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.

Will keep an eye out for that Shreve book, Murine. Looks just up my street.

52 How do we look, The Eye of Faith by Mary Beard
This books ties in with the Civilisation TV series. She explores how the way that we look at art can influence us, and how it changes over time. That this is not necessarily the way that the art was seen at the time of creation. The Eye of Faith explores the different ways that faiths are celebrated in art - from cave paintings in India to the use of calligraphy in mosques. Interesting read.

53 A House for Mr Biswas by V S Naipaul
Mr Biswas lives in Trinidad and has an Indian heritage. The book tells the story of his life from his birth up to his death. It depicts the poverty of colonial Trinidad, the chaos of living as part of a large family, the great emphasis on the importance of education as a way of improving your lot in life. I think if the characters were alive now there'd be plenty of AIBU from both Mr Biswas and his wife. "My wife's family constantly tell her what to do". "My family have helped to support us financially, why is my husband so rude about them?" Only criticism I'd make is that his wife doesn't really have her own voice in the book. Mr Biswas is a well written character - pompous, rude, naive, courageous.

54 The Waters of Eternal Youth by Donna Leon
Mystery of what happened to a young woman who was rescued from the Venice canals 15 years earlier. Although I enjoyed reading this it was obvious who the main suspect was because they were the only one in the book. The plot twist was obvious and I have no idea why the police were so obtuse. It was as if having worked out what the clues were going to be she forgot she needed to add some red herrings to keep the reader guessing. As it was I found myself silently going "It's him, you idiot" as I was reading it when I still had a fair chunk to go.

I've bought A House for Mr Biswas in the Kindle sale, and the Antonia Fraser book about the Gunpowder Plot which looks interesting. There seem to be three sales on atm: October monthly deals, Autumn sale and Super Thursday Sale. I have my eye on a couple of others but nothing that I am desperate to read, and TBH it's more about my habit of buying books than anything else.

Pepe, that Truman Capote book looks really interesting, have added it to my TBR. And I have the Susannah Walker book about hoarding on there already so good to hear from Biblio that it's worth reading.

84. I See You, Clare Mackintosh
Psychological thriller slash police procedural by the author of I Let You Go. A major suspension of belief required for this one as the premise is quite far-fetched. If you read it, do read the author Q&A at the back which explains that this is sort of an analogy - it's inspired by an issue which she came across in her police work but which she doesn't cover explicitly in the book. I can see what she was trying to do but unfortunately it doesn't really work for me.

85. The Girls, Lisa Jewell
Easy, immersing read which I lapped up in 36 hours. Clare and her daughters move to a new flat after a traumatic experience. Their new home opens out into a huge communal garden, backed on one side by large affluent houses and on the other by mansion flats and terraces. In the garden, the children gather as a "gang", away from the watchful (or neglectful) eyes of their parents. Clare's daughter Grace is found in the garden on the night of her 13th birthday, injured and unconscious. What happened to her, and who did it?

I've read a few Lisa Jewells and she is good at what she does - atmospheric descriptions, lavish settings, solid believable characters.

57. Warlight - Michael Ondaatje
Starts well with an intriguing premise; it is 1946 and the parents of 14 year old Nathaniel and his older sister Rachel leave London, obstensibly to work in Singapore for a year. Nathaniel and Rachel are left in the care of two mysterious strangers "The Moth" and "The Darter".

The first section of the book explores Nathaniel's rather unorthodox adolescence as he truants from school, has a series of jobs working in hotel kitchens and gets involved in petty crime. Later sections explore the reality of his parents' disappearance and Michael looks back on his Mother's secretive life in an attempt to make sense of it all

This was a very subtle read, undoubtedly well written but lacking flavour somehow and rather dry. Nathaniel's sister was particularly poorly drawn; she just didn't feel real to me. I understand that mystery was a key component of his Mother's character, but she was mysterious to the extent that I found it hard to invest in her story. A bit too understated for me. Having said all that, it was quite a soothing and restful read before bed.

I’ve just picked up the third volume of Michael Palin’s Diaries covering his travel docs period in the Autumn sale so thanks for highlighting the different sales keith

In the monthly deals I saw Behold America by Sarah Churchwell - her writing is usually very scholarly and well researched so is probably a good bet if you want to look at the historical roots of contemporary political landscape in the USA.

117. A Life of My Own, by Claire Tomalin
I seem to have a near-insatiable appetite for women writing about their lives. She gives an honest and dispassionate account of her life, with its mixture of privilege (moving in cultured, educated circles, with plum jobs seemingly coming her way without effort) and complications (parents' high-conflict divorce, a first husband who hit her, was unfaithful, and then was killed,, deaths of two children). In her fifties she found work she loved and a happy second marriage, which, as a woman in my 40s, is distinctly encouraging.

162. No Further Questions by Gillian McAllister

Becky has been accused of murdering her 2 month old niece, the daughter of Becky’s sister Martha. This tells the story of the court case interspersed with the events leading up to the night in question from various different perspectives. It was an interesting structure but i guesses quite early on what had happened, and the Martha character didn’t come across as someone whose daughter had died - there was a lack of emotion in the sequences told from her POV.

163. Caught In The Light by RObert Goddard

Goddard is one of my favourite authors and this is one of his best IMO. In this, photographer Ian meets and becomes enthralled by a woman who then vanishes. In a quest to track her down he becomes embroiled with the story of a pioneer photographer from the early 1800s. I’ve read this a few times but not for a while so was nice to revisit.

I'm delighted to meet another Robert Goddard fan Chessie
I love how different all his books are, although each one has a sense of familiarity about it. A brilliant storyteller.

bibliomania, I think the Claire Tomalin book was one of the first I read this year and it’s still in my top ten. She just got on with things so capably. I do think she is aware of her privilege but at the same time circumstances did make much of her life so difficult. I was delighted when she found happiness after all that.

He is brilliant isn’t he Hound although I haven’t enjoyed his latest ones so much. And on that note...

164. Panic Room by Robert Goddard

This is his latest and is much better than his recent Ways of the World trilogy which I struggled to get into. This is a stand alone thriller - an estate agent is sent to measure up a Cornish mansion for sale and discovers a locked panic room. He and the mysterious housekeeper get caught up on events until the secret of the panic room is revealed. Goddard is brilliant at twisty turny plots and this is no exception. It’s not one of his best but even a mediocre Goddard is better than a lot of others out there.

urggggh - I am reading so slowly I fell off the thread. Currently working on Crazy Rich Asians. S'alright.

124. The history of the world in 21 woman - Jenni Murray Follow up to History of Britain, which I read earlier this year. Short essays, tasters really, but enjoyable and informative.

Ooh Chessie, just checked and Panic Room is currently 99p on Kindle - will have to give it a go.

33. Faro’s Daughter – Georgette Heyer
This is my second Heyer and similarly to the first one I spent at least the first 3rd of the book struggling to get into the storyline and being distracted by all the Lords and Ladies and Mr and Mrs. After that it was delightful! A battle of wits between two feisty characters. Light relief from everyday life!

90: The Illumination of Ursula Flight’ - Anna-Marie Crowhurst

Bought this for 99p in the Kindle Autumn sale. It was okay, and in places I really liked it. It’s narrated by a speaker who begins as a young girl and who is only about 19 when it finishes, but a lot happens to her in between.

It was entertaining, and it was clear that the writer was enjoying herself when she wrote it. Having said that, it was too long and a number of sections probably seemed really clever and amusing in the writer’s head, but got a bit irritating in reality and felt like so much padding in places.

It turns out that it was written as part of a creative writing course, and it definitely shows, but it was diverting enough.

Panic Room definitely worth a read at 99p!

Posted too soon...

165 The Salt Path by Raynor Winn

Ray and her husband Moth lose their home and livelihood in a legal battle, then days later are given the news that Moth has a terminal illness. For lack of anywhere else to go they decide to walk the South West Coastal Path, camping along the way. I live in the South West so I like reading about places I know, and I liked the references to other coast path books and writers (at the same time Ray and Moth are walking the path, so is the poet Simon Armitage, who later wrote a book about his own walk). It’s also quite scary to read how they lost everything and how easily it can happen. Overall I would recommend this. I would have liked an epilogue though - their walk was in 2014 so I would like to know how they are now.

43. Crazy Rich Asians by Kevin Kwan Largely a Cinderella-style romance where Rachel, a middle class US born chinese academic gets into a serious relationship with a charming and modest colleague, Nick. Unknown to her, he is part of the Singapore/Hong Kong based Chinese super-rich, which is only revealed when he first takes her back to meet the family.

I was hoping for some Jilly Cooper type silliness, and that's definitely there. However there's sometimes a bit too much time spent on ancillary characters that don't add much to the overall story, and it took quite a while before the plot really got going properly. I enjoyed it, but won't be in any great hurry to read the sequels.

77.) A Conspiracy of Violence, by Susanna Gregory The first in the Thomas Chaloner Adventures, a series of mystery novels set in the Restoration, and featuring the spy Thomas Chaloner, whose uncle was a parliamentarian and one of the killers of the king, meaning Thomas is in a thoroughly awkward situation, with his loyalty suspect. There's lots of adventure: shadowing and eavesdropping, gun fights, and an angry lion. There's a lot of characters and it's quite fast-paced, so you really do have to pay attention, particularly if you're not familiar with the period, but I loved the humour and some of the set-pieces the turkey Chaloner's neighbours order for the Christmas meal arrives very much alive and sets about eating them out of house and home -- were wonderful and the setting is vivid and well-depicted.. Thomas Chaloner is immensely likeable too, and I fully intend to read the entire series. I've already ordered the next one.

ahem Today’s Kindle big deal is the first 5 books in the Harry Dresden series for 99p each. I am resisting (for once ), but that’s a pretty good deal.

78. JD Oswald - The Golden Cage

Book three in The Ballad of Sir Benfro. The young dragon is hiding in a forest refuge from the warrior priests, who seek to kill all dragons, while also fighting the influence of the malevolent and still-powerful long-dead dragon mage, Magog. Errol, a young human also on the run from the warrior priests, has somehow found his way to where Benfro is in hiding, but he is terribly injured. Benfro has no desire to help after humans killed his mother and all the dragons of his village, but the two have to learn to trust each other if they are to survive. Meanwhile, Queen Beulah has despatched Inquisitor Meyln and 500 warrior priests to the neighbouring, enemy country to bring about war, killing Benfro on their way.

34. The Pearl – John Steinbeck
DD1 will be studying this soon so I borrowed it first! A very short but essentially gripping read, based, as I understand it, on a Mexican myth. Beautifully written. Am interested to see what she makes of it...

The Pearl :(

Quick question anyone read The Milkman by Anna Burns . It's on the Booker short list. I am finding it hard going!

Just checking in to make sure I stay on the thread. Not much reading time recently!