50 Books Challenge 2022 Part Seven

Interesting, Piggy. My memory of the book (The Heart's...) is too hazy to recall much of it now, unfortunately. I would have to skim-read it at least to remember it. If Boyne portrayed Haughey as a smooth-talking, cunning trickster, that would be right. He was a real sleeveen, as we say in these parts.

Found you all!

I have just finished John Boyne's Heart's Invisible Furies.

I wasn't sure what I made of it and am still processing this. I liked many parts of it - its humorous bits are often great, but some parts misfire. And some of the life stories are very obvious and heavy handed.

It is very cinematic. I hope if/when adapted for film the awful , silly cliched dialogue , especially of older characters, is tidied up. I actually liked the opening best and wish Boyne had spent longer with Sean.

Some characters were bunged For ishoos?) in an undeveloped, often female ones and overseas characters such as Bastiaan's parents.

I did like the journey and it was ultimately satisfying but I am afraid I also found some of the writing absolutely risible.

Am wondering whether the real chatracters such as Charles Haughey were as Boyne depicts them.

I do the same as noodle - I go to the All Deals page, scroll to the bottom and then view all.

I seem to always find the monthly deals by googling and following one of the top links on my phone but it was definitely more fiddly this month.

I bought this is not a pity memoir as I remembered the authors article in the guardian and am interested in experiences with MS.

amp.theguardian.com/stage/2022/may/01/abi-morgan-interview-split-this-is-not-a-pity-memoir

Also Miss Smilla’s feeling for Snow by Peter Hoeg as my copy has tiny writing.

You probably glazed over from scrolling through all the dross!

@Terpsichore I agree, it was much easier when there was a monthly deals link. Now I just go to Kindle Book Deals and scroll all the way to the bottom then click See All Results.

I'm also v grumpy that two weeks after I discovered the existence of weekly deals, they seem to have vanished.

@ChessieFL Glad to see someone else has issues with Madly, Deeply: The Alan Rickman Diaries, I found it virtually unreadable and had to return to the library as 10 people had reservations on it.

Once Upon A Tome by Oliver Darkshire which I got out at the same time was very readable though

Here you all are! I was like the last kid in the playground on the other thread, wondering where everyone had gone.

Have just started a new job and am wondering why on earth I thought it was a good idea. Money isn't better, commute isn't better, I just thought I should change things up after years doing the same thing. It'll get better, just feeling outside my comfort zone.

On phone so not copying full list, but recent reads:

128. Once upon a Time, by Oliver Darkshire
Author was taken on as an apprentice at a venerable antiquarian booksellers, and this is an enjoyable account of the idiosyncrasies of the trade, the people and the bookshop itself.

129. Courtiers, Valentine Low
What it's like to work as an advisor to the Royal family. Not a lot of fun, in many cases. Being in new job mode, I read it as an anxiety- inducing caution about taking on challenging roles, even if good on paper.

130. Dinosaurs: 10 things you should know, Dean Lomax
If you don't have the time or patience for longer books, here is a whistlestop tour. Reads more like it's written for early teens, but I find it soothing to think about long sweeps of time - temporary woes pass....

I just rely on daily emails from Bookbub and link from.there when there is something I fancy.

It’s ridiculously difficult to find the monthly deals now they don’t have an actual link saying 'Monthly Deals', like they used to. Why on earth did they stop?

I now go to 'all Kindle book deals' and click on a category - usually the laughably-misnamed 'literature' - and trust to luck that the list that comes up is the right one. If it’s 40 pages or so I assume I’m in the right place. Then the other categories are normally listed on the left-hand margin. I did see all the ones people have mentioned, so maybe I got it right 😅

If there’s an easier way, someone please tell me!

Bad Blood is outstanding. Amazon really should find a way to float the stuff we may want to the top of our lists. I've given up looking and rely on your purchases. Off to buy Red Sauce, Brown Sauce.

Latest reads

267 Gerry & I by Jacquie Durrell

This was originally written in the 1960s and published as Beasts In My Bed, but was republished a couple of years ago with the new title and a new introduction by the author. I had read the original before but wanted to read the new intro and it was nice to reread anyway. Jacquie was Gerald Durrell’s first wife and was still married to him when she originally wrote this. It’s her side of the story on what it was like going on all those animal collecting trips and living with the Durrells. Definitely worth a read if you’re interested in Durrellania.

268 The Prisoner by B A Paris

This was terrible, avoid! A woman is kidnapped along with her husband and kept in a dark room for two weeks - but it soon becomes clear that nothing is as it seems, even her marriage. Even once I got to the end I didn’t understand the point of the kidnapping and what it was meant to achieve.

269 The Detection Collection by The Detection Club

Short stories by members of the Detection Club. I enjoyed these.

270 Skipping Christmas by John Grisham

This is the book that the film Christmas With The Kranks is based on. The Kranks decide not to bother with Christmas and go on a cruise, but the small town they live in isn’t happy with this and they become ostracised- until their daughter announces she’s coming home unexpectedly and they need to produce an emergency Christmas. Good fun.

271 Christmas With Anne Of Green Gables And Other Stories by L M Montgomery

I misread the Amazon blurb and thought this was a separate AOGG story but it’s not, just an extract from the book, then more book extracts/short stories. I did enjoy them but they were all quite similar after a while (better off characters help those less fortunate have a good Christmas).

272 The Extremely Embarrassing World of Lottie Brooks by Katie Kirby

Read this so DD could talk to me about it! Told in diary style by Lottie who is starting secondary school and struggling to fit in. I did enjoy it although I’m obviously not the target market and I can see why DD loves it.

273 Appetite: A Memoir In Recipes of Family and Food by Ed Balls

Ed tells us about his life but centred around food. He’s a very keen home cook. Nice enough but I would have liked more Strictly gossip. Also I listened to this on Audible read by Ed himself and I didn’t like his narration - usually I like authors narrating their own books especially when it’s an autobiography, but he kept making a sniffing sound between sentences which was really irritating.

274 Gifts by Laura Barnett

Each chapter features someone buying or making a gift for someone, who then features in their own chapter next so it’s a sort of chain of people and presents. I liked this and the way all the connections between people were gradually revealed.

275 Clothes Pegs by Susan Scarlett

Read this following recommendation in the previous thread. I loved the period detail (it was written in 1939) and the idea of a clothes shop having four full time models whose job is to show the clothes off to customers! Does that still happen now in posh shops I wonder?

276 Madly, Deeply: The Alan Rickman Diaries

This was a bit of an odd read, by turns really dull and really interesting. Some entries are just mundane, about where he’s travelled that day, but others where he’s talking about friends and colleagues can be fascinating. It’s VERY name-droppy, inevitably (it’s full of entries like: ‘4pm Dan Day-Lewis turns up to play tennis.’). It’s also a bit odd in that sometimes there is a footnote explaining who someone is and other times there isn’t - I assume where there isn’t a footnote we’re meant to know who it is but I didn’t always, which doesn’t help the reading experience. Overall an interesting read.

Just spent 5 mins trying to buy All Quiet on The Western Front

I couldn't figure out why it didn't have a buy it now button. I usually buy the damn things in error instead of adding it to my list.

Anyway, turns out I bought it in May 😂

Good to know you can't purchase duplicates though!

Very quick skim through the monthly deals as all seem to be very twee Christmas numbers.

Deals available that I have already read, and could recommend, would include: Shuggie bain, Normal people, All quiet on the western front, Christmas at the Island hotel (if you’ve read the previous books), An American Marriage, The Travelling Cat Chronicles, Seven days of us and Dig

I have bought O Caledonia. Elspeth Barker was (briefly) my Latin teacher at school. I say 'briefly' because I rapidly realised that Latin was not for me!!

I bought O Caledonia because you lot made me. 🤣 I also bought a couple of police procedurals from series I like, Kat Farmer's book and one about the UK.
I can recommend Adam Buxton's Ramble Book for anyone into 80s/90s pop culture.

The whole thing is full of "Christmas Surprises at the Plumber's Daughter's teashop in Rhubarb Crumble Lane" though so it didn't take me as long as usual to peruse.

I so didn't see any of those, I don't know what I do wrong.

Monthly deals did seem to be particularly dire (unless you like books with 'Christmas' in the title) but I bought The Skeleton Key, Hare House, Red Sauce Brown Sauce (I love Felicity Cloake's writing), Brideshead Revisited (so I can ditch my paper copy) and It Ends at Midnight (looks a bit dubious but it is at least seasonal).

Books in the deal that I've previously read and really enjoyed include The Paris Apartment, Bad Blood, and An American Marriage. Bad Blood is even more gripping in light of the recent US court case - which is probably a spoiler alert!

Thanks for the Abe books suggestion in the previous thread. Im sure i will be spending some money there. Have been enjoying reading all the recent reviews - including the negative ones🙂
My list so far ....
1.The Next Time You See Me, Holly Goddard Jones

1. The Kindest Lie, Nancy Johnson
2. The Fell, Sarah Moss
3. The Black Friend, Frederick Joseph
4. A Walk in the Woods, Bill Bryson

1. Anything is Possible, Elizabeth Strout
2. . Mrs England, Stacey Halls
3. Small Things Like These, Clare Keegan

& a new one
16. Such a Fun Age, Kiley Reid
This focuses on Emira an African-American graduate working as a babysitter for a well off white family. In the opening chapters, Emira is accused of kidnapping Briar, the little girl she looks after, by a supermarket security guard. The reverberations of this false accusation are examined in the rest of the book. Briar's mother Alix behaves in increasingly troubling intrusive, paternalistic and possessive ways towards Emira, despite wanting to display the veneer that she is friendly & supportive. Kelley, Emira's white boyfriend, also feels that he knows what is best for Emira.
There was a lot to enjoy here. The story moved forward quickly and the depiction of Emira's inner thoughts and relationships with her girlfriends were engaging. Alix's desperate need to 'befriend' Emira is excruciating and well drawn. It explores the extent that people are genuinely motivated to do the right thing or simply want to be seen to. How relationships operate when the power dynamics are unequal is brought into sharp focus. I liked this, but didnt love it. Pethaps it felt a bit mechanistic at times.

And a Jeeves Omnibus is there too. Well worth 99p of ready money.

I'm currently amusing myself by trawling through the Amazon 'deals' in the what they call 'literary fiction' section. Let's just say few of them look very literate, let alone literary.

However, the remarkable All Quiet on the Western Front is there, if anybody hasn't yet read it.

Then these

And those

I read these

Number 1 that should say !

1. was the Manningtree Witches

Here's my list. * for standouts

1. The Manningtree Witches - A.K. Blakemore
2. Girl A - Abigail Dean
3. Unsettled Ground - Clare Fuller
4. Once There Were Wolves - Charlotte McConnaghy
5. Migrations - Charlotte McConnaghy
6. Wolf Border - Sarah Hall
7. The Court of the Midnight King - Freda Warrington
8. A Single Thread - Tracey Chevalier
9. Prague Nights - Benjamin Black