50 Book Challenge 2021 Part Eight

I also didn't think much of The Turn of the Screw @EineReiseDurchDieZeit.

[quote PermanentTemporary]@Boiledeggandtoast thank you for recommending the Macneice programme, that was unexpectedly glorious.[/quote]
I'm glad you enjoyed it too. Was it you who recommended Autumn Journal last year?

I've also got English Passengers on TBR

119. The Turn Of The Screw by Henry James (Audible)

Read by Richard Armitage and Emma Thompson

A governess takes sole charge of two orphans who are an inconvenience to their Uncle. Are they being haunted, are the kids creepy or is she mentally ill?

Weird. Not that scary, or involving, I might just not like Henry James because I really disliked Wings Of The Dove last year.

I keep meaning to try English Passengers.

I finished the 2nd Enola Holmes novel yesterday. Terrible.

61. English Passengers - Matthew Kneale A Victorian trio comprising a vicar, a doctor and a botanist embark on a voyage to Tasmania in search of the Garden of Eden, to be transported reluctantly by a Manx smuggling vessel whose crew are only trying to evade London customs.

It's clearly the season for comforting re-reads for me. This is one of my all-time favourite books and I've read it many times before. Told from various different viewpoints, the main narrators being Captain Kewley of the Sincerity, Peevay - a Tasmanian Aborgine, Rev Wilson, Dr Potter & Renshaw the Botanist. Each voice has a distinctive style and evokes nicely the characters, prejudices and strengths of each main character as well as telling the horrific story of the near-eradication of the Aboriginal inhabitants of Tasmania in the 19th Century.

@Boiledeggandtoast thank you for recommending the Macneice programme, that was unexpectedly glorious.

@EineReiseDurchDieZeit it is a good choice. Some of the 'just a plain man, me' schtick characteristic of police accounts which I find gets extremely old fast, but really not much of it. Colin Sutton comes across as a nice man, endlessly fascinated by detective work. I assume he had a very good collaborator, but think he is likely a well seasoned story teller too.

@PermanentTemporary

I have been eyeing that up recently, like a bit of true crime.

I have read the majority, if not all, of Willa Cather and My Antonia is without a doubt by favourite.

62. Manhunt: The Night Stalker by Colin Sutton
True crime being one of my guilty pleasures, I recommend this to other prurient curtain-twitchers like me. I'd seen the excellent ITV drama, which turned out to be remarkably close to the book (or was the book written after the script? No matter). Anyway, as a library borrow while flopped on a sofa with the cold from hell, it was an excellent 2 hours.

I remember generally that the author of into thin air was quite scathing about the commercialising of everest, I remember at one point he was worried he didn't have enough experience and was genuinely shocked when he was one of the most experienced in the group.

90. Fierce bad rabbits by Clare Pollard

A look at the history of children's picture books. This was a lovely read, the lives of the the authors that were brought up were interesting including that the authors of the very hungry catapillar and the tiger that came to tea were both in Germany during wwII and then both wrote books involving wars lots of food!

92. The high house by Jessie Greengrass

A small family survive in a elevated house in the top of a hill after climate change has caused the sea level to rise. I haven't heard much about this one, I'm guessing because with everything people don't want to read something like this? I absolutely loved it, it's not a preachy book at all and instead focuses on the events leading up to it and the survival and running out of supplies as they try to Becomre self sufficient. It reminded me abut of the last section of the bone clocks like David Mitchell, similar tone to that.

93. Little dorrit by Charles dickens

Id say this was near the top in terms of dickens for me

Also, I'm sorry I can't remember who recommended the excellent Autumn Journal by Louis MacNeice last year, but there was a really interesting programme about MacNeice and his poems on Radio 3 last Sunday. Link here if you're interested:

www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m0012gjf

Thanks Pepe. Just ordered O, Pioneers!

Although be careful you don’t end up with this version

My Antonia is just 37p on Kindle btw.

Thanks Meg, I love a story of mountain madness. Will check it out, particularly as plans are being cancelled left, right and centre here at the moment. The weekend was busy and is now very much not busy!

And boiledegg, so glad you liked it. If you enjoyed it, then I would also recommend O, Pioneers! as another very satisfying read.

Not a book but all you mountaineering fans should check out 14 Peaks on Netflix, really inspiring stuff.

My Antonia by Willa Cather Many thanks to Pepe for the recommendation. I absolutely loved this, it was like Little House on the Prairie for grown-ups.

@FortunaMajor this made me snort out loud: I could definitely do with something light hearted for the next few weeks as so much genocide doesn't really get you in the mood for Xmas.

Just finished 45. Into Thin Air, by John Krakauer. I know this is fairly universally loved on this thread, and I found it gripping and compellingly written but the premise is so annoying. Manly men do lots of manning, with no regard for the lives of others or the environmental impact. I wonder what he thinks about the recent traffic jams at the top of Everest? It left me agreeing with Hillary that if you need a guide to climb Everest, you probably shouldn't be there.

I also wish I hadn't read the long epilogue of his squabble with Boukreev and DeWalt (who wrote The Climb) which no one comes out of very well.

Funnily enough @LadybirdDaphne despite my Harris fandom, I couldn't get along with Cicero at all. I know lots love it though.

Robert Harris’ Cicero trilogy is £1.99 today on kindle - well worth a look if you like historical fiction / political thrillers.

52 Frankenstein, Mary Shelley

This was a reread for me, but read as a sort of readalong with book club. We read in two halves and met each time. I loved it the first time I read it, but this time it was just not as engaging. Whether because I’ve read it, seen stage productions, films etc or just it wasn’t as good as I remember. I’m sure the story is well known. Victor Frankenstein creates a being that is aesthetically unattractive and he and the people that the creature comes across are appalled and scared by it. However, the creature begins as kind and intelligent but responds to the hurtful behaviour of people with violence. A number of things occur and Victor sets to tracking the creature. The second half told from the creature’s POV was far more interesting and Victor makes me angry. Some of the prose was wonderful and sometimes it dragged. A decent 3/5 for me.

53. The End (A Series of Unfortunate Events), Lemony Snicket (Daniel Handler)

I finished this last night after DS3 fell asleep so I will have to finish it again tonight. I feel like there were so many mysteries and loose ends that haven’t been tied up, but overall I have really enjoyed reading these with DS3. Lots of humour that goes over his head but makes me laugh, lots of literary reference points. I’m really glad I’ve read these books.

(For those not aware, the series follows the Baudelaire orphans who have a series of useless guardians and encounter many many unfortunate events).

Boiledegg I'll definitely give that chapter a go. I still kept hold of it as I had a niggle about not finishing it. It was a book I really wanted to read.

I think we as a society are in a really precarious place with our current government that this felt like a timely book.

I should perhaps have said interesting and unusual.

Thanks Fortuna. I should first of all qualify that I'm writing this under the influence of post-Covid and menopausal brainfog. I do remember the writing coming across as quite cynical (or as noted - and I don't disagree - by Remus "self indulgent" and you "out of touch") in contrast to the more compassionate, sympathetic and emotionally engaging accounts written by victims of Nazi atrocities, but I think that was what I found interesting. If you can bear to, I would still recommend the "Day of Judgement" chapter before you give up on it completely.