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?

I quite liked Station Eleven. It was rather silly in places, and strained credulity, but so does a lot of fiction. I've read a reasonable amount of science fiction, but, after previous debates on these threads, I've realised I don't read as a science fiction reader. I shall now retire, hands in pockets, whistling an innocent tune.

@RemusLupinsBiggestGroupie - oh no - I didn't know about the Station Eleven fights 😱 I'm off to do a search now for that thread.

@CoteDAzur - no I'm not generally a SF fan so I might be ok!

@Ontopofthesunset - I think I'm like you, ie not sure I read like a SF reader - we shall see

Early-morning insomniac post

21: A Life in Questions - Jeremy Paxman

A required read because someone chose it for our next book club, on the grounds that 'we haven’t had an autobiography yet'. I could think of better ones to pick but this was okay, I guess. Paxo is very amusing and comes across as modest and likeable. However, he steers very well clear of any really personal stuff, apart from a bit about his childhood - this is essentially about his journalistic and broadcasting life. Not one of my highlights of the year, I suspect.

*7. Saving Agnes - Rachel Cusk
*
I found this in the "award winning books" section in the library. It one the Whitbread first novel award in 1993. It was alright. The blurb tells us that Agnes is "terminally middle class." She is terribly right-on, a bit whiny and terribly naive. I found the author's writing style took a bit of getting used to and Agnes is a bit annoying. It wasn't terrible though.

I quite liked Station Eleven. It is a bit odd though and I can see why it wouldn't be for everyone.

Jeez. *

Won,*not one, let's use the fact I haven't had coffee yet to excuse that.

MuseumofHam Yay, someone has finally read it! Glad you liked it. Every time anyone on this thread mentions St Mary's (which I haven't read, tbf), I have to resist the urge to shout "You don't know what daft books about bonkers time-traveling historians are until you've read To Say Nothing of the Dog."

I have Station Eleven waiting on audio. I was thinking about these threads as I downloaded it. Now my commuting pattern has changed I have less time to listen to audio books, so it will be a while until I get to it. Then I'll get to start the debate again - yay!

Cheerful - don't resist that urge, it would actually be a public service. In fact I might join you from now on.

"Team Fitzroy all the way. His inflexibility was his Shakespearean tragic flaw, what made him human."

^ This.

Inflexibility = Principles, as I recall.

29 - Eve Was Framed by Helena Kennedy

This goes way beyond the structural and implicit biases in the legal system although that is the focus. It’s really about institutional sexism and the many and varied ways in which the system lets down women by penalising them more harshly than men or by failing to understand their needs. Helena Kennedy is reasonable, measured and convincing and she’s also mad as hell. I’d recommend this to anyone and would think it should be required reading for anyone in the legal profession, considering a career in law or even with a passing interest in feminism.

On a side note, I’d like to say how much I am enjoying this thread. It’s spurred me to try new books, different genres and to read more.

24. Sergei Lukyanenko - The Sixth Watch

Volume 6 of the Night Watch series. The Night Watch are the Light Others, those with magical powers who police the activities of Dark Others, who similarly police the Light through the Day Watch. Part of the role of the Watches is to maintain balance.

In Moscow, vampires are attacking innocent people, and the names of the victims spell out a message: Anton Gorodetsky. Anton is a Higher Light Magician, married to a Great Enchantress and father iof an Absolute Enchantress. The investigation into the vampire attacks leads to a prophecy foretelling the destruction of the Others and of humanity unless the Sixth Watch can be reunited before it is too late. Unfortunately, no one seems to know what the Sixth Watch was or who the members were.

This is a great series of books, centred on Russia and written by a Russian so has a slightly different style even in translation than I am used to in urban fantasy. Definitely worth checking out if this is your sort of genre.

Ok 50 bookers have you heard of this?
The Bechdel test, named after feminist cartoonist Alison Bechdel, has been around since 1985 and measures whether works of fiction actively include women's voices. To pass, a story must include two women having a conversation about something other than a man.

https://www.penguin.co.uk/articles/find-your-next-read/reading-lists/2018/mar/books-that-pass-bechdel-test/?utmsource=m.facebook.com&utmm_medium=referral

Yes, though often find it most interesting applied to films. There are some great books that are wonderful in rounded representation of women, or whose point is showing the narrowness of female experience, that maybe don’t pass, so I think it’s useful but not the whole picture.

Just checking in - been suffering terrible migraines recently which has massively curtailed my reading so far this year.

Pace is very slow as a result and I doubt I'll fit 50 this year unless the migraines tail off.

Reading The Left Hand of Darkness at the moment. Don't know how I missed this before! Adding a few more sci-if classics to my list.

I read and really enjoyed Eve Was Framed when it first came out. It seems a very long time ago!

Hi Toomuch - I’d only heard the Bechdel test in relation to films, but was thinking recently how I’m not very interested in books about men these days. So many interesting women to read about instead.

17. Sugar Money – Jane Harris

Reviewed several times already up thread. Jane Harris’s novel is set in 1765 Martinique and Grenada and narrated by adolescent Lucien. The style of the novel is an old fashioned "cat and mouse" type adventure story, which for me jarred a little at odds with the serious subject matter of slavery.

Lucien is a likeable narrator, very vividly drawn and I felt invested in him and wanted him to succeed. Descriptions of the islands were full of beautiful detail and made me feel like I was actually there.

However, I found Harris’s decision to sprinkle the dialogue with “Kreyol” a bit distracting at times, and found it stopped me becoming fully absorbed in the story. That said, I have a real aversion to this kind of device, so it might just be me.

Overall a good read but not in the same league as Gillespie and I or The Observations. I didn’t think the relationship between Lucien and his brother Emile was a fully developed as it could have been, and Harris's portrayal of Emile’s love interest Celeste was a bit flat and one dimensional.

It had some very gripping moments though and did not hold back on its description of the horrors and inhumanity of slavery. I remain undecided about accusations of cultural appropriation. On one hand this tale, based on actual events, was a horrific chapter in the history of all humanity, and so as a human being Jane Harris has a right (and a responsibility?) to tell this story. However, I am not sure the genre employed here is the right one. Read an interesting review in The Guardian which concluded that Sugar Money does not bear comparison with other works on the subject such as Beloved or The Underground Railroad and I am inclined to agree.

1. In A Dark Dark Wood - Ruth Ware

Recommendation from this thread. A fairly quick read thriller which was a bit daft at times but with enough intrigue to keep me reading until the end. Would pick up another by this author, but as a bath/train/beach read, rather than anything too taxing.

Place marking so I can find the next thread.

I seem to have lost a post somewhere as I am sure I was congratulations Remus in her excellent appreciation of Sir Antony Fanshawe; so I will have to have a recount when I get to a computer! However, 27ish) Hiroshima by John Hersey. Mentioned upthread, I would say this is a must read and was surprised not to have come across it before; it is the story of 6 Hiroshima survivors, published just a year after the bomb, and it is shocking, harrowing, and very very real. Thank you for writing about it.

Fuck’s sake, Naomi Novik, fucking amnesia? Really? Oh look, I have forgotten the events of the last 7 books and oh look, the massive socking great dragon I harnessed, oh yes, but somehow I can still speak fecking Chinese...

(Temeraire book 8 nose dives at the beginning)

Tanaqui
I'm now reading Venetia and none of the chaps in that are a patch on my Anthony.

TooMuch I’ve generally seen the Bechdel Test talked about in relation to film / TV rather than books.

I’d agree it’s not the full picture. There’s an interesting website I found via the BBC that’s analysed speech in films to see what proportion of speech in a film is spoken by men / women.
Gives a more rounded view than the straightforward pass / fail of the Bechdel Test (although clearly it takes a lot more time to analyse!)

pudding.cool/2017/03/film-dialogue/

I see The Power is on the list of books suggested in the article linked, I’ve just got that out from the library so should be getting round to reading that soon

I popped on to look for recommendations having recently read The Seven Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle and The Toymakers (I loved both, particularly the former, it's brilliant!).

Also recently enjoyed The mermaid and Mrs Hancock and The woman in the window.

Will update properly with my list tomorrow.

The Mako Mori test is an alternative to the Bechdel which possibly works better for literature. It requires a female character with her own narrative arc that is not supporting a man's story.