50 Book Challenge 2018 Part Seven

[southeastdweller]

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

42. The Boys in the Boat - Daniel James Brown

Reading challenge prompt again, this time for a book involving a sport. I asked for mn recommendations as I couldn’t think of anything more boring than reading about sport (don’t mind watching it occasionally but really don’t want to read about it!) and this came up a few times. It was excellent, the story of the 9 boys/men from the University of Washington who went on to win Olympic gold for rowing at the 1936 Olympics in Berlin. Fascinating on the history side of things - the pre-Olympic build up in Germany, the propaganda agenda behind the Olympics, and also on depression era America. A really good blend of history, human stories and good writing - I didn’t even mind the descriptions of rowing/races too much!

I hope you love it as much as I did, Terpsichore. I've been looking up at the moon with a new-found wonder and respect, so it clearly made an impact!

Just back from a week away, so speedreading through the thread. Splother, I recommended Land of Green Ginger (although maybe someone else did as well) so I'm glad you enjoyed it.

Holiday reading:

96. The Man in the Queue, by Josephine Tey
Detective novel first published n 1929. The author provides her usual pleasures (a chase across the Highlands) and irritations (the presumed criminal is called "the Dago" pretty much throughout). Technically it's an oddity in that the investigation has almost no bearing on the outcome.

97. The Fifties Mystique, Jessica Mann
Non-fiction. I got it for 99p on Kindle and it's well worth it. The author makes you feel physically present - cigarettes and tram tickets in the gutters, babies that smell of "shit and ammonia". She graduated from Cambridge, then married and had four children in quick succession, and is pretty much saying Betty Friedman's The Feminine Mystique got it right, so don't get nostalgic.

98. Down Cemetery Road, Mick Herron
I've been enjoying his Spook Street series, so gave this earlier book a whirl. A house explodes, a child disappears, a woman tries to find out why, only to find herself entangled in military/security secrets and in danger. Very enjoyable.

99. Hannah Arendt: A Life in Dark Times, by Anne C. Heller
This feels like it filled in a gap in my knowledge. I knew Hannah Arendt wrote about Eichmann's trial and talked about "the banality of evil", but hadn't realised that much of the book was about the failures of Jewish leaders in Europe, which she saw as a huge factor in the Holocaust. It was massively controversial and she was extremely unpopular in many quarters. A short book, which I think is a blessing in a biography.

100. The Red House Mystery, by A A Milne
Another 1920s crime fiction story, replete with secret passages, disguised identities and exclamations of "What a silly ass I am!" Reminds me that I need to re-read Chandler's essay on The Simple Art of Murder, which does a take-down of it.

136. Inside Charlie’s Chocolate Factory by Lucy Mangan

Lots of background about the Dahl book, the films, and other spin offs. Like a DVD making of feature in book form. I loved it!

137. Tiny Britain by Dixe Wills

A collection of small things and places - bridges, rivers, stations, cinemas, theatres etc. Good to dip into, but most of them are a bit out of the way so harder to visit unless you’re really keen!

31. The Hit (Will Robie #2) by David Baldacci

This is a good 'beach read' series about a CIA assassin and I enjoyed this book for what it is. Robie is a Jack Reacher type of guy, with better tech knowledge, clothes and hygiene.

On a bit of a go slow on the reading front but on holiday now so hoping to get a few more books under my belt. Just finished 33. Circe, like most people who have read this on the thread it's a highlight of the year. Beautifully written and touching on all the Grecian myths 'Greatest Hits' as seen from the minor deity Circe's perspective. I got this on the Kindle Daily Deal and picked up the audible version at the same time for a few quid which was well worth the money. A great atmospheric reading by Perdita Weeks. Highly recommended.

Going back to Born A Crime by Trevor Noah, which is okay but isn't grabbing me as much as I'd hoped, and has very similar themes so far to The Colour Of Water that I read a couple of months ago. I'll persevere but I'm eyeing up The Handmaids Tale which I studied about 35 years ago, it didn't make a big impression then (but I was reading several books a week at that time for English lit), but I've been gripped by the TV serialisation so will be revisiting it next, and I've also fallen off the wagon on the Bleak House read along so need to catch up with that. Busy, busy 🏝 📖 📚 ☀️

19. The skeleton road by Val McDermid A skeleton is found on the roof of a disused building in Edinburgh. Karen Pirie’s cold case team have to investigate. This story covers the Balkan wars in the 90s and Oxford University.

This is my first Val McDermid and I think I will read more. I learnt a lot from the research she had put into the novel. I did get a bit bored in the middle but the ending was page turning.

101. The Language of Kindness, by Christie Watson
There's a vogue for books from NHS workers (Your Life in My Hands, This is Going to Hurt) and others such as police officers (Blue) and lawyers (The Secret Barrister). This is a nurse's account, and it is excellent. She is also a published novelist. She writes really well, and this was moving and I suspect will remain with me for quite a while. The main focus isn't a lament for the NHS (though she touches on the problems) but a celebration of compassion. It's also an interesting glimpse into a particular world - she reckons that if a group of nurses are in a room, she can guess their specialities from where they sit and how they behave. Recommended (although perhaps not if you're feeling fragile).

32. Childhood's End by Arthur C Clarke

I had read this book as a teenager and unfortunately remembered one of the big reveals, but thankfully remembered nothing of the climax & ending. Published in 1953, it is 'old school' SF, similar to Asimov's books, and has some irritating gender stereotyping that is typical of the books from that era, but since its author is a solid scientist (who has theorised the orbit where communications satellites can be placed - called 'Clarke's Belt' for that reason) it also had some interesting ideas that are scientifically sound.

I recommend it to those of you interested in transhumanism and 'first contact' stories.

Museum of Ham, are you me? I also have Record of A Spaceborn Few to collect!

I've fallen off the threads again (not doing very well this year) so have taken a good hour to read this entire thread word for word and am up to speed again.

I won't bore you by going through what I have read recently so will carry over my list with highlights in bold and endeavour to be a better 50 book poster from now on...

1. Zuckerman Unbound – Philip Roth
2. Our Man in Havana – Graham Greene
3. Women and Power – Mary Beard
4. Between the Acts – Virginia Wolf
5. The Gift of Rain – Tan Twan Eng
6. Inside the Wave – Helen Dunmore
7. Aaron’s Rod – D.H Lawrence
8. Edgelands – Paul Farley
9. A Song for Issy Bradley – Carys Bray
10. Everyone Brave is Forgiven – Chris Cleave
11. Zoology – Gillian Clarke
12. The Mezzanine – Nicholson Baker
13. Turtles All the Way Down – John Green
14. The Dark Flood Rises – Margaret Drabble
15. Midwinter – Fiona Melrose
16. The Stranger in the Woods – Michael Finkel
17. Reservoir 13 – Jon McGregor
18. Conversations with Friends – Sally Rooney
19. The History of Mr Polly – H.G Wells
20. Little Fires Everywhere – Celeste Ng
21. Eleanor Oliphant – Gail Honeyman
22. Closely Watched Trains – Bohumil Hrabal
23. Winter Holiday – Arthur Ransome
24. Book of Clouds – Chloe Aridjis
25. Red Rising – Pierce Brown
26. Love, Hate and Other Filters – Samira Ahmed
27. The Cutting Season – Attica Locke
28. The Party – Elizabeth Day
29. The Melody – Jim Crace
30. The Opposite of Loneliness – Marina Keegan
31. The Dry – Jane Harper
32. Sight – Jessie Greengrass
33. Hillbilly Elegy – J.D Vance
34. Fugitive Pieces – Anne Michaels
35. Exit West – Moshin Hamid
36. Anything is Possible – Elizabeth Strout
37. Sweet Days of Discipline – Fleur Jaeggy
38. In the Blue Hour – Elizabeth Hall
39. The Aspern Papers & The Turn of the Screw – Henry James
40. Dis Mem Ber – Joyce Carol Oates
41. Anecdotal Evidence – Wendy Cope
42. The Heart’s Invisible Furies – John Boyne
43. The Idiot – Elif Batuman
44. The Word of Woman is Wilderness – Abi Andrews
45. Nightwalk – Chris Yates
46. The Argonauts – Maggie Nelson
47. Things That Are – Amy Leach
48. In Cold Blood – Truman Capote
49. A Line Made by Walking – Sara Baume
50. How to Get Into the Twin Palms – Karolina Waclawiak
51. The Go-Between – L.P Hartley
52. Orfeo – Richard Powers
53. Me Talk Pretty One Day – David Sedaris
54. Orange in the New Black – Piper Kerman
55. Kudos – Rachel Cusk
56. The Ice Palace – Targei Vesaas
57. Human Universe – Brian Cox
58. All Things Cease to Appear – Elizabeth Brundage
59. Circe – Madeline Miller
60. Madame Zero – Sarah Hall
61. The Salt Path – Raynor Winn
62. The Only Story – Julian Barnes
63. Simon Vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda – Becky Albertalli
64. House of Names – Colm Toibin
65. Authority – Jeff Vandermeer
66. Fen – Daisy Johnson
67. The Plague – Albert Camus
68. Notes on a Nervous Planet – Matt Haig
69. Solar Bones – Mike McCormack
70. The Unseen World – Liz Moore
71. Crudo – Olivia Laing
72. Neutral Ground – Helen Corke
73. Why I’m No Longer Talking to White People – Reni Eddo-Lodge
74. Things I Don’t Want to Know – Deborah Levy
75. Surely You’re Joking Mr Feynman – Richard Feynman
76. Snap – Belinder Bauer
77. Warlight – Michael Ondaatje

Snap was the Belinda Bauer that was long listed for the Booker, wasn’t it, WhippetWoman? Was it any good?

Hi WhippetWoman!
I see that one of your standouts was The Idiot. It was one of the very few books I have abandoned in the last 5 years. Would be really interested to hear what you liked about it. Sorry if I have already missed your review.

Hello Whippet also interested whether you thought Snap was worth reading? Not my usual sort of thing but I'm tempted to give it a go...

So much for you thinking you could get away without ‘boring’ us

20. Notes on an nervous planet by Matt Haig Non fiction thoughts from Matt Haig touching on his firsthand experience of anxiety and how the modern world is making it worse. He also gives some fairly sensible advice. An interesting book that is easy to read in short bursts.

I’d love a review of the Ondaatje whippet 😬

Hi TabbyM I haven't started it yet as I have another couple of things on the go. Also real life is interfering really badly with my reading this year.

Whippet - good list - was The Salt Path any good? I have my eye on it.

Hellooo!

I felt a bit mixed about Snap. I started off not liking it and ended up rather enjoying it. It’s a tricky one as it’s marketed as crime fiction and essentially it is, but it isn’t a serious crime fiction read. My DP, who reads a lot of crime fiction, didn’t rate it at all. Whereas I, who don’t read crime fiction much, was able to enjoy it as a light and quite entertaining read, despite the rather grim premise. There are police dectectives who are cliched and incompetent but amusing and none of it is remotely believable, but I still found it quite compelling. I think it must have made the long list due to Val McDermid being on the panel. It’s most unbooker like so not sure it will make the short list.

Warlight is well written and a cut above and although I enjoyed it and read it quickly I didn’t feel that it was 100% successful, although that might be just me. It just didn’t seem to gel with me completely. It’s mainly set in a post WW2 period and is written from the point of view of Nathaniel, who is 15 at the start of the novel. It follows an intriguing mystery about his parents - I don’t want to give it away! I would recommend this to those of you who liked The English Patient. There are some beautifully written passages in this book, rather cinematic actually, though not always believable perhaps. Good quality, yet somehow rather repressed writing.

As for The Idiot, I just loved it. I went to university in the 1990s like the heroine and was crap with boys and thought about random things and wandered about feeling a lot like she does in the book. I liked her interest in linguistics and languages and it all felt rather coming of agey and innocent. Honestly though, I am in a minority as no-one else seemed to like it.

Am having a Booker frenzy and have just started The Mars Room which is good so far in an Orange is the New Black way, but more grim. All borrowed from the library so far. My library card is on fire!

MuseumOfHam, The Salt Path was a rather enjoyable read. In some places she goes a bit over the top with her emotional descriptions, but given her desperate situation at the time, I forgave her for that. It’s a good nature/walking/personal story style book. Kind of H is for Hawk but an easier read than that. A good one to borrow from the library I think. Although i’d be happy to send you my copy!

Thanks Whippet. I haven't really read any crime fiction so Snap sounds like it might be worth ordering from the library.

138. Life Moves Pretty Fast: The Lessons We Learnt From Eighties Movies by Hadley Freeman

I am almost the same age as the author so have seen most of the movies she mentions, so this was a nice piece of nostalgia!

Thanks for your comments on Snap, Whippet. you make The Idiot sounds like it might be something I’d enjoy too, although I think that’s the first positive comment I’ve heard about it so far

Thank you whippet. I just couldn't cope with The idiot at all. Your description makes it sound so appealing but I just found it rambled on and on. Might try again but looking at the size of my too read list I doubt it.
113. Manhattan Beach - Jennifer Egan another Women's Prize list book. Feeling very torn on this one.
The parts I loved were the way she brought the time and place - WW1 New York - to life, the relationship between the two sisters, one of whom is profoundly disabled, her ability to write excellent dialogue and her characterisation.
Parts I found harder to swallow relate to the way the plot developed. I felt it became unbelievable and quick clunky, made worse by the addition of another strand/ narrative. Hard to review without spoilers but there is a key incident of the book I just didn't believe at all and it undermined the whole integrity of the story. From that point onwards it became a bit of a slog.
As I said before her dialogue is excellent and this moves the story along. However sometimes the prose description is overlong and really impedes the progress of the novel. As is often suggested on this thread, it could have done with more editing.
After finishing it last night I looked online for reviews and found this one by Insert Literary Pun. It pretty much sums up how I felt about the book.

I see that Literary Pun is closing her book tube channel. Quite sad about that as I had only recently discovered her thanks to this thread, Scribbly I think, and she is always very honest in her reviews.

Hmm, I'm keeping an eye out for Snap if/when it appears as a Kindle deal, or in a charity shop.

Latest from me: 58: Victorians Undone - Kathryn Hughes

I think this has appeared before on this thread. Anyway, as it's non-fiction and about the 19thc it was pretty much guaranteed to be up my street, and indeed it was, but with caveats.

Kathryn Hughes had obviously decided that, since her brief was to ferret into areas of history that nobody ever talked about - the physical appearance of specific historical personalities (mostly literary figures), and how they conducted their most intimate relations - she needed to be racy and irreverent. So there's a lot of hearty slanginess which is sometimes quite funny but other times a bit forced.

Having said that, she uncovers a good deal of arcane information which I really enjoyed reading about (rural butter and cheese-making was surprisingly interesting), and teases out connections between most of her subjects. Not only this, she uses the information about physical appearance that drives the book - Darwin's beard, George Eliot's allegedly oversized right hand, etc etc - to explore themes of class, respectability, sex (a lot of sex), politics and crime.

So, all in all, I liked it a lot once I'd understood that it presents itself more as a 'popular' history book, but has a serious purpose underneath.