50 Book Challenge 2019 Part One

[southeastdweller]

Welcome to the first thread of the 50 Book Challenge for this year.

The challenge is to read fifty books (or more!) in 2019, though reading fifty isn't mandatory. Any type of book can count, and please try to let us all know your thoughts on what you've read.

Who's in for this year?

I've got that book, brizzle - on the tbr pile, though. Concretopia by John Grindrod. I think that must be it

7. Death wore white - Jim Kelly. Murder mystery set on the North Norfolk coast, the reason I selected it as the area is much loved by my family. A small group of people are stranded with their cars by a sudden snow storm and one of them is murdered but no-one saw the murder and the murderer escaped without leaving any footprints in the snow. It was okay, it's the first in a series following two detectives so introduced them as characters. Will probably read another in the series to see if it perks up a bit (although I'm now on a book no spend year after yesterday's count of my TBR books so it might be a while before I get to the second book).

Concretopia

Yes! Thank you.
I've just finished The Best Friend by Shalini Boland. It was fairly good,quite a quick read but not as good as The Child next door or The Millionaires Wife

#10 is Triple Crown by Felix Francis, I'm a big Dick Francis fan as I love horses. So far it's good, I'll read others by him.

I've just remembered that I've actually read Estates (and though it good IIRC, but had forgotten the title)

I might go for Poverty Safari as my next audible choice - I like books read by the author, which this one is, and generally get on better with non-fiction for listening while working. This month I've got The Stopping Places by Damien le Bas which I'm really enjoying so far.

1. Eleanor Oliphant by Gail Honeyman.

I think this has been much reviewed on these threads so probably no need for me to summarize the plot. I finished this very quickly. I was slightly dismissive in the beginning but after a while, I found it rather charming and became more engrossed in it. I'm also a sucker for 'good overcomes evil' narratives!

Not sure what to read next. I've got lots on my TBR pile. Think I will go for Dear Mrs Bird....

4: The Princess Bride – William Goldman -

Reviewed a couple of times below. This was a re-read, and, as with my previous reading of it, I thought the asides were too long and the 'here's how it all came about' stuff was very long-winded, but the story and characters are just wonderful. I might have to watch the film later.

The ending of Picnic at Hanging Rock was linked to on here last year, I think. I read it and hated it, so suspect her publishers mad her take it out because it was ridiculous. It's definitely better left hanging (see what I did there?).

I felt cheated by The Luminaries. I enjoyed lots of it, but then it fell really flat at the end and I just couldn't see the point of having invested so many hours/pages.

@EmGee I hated Dear Mrs Bird I would be very interested to hear your thoughts if you do read it.

6 Only the Dead Can Tell by Alex Gray

Latest in a police procedural crime series set in Glasgow. Good but like so many series, getting weaker with each subsequent book.

Ordinary People by Diana Evans

This has been on my wish list for ages & I was thrilled to find it in the library last week. But I can't get on with it at all - I've given up after about 60+ pages. I dislike the way she writes, verbose & boring & there seemed to be little development of the characters.

I used to feel obliged to finish books I'd started but I don't anymore. Life's too short & there are too many books to read.

3. Bookworm: A Memoir of Childhood Reading - Lucy Mangan
I'm roughly the same age as the author and had many common reading experiences in my childhood. Milly, Molly, Mandy for one! I was always to be found with my nose in a book growing up and recall my Dad frequently yelling at me to go outside and get some fresh air.

The sections that covered books I missed out on, or have never been into, were considerably less interesting but I like her writing style and enjoyed her sense of humour.

Can't believe this has taken me almost the whole thread to read and review. Although, this thread has moved very fast and this book is a massive 700+ pages...

Fire and Blood: A History of the Targaryen Kings from Aegon the Conqueror to Aegon III as scribed by Archmaester Gyldayn - George R R Martin

I will preface this review by stating that as a student of psychoanalytic psychotherapy, I love back story and think it is the foundation on which all epic tales are built. It builds layers upon layers of context and gives characters their depth and drive.

I was thrilled to receive this at Christmas and happily plunged straight in. The first half of the book was more enjoyable, introducing us to Aegon the Conquerer, his two sister-queens and their dragons. After the chapters concerning the reign of Jaehaerys and Alisanne, I rather lost interest which was a shame as this should have been the climax of the book - The Dance of the Dragons, where Targaryen siblings turn on each other.

It was at this point that GRRM brought in so many characters, listing name after name, only to kill them off pages later. It made it difficult to keep track of everything that was going on. There were many side stories that ran alongside the main plot which whilst interesting, felt superfluous.

Overall, the book felt unnecessarily long, and the chapters lacked what I like to think of as 'pause points', so it felt like putting the book down mid sentence every time I had to stop reading. There were plenty of beautiful illustrations throughout and a much needed family tree to help with the identification and relationships of the characters.

I certainly enjoyed it, but will not hurry to read the second volume when it is published.

8 To Throw Away Unopened by Viv Albertine

Oh this was so good! I loved Clothes Clothes Clothes and occasionally remind myself to “be more punk, be more Viv”, but this was in a different league and I’m not sure why it took me so long to get round to it. It’s a pitiless account of her mother’s death, her relationships with her family, her love for her daughter, her disenchantments with men and her take on ageing. I empathised so much with the tiny details of single parenting and the rage I increasingly feel about terrible men. And her account of weekend away with the feckless loser Eryk was just extraordinary in its honesty. And some of the observation was wonderful - “I get the same lurching thrill now when I’m about to sit down to an egg mayonnaise sandwich and a packet of plain crisps as I used to get when I fancied someone”. I’m going to buy copies for every woman over the age of 40 I think may appreciate this. After coming across “does this book need me to read it?” as a guide to what to read, the answer in this case is “absolutely yes”. If this doesn’t make my top ten at the end of the year it will have been an outstanding year of reading.

1. Libation Bearers - 2nd tragedy in the Oresteia. Hamlet-esque storyline; Orestes has come to avenge the murder of his father by his uncle and mother. Exits pursued by the Furies.

1. Emma - really enjoyed re-reading this novel as I could piece together better what was actually happening behind the scenes. The biting wit was very amusing, and Mr Knightley and Mrs Elton are classics! I get the sense Jane Austen really enjoyed writing this story, and I did get very fond of Emma by the end.

pepe I missed both of these when they came out but I think I’d really like to read them. Good review.

satsuki, they are both so good. I hope you enjoy them as much as I did - will look forward to hearing what you think. The second is definitely much less fun (less punk, more death), but still a wonderful memoir. Have you read M Train by Patti Smith? That’s another great post-punk middle age memoir.

3. Gillespie and I - Harriet is a spinster who befriends the family of an artist in Glasgow, and the book is her record of the events that took place during the friendship. It was a slow starter, with lovely descriptions of Glasgow and touches of humour, but the story became chilling as you start to question Harriet's version of the story (I don't want to say more). I did find the final third a bit slow and drawn out - there were a few reveals and small details to consider but I had worked most of it out and was waiting for a twist or event that never happened. Over all I enjoyed it though and would recommend giving it a read.

I started This is Going to Hurt today and I'm racing through it. Funny but shocking.

It is taking me sooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo long to read The Shadow of The Wind. On p320 now so getting there. It needs a character list at the beginning!

Pepe I definitely get the same thrill from an egg mayonnaise sandwich and a packet of plain crisps as I used to get when I fancied someone, so I think I must be part of the target audience for the book you describe...

I'm still working my way through Frankenstein and Islam and the Future of Tolerance. I'm listening to the latter, and I'm glad. It's basically a very interesting conversation between Sam Harris and Maajid Nawaz (the latter being far more interesting), but makes for uncomfortable listening. I think that's a good thing though, and I wonder how my perception will shift now I'm nearly finished and am just listening to the questions (and their answers) that readers of the first edition sent to Harris and Nawaz.

3. Asymmetry – Lisa Halliday

Really enjoyed this one. Quirky but good. The novel consists of two seemingly unconnected novellas and a third part made up of a fictionalised Desert Island Discs transcript with one of the protagonists from the first novella.

The first story focuses on twenty- something Alice’s relationship with a much older man in New York after a chance meeting. No time period is specified but background news reports indicate that this is the early 2000’s. He is an established, successful author and fabulously rich, she has a lowly job in publishing and is relatively poor. The second part focuses on Iraqui-American Amar, several years later. He is being detained at Heathrow airport by border security and reflects on his life so far living between America and Iraq, and the plight of his brother living in Iraq.

This was a deceptively easy book to read as her prose style was really engaging and drew me into the story. I really felt as if I was there, in New York, the various Iraqui locations and then in London. However, I feel it would definitely benefit from a re-read because a well as spinning a good yarn, Halliday is also making important points about fiction and truth, the haves and the have nots, the relationship between the affluent USA and The Middle East, men and women, and so on. Since finishing the book, I’ve been mulling over all these points in attempt to connect all the dots. Surprisingly meaty.

My list so far

1. Normal People by Sally Rooney

2. The Core by Peter V Brett , fifth and final instalment of a fantasy series. I really liked the first book, second one was fine. 3rd was OK, 4th boring but I read the 5th for closure. It's taken me so long to get through it - 850 pages. Don't bother!

3. Murder never misses by Faith Martin a Hillary Greene detective novel. I love Hillary Greene!

4. also reading The Wife I can't remember the author but I got the recommendation from this thread

And 5) Unsheltered by Barbara Kingsolver. The Poisonwood Bible is one of my favourite books. I'm always loyal to an author when I love even one of their books.

I've loads of recommendations from this thread now that I'm finished wading through The Core. Happy days

1. Never Mind The Quantocks by Stuart Maconie

This is a collection of columns he wrote for Country Walking magazine in around 2009/2010. Each column is short, so it’s a quick read. I like Maconie’s writing style, but I’m not a walker so not really the target audience for this - if you like walking you will get more out of it than I did. Also, it’s almost entirely about the Lake District, which I don’t know at all, so again if you know that area well you will probably enjoy it more. That’s not to say I didn’t like it though - it was a quick, gentle, lightly amusing read.

Pepe I loved Clothes, clothes, clothes... too, so I'm sure I'll read the new one at some point. I haven't read M Train by Patti Smith, but I thought Just Kids, about her relationship with Robert Mapplethorpe, was lovely.

Meanwhile, I have finished The Road today (my third book of the year). I wasn't too sure about the prose style: long, rambling sentences without punctuation or chapters (I'm sure this has probably already been discussed on these threads), but other than that it was very atmospheric and moving. I've now started The Tattooist of Auschwitz and I'm also enjoying Why Mummy Drinks and a couple of others. I can never seem to stick to just one book at a time!

Has anyone else started on Infinite Jest, by the way? I am wondering if we ought to start a separate mutual support thread...