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.

Thank you for the welcomes to the thread SatsukiKusakabe and Toomuchsplother - I love reading everyone's thoughts on their various recent reads so will try to do more than 3 or 4 words after I've read my next few books.

I really like the sound of Dogs of War by Adrian Tchaikovsky Sadik - definitely putting it on my to-read list.

Hello also Merry!

Have a lovely holiday Remus, are you going anywhere nice?

If England is still having glorious weather, Cornwall might well rival Greece! I do like the sound of Circe- did anyone read the children’s version of The Oddyssey that Tony Robinson read (and possibly wrote) on a children’s TV show, possibly jackanory, in the early 90s? And if so, do I recall correctly hat it was jolly good and I should try and find a copy?

(Piggy, I think they are a little young for it, but they seem bright kids. I might push for Animal Farm if they ask me to carry on till next year!).

111. Circe - Madeline Miller This was stunning. Definitely my read of the summer if not of the year. Such a clever and beautiful retelling of the myth of Circe. I studied the Iliad and The Odyssey at Uni but it was a loooong time ago. I have just looked up reviews on Good Reads and was surprised to see so many 1 star views. Major gripes seem to be 'nothing happens' - REALLY!!!???- and they didn't like the plot! Well take that one up with Ancient Greece then I guess!!
Definitely going to look out for Song of Achilles and very very jealous of Pepe being able to read this on a beach in Crete.

Ooh, new thread. Will transfer my list later, but first... has anyone checked the Kindle daily deals? The customer image on the Conn Iggulden - what the hell? am I seeing things?

I am off on holiday too and am taking with me my half finished Waterland : what a soggy book that is. I have been through the God Forsaken fens many times and live on the River Ouse so I feel like I am taking the actual book away on a holiday! The copy I have is stolen borrowed from my school library and actually dates back to 1984! It smells old and fusty and the pages are yellowed, bless it. It has been borrowed 5 times in all those years. I am reading it because I pledged to read all the books on the A level spec. I am enjoying it very much but can only imagine the very ablest A level students getting it.

I am also taking more conventional holiday reads The Summer of Impossible Things and Force of Nature since I read The Dry last year on holiday. I reckon they'll be shit.

Then Vanity Fair when I get back before it comes on telly!

corvus er yes - very odd!

toomuch @ take it up with Ancient Greece.

I got The Heart’s Invisible Furies to take as well as it has been very well reviewed here in balance so giving it a go. Also taking The Rotter’s Club.

Rotter's Club is also an A Level book I need to read!

Well, not need.. want to educate myself!

I've nearly finished The Heart’s Invisible Furies and very much enjoying it. Review coming this weekend.

piggy my dh just read and loved it. It was a charity shop buy as I’ve not read any Jonathan Coe. Didn’t know it was a set text. Waterland was my best friend’s favourite book after she did it at A Level.

I’ll look forward to it south

I too haven't read Coe. I feel like there is a kind of secreted annex of the syllabus that was written by a man in his late 50s... there's not a chance anyone will study them though these days as the rival texts are Handmaid's Tale, Atonement, Tess, and I think a Bronte...

Both Charlotte and Emily (just looked it up) and Gatsby are on there. Also Mill On The Floss which I have once taught and love but cna't imagine sixth formers reading it now. Someone had water on the brain when setting the books : God Of Small Things is also on there!

Those who liked Circe - did you also like Song of Achilles equally as much (if you've read it)? I thought Song was OK, but not a patch on Mary Renault.

Just finished 70 The Tenant of Wildfell Hall by Anne Bronte

What the HELL?!!

Wtf just happened there at the end?

I'm going to need to read a whole series of reviews explaining why such an amazing proto-feminist book has THAT ending.

Anne, mate, I am seriously disappointed

sadi , Song of Achilles is one of the very few books I have not been able to finish. I may just have not been in the zone. Conversely, I really liked Circe and read it in three days.

Oh, I loved The Rotter's Club. And The Closed Circle and What a Carve Up!. Perfect holiday reading.

38. The Cows by Dawn O'Porter. This book features three women - Tara, a TV producer who gets involved in an internet shaming incident, Cam, an internet blogger who makes a point of never wanting children, and Stella, who is recovering from family tragedies that have made her sad and bitter. Decent chick lit with a strong feminist vibe, I enjoyed this although I found some parts a bit cringey / predictable (the working mum sneering internally at the SAHMs at the school gate, then later finding out there's more to them than she had realised - that kind of thing).

39. Mount! by Jilly Cooper. I loved a bit of Jilly (Rivals and Riders) back in the day. This one is so OTT it feels almost like Jilly is taking the piss out of her own style! Sex, betrayal, horses etc. I found it so very silly that I had to stop reading at times and read a bit of something else, but I finished it in the end!

Sadik, no - I didn’t love Song of Achilles. It wasn’t terrible, by any means, but it certainly didn’t have the beauty and wildness of Circe.

I enjoyed both very much but I think Achilles has the edge for me, maybe just because I enjoyed his story more.

Has anyone read The Bookshop by Penelope Fitzgerald? It's on daily deal today, and I quite fancy it based on the blurb, but found the characters in only other one of hers I've read (The Gate of Angels) a bit puppet-like. Beautiful writing, mind.

I might wait & see if Circe comes into the library or on daily deal. (If any Achilles lovers haven't read Mary Renault - particularly The King Must Die / The Bull from the Sea & the Alexander trilogy, then you should... )

Apparently the new Pat Barker book in a similar vein is also fantastic.

Sadik I am sure I picked Circe up on daily deal a while ago so it might come back on. I have noticed the same books often go around in cycles.

Just started The Sealwoman's gift. Really Impressed so far. Might have two standouts back to back which would be nice after a relative dry spell. Enjoying reading 'real books' again after the last 10 or so on my Kindle. Only so long I can go without holding a physical book.

I feel composed enough now to write my review of The Tenant of Wildfell Hall. Does anyone else feel a bit daft trying to write a review of a classic? I certainly can’t give it a star rating, “er yes sorry Miss Bronte you are only going to get four stars from me because I don’t think the structure of the book quite works!”

Anyway, it is excellent, (even though I hate the ending), and I'm very glad to have read it. It’s the diary of Helen Huntington, the abused wife of the alcoholic and adulterous Arthur who escapes with her child to live a new life as Helen Graham, the mysterious new tenant of Wildfell Hall. Her diary is sandwiched between the narrative of Gilbert Markham, a gentleman farmer who is writing to his brother in law to explain the circumstances of his relationship with Helen. The structure of letter, diary (written down verbatim within the letter) followed by letter was an interesting means of telling Helen and Gilbert's story, and sort of worked for me [Anne: bothered!] even though my God it's the longest letter ever written.

Certainly Helen's diary packs the biggest punch. It is shocking, even for a modern reader. I can just imagine why it got the response it did when it was first published. Having read When I Hit You earlier this year its desperate to read so many of Kandasamy's experiences echoed in Helen's. Christ the perpetual and repetivive narrative of the abused wife . You are really cheering Helen on when she finally has enough and goes, such a dangerous and radical move for her time (think a shade of Handmaid's Tale ).

And then there is Gilbert, who I still have no idea what to make of and why Anne rewards him thus at the end.

A tough, dark, multilayered and fascinating read. I might make up a new ending in my head, the one Anne really wanted to do but didn’t dare, and then go give it five stars on Goodreads.

I was on a long waitlist for Circe at library then manned it on daily deal. I’ve seen it in people’s hands out and about a bit this summer.

I’ve never read Mary Renault sadik so have made a note.

That’s good to know turn I have Closed Circle too - coe has a new book coming out this year with the same characters, Middle England if you’re a fan.

Scribbly yes the structure I felt let the book down somewhat. I think it is there where it falls short of what her sisters managed artistically, though the story is more real and compelling in lots of ways. I think a happy ending with Gilbert would have been nice but it was a bit out of the frying pan and into the stalker.

TurnOfTheScrew, I’ve read The Bookshop. It was a fairly easy and undemanding read, and certainly worth 99p. I got so cross with all the terrible people in the town by the end.