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.

Not The Dry.! Force of Nature ! That tells you something.. there are references to The Dry throughout FoN which irritated me as my memory of it was not good enough to keep up.

*27. The Alchemist's Secret - Scott Mariani
*
Another Dan Brown derivative. This was pretty poor. The storyline about alchemy and the Cathars in the Languedoc region of France could have been very good, but it wasn't terribly well written and the author had show-horned an absolutely dreadful and unnecessary romantic sub-plot into it, which ruined it for me.

*28. Atlas of Irish History - Sean Duffy
*
We have just returned from a week's holiday in Ireland and I realised I knew less than nothing about Irish history while I was there. So I picked up this little introduction. One map per page with accompanying text takes you from prehistoric Ireland right up to the Good Friday Agreement. I love a good map so this was very enjoyable, in spite of some of the writing being a bit dry.

I am currently very happily immersed in The Moonstone, which I know is well-liked on these threads. For some reason I have always been under the false impression that it was a children's book. I have no idea why.

Enjoying all the reviews on here. I definitely need to redress the gaping hole in my reading that is Patrick Hamilton! I have an urge to get hold of the two books discussed upthread.

Currently reading my way through The Mars Room and am also reading Blood and Guts in High School by Kathy Acker. Neither of these books can be described as 'fun' in any way shape or form.

43. The Trinity Six by Charles Cumming Rubbish spy thriller exploring the possibility of 'a sixth man' plus a Russian secret that turns out to be a bit 'who cares?' It's mainly just about spies spying on spies. The main guy is a watered down dull version of his Alex Milius character - weak, selfish, greedy, views women as a collection of body parts first and a (two dimensional) personality second, but is inexplicably irresistible to said women. I'm done with Charles Cumming now. Was hoping to have finished and reviewed it before Remus got back from her hols, as I think she is perfectly entitled to say 'told you so'.

I hadn’t heard anything about Standard Deviation KeithLeMonde but read it not long after The Rosie Project which I really loved. I think it was just one of those cases where I was hoping for a book to ease the loss of finishing The Rosie Project and this didn’t quite get there for me.

I seem to have settled into a WW2 furrow, though I don't mind that for the moment.

60: Doreen - Barbara Noble

A Persephone reprint of this 1946 novel - coincidentally written at almost the same time as The Slaves of Solitude, but offering a very different look at war experiences.

Doreen is the 9-year-old daughter and only child of Mrs Rawlings, an impoverished single mother and cleaner battling through the privations of daily life in bombed London.

She masks her deep love for Doreen behind a gruff, capable facade, but worry for her child's safety leads her to take up the offer of a private evacuation to a couple living in the country, relatives of someone who works in one of the offices where she cleans.

Solicitor Geoffrey and gentle, tender-hearted Francie are childless and come to love Doreen as she settles into their comfortable lives. In return, the shy, quiet child blossoms away from the confines of her dangerous, squalid, city existence. But how can there be a happy outcome for everybody?

I really didn't expect to love this book as much as I did. Nothing very dramatic happens, but it's written with such understanding and insight that I ended it with a few tears in my eyes. Doreen's own thoughts and emotions are portrayed beautifully - in fact, you can sympathise with everyone (even if, as I did, you don't really want the ending that actually happens). But how utterly social relationships have changed - the whole issue of class is a central theme and the gulf between the upper-middle-class Osbornes and the working-class Mrs Rawlings and Doreen comes across as a virtually unbridgeable one, fraught with pitfalls. Domestic drama, yes, and a period-piece, but one that skilfully and sensitively explores emotions common to all of us.

Piggy - I think I've decided that Jane Harper can write, but only the first half of books, and that this is a big problem.

Ham - I am far too nice a person to say, "I told you so". But...but....ahem....

80: Dead Lagoon – Michael Dibdin

A detective novel, set in Venice, that dp said I might like. We found it in a lovely place in Berlin, where people leave books for swapping, and it was the only English language novel there. It was….okay. I veered between really liking bits of it, to being really frustrated by it. I didn’t like the detective much (I don’t think you’re supposed to) and there were a few grammatical errors and plot inconsistencies, which annoyed me. A lot of the dialogue didn’t ring true. I also disliked some clunky references to real life world events, which I assume were to try to place the novel in a specific time-frame, but just felt like bolt-ons. I’d try another of his if desperate, but wouldn’t go out of my way.

81: Heartburn – Nora Ephron

This is on Daily Deal on Kindle today. I’d never heard of it but it sounded fun and I ended up staying in bed until lunchtime, gobbling it up! It’s a fictionalised and comedic version of the writer discovering, when seven months pregnant, that her husband was having an affair Very silly and I thoroughly enjoyed it. Good on her for writing it!

The picture (if it works) is of the book share tree. So cute!

The book share tree is wonderful

40. Prodigal Summer by Barbara Kingsolver. Veterans of this thread may remember that I am a massive Kingsolver fan, and I loved every word of this. It's set in rural Virginia and features Lusa, a young city woman trying to find her place in the farming community, Deanna, a 47 year old divorcee living alone in a remote cabin in the woods for her job for the Forestry Commission, and Garnett, an 81 year old widower grappling with his failing health and an ongoing feud with his neighbour. I love the way that Kingsolver's protagonists are such unlikely heroes / heroines, and in my opinion no one writes about the complex relationship between humans and nature, or about life in mid-West America, quite like she does.

41. Lullaby by Leila Slimani. Thriller set in Paris, Louise seems at first like the perfect nanny to two young children, but events are marching relentlessly to a terrible conclusion. Quite a good page turner.

49. Lonesome Dove – Larry McMurty

A bit of an undertaking at 843 pages, but worth it. This took me almost three weeks to finish, and is the greatest investment I have made in a book so far this year.

1880’s USA. Retired Texas Rangers and business partners Gus McCrae and Woodrow Call decide to strike out and re-locate from the relative comfort of their settled Texas home to the Montana Frontier where they intend to establish the first cattle ranch. Together with a gang of employees and hired hands, they drive thousands of cattle across the USA from south to north, encountering many challenges and hazards along the way.

It took me about 100 pages to get into this one, as the numerous characters are introduced and the scene is set, but I am glad I stuck with it. This one has been probably the most straightforward and enjoyable read of the year. Once I had all the (many) characters and plot threads sorted out in my head, this was easy to pick up and read in short bursts so made perfect holiday reading material. I didn’t even mind that it was huge and heavy to carry round in my rucksack all day. Coincidentally just as the fictional characters were about to set off on their great journey, DD and I got ready to set off on our great journey, albeit only for a week in Cornwall. Packed with larger than life characters and a fast moving action packed plot, I would recommend this to anyone who enjoys a good story regardless of whether you are a fan of Westerns. Totally worth the extra weight in my luggage.

Tarahumara I am also a big Barbara Kingsolver fan. I love the way she writes about the natural world. I think she has a new one out later this year called Unsheltered which I am looking forward to.

Yes, me too!

hound I might know - there is a children’s classics book called Moonfleet and I think I had the same confusion for a while.

indigo great review I’ve been holding Lonesome Dove at bay until I have time to really get into it, really looking forward to it.

Lonesome Dove is terrific. I still shudder at ' the bit with the snakes'

Thanks for the tip about the Nora Ephron Remus - it's been on my TBR list for ages.

I've got four books on the go at the moment (two on audible & two print) switching between them, so not progressing very fast. I'm particularly enjoying the juxtaposition of The Lies of Locke Lamora (another daily deal) and Social Engineering (non fiction on Audible) - Locke Lamora provides a step by step practical illustration of many of the ideas in the Social Engineering book

I'd never heard of it or her, Sadik but it's good fun. And it's made me fancy something else silly, but have no idea what!

Nora Ephron : When Harry Met Sally / Sleepless In Seattle/ You've Got Mail . Genius.

Have seen and liked all of those, but didn't realise until reading about the book that this writer was that writer!

The bitter tone of Heartburn didn't work for me and at the end I felt sorry for the philandering husband! The film is OK. But I loved some of Ephron's later books, I Feel Bad About My Neck and I Remember Nothing.

57. The English Patient by Michael Ondaatje. I’ve owned this for years and kept putting off reading it for fear of it being too highbrow or difficult a read! I really liked it, the gorgeous writing took me by surprise and led to my taking my time rereading and savouring several passages. Definitely a highlight of this years reading.

58. The Stars are Fire by Anita Shreve. Grace suffers unimaginable trauma when out of control fire follows severe drought in 1947 Maine, burning her home to the ground and driving her and the children into the ocean to survive. Her husband is missing after joining the volunteers fighting the fires and she is left homeless and penniless, completely reliant on others for help initially, which soon changes as Grace experiences freedom from her loveless marriage for the first time. I really ended up rooting for the character and read this very quickly as the story is so engaging.
    Another pleasant surprise to say I was distracted in the library by DS and only picked this up because I mistook this for an Anne Tyler novel!

I’m now midway through Dead Water by Anne Cleeves which is good, I always enjoy her novels.

murine , you may have read it but I highly recommend Anil's Ghost by Ondaatje. A wonderful book, more readable than English Patient, and a really interesting topic. Read it years ago but it has really stuck with me.

Oh thankyou, piggywaspushed, I’ll add Anil’s Ghost to my massive to read list. Just read a few reviews on Goodreads and it sounds excellent.
I love that feeling of discovering a new (to me) author and realising there’s loads more of their work waiting to be read!

Yes, me too. I felt like that when MN opened a world of Jane Harris to me!

I've lurked for ages but I’d really like to join this thread ready for the autumn/winter - is that ok?

Definitely OK lavender. Welcome