50 Book Challenge 2016 Part Six

[southeastdweller]

Thread six 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.

The first thread of 2016 is here, second thread here, third thread here, fourth thread here and fifth thread here.

90 Wide Sargasso Sea by Jean Rhys

The story of Bertha Rochester, the 'madwoman in the attic' from Jane Eyre, reimagined. Mostly set in the West Indies (where Jean Rhys was born & grew up). Very beautiful, and very sad - I'm not going to try and review properly, as I don't think I could do it justice, and it's so well known - but thoroughly recommended to anyone who hasn't read it.

"Most books start from a present and work into a future"

In most books, "a future" is still recognisably the present.

In SF, the future described is recognisably NOT the present. Especially dystopian stories such as The Handmaiden's Tale are very clearly not taking place at present or past of anywhere in the world. Whether it is the future, an alternate universe, or another planet >>> It's SF.

I'm really curious what it means that you don't think of Atwood's stuff as SF, though.

Sadik
We'll have to agree to disagree about that one. I really disliked it.

"It's not Science Fiction: it's SPECULATIVE Fiction." Thus spake Peggy.

What do people think of H is for Hawk? Worth reading?

NeverNic, I loved the hawk training parts, wasn't so keen on the introspection after the death of her father. On the whole worth a read.

NeverNic - I listened to the author reading it on audiobook and really enjoyed it. Loved the hawk training side of it, thought it very interesting. The bits about her dad were sad but are integral to the book. On the whole, yes definitely worth reading imo.

I really enjoyed H is for Hawk. I love nature writing with a personal element, so for me it was perfect and I would recommend it.

I've just finished 82. The Fish Ladder - Katherine Norbury, yet more nature writing. The nature bits were well written and interesting (she follows rivers to their source) and this element combined with her personal search for her birth family meant it was a compelling read, but despite this there were sections of the book that I felt were both unnecessary and poorly written, so mixed feelings generally.

Now on to Dark Matter by Michelle Paver, for something which I hope is appropriately October-ish.

Yeah would second H is for Hawk , loved that book last year.

I too found H Is for Hawk a worthwhile read.

Satsuki, thanks for the King recommendations! I've not read a lot of his work but would like to, esp. given On Writing's brilliance.

41. The Light of Paris, by Eleanor Brown A fluffy candy read. Madeleine, who's having marital problems, visits her mother and learns of her impending move from the family manse. In the process of helping her mother pack, Madeleine finds her grandmother's diaries, which reveal Granny's Paris sojourn in the mid 1920s and help Madeleine figure out how to live her best life. Total candy, but not badly written.

Also, I saw Ann Patchett be interviewed last night. She was superb: intelligent, thoughtful, generous, witty. She had some really incisive things to say about time and how she structures her novels in that regard. I've been to many such events, and she easily ranks in the top five, and is maybe the best. If you're a fan and have an opportunity to see her, go!

Yes, on writing made me want to fill in the gaps with his work, too. Be interested to see how you get on.

Anyone got anything in Autumn kindle sale? I got Any Human Heart by William Boyd for dh. Not a fan particularly, but he's an easy read, though dh and I both got pissed off with Ordinary Thunderstorms and didn't get past the first chapter. A lot of people seem to like this one though.

Also saw The House on Cold Hill by Peter James and Dark Matter mentioned by whippet above for Halloweeny reads.

I'm reading March Violets recommended by Remus on a different thread and enjoying so far.

Oh also in the sale was the Big Sleep by Raymond Chandler for those who like their detectives hard boiled. (That nearly autocorrected to hard oiled, which I suspect is a different genre entirely)

Satsuki - Thinking about getting Our Souls At Night by Kent Haruf. Have read some good reviews about it.

Already have a paperback copy of Any Human Heart lined up to read soon, otherwise would have bought that.

What did you hate about Wide Sargasso Sea, Remus? I felt it had a fantastic sense of place, I loved the descriptions and the way the narrative shifted perspective.

Vanderlyle good to hear that Ann Patchett was as engaging as ever.

Did she talk about her bookshop? I was mooching about on AbeBooks today and linked to one of her books was a long account of how she - slightly hesitantly - found herself opening an independent bookshop in Nashville with two other people. Just because she couldn't countenance the town not having one. I haven't read the whole article yet but plan to later.

I didn't get on with Hawk - found it all rather self-indulgent and didn't finish it.

Just bought The Big Sleep - am due a re-read.

Sargasso Sea just seemed to me to be a rather lazy attempt to get rich off somebody else's work by tearing it to pieces in a sort of points-scoring/I've got a feminist agenda sort of manner. It probably doesn't help that I think Rochester is the only good thing about Jane Eyre.

I'd love to hear Ann Patchett speak Vanderlye, Bel Canto was an amazing book.

I'm divided on Atwood, I really liked some of her earlier stuff - Alias Grace & A Handmaids Tale spring to mind - but couldn't get on with Oryx and Crake at all. I just found it a bit preachy and slow.

66. The Gospel according to Loki - Joanne Harris. This is a retelling of the Norse myths from Loki's perspective, justifying his actions and making him more sympathetic. It was quite readable but I didn't think his voice really rang true, a but too chatty for me.

67. We have always lived in the castle - Shirley Jackson. This was an American Gothic tale published in the 1962 by the same writer who wrote the Haunting Of Hill House. The narrator is 18 year old Merrikat who lives in an isolated house with her agoraphobic sister Constance and her uncle Julian. The first paragraph is so well written:
    My name is Mary Katherine Blackwood. I am eighteen years old, and I live with my sister Constance. I have often thought that with any luck at all I could have been born a werewolf, because the two middle fingers on both my hands are the same length, but I have had to be content with what I had. I dislike washing myself, and dogs, and noise. I like my sister Constance, and Richard Plantagenent, and Amanita phalloides, the death-cup mushroom. Everyone else in my family is dead.
    I'm surprised the book is not better known - I thoroughly enjoyed it.

68. The Burning Air - Erin Kelly. This is a well written psychological thriller, good page turner. It follows the Macbride family who are staying in their country retreat, after their mother's death. The youngest brother Felix brings a girlfriend Kelly with him who offers to babysit for his niece Edie while the others got a bonfire night party. Edie's mother Sophie comes home early to find both Kelly & Edie have disappeared. The book sounds like it is about Edie's disapperance but there is actually much more twists and turns going on, a definite page turner.

I have bought the Shirley Jackson Stokey, thanks. £1.99 on Kindle currently if anyone's interested.

As for Sargasso - I appreciate the significance of what Rhys was trying to do with it, and that the idea of challenging an accepted history was innovative and created a space for others to do similarly, but I do think it is quite a dull read and isn't that powerful on its own terms.

Agree, she does conjure the sense of place well in her descriptions, but just feel not much happens once you're there

highland, Patchett did discuss her bookstore and its effect on her as a writer. She said that she's very aware now of the time her readers have and put in to reading her work; she doesn't want to waste our time-or hers or the novel's-by including unnecessary plot points. For example, she doesn't discuss the process of the parents' divorces in Commonwealth (not a spoiler, I promise) so that she can use that space to focus on what must be discussed.

She's also not a fan of the 800 page novel, especially for first-time novelists. She clearly meant City on Fire, which I read and enjoyed but could have done with some serious pruning. She said that the bookstore means that she's constantly reading new books and that extreme length feels excessive.

She also spoke a little bit about one of the bookstore dogs whose fear of clapping has lead to a ban of it at the store.

Stokey, if you loved Bel Canto, do read Commonwealth if you can. I think you'll love it, too.

It's interesting that people are reading Shirley Jackson as I've seen several articles about her in the past few weeks. I think a new biography about her has just been published? I'm most familiar with her short stories but have her novels on my immense list of reading to be done.

That's interesting to hear what Ann Patchett had to say about reading time and cutting to the chase with a story - it does seem a simplistic view though. If a book is good, then it's good, and if it takes 800 pages to tell that story, then fantastic, the longer the better. I read The Luminaries earlier this year, over 800 pages (and only, I think, a second novel) and it all felt pertinent and was woven together really well over that length without a huge amount of padding. The book I read that was half that length and nearly stopped me reading over the summer with pages and pages of a woman waiting in a hotel, having nightmares and checking her post...State of Wonder by Ann Patchett

Seriously though I did enjoy a lot of her writing, and she left me on the fence but willing to give her another go, so will probably check out Bel Canto, at least.

61. A Pace Called Winter by Patrick Gale. 20 odd years ago I really enjoyed Gale- Little Bits of Baby in particular. I didn't not enjoy this, but somehow it felt a bit disjointed and unbalanced, unexpected from an experienced writer.

Stokey, if you read children's books, have you read 8 Days of Luke by Diana Wynne Jones- that is the best fictional Loki I have come across (including Tom Hidfleston!).

No one literary admits to writing sf, even The Time Travellers Wife (which I loved) was marketed as literary fiction not sf/fantasy. It's very annoying!

"If a book is good, then it's good, and if it takes 800 pages to tell that story, then fantastic, the longer the better. I read The Luminaries earlier this year, over 800 pages (and only, I think, a second novel) and it all felt pertinent and was woven together really well over that length without a huge amount of padding."

I'm totally with you on that, Satsuki. Many of my favourite books are over 1,000 pages.

And some of the loooooooongest books I've ever read were only about 200 pages.