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?

Scribbly - OMG, the yoga scene........ TBH the whole thing is extremely ridiculous. I'm currently in France, where Matthew's mother is explaining to Diana that he is the Alpha wolf in their pack, and that if she does not do ABSOLUTELY EVERYTHING he says then everyone is DOOMED. When she tries to question this, they all look at her patronisingly and say "Oh dear, you really don't understand much about vampires, do you?"

I wonder whether anyone has coined the term vampsplaining yet?

@ Keith. It’s a series isn’t it? Are you going to read anymore when you are done with number one? I had to google yesterday to assure myself I hadn’t imagined the yoga chapter. Look! You too can recreate that scene in the privacy of your own home! . Mate, your hands are still touching the floor with that ear-pose though. Disappointing.

Terp, An Academic Question is a bit of an oddity. I like the scene where the narrator, who thinks she is losing her husband, is commiserating with Dolly, whose hedgehog died. The narrator feels better by comparison as she realises that her husband might still come back, while the poor old hedgehog is definitely gone for good. That's a great Pym moment for me.

A Discovery of Witches is truly awful. It's a rerun of the Twilight books for an older audience, amongst whom the naivety about stalkeriness is a lot less understandable.

Are you going to read anymore when you are done with number one?

I would like to say no, but to my utter shame, I still can't tear myself away from it.

That woman looks like she is better than yoga at me, although I agree it is a real let-down that she has neither balanced on her ear alone nor levitated a few inches off the ground.

47. Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine- Gail Honeyman After a shaky start I enjoyed this more than I was expecting too. It was actually quite compelling and not a difficult read. It was on the whole well written, a few irritating plot holes and implausible happenings, but that didn't make me want to stop reading. The character of Eleanor is very very socially unaware and awkward. Some people have suggested she has Aspergers Syndrome. Whilst I can see that possibility I felt it was more a case of her upbringing affecting her social integration and experiences. I see the author is actually doing a live web chat on MN tonight so I might even pursue that line of questioning there.
Although I enjoyed this book I will be interested to see how it holds up to the other Women's Prize long list.
I have just realised I have three others from said list on my Kindle so will probably make those my next three reads.

toomuch I felt it would have been more powerful if her social difficulties were just that; with no massive explanation. There are not enough narratives exploring autism from a female perspective imo.

I think it was still a possibility though, as in she could be on the spectrum and also have experienced trauma.

Satsuki I agree that there are not enough convincing women's voices in the portrayal of Autism.
I think you are right that it is more powerful if her difficulties come from her experiences and trauma. There was a lot of stuff that didn't fit with ASD. She was actually very open to and seeking change, she wasn't so rigid in her thinking that she couldn't make big changes in her life. She was able to take those new skills and challenges and generalise them in a way that some one with an ASD diagnosis MAY find more difficult. I am writing this very aware that the spectrum and it's presentation is very very wide, and trying not to make sweeping statements.

Just finished 21 I,Coriander . I read this because I wanted to read something written in the name of Sally Gardner, since I recently read and liked An Almond For a Parrot (the smutty one!) written under the nom de plume of Wray Delaney. I could definitely spot they are one and the same (minus the filth for younger readers!) as the tone, voice and magical realism are the same. It was a quick read and well written. Not sure it would have captivated me at age 12 or 13 but it was diverting enough.

I read I, Coriander when it came out, but don't remember much about it. I definitely prefer her with the filth!

Sally Gardner is another of those authors I feel I really ought to like, but I was distinctly meh about both I, Coriander and Maggot Moon, the two of hers that I've read.

Every time she mentioned a maypole, I tittered...

😂, Keith, I felt the same about The Discovery of Witches. To my shame I read all three in the series one after each other at Christmas time a couple of years ago..

Thanks for the new thread. List so far as below.

1. Sisters and Lies - Bernice Barrington
2. Her Husband’s Secret - Janice Frost
3. Mount! - Jilly Cooper
4. They All Fall Down - Tammy Cohen
5. The Word Game - Steena Holmes
6. The Good Widow - Liz Fenton and Lisa Steinke
7. Mummy’s Favourite - Sarah Flint
8. The Paper Year - Avery Aster
9. Gone - TJ Brearton

10. My Sister’s Grave - Robert Dugoni 11. Carrie - Stephen King 12. Based on a True Story - Delphine de Vigan 13. Every Last Lie - Mary Kubica 14. The Darkness Within - Lisa Stone 15. Anatomy of a Scandal - Sarah Vaughan 16. The Trap - Melanie Raabe 17. Flawed - Cecila Ahern

18. Bring Me Back - BA Paris

Layla went missing 12 years ago. Her boyfriend told the truth but not the whole truth. As he plans to marry her sister who is trying to make him face the truth?

I had high hopes for this one and had seen some good reviews. Thought it was going somewhere good but the ending just felt rushed and unbelievable.

Posting my updated list. It's been a very average year so far in general but on the positive side I read a five star book - The Remains of the Day (did anyone else hear the discussion yesterday about it on A Good Read on Radio 4?).

1. Sirens - Joseph Knox
2. Winter - Ali Smith
3. Diary of an Ordinary Housewife - Margaret Forster
4. But You Did Not Come Back - Marceline Loridan-Ivens
5. The Dry - Jane Harper
6. The Remains of the Day - Kazuo Ishiguro
7. Olive Kitteridge - Elizabeth Strout
8. How to Be Champion - Sarah Millican
9. A Monk’s Guide to a Clean House - Shoukei Matsumoto

10. Inside the Wave - Helen Dunmore 11. Postcards From the Edge - Carrie Fisher 12. Nineteen Eighty Four - George Orwell 13. Exit West - Mohsin Hamid 14. Why I’m No Longer Talking to White...- Reni Eddo-Lodge

And most recently:

15. Women & Power - Mary Beard. A very short book where she (superficially) explores the misogyny of women with examples from the classical world. Easy enough to follow but left me wanting much more as it's so very short and as with a PP I question the value at the £7.99 RRP (thank God for libraries!).

16. First Love - Gwendoline Riley. Pure crap about a woman in London with a horrible family that I'm grateful I didn't spend money on. Tedious vignettes and bad characterisations made this feel like I was reading some awful creative writing exercise. WTF were the Bailey Prize judges thinking last year when they shortlisted this rubbish?

Well completely missed the Eleanor Oliphant webchat!! Amazing how sorting out DC's eats your time!
Just read the thread and Saw Scribbly had managed to get a question in. Thought her answers were a wee bit on the wishy washy side though. Don't feel I learnt an awful lot.

southeast Yes, I heard A Good Read yesterday. I don't usually catch it live but I always listen to the podcast on long car journeys. I'm a big fan of Harriet Gilbert; she's intelligent and amusing and very good at hosting the show. I really recommend the programme to anyone who hasn't tried it yet.

It's a long time since I read The Remains of the Day, and, like the guests on the show, I think my memory of it is somewhat confused with the film, so time for a reread this year.

Thank you for the shiny new thread. Here is my list so far for the year:

1The Summer Book by Tove Jansson
2 Mary Query of Scots by Antonia Fraser
3 A Winter Book by Tove Jansson
4 Seeker by S G Maclean
5 Keeping on Keeping on by Alan Benett
6 The Black Friar by S G Maclean
7 SPQR by Mary Beard
8 Lucia's Progress by E F Benson
9 Ethan Frome by Edith Wharton
10 Before the Feast by Sasa Stanisic

Recent reads:
11 Equal Rites by Terry Pratchett
A dying wizard hands on his staff to the eighth son of an eighth son except she's actually a girl. Granny Weatherwax says that girls can't be wizards (and who wants to be one anyway?) but the magic says otherwise so she takes the young girl to find Unseen University to join the wizards so she can learn how to control the magic. It's a long time since I first read this and it was an enjoyable re-read. I think it's the first outing for Granny Weatherwax - there's the usual cast of thieves, wizards and an orangutan.

12 Y is for Yesterday by Sue Grafton
Was really sorry that Grafton died the other day so we shall never know what Z stood for. This book has the usual ingredients - a teenage girl was shot 10 years earlier. The boy who did it has been released from prison and now someone is trying to blackmail him. Kinsey is asked to investigate. The story interweaves the past and the present. It kept me guessing, although one aspect of the plot seemed obvious from the start and I was surprised that the detective didn't think of it very early on. Slightly silly subplot concerning her cousin was a bit annoying for being so unlikely. I shall have to reread some earlier ones to make up for the fact there won't be any more.

no updates from me - struggling to carve out reading time at the moment - but just wanted to say that Mothering Sunday by Graham Swift is on the Kindle 99p deal today, and I really enjoyed this last year. It's also a v.quick read for anyone looking to boost their batting average .

I hadn't heard about Sue Grafton dying, Cedar. Frustrating to have not quite made it to Z (well, it may not have been her biggest concern about dying, but still, I'm sure she'd like to have made it).

Thanks to whoever recommended A Very English Murder, by John Preston. I've really enjoyed. Amazing how bumbling the whole thing was. I tend to pooh-pooh conspiracy theories, but wow, there was a lot of establishment cover-up going on for a very long time (not just about Jeremy Thorpe, but Cyril Smith).

Just bringing my list over

1. Zuckerman Unbound – Philip Roth
2. Our Man in Havana – Graham Greene
3. Women and Power – Mary Beard
4. Between the Acts – Virginia Wolf
5. The Gift of Rain – Tan Twan Eng
6. Inside the Wave – Helen Dunmore
7. Aaron’s Rod – D.H Lawrence
8. Edgelands – Paul Farely
9. A Song for Issy Bradley
10. Everyone Brave is Forgiven – Chris Cleave
11. Zoology – Gillian Clarke
12. The Mezzanine – Nicholson Barker
13. Turtles All the Way Down – John Green
14. The Dark Flood Rises – Margaret Drabble
15. Midwinter – Fiona Melrose
16. The Stranger in the Woods – Michael Finkel
17. Reservoir 13 – Jon McGregor
18. The History of Mr Polly – H.G Wells
19. Conversations With Friends – Sally Rooney
20. Little Fires Everywhere – Celeste Ng

Currently reading Eleanor Oliphant (it’s quite sweet), Red Rising and the lovely Winter Holiday by Arthur Ransome, my DH’s favourite childhood book. Very much wishing I could spend my time sledging and skating in the Lake District. So impressed by everyone's lists and reviews.

I feel like I bought a number of books and then lost them in the Temeraire craze. Task for this weekend is going to be rummaging through my bookshelves and finding them all! I know my tbr list includes Anna Karenina, This Thing of Darkness, the new Cassandra Clare in the Lady Midnight series and a YA book my sister gave me that she says is like Journey to the River Sea.

bibliomania Grafton died just after Christmas and her family have already said that there won't be a 'Z' so no getting a ghost writer to finish off the series. I think she'd been ill for a while, sadly.

whippetwoman I enjoyed reading Winter Holiday to DD the other year. It is a lovely book. Who wouldn't want their Christmas holidays extended by measles quarantine giving time to go skating and on an expedition to the North (or South I forget) Pole!

Thanks for the new thread, have just spent some time catching up on everyone's recent reads. Am still laughing at the very idea of 50 shades of tartan!!
Thanks for the heads up re Mothering Sunday. Have just bought that. This thread is proving to be quite disastrous for my book budget!

Bringing my very modest list over:

1. Birdcage Walk - Helen Dunmore
2. Wonder - RJ Palacio
3. Why Mummy Drinks - Gill Sims
4. The Trouble with Goats and Sheep - Joanna Cannon
5. The Rosie Effect – Graeme Simpson
6. The secret life of bees – Sue Monk Kidd
7. The Cupboard - Rose Tremain

8. History of Love - Nicole Krauss as recommended on this thread (I'm sorry I can't remember by who). Really loved this intricately woven tale. So inspiring to see how a 'simple' book can have such an effect on so many otherwise unconnected lives. Finished it on Tuesday evening and am still thinking about it. This will definitely warrant a re-read.

I have just read book 15 on my list The Bear and the Nightingale by Katherine Arden. It's set in an alternative pre-revolution Russia, and reminded me a bit of Leigh Bardugo's Grisha trilogy. The young daughter of a rich landowner is brought up on folk tales by her elderly servant. The young girl is the only one who can see the spirits in the house, and sense the growing evil magic coming from the forest. I loved this and plan to read the sequel when it comes out. It's like a literary fairy tale.