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?

Hello, newbie and my list so far:

1. An Infamous army - Georgette Heyer
2. Zero Zero Zero - Roberto Saviano

Currently in progress - The Milkman, Moby Dick, Independent People

Clearly much slower than many of you - some very long lists for not even the middle of January!!

grim yes I know just what you mean, your experience with your mum sounds similar to mine. One we both liked recently was Crooked Heart by Lissa Evans.

Thanks for the new thread southeast, bringing my list:

1. The Female Persuasion by Meg Wolitzer
2. Crazy Rich Asians by Kevin Kwan
3. Normal People by Sally Rooney
4. Beware of Pity by Stefan Zweig

Currently reading Death Comes for the Archbishop which is very slow to read, though quite short.

Thank you for the new thread, southeast

My list so far:

1. The West Pier - Patrick Hamilton

2: The Last Resort - Pamela Hansford Johnson 3: The Child That Books Built - Francis Spufford 4: Dark Sacred Night - Michael Connelly 5: American Bloomsbury - Susan Cheever

And the latest:
6: A Party in San Niccolò - Christobel Kent

A couple of years ago I discovered Christobel Kent's Florentine detective novels featuring Sandro Cellini, and really enjoyed them. I somehow missed this, her first novel, which isn't a detective story per se but is set in Florence and does start with a suspicious death. The action revolves (mainly) around a small group of British expats living in the city, and their connection to Frances, whose imminent 75th birthday gathering is the party of the title. Things will not turn out as anyone expects, and several lives will not be the same by the time the party has taken place.

I really enjoyed this, partly because I visited Florence for the first time recently and could visualise a lot of the settings, but also because I could immerse myself in the leisurely pace of the writing and the characterisation. It's quite old-fashioned in that respect, and this is the sort of novel I like, so it hit the spot for me.

Thanks for the new thread. Reading very much straight-forward books at the moment as work is so busy, I need some brain space! That does mean I am getting through a fair few of them though.

I am sick of everyone 'padding' around though. I don't think I have ever padded anywhere.

1. Leigh Russell - Fatal Act
2. Nicole Krauss - The History of Love
3. Katie Kirby - The Daily Struggles of Archie Adams
4. Mark Dawson - The Cleaner
5. Sarah J Naughton - The Other Couple

6. Jack Jordan - Before Her Eyes Interesting because the main character is blind which makes it creepier when she can hear/smell/feel things happening but can't see what. 7. James Patterson - Mistress Hated this. 'Action packed' for sure in that it gets going straight away but completely unbelievable and felt rushed. 8. Nick Alexander - The Photographer's Wife I quite liked this. It flicks between 1940 following two young sisters living in London and 2011 following a 30-something struggling photographer. The photographer wants to put on a retrospective for her semi-famous long dead father who was also a photographer but her Mum is reluctant and obstructive. The sisters story continues through the years until present day and all tie together nicely. I enjoyed this. 9. Leigh Russell - Killer Plan The writing in this series is awful but I feel like I have to finish the series! The storylines are good at least. 10. Sarah A Denzil - Silent Child A 6 year old boy goes missing during the worst storm a tiny village has ever seen. Ten years on, he has been presumed drowned and declared dead. His Mum has remarried and is heavily pregnant when she receives a phonecall from the detective from 10 years ago to say her son has turned up at hospital. He is completely mute and compliant with instructions and his Mum tries to deal with all this whilst someone doesn't want him to speak. Quite dark subject matter but a quick read. 11. LJ Ross - Angel This is one of a million detective series that I read but I really like this series. Set in the NE, present day which seems to be full of sadistic, ritualistic/religious psychopaths. Good stuff!

My list:

1. We Have Always Lived in the Castle - Shirley Jackson
2. The Haunting of Hill House - Shirley Jackson
3. Children of Blood and Bone - Tomi Adeyemi
4. Ready Player One - Ernest Cline

Currently reading The Wicked King.

I am sick of everyone 'padding' around though. I don't think I have ever padded anywhere.

The one that really irritates me is all the old men with rheumy eyes.

My list so far:

1. I Invited Her In by Adele Parks
2. The Roanoke Girls by Amy Engel
3. Deceived Wisdom: Why Everything You Thought Was Right Is Wrong by David Bradley
4. Beswitched by Kate Saunders
5. To The Letter: A Celebration Of The Lost Art Of Letter Writing
6. The Seven Deaths Of Evelyn Hardcastle by Stuart Turton
7. Never Mind The Quantocks by Stuart Maconie
8. My Name Is Anne, She Said, Anne Frank by Jacqueline van Maarsen

Finished two yesterday:

1. Borrowed Time by Robert Goddard

Those who were on last year’s thread may recall that I am a Goddard fan. This is another good one. I have read it before and while I remembered some of the plot I couldn’t remember the end so it was like reading it again for the first time. While walking Offas Dyke, Robin meets a woman and they have a brief chat before he walks on. When he gets home a couple of weeks later he discovers she’s been murdered. After going to the police to tell them about the meeting he gets caught up with the woman’s family and drawn into their affairs....This is a good one by Goddard. Listened to it on Audible and narrator was ok too.

10. Elizabeth Jane Howard: A dangerous Innocence by Artemis Cooper

Biography of the author of The Cazalet Chronicles, which are among my favourite books. I read her own memoir a few years ago but wanted to read an outsider’s view ignore her life. She doesn’t come across as particularly likeable (although she had lots of friends so she must have been) but I do feel sorry that she never found the relationship she was clearly seeking her whole life. Really interesting to read about her books and how much of herself is in them - I knew The Cazalets was very autobiographical but didn’t know about her other works. There’s still a lot of her books I haven’t read so am now correcting that - now reading a collection of her short stories.

For those of you who read The Last Hours - Minette Waters, the second in the series is on Kindle daily deals for £1.19 today. It's called Turn Midnight

Welcome, grim. Can’t speak for other people but my “long” list is a combination of factors - a week off at the start of the month, several unfinished books at the end of 2018 and a couple of really short new ones. I will slow right down now!

Ooh, shiny new thread! Thanks Southeast 😊

Slow start to the year:

1. Edward St Aubyn - Bad News
2. Anonymous - The Secret Barrister

And just finished:

1. Raynor Winn - The Salt Path

Another one that has been mentioned quite often here, in fact I reserved it at the library after reading one of the reviews on the first thread. Briefly, the author loses her home of thirty years and finds out her husband is terminally ill in the same week; and concludes that if they are going to be homeless, they may as well be homeless while embarking on a 630 mile walk around the coastline of south west England. Well, why not I suppose?

Some of the ‘travel’ writing in this book is fantastic, there are some wonderful descriptive passages and some very funny scenes too. The ‘homeless’ writing is obviously very different and left me with a profound sense of helplessness – what can people who aren’t actively evil and who don’t kick homeless people in the street, for example, actually do?

There are a couple of moments where Raynor explicitly states their conundrum – their choice between ‘going back to Wales and waiting for a council house’ or continuing to live life (I’m paraphrasing here). This resonates so much for me, because my own parents lost their farm in West Wales in vaguely similar circumstances, albeit while me and my younger brother were still living at home. They did ‘wait for a council house’ and in fact still live in a nearby HA house now, long retired. I think that that resonance is mainly with some of my own not-dealt with feelings about that time and the immediate aftermath of leaving home and having a desperate desire to ‘do things differently’ from my parents. I’d never really thought that they perhaps had a choice to do things differently; reading this has brought a lot of things from that time to the surface. (Yes, I know I would be massively unreasonable to judge my parents based on what someone else, in presumably what were in detail very different circumstances, did!)

Enough rambling. Definitely a highlight, so early in the year, but time for something a little lighter for me next I think!

"It's interesting looking at how eclectic tastes can be, on some of the read do far lists there are books on the sane person's list that I have read and loved alongside others that I thought were terrible".

So agree with you, brizzle & it's made my wish list HUGE!

I've invested in an A6 indexed notebook & am listing all the books I want to read in there. It's a real help when I go to the library.

Thanks for the new thread southeast.

Bringing my list across:

1. The Hunting Party - Lucy Foley
2. Men Without Women - Huraki Murakami
3. The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society - Mary Ann Schaffer and Annie Barrows

Book 4 was How Hard Can It Be? - Allison Pearson. This is a sequel to I Don’t Know How She Does It but picking up about 10 years later. It’s a light entertaining read about being a mother of teenagers with deteriorating parents and trying to re-start/maintain a career. It does deal with some serious issues too (dementia, bullying etc). I am roughly at the same stage as the lead character so can relate and raced through it. Some parts are less realistic than others but good, frothy fun generally. I can see it might not do much for those less able to relate.

Sticking with my TBR pile for the moment and next up is Hangover Square - Patrick Hamilton. Have seen some mixed reviews on here for one of his other books so willl see how I get on as I have not read anything by him before.

For the record, I have not read Little Fires Everywhere - Celeste Ng either. I got as far as buying it based on last year’s thread and then having read the blurb on the back returned it to the book shop and exchanged for something else. Maybe I need to give it a chance.

Haven’t read Eleanor Oliphant or This is going to hurt either!

Thanks for the new thread southeast. My list still only consists of one book, so I'm just placemarking! I currently have to books on the go though, so I should hopefully have something to update in the next few days.
For the record, I haven't read Little Fires Everywhere either.

Just finished:
5. The Wicked King - Holly Black
Second book in a YA series. It was an easy read - the world is well-drawn and believable although there were a couple of plot points which were questionable.
I love books with reimaginings of Faeries but nothing has come close to Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrel for me. I so wish someone would right another great, in-depth book with Faery protagonists. I’m having to settle for YA where it’s a popular genre but not that meaty.

Just about to start a non-fiction book Turning the Tide on Plastic.

TimeforaG&T, Hangover Square is one of his very best. I think that plus Slaves of Solitude are outstanding novels. The later ones are less well written and dial up the aspects of his style that people find hard going but those two are extraordinary. Not easy reading, though - it makes me cry every time I read it, more or less from the start.

List carried over

1. The Santa Klaus Murder by Mavis Doriel Hay
2. The Seven Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle by Stuart Turton

3, The Turn of Midnight by Minette Walters 4, A Kiss Before Dying by Ira Levin

Book 5 which I am halfway through is The Fallen by David Baldacci so far so by the book.

New thread already! Thanks, Southeast.

My reads so far:

1.) Winter, by Ali Smith
2.) The City and the City, by China Mieville
3.) Meddling Kids, by Edgar Cantero

My most recent reads (I'm still getting over a bug, so apologies if I'm not terribly coherent today):

4.) One Corpse Too Many, Ellis Peters -- The second Cadfael novel, and the one that introduces Hugh Beringar. Readable and enjoyable medieval murder mystery.

5.) Somebody I Used to Know, Wendy Mitchell In 2014 Wendy Mitchell was diagnosed with young onset dementia at the age of 58. This is her remarkable memoir of living with the disease, one moment positive, the next filled with quietly restrained anger at how people with Alzheimer's are overlooked, interspersed with letters written to the person she used to be. There's quite a lot packed in here including some musing on how being in a relationship (she is single herself) may result in your independence being chipped away quicker since there is someone to rely on. One part that stuck with me is a bit on how memories are formed, and how it's important to keep visiting people with Alzheimer's even if they seem not to remember, since the emotional memories still linger on.

6.) The Diary of a Bookseller, Shaun Bythell -- I think someone else is reading this at the moment? I really enjoyed this although it did make me wonder if Black Books was a documentary. A year in the life of a second-hand bookshop in Scotland, taking in eccentric staff and customers and musings on the bookselling business. The spectre of Amazon looms large in the background. I'm also really tempted by the sound of the Random Book Club, but sadly it seems it's full at the moment. Probably for the best given the size of my TBR pile.

7.) Erebus, The Story of a Ship, Michael Palin -- The story of Erebus, which along with her sister-ship, the Terror was lost with all hands in the Arctic in the mid 19th century. Really enjoyed this, and it brings the time period to life really well.

~~

I've just started reading Ruth Goodman's How to Behave Badly in Renaissance Britain, which is so far proving entertaining. A lot of non-fiction in a row though. Fiction next, I think.

Thank you for the new thread southeast
My 2019 books so far are:

1. A Spell of Winter - Helen Dunmore
2. Timon of Athens - William Shakespeare
3. The Water Cure - Sophie Mackintosh
4. My Year of Rest and Relaxation - Ottessa Moshfegh
5. The Sun and Her Flowers - Rupi Kaur
6. On the Black Hill - Bruce Chatwin
7. The Blackwater Lightship - Colm Toibin

and 8. Florida by Lauren Groff. Excellent short stories set in or around Florida or featuring its citizens. Snakes, swamps, humidity and discord abound in these stories. I am a true fan of short stories and these didn't disappoint.

Thanks for the new thread. Can't believe there have been 1000 posts and it's only 16th January! I only joined in September last year - is January always so busy?

Here's my list so far:

1. Dark Tower IV: Wizard and Glass – Stephen King
2. Normal People – Sally Rooney
3. The Seven Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle – Stuart Turton
4. Mornings in Jenin – Susan Abulhawa
5. Convenience Store Woman – Sayaka Murata
6. Behind Closed Doors – B.A. Paris

and the latest:

7. Elizabeth is Missing by Emma Healey

I think this was a big seller in about 2015, but I missed it then. A novel that is sort-of about a mystery, but mainly about Maud, the main character, who is living with Alzheimers. Using a narrator who can't remember why they're doing things from one moment to the next, or what they've just been told, is a great idea, and particularly effective in the context of a mystery. There are in fact two mysteries - what has happened to Maud's friend Elizabeth (not in truth a mystery at all) and what happened to her sister, Sukey, who disappeared not long after the war. Maud has very clear memories of the events in the 40s (I particularly liked this, as this was also the case for my Nan, who forgot many things about the present day but could remember things from long ago very well), and slowly pieces together what happened to her sister during the course of the book. I really liked the way Maud's mental state was written - the book is poignant, but there are also some very funny bits, and Healey doesn't shy away from the more difficult aspects of her condition. The ending is a reminder that things aren't going to get better for Maud. A thought-provoking read.

Carrying my list over:

1. Little Fires Everywhere - Celeste Ng
2. Bull from the Sea - Mary Renault
3. Animal - Sara Pascoe
4. Women and Power - Mary Beard

Liked your review of The Salt Path, Waawo. Shows the power of a book to give us a new perspective.

Completely agree about enjoying the eclecticism of the thread, which is why I think the charge of snobbery is unfair.

The Ruth Goodman book sounds good, Dec - will look out for it. I also loved Somebody I Used to Know and The Diary of a Bookseller. When non-fiction is good, I find it more satisfying than fiction.

One non-fiction I recently gave up on was Outsiders: Five Women Writers Who Changed the World by Lyndall Gordon. The stories have been better told elsewhere, and her thesis is thin - I don't think she added much. Plus, she occasionally lapses into portentous phrases that don't mean very much, which grated.

Sorry! My list so far:

1. Norse Mythology - Neil Gaiman
2. The Power of Now - Eckhart Tolle
3. Islam and the Future of Tolerance - Sam Harris and Maajid Nawaz
4. Frankenstein - Mary Shelley
5. Fuck Anxiety - Robert Duff

I'm currently reading:

• The Magician's Nephew - C.S. Lewis (to my boys)
• Food Politics - Marion Nestle
• The First Fifteen Lives of Harry August - Claire North
• My uni textbook, which I'm definitely counting as it's full of short stories and poems (doing a literature degree).

Pepe, it has never occurred to me to read The SCUM Manifesto, so thanks for your review - I now want to read it!

I need to do that Magimedi (the notebook). I add books to my amazon wish list, but can never remember what’s on it when I’m in the library and can never seem to get a signal in there.

No real highlights yet, the Joe Ide would be the best of these so far. It's about a private detective from the streets called IQ. The characterisation is complex and interesting, this was the second, and the third will be out soon.

1. Past Tense, Lee Child
2. Micromastery, Robert Twigger
3. The Legend of Sally Jones, Jakob Wegelius
4. Righteous, Joe Ide

I'm now reading a boxing memoir called This Bloody Mary is the Last Thing I Own by Jonathan Rendall. It's been lying around the house for ages, and despite my lack of interest in boxing, I've just had to pick it up because of the title. He's not down to his last Bloody Mary yet, I'll report back.