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?

Has anyone else lost the 'bookmark' button to save their place on the threads?

Ignore me ... it came back!

Would love to jump on this challenge if it is not too late? I was an avid reader as a child/early twenties and then life kind of got in the way and I have barely read anything for a few years. I recently resparked my loved for reading but found that the chicklit/YA genre I stuck to doesn't suit anymore so I am trying to broaden my horizons a bit. Thanks for all the reviews, I have added a good lump to my WTR list (also just discovered Goodreads). I am a quick reader so should catch up and will probably stick to easy to read stuff until I am back in the swing of things. I have a 4 hour round commute once a week which helps too!

Anyway so far

1. Then she was gone - Lisa Jewell
2. Eleanor Oliphant is completely fine - Gail Honeyman
3. Class Murder - Leigh Russell
4. The Witchfinder's Sister - Beth Underdown

Now reading

1. Persons Unknown - Susie Steiner

18. Four Sisters - The Lost Lives of the Romanov Grand Duchesses by Helen Rappaport.

Enjoyable account of the lives of Olga, Tatiana, Maria and Anastasia - daughters of the last Tsar of Russia, Nicholas II. They take centre stage and we read about their rather mundane, secluded from 'high society' lives with their parents, who are highly unsuited to the roles they must lead. The focus of the book is very much on the family themselves - barely a word is given to Lenin, Trotsky - and indeed, amidst all the families holidays on their yacht, the odd trip abroad, the very odd public appearance, endless tea parties and games with their favourite officers; the Revolution suddenly rears its head, and the family is doomed, and the fairytale ends. We all know how but Rappaport is clever in the way she leads to the final act. There is a growing sense of unease as the family are taken into captivity that becomes more and more brutal before the end arrives.

19. Educated by Tara Westover. As recommended on here. Romped through this at great speed as it is a very easy read. Fascinating account of a life growing up in a secluded, Mormon family and subsequent 'escape' to a live of academia. Quite mind-blowing how a child with no formal education managed to get herself up to speed in Maths to pass the ACT and gain acceptance into college, ending up with a doctorat from Cambridge. Absolutely appalling in places but some very tender accounts of family love.

It’s never too late to join in danadas!

Welcome aboard!

I'm about halfway through The Essex Serpent at the moment. Am enjoying it but also finding it's quite a slow dense read.

Hello! Also a late joiner and only found this thread recently. I'm a quick reader at the minute as I usually have two books on the go - an Audible book for my commute and a hard copy book at bedtime. I'm taking advantage of a very short window to get back into reading at the moment as my two year old has finally learnt to sleep but I'm expecting a second in August, so trying to get through as much as possible. Here's what I've managed so far this year:

1. A Dangerous Crossing by Rachel Rhys. Ok, I thought. I like those kinds of settings where people are 'trapped'. The narrator was a bit of goody-two-shoes though.
2. The Keeper of Lost Things by Ruth Hogan. Started well, but went downhill rapidly. Good idea but poorly executed.
3. Behind Her Eyes by Sarah Pinborough. Read for the twist that everyone was going on about. Not great, but passed the commute ok.
4. Everything I Never Told You by Celeste Ng. Amazing. My favourite book so far this year.
5. Little Fires Everywhere by Celeste Ng. Well-written, but not as good as her first novel.
6. The Heart's Invisible Furies by John Boyne. A very nice book, moving and poignant. I liked all the references to things I was familiar with from Irish history and culture, it made the book feel really familiar. I didn't think he wrote women particularly well though, and it was all wrapped up a bit too conveniently I felt.
7. The Fact of a Body by Alexandria Marzano-Lesnevich. A book club recommendation. I didn't really like the two-part structure. Her own story was well-told and shocking, but I didn't understand the sections on Ricky, the American child molester. I don't think I'd recommend.
8. The Essex Serpent by Sarah Perry. It took me a while to get into this but I really liked it by the end. I love books like this - one of my favourite reads ever was Nicola Barker's Darkmans. Bonkers, but love the mixture of history and myth and superstition etc.
9. Into the Water by Paula Hawkins. Meh.

10. Three Things About Elsie by Joanna Cannon. I liked this a lot. It was a lovely book, and I liked the way the prose itself kind of mirrored the mental state of Florence. 11. Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine by Gail Honeyman. I liked this but not as much as others seem to. 12. The Woman at 72 Derry Lane by Carmel Harrington. Another book club recommendation. Awful, awful. So poorly written. Offensive in places, actually. 13. Almost Love by Louise O'Neill. I don't get Louise O'Neill. I don't think she's a good writer at all. This was really frustrating - I felt like all the background and context was missing, so I just didn't believe any of the characters. 14. How to Stop Time by Matt Haig. It took me AGES to get into this. It didn't grab me, really. I liked the idea of it, but I didn't really care all that much about the main character's story so that didn't help.

That's where I currently stand. More books in the last three months than in the last two years!

Thanks froglet, added to the list!

Hello Badb and Danadas, welcome to the thread.
15) Dunstan by Conn Iggulden - man this was a slog. I said a third of the way through it would have to improve greatly to be anywhere near as good as the excellent Wolf Of The Plains, if I'd realised at that point that I'd already read the best bit I'd have binned it, but I kept ploughing on! (I blame this thread, I didn't want to devote all those hours to a book that didn't ultimately make it onto my 50 Book List!)
The blurb says:
Tenth century England: a divided and broken country of misrule. Yet King Athelstan, grandson of Alfred the Great, seeks to unite the kingdom under one crown. By his side is Dunstan of Glastonbury - priest, soldier, visionary and, some insist, traitor - whose task is to steward seven kings through fire, war, murder and fury to see Athelstan's dream come true. But what stain will it leave on his mortal soul?

As always with Iggulden the period is well researched and I learnt a lot about a time in history I was completely ignorant of. But his central character, Dunstan, is presented as a charlatan and a cheat (faking the miracles that secured his Sainthood.) This in itself wouldn't be such a problem but he's also completely unlikeable and uninvolving, and the trials and tribulations of building an Abbey don't make for the most fascinating reading.
All that said lots of 5 star reviews on Amazon and Goodreads so it's obviously hitting the spot for other people!

I moved on to Wonder last night, which I picked up cheap on Kindle and will be a quick read as it's really a children's book. Also listening to Nelly Dean on Audible, and the short story collection Reader I Married Him from the library, got to pack 'em in before the weather improves and I'm out in the garden/allotment rather than being stuck into a book.

Welcome to new joiners! badb, I've almost finished The Fact of a Body, interested to hear another view. I'll post my thoughts when I've polished off the last few stubborn pages.....it's been a long read.

Welcome newcomers

Hi all, been MIA as i had a bit of a reading slump. I kept picking things up and putting them down and not really getting into anything but finished Book 26 (Ithink?) A Conversation With Friends by Sally Rooney yesterday.

This was a book that was well written, easy to read with great dialogue but very little plot. Essentially, two friends, in their early 20s become friends with a slightly older married couple (30s) and an affair is started. That's it really. Its more about their internal life and the relationships between the 4 characters. I think if the characters were more likable this would be enough but they are all incredibly self absorbed its a bit difficult to care too much about any of them.

On the plus side, it is very well written and some of the dialogue is so accurate its almost painful! There is a great email/text exchange between two characters where they go back and forth, hot and cold that is spot on about how we communicate via messaging and how much can be read into so few words.

Overall it was a well written book and I would read more from this author but I wouldn't recommend it heavily as I can see why it got mixed reviews.

15. Nights at the Circus by Angela Carter Young American journalist interviews Fevvers a circus performer who has wings. He begins by assuming that she is a fake but is somehow enticed into her world during the course of the interview and sets off to join the circus. They embark on a world tour which will take them to St Petersburg and across Siberia to Japan. The story weaves between a straightforward narrative and more fantastic elements. I'm finding it hard to describe but I really enjoyed reading it.

16 Fallout by Sara Paretsky
Another in her long running private investigator series. An elderly film star and a young photographer have gone missing. This time the action is set in Kansas rather than Chicago which means that many of the usual characters are just on the periphery and she kinds of reinvents them in Kansas - so there's a sensible cop who likes her and so on. Fast moving, it kept me reading but I wasn't really convinced by the solution to the central mystery - the whole thing was rather unlikely. It was a page turner though.

17 The Cossacks by Leo Tolstoy
A dissolute wealthy young has joined the army and sets out from Moscow to join his regiment. He is billeted in a Cossack settlement and falls in love with the way of life and the people. Good story. Female characters are not very well drawn though, particularly the main female character. She is barely allowed to have her own voice even though there are scenes which just focus on the female characters.

Inspired by badb, I've finally finished the book I've been reading, on and off, since the start of the year.

28: The Fact of a Body - Alexandria Marzano-Lesnevich

This was a hard one to stick with thanks to the subject-matter, even though I've read a fair bit of true crime in my time. The (American) author was a law student when she started to work reviewing evidence for a retrial of Ricky Langley, convicted of the murder of a six-year-old boy. As she becomes involved in the case and discovers the disturbing facts of Langley's harrowing childhood, she examines her own life, and the abuse she underwent during her own early years, perpetrated by her grandfather. As I say, a difficult book but a very well-written and deeply-felt one. It's one of those books I can't say I 'enjoyed', but I certainly admired her honesty, courage and skill as a writer. No easy answers or comfort to be found in these pages, though.

14. The Tent,the bucket & Me - Emma Kennedy Family camping in the 1970’s... Recommended by my BIL who said it was ‘hysterical’. Hmmm. I will being down grading that to a ‘mildly amusing’ ( there are only so many poo related disasters I can read about..)...that said, she wrote very warmly about her family, to the point it really made me miss my Dad, and I cried at the end about their car. But ultimately not as good as I thought it might be.

58. White Houses - Amy Bloom An imagining of the relationship between Eleanor Roosevelt and her close friend and probable lover, Lorena Hickok, aka Hick.
Told in the first person from Hick's point of view this is the story of their relationship, The Roosevelt's time in the White House and Hick's own life story from a very poor background through to college and journalism.
I picked this up from a recommendation from Steve Donoghue, who I follow on YouTube. I am not a love story 'kind of a gal' but the final passage when Hick is sitting by Eleanor's grave describing her feelings is incredibly beautiful. Would recommend and makes me want to read a true biography of Eleanor Roosevelt.

Hi to badb and danadas. badb, I enjoyed your reviews and have added Darkmans to my wish list.

22. Tess of the D’Urbevilles by Thomas Hardy.

I loved this book. A Victorian Tragedy with so much to talk about: injustice and the struggle against inexorable fate, lovely descriptions of the countryside whilst acknowledging the back-breaking hardship of labouring on farms; religion and redemption; purity; the role of women and so much more.

There is also the very real (and still modern) portrayal of how guilty secrets affect thoughts and decisions. To tell or not to tell?The blindness of love and the idealisation of Tess by Angel Clare which is hit by her revelation and clashes with his cultural and religious upbringing. How do you break free from deeply entrenched cultural and religious beliefs? Will that turn you into Alec D’Urbeville? A more complex character than you initially think, on one hand the Devil and a stalker, but who also accepts Tess and helps her family when they are in desperate need. Fascinating.

My DH recommended the Radio 4 podcast In our Time where Melvin Bragg and guests discussed Tess of the D’Urbevilles and I loved that too.

23. Bloody Bones (Anita Blake Book 5) by Laurel K Hamilton.

Continuing this urban fantasy series. More vampires, this time with fairies and giants as well. Fun, somewhat violent, escapism.

ShakeItOff, I love Tess and did really enjoy that IOT episode as well. It’s my favourite Hardy, I think. I cry every time I read it.

23 Watching the English by Kate Fox

An exploration of 'what it means to be English' - social rules, manners, behaviour and attitudes. I know this has been recommended on previous threads by many, but I was still surprised by just how good it was. It was much more academic and rigorous than I had expected - very funny, but very analytical as well. I actually think that if I had read this book when it first came out 15 years or so ago, it would have helped my marriage to my now ex-H (only half English & lived in his father's country til age 11) a great deal.

Missed half of the last thread and all of this one. Have had a really rough time recently and although I should have had loads of time to read I just wasn't into the book I was reading. All holidays are tough in my house as my son has autism and hates any change of routine, add to that a husband that fell and broke his ankle which will need an operation in a few weeks and my house is just upside down.

I had started reading a set of 4 books way back in the middle of February and have had a lot of time sitting in hospital waiting rooms but just couldn't bring myself to read as I really wasn't enjoying them. I finished the 3rd one and decided for the first time ever that I wasn't going to complete the series. There are so many other books that I want to read that I just am not going to force myself to read something I wasn't enjoying as it really slowed me down.

Anyway they were the Unwind series. I really enjoyed the first one but they went downhill from there.

(1) Witch is When Life Got Complicated by Adele Abbott
(2) Witch is Where It All Began by Adele Abbott
(3) Coming Clean by Kimberly Rae Miller
(4) Die Last by Tony Parsons
(5) Restaurant Babylon by Imogen Edwards Jones
(6) The Sugar Men by Ray Kingfisher
(7) The Hospital by Barbara O'Hare
(8) Fade Out by Rachel Caine
(9) Yellow Crocus by Laila Ibrahim
(10) Into Thin Air by Jon Krakauer
(11) Would You Like Some Magic With That by Annie Salisbury
(12) The Ride Delegate by Annie Salisbury
(13) The Magdalen Laundries by Lisa Michelle Odgaard
(14) Just What Kind of Mother Are You by Paula Daly
(15) Amber Earns Her Ears by Amber Michelle Sewell
(16) Breathe by Sarah Crossan
(17) Kiss of Death by Rachel Caine
(18) Ghost Town by Rachel Caine
(19) A Pocketful of Holes and Dreams by Jeff Pearce
(20) Dead Man Running by Martin McGartland
(21) The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins
(22) Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins
(23) The Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins
(24) Cell 7 by Kerry Drewery
(25) Day 7 by Kerry Drewery
(26) Final 7 by Kerry Drewery
(27) Unwind by Neal Shusterman
(28) Unwholly by Neal Shusterman
(29) Unsouled by Neal Shusterman

Sorry to hear you have had such a rotten time just

Sorry to hear you’ve had a tough time Just

Just finished 18. Early One Morning - Virginia Baily - set in Rome, a young woman takes on a stranger’s son to protect him during WW2. Years later she is visited by his daughter. This was disappointing - should have been a really good story but I felt the meat of it was missing somewhere in between all the jumping backwards and forwards in the timeline and switching points of view.

Sorry things have been hard, Just.

I agree that Watching the English is great, Sadik. There's genuine anthropological analysis underlying it, unlike a lot of the "what it means to be English/British" genre.

Finished 35. The Edge of the World, Michael Pye. Liked it well enough. Various interesting titbits - even the sections on economic history were reasonably lively.

36. Slow Horses, Mick Herron. A boy has been kidnapped and threatened with beheading in the UK. Who is behind it? First outing for the failed MI5 agents now exiled to Slough House. Will the ragtag team of misfits rise to the occasion? Will their gruff boss reveal penetrating intelligence behind his unprepossessing exterior? Will there be double-crosses and shock revelations? Some venerable tropes, or hoary old clichés if you prefer, but they're executed well and I enjoyed the ride.

Have to get stuck into The Mermaid and Mrs Hancock as it's due back at the library in the near future and it's looking fairly bulky.

Oh dear Just, I'm sorry to hear that things have been so difficult. You've done a wonderful amount of reading if that's any (small) consolation.

ShakeItOff, I have fond memories of reading *Tess of the D'Urbervilles" for A-Level English and I loved it then. I must be due a re-read now as that was far too many years ago.

28. The Party - Elizabeth Day
I have surprised myself by thoroughly enjoying this book populated by unlikeable and unpleasant characters and implausible occurrences. It's rather gripping and creepy and tells the story of the relationship between Martin, the poor friend of the popular and rich Ben and comes to a head at Ben's 40th birthday party. We learn through the back-story about their relationship and the novel builds nicely to its conclusion. A thumbs up from me, but not a book for everyone as it's hard to read a book about creepy unpleasant people I think!

21. Then she was gone by Lisa Jewell. I hate these kinds of book titles!! However, I rattled through this yesterday and enjoyed it as an easy, absorbing and quick read. Jewell has turned her hand to a darker, psychological thriller and it works fairly well. You do have to suspend belief at times, and it's clear quite soon what the twist is (if there is even meant to be one).

Also just finished reading I Believe in Unicorns by Michael Morpugo to the DC, and will start The Velveteen Rabbit tonight.

As for myself, I am pondering what to start next....