50 Book Challenge 2018 Part Three

[southeastdweller]

Welcome to the third 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 and the second one here.

What are you reading?

13. Life Moves Pretty Fast by Hadley Freeman

An enjoyable critical look at some f the most memorable and best loved films of the 80s - Ghostbusters, When Harry Met Sally, Back to the Future, the John Hughes teen movie era, and the oeuvre of Eddie Murphy are focussed on, amongst many others. It is written from the perspective of a fan, and is full of witty asides and footnotes in keeping with that; the tone can veer a little too much towards “best movie ever ever ever” for my taste at times, and I wasn’t too bothered by all the “best of” lists throughout, but it was entertaining nevertheless and I found it a good read on the subject. Though at times personal, it was well researched, and it gave some great context to some of the movies. Where possible she has interviewed script writers, actors, and directors associated with them and I loved all the behind the scenes stories, and inside look at the changing priorities of the studio film industry. Freeman makes the thesis that, despite flaws and some outdated views, the representation of both women and men, children and adults, in film, was in many ways more enlightened and nuanced in the 80s than it is today. I picked this up because I had often felt similarly that certain things had gone backwards in media representations of women in particular, and I think she makes a good case for the truth of this, with cogent and interesting analysis and a wide appraisal of the factors at play. It was light but interesting and made me want to revisit a lot of the films covered.

I’m currently reading The Happy Prisoner by Monica Dickens on Kindle and Miss Pettigrew Lives for the Day. Both reasonably enjoyable so far, if not totally engaging yet.

Sorry if my review was a bit garbled, I’ve got a bad cold and didn’t read before I posted it so have no idea what it turned out like!

Welcome longtallwalker

I am another Forest fan - I have all the Marlow books but not the historical ones.

Five, I am glad you enjoyed the Marsh! Hope you like the next one too. I am currently pausing them to read the Existentialist Cafe, which is good but more demanding than my usual fare; however, I feel like I am learning something.

Hope your cold gets better Satsuki!

Can't be that garbled Satsuki - made me want to add the book to me TBR list!
Get well soon.

21: Corpus – Rory Clements - Another disappointment. A young woman is found dead of a suspected overdose, after a trip to the Berlin 1936 Olympics. Her best friend is convinced it’s murder, and ropes in another friend, a history lecturer, to help investigate. So far, so Remus, but the writing just wasn’t good enough; there were too many characters; too much back story, and too many shoe-horned references to Walsingham (which is the period Clements is really interested in). Not recommended – I only finished it because I hadn’t got anything else on my Kindle.

22: Blood Brothers – Ernst Haffner – Loved this. Here’s the Guardian’s review. Late 1920s Berlin, a group of poor boys try to live by whatever means they can. I found this touching and tender, as well as very depressing in places. Recommended for anybody interested in social history. Haffner’s book was banned by the Nazis, and he himself disappeared and nobody has managed to find out what happened to him.

Hope you feel better soon, Satuki. I have a horrible feeling that I'm also starting with yet another cold, and you've reminded me to go and snort up some more First Defence!

Get well soon Satsuki

Same in this house Satsuki I was fine one minute and then not five minutes later was ill. Thought it was the flu but only came on on Tuesday and was feeling bit more head coldy today. Although from Tuesday I haven't been downstairs, went between bed and bath, bed and bath and haven't been able to sleep more than half hour at a time. On the plus side should get a great weigh in this week at Slimming World..lol

Thanks for well-wishes - I had a weird fluey thing over half term, I don’t like to use the term lightly but it was joint pain and shivers and a wheeze. Thought I was over it, but then dd has been complaining of a headache and come out in a cold and temperature and now I’ve got a fresh thing too! I miss when colds used to just be standard and you can more or less carry on, these days all I get are these Right Bastard Colds, one on top of the other.

Hope the first defence works remus. It’s too late for me, but save yourself Hope you feel better soon too justtrying

OK updated list below:
Days without end - Sebastian Barry which I absolutely loved and recommend to everyone

How to stop time - Matt Haig which was quite interesting but not as great as I'd expected. Liked its descriptions of old England though.

Eleanor Oliphant is completely fine - Gail Honeyman - Absolutely loved this and have recommended it to everyone. It's so different and surprising, and I couldn't wait to pick it up each night.

Run Mummy Run - Leanne Davies and Lucy Waterlow. I love running but also love good books and while this was about running, it was not a good book. It felt to me like 'how can we make money out of our successful Facebook page?' and had nothing of use to me. Sloppy.

How to be a Victorian - Ruth Goodman. I'm no historian but bought this on a recommendation on this page and am loving it. So interesting and concisely written so you zip along. More a book to dip in and out of, rather than read in one go, but highly recommended.

Reservoir 13 - Jon McGregor. Bought this today and haven't started it yet but looking forward to it.

1. American Wife - Curtis Sittenfeld

I really enjoyed this, although I struggled with the fact it's based on Laura Bush. I have no idea what was true and what was pure fiction, but it made for a slightly uncomfortable read at times - given the author openly admits it's meant to be Laura Bush, there's an awful lot of her inner thoughts, and it just felt a bit intrusive. A good read though, and definitely one I'd recommend.

Agree re your review Satsuki - Hadley Freeman added to my tbr pile too. Get well soon :)

1. The Last One - Alexandra Oliva

I think this came from a recommendation on here. A group of reality TV contestants are left in the woods, but what they don't realise is that a plague-like illness has hit and the survival game is now for real.

I liked the premise, and it's a nice easy read for lying in bed on a Saturday morning. Not perfect - the main character takes way too long to understand what's happening, and the author has clearly been told that short sentences build drama, which starts to grate after a while. But all in all, not a bad read.

14. Departure by A.G.Riddle

Flight 305, travelling from New York to London, crashes in a forest in the English countryside. As they struggle to survive, waiting for a rescue that’s not arriving, it doesn’t take them long to realise that something is very wrong with the world... and a handful of the survivors are plunged into a mysterious adventure that could let them save the world. Turns out 5 of the passengers are a lot more important to the future than they could possibly have imagined when Flight 305 took off.
Alternates between the point of view of writer Harper and venture capitalist Nick.

Entertaining light science fictiony thriller.

1. Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine by Gail Honeyman. Already reviewed many times on this thread. I thought it was okay. I liked Eleanor and enjoyed spending time with her, but I thought the storyline dragged and I got a bit bored about two-thirds of the way through.

Also reading, (and really enjoying but only 17% through) Eleanor Oliphant I've just got to the description of the meeting between Mr Brocklehurst and foster parents Mr and Mrs Reed who have three children John, Eliza and Georgie. Did anyone else recognise these characters from Jane Eyre? I love Easter Eggs like this, felt very proud of myself!

10. Dark Matter - Blake Crouch International bestseller. The most mind blowing and twisted thriller of the year.
Is how it is billed but for me it most certainly is not. It read like an episode of Black Mirror or a bad Netflix series destined for cancellation and seemed very much written for the screen.

Jason Dessen, a college physics lecturer who had hoped for scientific stardom before becoming trapped as a family man is abducted on his way home from a bar, drugged and wakes up in a mirror universe where he is a top physicist and has created a vehicle that allows you to explore multiverses where there are multiple but slightly different versions of your life occurring. He seeks to find his way back to his original life where one of his doppelgangers has stolen his life.

I have felt recently that I should read more contemporary fiction as I seem to retreat to pre war/Victorian stuff too much and bought this when I needed to make up a book order at Xmas for free postage. It had rave reviews and I do like a bit of sci-fi sometimes 9although it wasn't what I would call sci fi). It started well but then fell apart, I really struggled through the final third.It reminded me of why I tend not to read modern popular fiction much. I have since discovered the author also wrote Wayward Pines a TV series about a town you can't seem to leave - of which I watched one episode before abandoning. Not for me - straight in the charity bag.

7. Innocent Traitor - Alison Weir
This has been sitting on my unread book pile since 2007 when it was published
It is the fictionalised story of Lady Jane Grey- Queen for Nine Days. The book tells the story of LJG's life through various characters' eyes, from Lady Jane to Queen Mary. This book tells of Jane's childhood and offers explanation to her conversion to the Protestant faith. It tells of her relationship to the future Queen Mary and Queen Elizabeth I along with her forced and unwanted marriage. It ends with her final days.

I found it a bit tedious at first, the language was turgid and laboured and didn't seem to flow well. However, by the end of the book it felt like Alison Weir had got into her stride as a writer of fiction and I found I was wanting to turn the pages quicker.

It was interesting to find more out about LJG as she seems very overlooked (a bit like Arbella Stuart) for someone who was so close to the throne. I enjoyed it, but I'm a fan of Tudor history and also enjoy Phillipa Gregory's novels.

Book number 8 is a complete change - Land Rover: The story of the car that conquered the world - Ben Fogle

12. Une Vie by Simone Veil. Memoir by French politician who, as her country's first female Minister of Health, was instrumental in legalising abortion and contraception in France in 1975 - known as the 'Loi Veil' (Veil Law). For three days the debate raged in the Assemblée Nationale and she faced not only hostility from all political sides but obscene insults of a very personal nature.

Her story is all the more remarkable as she was deported to Auschwitz aged 17 with her elder sister and mother. The latter died of typhus just before liberation. Her father and brother were deported to Lithuania and never seen again.

Veil was elected (first female) President of the European Parliament in 1979 and was always a staunch supporter of the EU.

She died last year and will later this year be accorded the honour of being laid to rest in the Panthéon (Macron's decision).

This is a very readable political memoir - a genre I have to admit that I wouldn't necessarily choose. But Veil is hard to resist - not only for all that she achieved throughout her political career - but simply because she comes across as an incredibly reasonable, level-headed and humane person.

That sounds really interesting EmGee . I have a biography of Marguerite Duras that I need to finish.

Book 8 for me - The Waterways girls by Milly Adams.
Enjoyable lightweight read about 4 women working on the canals during WW2.

Thanks SatsukiKusakabe will check out Ephrons non fiction as I have liked some of her essays I have read previously. I guess she has had so many rookie copying her it’s made her fiction style feel unoriginal even though it wasn’t if that makes sense

Book 21: Eat Up by Ruby Tandoh

Non fiction on the pleasure of eating and essentially how complicated food has become. Repetitive in places but a good read and needed I think in times of ‘wellness’ and diet ‘gurus’

Book 22 The Shining by Stephen King
I am a relative newcomer to King so feel a bit daft reviewing him when I seem to be the last person to start reading his books, however this was great. Very creepy and suspenseful and overall just a great read.

38. The wolf border - Sarah Hall . Cumbrian writer who writes about Cumbria. She writes well and I loved 'seeing' familiar places in her work. Set around the time of the Scottish Referendum, which goes in favour of the YES vote, this is the story of a Cumbrian Peer's attempts to reintroduce Wolves to the UK. Rachel is the expert drafted in and her personal life undergoes major change as the project develops. An entertaining and well written read. My only gripe is the author's inability to or choice not use speech marks which makes it annoying to follow dialogue.

1. The Liberation Kate Furnivall set in post war Naples - American officer trying to trace missing art/furniture etc. with a love interest thrown. It was Ok, not particularly gripping.

10. The Power Naomi Alderman - much reviewed on here. Read for book group and we did have a good discussion about various aspects of the book. Not quite what I was expecting but certainly thought provoking.

34. Timekeepers: How The World Became Obsessed With Time by Simon Garfield

This is really a collection of essays about all sorts of things related to time - films, car-making, watch-making, a politician’s speech, music. I found it really interesting but I don’t feel there was a real narrative or conclusion to the book.

Thanks Sadik

diamantegal I agree that was an uncomfortable aspect of the book. I quite enjoyed it. I think it was only very loosely based on her - eg she was involved in a fatal car accident in high school but all the detail was made up, and was more of an imagining of how someone with her background became to marry into a Republican family like the Bushes, but still.

ellisisland that was kind of the conclusion I came to. I like her film writing and would like to read more of hers too.

Kindle readers there are several Steinbeck's on for 99p at the moment - I saw East of Eden Grapes of Wrath Of Mice and Men and Cannery Row if anyone is interested.

18: A Life in the Day - Hunter Davies

A quickish Kindle bargain read for the commute. A rather frustrating memoir as Hunter potters along in his signature faux-naive/chummy style, explaining what it was like being married to Margaret Forster (who, I’m afraid, sounds a difficult character and quite hard work), the lovely houses they bought for tiny amounts of money, the famous people he met and interviewed, the wonderful holidays they went on, the 98 books he’s written or edited and his famous ability to get 1,000 words of copy out of any situation he finds himself in, no matter how personal or embarrassing.

Then I found myself feeling guilty and small-minded as he described the distressing final illness and death of his wife of 55 years. But then remembered the 1,000 words thing which he'd cheerfully bragged about earlier in the book. To be honest, I think he just can’t stop himself blurting everything out into a book; it’s second nature to him after a lifetime of mining his own experiences for copy. It’s also very slapdash - peppered with sloppy typos and annoying mistakes which should have been caught and properly edited. So, after all that, I could have boiled down my response to this as 'meh'.

I also slightly unwittingly got myself into a loop (as so often happens), having read Claire Tomalin's memoir, followed by the Donald Crowhurst book written by CT's husband Nicholas Tomalin - then realised that Hunter Davies worked on the Sunday Times with...Nicholas Tomalin. So my next book will have to be something completely different.