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?

Thanks for posting the Hay list - it's interesting even if it has some unusual choices. It's got quite a few non-fiction books by femaler 'thinkers' that I haven't read, so I will definitely look at some of them. I've read about 50 from the list (including The Gruffalo, but not including that particular Jacqueline Wilson!)

I have rather fallen off this thread, though I check in most days to see what everyone else is reading, and have forgotten to keep tabs on what I'm reading, so I think I need to go back and trawl through my Kindle and the pile by my bed. I'll try to do an update soon.

And there are some wonderful books on there, like 'The Left Hand of Darkness' and 'Testament of Youth', as well as some very strange choices like 'Gone Girl' and Nigella Lawson's 'How to Eat'.

The Nigella Lawson book did seem an odd choice, it’s essentially a cookbook, isn’t it?

It is, though it is one of my most used cookbooks so I counted it!

I've read 31 but yes, why The Gruffalo? And why particularly HP and the Prisoner of Azkaban over the other Harry Potters? Is PoA particularly important to women? Although it is my favourite.

73. Sunrunner's Fire, Melanie Rawn

Not a great conclusion to the trilogy - sadly I ordered the next trilogy and now feel obliged to read it. This one irritated me because the whole trilogy has been banging on about dragon numbers needing to increase, and then that was resolved at the very end of book 3 with a one-liner saying that a previous event actually took care of that too, for no apparent logical reason. Not very well-written! I am now on the first in the next trilogy but I can't say it's particularly grabbing me. I am glad that a mysterious force has appeared to slaughter them all and shake their smugness up a bit. Not sure this is the effect Rawn was going for...

74. Peter's Room, Antonia Forest.

This was a delight and a joy to read, particularly after the bloated mess that is the Dragon Prince trilogy. Forest's books are tightly plotted and well-written - every scene is there for a reason. The plot centres around the Bronte family's practice of Gondalling, or existing within their own highly detailed fantasy world to the exclusion and detriment of all else. First of all, I didn't know about Gondal and was surprised that it was such common knowledge at the time Forest was writing - she obviously expects her readers to know what she's talking about. Secondly, to jump into high fantasy is unusual for a writer of school/family stories, so that was fresh. I'm not sure I totally agree with her conclusions about the danger of submerging oneself in a fantasy world - I read a review on Goodreads that suggested that although Forest comes down quite strongly on the moral side, actually, the fact that she created the Marlows and their world shows that she didn't practice what she preached. Maybe she expects the reader to pick up on that, too. This is as far as I have read in the series so I'm not sure what happens in the end - someone discuss the Nicola-Patrick-Ginty stuff with me, please! Nicola was annoying me throughout by being so bloody sanctimonious about Gondalling - I would have been utterly absorbed in it at her age. Her miraculous jump across the Cut seemed put in mainly to impress the reader with what Nicola can manage by being fully present in the real world, but it didn't ring very true.

I have found a copy of The Ready-Made Family on Ebay for £15 but all the later books are £25+, and it seems to be impossible to get a copy of Cricket Term even if you were willing to pay £100s (which I'm not). I had a look at the library catalogues, both my local area and the nearest city, but they both only had Autumn Term, which is the only one available easily and cheaply, so that was no help. I'll just have to hope Girls Gone By manage to publish more of them over time.

Cheddar, keep an eye on ebay and the like. I got Cricket Term for about £25 in the last couple of weeks. Haven't bought the in-between books though - having purchased the entire Chalet School series at great expense last year, I have to sneak any further children's books in while DH isn't watching.

Have more to update on but lost count - will be back once I've added up!

Have read 40 from that list, and given up on at least a dozen of the others.

Just read The Roaring Boy by Edward Marston an ok Elizabethan mystery. Back to Mermaid but no real desire to pick it up. Its the glamorous, witty Georgian prostitutes (yeah right!) that are getting on my nerves. I will finish it as I am a book finisher but I just hope my next book is more enjoyable and less bloody silly.

I've read 50 of the books on the Hay list but I thought it was an infuriating list: how could anyone put Gone with the Wind hideous celebration of the slavery era alongside Beloved? And how does Nigella Lawson serve as a role model on a list of books celebrating aspects of women's fight for equality?

83. Our House by Louise Candlish

I loved the premise of this - Fi comes back from a break to find a family moving into her house. However, for me the story lost something within the first few chapters and didn’t pick up again towards the end. It’s a bit too long and while I liked the ending it wasn’t quite enough to make it worthwhile getting there.

24 Grand Hotel by Vicki Baum – Grand Hotel (No relation to the Spanish series.) This is an exploration of the lives of the guests and staff of a luxury hotel in 1920s Berlin, concentrating on a small group: Otternschlag a battle-scarred war veteran who’s so morose even his cat has abandoned him, Kringelein determined to end his days in luxury, Grusinskaya an aging ballerina haunted by her glorious past; Gaigern who’s suave and suspicious; floundering businessman Preysing and cynical beauty Flammchen. All of them ‘people on the way up or people on the way down the ladder of life’.
This isn’t a heavily plot-driven book - the early chapters slowly introduce the main characters and the minutiae of hotel life. As the story unfolds the characters’ interaction shifts focus to the way that seemingly random encounters may change someone’s life for better or for far worse.
I was interested in reading Grand Hotel because of its history and its author, who sounds as if she was a striking individual. It was a bit of a blockbuster when it was published in 1929: in Germany it was a popular play; a massive bestseller in the U.S. and an Oscar-winning film with Joan Crawford and Greta Garbo. Its success probably saved Baum’s life. She was an Austrian-Jewish writer who moved to America, like Irmgard Keun, her work was later banned in Germany as ‘degenerate’.
However, I had mixed feelings about this novel. I found some passages, characters and sentences really engaging, and the depiction of Berlin life was fascinating but I got quite bogged down at times. There were sections I found charming and poignant, others melodramatic and longwinded (love scenes for example). I’m glad I’ve finally read it but it’s not a book I’d return to.

25 Harlem Nocturne: Women Artists and Progressive Politics during World War II by Farah Jasmine Griffin – I thought the title was misleading. This isn’t an overall study Griffin takes three African-American women living in Harlem in the 1940s and outlines their involvement in community activism and political campaigning: dancer/choreographer Pearl Primus; writer Ann Petry; and musician/composer Mary Lou Williams. The women themselves are interesting ones and it’s clear that their activities link to the later civil rights movement but I found the way they were represented frustratingly basic. However it did send me online to read some of Petry’s stories, watch Primus dance and listen to Williams play, all of which I enjoyed immensely, so in that sense the book was worth reading. I’ve also added Petry’s novel The Street to my tbr list.

I think I have read about 33 of that list- some I am not sure, must be getting old! I have seen the play of Jean Brodie but not read it I think, and tbh I can’t remember which Moomin book is which. To me it seems like a list of books by women that were talked about a lot at the time- hence Gone Girl and Bridget Jones being beside Beloved and How to Eat.

45. All Change by Elizabeth Jane Howard. Final Canaletto book and actually I thought one of the better sequels. More similar in style to the first book, I did keep muddling the new generation of children up! I thought she brought it to a very satisfying conclusion, better than if it had ended with book 4. Am glad you lot recommended, even if it did take me a while to get to it!

I love Forest, and I have a spare copy of Attic Term if that would help anyone out? Happy to post!

Me me me please, Tanaqui! I will pm you my address. Although I feel I must point out that you could sell it for at least £25 and possibly more - I shan’t be offended if you decide to do that!

I will post it to you Cheddar, but you might have to be patient as if I don’t get to the post tomorrow I will be away for a week! Happy not to sell it, but would be glad if you either loved it and kept it or passed it to another fan!

I've barely read anything for weeks as I've not been finding the time, except for The Breakthrough by Daphne du Maurier, one of the little blue Penguin shorts books/stories which I'm not sure I should count as its so brief! I enjoyed this foray by Du Maurier into science fiction, despite it not being a patch on some of her other novels. The narrator's thoughts on being sent to a bleak, teetotal, research institution in the middle of nowhere, and impressions of his fellow scientists are very amusing and the sense of foreboding and eerie setting is fantastic.

I also really enjoyed Manhattan Beach by Jennifer Egan, but as it was about a month ago I can't do it justice in a review....I should really start taking notes!

Thank you, Tanaqui! It really is appreciated, and it will be well-used - I keep books and read and re-read favourites. Plus I have a 6 yo DD to indoctrinate in a couple of years.

I've only read 10 of the books on that Hay list but have read other books by many of the authors so don't feel too badly read! Arf.....

I think I've read 35 from the Hay list. I don't mind that it's a bit of an odd list - I prefer that to the grimly predictable.

Finished Why I'm No Longer Talking to White People about Race and I feel I was a bit harsh on it before. I was blaming it for not being an academic text when it never claimed to be one - it's really an extended blog. What she has usefully done is to outline various areas of debate and give her point of view on them. It's accessible and has opened up the debate to new audiences, so it deserves kudos for that. If the thinness of her evidence and the weakness of her analysis had me wanting to refute points that I fundamentally agree with, that's my issue rather than hers.

Also read The Big Fat Surprise: Why Butter, Meat and Cheese Belong in a Healthy Diet by Nina Teicholz. Journalist does a good job of pointing out the flaws in the evidence base for the dietary guidelines of the last few decades.

Also a couple more of the police procedures by Cynthia Harrod-Eagles, namely One Under and Shadow Play. My, the woman is prolific. They hit the spot, but I feel I have slaked my appetite on these for now.

I’ve only read 24 from the Hay list Best posted. One of which being The Gruffalo (which as an Early Years teacher I have read a lot )

Just finished my 26. The Inside-Out Revolution: The Only Thing You Need to Know to Change Your Life Forever - Michael Neill
I’m not a self-help reader in general but I’ve been learning a lot about the ‘three principles’ approach to psychology and mental health. I saw a psychotherapist for a while and she has now gotten really into this approach, specifically when dealing with anxiety. This book is an okay introduction to the principles, but full of lots of spiritual language and examples which I found offputting as that’s not particularly the aspect that interests me.

Satsuki - I expect you’re right that it is YA (or even children Fantasy, Piggy). I’ve never looked for it in a book shop or Amazon and picked it for an easy going Audible listen that had great reviews. Some minor violence in it, I’d class it as similar to the Dark Materials trilogy. Is that YA or children’s fiction/fantasy?

I’ve read 30 from Best’s list and at least two abandoned (Possesion, I capture a castle).

Tanaqui take your point re: popularity, list make more sense seen that way - although thought it hilarious that elsewhere is advertised as guide to summer reading - can't see myself lounging with Nigella!
26 The Red Tree by Caitlin R. Kiernan. The fictional diary of Sarah Crowe, a blocked author who moves to an isolated house in Rhode Island after the death of girlfriend Amanda. Sarah finds a hidden room in the dank ‘unwholesome’ basement and in it a manuscript by the previous tenant – who committed suicide. The manuscript is filled with legends about the nearby, ancient ‘red tree’: supposedly the site of disappearances, suicides, sacrifice and more…Then Constance turns up to rent the attic and everything, including Sarah, starts to fall apart.
If I’d seen this in a bookshop I’d never have picked it, it has the worst cover ever, also the edition I had was a pain – the ‘manuscript’ sections are printed to mimic typeface and so pale I had to read under a strong light. This is technically horror/weird fiction – a little bit Lovecraft, a dash Shirley Jackson – there’s a list of influences included. I’d never heard of Kiernan but fans include Jeff VanderMeer and Neil Gaiman which is why I chose this. It’s not ‘jump-out-of-your-seat’ or ‘gore-fest’ horror, it’s the unsettling, slow-moving kind, which is about all I can cope with, so that much was okay. I gulped down the first half of the book then slowed right down. I really couldn’t decide if I liked the rest of the book or if the ending wasn’t just a bit hackneyed. There’s a metafictional element (and references to other Kiernan stories which I had to look up) which didn’t totally work for me - or maybe just wasn’t in the mood for. Also, didn’t help that I saw the ‘twist’ coming. But partially satisfied my ‘haunted house’ craving.

@ShakeItOff2000 I also abandoned Possession, and a couple of the others listed.

Just finished Charlotte Gray by Sebastian Faulks. I quite like Faulks (apart form his penchant for sex scenes) so have no idea why it took me so long to get round to this one. I feel ambivalent about it, to be honest. I found one of the subplots so harrowing I put the book down 30 pages before the end to recover myself. What follows after that is dull, though. I found the romance cold and felt no real engagement with Charlotte. And her endless conversation with the artist about Proust I just skimmed. But I did feel educated by the time I reached the end. Birdsong is undoubtedly superior : it's a long time since I read it, mind. I did prefer this to Where My Heart Used To beat which I found very dull. Books about war ought to be moving and others have done it better , I feel.