50 Book Challenge 2018 Part Two

[southeastdweller]

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

The challenge is to read fifty books (or more!) in 2018, 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.

What are you reading?

lastqueenofscotland I love Angela's ashes.

It's one of my favourite books to read when I'm poorly and feeling sorry for myself. Would recommend the sequel, tis too.

ChillieJeanie I have a The War on Women in my to read pile. Glad you liked it though I will try to control my blood pressure when reading it!

11. Alanna: The First Adventure, Song of the Lioness series, Tamora Pierce.

I downloaded this as part of the ongoing hunt for a good fantasy series. This isn’t quite it. I like the strong female lead, but I am unconvinced that no one would notice that a) she’s a girl and b) the name is wrong for 3 years! Bit meh. The writing is somewhere too far towards show - there’s almost no tell, and I like some description of the surrounding environment to make books properly immersive.

Have downloaded a new Elizabeth Goudge - City of Bells. I expect a lot of goddishness as it’s set in a cathedral close!

(1) Witch is When Life Got Complicated by Adele Abbott
(2) Witch is Where It All Began by Adele Abbott
(3) Coming Clean by Kimberly Rae Miller
(4) Die Last by Tony Parsons
(5) Restaurant Babylon by Imogen Edwards Jones
(6) The Sugar Men by Ray Kingfisher
(7) The Hospital by Barbara O'Hare
(8) Fade Out by Rachel Caine
(9) Yellow Crocus by Laila Ibrahim
(10) Into Thin Air by Jon Krakauer

This book has been mentioned loads of times on here so no need to write anything aside from the fact that it was an brilliant read. I normally read a book and then put it in a bag to pass on. I only keep a handful to reread but this has made it onto my shelf to keep.

I am so pleased with my reading so far this year. As previously mentioned I managed 41 last year and was disappointed in that as I know I could have managed more. I had started picking up my phone when I had a spare minute and reading through Facebook or Quora when I went to bed but thanks to this thread I am now using that time to read.
I sorted through my books last week and I did have a pile of 40 to be read as I gave away a lot I had bought which I know I would never read. The charity shops which I visit had deals on their paperbacks, one is 3 for £1 and the other 5 for £1 so I end up buying some just to make up the numbers. I think the clear out helped as now I am excited to pick up any book, whereas before I knew that I would have to spend a while flicking through to find one that I wanted to read.
Of course, the pile should be getting smaller but I have added to it this week with another 6 and only read 1 from it, but I'm blaming you lot on that...lol

boldly have you read Susannah Clarke's follow up book The Ladies of Grace Adieu (set in the same world as JS & MN)?

Book 3 What I Didn't See by Karen Joy Fowler. It's a collection of short stories. I bought it because I absolutely loved We Are All Completely Beside Ourselves (which I've found out is a Marmite book. Some people can;t stand it., but it's one of my favourite novels ever.)

This collection is good. Not brilliant. Lots of variety: two stories about John Wilkes Booth, the famous actor who assassinate Lincoln, another that seems based on Agatha Christie visiting an Egyptain dig to get ideas for Murder on the Nile; a story about feral children in US National Parks. Several stories have a touch of fantasy about them - sci-fi or supernatural. I enjoyed them. Worth reading if you like accessible, literary short fiction.

I think I have said this in every post on this thread this year but I can't believe how busy we are this year.

Best I hope you feel better soon. Toomuch That sounds like a fab site. I will check it out.

Moving my list over:-

1. The Hate You Give - Angie Thomas
2. The Secret Diary of Hendrik Groen - Hendrik Groen

3 The other Mrs Walker - Mary Paulson - Ellis - An unidentifiable old lady dies in a flat in Edinburgh. Margaret Penny, a middle aged woman, moves back to Edinburgh to rebuild her life and is given the job of investigating who the mystery old woman is. The premise of the book is really good and this is one I had been wanting to read for a while. Sadly, this book was a hard slog. I found the style irritating so for example several times throughout the book the author referred to the "Edinburgh Way" with very little explanation as to what this meant. I also felt it left a lot more answers than it resolved.

Currently reading The Good Girl by Fiona Neil

ChillieJeanie - have added The War on Women to my wish list. It sounds very rage inducing but also worthwhile.

6. The Outrun by Amy Liptrot. (Audiobook)

I very much enjoyed this memoir. Amy grew up in Orkney, moved to London for the lifestyle and work possibilities and this is her story of overcoming alcoholism. But it is more than that, she intersperses her personal experiences and thoughts with interesting segues into the people as well as the landscape, bird and animal life of the Orkney Islands. I thought it well deserved all the awards.

I'm going to collect Into Thin Air later from the library so I'm excited about reading it after all these good reviews.

5 - The Little Book of Hygge by Meik Wiking this book didn't work on the kindle and I found it repetitive, I wished it had included more research from the Happiness Research Institute.

Book number 4 finished : Cleverlands by Lucy Crehan

This is an education book. Crehan visited Singapore, Japan, Shanghai, Finland and Canada in order to discover how those education systems operate, given their success in international PISA tests.

It was an interesting book. Crehan herself is a Bright Young Thing who only spent three years in a London classroom before she felt equipped to travel the world looking for 'answers' ( I know that sounds a bit cynical and she does say she has no intention to compare the systems with the UK). She writes well and has an impressive mind. She overfocuses for my tastes on maths and only in China , I felt, did she really look in depth at home lives ( I think it was China : it became a bit of a blur). I thought she flung Canada in at the end because otherwise most of the countries seemed culturally so distant.

I lost track and felt a bit like I should have been making notes! But a few points did stick with me (like no setting til 15, not starting school til at least 6, differing approaches to early years and a 10 - 15 minute break between lessons for students and teachers. She also doesn't make a huge deal of it but it is notable that teachers in these other countries spend far less time actually teaching)

Sadly, I think many UK teachers do not read about educational thought which is why it remains in the hands of politicians and idealogues. (not sure that's a word). But teachers who do like to read about teaching ought to dip into this book.

ShakeItOff2000 I read The Outrun last year and loved it. I really recommend The Wild Other by Clover Stroud as similar in style but also brilliant.

Book 10 Larchfield by Polly Clark

I loved this book. A young woman moves to the west coast of Scotland with her husband and has a baby. She is a poet from oxford and she struggles with the move and her nasty churchgoing neighbors who she feels hate her. She learns that WH Auden taught in the school and lived in the town where she lives and the story covers them both trying to find their own identity.

This book has a very melancholic and threatening atmosphere so was quite a tense read, which is odd as there is no thriller style plot. It’s the threat of other people affecting your mental wellbeing that hangs over the novel.

I enjoyed it and will definitely reread it at some point.

Wow - can't believe this is Thread 2 already. Back again - made it to 44 books last year. Up to three this year:

1. Home Going by Yaa Gyasi This was a present from my daughter bought at the school fair because 'it looked like something Mummy would read'. She was right. It is an epic tale of two sisters who are born not knowing the other - one sold into slavery, the other a slave trader's wife. The book follows their lives and those of their descendants. It is a first novel by the author and I'll definitely look out for future novels by her.
2. The Bolter by Frances Osborne Recommended by others last year this tells the story of Idina Sackville who scandalised 1920s society by divorcing her first husband and leaving her young children and then going onto have four further marriages. Written by her great grand-daughter the book really brings to life Idina's experiences and the afterword in this edition was really enlightening. I would highly recommend.
3. Tove Jansson Work and Love by Tuula Karjalaine I'd had this book a while and wanted to wait until I could really enjoy it. A brilliant biography of the life of the Moomin's creator. It obviously discusses a lot about their creation but also about Tove's life and loves and her real passion as a fine artist.

ShakeItOff2000 - I reread The Outrun recently and enjoyed it just as much. She's such a good writer. I follow her on Twitter and she posted a picture a couple of weeks ago of her new baby, a boy, born end of December iirc.

1. A Life of my Own by Claire Tomalin
2. Exquisite by Sarah Stovell
3. The Marriage Pact by Michelle Richmond
4. Lincoln in the Bardo by George Saunders
5. One Day in the life of Ivan Denisovich by Alexander Solzhenitsyn
6. How to read a novel by John Sutherland

7 The Nix by Nathan Hill This was wildly entertaining and a long, satisfying, thought provoking read. It wasn’t perfect- there was a bit too much going on and too many plot lines that didn’t seem to come together but I forgave all of that because of the sheer delight of reading it. And there were moments when he was describing Samuel’s childhood that got me in the way that only Stephen King has ever got to me before, that perfect articulation of what it means to be a scared confused little kid.

1. Everywoman: One woman’s truth about speaking the truth by Jess Philips

I really enjoyed this and have been ekeing it out. The MP Jess Phillips writes about her life, her experiences as an mp and feminism. This is very readable and she is really encouraging. I found the insights into Parliament most interesting. I hope she is pm someday.

pepelepew Stephen King is a good shout for the childhood parts of the Nix. I also loved the part where he described the violin solo - one of the best evocations of music in print, you could almost hear it.

I've bought The Nix. You had me at King.

Liking Thornbirds so far! I've just met the priest.

Let me know what you think, Remus. It’s a very un-King plot but I could really see the influence - conscious or otherwise - in the way he talked about the characters.

I read The War on Women last year and would absolutely recommend it. It is rather rage inducing, but it really re-affirmed for me why I'm a feminist and gave me a lot to think about in terms of how fortunate I am as a white, western woman compared to other women in different parts of the world.

PepeLePew what did you think of the other ones you read? (Still can't believe people have already read 7 books this year. I feel incredibly proud to have read three and two of those were short ones.

Is Nathan Hill Stephen King's son then?

Or no relation?

Just asking because I've read and for the most part enjoyed Joe Hill
(apart from the fireman - he can't do catastrophic events like his dad!)

I think I'll take a look at nix. On think SK does brilliantly is childhood I think.

I did have some time off at the start of the year, so got lots read. Have slowed down since. One Day In the Life is fantastic - I’m trying to read one classic book I feel i should read but don’t really want to each month and that was the first. So it was a happy surprise.
Lincoln In the Bardo was an audiobook which was a mistake - it really needs to be read, I think, as the structure is hard to follow when read aloud. But I can see why it’s been so popular. And the Claire Tomalin is a lovely story of London literary life - I thoroughly enjoyed it.

No relation, I don’t think. Please don’t all think The Nix is Stephen King in disguise! It’s a very different style and concept. But one of the reasons I love King (and I really do) is that way he has of getting you right in the gut when he captures loneliness or fear or bewilderment. And that’s what I got from The Nix; plus a lot of other stuff which wasn’t at all sad or emotionally engaging. It is a great read, I think.

No not related but saw a tweet where King said he enjoyed it. I thought he drew different characters and the comedy from that rather well, but just it felt a bit “baggy” overall.