50 Book Challenge 2018 Part Five

[southeastdweller]

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

How're you getting on so far?

Corvus I hope you enjoy the Macfarlane. He’s the best of all of them I think. I like him a lot (and might love him a little bit too but don’t tell anyone)...

37 The Secret Barrister: Stories of the Law and How It's Broken

An account by an anonymous junior barrister of how the courts & justice system works - and how it often doesn't work. This is absolutely fantastic, and I would recommend it without reservation - I only hope as many people read it as have read This is Going to Hurt.

As you might expect from a barrister, the author has an excellent way with words. He is also passionate and inspiring in his explanation of why a functioning (and properly funded) justice system is important to all of us. I listened to this on Audible, and the reading was also excellent.

I've just finished 21.Bookworm by Lucy Mangan, which I thoroughly enjoyed. It made me want to read a lot of my childhood favourites again, especially the Antonia Forest books, which I'm always on the lookout for in charity shops.

I've also read 22. Where'd you go Bernadette ? by Maria Semple. Very funny, I actually did "laugh out loud " which is rare for me. Onwards and upwards !

Currently reading A Very English Scandal, around 45% through it and found it initially gripping then a bit 'meh' and now picking up again. Have to say though the trailer for the BBC adaption that starts at 9pm on Sunday looks very good.

57: Giovanni’s Room – James Baldwin

Finally a contender for book of the year! I’d vaguely heard of this before, and then it was in the Kindle daily deal recently. It’s described as a ‘gay classic’ and it tells, exquisitely and painfully, the story of a doomed love affair between a young American man in Paris and the male Italian bartender he meets when his girlfriend has gone away to consider if their relationship is going to be worth continuing.

The narrator is horribly conflicted, and horribly flawed, and carries the burden of various failures in himself as he tells the story of the affair which largely took place in the room of the title, and its aftermath. It was written in the 50s but feels really fresh. I read it breathlessly and greedily and will definitely re-read. Very, very highly recommended.

38 Deathmaker by Lindsay Buroker

Second in the Dragon Blood chronicles - Pilot and crack shot Cas Ahn, shot down and captured, is thrown into a cell with the notorious pirate Tolomek, aka the Deathmaker. Tolomek has plans to escape, and the two end up working together to outwit their captors, in the process discovering that neither is quite what the other expected.

The pace definitely picks up in this one, and I really cared what happened to Cas & Tolomek, & about the progress of their relationship. Good escapist light fantasy / romance.

Remus, if you haven’t read them already, Notes from a Native Son, and Another Country (not the same as the film) are also worth a look; I haven’t read any others.

Goodness I have lagged behind!

Bringing my list over though

1. Hidden Depths - Ann Cleaves
2. Rather be the Devil - Ian Rankin
3. Our Endless Numbered Days - Clare Fuller
4. I Hear the Sirens in the Street - Adrian McKinty
5. Burial rites hannah Kent
6. Raven black - Ann cleaves
7. The Wonder - Emma Donoghue
8. The Witchfinders sister - Beth Underdown
9. Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine - Gail Honeyman

10. Heads or Tails - Damien Boyd 11. The Keeper of Lost Things 12. The Toy Makers 13. White nights - Ann Cleaves 14. Red Bones - Ann Cleaves 15. The Tatooist of Auschwitz

Unfortunately I have had a bit of a dud spell and feel a bit peeved.

I remember reviewing the Keeper of Lost Things but I can’t recall if I reviewed the others. I wasn’t keen on The Toy Makers. It just lacked something for me to be honest - I think it might have been any semblance of actual plot or purpose.

Sadly I also hadn’t been hugely enthused by books two and three of the Shetland series bubbles ann cleaves. I love the concept and adore the descriptions of the geography. However, I am finding some of the naval gazing by Perez and co a bit wearing. Where is there hardy resilience? Also by the time I had got the to the end of Red Bones I honestly no longer cared who killed them all. It just seemed dull and I was a bit irritated by all the inner monologue. Also the constant reference to how stuff like this never happens on Shetland then having a series of books about mass killings on Shetland seems short sighted.

I was to read theTatooist if Auschwitz for a book group and I wasn’t looking forward to it as I was worried it would be too heavy and upsetting. I suppose I should be grateful that it wasn’t heavy. I honestly, genuinely think it may rank as one of the most poorly written books I have ever read and her handling of the holocaust is absolutely abysmal. The characterisation is either so one dimensional that you simply don’t care either way or she accidentally presents our hero in such a cringeworthy manner than I absolutely disliked him.

This passage was just one which made me roll my eyes massively

One evening, they are caught off guard when the front door bursts open and a drunken Russian staggers in. The girls can see their ‘guard’ lying unconscious outside. Waving a pistol, the intruder singles out one of the girls and attempts to rip her clothes off. At the same time he drops his trousers. Gita and the others scream. Several Russian soldiers soon burst into the room. Seeing their comrade on top of one of the girls, one of them pulls out his pistol and shoots him in the head. He and his comrades drag the would-be rapist from the house, apologising profusely.

This is just one of a number of genuinely awful texts which describe awful events in such a way I simply tutted.

By the time I got to the epilogue it just became a series of lists of events written in an “and then and then and then” fashion. It was only at that point I realised this was based on real people and it all fell into place. No one wants to be critical of a book about the holocaust so it has falsely got 5 star reviews and laudits based on people’s discomfort with pointing out that this is a genuinely awful book.

This book was so bad I actually feel angry on behalf of the people it was supposed to represent.

Passme - that's awful. Sounds like something somebody in Year 9 might write.

Thanks, Tanaqui. Have got the sample of Another Country.

Is that word for word? That's dreadful. so many things wrong why the repeat of 'one of the girls'? Makes it seem like the second time it's used it's referring to a different girl. 'Gita and the others scream.' is the girl he's trying to rape not screaming, then? Awful, unclear, turgid prose.

I read fanfiction. I've betaed fan fiction. I've seen some not-great amateur writing in my time. And pretty much all of it is better than that bilge.

Please tell me that's not a word for word quotation? Was it translated?

My prize for worst book I've ever read would have to go to Ash by James Herbert. Some of his books are fairly entertaining, no matter how trashing they're written (The Secret of Crickley Hall was okay) but, Oh god, this one was abysmal. Diabolical tripe and not in a good way. Utterly idiotic conspiracies and a love-interest so shallow and thick she was confused by a character being called Lewis when his name was actually Louis. Or something. I've blotted it it was that dreadful.

passme I suggest you don't read The Fourteenth Letter! Tattooist sounds melodic and powerfully lyrical by comparison!

So this man is simultaneously waving a pistol about, ripping 'one of the girls' clothes off and dropping his trousers. That's either impressive multi-tasking or careless ill-thought through writing. Hmmm.

I am so very glad it’s not just me. It got so many 5 star reviews that even by husband said “are you maybe missing something?”

No. It’s shit.

That is word for word. Genuinely lifted from the text.

I also wondered about the pistol waving, ripping off clothes while dropping trousers. All while a group of hapless girls scream, or maybe scream. Some of them scream. And thankfully they are all rescued in timeous fashion by the Russians. Phew

This bit made me dry heave

He had learned and practised the art of flirting on his mother. Though he was fairly sure she didn’t realise what he was doing, he knew; he knew what he was doing; he learned what worked on her and what didn’t, and he quickly worked out what was appropriate and inappropriate behaviour between a man and a woman. He suspected all young men embarked on this learning process with their mothers, though he often wondered if they consciously realised it. He had brought it up with several of his friends, who had reacted with shock, claiming they did no such thing. When he questioned them further about whether they got away with more from their mother than their father, they all admitted to behaviours that could be construed as flirting –they thought they were just getting around Mum because she was easier than Dad. Lale knew exactly what he was doing.

Passme that is awful! I have it on my Kindle, think it might slide down the pile.

Glad you found Giovanni’s Room remus. Go Tell It on the Mountain also great by Baldwin.

passme

25. Behind the Scenes at the Museum Kate Atkinson Ruby Lennox is born in 1951 to a dreadful mother and grows up over a pet shop in York. She tells the story of her childhood and the history of several generations of her mother's family. There were lots of things wrong with this book - the regular slips into melodrama (though they're very well done - a set piece at a wedding reception in the middle of the 1966 World Cup Final is particularly ott and bonkers and memorable). The amnesia storyline didn't work for me either, nor Gillian's death (not a spoiler - we're told it's coming). But there were lots of things I loved about it too. The descriptions of York, a city I know well. All the historical stories. The sweep of the unhappy, complicated, messy family. The way objects from the past meander down through families (we've picked up a lot of stuff from my grandmother's house in this way). The descriptions of a fifties childhood. Not perfect, but I thoroughly enjoyed it. Very absorbing. Thanks to everyone who recommended it.

I think James Baldwin is a great writer and he had a fascinating life; he's a bit of a hero of mine. Did anyone else see the documentary about him 'I am Not Your Negro'? I thought it was an excellent approach to his life and work as well as key elements of the civil rights movement, it's currently streaming on Amazon.

Thanks Dottie- that sounds interesting and I have amazon TV, I will look for it.

cheerful not to go into detail but it isn’t a case of amnesia is it? it’s rather a psychological thing, a way of coping, if you mean R.

It is ... It didn't work for me though. I didn't believe it. I'm not a psychologist and I know people do block out eg abuse, but I'm always suspicious when writers use memory loss, as it feels like a cheap trick, and they have to work quite hard to convince me, which she didn't.

42. Singing in the Shrouds by Ngaio Marsh*. A very good example of the genre- the murderer is one of the passengers on board ship, but which? Nicely done.

I've finished Connect by Julian Gough. I was encouraged to pick this up because he wrote "Rabbit and Bear: Rabbit's Bad Habits" a short novel for young children, which I had enjoyed reading aloud. It wasn't a poor test for readability - I enjoyed reading his adult novel about the future of the connected world too. All the way to the end, which was pretty preachy. Until then it was fairly interesting and there was a great "mother and son on the run" passage in the middle which was exciting, and very reminiscent of Dune.

Then to mark the occasion of joining the thread I read

13 A Month in the Country by J L Carr

which was the first recommendation I picked up from here and I enjoyed it a lot.

Aargh piggy! I was just browsing amazon and it recommended The Fourteenth Letter for 99p. I bought it then thought, “hang on, what was the one I was recommended to avoid?”

Buy in haste . . .