50 Book Challenge 2017 Part Six

[southeastdweller]

Welcome to the sixth 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, the fourth one here, and the fifth one here.

What are you reading?

I liked Wild . Now refiling Snow Crash under 'maybe don't bother'.

32. The Wicked Girls by Alex Marwood This was a Christmas present which has languished until now, as this cover quote suggested it would not be my kind of thing and too disturbing: 'One summer morning, three little girls meet for the first time. By the end of the day, two will be charged with murder.' It's actually very well written and compelling, with the majority of the book dealing with the adult lives of the two girls, interspersed with a slow reveal of the events of that day. There was a lot going on in terms of multiple plots, themes and issues. It all got a bit silly towards the end, and some bits were quite hard to stomach, but overall much better than I had expected.

26. A Divided Spy by Charles Cumming

I like this guy and I like his modern spy stories, far better than the last few Le Carrés that I read. This book was a bit weak, though. His characterisation was still good and details rang true, but there was too much navel gazing for my taste. Better luck next time.

36. An English Ghost Story by Kim Newman

A dysfunctional family looking for a new start move into an old house in the Somerset countryside. At first, all seems idyllic, but before long, the ghosts in the house start to turn on them.

An okay read. It's not a scary haunted house story, it's more about the family's relationships with each other. Far too many irritating acronyms though - the young son's shorthand, often adopted by the others. Lots of HH, IP, BS etc etc. An appendix with definitions would have been helpful, I spent far too long flicking back through the book to remind myself what the acronym of the hour meant again.

66. The Moth Catcher Final Vera finished, very uncharacteristic OCD satisfied. Time to launch in the Bardo...

Feel like I'm reading quite different books to many of you...

57. Paradise Lodge, Nina Stibbe
A follow-up to Man at the Helm. 15-year old goes to work in old folks' home at the end of the 1970s. Enjoyed this - evocative of the era, and the teenage narrator's general sense of her own competence and sophistication is rather endearing. (She's proud of the smoke rings she can blow, having been practising since she was 11) It felt quite a generous book, with amused acceptance of people's foibles.

58. A Secret Sisterhood: The Hidden Friendships of Austen, Bronte, Eliot and Woolf, by Emily Midorikawa, Emma Claire Sweeney
Enjoyed this - we often see these women writers depicted only within their family contexts or as solitary figures, so this book felt like it provided a new angle by discussing them in light of their friends with other literary women. It supplements rather than replaces the standard narrative of their lives.

Number 33 (I think or possibly 34) Moloka'i by Alan Brennert. I think I have seen this mentioned before. This book tells of Rachel, a young Hawaiian girl, who aged 7 is diagnosed with leprosy and shipped off to the Hawaiian leprosy colony of Kalaupapa on the island of Moloka'i, where she spends the best part of her life, until she is 'paroled' in the 1950s and returns to the mainland to track down her family.

This reminded me a little of Victoria Hislop's book The Island about the Greek leprosy colony Spinalonga. I thought this packed a greater punch though. The trauma of Rachel's enforced parting from her family at such a young age is heartbreaking, and the effects on her family back home although glimpsed, are not least traumatic in their own right. But life on Kalaupapa is described over the passing decades as Rachel grows up into a teenager, then young woman and ageing woman. Her friendships and relationships with other sufferer's and missionaries on the island are fascinating, as too are the descriptions of Hawaii and its culture and myths.

bibliomania I have Paradise Lodge in a long list of books waiting for me in my Audible library but didn't realise it was a follow-up. Would it work on it's own, or does it make more sense if you've read the Man at the Helm first?

37. The Reason I Jump by Naoki Higashida

This book is written in a question and answer format, and provides an insight into the mind and behaviour of autistic children. Short, interesting and easy to read. The author has autism and was only 13 when he wrote this book.

26. The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying - Marie Kondo. Needs no explaining by now, I enjoyed this more than I expected and it's helped me declutter (a little). I think she could have done more on the psychology of hoarding, though.

27. The Girls - Emma Cline. The story of a teenage girl in 60's America whose involvement with a new group of friends leads to an horrific situation. What a load of over-written, immensely depressing and tediously slow-moving crap. Don't know why I finished this. Not recommended.

85. What Remains by Tim Weaver

This is number 6 in the series featuring David Raker, who searches for missing people. This one started slowly but about a third of the way in it introduced an abandoned pier and a museum of penny arcade machines and it got a lot better after that as I love the whole concept of abandoned spaces.

86. Into The Water by Paula Hawkins

I was so disappointed with this, after really enjoying The Girl On The Train. This one centres around a woman who is found drowned in a pool, notorious through history for witch duckings etc. It is told from the POV of numerous characters and I found that really confusing. At the start of each chapter I would have to stop and think 'Now, who is Helen again?'. It also tells the story from different points in time which added to my confusion. The story also just wasn't very interesting - nothing much happened for ages and the end was a damp squib. Luckily I only got this from the library so didn't spend any money on it.

87. Eleanor Oliphant Is Completely Fine by Gail Honeyman

I really enjoyed this. The story of Eleanor, a socially awkward woman who is very set in her ways, and what happens when she makes friends with a new colleague. You gradually find out more about what happened in her past to make her into the person she is today. There were a couple of points that grated - for example, at one point her favourite mug is described - it's a Top Gear one but she has no idea what this means. However, she reads the newspaper (Telegraph?) every day so I just don't believe that she wouldn't at least be aware that Top Gear is a TV programme. There were a couple of things like that, which felt like they were shoehorned in to make clear how unaware of the real world Eleanor is. As I said though, I did really enjoy it and the way Eleanor developed and grew throughout the book. Give it a try if you liked The Rosie Project and A Man Called Ove.

Now rereading The Handmaid's Tale - I did read this but years ago and can't remember a lot of the detail.

Clueless, it won't affect your reading of Paradise Lodge if you read it first. If you go on to read Man at the Helm afterwards, you will know how the plot turns out. I don't think that's a problem, because they are not really books you read for the plot - more for the "voice".

97. The Land of Green Ginger, Winifred Holtby. I got really emotionally invested in this - so much so that I was afraid to keep reading in case the heroine didn't realise her dream. Set shortly after WW1, Joanna dreams of travelling the world, but marries a young officer whom she barely knows. After the War, she finds herself caring for a man in shattered health, with her only respite in her daydreams of fairyland. The portrayal of men in this is extremely negative and made for very realistic and highly uncomfortable reading - Teddy's treatment of Joanna is terrible, and Paul sees her only as a vessel to help him recapture his dead love. Neither of them treat her like a real person at all. Her daily life is a drudgery of chores and worries, with a petulant man-child making things worse for her at every turn. I wanted to slap the pair of them, and the lily-livered curate as well. I'm glad that Joanna didn't use a man as a escape route - feminist treatise in the making - don't be a man's nurse - don't let men treat you as unworthy of confidence - don't let men subsume you in their fucked up games. Also, I loved the daydream vignettes and the use of the Ballad of Tam Lin.

That sounds good, TooExtra - will look out for that one.

Have reserved it in the library...

I've just received an email from Amazon recommending Lincoln in the Bardo which I have never searched for online. Does Amazon know I'm on this thread?!

Tara probably?!?

67. Lincoln in the Bardo .
I loved it!!! It was new, interesting, challenging. It made me feel like an English Undergraduate again! I wanted a tutorial on it. I want to recommend it to people. I want to randomly find my amazing and off beat 6th form English tutor and talk to him about it!!
I thought what it had to say about our motivations , our purpose in life, was insightful. For example, How Willie's death affected Lincoln. It caused him great sorrow and untold despair but also increased motivation in his politics.
I thought each trapped soul represented our own inability to see beyond our own purpose and forget small pleasures and our place in world. The way when all the souls came together for one purpose their own wider purposes and small pleasures were revealed.
I also picked up on the theme of subtle actions of others making big difference. For example the negro slave inhabiting Lincoln and then affecting his thinking, the presence of the President forced the first communication between the nightwatch man and the ill woman at the window. A subtlety making a change in their relationship

Interesting stuff on the arbitrary nature of memories, shown through the structure of the narrative, the way it used the historical citations and accounts. Also in characters alternative views of their past; shown very clearly in the Baron's conflicting views of their past lives.
Linked to this is the Reverends inability to remember or see his ultimate sin. What was it? This was a downfall for me, as I really wanted to know
Undoubtedly a dark subject matter but it contained empathy, beauty and humour.
I think it was Remus who found the physical descriptions odd and perhaps overdone. I thought they were fascinating and appropriate and not overwhelming. They were really thought provoking for me!
There was so much in this book I could go on forever. I have to admit I do have a fascination with graveyards and old portraits. I loved to weave my own stories about people's circumstances etc.
It's definitely a book full of themes and layers. A real high for me.

RMC, I agree with all of your points. If you'd like, I'd be happy to PM you a link to the interview of Saundrrs that I attended; he discusses many of the ideas you raise.

The more I think about the Reverend, the more I think that his 'sin' is self righteousness or a lack of faith.

Vander yes please!!
You could be right about the Reverend. I can't stop thinking about it! I want to talk long in to the night about it over alcohol!! But can't find anyone in RL who has read it!!

Have been thinking about Lincoln some more. I think, for me, it would have been a better book with more Lincoln and fewer ghosties.

Nearly finished Wild - it's okay but not wonderful.

What shall I read next?

Interesting, Remus, esp. as the title does make him seem to the novel's principle subject.

As for what next: The Poisoner's Handbook by Deborah Blum? The Lonely Hearts Hotel by Heather O'Neill? Short stories of Mavis Gallant?

RMC, link sent.

Thanks. Poison sounds good but £££ and doesn't seem to be available on Kindle. Will see if the library can get it in. Don't fancy Lonely Hearts and have gone off short stories.

I think I need something set in a very cold place!

The Icefields by Thomas Wharton?
Ethan Frome by Edith Wharton?
The Long Winter by Laura Ingalls Wilder?
The Yiddish Policeman's Union by Michael Chabon?

Under the Glacier ?

Thank you.

I can't read Wharton. The Age of Innocence nearly killed me. So very, very dull.

Will have a look at the others.

Thanks Vander will look at the link later when all 4 DC's are in bed!
Remus take your point about being more about Lincoln - I expected that too and really wanted it to be the case as my knowledge of Abraham Lincoln is slight to say the least. And as Vander says the title would lead you down this path.
However when you get into the book it becomes obvious that THE Lincoln referred to in the title is Willies not Abraham. He is the one in the Bardo, this limbo of spirits or souls. Abraham is alive, therefore only in the graveyard/ tomb. Only the dead can enter the Bardo.
Also I loved the facts that there were so many spirits. It really brought home the feeling of an extensive and old cemetery. It also gave the book a real dimension. But that's probably just me and my weird graveyard thing!
That's probably all obvious and waffle but as I said I was really entranced by this book.