50 Book Challenge 2019 Part Two

[southeastdweller]

Welcome to the second 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, 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.

What are you reading?

I've just bought Five Giants - I got a £10 Amazon voucher so I'll put it aside for some 'spare time' which will happen when I've finished my Masters I hope

S J Watson - Second Life - that difficult 2nd book for S J - 400odd pages of cliched drivel centred around a preposterous plot. that was my 15th book and I plan to be more discerning at least some of the minimum 35 others.

FranKatzenjammer - re "Thanks CoteDAzur, I'll look into those books. I'm a musician and early music buff, but I've never read them."

Ooh a fellow early music fan Please let me know if you have any book recommendations. At the moment, I'm working on Frescobaldi's Partite sopra 'La Monica' and would love to read a book about this period in music.

12. Holding - Graham Norton. Really wanted to like this book as I love Graham Norton but I found the story really bland. A body is discovered on farmland belonging to a young man who disappeared many years ago. The local policeman investigates the women who were romantically involved with him when he went missing. It was meant to be a wry look at life in a small Irish village where everyone knows everyone's business but felt it needed more oomph. A gentle read but definitely lacking.

13. This is going to hurt - Adam Kay. In contrast, I loved this. I recognised so much in this: the funny things patients say and do, the sadness and anger, the black humour needed to survive working in the NHS, how the NHS thinks so little of its employees, the sheer joy of "making a difference" one shift and sobbing your way through the next, the dedication of its employees, the reasons why people continue to work in healthcare and the reasons why they leave. I like his style of writing and felt that the detachment magnified the sadness. In balance, I have reserved the language of kindness by Chrissie Watson at the library.

Still working my way through Prisoners of geography. It's prompting a lot of Wikipedia-ing as I read.

Hi all. Can I join please?

One of my goals for this year is to read more. DD aged 2 means I have neglected this hobby - too tired, no time etc etc. I do read on the tube on the way to and from work and have made a conscious decision to read this year instead of trying to send work related emails or mindlessly scrolling through my phone!

I have read three books so far this year, which isn’t as much as some of you on here (HOW do you do it?!) but I am happy with that. Books so far include:

1. The Stork Club by Imogen Edwards-Jones. A compilation of her Telegraph columns detailing her journey to parenthood via a struggle with infertility and some other complications. I enjoyed it but primarily because I could relate due to some issues TTC.

2. A House Full of Daughters by Juliet Nicholson. Loved it. Juliet tells the story of her family going back through seven generations of women. Her grandmother was Vita Sackville West so it details how she came to own Sissinghurst. I enjoyed this story more when it was biographical, less when it became auto-biographical, however, I enjoyed reading the stories of each of the women (Particularly Victoria and Vita). Despite coming from a different world in terms of class and privilege, as well as different periods of time, I felt I could draw parallels with each of the women. Sometimes surprising, sometimes sad; I liked the writers honesty.

3. This is Going to Hurt by Adam Kay. At first I found this book very funny. I found myself laughing out loud on a few occasions. However soon he began to grate on me. Just over hallway through I began to find him irritating, smug, arrogant and just unlikable. When I reached the end I actually felt quite emotional and obviously sympathised with him and anyone working in similar roles. Overall I enjoyed it and think he did a good job of highlighting the struggle those working in our abused NHS face and how under threat this is. I have knowledge of the NHS due to my work and family members jobs, however I think this is an essential read for anyone unfamiliar with it… including ministers and MPs!

4. Have just started The Tattooist of Auschwitz. Already I am gripped and am debating whether this is one to read on the tube in case of a public emotional outburst! (My grandfather was a Polish Jew who escaped and made a life in England)

Next in my pile of books are Eleanor Oliphant, Sapiens and Educated by Tara Westover. I also have a book by Louise Wener on my Kindle about her time in the band Sleeper and the Brit Pop era – a light read and nostalgic trip back to my teenage years!

So that's where I am! Hopefully I have got the bold font and update right, and hopefully I continue reading a book a week! Look forward to getting inspiration from you all too.

MyHeartIsBroke, my grandparents were also Polish Jews who came to the UK. I do have Tattooist on my Kindle and will try and get round to it soon.

I enjoyed 10. At Last - Edward St Aubyn, the final book in the Patrick Melrose series. This last book is entirely based around Eleanor's funeral. I enjoyed the witty, intelligent prose although Mother's Milk is my favourite of the five. It's amazing how books about such deeply unpleasant people can be so good to read.

I'm on the go-slow as I am technically reading three books but nothing is matching up to the Karl Ove Knausgaard and I feel I should just crack on with the second volume. I need my fix of Norwegian, coffee drinking angst and self-reflection.

Welcome MyHeart and other new joiners!

1. Black Hole Blues and Other Songs From Outer Space by Janna Levin. The science behind this is basically that, when two black holes collide (or a similarly catastrophic astronomical event occurs) an enormous amount of energy is released, but in the form of gravitational waves, rather than light. So while we are unable to see the event, even with the most powerful of telescopes, we can hear it, via a machine built to detect the waves and convert them into sound (a bit like how the movement of plucking a guitar string is transformed into a sound). The book details the creation of just such a machine, the LIGO (Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory), from when it was first conceived as an idea in the 1960s to the first successful detection in 2015.

I loved the concept of this - the idea of listening to a tune played by planets and black holes really appealed to me. But perhaps not enough to read a whole book about it. There is one long section about all the squabbling and in-fighting between the various academics involved in the project, which I found rather tedious. Some fascinating bits but disappointing overall.

1. The Fellowship Of The Ring - JRR Tolkien

Pure comfort reading, this, as I've been feeling grotty with a cold and general January glumness. I'd be interested to know if anyone here hasn't read this (and if not, why not?) - anyway, for me it's sheer escapist pleasure. I read and reread this like mad as a teenager but haven't for over a decade. It's like meeting with a much loved, familiar old friend.

I know I keep banging on about Backlisted meg but they did a great podcast on The Return of the King. I found it quite moving.

I read the Lord of the Rings trilogy 18 years ago while backpacking around South America. It was the only book I took with me (before the days of kindle) and I read it three times in a row. May have overdosed on it as I've never been tempted to re-read!

Fantasy does nothing for me at all so I won't ever bother with reading the Tolkein tomes. I did love the films, though.

I’ve never read any Tolkein. I’m not a huge fan of fantasy, but I feel I should give them a go at some point. The size of LOTR puts me off though so will probably start with The Hobbit.

Chessie NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!! Not the Hobbit. It's awful. It has a completely different feel to LOTR. I read it in Y7 and it really put me off Tolkien. It took many years and the prospect of Sean Bean in leather pants to make me want to read any more. (Policy of no film or tv without reading the book first).

If it helps any, the three books consist of 7 parts and there is a box set by Collins out there which breaks each part into an individual book, each the size of a slim paperback. I am also not a fantasy person, but I enjoyed them.

Satsuki I have started listening to Backlisted since you mentioned it and cherry picked a few to try. I really enjoyed the LOTR episode and laughed out loud at the bit when he said he got stuck the first time at Tom Bombadil. I have yet to tackle the Silmarillion despite it being on my shelf for nearly 20 years.

Tarahumara - That black hole book sounds interesting!

Cote - I know from previous threads that we both like books about physics and maths. This isn't my favourite (as you can tell from the review) but it isn't terrible either - you could give it a try!

@toomuchsplother I would agree with your assessment of The Sealwomans Gift. The only sticking point is the relationship between master and slave but then, the events which are documented history were presumably tricky to link up in an interesting way and I suppose the story fulfills a need to explore the human/ maternal imperatives behind staying and going.

whippetwoman you are making me want to read Knausgaard, something I never thought I would say.

Just finished my first audio book of the year:

1. The Stopping Places: A journey through Gypsy Britain by Damian le Bas.

The author is a Romany Gypsy, but grew up more or less settled. He won a scholarship to Christs Hospital boarding school, then went to university before becoming a journalist, writer & film maker. The book is the story of a year he spent living in a Transit van & travelling round traditional Gypsy stopping places mainly in Britain but also visiting the south of France. I enjoyed this, it's a gentle book that really drew me in, and the reading by the author was particularly good. A lot of his experience will chime more widely - anyone who has gone to university (and I guess particularly boarding school - and particularly if you're not white British) from a background where that isn't the norm will sympathise with his 'where do I fit in now' moments. I thought he did a great job of not romanticising Gypsy & Traveller life, but also showing the attractions. There were a few bits that were overly frilly for my taste, but I suspect that's just me - I have something of an allergy to nature writing.

I am afraid I bloody hate LOTR (although I quite like The Hobbit). I have tried to read it twice. The second time I got halfway through The Two Towers, but loath as I was to give it up given the sunk cost, I just couldn't face reading through the same amount of dirge again. All the tramping through woods. The distinct lack of female characters. Did I mention the tramping through woods?

It put me off fantasy for ages, and I thought I just didn't like it, but last year this thread persuaded me to try the Dark Tower series and I'm really enjoying it. So maybe I'm just anti elves or something.

Now I need to choose how to spend my next Audible credit. So far on my wishlist I have:
Poverty Safari (read by the author, which is definitely a plus point for me)
Rise Up Women! (22 hours - not sure if this is a plus or not...)
Death in Ten Minutes (quite tempted to go for this one - seem to remember a very good review on here?)
Cringeworthy (not sure whether I can cope with 6 hours of embarrasment)

Any recommendations or otherwise from my list gratefully received! (Or indeed other audible suggestions)

I used to love LOTR (and read all the various Silmarillion & other extraneous books when I was a teenager) - but I'm not tempted to re-read now, there's so much other wonderful fantasy out there.

Yes I remember I got through it for the first time after skipping the party at the beginning fortuna, and definitely ran into Tom Bombadil problems too. I like that they are so honest about their reading on there. When you think of LOTR as being written in the light of the author’s experience of WW1 then some of the endless tramping through mud to no end, only to begin again the next day, and the largely male population take on a different complexion. I want to reread them now after hearing the podcast, the idea of Frodo being on a quest to save a world he may not himself ever get to enjoy again I found moving in a way I had no conception of the first times I read it. Tolkien lost all his friends but one in the Great War.

Satsuki that does give it a different slant. I think I'm too set in my anti elf rut to try for a third time though!

I read the hobbit thought it was shite. Never bothered with lord of the rings

I remember struggling a lot with the beginning of The Fellowship of the Ring.
Once I got through that i enjoyed reading LOTR but back then (early 20’s) my attitude towards books was very much “I’ve started it so I’ll finish it”.

If I was reading it for the first time now I’d probably have dropped it before I got to that point. I’ve got much less patience with books I’m not enjoying now. Probably because I’ve less reading time these days (eyes small DC).

I like LOTR - I even like Tom B!

Elijah Wood in the film versions on the other hand, is one of the worst bits of acting I have ever seen.