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?

I bought Cut Out Girl, too!

So did I looking forward to starting that one

26. Stiff Upper Lip: Secrets, Crimes and the Schooling of a Ruling Class by Alex Renton I picked this up on daily deal having recently read Terms & Conditions (about girls boarding schools) by Ysenda Maxtone Graham. Stiff Upper Lip is far more campaigning in tone than the more historical approach in Terms & Conditions - unsurprising, as the author is an investigative journalist & the book came out of work he did on sexual & physical assault in boarding schools. Unlike Maxtone Graham, he also boarded himself, from age 8.
    It's a depressing but very interesting and measured read, with historical context as well as contemporary accounts. The author particularly addresses the question of why so many parents who had experienced the worst of boarding schools themselves would then send off their own young children in turn.

Clueless, I loved Wonder, both the book and the film. I might have a look at Augie & Me as well.

27 Spectred Isle by KJ Charles
Archeologist Saul Lazenby was disgraced in WW1 & disowned by his family, and now gets by as assistant to a rich eccentric who believes in the occult. As various strange events happen, he keeps meeting the mysterious and aristocratic Randolph Glyde.

KJC has joined Georgette Heyer and a few others as one of my go to authors for comfort re-reads. Spectred Isle is the first of hers that I read, and has lots of humour, a good plot and a nicely developing romance - perfect for a slightly hung-over Sunday morning.

21. Conversations with Friends by Sally Rooney.

I surprised myself by liking this book! Based on four characters, the principle is Frances. 21 years old and uncertain what she wants from life, be that in sexuality, relationships and career. I think the author caught the innate selfishness of that age and the difference between what you feel inside and how others perceive you. I’ll definitely read Normal People at some point.

EmGee, did you read Conversations with Friends or Normal People? It’s on your list as Conversations with Normal People. And I missed your review, did you like it?

Satsuki and Splother I have just added Last Train to Memphis and Careless Love to my TBR pile. My mum was a huge Elvis fan and the GR reviews suggest these books were sensitively written so I'm going to give them a try.

Brizzle - I love books that evoke powerful responses, even the sad ones. Have you been to Kew Gardens? It is one of my happy places, so I'm adding A Thousand Paper Birds to my TBR list too.

8. The Twits – Roald Dahl

This was the first 'proper' book I have read to my son, a few chapters each night before bed. He really enjoyed it and it was a trip down memory lane for me.

I always thought that a child experiencing The Twits was something of a rite of passage. However, reading it again as an adult just doesn't feel the same; the sparkle wasn't there.

That said, I will definitely continue reading RD's books to DS, I think we might try The BFG next.

toomuchsplother and mog yes I’m going to read Careless Love after this I hope. I was a bit intimidated by the density of both books but the first one so far is as absorbing as a novel. They seem like a labour of love. Backlisted is doing a podcast on them I think tomorrow which I’m going to save until after.

Will definitely checkout the Backlisted podcast.

42. Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine by Gail Honeyman

I picked this up from the library to see what all the fuss was about as I missed it during the mad hype last year. I'm always a bit wary of uber popular books. My first reaction was, "Oh god, someone wrote a book about me". I thought it was very well done with several laugh out loud moments and well worth the read. Everyone should embrace their inner Eleanor.

21: The Crime Writer - Jill Dawson

An intriguing novel woven around actual events in the life of Patricia Highsmith, who spent some time in the 1960s living and writing in a cottage in a small Suffolk village. She was involved in an affair with a married woman living in London; had a friendship with local fellow-writer Ronald Blythe (of eventual Akenfield fame), drank heavily, and indulged her passion for breeding and observing snails (yes, really).

All this is known, and true; Dawson takes things further and explores what might have happened if this strange, tortured, secretive alcoholic had allowed the darkness she wrote about so brilliantly to spill over into her actual life. I was gripped by the first half of this book, and wholly convinced by the first-person voice of 'Pat', but felt things dropped off significantly as the narrative progresses and the lack of effective plot starts to drag things back down to earth. Even so, a great feat of writing and a powerful piece of work from Dawson.

I'm now trying to find the copy of Andrew Wilson's biography of Highsmith which I know I've got somewhere in the house!

18 What's Eating Gilbert Grape by Peter Hedges

This goes to the top of my books for this year and top 10 ever.

The blurb - Gilbert Grape has a lot going on. He is a grocery store assistant, the son of a hugely obese woman, brother to five clashing siblings and lover to a middle aged married mother of two. He also has a killer crush on the beautiful mysterious girl who has just arrived in his dwindling hometown.

This has got to be one of the best observed of small town life I have ever read, more so as I would imagine that this is not far from the truth for some parts of America today. It has also got to be one of the saddest I read whilst being gently humorous at the same time.

34. The Lost Child of Philomena Lee- Martin Sixsmith This was very different to the film Philomena, as it focussed on her child Michael Hess (né Anthony Lee)'s life in America. As a gay man working in politics, his life was a mass of contractions. Bizarrely, he ended up as chief legal counsel to the Republican National Committee during the Reagan era and the AIDS epidemic. Throughout his life, he was desperate to find his birth mother, while she was simultaneously searching for him. Although the politics became slightly wearing at times, the book was very moving, especially near the end.

Hi I have a (potentially dumb) question, would Uni textbooks count? I have just finished the second of my three books on cell biology - first was read last year. Not noticed anything similar on others' lists so not sure where I stood on this! Thanks

Other people have counted them in the past, Tower.

I counted a couple because I was behind on my reading challenge by 3 books because I'd been reading university text books so I decided it counted.

Thanks so much, that takes me to 18 books so far this year

39. Beyond Black - Hilary Mantel. Been on the TBR pile for a long time. I know this divides opinion on this thread but I am definitely on the love side. What a multilayered gem of a book. And really enjoyed listening to the Backlisted podcast about it too. Mantel's own experiences really give the whole book another perspective. Fabulous!

29: Eternity Ring – Patricia Wentworth

Nothing cutting edge here but a decent enough read, especially as I wasn’t feeling up to anything at all demanding. It got a bit silly and Scooby Doo-ish at the end, with the villain giving a long speech about how they nearly got away with it except for you pesky kid, but that just adds to the comfort level of expectation, I guess.

1. Something Rotten, Jasper Fforde

2. The Lonesome Bodybuilder, Yukiko Motoya 3. Vox, Christina Dalcher

1. Suicide Club, Rachel Heng

5. Birdbox, Josh Malerman

1. The Psychology of Time Travel

7. 11:22:63, Stephen King

1. Futures and Fantasies, ed John Joseph Adams

9. The Bees, Laline Paull 10. The One, John Marrs 11. The Bazaar of Bad Dreams, Stephen King 12. The Terror, Dan Simmons

Absolutely loved The Terror, in a way I never imagined I could love a book about a bunch of men stranded in ice for years.

From the blurb:
“The most advanced scientific enterprise ever mounted, Sir John Franklin’s 1845 expedition in search of the fabled North-West Passage had every expectation of triumph.

But for almost two years his ships HMS Terror and Erebus have been trapped in the Arctic ice. Supplies of fuel and food are running low. Scurvy, starvation and even madness beging to take their toll. And yet the real threat isn’t from the constantly shifting, alien landscape, the flesh-numbing temperatures or being crushed by the unyielding, frozen ocean. No, the real threat is far more terrifying.

There is something out there in the frigid darkness. It stalks the ships and snatches men. It is a nameless thing. At once nowhere and everywhere, this terror has become the expedition’s nemesis . . .”

I knew nothing about the North-West Passage and not much about the Arctic, but this was gripping, emotional and chilling. There are a lot of sections where nothing much is happening but the bonds (or lack of between the men, the ever present threat of the beast and the unbearable mortality keeps it cracking along nicely. Didn’t include it in the list, but dipped in and out of Michael Palin’s Erebus to follow the real life expedition.

Continuing with the 1800s seafaring theme, I’m about halfway through This Thing of Darkness, Harry Thompson about Darwin’s voyage on The Beagle, his discoveries and his friendship with Captain Fitzroy. Beautifully written and fascinating to see how Darwin’s theories grew.

Next up is The Talisman by Stephen King & Peter Straub. I’ve read pretty much everything by King, but somehow I’ve missed this one.

@UtterlyPerfectCartoonGiraffe what would be your Stephen King recommendation for a newbie? I read Bag of Bones a while back and didn’t get on with the story but like the writing and thinking I need to give him another go. Too many to know where to start...

UtterlyPerfect thanks for the review of The Terror - that confirms that I was right not to buy it as your review sent a shiver down the spine of this cowardly reader

For a King novice, I'd recommend Misery, The Green Mile or The Girl who Loved Tom Gordon.

26. Still Missing by Beth Gutcheon

Susan’s life falls apart when her 6 yr old son Alex vanishes on his way to school one morning. Still Missing follows the aftermath and impact of Alex’s disappearance.
A very compelling book to read, although not the easiest of reads due to the harrowing subject matter.