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 don't know about you but I could murder a curry' is one of my favourite book quotes. I wasn't so keen on Moving Pictures.

It's probably over 20 years since I read a pterry book.

Hensher is probably short to me then, I am taller than average and most people seem short to me

Bickering wizards and Gaspode, what’s not to love? 😍

I’ve been slowly getting around to rereading them. It’s been a while and I suspect a lot of the jokes would have whizzed over my head at the time.

If I've never read a Terry Pratchett's book, where should I start?

The sheer number of them, and the interconnectedness, and the lack of a "proper" order, is intimidating. Help.

KeithLeMonde the first Discworld book is The Colour of Magic. The first one I read which is still one of my favourites is Mort. I think there is a reading order for the discworld but I haven't followed it.

Thanks Decumus, Mort was my entry via a BBC radio adaptation. I did 1-7 in order and then decided to go my own way. Reaper Man next most likely.

@AliasGrape thanks. I will have to check it ou. I like a good murder mystery.

14 To Throw Away Unopened by Viv Albertine

Her second memoir, covering the period around her mother's death, and looking back to her family relationships growing up & how they shaped her. This has been reviewed a few times on here so I won't repeat, but just to agree with (I think) everyone else that this is a really excellent book, painful to read in places but incredibly moving.

Keith As a newbie to them, I wasn't that keen on the first two. Colour of Magic does set the scene to what the Discworld is, but then every book opens with a brief reminder, so it isn't necessary. Knowing it is a fantasy world is enough. Each one technically stands alone so you can start anywhere. The characters with their own story arcs that I have enjoyed most so far are as mentioned above Death and the Witches, I'm not fussed on Rincewind. Mort #4 seems to be the gateway for most of those new to Pratchett, but it does get a bit odd towards the end. I enjoyed Equal Rites #3. A friend who is a superfan thinks the early ones are a bit ropey and he doesn't find his stride until later on, she always says to start with Going Postal #33. I almost think you have a read a few before really getting the measure of them.

1. The Language Of Kindness - Christie Watson.

Anecdotes from her nursing career. Beautiful writing. Heart wrenching and difficult to read at times. She spent much of her career as a paediatric intensive care nurse so some of the stories are devastatingly sad. I was so impressed by her and felt ashamed at the way our nurses are undervalued. If you liked the Adam Kay book then you may like this but be warned it lacks the humour and is all the better for it.

I honestly don’t think it matters that much, Keith, but probably best to start with Mort, Equal Rites/Wyrd Sisters, or Guards! Guards! I liked Going Postal a lot, but it builds on the City Watch books, and if you start there you miss out on seeing how the city of Ankh Morpork evolves from medieval to quasi-Victorian. The first two books are worth reading, I think, so long as you’re aware they are a completely different style to the rest of the series. More 80s fantasy spoof than anything else.

Since we’re on the subject of Sir Pterry, I found this article fascinating:

www.eurogamer.net/articles/2019-01-29-the-story-behind-the-oblivion-mod-terry-pratchett-worked-on

I am a massive Elder Scrolls fan (RPG game series), and in particular Oblivion, and I was delighted to find out he’d used it for research/inspiration for the goblins in Snuff. It’s a wonderful, goofy game (featuring voiceovers from Sean Bean and Patrick Stewart, says she, trying to make it sound not quite so rubbish), and I love it to bits, and i flailed a bit when I found out TP had played it, but mainly what I find fascinating about the article is the adaptations made to enable him to play it despite his Alzheimer’s.

granny Weatherwax for prime minister

11. Guns Germs and Steel by Jared Diamond

Sub-titled "A short history of everybody for the last 13,000 years", this book is based around a theory that the development of humanity in different parts of the world is very heavily influenced by the geographical attributes of each area (e.g. the domesticability of plants, large mammals, the terrain, the ease of transmission to other parts of the continent). It is written in an engaging style and I found it really interesting and much of the theory advanced compelling. Evolutionary biology (which is the author's field) is something I know very little about, so I'm impressed that he managed to write such an accessible book. That said, I felt that in places (as with many such books) it got a little repetitive and I found myself thinking "yes, I've already got that, thanks" several times. So could have been shortened in places, but overall a good and interesting read.

Grim, I'm a big fan of At Freddie's too. You're right, not one of Penelope Fitzgerald's better-known books, but it's a small gem. She was good at writing children, I suppose from being a teacher herself (and a mother, of course).

Someone else on this thread read it recently and enjoyed it iirc but I'm afraid I can't remember who.

I started the Hermione Lee biog of PF ages ago and got bogged down - it's a rather massive tome - but I really must try and get back to it

And Death rode in on a horse called Binky

DH wants a bit of Mort read at his funeral.

Finished #15 Crazy Rich Asians Downtown Abbey in Asia. Not a bad fun read but a bit predictable.

I've already started the next #16 Dominion by C. J. Sansom but not in the Shardlake series. Its an alternative history. Churchill lost the argument to the appeasers in 1940 and so Hitler and Germany won the war. This is set 12 years later in 1952. Not got very far yet but am already hooked by this very plausible alternative England.

31. Where’d You Go, Bernadette by Maria Semple

I can’t really decide if I liked this or not! It took a little while to get into, because it’s structured as a series of letters and emails between the different characters and it took a bit of time to work out who everyone was and how they related to each other. The disappearance of Bernadette doesn’t actually happen until about two thirds of the way into the book, so for most of it you’re reading about why she disappeared rather than efforts to find her. I think in the end it was just trying a bit too hard to be quirky and for me it didn’t quite work.

If I ever have a horse I'm calling it Binky.

Thanks for the new thread southeast . Here's my list with highlights in bold.

1. Everything Under – Daisy Johnson

2. A God in Ruins – Kate Atkinson

3. Asymmetry – Lisa Halliday

4. Poverty Safari – Darren McGarvey

5. The Travelling Cat Chronicles – Hiro Arikawa

6. The Rotters’ Club – Jonathan Coe

7. Kindred – Octavia E. Butler

8. We Were the Mulvaneys – Joyce Carol Oates

9. Milkman – Anna Burns

Much reviewed on here already. On the face of it is a story about the Troubles in 1970’s Belfast, but could be about any divided, sectarian society at any time at all.

I enjoyed this very much and in my opinion although it didn’t live up to its “difficult” reputation, it is a book which requires concentration and some dedication on the part of the reader. For this reason it has taken me a while to finish, but that’s mainly because I’ve had a busy week and it doesn’t lend itself to 5 -10 minutes free time here and there. I enjoyed reading it most in larger chunks during the evening when it was nice and quiet, when I found it fascinating, moving and surprisingly very funny.

Yes, it’s true that there are very few paragraphs and very long chapters, but I didn’t mind this at all. Yes, very few of the characters or places have names, but I thought this actually worked really well. For example, although the “wee sisters” are never named, and always appear as a group, you get a real sense of who their personalities. (I thought they were brilliant and one of the highlights of the book, together with “real milkman”). And she creates such a vivid sense of time and place with her description of the desolate “ten minute area” that you really don’t need to know its actual name.

My favourite part of this book was the dark humour, which complimented the feeling of claustrophobia and menace perfectly, somehow intensifying and lightening it all at the same time. Genuinely unlike anything I have read before; it’s unconventional, but it works. One of my highlights so far this year.

I have been listening to Milkman on audible but I think I need to read rather than listen as my brain wanders sometimes and this is not the book for a wandering brain

@FiveGoMadInDorset what a lovely idea which bit?

@BrizzleMint I'm not going to own a horse but if I ever change my mind yes that would be my choice of name too. Maybe I can persuade horse mad DDs to when they get one.

@bakewelltarts not sure, I have to do a re-read sooner rather than later although he has just announced that he really likes Reaper Man

FiveGoMad yes, my brain is far too wandery for audio books at the best of times 😀

I do like audio books, but I find that I can only cope with either non-fiction or very easy listening fiction where it doesn't matter if I miss a bit of plot.

BTW, I'm wondering if anyone on here could help me think of a recent book that my dad might like for his birthday. Perhaps something nature or history related. Any top tips?

(He reads a lot, but just realised with Kindle family library I can scan through his recent purchases, so if it's been published in the last 2 years I should be good as he can't manage paper books these days!)

I used to indulge in a few fiction audio books when I used to do long drives (2 hours each way) I listened to a few good crime novels that way and Stephen Kings The Stand (which is a 47 hour monster!!) but I don't do those drives anymore and my brain does wonder and so I don't enjoy fiction via audible as much as reading. I still have an audible account though and I listen to non-fiction that way. Currently listening to Michelle Obama's and loving it. I tend to listen when doing jobs around the house and going for walks.

My mind only wanders when I look at other apps on my phone so make sure that's a no no when listening but I find I can't just listen at night for example, have to be doing something!

I do audio books in the bath mainly as I also have a wondering mind. Currently doing the Fellowship of the ring as I splishysploshy up and down.