50 Book Challenge 2018 Part Four

[southeastdweller]

Welcome to the fourth 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, the second one here and the third one here.

How're you getting on so far?

In case any Into Thin Air fans are interested, I notice that Everest, the film based on Beck Wethers' book about the expedition, is on C4 on Saturday. Although apparently Jon Krakauer wasn't at all happy about its portrayal of events - oh dear, so maybe we shouldn’t watch it, I’m not sure now!

11. The Trophy Child - Paula Daly

Karen is the ultimate pushy parent. 10 year-old Bronte has so many extra curricular activities that she doesn't behave like a normal child. But when she goes missing one day, Karen's approach to motherhood comes into question, with devastating consequences...

I've read Just What Kind Of Mother Are You? by the same author, and from memory, that was better. This book is quite slow to get going with my often-cited complaint of generally unlikeable characters. Fine as a throwaway semi-thriller, but not worth going out of your way for. I think I bought it a buy one get one half price WHSmith Waterloo Station emergency purchase when my Kindle battery was dead, and that pretty much sums up the kind of book it is.

I went to the cinema to see Everest. It was ok, I’d watch it again.

MinaPaws I listen to a lot of audiobooks. My job involves a lot of driving, having teenagers seems to now involve a lot of driving and I listen when I am walking the dog. Probably get through at least one a week. Last year I listened to 45,281 minutes of audiobooks so Audible tells me. Some of that is dd1 repeatedly listening to the School of Good and Evil at night and falling asleep with it playing though

Continuing my list:

1. "Blink" Malcolm Gladwell. Picked this up in charity shop after reading Tipping Point a few years ago. It is about how we make split second decisions. Quite interesting especially as I don't consider myself type of person to make split second decisions.
2. "Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance" by Robert Pirsig. My DH has been insisting for years that I read this and am I allowed to put it on my list if I admit that I only read about half before giving up. Found it really hard going!
3. "Persepolis RIsing" by James SA Corey. Latest book in the Expanse series (now a show on Netflix). Leaning towards harder edge of sci fi which I love. Don't want to give spoilers but love how time is dealt with in this series.

Just started book 9 this morning - think I'm waaaay behind a lot of you and not sure if I'll hit 50!

terpishore thanks for the info re Everest - totally going to watch this as I have house to myself on Saturday night and I'm an armchair mountaineer. Have you read Anatoli Boukreev's answer to 'Into Thin Air' called 'The Climb'? Both books fascinating. I can't contemplate putting myself in such a risky position as these folks do but I love reading about it!

28. The Curious History of Dating: From Jane Austen to Tinder

by Nichi Hodgson
A present from a friend (possibly a delicate hint that I should be out there catching a man instead of at home with a pile of library books). A sprightly enough canter through the years, although it could do with a proper proofreading. I really don't think there were a million spare women for every eligible man at the end of World War 1.

29. Dead Lions, by Mick Herron
Second book in the series (haven't read the first) about a group of failed MI5 spies who unexpectedly find themselves with a real job to do when a Russian sleeper re-emerges. There's a comic edge to it, as the author has fun with spy genre clichés, along with an element of melancholy - these lives tinged by failure. I liked it enough to add to reserve the rest of the series in the library.

30. Cheer up love, by Susan Calman Comedian talks about her depression. It was mainly a self-help book with a few personal anecdotes. I didn't find it funny, but I'm generally interested in how other people's lives feel to them, so overall I thought it was an okay read. I found it quite similar to Matt Haig's book How to Stay Alive.

After Cheerful and Museum raved about To Say Nothing of the Dog, by Connie Willis, I had a look in the library but couldn't find it, and I'm not sure I want to pay £6 on Kindle. I found two other books by the same author, Blackout and All Clear, also featuring time-travelling historians, with three individuals visiting WWII Britain. It's very different to the jolly japes of St Mary's. The historians are isolated, and slowly working out that they are trapped in their new time, not only fearful of their own safety, but also anxious about how their actions may inadvertently change the course of history. It's slower and darker than the St Mary's books. It does give a sense of what it's like to be there, but having done field visits for academic purposes, I'm tut-tutting about their arrangements. No matter how inductive your approach, you don't just turn up and observe, with no means of systematically recording your observations.

13. Bad Blood by Lorna Sage - massive disappointment. This autobiography has won awards and had amazing reviews but it was just SO dreary. Sage had a bit of a difficult childhood, nothing terrible, but she drones on and on about tiny details that she has a remarkably clear memory of. Everyone is horrible, unsupportive and doesn't understand her. She comes across as sullen and petulant. She's a good writer though, shame what she's writing about is so tedious.

As always, loving the reviews and regret not being able to pop in to the thread for a few days by which time some juicy discussions have come and gone.

I also read La Peste in French (A Level here) and STILL understand very little about what was going on. We mainly spent our days mooning over how handsome Camus was and trying to get our teacher to tell us stories about how she had spent time in 1950s Paris hanging out with Simone de Beauvoir......

Thank you, Sadik, for an excellent review of Educated. I'd seen it mentioned in the sunday papers and wasn't sure whether there was enough in it to make it worth reading - your review has convinced me to give it a go :) And thank you also to Pepe for mentioning You Don't Know Me, which I hadn't heard of but looks good - and thank you finally Mamapants for pointing out that it's 99p at the moment!

I am soooo looking forward to a few days off over Easter and some quality reading time.

22. A Discovery of Witches, Deborah Harkness

Discussed further up the thread. Terrible tosh in many ways, and starring an awful male romantic lead who is sulky, controlling and breaks into the heroine's house and watches her while she sleeps.....

Despite that, it was a compelling read and I found myself sitting outside my kids' cricket practice reading it with a head torch in the car. I wonder whether she actually set out to combine the elements of Harry Potter, The Da Vinci Code and 50 Shades to come up with a bestseller that is as addictive as crack? If so, hats off to her, it worked on me (to my shame).

Now reading A Question of Upbringing which is the first in the Dance to the Music of Time books. There are a zillion characters being paraded in front of me and I am heartily confused, but bits of it are very funny. High hopes that once I get into the later books and am familiar with some of the characters it will be an enjoyable read.

29. Oscar de Muriel - A Mask of Shadows

Third in the series featuring cantankerous Scottish Detective 'Nine-Nails' McGrary and English Inspector Ian Frey investigating the more dubious and possibly supernatural cases in Edinburgh. It's 1889 and Henry Irving is about to stage his acclaimed MacBeth in the Scottish capital. But the presence of an apparent banshee follows the production from London to Edingburgh, leaving grisly messages smeared in blood, foretelling death. Frey thinks it's a publicity stunt, McGray is hunting for a banshee, andthey have until opening night to prevent a death.

I had been dubious about this series since the second book wasn't great, but I found this in a charity shop so decided to give it a try, and it's actually a good read.

I would definitely recommend watching Everest if you can. I saw it at the cinema thought it was very good, not necessarily enjoyable owing to the subject matter but good all the same.
I am yet to read Into Thin Air though. I've had it on request from the library for weeks. This has reminded me to chase them up when I'm next there.

Everest is okay, but I found it almost impossible to tell who was who!

Haven't updated for a while plus bringing my list across from previous thread. Highlights in bold:

My list, highlights in bold.

1. Jacob’s Room Is Full Of Books by Susan Hill
2. Our Endless Numbered Days by Claire Fuller
3. The Dry by Jane Harper
4. Best Friends by Jacqueline Wilson
5. Oh My God What A Complete Aisling by Emer McLysart
6. The Miniaturist by Jessie Burton
7. Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier
8. The Music Shop by Rachel Joyce
9. Mrs de Winter by Susan Hill

10. The Rebecca Notebook And Other Memories by Daphne du Maurier 11. Wuthering Heights According To Spike Milligan 12. The Growing Pains Of Adrian Mole by Sue Townsend 13. Little Women by Louisa May Alcott 14. All She Wants by Jonathan Harvey 15. Good Wives by Louisa May Alcott 16. The Trouble With Goats And Sheep by Joanna Cannon 17. The Uncommon Reader by Alan Bennett 18. Confusion by Elizabeth Jane Howard 19. The Outcasts Of Time by Ian Mortimer 20. The Power by Naomi Alderman 21. How To Stop Time by Matt Haig 22. The Secret Library by Oliver Tearle 23. Close To Home by Cara Hunter 24. Arrowood by Laura McHugh 25. The Infernal World of Branwell Bronte by Daphne du Maurier 26. Adrian Mole: The Wilderness Years by Sue Townsend 27. Pemberley by Emma Tennant 28. Then She Was Gone by Lisa Jewell 29. The Child by Fiona Barton 30. The Universe Versus Alex Woods by Gavin Extence 31. Burnt Paper Sky by Gilly Macmillan 32. Before I Go To Sleep by SJ Watson 33. Casting Off by Elizabeth Jane Howard 34. Timekeepers: How The World Became Obsessed With Time by Simon Garfield 35. The Hiding Places by Katherine Webb 36. Dangerous Days In Elizabethan England by Terry Deary 37. Nelly Dean by Alison Case 38. Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte 39. The Last Tudor by Philippa Gregory 40. The Sisters Who Would Be Queen by Leanda de Lisle 41. All Change by Elizabeth Jane Howard

42. Britain By The Book: A Curious Tour Of Our Literary Landscape by Oliver Tearle

Picking places throughout Britain, starting in Scotland and working down, he chooses a book set there or by someone who lived there and tells us something about it. This was interesting, but each snippet is only a couple of pages long and I would have liked more detail.

43. Rachel's Holiday by Marian Keyes

Audible 'reread' of one of my favourite books. It is chicklit, but covering some serious issues.

44. Three Sisters, Three Queens by Philippa Gregory.

I really struggled to get through this. It's about Henry VIII's two sisters plus Katherine of Aragon, but all told from the point of view of the eldest sister, Margaret. Unfortunately, she is whingey, selfish, vain and annoying. That leaves you with little sympathy for anything that happens to them! I used to really enjoy her books but the last few have not been good. Apparently she is moving away from writing about the Tudors now, so I will be interested to see what she writes next.

45. The Runaways by Ruth Thomas

Reread of a childhood favourite, about two friendless children who run away together. Parts of it are set near where I live.

46. Under The Duvet by Marian Keyes

A collection of Marian's journalism. I listened to this on audible. It was read by Marian herself which added an extra dimension to the pieces, especially the one talking about her alcoholism. Some of the other pieces are a bit dated now though as some are 20 years old. Still good fun though (apart from the alcoholism!)

47. The Bookshop That Floated Away by Sarah Henshaw

Sarah runs a bookshop from a canal boat, and spent 6 months travelling round the canals of middle England. I was a bit disappointed by this - not much in there about books and I got a bit bored of her battles with canal locks.

48. Hired: Six Months Undercover in Low-Wage Britain by James Bloodworth

This is an eye-opening account (for me anyway) of what it's like working in an Amazon warehouse, in the care sector or for Uber. Well worth a read.

Now listening to Animal Farm on Audible (read by Simon Callow who has a lovely voice) and reading Smoke Gets In Your Eyes, about working in the cremation industry. Not for the faint hearted!

Ignore the random 45. at the bottom of my previous message!

28. King Lear Read this alongside 1000 acres for mumsnet reading group. I normally enjoy Shakespeare but this is not a very accessible play, and didn't find it particularly beautifully written or quotable.

20 buddah of suburbia
A coming of age story, really really loved this. Been on my pile for an age. One of my favourites this year

9. I Feel Bad About My Neck - Norah Ephron.

This is a collection of essays/articles previously published by the author in one volume. The blurb suggests they are about "being a woman." They're not really, they're about "being Norah Ephron."
She is very dry and witty and I can imagine if I read these articles in a magazine or Sunday supplement I would enjoy them. But where they've all been thrown together in a book it all just feels a bit disjointed and lacking any overarching message.

53. A Boy In Winter - Rachel Seiffert
Scribbly reviewed this one upthread and I agree that it is just a wee bit too short. I too would have liked to see the characters of Pohl and Myko developed further and find out more of what happened to them. But I suppose this reflects the reality of that time in History. People's lives changed dramatically and quickly and often there was no resolution for their loved ones.
For a short book this took me longer than usual to read. I am not sure why and it wasn't until the final quarter that I settled on whether I thought it was a 'good' book for not.
It's not perfect but it is well written and conveys well that stark and often inhuman choices people made and will make again under such conditions.
It certainly deserves it's place on the Longlist of the Women's Prize.

I had planned to start The Ministry of Upmost Happiness next but think I will go for a lighter palate cleanser in between. There is plenty on my Kindle!

splother pack extra O2 bottles and Kendal mint cake before commencing Ministry. I'm 3/4 through, the summit is in sight but I am very very weary

Re A Boy In Winter, Simon Savidge who I follow on book tube made a good comment when he reviewed it, that he thought it might have worked better as a series of connected short stories than a novel. Think I agree.

17. The Bone Clocks - David Mitchell - one lots of people have read and I'm sure it'll have been reviewed before. For those who haven't, a teenage girl runs away from home in 1984, bumps into a kind old lady, and stumbles into some sort of war between 2 different types of immortal beings, without realising it (the anchorites - who feed off others to stay alive forever, and the horologists - who are able to reincarnate, but retain their previous life knowledge). The story follows different people telling the story from their point of view from 1984 to 2043, some are and some are not aware of the war going on around them.

Odd but interesting and well written.

49. Smoke Gets In Your Eyes: And Other Tales From The Crematorium by Caitlin Doughty

The author used to work in a crematorium and this contains lots of stories about that. If you’re sensitive about death or the sort of things that might happen to dead bodies, don’t read this - it’s graphic in places. This is an interesting insight into what happens to us once we’ve gone, but I didn’t like some of her judgmental comments about some of the people she dealt with.

29. A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L'engle I've seen this on various must read lists, favourite book lists etc. And I'd also heard about the forthcoming film adaptation so decided to read it. This is a children's fantasy/sci fi book. Was pretty good, good, memorable characters, engaging story, travel to other worlds. I did feel as though I'd actually read it before and forgotten about it and I also wasn't expecting the Jesus love. Its a somewhat simplified, less developed version of the Dark Materials trilogy but from a different theological perspective. Pretty good but not rushing out for the others in the series. Probably will get them when my children are old enough though.

25. Reservoir 13 - Jon McGregor

Was it Scribbly that described this as The Archers, with tea, as told by Chris Packham (paraphrasing)?

Spot on.

All a bit odd, narrated in an almost robotic way, fact after fact. Not sure whether I liked it or not.

Sad news for Bernie Gunther fans, Philip Kerr died on Friday, at the age of 62, very sad, too early

Gosh, I loved A Wrinkle in Time when I was a child. I remember reading it from the library and wanting to buy my own copy (I was a weird kid who used to save up all my pocket-money and spend the lot on books), but was too shy to ask for it at our local bookshop because I knew I didn't know how to pronounce 'L'Engle' properly