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?

I’ve been struggling too Best, and I’m not sure I’ve remembered everything; and I haven’t been keeping my master list either- life!

22 (possibly!) Ramona Quimby series by Beverley Cleary. The school library got a newly republished set of these so I read the lot in order! Found out the last one I hadn’t read before so that was a little treat. I don’t like these quite as much as My Naughtly Little Sister, but they are very lovely too.

23. Burial Rites by Hannah Kent. I would never have come across this without reading about it here- that’s why I love this thread! I really enjoyed this story (set in Iceland, inspired by the last person ever executed there, for anyone who hasn’t come across it before), lovely writing, interesting story- a little uneven (it’s a first novel and I would say that possibly is why- for example two characters are initially well portrayed but then seem to fade away), but absolutely would recommend.

Whippet, Howl’s Moving Castle is one of my favourite books ever, I do hope you liked it!

Good luck to PepeLePew and Tarahumara with your Infinite Jest* challenges - I look forward to seeing what you both made of it in due course.

Nothing is really doing it for me. I’ve got 3 books on the go including Transcription - Kate Atkinson whom I usually love but it’s all so upper middle clarse that I hate all the characters.

Terpischore thanks for the Hollywood recommendation, that’s DF’s birthday sorted. Nothing he loves more than a bit of Hollywood scandal. Except Cricket. I’ll direct him at the podcast too.

11. Normal People - Sally Rooney

I know Rooney's books seem to be pretty 'marmite' on here so I didn't really know what to expect. The lack of speech marks is incredibly annoying on the first few pages and then you sort of get used to it. My student days are long gone but I found that her writing took me back very clearly and vividly to that time in my life. Some pretty dark undertones but I felt quite gripped by the novel and wanted to know how everyone was going to turn out.

Thank you sadik, I think I'll pass then as that's a lot given that I only buy 99p books.

Agree, it's not cheap (although you can buy a year's membership for about £5.50 per book I think which is a bit more reasonable). If your library has an e-audiobook service that's always a good option - I only signed up to Audible after working my way through most of the ones I fancied from the library.

24 Europe at Midnight by Dave Hutchinson

Second of the Fractured Europe series - re-reading my way through them before reading the latest. They're sf/espionage thrillers set in a near-future Europe fractured into a patchwork of mini-states.

This time on second reading I more-or-less kept a handle on what was happening and who everyone was for about 3/4 of the way through the book before I got to the stage of having to keep going back to try to figure out what was going on. I'm surprised these aren't better known - (maybe the combination of SF & spy thriller isn't popular?) I think it's a really enjoyable series.

1. The Secret Barrister
2. The Rumour - Lesley Kara
3. The President is Missing - Bill Clinton and James Patterson
4. Juror No.3 - James Patterson and Nancy Allen
5. Part-time Working Mummy: A Patchwork Life - Rachaele Hambleton
6. The Tattooist of Auschwitz - Heather Morris
7. An Anonymous Girl - Greer Hendricks & Sarah Pekkanen
8. The Flower Girls - Alice Clark-Patts
9. Nine Perfect Strangers - Liane Moriarty

10. The Secretary - Renee Knight Christine Butcher has put her job as secretary to Mina Appleton above all else in her life. But that loyalty will have a price. And is the secretary the most dangerous person in the room?

This was a slow burner and I wasn’t as involved as the first book. However I did enjoy it once I got more into it and the end twist was different than I expected.

11. Dirty Like Me - Jaine Diamond
Katie is hired for a music video with Jesse who is a rockstar for band called Dirty. After a successful video he invites her on tour as his fake girlfriend. Is she able to keep up the rockstar lifestyle and will it remain pretend.

This was an easy read with a little romance and chemistry thrown in. The next book I read is the sequel as I have a free two month kindle subscription and felt like some easy reading.

12. Dirty Like Brody - Jaine Diamond

Sequel to the above think that’s me up to date.

brizzle I think you get a free trial of one book - that’s what I was thinking about using, it wouldn’t be worth my while to sign up either.

Brizzle, Audible works well for me because I only ever use my free credit to get one book a month and I buy a long and/or expensive book with it. But I agree it works out expensive if you listen to 'normal' books on it.

Exit west is on Kindle Daily Deals today. Was Manbooker shortlisted (I think! Definitely Long listed!) a couple of years ago. Worth a read for 99p.

55. A Noise Downstairs by Linwood Barclay

Eight months ago Paul Davis was attacked and left for dead by a man who had also murdered two women after getting them to type apologies. To try and get over this event Paul is writing the story of what happened and his wife buys him a typewriter. Now he keeps hearing the noise of typing in the night and the typewriter is writing what appears to be messages from the deceased women.....

The usual page turner from Barclay - I thought I had guessed the twist and I was partly right but then there were more twists! A good read.

Pepe I like Elmore Leonard's terse style too. He is the antidote to all those 400 plus page over-written "slightly superior chicklit novels" (my classification) & psycho thrillers. Him and George Orwell. If you haven't come across Raylan (E Leonard creation) in the "Justified" TV series - he is one worth seeking out as well. Also on Netflix the Joan Didion documentary is worth a look. She had a good time living in CAlifornia with her journalist/novelist husband and adopted daughter but her later years have been dogged by tragedy. Reading between the lines it seems her daughter was a troubled character thus adding more fuel to the nature/nurture debate as there was "no information" available about her background at the time she was offered for adoption. I have not yet read any Joan Didion but she is now edging up my list.
43 Somebody I used to know by Wendy Mitchell
this is the memoir of a lady diagnosed with early-onset dementia. A brave novel with plenty of insights into how the disease manifests itself & how it makes her feel. Very sad but unfortunately I find the author was really quite a dull person before she became ill & therefore a lot of her observations don't really move away from the commonplace. I think ghost writer should get a special mention as her job must have been almost impossible in trying to marshall her subject's thoughts into a linear narrative.
44 Shadow Play - Cynthia Harrod-Eagles another in the Bill Slider series. The plots are quite weak but I have a soft spot for Slider and his domestic routines & colleagues. Will Atherton ever settle down?
45 All fall down Jennifer Weiner suburban career mum has it all but becomes addicted to pain-killers in a timely reminder of the scourge that is sweeping America (oxy anyone?) A stint in rehab sorts her out but not before she is forced to examine family dynamics etc etc. The writer is a cut above the usual but again, this could have been a much punchier novel at 2/3rds the length.
re Beyond black Hilary Mantel I didn't like it either. or Wolf Hall and so on. The only one of hers I have liked is the one in Saudi Arabia & that was creepy and unsettling. I unfortunately took the hardback from the library of Wolf Hall on holiday and had to lug it all the way back home after I couldn't get beyond the first few pages.

I'm really excited to read the new Jackson Brodie book when it's published this summer.

I'm so behind this year and have some short books on the go - Mentors by Russell Brand, and Ghost Wall by Sarah Moss - to get back on track.

1. Never Mind - Edward St Aubyn. The first in the Patrick Melrose novels. I thought the chapters with Patrick's aristocratic family and their friends were really tedious but I guess he's setting the scene for what follows in the later books. I love the bits with the young Patrick, though, although one bit was very tough to read (as brilliantly written as it was). Despite my reservations with this book, the series has a high reputation in general so I'll read the other books in the future.

1. A Ladder to the Sky - John Boyne. I'm surprised I'm the only one who's read this so far on these threads as The Heart's Invisible Furies has been so popular on here. This is a character study, told over several decades and from different perspectives, of a sociopath called Maurice Swift whose desire for fame and riches means he'll resort to all kinds of dark deeds to get there. As with THIV (and perhaps more so here), there were many passages that should have been described with more subtlety and the emotional impact isn't as strong as it was in THIV, but, despite the exaggerations and length, I was entertained throughout, found certain passages very moving, and laughed out loud many times.

1. Another Plane: A Teenager in Suburbia - Tracey Thorn. It's an unusually structured book, as it's a bit of follow-up to her terrific 2013 memoir, Bedsit Disco Queen, with teenage diary excerpts she wrote in the 70s and early 80s, interspersed with comments looking back on those extracts, and musings on how life in the 'burbs has shaped her and others, and updates on her life over the past few years. It all flows wonderfully and the writing is sharp, witty, intelligent and compassionate. I wasn't crazy about her non-fiction book about singers, Naked at the Albert Hall, but when she's back on her home turf is where her writing soars. Fab.

To add to the Audible discussion I asked my husband to buy me an annual subscription for my birthday and I'm loving it. I can now listen to books whilst I'm gardening, cooking, driving etc. And usually have an audible and a kindle book on the go.
Being a subscriber means you get the option to buy a different Audible 'daily deal' book at £1.99 or £2.99 and you're also offered frequent two for one deals as part of your membership. I now have several unheard Audible books in my library and several credits in hand so won't renew my subscription till I've used and listened to all of them. (I'm also a BorrowBox member through the local library so I check I can't get the Audible book free from them before I use a precious credit.)
Audibles customer service is second to none and you can return a book you don't like and get a credit back. Recently I left a one star review for The Green Road on their website and they contacted me to suggest I returned the Audible book and got a credit in return. I'm a convert!

Good review of the Tracey Thorn southeast. I wasn’t a big fan of her musically but she’s an interesting person and I like her writing very much. I also love good writing about the suburbs, of which there isn’t enough.

38 Five Giants by Nicholas Timmins
With enormous thanks to MuseumOfHam (I think) who tipped me off to the new edition of this. I’d read this enormous “biography of the welfare state” in 2001, but much of the detail had long ago been forgotten, and of course much has changed since then. It’s an immensely detailed account of the evolution of the NHS, education, housing policy, benefits and social care, and employment policies since the Beveridge report. Every single sentence is researched and counts, and there are a lot of sentences. It focuses very much on policy rather than practice - there is very little from the front line of delivery and those working on the ground - and at times the detail was overwhelming but it’s an extraordinary undertaking. And shows how these things have always been fought over - there was no “golden age” - and discussed and debated and agonised over. It made me wonder when (it) the Brexit dust settles just what the impact of government and civil service neglect of these issues over the last few years will be, and what will emerge from the rubble.

Finished #26 The Marble Collector. I liked the ending and again thought her characters were believable and well written.

#27 Hardcore Twenty Four which is the next the Stephanie Plum bounty hunter series. Popcorn reading on no way challenging just what i need for downtime.

24. Red Snow by Will Dean. Lazy day today and this hit the mark- direct sequel to Dark Pines, murder in cold February at a Swedish Liquorice factory- more interesting that sounds! The surroundings are possibly slightly better drawn than the characters, but I shall look forward to where he goes next as his hero (deaf bisexual newspaper reporter) moves from small town North to city South at the end of this book.

10. House of Beauty by Melba Escobar just finished reading this brilliant crime thriller. The book follows the life of a woman working in a beauty salon and the corrupt misogynistic world she lives/works in and the events that follow sending her life into a tail spin. IMHO it’s a thought provoking book covering politics, class, gender and race, but, be warned there are some parts in the book that are very difficult to read.

Finally finished When Christ and his saints slept and am bereft. It was wonderful and has plunged me into wanting more erudite yet accessible historical fiction. (Looking at you sternly Ms Mantel)
It took me three weeks to get through the 900 pages but was so worth it and I shall be gobbling up the rest of Sharon Penman in due course.

I had not imagined that, even with the author's presumed poetic licence, things which happened a thousand years ago could seem still relevant.

And I've filled a not insignificant gap in my Kings and Queens knowledge. Both my mother and grandmother could sit and say "ah yes, Eleanor of Aquitaine, mother of, sister of, buried in.." and I would go "er, Duchess of Kent? Likes Wimbledon?"

Am going to have a week or so of 99p psycho thrillers now though.

13 The Left Hand of Darkness by Ursula Le Guin

Having canvassed advice upthread about how to approach reading a book with three separate introductions, I skipped them and launched right in.

Clearly a very good book indeed. I do worry when I read science fiction that although I'm enjoying it, other people enjoy it more. I never seem to pick up the names of things or understand the politics properly. Particularly with this, where the blurb suggested that the book was about a polar trek - while there is a polar trek which forms the emotional heart of the book, there are two hundred pages of political machinations first, and there's no point in approaching them as if they'll soon be dealt with.

A more straightforward blurb would be: An alien envoy lands on the planet Winter to try and establish diplomatic contact. What are the hermaphrodite people there, who were unaware of other civilisations, to make of his story? How can deep understanding develop between them and this sexed individual?

Amazing world building. I never ever re-read, so it might be good to get the benefit of my introduction to the world by having a look at other things in the "Hainish cycle" - would need the find out more about this, I see that the Wikipedia page explaining it is a particularly poor one.

southeastdweller: I've read A Ladder to the Sky and really enjoyed it, but I found parts of it very implausible. I didn't believe in the central character, and there were a couple of things in there that couldn't have happened in real life. I can't say what they were because it would give the plot away.

13. Close to Home - Cara Hunter

Eight year old Daisy went missing from a family party. However no one claims to have seen anything. DI Adam Farley knows that in 9 out of 10 cases it is someone known to the victim so someone must be lying.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book with its narrative and the inclusion of news reports and tweets. Makes it very realistic as to how people view these things IRL. I’ll happily go look for more by this author now.