50 Book Challenge 2019 Part Four

[southeastdweller]

Welcome to the fourth 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, the second one here and the third one here.

How're you getting on so far?

Thanks for the new thread. Here is my list so far

1. Birdcage Walk - Helen Dunmore
2. Devil's Day - Andrew Hurley
3. Ghost Walk - Sarah Moss
4. Unsheltered - Barbara Kingsolver
5. The Murder of Harriet Monckton - Elizabeth Haynes
6. A House of Ghosts - W.R. Ryan
7. Wolf Border - Sarah Hall
8. The Secret History - Donna Tartt
9. Zennor in Darkness - Helen Dunmore

10. The Familiars - Stacey Hall 11. The Binding - Bridget Collins 12. The Fire Court - Andrew Taylor 13. The Illumination of Ursula Flight - Anne-Marie Crowhurst 14. Rotherweird - Andrew Caldecott

No real stinkers so far

I've just stumbled across The Things I Would Tell You: British Muslim Women Write, 98p and it looks like a must read:

Selected as Emma Watson's Jan/Feb 2019 pick for her feminist book club, Our Shared Shelf

A Guardian Best Book of the Year

Shortlisted for London's Big Read

From established literary heavyweights to emerging spoken word artists, the writers in this ground-breaking collection blow away the narrow image of the 'Muslim Woman'.

Hear from users of Islamic Tinder, a disenchanted Maulana working as a TV chat show host and a plastic surgeon blackmailed by MI6. Follow the career of an actress with Middle-Eastern heritage whose dreams of playing a ghostbuster spiral into repeat castings as a jihadi bride. Among stories of honour killings and ill-fated love in besieged locations, we also find heart-warming connections and powerful challenges to the status quo.

From Algiers to Brighton, these stories transcend time and place revealing just how varied the search for belonging can be. Alongside renowned authors such as Kamila Shamsie, Ahdaf Soueif and Leila Aboulela are emerging voices, published here for the first time.

My modest list:

Educated-Tara Westover
The Tattooist of Auschwitz- Heather Morris. Hated this- thought it was very poorly written.
Pieces of Me- Natalie Hart- very good debut novel.
Normal People- Sally Rooney- think she is a very good writer.
No Further Questions- Gillian McAllister
A Ladder to the Sky- John Boyne- loved almost as much as THIV.
Travelling in a Strange Land- David Parks- beautifully written.
The Hunting Party- Lucy Foley- good fun.

Currently reading Transcription by Kate Atkinson, which I'm enjoying, but don't think is as good as Life after Life and A God in Ruin's.

Apologies for the errant apostrophe in Ruins, above.

I forgot The Only Story- Julian Barnes in my list above.

@AliasGrape I love Anne Perrys detective stories. The William Monk ones are my favourite but I also enjoy the Thomas Pitt ones. Worth reading them in order as I enjoy the character arcs. Although you can read each as a stand alone. Her annual Christmas stories have also become a tradition. I start each new one on Christmas Eve. After all you need a good murder story at Christmas.

@MogTheSleepyCat so far so great with The Blade Itself, I'm now about half way through and the rest is living up to the opening scene. I am liking the older folks scared by life themes, certainly a change from young person on a voyage of discovery. I also like Glokta. Very well written character and as I am aging I can understand his frustration with his bodies failing (although have obviously just got age to blame). I will definitely be reading the other books he’s written not just in this trilogy. Kindle 0.99p deals strike again another great new (well new to me) author found.

@brizzle thanks for that recommendation - have picked it up. Reading the Good Immigrant at the mo and was looking for something to follow it.

*Brizzle The world I fell out of is a retelling of the story looking back over the years rather than just the columns.

Hi, updating here:

1. The Essex Serpent- Sarah Perry

2. The Mars Room- Rachel Kushner

1. Let Me Lie- Clare Mackintosh

4. Aquarium- David Vann

1. I See You- Clare Mackintosh

6. I Am, I Am, I Am- Maggie O’Farrell

1. Everything Under- Daisy Johnson
2. Manhattan Beach- Jennifer Egan

9. My Name is Lucy Barton- Elizabeth Strout 10. Do Not Say We Have Nothing- Madeleine Thien 11. Have Mercy on Us All- Fred Vargas 12. Commonwealth- Ann Patchett 13. Eileen- Otessa Moshfegh 14. The Woman Upstairs- Claire Messud 15. The Child’s Child- Barbara Vine 16. The Shore- Sara Taylor 17. Mothers- Chris Power 18. The Story of a Marriage- Andrew Sean Greer 19. This is Going to Hurt- Adam Kay 20. Anything is Possible- Elizabeth Strout 21. The Dinner- Herman Koch 22. All the Conspirators- Christopher Isherwood 23. Land's Edge- Tim Winton 24. Days Without End- Sebastian Barry 25. Hot Milk- Deborah Levy 26. The Burgess Boys- Elizabeth Strout 27. The Children Act- Ian McEwan 28. Sugar Money- Jane Harris 29. Wallis in Love- Andrew Morton 30. Anatomy of a Scandal- Sarah Vaughan 31. History of Wolves- Emma Fridlund 32. Lincoln in the Bardo- George Saunders 33. Instructions for a Heatwave- Maggie O'Farrell 34. Olive Kitteridge- Elizabeth Strout 35. Old School- Tobias Wolff 36. Seating Arrangements- Maggie Shipstead 37. A Far Cry from Kensington- Muriel Spark 38. The Girl in the Red Coat- Kate Hamer 39. Bad Dreams- Tessa Hadley 40. The Wonder- Emma Donoghue 41. The End of Eddy- Edouard Louis 42. This is Where it Ends- Marieke Nijkamp 43. Take Nothing With You- Patrick Gale 44. Normal People- Sally Rooney 45. Santaland Diaries- David Sedaris 46. Eyrie- Tim Winton 47. Lanny- Max Porter 48. The Friend- Sigrid Nunez 49. The History of Love- Nicole Kraus 50. Reservoir 13- Jon McGregor 51. An American Marriage- Tayari Jones 52. Ma'am Darling- Craig Brown 53. Nutshell- Ian McEwan 54. Three Things About Elsie- Joanna Cannon 55. Disgrace- J M Coetzee 56. Notes from an Exhibtions- Patrick Gale 57. Casting Off- Elizabeth Jane Howard 58. American Wolf- Nate Blakeslee 59. Kinder than Solitude- Yiyun Li

Lanny is the best thing I've read recently. Kinder than Solitude is the worst- really struggled to finish. Currently reading A Place for Us as I've seen it mentioned here. Enjoying the writing but finding that the jumping-around timeline is killing the pace

Wee fact, Anne Perry lives near my PILs. I see her tasteful and fabulous house every couple of months. Never read one of her books!

@bestiswest thank you
@palegreenstars it's not my usual style of reading material but it seems so important to read it, I'll be interested to hear what you think of it.m

14. The light between oceans A baby washes up on a remote island and a childless couple take her in and end up dealing with the fall out.

It’s a touch contrived but very readable. My MIL would like it more than I did..,,

My list so far:

1. The Anxiety Solution - Chloe Brotheridge
2. Me - Tomoyuki Hoshino
3. Arlington Park - Rachel Cusk
4. The Beast - Alexander Starritt
5. A Sense of Direction - Gideon Lewis-Kraus

6. To Throw Away Unopened - Viv Albertine

1. The Lady and the Little Fox Fur - Violette Leduc
2. The Dead Ladies Project - Jessa Crispin
3. Cassandra Darke - Posy Simmonds

10. Tokyo Ueno Station - Yu Miri 11. 84 Charing Cross Road - Helene Hanff 12. I am, I am, I am - Maggie O'Farrell 13. Infinite Jest - David Foster Wallace 14. Our Game - John Le Carre 15. Old Baggage - Lissa Evans 16. Tepper Isn't Going Out - Calvin Trillin 17. If Nobody Speaks of Remarkable Things - Jon McGregor

Thank you southeast, just checking in.

My list is:

1. Bird Box- Josh Malerman
2. Film Stars Don’t Die in Liverpool- Peter Turner
3. The Road- Cormac McCarthy
4. The Tattooist of Auschwitz- Heather Morris
5. Why Mummy Drinks- Gill Sims
6. Memory Songs- James Cook
7. Read All About It- Paul Cuddihy
8. The Boys are Back- Simon Carr
9. How to Make Great Radio- David Lloyd

10. The Revenant- Michael Punke 11. Every Song Ever- Ben Ratliff 12. Why Mummy Swears- Gill Sims 13. In the Days of Rain- Rebecca Stott 14. Trilby- George de Maurier 15. Not Your Average Nurse- Maggie Groff 16. The Secret Mother- Shalini Boland 17. My Year of Rest and Relaxation- Otessa Moshfegh 18. Rock Needs River- Vanessa McGrady 19. Three Weeks To Say Goodbye- C.J. Box 20. Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine- Gail Honeyman 21. Born Under A Million Shadows- Andrea Busfield 22. The Year of Reading Dangerously- Andy Miller 23. De Profundis- Oscar Wilde 24. Weird Things Customers Say in Book Shops- Jen Campbell 25. Scrublands- Chris Hammer 26. More Weird Things Customers Say in Book Shops- Jen Campbell 27. Life Skills: Stuff You Should Really Know by Now- Julia Laflin 28. The Book Shop- Penelope Fitzgerald 29. The English Patient- Michael Ondaatje 30. Brave New World- Aldous Huxley 31. The Collector- John Fowles 32. Mr Penumbra’s 24 Hour Book Store- Robin Sloan

On further reflection, I have now upgraded Scrublands to a stand-out.

I have recently finished:

33. A Prayer for Owen Meany- John Irving I won't attempt to review this, as I am the last person on earth to have read it, but I thought it was lovely.

I now have several non-fiction books on the go and hope to have finished one or two of them before March is out.

27 Notes from a Small Island
28 Neither Here nor There

Two Bill Bryson re-reads which were perfect for a week where I’ve felt pretty unwell and not very clever. Reading them so closely together makes it more obvious where he’s just rehashing some of the same rants though.

queen, for some reason "My MIL would like it more than I did..." strikes me as the ultimate in damning with faint praise!

Not going to retype my list, sorry - it's kept a handwritten version because I'm old skool.

Have started reading The Wandering Vine, by Nina Caplan, which I'm enjoying so far. She talks about wine, about the Romans and about her family history (Jewish forbears forced into exile) and meanders around visiting vineyards. I love a travel/memoir/history mash-up, so this is right up my street.

Thanks Southeast.
I'm actually on target to make 50 books this year for the first time ever.
I'm also in awe at the amount of books people read on here, I read more than anyone else I know IRL, and I'm an amateur compared to some of you!
My list so far:
1. The Seven Deaths Of Evelyn Hardcastle by Stuart Turton
2. Bookworm by Lucy Mangan
3. Just William by Richmal Crompton
4. Les Miserables by Victor Hugo translation by Catherine Doughton
5. Bird Box by Josh Malerman
6. All The Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr
7. Everything I Never Told You by Celeste Ng
8. Home Fire by Kamila Shamsie
9. Everyone Brave Is Forgiven by Chris Cleave
10. The Hearts Invisible Furies by John Boyne
11.^ T^he Green Road by Anne Enright
12.^^ A Month In The Country by J L Carr
13.^^ Not My Fathers Son by Alan Cumming
14. After You by Jojo Moyes
15.^^ The Salt Path by Raynor Winn

Currently struggling through the audible version of Milkman, and reading Yellow Crocus on Kindle.

@BakewellTarts - oooh thanks for the info, I’ll definitely read more, might try the William Monk ones then.

queen, I know exactly what you mean - I have a “my (ex) MIL would love this” pile of things I’d read and she loved The Light Between The Oceans. I can generally predict with confidence what she’ll love - it’s usually a Richard and Judy slightly literary fiction type novel. I accidentally gave her The Wasp Factory once and she preserved - bless her - because “I always give her such nice books”, but she wasn’t a fan.

FranKatzenjammer I would welcome a review of Owen Meany, a copy of which is in my house, unread by anyone, and no-one is sure who bought it/borrowed it/left it there. I know nothing about it, so you might persuade my to dust it off.

I am not going to pretend to review Owen Meany or to steal Fran’s thunder but it is an outstanding and very unusual book. I read it as a teenager and it blew my mind. I’m long overdue a re-read.

I'm one of the very few people on here who wasn't a big fan of Owen Meaney. I found it far too long and rather annoying, although there were some truly excellent bits in there too (the car scene iirc). I thought it would have been better as a novella.

Haven't* read Owen Meany.* Another one to add to a ridiculously long list!!

I'm with you there Remus, Owen Meany is one of the few books I've started and DNF, however I was sufficiently intrigued to look up the synopsis. The plot was good I just didn't enjoy the execution.

Glad to hear it, Desdemona.