50 Book Challenge 2019 Part Three

[southeastdweller]

Welcome to the third 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 and the second one here.

What are you reading?

11 Cockroaches - Jo Nesbo

I have read most of his, this was a 99p kindle buy and I am glad I didn't pay full price. Set in Thailand the Norwegian Ambassador has been found dead in a seedy motel. Hole is sent to Thailand to work with the local police to try and solve the murder, ostensibly as he is seen as a hero for catching a serial killer in Australia, but in reality he is an alcoholic and the police want rid. Needless to say the ambassadors murder is the tip of the iceberg and we are led into the seedy work of prostitution, paedophilia and dodgy dealings.

"Coming back to it again I was struck by how much drink driving they all do. Welsh writer Alun and his wife Rhiannon have lived in London for many years but return to live in Wales. Alun is a serial shagger and at least two of the male characters have romantic feelings for Rhiannon. "

Cedar03 that sounds absolutely bang on the nail for the older generation of artists / writers / hippies here in west Wales - drink/drug driving and all. (Round here it doesn't raise an eyebrow to go to a funeral for someone's elderly auntie and discover that the chap playing music at the graveside is an ex-member of Hawkwind )

Oops, my book was actually called The Ghost at the Table

Book 8: Beloved by Toni Morrison, I loved it, very grim in parts but I couldn't put it down.

Beloved is amazing. The Four Horsemen bit chills your blood.

Right, I WILL finish A Suitable Boy tonight!!

14. Sometimes I lie - Alice Feeney Not the sort of chick-lit psychological thriller I normally read, this was a book group one. I quite enjoyed it and it does have a very confusing twist at the end which is never quite explained. It did jump about from different times and different perspectives, which I think was part of the point! A lot of it is about how the same events look very different from the point of view of other people.

I've just abandoned Don't you forget about me and started the Rumour instead.
I loved the first Mhairi M book I read (You Had Me At Hello picked up one Christmas in Asda,) didn't like The best thing you never had as much and wanted to metaphorically hurl this latest one at the wall.
It reads as if someone has written a notebook full of "totes hilaires" one liners over time, then tried to shoehorn each witty quip and observation into a same old girl meets boy loses boy gets boy back stock tale.
Disappointed, as I don't mind a bit of good chick lit when I'm knackered.

50 pages in to The Rumour and enjoying it though.

Absolutely love Beloved. It's one of the few books I've read more than once.

My reading really took a hit during half-term. I even fell off the thread! I'm back in the swing of it now though. Here are my two latest reads.

10. The Amateur Marriage – Anne Tyler

The story of a fundamentally incompatible couple: Michael and Pauline; who meet and marry during WW2. Classic Anne Tyler, this was a pleasure to read. Each chapter moves forward a few years, examining how their hot and cold relationship affects all around them. She exposes all her characters' flaws, but she does so with compassion, warmth and humour. As always, very enjoyable.

11. Things Bright and Beautiful – Anbara Salam

Not sure what to make of this one really. Set in the 1950’s, Beatriz and her missionary husband Max are sent to Advent Island in The South Pacific to spread God’s word with terrifying consequences. I was interested in this because The Poisonwood Bible and State of Wonder, both set in remote tropical locations (Belgian Congo and Amazon jungle) are two of my favourite books. Perhaps therein lies the problem. Although this was good, it was simply not in the same league as these two great books.

The descriptions of the nature, wildlife and people of the island were the best parts of this book. She really evokes the sense of claustrophobia and poverty, the intense heat and the ferociousness of the natural world. However, sadly I felt the plot or characterisation didn’t live up to her beautiful, evocative descriptions of the island. It somehow lacked direction, and lost its way a bit. There was also a subplot which I didn’t feel very interested in, and felt detracted from the main plot. I also thought she failed to bring the central protagonist Beatriz to life as well as she could have, particularly compared with the convincing way she portrayed the setting.

Despite these flaws, a pretty good read. This is the writer’s first novel. Would I read her next book? Yes, I would.

I was just idly wondering why Seth hadn’t really written much other fiction (I liked An Equal Music but it’s nowhere near A Suitable Boy) and apparently A Suitiable Girl is due out sometime this year.

Oh , is it? Is this for Varun perhaps?

So, I can now declare I have finished ! Hallelujah!

I very much enjoyed it, but am sapped of all energy to review properly , so I shall quote Amit for page 1427:

Oh, I don't know how it grew to be so long...I'm very undisciplined. But I too hate long books...If they're bad , they merely make me pant with the effort of holding them up for a few minutes.But if they are good, I turn into a social moron for days, refusing to go out of my room, scowling and growling at interruptions, ignoring weddings and funerals, and making enemies of friends. I still bear the scars of Middlemarch

Very droll, Seth. Very droll.

#teamKabir

25. Circe by Madeline Miller Reviewed many times already on here and seemed much loved last year. I loved it too, more than Song of Achilles. I thought the writing was beautiful and the way it flowed was mesmerising.

Has anyone read her other book - Galatea?

I also enjoyed Beloved, but I think it's a book I will have to go back and read again at some point because there was so much in it to think about and I'm sure there were things I missed.

Finished #19 24 Hours in Ancient Rome: A Day in the Life of the People Who Lived There and it was good overall. I learnt a lot about how Rome worked. I will definately read more by this author and also try 24 Hours in Ancient Egypt.

Moved onto #20 Blood on the Tracks which considering how miserable my commute has been this week could have been a possibility had I met the head of Govia or Netowrk Rail! Its a series of crime short stories starting with rather a good arthur Conan Doyle story (not Sherlock Holmes) through to the current day. Its a mixed bag as collections always are. I like short stories and there have been more good than bad so far.

18. The Ark Before Noah - Irving Finkel (Audible)

British Museum Assyriologist Irving Finkel traces the development of the flood-and-ark story from its Babylonian origins to the Biblical account. One for the hardcore ancient history geek. (Also helps if you're interested in technical details of boat building. I'm not.) I think listening to this on Audible was a mistake as the analysis was very detailed in parts and I probably didn't get all that I could have out of it.

Thanks southeast for the tip about the film.

Sorry I have forgotten who was reading the wolf books but there is a wonderfully trashy looking erotic werewolf romance in the Kindle monthly deals this morning 😁😁

Interesting Sadik. The characters were certainly have a fine old retirement drinking and smoking all hours of the day and night

I am half tempted to go back and have another read of A Suitable Boy. I very much enjoyed it when I read it back in the day.

Thanks also for the tip off about A Suitable Girl, piggy. I do now recall reading something about it years ago but completely forgot. I loved A Suitable Boy and would love a sequel.

@KeithLeMonde it was me and I am well up for wolf books so am heading over to the Kindle monthly deals to get me some trashy looking werewolf romance action RIGHT NOW. The trashier and werewolfier the better.

41. The Madwoman Upstairs by Catherine Lowell

I knew this was going to be lighthearted by the description, but I wasn’t prepared for how poor it was. I was intrigued by the blurb - Samantha is the last living descendant of the Bronte family, and her father has left her a series of clues to her family inheritance. I am a fan of the Brontes so always interested to read books about them. As I said I didn’t have particularly high expectations but this was terrible. The heroine is incredibly annoying and arrogant - she is rude to everyone and assumes she knows best. None of the other characters are likeable either. The plot is poor - if there really was a Bronte inheritance why would it be left in a random place on the offchance she follows the (bizarre) clues to find it? And when she does find it, it’s a big anticlimax. There were some interesting theories about the Brontes’ books mentioned, but it wasn’t enough to save it. Avoid.

42. The Lottery And Other Stories by Shirley Jackson

I was disappointed in this. All the stories were very short (some just a couple of pages) and most were just pointless with no twist or resolution. I did enjoy The Lottery as that did have a good twist, but the rest were just meh. Not one I would bother rereading.

10 The Bird Artist -Howard Norman
It’s about a murder and the lead up to it happening. Really well reviewed but it really annoyed me. Really self serving whingey first person narrative.

Killers of the flower moon is up next

26. Atonement by Ian McEwan 1935 The younger sister in the family bears witness to a series of events that she doesn't understand leading her to falsely accuse a family friend of a heinous crime. Despite later doubts she sticks by her testimony and lives through the consequences that tear the family apart.

I devoured this in 24 hours and could not put it down. Unfortunately the ending was a bit naff, but it didn't affect my overall enjoyment. It has restored my reading mojo.

Another fan girl for Circe. Took me ages to get into my next story cause my mind was still stuck in that world. I loved Achilles but it was very fan fiction. Think she found her groove with Circe.

Anyone read brave new world? Just finished it. I love a good dystopian this one was very quietly insidious

Good work on Suitable Boy, Piggy. This book has a special place in my heart - I was reading when I met my husband backpacking for six months in South America - don't ask me why I carried such a large book with me, this was the 90s and a long time before eReaders (in fact, on this trip I created my first ever email address - hotmail of course!). I still have the copy, the cover has been reattached with sticky tape many times and the corners are curled from water from the Amazon, and some pages red streaked with mud and who knows what else.

I was reading it on a bus when my husband got on with his mate - he was reading Che Guevara's Motorcycle Diaries and we struck up a conversation about that while I held A Suitable Boy in my hands. He mocked me for reading a book set in India when we were in South America. Twenty years married this year!

I had a true adventure on that trip and met the love of my life - to me the book represents that - it is one of my most precious possessions! When you have recovered you can let us know what you thought of the plot. Not sure how much I remember now....

Aw panda, that is such a lovely story! Warms the cockles of my heart.

I liked the plot : it wasn't as intricate as I thought it would be, although the politics bits were perhaps a bit dull for me. I particularly liked his depiction of women and the various ways in which they are trapped and restricted , which wasn't shown simplistically and the ways in which some accept their lot, and some attempt to free themselves.

I did get confused by who some of the less major characters were. Loved the Chatterjis, even though Meenakshi is a royal bitch.

I usually like Indian books. Midnight's Children is still lurking in my tbr pile....

Panda that’s such a great story.

Chessie totally agree with you about The Mad Woman Upstairs. What an absolute pile of old bollocks that book was. The only good thing about it was that it encouraged me to read The Tenant of Wildfell Hall which unsurprisingly was not bollocks at all.

28. The Book Shop- Penelope Fitzgerald I enjoyed the film recently on Netflix and, surprisingly, felt that the book wasn't quite as good, as it was very short and the ending was not as satisfying as that of the film. It is very well written, however, and I'm glad I read it. I'm now two thirds of the way through The English Patient, which is going well.

I woke up early today at 5am and immediately checked the Kindle Monthly Deals. I'm eyeing up A Town Like Alice, Captain Corelli's Mandolin, The Collector and possibly the Ben Elton and Tony Parsons ones. Does anyone have any recommendations, as some of last month's suggestions were top notch!? Trainspotting and The Growing Pains of Adrian Mole are brilliant, of course.