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.

33. Surely You're Joking, Mr Feynman - Richard Feynman

Part memoir, part collection of musings about anything that took the interest of the brilliant Nobel physicist - so along with the Manhattan Project and plenty of maths and physics there's art, music, education, and rather a lot about chasing after attractive blonde girls. He's engaging on every topic while being honest and puncturing pretension wherever he meets it.

Remus I think we just have vastly different tastes and expectations re: what we want from a book, for example I rarely read for plot so find Christie immensely dull. I've enjoyed the Joan Hickson and Margaret Rutherford versions of Miss Marple, but more because I like their performances. I like Sayers as I think she's interesting on the impact of the war, and her approach to other ethnic groups is less overtly problematic than Christie's.

@Cote That looks really interesting, adding it to my list

39. The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao Junot Díaz Listened to the audiobook of this and first I must say, the narration by Lin Manuel Miranda was wonderful. I really enjoyed sections. I didn’t know much about the history of the Dominican Republic or the Trujillo dictatorship and this book is a brutal but fascinating and affecting introduction. There’s some interestingly female characters and histories, interspersed with a whole lot of violent misogyny and rape culture which, whilst depressingly realistic dis bring me down a bit as a reader/listener. And then there’s the nerdy title character and his endless quest to get laid, which I had no interest in. I’ve not much interest in Tolkien, comic books or geek boy culture generally, so whilst taking the author/narrator’s word for it that this is a very different brand of masculinity to the prevailing Dominican macho ideal, I couldn’t get all excited about the many many references to watchmen or LOTR or the matrix or whatever. And Oscar may present a more gentle form of masculinity but to me it was just as toxic, the ‘nice, unsuccessful with women dorky guy’ who pretends friendship whilst objectifying every woman he meets and only seeing them as a possible means to finally getting laid. If the author was highlighting how insidious and entitled the ‘nice guy’ thing is then I’d say it was genius, but I couldn’t shake the depressing feeling I was supposed to be rooting for Oscar and think the risks he was happy to expose women to in order to follow his —penis— heart were somehow romantic.

AliasGrape - unfortunately I think your reading of Junot Diaz may be correct: www.vox.com/2018/5/10/17323642/metoo-junot-diaz-allegations-nobel-literature-prize

More details: bookriot.com/2018/05/04/junot-diaz-accused-of-metoo-misconduct/

@exexpat urgh
I’m going back to only reading women authors I think. Or dead ones.

cote enjoyed the sample and have reserved at library sounds really interesting.

Good review of the Diaz grape

dottie am I missing something with the Christie conversation - this was remus review:

Not one of her best – it all got pretty silly and the motive/method all lacked credibility. Wasn’t it the other book you disagreed on? No one claims Christie for high art, they’re cosy crime comfort reads if that’s what you’re after. I loved Joan Hickson too, but whodunnits in general are not my cup of tea.

alias I actually made it a thing this year to read more female writers - or find more that I liked - I was over balanced the other way by quite a margin. I’ve managed to get it 20/10 the so far this year, but seem to have read a lot less overall.

My list is about 60% female so far. On the whole, the books I have preferred have been by women. As have the turkeys, though.

I’ve had an even split of faves I think. I have been picking up ones by women that I would have dismissed last year as not being for me, and made some pleasant discoveries.

My list this year is approx two-thirds female, one-third male. And it looks like my favourites are similarly split.

Bringing across my list - highlights in bold:

1. A Gentleman in Moscow - Amor Towles
2. Alone in Berlin - Hans Fallada

1. Belgravia Julian Fellowes

4. Bel Canto - Ann Patchett

1. Curtain Call - Anthony Quinn

6. Life after Life - Kate Atkinson

1. Little Women - Louisa May Alcott
2. Ghost Moth - Michele Forbes
3. I See You - Clare Mackintosh

10. The Book Thief - Markus Zusak 11. The Cuckoo's Calling - Robert Galbraith 12. The Silkworm - Robert Galbraith 13. Career of Evil - Robert Galbraith 14. The Wonder - Emma Donoghue 15. The Homecoming : Morland Dynasty 24 - Cynthia Harrod-Eagles 16. The Question : Morland Dynasty 25 - Cynthia Harrod-Eagles 17. The Dream Kingdom: Morland Dynasty 26 - Cynthia Harrod-Eagles 18. Ordeal by Innocence - Agatha Christie 19. Why I'm no longer talking to white people about race - Reni Eddo-Lodge 20. Outline - Rachel Cusk 21. Seven stones to stand or fall - Diana Gabaldon 22. Never Mind - Edward St Aubyn 23. Bad News - Edward St Aubyn 24. Some Hope - Edward St Aubyn 25. Mother's Milk - Edward St Aubyn 26. At Last - Edward St Aubyn 27. A God in Ruins - Kate Atkinson 28. Pillars of the Earth Ken Follett 29. Reservoir 13 - Jon McGregor 30. Painter to the King - Amy Sackville

And have just finished:

31. World Without End - Ken Follett - following on from my earlier read of Pillars of the Earth. Very similar to Pillars in that it is set in the same fictional cathedral town but 200 years later and focuses on the interplay between church / monarch / nobility set against the backdrop of the plague. The same split between characters with no redeeming features and those who you are meant to be rooting for. Thoroughly enjoyed it! Has anybody read the new one Column of Fire?

Going to RTFT and start my next book which has been recommended by one of the DC - The Child - Fiona Barton

Satsuki Am I missing something? I was just replying to Remus's last post re: Chen versus Christie? I thought it was a polite response, was it a problem in some way?

*because a writer knows about Chinese history and culture, it doesn't mean he/she needs to ram in pages and pages of back story about it just to prove that.

And I'm no cheerleader for Christie, but at least she doesn't bore me for huge chunks of her novels.*

My point was that I prefer Chen and the detail of Chinese culture to Christie because, from my perspective, all Christie has going for her is plot, and I rarely read for plot. So on that basis, given Remus's list and mine, what I find interesting Remus may find boring and vice-versa. However we do have areas of overlap like Sayers, so I'm hoping that the Keun which I championed on a earlier thread is one of those. However since Sayers is technically linked to Christie as both associated with Golden Age crime, I wanted to clear up the possible contradiction, as some could say Sayers plot-driven. So wanted to make it clear that I like Sayers because her novels are more thoughtful; also less blatantly racist/anti-Semitic than Christie. Christie I don't think can be 'excused' as a product of her time as still inserting these kinds of comments in work as late as the 60s, and so blatant US editions were often re-written to cut out her worst excesses.

@Satsuki I’m at 24 by women to 15 by men so far this year. A few years ago I did only female authors for a long stretch, can’t remember if it was the full year or not but I was certainly very aware of choosing female authors and like you made some very pleasant discoveries. I’m trying to be more aware of choosing BAME authors too - not a foolproof system though as the Junot Díaz episode has shown. Not for any virtue signally reason really, I just find things like this thread and the popsugar challenge I’ve been doing highlight how samey my reading can get at times.

Satsuki so I guess for me hard to find Christie 'cosy' or 'comforting'! I do 'read against the grain' and 'excuse' as much as possible, if I didn't I couldn't have studied English Lit., or read very much of anything and certainly very little that is not contemporary, but there are limits to how much I can comfortably do that and for me Christie is one of those.

Sorry dottie I’m not saying you were impolite at all - it’s just that when you said you had vastly different tastes you focussed on the Christie thing, when from the outside it didn’t seem like you were actually coming from so dissimilar a standpoint based on remus’s review! There’s no problem I was just trying to follow the conversation and finding it interesting, I have a lot of crime-lovers to buy for come Christmas

Well, as I said, I'm no cheerleader for Christie but do think some of the Poroit ones aren't bad at all for light reads. Sure their attitude to other races is a problem, of course it is, but of course they are a product of their time - racism didn't disappear because the 1960s began.

Personally, I'd rather have Christie at her best than Sayers who, in my opinion, needs some serious editing, or the Inspector Chen book which I maintain I thought badly written, and not because I only 'read for plot', because I really don't.

Anyway, can't be bothered to argue. The beauty of these threads, usually, is that people are allowed to disagree. I feel like I'm being made to champion Christie even though I actually disliked the book of hers I reviewed!

@AliasGrape Yes same - I studied postcolonial lit so always read quite widely but found recently I was choosing books from quite a limited range and didn’t want to get so set in my ways. Also a certain degree of putting my money where my mouth is regarding what I want to see more of out there - whether that’s graphic novels written by women or whatever, I can vote a bit with my library ticket

Anyway, can't be bothered to argue. The beauty of these threads, usually, is that people are allowed to disagree.

Well I thought they were too, so was puzzled as I seemed to be being pulled up for disagreeing, when others are far more forthright and nobody seems to mind. But Satsuki explained that wasn't what she intended so fine. And I don't agree with censorship or wouldn't allow OH's collection of adventure stories which I'm sure are deeply xenophobic. But for me when you say 'Sure their attitude to other races is a problem' about Christie, it's more personal than that for me I AM those 'other' races.

I think the thing was that you were criticising Christie against the Chen, as if I'd been in raptures against the Christie, which I really hadn't. And I still think it's possible to enjoy a book without having to agree with every aspect of the writer's views. That doesn't mean I'm just dismissing those attitudes though.

Anyway - there are books to read, so we'll have to just agree to disagree now. I'm still not entirely sure what we're disagreeing about, to be honest, other than that you like the Chen books and I didn't like the first one much.

So when you say Christie 'a product of her time' we will have to agree to disagree, I don't have a problem with other people reading her. I can put up with quite a lot, it should be clear that I read a lot from earlier periods from my list, but I can't stomach Christie. Clearly a lot of other people agree or her US editions wouldn't have had to be rewritten.

Fine - we've established that you don't like Christie. However, you appear to have mistaken me for somebody who is a huge fan of hers, complete with a Poirot tattoo and all of the t-shirts. I'm not, but I stand by my belief that her views, clearly flawed, were a product of time and place, and I stand by the fact that I'll probably read others of hers at some point, and maybe even enjoy some of them.

And now that really is all I've got to say about it! :)

x-posted, I don't know either but before this turns into 'why I'm no longer talking to white people about books' let's drop this shall we?

Missed your last post, think it's best if I drop off the thread, I've met the challenge and then some...