50 Book Challenge 2018 Part Six

[southeastdweller]

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

How're you getting on so far?

Just read 48. Northanger Abbey by Val McDermid. God, this is bad. I know the point of the original is that Catherine Morland is vacuous and a bit naïve. It doesn't need a 21st century rewrite with text speak (Val! No one texts like that any more except you and my step mother!)

I don't get the point of this at all. It adds nothing to the original. Soz. Totes lame.

61.) Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, by JK Rowling -- Also known as Harry Potter and the Angry Shouty Capital Letters. Harry's growing up, and he's turning into a right little shit. Eh, struggled with this one more than I expected to, which is odd since I whizzed through the first 4 rereads (yes, even Goblet of Fire). I struggled to concentrate a little bit, although Umbridge is as much of a monster as ever.

Now about halfway through Medieval Bodies, which is turning out to be a surprisingly quick and engaging read, and it's beautifully designed as well, which I suppose is what you'd expect from what is essentially a book about art history.

29. Hangover Square by Patrick Hamilton
George Bone is a sad, lonely young chap living grubby Earl's Court in 1939. His days are spent drinking, and fantasising alternately about attracting the attentions of, or of killing, the cold, beautiful Netta, a struggling actress in his drinking circle who only cares for anyone who might advance her career. George switches between knowing reflection of his grim situation, and strange altered mental states where he is quite detached from reality.

So far, so bleak. However there are some delicious moments of black comedy sharply contrasting with the darkness both of Bone's experiences and with the mood as the country moves towards war. Bone is vulnerable and beautifully drawn, and I found myself feeling hugely protective towards him. Recommended.

Coffee I’ve got that in my to read pile, glad you enjoyed it. I do like a good murder mystery!

104. Emily by Jilly Cooper

Rather dated now but otherwise classic Jilly.

105. Dave Gorman’s Googlewhack Adventure by Dave Gorman

Dave spends his time meeting people with websites that are googlewhacks (two words that appear only on that website and no others). This was in 2002/2003 and it really wouldn’t work now as the internet has expanded so much since then but still good fun to read.

I real enjoyed Googlewhack the show Chessie. Very clever.

TheTurnOfTheScrew, I think Hangover Square is an absolute classic. The way Hamilton does loneliness and pathos is like no other author I know. Have you read Slaves of Solitude? I think that is possibly even better, if that’s possible. None of them can be described as light hearted, though.

Pepe that was my first Patrick Hamilton, but I will definitely try more, so I'll add your recommendation to my wish list. Although after Hangover Square's ending I may need something lighter as a palate cleanser first.

35. The Magic Toyshop by Angela Carter.

Excellent narration by Fiona Shaw on Audible. This is an unconventional coming of age story capturing the thoughts and passions of a teenaged girl in the sixties. The changing from girl to a young woman contrasts with the other female characters in the book - her 5 year old younger sister as the blithe and unaware child and her Aunt Margaret as the older sister figure, trapped in a loveless marriage living and coping from day to day. Eccentric and interesting and I loved that this is a book primarily about female characters.

91. How To Be Famous, Caitlin Moran.

Like Bell, I enjoyed this - it feels very fresh in some ways, particularly when she's talking about women wanting to win men - why shouldn't we? It is funny and flippant and feminist - particularly when Moran is pointing out that there were only 8 bands in 1994 featuring women and 50-odd that were all men in an edition of the music magazine her character writes for. I had a strong feeling that this book might become the new Jilly Cooper for the younger generation of teenagers - instead of learning about sex from the pages of Jilly Cooper, they can have a more feminist version from Caitlin Moran! However, as a work of fiction it fails to convince me. Johanna is Caitlin, and so her job and friends and family all feel a bit recycled. Oh, and I'm just slightly too young to be nostalgic for the early 90s - I was 11 in 1994 - so that felt a bit like I was missing out, as it is clearly also intended to be a nostalgia-fest.

92. Little Fires Everywhere, Celeste Ng.

I have been trying to remember what this title reminds me of - it is Little Altars Everywhere by Rebecca Wells, the prequel to The Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood. It also reminded me a lot of Little Earthquakes by Jennifer Weiner, partly in the title (Ng isn't exactly cutting-edge with her title), and partly in the theme. Both of the Little something (Everywhere) books mentioned were written in the 90s, the period in which Fires is set, and both dealt with themes of motherhood with a very similar feel to Ng's work. Therefore, although I enjoyed Little Fires Everywhere, it didn't feel fresh to me. It felt like one of a stable of books that cover similar themes in an easily-consumed way. The portrayal of adoption also feels a bit...contrived. On the one side, we have a penniless Chinese immigrant, abandoned by her boyfriend, forced to leave her baby outside a fire station by a combination of poverty and post-natal depression/psychosis, and on the other hand we have rich middle-class adopting parents, bringing the child up in luxury but failing to respect cultural heritage. They were too extreme to be realistic, just as the final three fantasies that close the book feel a bit unlikely - how likely is it that any of them will be realised? It was a bit anodyne. The surrogacy plot was the most interesting, especially with Tom Daley and his surrogate-borne baby in the news at the moment. I don't really know where I stand on surrogacy and this book didn't help to crystallise my opinions because, again, the set-up was extreme - to be just approached on the street and asked to be a surrogate for a doppelganger? And to actually agree? I seem to be much more frustrated by this book than I was when I read it - I enjoyed reading it but when I try to review it I notice all the flaws!

93. Queen of Babble, Meg Cabot

Forgettable drivel - picked this up because my Kindle died and I had to read something while waiting for it to charge. The chapter headings from Lizzie's thesis made me want to scream - if that's the standard of American senior theses then no wonder they elected Trump!

In other news, I am now 45% into This Thing of Darkness and very much enjoying the ride so far!

Meant to say, Corvus, I chuckled at your critique of Order of the Phoenix and the shouty capital letters! Harry really is a little shit in that.

Dottie, thanks for recommending the Gideon Lewis-Kraus book. It's in my library, so I've reserved it.

I finished the Guy Stagg bit. I wasn't that enchanted by his attempts to historically contextualise pilgrimage and the history of the crusaders. I've seen it done better elsewhere. Overall I did like the book though, and I was glad that he resisted the temptation of a cheap epiphany at the end.

Now reading The librarian, by Salley Vickers, following a young woman who comes to work as a children's librarian in a small town in the 1950s. So far, it's like Miss Read crossed with Joanna Trollope - a good thing, if you're in the right mood.

Hi everyone, fell off the thread as was on holiday. Did mean I got to read a bit more than usual so I can update my list, hurrah!

1. Why Mummy Drinks by Gill Sims.
2. Ancillary Justice by Ann Leckie
3. Ancillary Sword by Ann Leckie.

4 Ancillary Mercy by Ann Leckie.

1. Eleanor Oliphant Is Completely Fine by Gail Honeyman.
2. "Blink" Malcolm Gladwell.
3. "Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance" by Robert Pirsig.
4. "Persepolis RIsing" by James SA Corey.
5. “Guernica” by Dave Boling.

10. “Harvest” by Tess Gerritsen. 11. "Grit" by Angela Duckworth. 12. "The Hive" by Gill Hornby. 13. "The Nix" by Nathan Hill. 14. "That's My Boy" by Jenni Murray. 15. "The Dispossessed" by Ursula K Le Guin. 16. "Room" by Emma Donaghue. 17. "No Logo" by Naomi Klein. Saw this in charity shop and picked it up as read her 'This Changes Everything' last year and liked her writing style. It is a book of its time (2000). It would be interesting to see her update it. Many of the issues won't have gone away but the activism she describes has changed dramatically as the internet has developed. 18. "French Children Don't Throw Food" by Pamela Druckerman. Chris Evans mentioned this on his breakfast show a couple of months ago and I was intrigued so I reserved at the library. To sum up, some parents do some things, and some parents do other things. Being French doesn't seem to have much to do with it. It was laughably unscientific. 19. "The Martian" by Andy Weir. From unscientific to science overload! Meant to read this after watching the film but only now got round to it. It is even more detailed than the film. I imagine lots of it is nonsense and it is not exactly a literary affair, but I really enjoyed it (as I did the film).

I’m currently reading The Order of the Phoenix aloud to DS. I say the capital letters in a normal tone of voice so it’s a much less shouty experience

I’ve never liked Order of the Phoenix and I’m currently rereading them with my son and finding the Chamber of Secrets a bit hard going. He is enjoying them though and I am not the intended audience! Reading them aloud you realise some of the punctuation isn’t...all it could be.

Some of Rowling's sentences are sooooo long, I almost ran out of breath reading them aloud. I think Order of the Phoenix is the weakest of them all. Could easily have been edited down to about 250 pages IMHO.

Isn’t Order of the Phoenix the one where JK was so fed up writing it she had a little dreamy dream of accidentally falling down the stairs and breaking an arm so she'd get a break from writing it? I don’t blame her, it’s miserable. Umbridge is the worst villain of the lot.

I joyfully abdicated all reading duties to Mr Stephen Fry who does a sterling job and allowed me to drive long distances/ do some nice cross stitch while he read them.

I quite like Order of the Phoenix, shouting and Umbridge aside. Chamber and Goblet are my least favourites.

33. April Lady - Georgette Heyer - Not the best Heyer but I quite enjoyed this, we’re on holiday down in Dorset this week and after a shitty June all round, plus a really tough read in the last but one book (and then just a shit one!) this was a good palate cleanser/fluff/holiday read with all the Muslin and bonnets I could have wished for and basically zero stakes to the ‘drama’ which of course all turned out as it should. Lovely.

106. The Secret History Of Jane Eyre: How Charlotte Bronte Wrote Her Masterpiece by John Pfordresher

The not so secret here is that lots of Jane Eyre is autobiographical. Having read several books about the Brontes there was nothing new here, and I got frustrated because the author makes assertions without explaining his evidence. Not one to bother with if you already know a reasonable amount about the Brontes but if you’re new to them you might find this OK.

I like Goblet and Prisoner best but don’t know if I’ll feel the same on a reread.

I’m currently reading Philosophers Stone to my dsd. Almost done and I want to do them all but don’t think she’s old enough for them all yet (7 and a half). But we are off to see the film at Glencoe in August at a drive in movie . Prisoner of Azkaban and Order of the Phoenix are my favourites.

I really don’t like Deathly Hallows - lots of teenage angst and dripping around hiding in woods. I think it’s by far the worst. Order of the Phoenix is patchy and Harry is so annoying, but it’s got some good bits. Deathly Hallows is dull dull dull (and the metaphysical train station bugs me).

Prisoner of Azkaban is my favourite.