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?

29.) The Essex Serpent, by Sarah Perry -- Plot-wise, I think this has probably come up enough times on this thread for me to do away with my (invariably rubbish) attempt to recap the plot. I mentioned in an earlier post that I was finding it a quite slow and dense read, and it was, although throughout I found it quite hypnotic and captivating.

It's an odd one plot-wise though -- while lots happened (and I was particularly captivated by Luke Garrett's story, and sort of fell in love with him just the tiniest bit), I'm not entirely sure what the story was actually about.

I was also at a review in the Spectator which described it as 'uplifting' and says it 'sets out unashamedly to lift the spirits'. I don't know what the hell the reviewer was reading, but 'uplifting' is not how I would describe this given the central storyline -- which I won't go into because of spoilers, although I'm not sure there's much point since probably everyone's already read it.

Personally I found William and Cora the least interesting characters on the whole, vastly preferring Spencer and Garrett (

Just updating on my recent reads. And may I say how impressed I am at how much people have read on this thread. I thought I read a lot, and sometimes wondered if it was normal for reading to be my favourite leisure activity, now I see that I am part of a great and illustrious tribe ! I have now finished book 16 The Girl in The Tower - Katherine Arden. It follows the story on from the first book, and there is a third to come. 17 Signs for Lost Children - Sarah Moss is also a follow-on, from her first book dealing with the same characters - a woman attempting to escape from an abusive mother and become a doctor, set in the Edwardian period, just before the first world war. 18 Elmet- Fiona Mozley is my real standout. It's set in the north of England, which is perceived as a lawless place, where a family survives off the grid. The father is a bare knuckle fighter, whose children are loyal to him, despite the harm he is obviously doing them. It's a beautiful, but disturbing read, the kind of book that stays with you.

Corvus no I wouldn’t describe The Essex Serpent as uplifting, it certainly doesn’t fit into this new and incredibly irritating genre of 'Up Lit’. Maybe the journalist felt uplifted at the end because it was just a good read? If your job requires you to read and review large amounts of absolute old baloney and then you come across something that is well written maybe the satisfaction of that is enough to provide an internal uplift?

I really enjoyed The Running Hare. Have you read any of his other books? The Private Life of an English Field was one of my favourite books of last year. Split my bookclub down the middle though with nature writing lovers and haters.

Haven't read the thread yet - have scrolled back to find my last number and need to get this down before forgetting!

47. Lord of Shadows, Cassandra Clare.

I wasn't massively enamoured with this. I adored Lady Midnight but vast swathes of this one felt like filler. Also, there were so many love triangles/parallellograms that my head hurt. I got to the point where silly little bits of description were jumping out at me - Emma admiring coloured pencil marks on Julian's hands, for example. Since when do coloured pencils leave marks? Maybe she meant pastels. I also started to raise a mental eyebrow at the ease with which seemingly implacable hunters gave up the pursuit not once but twice. Oh, and strange relatives appearing to save lives in the nick of time (can you say deus ex machina, Cassandra?). Distinctly patchy plot - random grown-ups suddenly disappear in very unconvincing ways so they teenagers can have free rein. First minor trans character I've come across in a book, and I may be a terrible bigot, but I found the instant acceptance by immortal fae a bit...unlikely. Discussion would have been good, leading to acceptance, fine, but the reader actually never sees the reaction. If you have to explain transgender to a character, then it is unfamiliar enough to them as a concept for their reaction to be uncertain.

48. Duma Key, Stephen King.

Re-read, but one I read only once a long time ago, so I had forgotten a lot. I really liked this - much discussion of the effects of serious accidents on people/families/relationships, plus obligatory horror. The bit I didn't enjoy was Edgar and Ilse's relationship - it was a bit too Roberta-in-the-Railway-Children-o-Daddy-my-Daddy for my tastes, but I can just about pretend that Edgar was an unreliable narrator and wink at it a bit.

49. The Grass Widow's Tale, Ellis Peters.

Re-read. Comfort reading when I was knackered and not very well - too many italics but overall very sweet.

50. Station Eleven, Emily St John Mandel.

I'm going to stick my neck out and admit to liking this. I liked the prose style, and the interlinked chapters weaving around in time around the focal point of Arthur. The musings on modern life pre-plague resonated with me, and I liked the Shakespearian elements. Station Eleven itself was a nice touch. However, as a vision of post-apocalyptic life, there were a lot of elements that jarred. Why on earth would you set up home in a gas station, Walmart or an airport? Why wouldn't you go and find a nice row of houses, or even a hotel or apartment building? Above all, why wouldn't you immediately start researching how to get the generators working? Why would it take 19 years? Why would you go and shoot deer in the early days rather than either looting a supermarket or finding a farm and slaughtering a domestic animal? Why aren't more of them farmers? Surely farming would be more sensible than the hunter-gatherer model they seem to be adopting, particularly as you could just walk into eg a dairy or poultry farm and carry on with the existing set-up and animals. The numbers of survivors seemed a bit screwy, too - simultaneously too high for the mortality rate/numbers of roving ferals and too low for the level of civilisation they re-establish. However, nit-picking apart, I still thought it was good!

51. The Explorer, Katherine Rundell.

Children's fiction about 4 children who crash-land in the Amazon and have to try to find their way back to Manaus through the rain forest. A bit of a cross between Journey to the River Sea and that Enid Blyton book where the kids set up home on a island - one of the Mike, Peggy and someone else ones. It was very gripping, though - I devoured it in an afternoon!

24. Conversations With Friends – Sally Rooney

I am very much in agreement with Ellisisland's assessment of this book, described further up the thread.

Frances and Bobbi are friends and ex-girlfriends, both in their early twenties and both studying in Dublin. They meet an older couple; glamorous Melissa, a published writer and her good looking actor husband Nick. The book focuses on the developing relationships between the four of them.

I thought the book was fantastically well written and would definitely read more by this writer. It was easy to read and very compulsive, a book that was easy to pick up, read a few pages and put down without losing the thread. Some of the conversations were laugh out loud funny in a dry sort of way.

However, I found the plot a bit meh. And yes Ellis I found the characters deeply irritating and self absorbed at times. This book has been compared to Catcher in the Rye in terms of its coming of age credentials. I read Catcher in my late teens and absolutely adored it. I think had I read Conversations with Friends in my late teens/early twenties, I probably would have adored it too. However, I’m in my forties now and probably harder to impress (and hopefully a little less self-absorbed). Perhaps I am not the target audience for this work but I enjoyed it anyway.

I certainly didn’t find The Essex Serpent a depressing read; it was beautiful and evocative and meaningful and - yes I suppose I did find it “uplifting” - I almost immediately knew I would read it again. It is not sentimental, or syrupy, but its themes of friendship, discovery, progress, social justice, storytelling, and appreciation of the natural world, are all inspiring and hopeful, and the characters are used in the service of those themes.

Anna Karenina has hugely inspiring and elevating themes, above and beyond what happens to the “main” character.

Virginqueen I found Elmet was a really unique read and it has stayed with me too.

Corvus no I wouldn’t describe The Essex Serpent as uplifting, it certainly doesn’t fit into this new and incredibly irritating genre of 'Up Lit’. Maybe the journalist felt uplifted at the end because it was just a good read? If your job requires you to read and review large amounts of absolute old baloney and then you come across something that is well written maybe the satisfaction of that is enough to provide an internal uplift?

Could be. And I suppose there was a lot about finding beauty in unusual places, so maybe that's what they were referring too, but still... seems like an odd word to use.

I really enjoyed The Running Hare. Have you read any of his other books? The Private Life of an English Field was one of my favourite books of last year. Split my bookclub down the middle though with nature writing lovers and haters.

I haven't, but I might do. It's been an interesting easy read so far. (Awful lot of brand name dropping though -- I know what make his gloves, wellies and tractor are, and I'm pretty sure his jacket's a Barbour ).

Corvus I enjoyed elements of The Essex Serpent, particularly her descriptions of the natural world and the changing seasons which were very beautiful.

I did not find it uplifting. I also thought the Doctor was the most engaging and sympathetic character. The main character I found frustrating and lacking in emotion and I wasn't convinced by the love interest (was he a Vicar?) A bit of a disappointing read for me last year given the hype. I'm fairly sure I'm in the minority with this view though as it seems to have been a hit with most.

I thought the Essex Serpent was mediocre at best actually. I am allowed to say that though as I am actually from Essex. My mum wasn’t impressed either, also allowed as she lives in Essex. I’ve always regretted giving it 4 stars on Goodreads and keep meaning to demote it!

I loved the descriptions in the Essex Serpent but kept waiting for some more action. And I wanted a serpent. Boo Hiss.

whippet I’m from Essex too! Didn’t affect my liking it though. Actually bits of the description of the marshes made me homesick.

Elmet has really stayed with me too and I keep meaning to re read it.
Re The Essex Serpent I really enjoyed it. I did find the main female character odd, but given the description of her son I wondered whether there was an element of Aspergers at play?
I thought it brought together lots of the themes of Victorian Literature and period such as Darwinism 'v' Religion, Social injustice, Rights of Women, early medicine in a very authentic and convincing way.
I don't actually have a copy and think I will keep my eyes open for in charity shops, as it is a book I would like to own. see DH roll eyes

It’s such a beautiful book splother, would almost be a crime to have enjoyed the book and not to own a physical copy.

Interesting what people remember of the book. I dont remember it as beautiful at all, all those dank foggy gothic marshes [not from Essex] and the chilling hysteria scene in the classroom. I did enjoy it though but in an impressed rather than uplifted fashion.

To clarify: the outside cover is very beautiful.

You noticed that much of it makes no sense, so I guess you can be forgiven for otherwise enjoying it. How you enjoy a book where the story makes no sense, I don't know, though.

TooExtra Cassandra Clare is one of my trashy-fun favourites, but I did feel a bit that she was playing YA-issues-bingo in Lord of Shadows (though having said that I couldn't help but love Ty & Kit together).

I thought it was beautifully written, and thought the primary theme of (mainly) platonic love in its different forms was beautifully refreshing.

11. The Midnight Line by Lee Child

The latest Jack Reacher book. Rather forgettable, but still preferable over chick-lit.

Cote can't you enjoy bits of a book but be annoyed by other bits? I'm listening to We Are Legion, We Are Bob on audio, & enjoying the geeky-computer bits, while being generally irritated by the crap (& 1950s-sexist) cod-anthropological bits.

It is a beautiful cover. And I think I'd like to reread it in the future so I'll keep an eye out in charity shops.

The bit that sticks in my mind now is the description of the section of stomach lining that Garrett and Spencer become friends over. And the way the operation on the heart is described. And that symbiotic relationship that develops between them at the end.

Sadik - I can still enjoy a book if minor bits are disagreeable (like the casual sexism of the previous century) but I can't enjoy a book if its actual plot makes no sense. Can anybody?

Satsuki the best people are always from Essex
I did some Essex marsh walking on Easter Sunday whilst staying with family. ‘‘Twas indeed atmospheric.

Good question Cote - I actually quite enjoyed picking holes in Station Eleven, but I'm not sure that really counts (a bit like watching Jane Austen adaptations to moan about how wrong it all is).

Interestingly, I wouldn't be bothered about the sexism in We Are Legion if it had actually been written in the 1950s, it annoys me much more from a current author (I guess I can view 1950s sci-fi as a period piece, where as I feel I feel someone writing in the 21stC really should know better )