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.

49. Dreaming in Smoke by Tricia Sullivan Bonkers sci-fi. Hugely inventive and fun and engaging in places, but ultimately didn't find this as worth the effort of working out what the hell was going on as others of hers I've read.

50. A Big Boy Did It And Ran Away by Christopher Brookmyre Ordinary family guy spots an old mate / enemy at Glasgow airport - who is supposed to be dead. Chuck comedy, international terrorism, testosterone and narcissism into the mix, with some clever plotting. This took a while to warm up, but is one of his better ones.

Yay 50! My personal target this year is 77, but as that would mean 2 books a week for the rest of the year, it's not going to happen, unless I can stop real life (or read really really short books).

37. Gillespie & I by Jane Harris. A great recommend from toomuchsplother. Really enjoyed this. We start the novel in 1933 with Harriet Baxter, an old lady writing her memoirs, looking back on her youth and her intense friendship and involvement with the Gillespie family beginning in 1888. Simultaneously a second story unfolds in the later time period as Harriet becomes increasingly suspicious of her maid, and we become increasingly unsure of Harriet's sanity and reliability as a narrator. I got this as an audio book and it's beautifully read by Anna Bentinck who does a nice line in Scottish accidents. (Although the, thankfully little needed, German accent did veer into Pakistani!) After a slow start this picked up pace and became very gripping. I was waiting for a big reveal and the loose ends to be tied up nicely at the end, it did seem to peter out a bit for my liking, but I'm still mulling it over so maybe it's better for the reader to be left to draw their own conclusions. I'm going to go on to Shirley Jackson's - We Have Always Lived In The Castle next because I believe there's a film in post production and it's on my tbr list so I want to read it before I see it.

Love We Have Always Lived In The Castle. Am jealous you get to read it for the first time! I keep trying to persuade my book club to read it but get knocked back in favour of far less interesting reads.

bibliomania is The Life of Stuff just a memoir, or does the author spend time looking into the psychology of hoarding? Does she reference any academic research in the book to support her ideas? I'm seeing increasing numbers of patients who are hoarders and am looking for a decent and readable book on the subject. Thanks

Thanks for the Becky Sharp review Chessie. The publishers have been doing the hard sell on Twitter when the Vanity Fair episode is on ITV and I wondered what it was like. Think I'll give it a miss.

Nothing to add in particular, but has anybody found anything good in the Kindle sale? Just about to trawl through now.

Desdemona so pleased you weren't let down by Gillespie and I

Desdemona I also enjoyed Gillespie and I - and I quite liked the ambiguous ending.

77. Daniel O’Malley - The Rook

This was recommended by someone at my Book Club, and it's brilliant. A woman wakens in a park in London, dripping wet in the rain and surrounded by corpses wering latex gloves. In her pockets she find letters from her previous self, explaining that she knew she would lose her memory and that she had prepared either a way to return to her previous life or to escape the country and begin an entirely new one. When someone else tries to kill her, the woman decides to find out who she was and so also receives a suitcase full of letters from her past self, a comprehensive dossier on the life she is returning to, and the discovery that she, Myfanwy Thomas, holds the very senior position of Rook in the most secretive of Britain's secret agencies - where the majority of people, her included, possess supernatural powers of some sort. She also discovers that it is someone at the heart of the organisation who is trying to kill her.

toomuchsplother, I too have ordered Gillepie and I based on your recommendation! I've ordered a second hand copy from Abe books and got an email today to tell me it has been dispatched. I'm really looking forward to reading it.

I, too, loved Gillespie and I and imagine it is a cracking audio book. However, having googled Anna Bentick, I refuse to believe she can do a genteel Glaswegian accent!

To me , Harris' ability to create character through voice is her piece de reistance. I can hear the book in my head .I had better not listen to the audio book .It would certainly disappoint. That accent is v hard to pull off unless you are actually a genteel Glaswegian!!

A quick round-up of my recent reads. Have fallen hopelessly behind with my reviews as real life continues at a hectic pace.

53. Lullaby – Leila Slimani

Surprisingly suspenseful considering the ending is given away in the first few pages. I felt this was marketed as a thriller, but was actually more a critical commentary on modern day middle class parenting in Paris. Had lots to say about the difficult choices which women have to make about work and childcare and the conditions faced by the exploited and underpaid nanny underclass.

54. On Canaan’s Side – Sebastian Barry

This is my third Sebastian Barry, having read Days Without End and A Long Long Way last year. Have to say this was my least favourite of the bunch. Elderly Lilly looks back on her life as she mourns the death of her grandson. Reliably well written but just unremittingly sad and lacking the dark humour which lifted the other two books. A bit of a slog - disappointing.

55. Hunger – Roxane Gay

Have been meaning to read this for ages. An emotionally gripping memoir of Roxane Gay's journey through childhood and young adulthood and how she came to learn to love herself, in spite of her flaws. Moving and honest, I also loved her pulls no punches style. Have put Bad Feminist also by Gay on my TBR list.

56. Normal People – Sally Rooney

I read and enjoyed Conversations with Friends earlier this year. Although I could appreciate that Sally Rooney writes brilliantly, I felt it was all a bit empty and perhaps I didn't really get it, as being a middle aged single parent I probably wasn't her target audience.

I much preferred Normal People as her writing was even better, to the extent that I went back and read certain paragraphs more than once just because she describes things so beautifully and economically.

As for the subject matter, put simply it's a love story about two young people who meet at school and end up going to the same university. This would have been my favourite book ever aged 19. t captures perfectly the angst of falling in love and the challenges (and exhilarating joy) of being away from home and making your own way in the world. It has a darker and more thoughtful tone than Conversations with Friends and is all the better for it. I'm curious to see what Sally Rooney does next and would certainly read it.

I didn't like Gillespie and I but am clearly in a minority of one!

Remus I thought the kindle sale was very disappointing this month. I bought The crocodile on the sandbank which I've been wanting to read for ages, and a Sue Grafton, but otherwise it looked like very slim pickings.

ChillieJeanie I absolutely loved The Rook and I thought the follow-up was good as well, although I didn't enjoy it quite as much.

I agree the monthly sale was disappointing. Bought a couple of Ann Cleeves and Milkman as it is on the Booker Prize short list and I have read nothing from there so far this year. Otherwise uninspired!

Hope you enjoy Gillespie and I, Whippet. It's actually up for discussion at my book club tonight. Will report in about what they think if I make it. Work is crazy busy at the moment.

Scribbly, the author does quite a lot of academic reading about hoarding - there's stuff about the links with OCD, damage to the frontal cortex etc. That said, it's definitely not a synopsis of the literature, but she does provide a reading list at the end that might be of interest.

For fans of Gillespie and I can I recommend The Observations by the same author if you haven't read it yet? My favourite of the two.

115. Help Me by Marianne Power
Journalist spends a year trying to live by the advice in self-help books. It's more than just a stunt and she's very honest about her failings, and nicely ambivalent about the narcissism involved. I would have liked a more critical take on the self-help industry and less information about how much time she spends in tears. It's the kind of book that you'll like if you like this sort of thing, but it won't convert you if you don't.

Currently on Pale Rider, by Laura Spinney, previously recommended on here. It's a vivid account of the Spanish Flu epidemic of 1918-20. Enjoying this, if that's the right word to use about mass death.

Oooooh We sparked off a Gillespie discussion toomuchsplother, how exciting! Hope you also enjoy it Wippet.
I'm not an expert on Scottish accents being a sasanach Piggy, it may be they were way off the mark for Glaswegians, but I thought Anna Bentinck did a wonderful job, she completely strangled the vowels for Elspeth, Sybil lisped beautifully, Ned is quiet, unshowy but appealing, Annie is tired, exasperated and ultimately heartbreaking and so on. Bentinck really made the book come to life. I think she did a much better job than my inner voice would have done. I just googled her too and she's voiced over 40 audio books so I'll definitely be looking for more by her, as long as German isn't heavily featured
Halfway through We Have Always Lived In The Castle and it is indeed a great read Pepe, I love the dark, gothic character of it, and the quirky writing. I don't know who's making the movie but it feels like something Tim Burton would have a field day with, would be great as an animation too. It's also very short which is all to the good if I'm going to make the 50 book goal this year!

highlandcoo loved The Observations, not quite so keen on Sugar Money, although it was still an intetesting read.

I like the observations but i don't love it the way I love Gillespie

Nicemum I loved The Red Tent too - such a different story. Piggy I am an Atwood lover but Hagseed did nothing for me. Froglet I made my teenage sons read the section of Adam Kay's book on the lamp post to warn them off debriding their privates!!

21 Free Food for Millionaires by Min Jin Lee
An epic story of a family of Korean immigrants living in America, centred around the daughter, Casey, who is a Princeton graduate with no job or prospects. I really liked the depth of characters and I'm going to miss them on my daily commute.

I have The Observations and Sugar Money in my tbr!

I did just wonder desdemona how well anyone would capture that wonderful Herriet that is said in the book (haven't looked it up. Think I ahve got the name right!)

We need my old assistant headmistress for that!

Spot on Piggy