short, but it's an appropriate round-off to the year, and I'd never actually read it before, despite loving the iconic Alastair Sim film (which I'll doubtless be watching again, for the gazillionth time). Also, it was great to read this straight after the excellent John Mullan Dickens book. A brilliant bit of writing from Dickens; he really was a wonder.

Rip Joan Didion, thanks for telling us.

40. Dan Leno & The Limehouse Golem - Peter Ackroyd

Made it to 40 which I'm pretty pleased with given what a shitty year it's been. And a great read - a murder mystery set in the music halls and dingy alleyways of Victorian London, with a cast including real-life characters like Leno (a famous pantomime performer), Karl Marx and Oscar Wilde. Very readable, clever and blackly funny.