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?

@EarringsandLipstick, oh good! There are two by Deborah Levy which are autobiographical, the other one is The Cost of Living. I also liked Bluets by Maggie Nelson. There is a book called Constellations that has just come out, by an author called Sinead Gleeson that I want to get my hands on as well.

I have fallen so far behind with reviewing, and as I've had a run of reasonably enjoyable, but not stunningly memorable books, I'd better get them all down before I forget everything about them.

17. Death of a Red Heroine by Qui Xiaolong Read out of curiosity after seeing it reviewed on this thread. First in a crime series featuring Inspector Chen set in Shanghai in the early 1990s. Found myself skimming the actual murder mystery and character development in favour of the descriptions of the cultural and political setting which were much more interesting. Not going to carry on with this series.

18. Walking the Nile by Levison Wood Again, the most interesting thing about this was his awareness of the recent political events of the areas he was walking through and was at his best when writing about the sensitivities of these. He at least questioned the role of the adventure or explorer in the modern world. He didn't really answer the question though. He didn't totally bring the landscapes or natural world to life. I was left unsure what he had wanted to get out of the trip (well, a book and a TV series obviously).

19. Our Lady of Everything by Susan Finlay Multiculatural Nottingham at the time of the Gulf War as seen through the eyes of an interconnected set of characters. I didn't like this. It was very observational and was clearly meant to be funny in places, but I felt like we were being asked to laugh at the characters rather than feel empathy with them. it lacked warmth.

20. Gemsigns by Stephanie Saulter Someone on this thread (Sadik? Stitches?) recommended this to me ages ago as a quick 'trashy' SF read. Perfect! Thank you! In a near future London, genetically modified humans (Gems) have served their purpose in getting humanity back on its feet after a devastating virus, and have now been released by the former gemtech company owners and are making their first tentative steps becoming integrated in Norm society. Fast paced, loads of characters and action. Not brilliantly written - e.g. the most shocking piece of genetic engineering in the book was the author's attempt to render phonetically a character's Scottish accent, a character who became more important as the book progressed. It was painful. Overall, a great fun read though, and have already bought book 2.

21. The Witch at Wayside Cross by Lisa Tuttle Book 2 in the Jesperson and Lane series - Victorian male / female detective partnership. Narrated by Miss Lane, I feel her character could have more agency, but otherwise enjoyed this second outing. A nice feeling of Victorian melodrama builds up, and she's very good at creating situations where the supernatural vs a rational explanation hangs in a fine balance. This is quite a light quick read.

Have succumbed to the aforementioned lurgy so am at home, feeling sorry for myself and unable to summon any energy to do much other than watch Bargain Hunt, cough a lot and dread the 60 reports I have to write.

Did, however, finish Boys Don't Try by Mark Roberts and Matt Pinkett who are very active on Edutwitter. I generally find books by rapidly promoted male teachers annoying and quite braggart in their tone but these two were careful to steer clear of this and included some interesting research and challenge lots of assumptions and generalisations. I like that they acknowledege male attitudes to female staff and students needs challenging and that they both counsel against just putting a bunch of boys in front of a male teacher as if that solves issues. The book does feel a little rushed (it came out before its original promised release date) and contains a few odd typos. It feels like it could have been fuller and longer but, at the same time, it feels a bit like they ran out of material. The chapters on mental health and on disadvantage are useful ; the chapter on violence could have been far more developed. There are some useful PSE type lesson templates. Neither author considers that this male disadvantage seems miraculoulsy to invert itself in later life... nonetheless, they do very clearly say it is not the job of girls to 'civilise the boys' which is a constant bugbear of mine.

A lot of it resonates with my values : just not sure what to do now I have read it! Buy multiple copies and leave it lying around for my (90%male) SLT to read, perhaps...

And I have now finished the last couple of chapters of The Language of Kindness: A Nurse's Story which si a remarkably compassionate look at nursing. She reveals the toil of nurses and the hours and challenges they have to endure but without the agenda Adam Kay had, say, to reveal the issues confronting the NHS and junior doctors, in particular. Watson's book is more reflective and more selfless : perhaps,after all, this is the difference between nurse and doctors, something she does contemplate a few times. Almost every chapter made me cry, so be warned! She shows enormous love and respect for all her patients and this is what really shines through and makes the book hopeful rather than bleak.

whippet Sinead Gleeson is great and hearing lots of good things about Constellations

I'm currently reading A Manual for Heartbreak: how to feel better by Cathy Rentzenbrink. (She previously wrote The Last Act of Love about her brother Matty, who was knocked down, catastrophically, by a car, at 16, and existed for a further 8 years in a persistent vegetative state (PVS). This book is a follow up dealing with the 'process' part of grief, what people said to her, asked her about, thoughts on heartbreak. Finding it both moving and helpful so far.

28. Educated - Tara Westover

Compelling memoir of a woman born into a separatist Mormon family, which didn't believe in seeking either educational or medical support outside the home, and spent a great deal of effort preparing for the immanent end of days. With immense determination to create a different story for herself, Tara managed to obtain an undergraduate degree at Brigham Young and a PhD from Cambridge.

This is unputdownable writing, but the horrific injuries suffered by Tara and her siblings due to her father's neglect and his refusal to allow formal medical treatment are hard to stomach (and I read a lot of medical memoirs, so I'm not squeamish). The physical suffering is not what damages Tara the most, but rather the refusal of her parents to acknowledge or address the violence inflicted on her by her brother as a teenager. I think this book is so powerful as it represents Tara's rejection of the life story her parents wanted to give her, and her triumphant declaration of her own truth.

Bugger, that should have been no.29. I'm doing myself out of a book!

MuseumofHam it was probably me that recommended Gemsigns - I really enjoyed the series, not great writing but the sort of light SF that is just exactly what I need some days.

On an even lighter note:
34. The Governess Affair by Courtney Milan
Free kindle Victorian set novella. I thought I'd give this ago as it was mentioned somewhere (maybe the Smart Bitches Trashy Books website?) as a non-annoying historical romance without too many obvious anachronisms.

Harmless entertainment, not funny enough to hit my perfect romance sweet spot, but good enough that I've bought the next one in the series.

My list so far :

1 The Glass House Ann Cleeves
2 The Robber Bride Margaret Atwood
3 The Rumour Lesley Kara
4 The Missing Girl Jenny Quintana
5 The Chalk Pit Elly Griffiths
6 The Dark Circle Linda Grant
7 The Hunting Party Lucy Foley
8 The Man With No Face Peter May
9 Strictly Between Us Jane Fallon
10 Waiting For Sunrise William Boyd
11 Losing You Nicci French
12 The Death of Mrs Westway Ruth Ware
13 All The Beautiful Lies Peter Swanson
14 Educated Tara Westover
15 Ordinary Thunderstorms William Boyd
16 Killing Me Softly Nicci French
17 Transcription Kate Atkinson
18 My Not So Perfect Life Sophie Kinsella
19 A Sleeping Life - Ruth Rendell
20 You Were Gone Tim Weaver
21 A Spot of Folly Ruth Rendell
22 The Welsh Girl Peter Ho Davies
23 Milkman Anna Burns
24 Engleby Sebastian Faulks
25 The Moon Sister Lucinda Riley
26 In Search of Mary Shelley Fiona Sampson

The total is more than usual for 4 months for me, have been getting audios from the library, so half a dozen on my list are that variety. It pains me to list Kate Atkinson and to a lesser extent Peter May's books as dire I usually adore KA's writing and have certainly enjoyed all Peter May books, apart from this one. Very unexpected.

@carbuncleonapigsposterior

I agree re Transcription and that's so unusual for me - I love Kate Atkinson's work.

For me it had no depth, too many characters that I didn't care about, including the protagonist. Hated the BBC stuff especially.

But have you listed Lucy Foley's The Hunting Party as dire too 😢 that's next up for me & was looking forward to it...

Finished #39 Artemis which I really enjoyed. A heist story in space. Great fun.

Now onto the first in a teen distopian series which I'm reading as a "book club" with my teen DD #40 The Extinction Trials which is a typical YA distopia crossed with Jurrasic Park. So far pretty standard fare for this genre.

Earings - re The Hunting Party, you may well love it, please don't let me put you off. I picked it up at Sainsburys when we were having a cold snap, suitably wintery I thought given the setting of the wilds of Scotland, it's been described as Agatha Christiesque, if only...... I've read worse to be honest the characters weren't very engaging, give it a go.

Yes very disappointed in Transcription, Life after Life definitely one of my all time best reads

Marking place. Still struggling to find much that I actually want to read.

35: Tea Time For The Traditionally Built (No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency series Book 10) by Alexander McCall Smith

One that I’d somehow missed in this series. It was okay. Gentle humour, moments of cuteness, not much happening. Not the best in the series, but pleasant enough for an easy Sunday evening read.

I fancy a really gripping historical crime or mystery novel. Any ideas?

32. The Wych Elm by Tana French

I love Tana French's books and it took a great deal of determination to persist with my reading in order of purchase, rather than just reading this as soon as I bought it (which was the day it came out).

This is a stand-alone novel, her first outside the Dublin Murder Squad series, about Toby, a charming, well-off young man who has always thought of himself as lucky. The book revolves around the meaning and importance of "luck" and privilege in life, through the central plot of how Toby's life unravels after he is attacked in his own home and suffers a head injury. He returns to his uncle's home, where he spent much of his childhood with his cousins, and a further gruesome discovery makes matters still worse. Toby is the quintessential unreliable narrator and French has a lot of fun with that, shifting our perspective and understanding throughout - but she makes plenty of more serious thought-provoking points about identity and sense of self along the way.

This definitely isn't a perfect book. It's too long for a start, and needed a better editor. It reminded me of both the strengths (characterisation, creation of a hazy, young, privileged world) and the weaknesses (too many tedious bits about Xanax) of The Secret History. But I absolutely loved The Secret History and I absolutely loved this, even whilst acknowledging its flaws.

Yep, also thought Transcription was dire.

am I the only person who liked Transcription?

Welsh I quite liked Transcription but it certainly wasn't her best.

Very very behind
15) the correction- John Franzen

Very very good but took me forever to wade through

Welsh great synopsis & review there. Gives a great idea of the book.

I’m with splother - enjoyed Transcription but agree not her best.

I loved Transcription, but I haven't actually read any other Atkinson yet. I've got Life After Life on my kindle but haven't got to it so far...

Noodle you are in for a treat then because Lufe after Life is ten times the book of Transcription.

I'm the outlier. Didn't much like God In Ruins or Life After Life. Did not rave about Transcription either but don't see it as wildly inferior.

Welsh I also liked Transcription (which I read and reviewed very recently), but this may be because I know a lot about parts of it, so it rang completely true to me (disclaimer: I'm not a spy).

However, I agree it's not one of her best, and given that the new Jackson Brodie's out any day now, it does have the air of being a bit crammed in, as it were.

I preferred both Life after Life and A God In Ruins (both of which I loved, and also preferred to the Jackson Brodie books). But Transcription stayed in my head and made me think afterwards, which gets it on the very good list for me!