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?

TooExtraI Hope you manage to get hold of the Forest. Definitely not crazy, I have literally dreamed that I've finally gotten coveted books, dreams so vivid I've been shocked to find they're not around when I wake up. And waiting to get hold of the next book in a series is just plain torture.

I've bought Circe too. I do feel a little sad it's the kindle version though: the hardback is so pretty.

Another one who was coming to mention the Circe price drop. Corvus, I feel the same, the hardback is so beautiful that the kindle can't really compare. I don't often do this but if I enjoy reading it on kindle I may actually buy the hardback as well.

Yes Yule I’ve read Reasons to Stay Alive and loved it. It was my favourite book of 2015 and I always recommend it to anyone who’s struggling with their mental health.

Must admit that personally I was distinctly underwhelmed by Reasons to Stay Alive. Have read more informative train tickets.

51 How Much Is Enough?: Money and the Good Life by Edward and Robert Skidelsky

I really wanted to like this book. Its premise is that wealth / economic growth should not be an end in itself, but that governments / citizens should actively define what 'the good life' is and seek to achieve that for all.

Their attempt to define the 'basic goods' needed for human wellbeing (eg security, respect, harmony with nature) is perfectly sensible, and builds on work done by Amartya Sen & others looking at the 'capabilities' that developing countries should seek to build, but in the context of highly industrialised economies.

I also (as a died-in-the-wool lefty) have no argument with their fairly un-original policy proposals - basic/citizens income, Tobin tax, that sort of thing.
Where they fall down for me is in their need to dismiss other similar arguments for restraints to growth & greater equality that don't depend simply on 'moral' arguments, and their tendency to set up straw men in order to do this (James Lovelock as a typical environmentalist - if you want a straw man, surely George Monbiot would be a better bet, since at least some people don't consider him utterly barking).

Having said all that, it was a decent thoughtprovoking read for £1.99, and I've got lots of highlighted passages, not all of which were ones that made me cross

36. Poverty Safari by Darren McGarvey.

In this memoir and essay, Darren McGarvey writes about his life growing up in Glasgow and discusses the multi-faceted problem of poverty. Prompted much discussion with my DH, I hope lots of people read this book, particularly those in charge of money and funding within councils and government.

37. Words of Radiance (The Stormlight Archive Book 2) by Brandon Sanderson.

A re-read of the second instalment of The Stormlight Archive fantasy series as the third one is out now, although it is £12.99 on Kindle 😱, and has been for the last 6months, so I may be waiting some time for the price to come down. I enjoyed this even more the second time round and had forgotten lots of the story. Looking forward to the next one!

Just catching up on the thread while the rest of the family is watching football...

42 Mirror, Shoulder, Signal - Dorthe Nors

Single, middle-aged Danish female translator attempts to learn to drive while generally pondering on life and trying to sort hers out. I think I made the mistake of reading this rather too soon after Butterflies in November, which features a single Icelandic female translator driving round Iceland while trying to sort her life out, but I think I preferred this one just for the older, more cynical central character, and lack of excessive quirkiness and cliched happy endings.

43. We Have Always Lived In The Castle - Shirley Jackson
A dark modern classic of American Gothic - not sure if it was ever turned into a film, but it would have suited Hitchcock or similar brilliantly. The story is told from the perspective of a disturbed and disturbing adolescent girl, most of whose family died in a poisoning incident six years before the time the novel is set. This was Shirley Jackson's last novel, and apparently she died not long afterwards as a food-obsessed, morbidly obese recluse, which explains quite a lot. Well worth reading, though not a cosy read.

In between those two I read 42.5 (?) I Murdered My Library - Linda Grant which is basically a long essay, so I don't really feel I can count it as a whole book (I downloaded it as a 'kindle single' a while back). An author savagely pares back her book collection when she moves house, while pondering on her attachment to books and the meaning of our personal libraries.

I read this because I am not exactly trying to murder my library, but maybe put it on a diet and give it a makeover.

Like many on this thread, I suspect, I have far more books in my house than I have shelf space for, and I tend to lose track of what books I own, which I have read and where they all are. I am at the moment trying to organise my books a bit better and slightly rein in my book-buying habits, while getting rid of books I dislike or cannot see myself ever (re)reading and trying to read some of the forgotten volumes on my shelves instead of constantly buying more. This may mean that my list for the next few months throws up some lesser-known books, or ones that you all read a decade ago.

52 Unfit to Print by KJ Charles

I wanted some comfort reading after the last book, especially as life's been a bit chaotic lately. I bought The Gentleman's Guide to Vice and Virtue by Mackenzi (sic) Lee after seeing it recommended in a Guardian summer books list by Celeste Ng as 'a giddy whirlwind romp of a love story'. I can only imagine that CN doesn't read much in the way of historical romance, since it's deeply average YA fiction, written in that painful first person present style, with copious clunky anachronisms and a hero who needs a good slap with a wet fish.

Fortunately, I had this one lined up as an alternative - charming little Victorian set novella featuring a crusading English-raised & educated Indian lawyer & a pornographic bookseller. Light, amusing, and with a pleasing happy ending, exactly what I needed.

Shakeitoff thanks for the review of Poverty Safari. Does it go into any detail about how a person in a position of relative privilege can take action against poverty and inequality? This is something that I've been chewing over for many years (as a relatively privileged person) and I've heard McGarvey lecture on this point before. I was hoping the book might provide more insight.

exex - have ordered Mirror, Shoulder, Signal from the library and downloaded I Murdered My Library onto kindle.

Still ploughing through A Little History of Archaeology. While I'm interested in it and find it's worth the read, it has the feel of an old-fashioned children's textbooks - it's quite deliberate, I think, as the whole series of Little Histories is modelled on the Eric Gombrich book, A Little History of the World. It means a dutiful plod through the history in chronological order rather than the authors being able to follow their own lines of interest.

The latest Turkey-set crime story by Barbara Nadel, Incorruptible is waiting for me in the library. I know cote is sniffy about their accuracy, but I like her characters and the setting she paints, so I'm looking forward to it.

99. Falconer's Lure, Antonia Forest.

I have reviewed this before so I'm not going to add much more. Re-reading in order, though, has startled me with Peter's storyline so far - Ginty is portrayed as shocked after the events of The Marlows and the Traitor, and as having had a term off school as a result. The rest of the family are a bit like oh Ginty, she's such a drama queen. However, there is absolutely zero mention of what Peter did to save the day - something I would have thought would psychologically scar any child! I think I was reading Traitor incorrectly - I think that ending for Peter was meant to indicate that Peter was indeed someone who could act calmly and decisively in life or death situations - I didn't get that, although I would have as a kid. Then during Falconer's Lure, everything that happens to Peter is terrible! Until he wins the diving and the competition, so that makes it alright.

23. Eat, Drink, Run by Bryony Gordon
Listened to this on Audible, hadn't read anything by Bryony Gordon before but chose it as I'm finding that reading books about running is helping encourage me to keep up my own running habit. I listened to the introduction while running uphill and found it fabulously inspiring! I found the way that she describes what it is like to wrestle with mental health issues both fascinating and relateable. Bryony Gordon's interview with Prince Harry about mental health is included. Really enjoyed this book and the narration by the author.
24. Harvest by Jim Crace
"As late summer steals in and the final pearls of barley are gleaned, a village comes under threat. A trio of outsiders - two men and a dangerously magnetic woman - arrives on the woodland borders triggering a series of events that will see Walter Thirsk's village unmade in just seven days: the harvest blackened by smoke and fear, cruel punishment meted out to the innocent, and allegations of witchcraft.
But something even darker is at the heart of Walter's story, and he will be the only man left to tell it . . ."
Picked this kind of randomly at the library, wasn't sure what to expect and finished it still feeling unsure what to make of it. The setting is fascinating - a traditional way of life in a rural community at a time when that meant few visitors and little contact with anyone beyond the immediate locality. There are themes around how people treat/relate to outsiders, how individuals behave when trying to cope with guilt, how women are perceived and treated, how a way of life can change, but the story is told through the eyes of a narrator who makes assumptions about events which leaves you wondering what really happened - in some respects, the truth almost comes to matter less than what people believe or want to believe. Can you tell this book got me thinking?! One that I finished and wished I had my old English teacher with me to talk me through it!
25. The Four Tendencies by Gretchen Rubin
I've read all of Gretchen Rubin's books since The Happiness Project, and this is an extension of her previous work looking at how people react to internal and external expectations in different ways. It was interesting to think about this aspect of my own and others' personalities, but the nature of the book makes it a bit repetitive and I found her earlier books more enjoyable.
26. Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen
Oh I loved this! Listened on Audible, it was well narrated by Rosamund Pike. Loved the humour, it made me smile so much.

Very slowly plodding my way through The Mitford Girls by Mary S. Lovell. I've started listening to Fahrenheit 451 on Audible as I felt I was needing a change. Also got Longbourn by Jo Baker out of the library as I enjoyed Pride and Prejudice so much, and still have The Hate U Give waiting for me...so many books, so little time!

Clueless, I really enjoyed Longbourn, not so much for the plot but because it gave you the opportunity to step into the Bennets' world and view it from "round the back" as it were.

57. Good Morning Midnight, Jean Rhys

This was my first book from the current MN bookswap :) A strange and unsettling book about a woman on the edge. Sasha is drifting around 1930s Paris in a bad state, with no money, drinking too much and generally self-destructing. Through a meandering narration we learn a little of the events which have brought her to this low point. It's a beautifully written book but terribly, terribly bleak. Reminded me in many ways of The Bell Jar.

58. The Party, Elizabeth Day

Decent sunlounger read - I'd heard it hyped up to be more than this, which I don't think it deserves. Lots of echoes of The Talented Mr Ripley, The Line of Beauty, Engleby, The Great Gatsby and others. Martin befriends the handsome and aristocratic Ben as a public school scholarship boy. From the beginning their friendship is uneven, with Martin desperate to impress Ben. 25 years later, Martin is being interviewed by police in the aftermath of an undisclosed incident at Ben's 40th birthday party. What has happened in the intervening years, and what happened at the party?

One of those books which is OK as long as you go with it and don't think about it. As soon as I started to think, I started picking holes in it, and it didn't stand up to scrutiny.

Keith I agree about the Rhys, I bought a complete works and made the mistake of reading her novels back to back, was completely shattered afterwards. I've kept them and I thought they were beautifully written, evocative and a fascinating portrait of their time but have never felt robust enough to read them again. I also read a biography The Blue Hour (?) which made it clear that the novels were fairly autobiographical, and apart from the success of Wide Sargasso Sea which came very late, her life seemed pretty unrelentingly grim.

Blimey, Dottie, you are a tougher woman than me. I am glad I read it but after finishing I felt like I needed to pick up something utterly fluffy and cheerful to bring me back to everyday life. It's a sign, I guess, of just how powerful her writing is.

35. Are you Dave Gorman? by Dave Gorman and Danny Wallace Dave Gorman bet his friend Danny Wallace that he could meet 54 other people called Dave Gorman. This book is the story of their efforts. Quite entertaining, although after a while it became repetitive. Only worked in a pre internet time as these days you can probably find as many Dave Gormans as you'd ever wish for in 5 minutes on Facebook.

36 All the Days and Nights by William Maxwell
A collection of short stories mostly set among fairly wealthy Americans. Some are interconnected, telling different family stories from a different perspective. Very well written, usually left me wanting more.

37 Uckridge by P G Wodehouse
Uckridge is the sort of person who I would find very annoying in real life - he constantly helps himself the the narrator's clothes, food, money and even his home. The book is a series of farcical situations caused by Uckridge coming up with various business ideas which inevitably go wrong. A fun piece of fluff.

38 Island on Fire by Alexandra Witze and Jeff Kanipe
In the 1780s a volcano erupted in Iceland which caused a vast amount of ash to travel across Europe and possibly north America. This book starts with that eruption but covers the different kinds of volcanoes, the impacts they can have, why some are worse than others, how scientists measure them and how they try to prepare for future eruptions. Interesting, quite easy read. It didn't get too bogged down in in depth scientific explanations.

Wide Sargasso Sea is the only Rhys I've read, but it was very interesting reading (in 'Stet') Diana Athill's experiences of being her editor & friend.

50.Hidden Depths -Ann Cleeve. Being very lazy at the moment and can’t be bothered looking for anything new so I’m re-reading the Vera Stanhope books. They’re still good.

clarabellski, he talked particularly of Glasgow, with admiration for individuals who are trying to revive community spirit and a sense of pride in their community. He mentions food banks and community youth centres that struggle each year for funding and equipment and has a deep distrust for government and council funded groups bringing in changes that fail as they don’t/can’t engage with the local community, believing these groups profit from poverty.

I thought his approach in discussing poverty was logical, practical and engaging - looking at society, culture and the individual - all with their part to play. There is no quick and easy answer.

58. Carolyne Larrington - The Land of the Green Man

This is a lovely book full of stories of British folklore and what they mean about the human condition. Divided into six chapters and covering things like lust and love, death and loss, the more beastly nature of humanity, etc, it's a really interesting read.

21. The Devotion Of Suspect X by Keigo Higashino

This was recommended to me (on here?) based on my love for fiction that centers mathematics, physics, and murder. It is the story of a mathematician who devises a plan to cover up a murder that the police are trying to solve with the help of a physicist.

It was OK. I did enjoy the unusual "plan" and the few conversations about math/science but overall I found the book dull and disappointing.

22. House Of Cards by Michael Dobbs

This was interesting. Having only seen the US series, I was surprised to see that the book is about UK politics and has virtually nothing to do with the plot I followed.

It's a well-written book with just the right amount of dry humour and sarcasm. I enjoyed it.

Cote - if you weren't aware of the British original, you should check out the British TV series (early 90s), which was brilliant.

Yes, do check out the British version Cote. Ian Richardson was so good as Francis Urquhart.
I also read the book recently and very much enjoyed.