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.

scribbly did I read that right - Hot Tub Book Club? That is something happening to you in the UK and not a comedy vehicle for Jennifer Aniston?

What happens if the books get dropped in the tub??

I am hoping you didn't watch The One Show yesterday...

Sad to report that Hot Tub Book Club did not occur as no other bugger brought their swimming costume. Forced to review Eleanor indoors in the dry, very disappointing. Astonished that for the first time in five years since our very first meeting everyone had read the book, a truly jaw dropping event as usually only a couple of us manage to finish. Credit where credit is due to Ms Honeyman for writing a book that my bookclub was actually capable of reading.

Piggy that’s a tough comparison Vanity Fair vs Bleak House. VF winning at the moment for me because of humour points, more engaging protagonist, and a lighter touch on social commentary. Will have to see in BH pulls ahead when the plot properly kicks off (must finish reading August's chapters).

All this chat about Vanity Fair is encouraging me to have another go at reading it. I think I started it but never got to the end some years ago. I have very much enjoyed reading Bleak House a couple of times - lots of drama in the story. It is a different style of book from Vanity Fair (the part I've read anyway).

45. Blonde by Joyce Carol Oates A fictionalised version of the life of Marilyn Monroe. Very well written but also very long. It was more time than I really wanted to spend on her life but it was a book club choice so I stuck with it. I'm not a huge fan of books about real life people when I know their story. The start really pulled me in but later on I started to find her irritating and there was one plot point which I didn't believe at all - that her father (who she never knew) was writing her letters when she was famous and she was completely convinced that they were from her father.

46 Zazie in the Metro by Raymond Queneau
Zazie is left by her mother with her uncle in Paris for a couple of days. Zazie wants to go on the Metro but she can't because there is a strike. So she sets out to explore Paris on her own. I think this would be an interesting book to read in French rather than in translation because he uses lots of slang/combined expressions/jokes on language and I'd be interested to see those in French - although my French is nowhere near good enough. Zazie is an odd child - supposedly quite innocent but also rude and uncaring about the adults around her. There are some funny parts - her uncle takes her on a tour but keeps mistaking the famous buildings in Paris for different ones. Quite a strange ending.

47 The Murder of Roger Ackroyd by Agatha Christie
Roger Ackroyd is stabbed to death while sitting in his own study. The door is locked from the inside. Who got in through the window? Which one of his various relatives, servants, friends did it? I first read this book years ago and remembered the twist so I was interesting to read it again spotting the red herrings along the way.

I think what I wasn't prepared for was the length of VF. I expected it to be short because the characters are so famously vapid. Although Becky is clever , of course, which I think separates her off from (most) modern social climbers.

There is a long section of the book near the end which is Becky-less and I skimmed that as the book is duller without her.

I've read Vanity Fair a number of times and have really enjoyed it. I definitely think the themes continue to be relevant. It falls into the category of books I probably read too young and didn't fully appreciate it until I re-read it when I was older: Tender is The Night also falls into that category.
Summer holidays meant quite a lot of reading but not much updating. I've finished all of the Anthony Powell Dance to the Music if Time novels. I got a bit bogged down in the war years but loved the character of Pamela Flitton - similar in many ways to Becky Sharp!
Z: A Novel of Zelda Fitzgerald by Therese Anne Fowler was amazing. Written from her perspective neither F Scott Fitzgerald or Hemmingway come out of it well.
I was a bit disappointed by Far From The Madding Crowd - I found the pace v slow and didn't really like any of the characters.
Why Mummy Swears by Gill Sims was an entertaining easy read. Lullaby by Leila Slimani was harder to read but beautifully written. Finally book number 37 The Last Tudor by Philippa Gregory covered the difficult lives of the Grey sisters. I'd read about Lady Jane Grey before but knew little of Lady Katherine and Lady Mary.

Two of the books I recently ordered at the library.

50. My Year of Rest and Relaxation – Ottessa Moshfegh

Eileen was one of my surprise favourites of 2017. Although this is a very different book, lacking the dark, subversive and sinister feel of Eileen, I felt it was up there in terms of its irreverent, razor sharp prose and raced through this is a couple of days.

I’m not sure if it would be appropriate to say I enjoyed it, but I found it funny, entertaining and by the final few pages, thought provoking.

A nameless twenty something woman decides the best way to restore herself back to good mental health is by sleeping for a year. She enlists the worst psychiatrist in Manhattan to help her in this quest a she feigns insomnia, so to gain access to the strongest sleeping aids on the market. It’s also the year 2000, so shadow of 9/11 lurks ominously in the background.

At times I actually laughed out loud while reading this book, in a horrified, reading it between my fingers kind of way as the main character’s outrageous exploits unfold in all their cringe worthy glory. This book is probably a bit marmite in that you either love it you don’t.

51.Washington Black – Esi Edugyan

This book felt like a beautifully decorated, very elegant cake which I was looking forward to tucking into, only to find it a bit bland & crumbly.

Washington Black is an eleven year old slave on Faith Plantation , Barbados, 1830. Selected from the fields where he works as a labourer, he becomes the personal servant to the plantation owner’s brother, Titch. Titch is an explorer and abolitionist; he teaches Washington to read and discovers that he had a great artistic talent. After an event occurs which puts both their lives at risk, they attempt to flee Barbados in Titch’s latest invention, a flying contraption known as the “Cloud- cutter”. For me this was where the plot started to go awry.

The story becomes an account of Washington’s adventures in the wider world, as he journeys to America, Canada, London, Amsterdam and Morocco. The plot started to wander off down a number of dead ends which I just found frustrating. Characters were introduced and then faded away. And the prose style, which seemed lyrical during the first section, began to feel over-written and weighed down with pointless metaphors. Loads of things happen, so it certainly wasn’t boring. However, the events lacked any depth or emotional punch and I started to find it a bit of a chore to carry on. I didn’t feel the characters really ever came to life, they were all a bit cardboard and laboured. Disappointing unfortunately. Would I read more by this writer? Probably not.

That's a really good review of Washington Black Indigosalt, although I am unsure if I should read it now or not! It's on the Booker long list I recall? Do you think it will make the short list?

I haven't read any other of the longlisted books yet, Whippet so difficult to judge. Have ordered some of the others from the library, but anticipate a long wait... it's not a bad book, but imho could have been better.

I have read a few of the others but not a single one has stood out as being exceptional. I think I might be expecting too much though. Probably the best one so far is Warlight. Snap was the most fun but I can't imagine it making the short list. I probably shouldn't be so interested in literary prizes but I have read a lot of very good books that way.

The library tells me my copy of Clock Dance is ready to pick up so I am anticipating a weekend of reading - children permitting!

I can’t remember when I last updated or if it was on this thread or the previous, so just copying my list over before I go back and have a proper catch up and no doubt add some more recommendations to my ever growing list.

Highlights in bold stinkers in italics

1. Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief - Rick Riordan

2. Lincoln in the Bardo - George Saunders

1. The Ice Princess - Camilla Lackberg
2. Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine- Gail Honeyman
3. The Silkworm - Robert Galbraith
4. The Talented Mr Ripley - Patricia Highsmith
5. Career of Evil - Robert Galbraith
6. The Wicked Boy - Kate Summerscale
7. The Wonder - Emma Donoghue

10. Just One Damned Thing After Another (The Chronicles of St Mary’s) - Jodi Taylor 11. Ella Minnow Pea - Mark Dunn 12. The Shadow of the Sun - Ryszard Kapuściński 13. Everything I never told you- Celeste Ng 14. The Wee Free Men - Terry Pratchett 15. The Minority Report - Philip K Dick 16. Old Rose and Silver - Myrtle Reed 17. David Copperfield- Charles Dickens 18. Early One Morning - Virginia Baily 19. Money for Nothing - PG Wodehouse 20. All for Love - Dan Jacobson 21. Lady Susan, The Watsons, Sanditon - Jane Austen 22. The Heist - Janet Evanovich and Lee Goldberg 23. 84 Charing Cross Road - Helene Hanff 24. Bridget Jones’ Baby - Helen Fielding 25. Swimming Lessons - Clare Fuller 26. The Inside-Out Revolution: The Only Thing You Need to Know to Change Your Life Forever - Michael Neill 27. Snow Falling on Cedars - David Guterson 28. The Lesser Bohemians Eimear McBride 29. Brooklyn - Colm Tóibín 30. A Reunion of Ghosts - Judith Claire Mitchell 31. A View of the World: Selected Writings - Norman Mitchell 32. The Woman in Cabin 10 - Ruth Ware 33. April Lady - Georgette Heyer 34. I’ll give you the sun - Jandy Nelson 35. Little Fires Everywhere- Celeste Ng 36. The Beauty Myth - Naomi Wolf 37. Circe - Madeleine Miller 38. Guilt - Amanda Robson 39. The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao - Junot Díaz 40. Good Omens - Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman 41. Sleeping with Dogs: A Peripheral Autobiography- Brian Sewell 42. The Boys in the Boat - Daniel James Brown 43. Our Spoons Came From Woolworths- Barbara Comyns 44. Why I’m no Longer Talking to White People About Race- Reni Eddo-Lodge

It's been a busy week back at work, but Lonesome Dove keeps calling me. If this had been a holiday read, I'd probably have stayed up all night to finish it. I'm about three quarters of the way through it, and still utterly in love with it.

Were you back at achool Remus (and Piggy?). Hope your new children/ classes are nice!

65. Chandra by Frances Mary Hendry. Another book my class are reading- this is about an 11 year old Indian girl whose traditional father marries her off, only for her to be almost instantly widowed and therefore completely ostracised/ abused. I did learn a bit about India, and it was generally well written bearing in mind it is children’s fiction/YA. There was one character whose inner voice I couldn’t buy as authentic, but some of the speech patterns were lovely and had a very genuine feel (although I am not Indian, so it would be interesting to know if they were).

Also lol at hot tub book club starring Jennifer Anniston! Hope you all have a nice weekend!

OK Remus you've sold it to me. I'm off to order Lonesome Dove from the Kindle deals. I do believe this will be my first ever western!!

Whippet funnily enough Warlight is one of the ones I've ordered from the library, so that's one to look forward to.

Remus yes, I stand guilty of not paying a lot of attention to my child whilst on holiday reading Lonesome Dove.

Yes, I'm back tanaqui. Already met the year 9 girl from Hell but don't have to teach her much, thankfully!

My reading has slowed slightly as I keep nodding off in my armchair. (not at school I hasten to add!!)

All good so far re the return to school, thanks, although a few of my students may prove 'interesting'.

I may need another Western to follow this one. It's not a genre I know much about.

41. War for the Oaks by Emma Bull.

Urban fantasy recommendation from the book thread of Just got into fantasy, any recommendations. Female lead, romance, fairies etc, etc.. Read it over a couple of days and loved it!

42. Circe by Madeleine Miller.

Already reviewed a couple of times on this thread. This story is a re-working of the old Greek tales of Circe, a powerful witch and daughter of Helios, God of the Sun, from Circe’s point of view. I liked it, made me think about a life well lived, relationships with family and lovers, mortality. Very good.

And a couple of pages back now but I really liked your reviews, Panda! Added a couple to my ever-growing recommended pile..

60. Sharp Objects by Gillian Flynn Damaged reporter Camille Preaker returns to her small, claustrophobic home town to investigate the murders of two young girls. A dark, disturbing page turner, this made more sense than the tv adaptation I had been watching.
61. Daisy Belle: Swimming Champion of the World by Caitlin Davies Interesting, engaging historical fiction set in the world of women’s swimming, and the limitations set upon it, in the Victorian era. Daisy Belle’s character is inspired by several real life remarkable female swimmers particularly Agnes Beckwith who was the first woman to swim in the Thames. I found myself googling around the subject quite a lot, it very much sparked my interest!

I’m only about 10% into Vanity Fair which I am enjoying so far, I wasn’t expecting the lively humour at all and am glad I followed the recommendations on here, it’s really good!

I succumbed to Lonesome Dove for 99p too

63: Little Fires Everywhere - Celeste Ng

I've actually had Everything I Never Told You on my Kindle tbr pile for a couple of years now , but saw this for £1 and remembered the good reviews on here.
I liked it. Give me a novel with a small-town, domestic American setting and I'm usually happy anyway; I thought this was well done and quite thought-provoking. A quick and enjoyable read.

Not sure what to go for next, but I've started an obscure - and long! - Wilkie Collins, so I probably need something else to balance it out.

34. A Discovery of Witches by Deborah Harkness Think there were a few reading this earlier in the year. Somewhat ridiculous and feels like it reminds me of every witchy/ vampire book ever written. Still quite enjoyed it though. Did anyone carry on with the trilogy? There's a TV series starting next week.

All the talk of Vanity Fair is making me want to read it again. I was a young teenager when I read it and can't remember much other than that it was quite funny.

I read all of the Discovery of Witches trilogy and I thought that the first book was the strongest.
I was really struggling to maintain interest in the whole thing throughout the last book. Or maybe I did abandon the last book? I can’t remember how it ended now so maybe I did throw it in the charity shop pile....

I’ve seen the TV series advertised but I’ll not be able to watch that as I don’t have Sky.

Back to school here too and reading has slumped!

Laughing out loud at the thought of the hot tub book club.

117. Not my fathers son - Alan Cumming Had this one for a long time on my Kindle. Story of author's relationship with his abusive father. Well written and pretty heart rending
118. Gillespie and I - Jane Harris This is a re read for book club, probably for the 4th time. I know this isn't universally loved on this thread but it one of my all time favourites. I think it is better every time I read it because I find a whole new layer. Impossible to review without major spoilers but I always heartily recommend this one.

I too am off to look at Lonesome Dove. Another western convert?

Yeah I'm not sure about reading the rest stitches I don't like to leave things unfinished but don't want to waste time either if its not worthwhile. I'll give the show a go though as am a fan of Mathew Goode.

I ploughed through the whole Discovery of Witches trilogy. Disappointing- had some great parts and I really wanted to like Diana and Matthew and did (mostly) but it went on and on and on. Could easily have been one, really quite good, book.