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?

Dottie yes, Timeless was cancelled after 2 series. It’s entertaining enough but not outstanding.

Dottie I'm a bit nervous now, hope you do enjoy the Maupin!

21. Meditation for Fidgety Skeptics, by Dan Harris. Does what it says on the tin. If you are interested in meditation but keep coming up with reasons not to do it, this is a helpful book - it's split into chapters that examine why people don't meditate, and suggesting solutions. It is a bit of a strange structure though - it's interspersed with the story of the (three) authors road trip across the US on a 'meditation road trip', and with practical guided meditations. Overall I found it a bit messy but interesting. Reading the meditations doesn't work at all well, but they are also freely available on a related app, so you can listen to them instead which I found worked much better. Not sure whether this is the thing that will help me establish a meditation habit for longer than about a week - we shall see!

22. Sweet Caress, by William Boyd. I really, really loved this. Boyd has used this format before - a fictional biography that weaves in historical characters and events - but this is his first time writing a woman protagonist in this format. The main character is Amory Clay, a photographer who is born in 1908 and shares stories from various stages of her life, including her time in Berlin in the 1920s, reporting on fascism in the East End in the 1930s, the Second World War and Vietnam. It's interspersed with 'present day' sections set in 1978. I didn't want it to end. If you like William Boyd I'd definitely give this one a try.

95. Conclave- Robert Harris Third Harris of the year. Enjoyed this. Easy reading and interesting. A few on here have read and reviewed. Harris is a happy find for me. A good story teller.
96. fat Chance - Nick Spalding A book club read. Story of an overweight couple who enter a radio slimming competition to win £50,000. Had been assured it was 'laugh out loud' funny. It really wasn't. A few mild titters, but lots of cliches and a very, very predictable ending.

Finished Incorruptible by Barbara Nadel. Latest in a long series of Istanbul-set crime fiction. As with many long-running series, I read this to find out what happens to the main characters rather than for the actual crime. The author is following real-life political developments in Turkey, and times are getting harder for the remaining secularists in the police form. The ending takes an unexpected turn, suggesting a new direction for the series. Again, not the book to start with if you are new to the series.

Started London Rules by Mick Herron, the fifth book in his series about spies who've been shunted into the failing track. I get the impression the author is enjoying himself greatly with these books - they're a bit like Le Carre with a sense of humour. I'm really enjoying it so far.

Have pruned down my pile of books from the library to manageable proportions. It's great when you finally renounce books you should want to read but don't necessarily feel you want to.

Noodle the Maupin looks great, so no worries here! Will be later on my list as trying to read stuff from library plus own pile.

Biblio Mick Herron prob not my thing but just bought the first one for OH's Kindle based on your rec, it was 1.99 so thanks.

Hope you like it, Dottie - I'm nervous about making recommendations but at least it's not a huge outlay!

Rather belatedly adding recent reads (or not so recent but books read since I last updated!).

I have lost my list from earlier threads so can't remember exactly where I had got to but hopefully this is roughly correct - highlights in bold:

1. A Gentleman in Moscow - Amor Towles
2. Alone in Berlin - Hans Fallada
3. Belgravia Julian Fellowes
4. Bel Canto - Ann Patchett
5. Curtain Call - Anthony Quinn
6. Life after Life - Kate Atkinson
7. Little Women - Louisa May Alcott
8. Ghost Moth - Michele Forbes
9. I See You - Clare Mackintosh

10. The Book Thief - Markus Zusak 11. The Cuckoo's Calling - Robert Galbraith 12. The Silkworm - Robert Galbraith 13. Career of Evil - Robert Galbraith 14. The Wonder - Emma Donoghue 15. The Homecoming : Morland Dynasty 24 - Cynthia Harrod-Eagles 16. The Question : Morland Dynasty 25 - Cynthia Harrod-Eagles 17. The Dream Kingdom: Morland Dynasty 26 - Cynthia Harrod-Eagles 18. Ordeal by Innocence - Agatha Christie

Adding:

19. Why I'm no longer talking to white people about race - Reni Eddo-Lodge
    Already reviewed many times on here - and the reason why I chose to read it. Thought-provoking and glad I read it.

20. Outline - Rachel Cusk
    This really did not work for me. I think you are meant to understand and get an "outline" of the narrator from her encounters with others. For me, too disjointed and the concept did not work. Trying to be too clever perhaps.

21. Seven stones to stand or fall - Diana Gabaldon
    My Outlander fix. Short stories filling in gaps in the main books. For the dedicated fan!

22. Never Mind - Edward St Aubyn

23. Bad News - Edward St Aubyn

24. Some Hope - Edward St Aubyn

25. Mother's Milk - Edward St Aubyn

26. At Last - Edward St Aubyn
    I have been meaning to read these for years and finally got round to doing it when all the billboards for Patrick Melrose appeared. I have not seen the TV series. The books are excellent, very witty and well written - although tackling difficult subject matters. Highly recommend.

27. A God in Ruins - Kate Atkinson
    Having read Life After Life earlier in the year I was keen to read another one by Kate. I did not enjoy this as much as Life After Life but I think that may have been because I disliked Viola so much!

Next up is Ken Follett's Pillars of the Earth. Also need to RTFT to see what I have missed and what everybody else is recommending.

25. The Party by Elizabeth Day. I thought this was ok, but only ok. Everyone was profoundly unlikeable (that's not a deal-breaker for me). The narration was a bit choppy, jumping back and forth in time and also between characters, which meant I never really got a proper feel for the central story. Also, I think I may have missed something crucial, because the ending seemed like a shocking twist was supposed to have been revealed, but I didn't for the life of me know what it was - I even reread the last few chapters to see if I had missed something, but as far as I could see, the big thing they were all circling around had already been revealed much earlier. I don't know.

26. You Think It, I'll Say It by Curtis Sittenfeld. LOVED this. I like Sittenfeld in general, but was burned by Eligible last year, which I thought was awful and a travesty. This is a collection of short stories, and I don't normally seek out short stories, but this, along with the Elizabeth Strout collection I read a few months ago, may change my mind. I find her so astute. These are quiet stories, but just so well-observed. She's been accused a bit of privileged white feminism, and I guess I can see where that comes from, but she writes that very well and is very conscious of it in the construction of her characters I think. Where she does try to engage a bit with working class or ethnic perspectives, the stories aren't as successful - a bit uncomfortable, and not really in a deliberate/self-aware way I don't think. Anyway, I loved 'The Nominee', which is about Hilary Clinton in the run up to the election (although she isn't named), and 'Gender Studies', which is about an academic who works in a gender studies department, and was so right on the nose I cringed reading it. Highly recommended.

Now read the full thread and really pleased to see the love for both Swish of the Curtain - I have a very well-read copy from childhood - and The Chateau by William Maxwell - somebody borrowed my copy and never returned it. Adding both to my list of re-reads.

I was also interested to see the Antonia Forrest discussions. I seem to recall only four books - not sure of the order - Autumn Term, Spring Term, Summer Term and Attic Term IIRC - were there more and what is the correct order?

33. Little Fires Everywhere - Celeste Ng. This is very much a case where a tough book editor should have been used because there are hints of a really interesting and powerful novel here and Ng's writing is, on the whole, good. I agree with the recent comments upthread about the contrived elements, the unlikely coincidences, but the biggest mistake the author does is to flashback at length to the past of a character and forget about the main story. Not a bad novel, but the amount of praise is baffling to me.

Dottie
I liked The Devil in the White City a lot, and would probably read others by him. Had never heard of Holmes before, which surprised me, as I'm generally pretty well read on 19th century crimes! The scariest bits for me were the footprint (gulp) and the 'Just go and get me some papers in the other room, will you, dear?' bit.

Note to self - never trust a man who asks you to fetch something for him.

Now reading The Alienist by Caleb Carr (another random Kindle find, and so far am thoroughly enjoying.

Remus totally agree, the Larson was part of a charity shop haul, so was pleasantly surprised by how good it was.

TimeforaGandT if you like the Pamela Brown Pushkin's just brought out another one Maddy Alone. There are a lot more Forests but I only have a couple. Sure someone will come along and fill you in!

114. The Long Weekend: Life In The English Country House Between The Wars by Adrian Tinniswood

Not what I expected - I thought it was going to about what it was actually like to live in a country house, what daily life was like etc. However it’s more about who lived where, what renovations they did etc. Towards the end there are a couple of chapters about servant life and weekend house parties, but generally I thought the title was misleading.

115. Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn

I originally read this 5 years ago, and at the time I thought most of the book was really good but was disappointed with the ending. This time, because I knew what to expect, I was able to appreciate more of the nuances in the description of their marriage and this time round felt it was a good ending.

116. Danny The Champion Of The World by Roald Dahl

Audiobook. Danny has pheasant related fun with his father.

Dottie - thank you for the update on Pamela Brown. Another one to add to my list! Need to find Swish of the Curtain at my parents’ house first....

Danny has pheasant related fun with his father.
Sounds filthy.
I also keep reading Canal Dreams as Carnal Dreams.
Freud would have a field day with me today.

I'm enjoying The Chrysalids even though it's a bit teenagey, so thanks for the recommendation everyone

biblio - I remember talking to you on these threads about Barbara Nadel before (2013? 2014?). Is Incorruptible an "Inspector Ikmen" book? When does the story take place?

I just snapped up The Devil In The White City for 99p. Thank you for the recommendation Remus & Dottie

Remus I read The Alienist when it first came out and loved it. They recently made a TV series out of it which scared the daylights out of me all over again.

60. Kim Newman - Anno Dracula: One Thousand Monsters

Fifth in the Anno Dracula series, although not a sequel since it is set immediately after the events of the first book. Genevieve Dieudonne and a group of fellow vampires exiled from Britain by Prince Dracula travel to Yokai Town, a district of Tokyo set aside for Japan's own vampires. They are a strange and much less human breed than Europe's nosferatu, and Yokai Town itself is more of a prision than a sanctuary.

This feels like a filler rather than a novel in its own right. It may be that Newman is setting things up for the sixth book but certainly I found this not to be as good as the others in the series.

I also enjoyed The Alienist when I read it. Waiting impatiently for him to write another one which he did and was very disappointed. Something about the structure of the book and the plot just didn't work for me as they did in The Alienist.

TimeforaGandT Antonia Forest wrote more books about the Marlows than the 4 you've listed. I'm not sure of all the titles but there was End of Term as well. She also wrote some about them during the school holidays - Ready Made Family, Run Away Home and Peter's Room. I'm sure there are others as well, these are the ones I remember.

Remus, there are a few carnal bits in Carnal Canal Dreams

41. Watching You - Lisa Jewell

Joey returns from four years in Ibiza with a new husband in tow. Living with her brother and his pregnant wife she spots their neighbour. He’s almost twice her age and married and she finds herself watching him. But someone is watching her and secrets begin to unravel and become more dangerous.

I was absolutely gripped by this book. Wanted to finish as soon as possible and thought I’d figured it all out but seemed a bit “easy” until the twist. One of the best books I’ve read this year and had me interested in all the characters.

TimeforaGandT Goodreads has a listing for Forest's Marlow series here:
www.goodreads.com/series/44211-the-marlows

Cote, yes, Incorruptible is part of the Inspector Ikmen series, published this year. She's following political developments in more or less real time (although inevitably a bit behind) so previous books included the Gezi park protests, and this book shows the purging of secularists from the police force. I'm sure you'd find plenty of flaws in her portrayal, but I think she does a fairly good job of showing the social complexities within Turkey.

Chessie, I experienced the same disappointment with The Long Weekend and didn't finish it.

Finished London Rules by Mick Herron, which I thoroughly enjoyed.