50 Book Challenge Part Five

[southeastdweller]

Welcome to the fifth thread of the 50 Book Challenge for this year.

The challenge is to read fifty books (or more!) in 2017, 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 the year is here, the second one here, the third thread here and the fourth one here.

What are you reading?

Altered love a good book rant.

42. The Ashes of London. Much reviewed on previous threads. Have had this one waiting for a while. It was ok, readable but lacked depth. Didn't really like the way it flitted between the two perspectives and points of view. Really jarred and I found it stopped the flow of the story. Read to the end but was pretty much past caring about the conclusion. Had seen references to Shardlake in reviews but didn't even come close for me.

The action has moved on to Yorkshire now, so no more rants about Egypt. Happily, there is ample scope for cliché bingo.

She's gone to live with Mummy, and a KC spaniel, land rovers, green Barbour jackets, a claret drinking professor, pheasant shooting, tea, and a double-barrelled estate-owning aristocrat whose wife and children have just been killed in a tragic accident have all featured within the first 20 pages. Fantastic.

Could the tragically-bereaved aristo be the love interest to come? So handy when the previous family are all wiped out.

The best part in my aunt's novel would be where she would define the term "Welsh". Obviously, northerners, anyone from Gwent and the next town along would not be Welsh.

altered I laughed at the truth of that sentence. I live in Cardiff and when we venture north, my friends from the 'diff (who are as Welsh as can be) are regularly told they aren't Welsh, not really. I only moved to Wales 15 years ago and, while I love the country with all my heart, I have no illusions about being Welsh myself. It is maddening to see these divisions though. Helps in no way other than making someone feel mildly superior for about 25 seconds.

RMC
I referred to Shardlake when reviewing Ashes but only to say how poorly it compared! I'd hoped Ashes might be god enough to fill the gap between Shardlakes, but sadly not. :(

I'm reading South Riding by Winifred Holtby which came highly recommended to me. It's okay - over long and prone to wittering and nonsense in places, but extremely tender and moving in other parts. Has anybody read it?

I loved South Riding when I first read it in my early 20s Remus, and I think still like it because of that. Have you read Testament of Friendship? IIRC I think I read all WH's books off the back of reading & enjoying Vera Brittain's autobiographies.

(I'm now tempted to re-read Anderby Wold and The Land of Green Ginger seeing as they're both 99p on Kindle!)

Blimey, it makes Noel Streatfeild's ham-eating, Christmas-party-throwing Jews seem almost benign.

Remus, no, but it's on my to-read shelf as my DH read it and liked it a lot. He is a local government geek though.

biblio he has already met her gaze with his piercing green eyes and he has been declared "a difficult man to lie to" so the signs are all there.

Hopefully the green eyes and extensive property holdings will help her, the principled researcher, overlook his illegal trafficking in antiquities and profiteering. I am now really enjoying the clunky expository dialogue, unmatched since the classic Euromance title Viking Magic by Angela Wells, written in commemoration of the signing of the Maastricht treaty.

PoeticLE your mention of moving to Wales "only...15 years ago" speaks volumes. I have it the other way around. I am the non-Welsh speaking child of a Welsh father and product of a gasp mixed marriage with an Englishwoman. Everyone is always shocked that I am not a Welsh speaker, despite never having lived in Wales. I love Wales though. There is something just great about it, I can't say exactly what.

My aunt will not use the local post office, the only business still running in the village except for the hairdresser and the pub, because the guy running it is English and consequently "has funny ideas."

I've just started The Dust That Falls From Dreams by Louis de Bernieres. I used to be a big fan but he's disappointed me more often than not recently so not sure about it yet. Anyone have positive experience of it?

If I can't get into this one I'm going to give up and wait for altered to write the Adventures of Dipshit and Kazoo instead.

Remus was actually referring to reviews on the blurb on the back of the book.
I have read south Riding , a while ago now but enjoyed it .

I read South Riding in my 20s too, along with The Land of Green Ginger and many other Viragos. I can't remember much about it now, but remember enjoying it.

Copying my list across:

1)Rillington Place (Uncovered Editions)
2) An Evil Cradling: Brian Keenan.
3) John Profumo and Christine Keeler (Uncovered Editions)
4) The Secret Agent: Joseph Conrad
5) The Watergate Affair (Uncovered Editions)
6) The Russian Revolution (Uncovered Editions)
7) The Assassination of John F Kennedy (Uncovered Editions)
8) Falling Awake: Alice Oswald.
9) All the Presidents' Men: Bernstein and Woodward. R
10) Dr Thorne: Trollope (audiobook)
11) Framley Parsonage: Trollope (audiobook)
12) Saplings: Noel Streatfeild.
13) A Murder of Quality: John le Carré.
14) All the light we cannot see: Anthony Doerr.
15) Some rain must fall: Karl Ove Knausgård.
16) The Way of Wyrd: Brian Bates
17) The Small House at Allington (audiobook)
18) The Dark Forest: Liu Cixin
19) Say Something Back by Denise Riley
20) The Last Chronicle of Barset (audiobook)
21) Death's End: Liu Cixin
22) Sapiens: Yuval Noah Harari.

23) His Bloody Project: Graeme Macrae Burnet
24) The Essex Serpent: Sarah Perry
25) The Big Sleep - Raymond Chandler
26) Gorsky: Vesna Goldsworthy. This was a book my husband bought after hearing the author speak at an event. Inspired by The Great Gatsby and a rather unbelievable plot about very rich Russians in London.

Now on Do Not Say We Have Nothing.

Ooh glad to hear you enjoyed Nightwoods, spinningheart, looking forward to it more now!

Remus I may have found your bookshop Nirvana. I'm in Hay-on-Wye for a few days and one of the bookshops has a whole little section set up dedicated to Scott (see pics) and a wonderful steampunk staircase.
Pricey though.

Best - wonderful! I've never been to Hay on Wye but have heard lots of good things about it.

Think you'd love it, bookshops of course but also lots of quirky shops, vintage clothes etc and lots of good pubs/places to eat. Small but lovely. DS is with us and has bought the most hideous 80s shirt.

Your ds sounds great!

Would love to go but we don't have a car and it's a bit (lot) of a faff by public transport.

Yes, impossible without a car I would have thought sadly.
The shirt will go nicely with his favourite trousers, one leg tartan, one leg black .

Ha! He sounds brilliantly stylish!

I've never been to Hay-on-Wye either! We are only about 1.5 hours away so I need to remedy this situation asap but going to bookshops with the 4 yo isn't always easy. Barter Books in Alnwick, Northumberland is excellent if anyone is up that way.

Whippet still working my way through my last Barter Books haul. Definitely one of my happy places. Even love the signs in the loo. See attached pic!

best I seem to recall you making me jealous about Hay on Wye before. And I still haven't been. Your ds sounds great. I have a 6 year old eclectic dresser. The teen years are going to be interesting

Thank you Satsuki & altered I'm really not an expert, having just gone back to playing the piano in the last few years, and taken up the harpsichord in the past year.

Satsuki - That is a gorgeous harpsichord whose 2nd keyboard (the one above) I set to sound like the lute for this piece. Sadly it's not mine. It's one of the harpsichords at the music academy that I go to. We are now in the process of decorating our house, which meant that there is now space but I would like to find a lute harpsichord. If I find one and go "Surprise!" I might not get to enjoy it because DH will no doubt kill me

Yes, I find this music mesmerising too, like Bach's music tends to be imho. I love it! This is just the 1st part of that lute partita. There are 4 more parts. And Bach has written more lute partitas, too. With a bit of luck and dogged determination, I can keep posting lute music for you for many years

Satsuki and Whippet you should go. It seems fairly child friendly, lots of young ones about today.

48. The Blood Doctor - Barbara Vine. I'm a huge Vine/Rendell fan and this is one of my favourites of hers. Not for everyone I admit but I find the themes of heredity fascinating.

Thanks for the heads up for Olive Kitteridge at 99p - have downloaded x

Bringing my latest list over. Having a generally mediocre year so far with only one stand-out:

1. Even Dogs in the Wild - Ian Rankin
2. Cheer up Love - Susan Calman
3. The Noise of Time - Julian Barnes
4. I'll Have What She's Having - Rebecca Harrington
5. Leap In - Alexandra Hemingsley
6. The Goldfish Boy - Lisa Thompson
7. Wishful Drinking - Carrie Fisher
8. The Liar's Chair - Rebecca Whitney
9. Shockaholic - Carrie Fisher

10. Chavs: The Demonisation of the Working Class - Owen Jones 11. Letter from New York - Helene Hanff 12. Jonathan Unleashed - Meg Rosoff 13. Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde - Robert Louis Stevenson 14. Adventures of a Terribly Greedy Girl: A Memoir of Food, Family, Film & Fashion - Kay Plunkett-Hogg 15. Film Stars Don't Die in Liverpool - Peter Turner 16. A Month in the Country - JL Carr 17. Let's Make Lots of Money: Secrets of a Rich, Fat, Gay, Lucky Bastard - Tom Watkins 18. Keeping On Keeping On - Alan Bennett 19. A Survival Guide for Life - Bear Grylls

And I'm currently reading The Pier Falls by Mark Haddon, and Grayson Perry's book on masculinity.