50 Book Challenge 2016 Part Four

[southeastdweller]

Thread four of the 50 Book Challenge for this year.

The challenge is to read fifty books (or more!) in 2016, though reading fifty isn't mandatory. Any type of book can count, it's not too late to join, and please try to let us all know your thoughts on what you've read.

First thread of 2016 is here, second thread here and third thread here.

How're you getting on so far?

Yy whippet def read Gone With The Wind. It is long, but remember it was a huge bestseller so it is not laborious at all. It's a good page-turning story, and is very interesting as a sanitised, romanticised, view of the American South and slavery, and, let's be honest, an insight into how racism was woven into the culture. Worth reading for a slice of U.S history - a lot of it is well-researched, despite its flawed point of view.

Welcome, Monty

I managed to read quite a chunk of War and Peace despite a busy weekend! now half way! woo hoo!

Also bought Accidental Tourist, as never read any Anne Tyler, and Papillon which I read years ago and remember being gripped by it, it is a prison escape story. I lent it to my then boyfriend (now DH) and it was stolen out of the boot of our car while we were visiting his dad in hospital when he was only a few chapters in, so I repurchased it for him really. They also took Vernon God Little, which I was reading and was actually very relieved to be relieved of. Anyway if you like those kind of true (I think?) accounts of daring escapades it is a good example of one of those from what I remember, though I may be less impressed now!

Whippet, do read Gone With The Wind! I loved it - although I was about 16 and a lot of the racism probably went straight over my head. It'd be interesting to read it again now. Have you seen the film? I remember being very struck with the fact that Rhett doesn't actually say "Frankly, my dear, I don't give a damn" in the book!

I read Gone With The Wind when I was about 15 too. Thought it was so romantic, loved Scarlett and thought she was a heroine. Now, if I were to re-read I suspect I might feel very differently about her. Maybe best if I don't re-read it, although can't help thinking that maybe Rhett made the right decision :)

You know, I think Scarlett is a heroine, she is flawed and selfish, but a fantastic character; one of the best. 'Anti-hero' is accepted as a term for male characters who don't fit the mold, I don't know there are many that are female, but she certainly is one. I'll have to have a think about it.

Scarlett even gets "honorary male" treatment; you know that quote about how she goes out to conquer the world wearing a dress made of old curtains? The word Mitchell uses is "gallantry", which is super-charged in the context of the Old South and definitely implies masculinity. Maybe not a classic heroine, but closer to a classic hero?

I couldn't finish Gone with the Wind - was bored out of my skull by it.

Thanks whippet and Satsuki

13. Dissolution - C. J. Sansom. Absolutely loved this. Such a great insight into the time. The characters felt very real and the plot was well-paced. Will be reading the rest once I get hold of them.

Satsuki I agree with you about Vernon God Little. It is really rare for me to abandon a book before I've finished but I just couldn't be bothered with it. Grated on my nerves but I'm not sure exactly why.

41. The Hay Diet Made Easy by Jane Habgood

I picked this up for £1 the other week in the hope of getting a few new ideas for healthier changes to make to my diet. I can't see me going the whole hog and following food combining (all about which foods you should and shouldn't eat together) but it will be handy for a few tips I think. Veyr short book so not a trial to read.

Back to the world of Harry Dresden again now.

15 Pietr The Latvian by Georges Simenon

Another audible book and really enjoyed this one. I chose it as I watched Maigret over the Easter holidays and liked it,

Sorry rubbish at reviews

I only finished Vernon God Little because I'd been gifted it as a present. What a travesty that Zöe Heller didn't win the Man Booker that year for Notes on a Scandal and D.B.C Pierre did for that crap instead.

Thanks for the Gone with the Wind feedback. Despite Remus, I am going to give it a go.

I actually enjoyed Vernon God Little and there's a part of the book that really sticks in my memory about watching a boy and his mother on a bus. I wonder what I would think of it now though.

I loved Gone with the Wind, much better than the film

I am dithering Remus whether to go and see Philip Kerr speak about his Berlin Noir books,

My DM was a massive fan of Gone With the Wind - both the novel and the film. Whilst the film was lovely (at least I thought so when I watched it as a teenager), I don't know whether I would love it if I were to watch it again. It is very much the sanitised version of the novel, hiding the racism, violence, and the worst sides of Scarlett's character. It places more emphasis on the romance. Whereas in the novel she comes across as selfish, manipulative, determined to have Ashley at any cost. She is often ruthless in her dealings with people, even her own husbands and children aren't spared. It could be argued that the circumstances in which she found herself justified a fight for survival but I think that was her character anyway - we see it at the start of the novel when she is spoilt and privileged and with no need to behave like that. I don't think of her as a straight forward heroine, a determined ruthless survivor perhaps.

Yy sorry mermaid meant to be clearer that I think of Scarlett as an anti-heroine rather than a straightforward heroine, in that she achieves great things, strives for greatness, inadvertently does some good along the way but that isn't her driving force and she is morally ambiguous, yet despite this you're kind of compelled by her. Rhett is suspended between admiration and disgust and so are we if you see what I mean.

I forgot Vernon won the Booker!

I was just posting some early morning musings on Scarlett, Satsuki - I think we're basically in agreement about her, aren't we? :)

32. The Memory of Love – Aminatta Forna
    Set in both contemporary (post-war) Sierra Leone and the Sierra Leone of the late 1960s, this was a slow-burn of a novel looking at the interlinking lives and loves of a range of characters played out against the backdrop of a damaged and traumatised country. It took a long time to get into this novel but on the whole I am glad I persevered. Long, slow and indulgent, but mostly satisfying.

33. Allegiant – Veronica Roth
    The final chapter of the YA Divergent trilogy. Half-way through this one I felt I’d had enough of it all now thank you very much but I kept on to the end, which took me by surprise. I didn’t see it coming at all. I am still a bit

34. State of Wonder – Ann Patchett
    I found this to be completely absorbing and very well-written. What stood out for me was the characterisation, which was excellent, particularly the depiction of the heroine Marina, a researcher, who travels to the Amazon to find out what has become of her lab partner. This is definitely one of my favourite reads of the year so far. I hadn’t read any Ann Patchett before but have Bel Canto waiting on my shelf. Can't wait.

35. The Adventures of Tom Sawyer – Mark Twain
    This was so much fun. I seemed to know the stories without having read the original so must have had it read to me or read an abridged version as a child. I loved all the scrapes that Tom and Huck got into and the mischief they caused but it’s very difficult to look past the attitudes to Native Americans and slaves.

44. Thus was Adonis Murdered, Sarah Caudwell Crime fiction with a humorous bent; written in 1981 but it has an older, almost inter-war feel to the dialogue. Lots of arch drollery - very Senior Common Room: the adorably silliness of a tax lawyer; the grave doubts about the intelligence of one character who is reputed to have needed to (horrors) work for his Oxford First. Good fun if you like this kind of thing.

Housebound with a poorly child (nothing major) so roaming in my imagination with J G Links' Venice for Pleasure (I think I'm a little bit in love the author although he died nearly 20 years ago aged 92) and In the Land of Giants by Max Adams (visiting Dark Age remnants in modern Britain.

Yes we are! I just reread my earlier post and felt I had waffled without really saying much, so was just trying to make myself clearer

24. The Hollow Crown by Dan Jones Excellent and well researched account of the wars of the roses and rise of the Tudors. Written in a very engaging way for what is basically a chronological non-fiction account spanning the late reign of Henry V to the early reign of Henry VIII. In fact, it leaves off roughly where Wolf Hall picks up, and I am also (still) listening to Bring Up The Bodies on audio, so this has filled in a lot of gaps in, for example, how the noble families around Henry VIII came to be in the positions they were. Had to pay attention, as relationships were so complex, multiple people with same forenames, and when discussing someone the author would refer to them interchangeably by their title, surname or forename, which confused me no end (easily done).

whippet follow Tom Sawyer with Huck Finn if you haven't read it and see what you think. Mark Twain incorporated his adult sense of morality and awareness of racism into it whereas Tom is very much from the point of view of a child who accepts unquestioningly the social mores of the time, much as Twain did.

I'm glad you liked State of Wonder, I've had it on the kindle for a while will bump it up the list a bit now having read your review

Satsuki, I do plan to read Huck Finn soon, so that will be interesting. Thank you.

I would love to know what you think of State of Wonder