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.

I have slowed right down again since term has started had a lot of stuff going on, currently trudging through The Heart’s Invisible Furies which isn’t bad but one of those that skips ahead in time so easy to put down and not feel immersed enough to pick up. I’m enjoying it too much to give up but it’s really holding me up.

Piggy I've been rather underwhelmed by my Booker reads so far. Lots going on in Washington Black but characters failed to engage me. Quite liked Warlight which was very well written but lacked bite. Normal People has definitely been the best of the three; although a beautifully written page turner again lacked something, difficult to define what.

Satsuki will be interested what you make of The Heart's Invisible Furies. I got about 200 pages in and gave up!

Argh indigo I got to the same point and felt torn about abandoning it - thought that I’d read too much to ditch it but then I checked and it’s nearly 700 pages! It’s not badly written at all and some bits are funny but it is just unpickupable. I’m going to give it another go tonight and if it still doesn’t grab I might move on...

I also gave up on The Heart’s Invisible Furies about 200 pages in. It got off to such a great start too.

126. The comforts of home- Susan Hill Latest in the Simon Serrailler series. Not the strongest but an easy page turner. The emphasis on actual crime was weak in this one, much more caught up with the domestic issues of the wider family. Not a stand out but just what I needed after the brain stretcher of the Milkman.
Piggy you have my sympathies, life here has been pretty chaotic too. Coming to the conclusion that I need basic page turners at the moment. With that in mind have started the first in Ann Cleeve's Shetland series.

68. Naive.Super by Erlend Loe I really liked this short Norwegian novel, it never failed to make me smile every time I picked it up. The narrator becomes disillusioned with the world and there being a hope of “things fitting together”, leaving university and his old life behind to live alone in his brother’s empty flat. The simple writing and innocent lists (“things which excited me as a child”, for example) are charming, often revealing deeper truths. I’m aware this doesn’t sound great but it works somehow, I can imagine rereading this one.
69. Milkman by Anna Burns I just realised I read two (extremely different!) books in succession with nameless narrators. In fact all characters remain nameless in the 1970s Northern Ireland set Milkman, instead given titles such as maybe-boyfriend, tablets girl and Somebody McSomebody. Not an easy read, this definitely required concentration! Bizarrely reading it on my phone due to a broken kindle helped with this: the long sentences and paragraphs without breaks were perhaps more manageable looking on small screen as they appeared in shorter sections! I did read this aloud in my head (if that makes any sense) which helped the flow and my understanding, perhaps so should be doing this with every book. Very funny in parts but also extremely shocking: terrible losses and violence are matter of factly told when the conversational tone has pulled you into a sense of security. It took me a long time to read as it is just so different but is worth the effort.

Like toomuchsplother, I now need a page turner I can get through in a few days!

Tarahumara I'm so glad you enjoyed A Spy Among Friends. It’s a shocking read isn’t it? I listened to it straight after reading A Very English Scandal and thought that similar themes of “Oh well an English gentleman could never possibly do that!” ran throughout both. That culture of the establishment looking away because of trust in the class system leading to in Philby's case so many horrible deaths.
I can see myself giving it as a Christmas present to quite a few people.

BestIsWest am very jealous you have a local roost. I'm constantly looking out for rooks now and only coming up with crows. The author has uploaded a few videos of his giant roost on YouTube but I want to see one for real now. Never seen a murmuration either. More additions for the bucket list.

ShakeItOff great reviews of the Wolitzer and the Barker. Will be putting both on my to read lists.
The Warmth of Other Suns is truly an amazing book. I took my time listening to it as every part of the three oral histories and supporting historical evidence was fascinating. To my absolute shame I simply had no idea about what life was like for black people living in the South under Jim Crow, and how far into the 20th century the caste system and violence stretched. Absolutely no wonder the US now has a legacy of black lives matter. Have just started Bluebird Bluebird which is set in modern day Texas and only a few chapters in there is a reference to Jim Crow and the great migration north which I would have completely missed if I hadn’t read the Wilkerson.

Yes big surprise that White Teeth is on ‘must read’ lists. Some of the writing is excellent. The next time I have an argument with my sister about cultural appropriation and black womens’ hair I'm going to give her the hairdressers scenes in White Teeth and Americanah and then she can get back to me.
Other parts were so, urgh, flabby. I was the only person in my book club who finished it.

35 Everything I never told you – Celeste Ng
This is the tale of a Chinese/American family in the 1970`s when mixed marriages were frowned upon. I loved Ng's writing and the way she portrayed the 3 children of the family made me take each one of them to my heart.

I read Ng's second novel first (and thought it was fantastic also) but this one has affected me much more. I finished Everything I never told you a few days ago and can't settle to read anything else as I'm still thinking about Lydia's terrible fate and the very profound way each of the children was affected by the couple's parenting.
Do we have any info about a 3rd novel??

I can see what you mean Pepe. I picked it up out of curiosity and was in the right mindset for it so it really worked for me, but if I was in a different frame of mind when reading it might not have done. Spooky stories can be very mood dependent, I find. I love MR James, for example, but if I'm not in the right mood then a story I know and find creepy may do nothing for me.

69. Calamity by Brandon Sanderson

Final book in his Reckoners trilogy.

David and his trusty band of Reckoners continue their quest to find a way to get the super powered Epics to overcome the violently murderous urges that come with their powers.

Good end to the trilogy, overall entertaining easy reading if you like reading about superheroes.

74 The Fishing Fleet: Husband-hunting in the Raj by Anne de Courcy

The story of the British women who went (or were sent) out to the Raj to find husbands, at a time when there were huge numbers of single British men out there, and a 'surplus' of middle/upper class women at home.

This was interesting, but ultimately didn't live up to my expectations. The stories focus almost entirely on the latter days of the Raj, from 1900 onwards, which I thought was a shame, and there's a great deal of detail about individual girls' courtships which doesn't really come together into a coherent whole. There are a couple of later chapters about the realities of married life for these women which are much more interesting, and I wish they'd been more developed. Not anywhere near as good as the Husband Hunters (about American women marrying titled British men) by the same author which I read a while back.

42. One of Your Own: The Life and Death of Myra Hindley – Carol Ann Lee. Supposedly a biography of Hindley, this dwelled too much on what was going on around her and not on the subject herself. There was also too much description and not enough evaluation, until the final chapter. Having read this and some other books about M.H I believe her claims that she was sexually and physically attacked by Brady and threatened by him but definitely also think now that she was as evil as him – indeed, I was surprised to read for the first time that they shared sick fantasies about children before the killings and after they were charged and separately imprisoned. I'm no doctor but there was something badly wrong in her wiring. Apart from her despicable crimes, it speaks volumes about this person that up until she died in 2002, she painted herself as a victim, and continued to make spiteful remarks about some of the victims parents, who (rightfully) fought to keep her in prison. Well-sourced, thought-provoking but badly edited, I'd recommend the book if you're into true crime and your stomach can take it.

43. Sabrina - Nick Drnaso. This is the 2018 Man booker long-listed graphic novel about the effects a tragedy has on two characters set in middle America in the present day. I found the panel sequencing confusing to understand and some of the characters looked alike. Maybe I'm not suited for graphic novels but I'm glad I tried it.

44. Brighton Rock – Graham Greene. God, this was boring. Couldn’t get into it at all - I thought the story was confusing, the characters impenetrable, and I regret not giving up. Modern classic my flabby arse.

45. The Red House Mystery - A.A Milne. Tedious murder mystery with next to no characterisation. I think the author should have stuck to writing about Winnie-the-Pooh and war poems.

The cheery reading theme continues with Sharp Objects which so far is great.

I studied Brighton Rock at O Level - hated it, although every G Greene I've read since I've enjoyed far more so was sure it was my youthful lack of appreciation, maybe I was more discerning than I thought!

I read Brighton Rock at 15 and it became one of my favourite books. Have reread a few times.

I hadn’t read many novels where a take-no-shit Guiness drinking middle aged woman is the soul of the story and fell in love with it and read everything else I could get my hands on by him.

I think southeast and I might have a low key remus/cote thing going on in terms of polar opposite taste in books though

I’ve just given up Heart’s Invisible Furies after it didn’t get better (did you like that one south? )

Read 40. How to Break Up With Your Phone

A self-explanatory quick read that was quite interesting on the nature of technology addiction and with a helpful strategy for minimising your interaction with a device that is designed to get you salivating like Pavlov’s dog, whilst acknowledging and maximising its usefulness. I’m not a heavy user so don’t need to go too drastic but as I work from home it still annoys me how much I get dragged into it. I’ve already put a few ideas into use and found a difference. If anyone is interested it is only 99p on Kindle.

I’ve just started Everything I Never Told You; enjoying so far.

41. Good Morning, Midnight - Jean Rhys

Written three decades before Wide Sargasso Sea, the only other book by Rhys that I was previously aware of, this is an unflinching, often brutal, but compassionate portrait of the life of a young woman in 1930s Paris who drifts from bar to bar, job to job and through the company of variously seedy and unreliable men men. Although I'd hesitate to call it an enjoyable read, it's undoubtedly moving and Rhys is one hell of a writer.

Some good deals on Kindle for 99p inc The Thornbirds, Maggie O’Farrell I am I am I am, V S Naipaul Mr Biswas

I was also interested to see your review of the Meg Wolitzer book, shakeitoff - I saw the film of The Wife (based on one of her books) the other day, which made me look up her other work. The Female Persuasion is still hardback only, but it sounds like The Interestings could be a good one to start with.

I also studied Brighton Rock for GCSE and loved it, although my favourite Graham Greene is The Power and the Glory. Awesome.

44. The Dry by Jane Harper Melbourne detective Aaron Falk returns to the drought-stricken small country community in which he grew up, to pay his respects after an old schoolfriend and his family are found dead, in a presumed murder-suicide. Falk himself had been implicated in the death of a girl many years ago, and so is not given a warm welcome. He stays to uncover the truth behind all of the deaths.

The story was as bleak as the landscape, and it was very atmospheric. Most of the characters were a bit sketchy, but the plot raced along enough that I didn't mind.

I had a wander around Barter Books in Alnwick yesterday. Picked up two books - A Glass of Blessings, by Barbara Pym and It Ends with Revelations, by Dodie Smith. Gulped down the first one last night. While I'm a BP fan, I never quite liked that book - too annoyed by Wilmet, and how sheltered and idle she is. Liked it better this time round, seeing her as calm centre around which other things happen (with BP, it's never quite the eye of the storm), belatedly realising all the clues she has missed.

I'm slowly working my way through The Secret Barrister, by Anonymous. It feels like an important read, though not a page-turner. It sometimes makes my blood pressure rise (cynical political penny-pinching meaning that the CPS and others simply can't do their job properly) and sometimes drags a bit. The author sprinkles in just enough information about individual cases to keep the reader's interest, but a lot of it is polemic - important polemic, but not always the liveliest of reads.

33. The Hacienda: How not to run a club, by Peter Hook. Hmmm. There are many entertaining stories within this book but it's such a sprawling ramble that they get lost. This could have done with some serious editing (and perhaps a bit less self-pity). The author talks at length about how bitter he feels about losing so much money to The Hacienda, but when you read the details of how badly run it was for so many years, it's hard to feel too much sympathy. Good, and very funny, in parts but overall has the effect of a drunk man yelling at you at a party. Exhausting!

34. Feel Free, by Zadie Smith. Really loved this. A book of essays that covers a huge range of topics, from book reviews to personal essays, and interviews to philosophy. At times this really hurt my brain but my goodness it made me think, and the writing is uniformly beautiful. I borrowed this from the library but will buy a copy when it comes out in paperback.

91: All Things Wise and Wonderful – James Herriot
92: Every Living Thing – James Herriot

Two Herriots in a row, because sometimes you’ve just got to wallow there! Slow reads, because of being very busy with work and also having a bit of a social life, but just lovely.

Taken me a while to come back largely because the second of the two books below coincided with a very busy period at work and isn't an easy read.

43. Serenity: Leaves On The Wind. Cheating a bit, this is a comic miniseries (in a single book) about the characters in Joss Whedon's series Firefly, and subsequent film Serenity. Zipped through it but enjoyed meeting the characters again and the illustrations are fun.

44. Milkman by Anna Burns. I did intend to read more of the Booker shortlist but things just went crazy at work so I had too much to do and this is the only one I've read. I thought it was an amazing achievement, but goodness me it wasn't easy to read. The narrative voice is fantastically sustained but the language is dense (I agree with others' suggestion of trying to 'read it aloud' in your head) and the narrator digresses and wanders off all over the place. I really liked that, but it means it's a very hard book to read quickly. There is a plot, but the book meanders in and out of it and all over the place. The joy is in the language and the characters and - for me, as I grew up not in Northern Ireland but, as my username suggests, on the Celtic fringes - the evocation of an insular community. It is astonishing how universal the author manages to make the story in that respect, despite the very specific setting of the story against the backdrop of the Troubles, and the constant threat from bombs/shootings/beatings. I am really glad I read it but advise any others looking to do so to set aside a good amount of time in a quiet room! As I haven't read any of the others I'm not really qualified to say whether it should win, but I do think it's an extraordinary book.

Going to move on to Stephen King's The Dark Tower next and see how I get on.