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?

Just ordered Have his Carcass, Gaudy Night and Robert Harris' Munich from the library, and got Miss Pym Disposes out. I need some more stuff on Kindle though - anybody seen any good deals?

For anybody who likes YA, Gone by Michael Grant is good, and in the sale for 99p. Unfortunately, I thought the series got worse as it progressed.

Oh and I've just given up on *The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie for being stupid. I must have been a different person when I enjoyed it years ago.

32. The Co-op's got bananas - Hunter Davies. First volume of the biography of Hunter Davies, author and journalist who was married to Margaret Forster until her death last year. Interesting if you like either Davies or Forster. Both grew up in working class areas of Carlisle and found themselves at University. There is a lot of self deprecating humour in the book and it is a gentle read of a time gone by. It ends with his marriage to Margaret. Margaret comes across as a straight talking, nonsense type of woman who is unimpressed by bluster and celebrity. There is a second volume which I will read.

Well come to all the new thread contributors

Ooh I loved Haunted when it came out, ClashCityRocker, but I don't think I could reread it now...it gave me several mental images I can't shake years later! and I've gone soft

Book 6 finished:

1. Mythos- Stephen Fry
2. Origin - Dan Brown
3. Mitford Murders - Jessica Fellowes
4. Paris - Edward Rutherford
5. The Four Quartets - T S Eliot *6) The Magus of Hay - Phil Rickman

The discovery of an old man’s body at the foot of a waterfall looks like it could have been an accident, but DI Bliss isn’t so sure, and when he sees the contents of the dead man’s home, he calls in diocesan exorcist Merrily Watkins, for a second opinion.*
*
Interesting background to the town of Hay-on- Wye. Unfortunately the characters seemed very one dimensional and something was lacking in this book. More could and should have been done with the strained relationship between Frannie Bliss and his new DCI......hopefully that will be expanded on in the next book. The whole thing felt a bit disjointed and I didn't get the urge to turn the pages to teach the end. Pity Lol wasn't in the book, he makes Merrily a more rounded character. Jane and Eirion were not missed - maybe time to retire them into the background even more.

I do enjoy the Merrily series, but much prefer the Dr Dee books Phil Rickman wrote.....would recommend those as a good introduction to this author.

Just finished number 12 A Tale Of Two Cities. I think I have something in my eye or have been chopping onions, or something...

Bit of a slow start with Dickens' bloody long sentences. But the pace picked up once the revolution kicked off!

I always knew the end of this - but not the whys and wherefores.

Glad I read it.

Random generator has picked Homegoing . Happy with that. had it for about 8 months, having seen it recommended by some Harvard professor , I think, who decided to recommend books to his students. I see lots of Mumsnetters like it so I have high hopes.

"As I've got older I've thought more about how English lit lessons must turn do many young people off great books/classics "
The reverse can also be true though - I would never, ever have read John Donne, Ben Jonson or Christopher Marlowe outside of English literature lessons, yet I love them having read them first in a structured framework with context / support etc (having said that the same is not true of Joseph Conrad ). Those were at A level but similarly I loved the poetry we read for O level / in younger years, and again I don't think I'd have come to it on my own.

I've just added Logical Family to my wish list noodle :)

12 Educating Rita by Willy Russell.

Saw the film of this year’s ago and am keen to rewatch it again having read the book. Enjoyed it but the confines of it being a play with only two characters makes it difficult for either Rita or Frank to achieve much depth. Wondered if it was a taught text? Certainly raises lots of issues that merit talking about.

13 The Mad Woman Upstairs by Catherine Lowell.

Samantha is the last living descendant of the Brontës. She arrives at Oxford with a load of hang ups and a stick up her arse and sets about trying to uncover the mystery of the lost Brontë estate with her handsome mysterious tutor, a man of few words and dark brooding looks. A book of two halves really. The half containing characters and plot is utter tripe. The other half about the Brontës, which, to give her some credit, the author does appear to know something about, was pretty engaging. Has made me want to pick up The Tenant of Wildfell Hall if nothing else, and a decent biography of the Brontë Family.

14 The Mermaid and Mrs Hancock by Imogen Hermes Gowar
(Audiobook)

Now this is an author who can write wonderful characters and a great plot.
Mr Hancock, a middlingly successful respectable merchant comes into possession of a mermaid. In the course of trying to earn back the money he has paid for it unwittingly enters the world of the courtesan Angelica Neal and the society of 18th century London of which she inhabits.
The book deserves the hype it’s getting. It’s wonderful. Richly and beautifully written, a fully immersive reading (or in my case listening) experience.Angelica Neal will stay with me for a long time, she's a fabulous character.
Anyone with an audible credit to spare I urge you most strongly to use it on this audio book. Juliet Stevenson as per usual does the most fantastic of jobs.
I'm going to miss these characters very much.

Scribbly pleased you enjoyed the M and Mrs H. It was such a vibrant book. Stand out of the year so far for me.

I've taught Educating Rita a few times, and it's always gone down well.

@Sadik - equally true. However, I look at the texts being studied by my daughter in Y10 and 11 now and they are the same that my son studied in 2004- 2006 when he did his GCSE' s - An inspector Calls, Macbeth, Frankenstein, Animal Farm etc. How teachers are expected to teach this year in year out with out any loss of enthusiasm is a mystery to me. However, that is a conversation for another day and another thread.

I love love love Animal Farm and look forward to teaching it. The students are different each time we teach it!

Of Mice and Men cast a very special spell.

I've taught Macbeth hundreds of times and it feels fresh every time. I miss Of Mice and Men - a wonderful book and just perfect for 15 year olds.

tanaqui I tried to start an education book we've read thread but no one bit :(

bastard Gove eh Remus ?

Oh do fuck off, dear.

Toomuch vibrant is the perfect word to describe it. Feeling all sad and bereft again like I did after finishing Jonathan Strange

I forgot to say in my review The Mermaid and Mrs Hancock review that despite the title it’s not a book about mermaids. Have just been reading some goodreads reviews and there are several poor ratings because people have purchased it expecting magical realism when in reality it’s a work of historical fiction.

Thanks for your comments Satsuki, I'll look forward to Bring Up The Bodies.

I hope you enjoy it as much as I did, Sadik!

Thanks for clarifying, scribbly admit I was put off by the title as being as bit whimsical but think I’m going to have to try and give it a go after your review.

Funny you didn’t like Brodie either now remus. I found it all a bit daft, perhaps I’d have liked it if I read it younger.

Reading as a leisure activity shouldn’t be a chore, but I think literature can and should demand work in the same way as any other academic discipline. I loved reading for pleasure but also loved studying books and found that pleasurable. I got a lot out of studying books I wouldn’t have otherwise necessarily enjoyed and learned to love harder the things I liked. It’s a weird one because people maybe don’t have the same emotional connection or non-connection with studying history for instance.

I can't wait to read mermaid but am strangely in thrall to my random number generator.

1. Court of Lions by Jane Johnson: a freebie from Tripfiction for their book club (I love book giveaways even more than I love rummaging for books in charity shops!)

A split narrative set in Granada, which I now want to visit based on the beautiful descriptions. Kate's parts are modern day and a bit thriller esque (she is hiding from something but we aren't told what/who at first) but the other, more interesting, bits are set in the 15th century Granada court and told by Blessings, a child originally from a desert tribe who is now the future sultan's companion.
The historical parts are well researched and while some of the links with the present day storyline are very far fetched, I thought it was an enjoyable read overall.

9. The Atlantis Plague by A. G. Riddle

Science fictiony thriller. Sequel to The Atlantis Gene. A plague originating from a long buried alien spaceship has sparked a global pandemic. The survivors are being changed at a genetic level, and a formerly secret organisation ( Immari) is making a bid for power. Geneticist Kate and intelligence agent David are searching for a cure.
Good enough read for me to plan on picking up the next in the series if I can find it in the library.

10. Salvation of a Saint by Keigo Higashino

Crime. A man is discovered dead, poisoned, in his empty home. His devoted wife, Ayane, falls under suspicion, but she was hundreds of miles away at the time, so how could she be the killer?

More of a “how was it done” than a “who did it”. It was an absorbing read, but the final solution was so far fetched that it was difficult to believe. Same with the murderer’s character and motivation. It’s the sort of solution where it’s all technically possible, but it didn’t quite hang together for me.

11. Disclaimer by Renee Knight

A thriller is hand delivered for Catherine, and when she starts to read it, she is horrified to discover that it’s all about her and her darkest secret. One that she thought no one else knew....

Interesting concept, but not done well.
The only thing I can take away from this, is the lesson that if a mysterious book arrives in my letterbox detailing my darkest secret, then I should sit down and talk to people about what actually happened, rather than trying to ignore said book until the author of said book wrecks more havoc on my life 🙄🙄🙄

12. Walk by Sholto Radford

All about walking and mindfulness.
Walking = good. Mindfulness = good. Walking + Mindfulness = a wonderful thing that we should all do more of.

An inoffensive stocking filler of a book. Quick and easy to read with a pretty cover and nicely illustrated pages.