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?

Nice to have you on the team, South. I felt the same about Owen Meaney as I did about Lincoln - some great stuff amongst a lot of irritating and wearisome nonsense.

35. Hannah Kent - The Good People

In 1825 rural Ireland, Nora is mourning the deaths of her husband and daughter, and struggling with her four-year-old grandson. There are whispers around the valley that the boy, has lost the ability to speak or walk, is a changeling bringing misfortune on the area. Nora seeks the help of Nance, the local cunning woman, who is under pressure from the new priest, who has launched a campaign against the folklore and ritual of Nance. The women will do anything to return the changeling and bring back Nora's grandson.

This was really good and very atmospheric, plus a fascinating look at the folklore and beliefs of 19th century Ireland.

Just read 21. Except the dying by Maureen Jennings . Don't know why but this really didn't engage me. Story of a Toronto killer in the 19C now filmed as Murdoch mysteries. Got to the end but not really bothered who had done it. Now reading Coastlines by Patrick Barkham . Also had some good news- Lincoln in the Bardo is in at the library...4 1/2 months after ordering . Looking forward to the massive parts as described above.

Will be interested to see which side you come down on re : Lincoln, Froglet

Book 29 H is for Hawk by Helen Macdonald

This won the Costa prize a few years ago so probably widely read on here. Macdonald trains a Goshawk during her grief at her fathers death. She also discussed T H White the author of Sword in The Stone and Goshawk a book he wrote about his failed attempt to gain his own hawk.
I really liked this book. I loved the comparison of White and Macdonalds training their birds and I loved how she bought White to life. I reread Sword in the Stone recently and it was good to read this whilst Whites book was so fresh in my mind. This is also a book about grief without really talking about death or grief that much.

I have just started reading Through Away Unopened by Viv Albertine I’m only ten pages in and already I want to give the book to everyone I know!

42. Skin and Other Stories by Roald Dahl.

I was expecting to be creeped out more by these but wasn’t. Lamb to the Slaughter is the standout short story in this collection, the rest are all pretty forgettable.

Is Skin the tattoo story? If yes, that one really did make me shiver a bit! Love Lamb to the Slaughter.

Book 46
Swing, Brother, Swing – Ngaio Marsh
Very silly and I liked it a lot! Has one of Marsh’s best characters so far, a nutty toff who has dabbled in anything from free love to naturalism, and has now decided to take up the drums in a swing band. When one of the band members is killed, the nutty toff seems to be the prime suspect. All good fun.

17. Lady Rose and Mrs Memmary Ruby Ferguson 1930s novel. Three tourists visit an abandoned Scottish manor and are shown around by the caretaker, Mrs Memmary, who tells them about the young girl who grew up here, Lady Rose, her childhood, her marriage, and the decision she made which changed everything. Started off really disliking this book - the sweet, fey girl with the fanciful imagination (yuck), the series of vignettes rather than plot, the fact that everything seems to happen to her rather than because of her etc. Once the actual plot started, I liked it more - there's a neat sort of structure to it, though I think it may have worked better as a short story. And I finished it last night and woke up still thinking about her children, which I suppose is a success, though rather an uneasy one.

15. The Management Style of the Supreme Beings - Tom Holt 15. The Management Style of the Supreme Beings - Tom Holt

When the Supreme Being and his son decide that being supreme isn't for them any more, it's inevitable that things get a bit of a shake-up.
It soon becomes apparent that Earths new owners, the Venturi brothers, have a very different perspective on all sorts of things. Take Good and Evil, for example. For them, it's an outdated concept that never worked particularly well in the first place.
Unfortunately, the sudden disappearance of right and wrong, while welcomed by some, raises certain concerns amongst those still attached to the previous team's management style.
In particular, there's one of the old gods who didn't move out with the others. A reclusive chap, he lives somewhere up north, and only a handful even believe in him. But, he's watching. and he really does need to know if you've been naughty or nice!

In short the book can be summarised as "Our Father, who aren't in Heaven". A Douglas Adams/Jaspar Ffirde-sequel take on life on an Earth that is run on business lines by corporate aliens.

It wasn't laugh out loud funny, but it raised a wry smile occasionally. It doesn't reach the heights of Hitchhickers but there are some interesting characters who are well developed. I thought it a little overlong as it seems to run out of steam a bit and things feel a bit forced. I imagine he was commissioned to write around 350-400 pages and did just that. However, I think it could have been fine in around 250 and still been every bit as enjoyable.

Off to start book 16 Stone Mattress- Margaret Atwood. Especially looking forward to "I dream of Zenia with the bright red teeth"

27. Midwinter Break – Bernard McClaverty

Merticulously written and vivid account of a retired couple’s short break in Amersterdam. Really enjoyed this one. Gentle and yet powerful, I found this to be exceptionally well written and thoughtful. Gerry and Stella consider the events of their past in Northern Ireland, their present lives and future relationship with each other. Recommended.

Ellisisland have added H is for Hawk to my (ever lengthening) TBR list.

yy Remus Skin is the tattoo story, and yes it is rather unpleasant . I wanted more of that sort of thing but a lot of the stories were all frightfully British with commuters and bridge players.

43. The Last Day’s of Troy by Simon Armitage Picked this play up from the library as have been enjoying the BBC version of Troy. Bet this is fun to watch in the theatre, lots of rousing call to arms speeches and squabbling gods dicking about with the fates of men below. Sadly there is a scene which features The Horse and as soon as the stage directions state its presence I'm afraid it’s immediately transformed in my mind into a giant wooden rabbit and Terry Jones dressed Sir Bedevere is explaining to King Arthur how the are going to leap out it and storm the French castle. Sadly this does not occur in the play which is a pity, although the Greeks and the Trojans made a good job of entertaining me for a couple of hours sans Monty Python asides.

No idea why there is a rogue apostrophe there in Days.

So pleased to see someone else has read & enjoyed The small back room it's one of my favourite wartime books

So , have eventually finished number 27 : The Grapes of Wrath. It did get better , in terms of plot and readability, once they got to California. I did learn a a lot reading it and feel informed. I also feel depressed and a bit like many aspect of society's attitudes to the displaced and destitute have changed rather little. And am creeped out by the last paragraph.

Frankenstein next!

47: Off with his Head – Ngaio Marsh
This was okay, but not one of her best. I guessed the killer and how it happened really early on, and I didn’t warm to any of the characters.

Got Lincoln in the Bardo from the library. Reading now. Just thought I would share that its got a history label on it. Really???!!

I'm on number 15 now. Just finished The Mortal instruments and the city of fallen angels by Cassandra Clare. Pure comfort read.

Just finished Lincoln in the Bardo Wow what a book. Sad, funny and brilliantly original even if it did remind me of Joyce at times. Liked the historical bits but still doubt the library classification. Struck me that the conflicting evidence in the historical bits would be good to discuss for GCSE history. But then I am a bit sad. Back to Coastlines now which seemed ok but was rather mercilessly sidelined.

I've been on bit of a roll lately. Quite a few books in a row which I've really enjoyed reading.

34.) Death of Kings, by Bernard Cornwell -- Thoroughly enjoyed this, although I have realised when I posted about it in a previous comment I called the author 'Bernard Cornwall.' I read the Arthur Warlord series ages ago, but this was much more light-hearted.

I didn't realise until half-way through that this was the 6th in a series, although from the way it opened I suspected. From the evidence of this book though I'm going to have to start the series from the beginning, because this was just so much bloody FUN to read. I loved it.

35.) Here Comes Everybody: The Story of the Pogues, by James Fearnley -- James Fearnley's (the Pogues' accordionist) memoir of the Pogues' rise and the subsequent falling apart and descent into shambolic gigs. I found this fascinating, even if a lot of the technical stuff about the making of the songs went over my head (it did help that I know their music reasonably well), and the author came across at times as a bit of a hapless pillock. But damn, Shane McGowan. There's one wonderful paragraph in here which makes reference to the fact that like that optical illusion which could either be a crone or a young woman, but never both, it's impossible to tell whether Shane McGowan is a genius or a fucking idiot.

Froglet pleased you enjoyed Lincoln.

Froglet - totally agree about the conflicting sources in Lincoln in the Bardo, it struck me that some would give a good example for secondary school history. The bit that stuck in my head was the descriptions of what the moon was like on the night of Lincoln's big party...pages and pages differing recollections of the sky and phases of the moon!

Two books both recommended on this thread:

17. The Position by Meg Wolitzer. A married couple co-write a bestselling sex manual, and a copy of it is found on the bookshelves of the family home by their four children. Years later, these children are now adults and their live are still affected by the book. This reminded me of Anne Tyler (which is a compliment), in that it focuses on characterisation and family relationships rather than plot.

18. A History of Britain in 21 Women by Jenni Murray. As this covers biographies of 21 women in just one book, the portraits are inevitably sketchy, but still enough to give a flavour of some really interesting women and their lives. Some were very familiar to me (I’ve read biographies of Mary Wollstonecraft and Jane Austen) while others I had never even heard of. I enjoyed reading this.

30. Zero Day by Jan Gangsei

8 years ago, Addie, the young daughter of a US politician was kidnapped, and no trace of her was found.

And now, her father has since been elected president, and the now teenage Addie miraculously reappears, eager to return to her family.

It’s clear from early on that whoever abducted Addie has spent a lot of time brainwashing her, and there’s sinister plans afoot, so the question is, what’s going on, and just how far will Addie go?

Entertaining easy read thriller. It doesn’t appear to be a series but the ending is clearly setting things up for a sequel.

23. Reservoir 13 - Jon McGregor. This won the Costa Best Novel award recently and is about a teenage girl in a Peak district village who goes missing and the ripple effects this has on her community. I felt there were too many descriptions of nature in this book and it was also irritating trying to keep track of the (thinly drawn) many characters. Disappointing.