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?

1. The Gift of Rain - Tan Twan Eng

Also firmly in the slow readers club, I've finally finished this longish novel. I'm a bit 50/50. On one hand it was interesting to learn about the Japanese occupation of Malaya in WW2, around which the book is based, and a pleasure to read a novel that builds slowly with some good descriptive writing. On the other hand, I just didn't believe the premise of the half-English half-Chinese narrator learning from a Japanese sensei. Kind of Karate kid goes wrong.

Now reading Aaron's Rod by D H Lawrence. It's not his best...

List below:
1 - Love Warrior by Glennon Doyle
2 - The Calligrapher by Edward Docx
3 - Dying A Memoir by Corey Taylor
4 - The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Society by Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows - finished this today and it was a heartbreaking book about Guernsey in WW2 and occupation. It describes how the community struggled in the face of starvation. The book club gave them hope and focus.

All the books are in bold because I really enjoyed each of them.

Book 6 Why I’m no longer talking to white people about race - Reni Eddo-Lodge

Based on a blog post of the same name at when viral in 2014 this book covers the history of black activism in the UK, white privilege and the structural racism in the UK. This book was a massive eye opener for me. She holds nothing back and clearly writes about her frustration of dealing with intelligent, liberal white people who refuse to acknowledge systemic racism and the inherent privilege of being white in Britain.
The historical aspects was shaming for me as I had no idea about the Bristol bus boycott that took place before Martin Luther King marched on Washington or the woman who was shot dead by police when they raided her home (looking for someone who didn’t live there) or the man who drowned by a mob in the 80’s in Liverpool.

The author points out that we are more aware of black history and attitudes of the USA than we are in our own country. This book is very easy to read and massively educational.

I have read a few non fiction books so far so looking for some good fiction next.

Welcome to anyone new to the thread!

Bringing my (short) list over:

1. Elizabeth the Queen: The Life of a Modern Monarch - Sally Beddell Smith
2. The Witches - Roald Dahl
3. The Betrayal - Helen Dunmore

1. The Story of a New Name - Elena Ferrante. The second in the Neapolitan quartet. Much preferred this to the first volume. I was gripped. This volume follows Lina and Lenu as the former navigates the early years of her marriage, and the latter continues her studies. Looking forward to the third instalment.

Ellisisland - I am waiting for Why I'm No Longer Talking to White People About Race to come out in paperback, but it's on my to-read list for this year, kind of in a continuing theme from last year when I read The Good Immigrant (collection of essays by people of varying ethnic backgrounds in the UK) and This Is London, which also focused on the immigrant experience. In the meantime I have David Olusoga's Black and British: A Forgotten History waiting on my kindle.

My list so far this year:

1 The Dark Flood Rises - Margaret Drabble
2 The Loved One - Evelyn Waugh
3 The Middlepause - Marina Benjamin
4 The Wall Jumper - Peter Schneider

5 The Gustav Sonata - Rose Tremain I've read and enjoyed a few of hers, and this was also good. I think plenty of you read it last year so I won't give a summary. My main quibble with it was that the big leaps in time meant we missed out huge chunks of Gustav and Anton's lives, so I felt a bit unsatisfied just being presented with the fact that Gustav had spent his life alone, with no relationships, as if it was inevitable given his lack of maternal love, and likewise Anton staying put in his home town most of his life just because he could not cope with performance pressure as a child. Is Tremain really saying that no one can overcome their childhood experiences?

Hi virginqueen expect your TBR pile to grow like topsy!

Just finished book two The Universe Versus Alex Woods, I enjoyed this, it was published in 2015 so perhaps it has featured in earlier threads.
A young boy, who appears to be on the Asperger's spectrum, suffers a freak accident which means he begins to suffer from epilepsy and anxiety and is therefore withdrawn from the schooling system for a significant period of time. On being forced back into secondary education he finds himself increasingly estranged from his peers and suffers at the hands of bullies at school.
The book predominantly concerns itself with the unlikely friendship he strikes up with an elderly neighbour and the difficult decisions he is forced to make as a result of that friendship.

The books that came to mind whilst as I was reading this were, About A Boy, The Rosie Project, A Man Called Ove and The Curious Incident Of The Dog In The Night Time if you enjoyed any of these I think this book would probably be up your street.

exexpat - I read The Gustav Sonata last year and was so disappointed with it. I ended up really disliking it, having previously enjoyed several of Rose Tremain's books.

Hi all, and thanks South.

whippet Aaron’s Rod sounds like a spoof D H Lawrence

Good review of Gustav Sonata exexpat I’ve been tempted by it once or twice but never quite sure. Reviews which help cut down the tbr lost are just as useful!

Also ellisisland will look out for the Eddo-Lodge

1. The woman who met her match by Fiona Gibson

Finished this audiobook today, my first one! I have now cancelled the audible free trial as it is too expensive for me however I have discovered my local library has an app for borrowing audiobooks which is fantastic as I really enjoyed listening while cooking tea.

The book itself was a nice story of a lady revisiting her past while trying to find love all while day to day life with work, teenagers and her mum's wedding are going on. It had a happy ending and was a feel good book.

Hello, I’m joining the challenge for 2018. Hopefully I’ll do better than last year when I think I slid away by March. I did read a reasonable number of books in 2017 but it wasn’t 50. My work patterns mean I read until September and then it’s more tricky. Here are my first 3 finished books for 2018:

1 Everything I Never Told You Celeste Ng
2 Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine Gail Honeyman
3 Women and Power Mary Beard

I’ve enjoyed them all. I’m currently reading Where’d You Go Bernadette.

I finished farewell to the eastend Jennifer Worth. It suited me today because I'm not feeling very well, but the way she wrote in the accents was really annoying. It also came across more as a list of stories rather than having any continuity, which I don't remember from the first 2 books.

I'm starting book number 11 deal breaker Harlan Coben. Which is the first in a series which I accidently read the last one of.

Transferring across to thread 2 with my very meagre list so far:

1. Van Gogh's Ear - Bernadette Murphy
2. Sleeping in the Ground - Peter Robinson
3. No Fond Return of Love - Barbara Pym
4. What She Ate - Laura Shapiro

I’ve just finished the last one. It’s a non-fiction book looking at 6 women and their relationships with food. All had some form of fame/notoriety in different fields, although they're an oddly mixed bag - Dorothy Wordsworth (cooked a lot, wrote about food in her diaries), the Edwardian cook Rosa Lewis (working-class background, catered for royalty/aristocracy), Eleanor Roosevelt (presided over terrible food at the White House), Eva Braun (drank champagne with Hitler while millions starved), Barbara Pym (loved food, included lots of it in her writing - this is what attracted me to this book originally), and Helen Gurley Brown, editor of Cosmopolitan (more or less anorexic, avoided food wherever possible).

I wanted to like this book more than I did. There was a lot of interesting information but somehow I felt a bit short-changed. Perhaps six subjects were too many. It did remind me that I want to read a decent biog of Eleanor Roosevelt at some point, though.

12. Fingers in the Sparkle Jar : A memoir by Chris Packham^^ I found this an incredibly honest and moving book. It is essentially an account of Packham's experiences growing up in the late 1960's and 70's, with undiagnosed Aspergers. As he was undiagnosed he was essentially unsupported particularly educationally and socially. He finds comfort and fulfilment in his study of nature, but his social isolation is stark. His parents are extremely understanding in his all consuming nature study. He regularly steals eggs, dissects dead animals and makes a collection of bird wings. His bedroom is full of snakes, tadpoles ( some of which he eats for an experiment). His father helps him steal and raise a kestrel, which he then trains and flys. Is the death of his kestrel which brings about his first emotional collapse. He credits his discovery of punk culture as the shield which helped him function in the world and got him through higher education.
The writing style here isn't linear. And suspect that is quite possibly how Packham's mind works. Sometimes the use of intense description feels over done, almost like a creative writing student trying too hard. But then you get the feeling that this is more to do with the autism, the need to be precise and the ability to notice even tiny details. The narrative is told in three 'styles' - the past in the third person, the past in the first person and then the more recent past from the point of view of the therapist in the early 2000's who he sought help from after a near suicide attempt. Here another loss is mentioned. But the book doesn't make clear what that loss is. Googling suggests it was the loss of his dog, but a step daughter is mentioned and it feels more personal.
Having worked with young people on the autistic spectrum for a number of years this book was both inspiring and heartbreaking. I would definitely recommend.

0.5) Alleigent - Veronica Roth (Re-read: Started in 2017 and finished in the new year)

1. The Bad Mother - Amanda Brooke
2. The Chalk Man - C J Tudor
3. The Innocent Wife - Amy Lloyd - Current read

Both one and two were enjoyable, but I found them fairly predictable.

I read 76.5 books last year, so 50 I feel is attainable, though I am reading less at the moment due to work commitments (and pesky children that need feeding etc)

Thanks Scribblygum for an excellent review of the Lizzie Borden book - sounds interesting :)

I'm also waiting for Why I'm No Longer Talking to White People About Race. Have also added Things Fall Apart to my TBR after the mention above.

Killlers of the Flower Moon sounds really interesting, thank you @diamantegal will try the library as not cheap on kindle!

@StitchesInTime, isn't Mark Lawrence the husband of Riven, mumsnetter extraordinaire? I did read one of his but it was terribly bleak - well written though.

5. Colour Scheme by Ngaio Marsh This one, set in her native New Zealand, is somewhat poignant, although from the three I have now read, I find her character development a little inconsistent. Overdrive has lots of other omnibus editions though, and I've got a horrible cold, so suspect I shall enjoy a few more of these!

1. The Child - Fiona Barton

Reallly liked it, written from several different points of view. although I got the ending very early on. I liked the other one she has written too. The Widow.

Bringing one my 5

1. Old Filth - Jane Gardam
2. Hollow City - Ransom Riggs
3. The One from the Other - Philip Kerr
4. D is for Deadbeat - Sue Grafton
5. The Last Hours - Minette Walters

I read the Lizzie Borden book last year, raced through the first half and then ran out of steam but finished it, it is on my donate to charity pile to happy to post on to anyone who wants it.

Still reading What a Carve Up! on kindle, but in the meantime have finished the past fortnight's (paper) bath read:

3. The Descent of Man by Grayson Perry Short treatise on the pitfalls and perils of modern masculinity. Light but still purposeful. The stuff on clothes and uniforms was especially good - I liked the concept of masculinity as very performative.

3 1916 the Easter Rising by Tim Pat Coogan.
Basically what it says on the tin. Interesting and well researched but perhaps a little dry?

My list so far...

1. Great Expectations by Charles Dickens
2. Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit by Jeanette Winterson
3. Whatever Happened to Baby Jane by Henry Farrell
4. The Land Where Lemons Grow by Helena Atlee
5. The Jungle by Pooja Puri
6. Everyday Sexism by Laura Bates
7. One Night In Winter by Simon Sebag Montefiore
8. Roald Dahl's Book of Ghost Stories by various authors
9. English Animals by Laura Kaye
10. Why I'm No Longer Talking to White People About Race by Reni Eddo-Lodge
11. The Tobacconist by Robert Seethaler
12. Snowblind by Ragnar Jónasson
13. My Son's Not Rainman by John Williams
14. The Underground Railroad by Colson Whitehead
15. Seven Days of Us by Francesca Hornak

Would lovebto join in as trying to read more.
So far have read :
This is going to Hurt by Adam Kaye - this is diary entries by a junior doctor who eventually left the profession. It's really really good and quite an easy read.

Call the midwife - by Jennifer Worth. I've started this before but never finished it. The xmas special drew me to it again and ive really enjoyed it.

The secret garden - Frances Hodgson Burnett. I've never read this before and I really loved it.

Next up is Exit West by Mohsin Hamid after seeing it recommended here I got it from the library.

I have lots on my list and would like to read a fair mix of modern and classic fiction as well as some children's classics I've never read bit wished I had.

I just finished book no 16. The Elegance of the Hedgehog by Muriel Barbery

It's about a Parisian concierge who hides her intelligence and love of the arts from her clients, and an equally intelligent suicidal 12 year old from a wealthy family, who lives in the same luxurious apartment building that the concierge works in.

It was readable enough and I did enjoy parts of it, but it's one of those books that's overly pleased with itself, as I find many modern French books are. I enjoy reading about philosophy but much of it was just rambling and had little real meaning. The characters were as smug as the book, though I enjoyed the concierge's chapters more than the young girl's.

The ending left me infuriated and was completely unnecessary.