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?

keith The Beyond Black episode is great, and got me enthused about reading it.

26. Poverty Safari, Darren McGarvey

I'm afraid I found this disappointing. McGarvey opens the book with a preface saying that he doesn't read much and has never found reading easy. I feel churlish and frankly like a bit of a twat for criticising his writing style when he is an authentic voice, survivor of poor schooling and a traumatic past but.... This book is all over the place. He makes some excellent points but many of them are lost because the focus wanders. There is no direction to his arguments - he says something, goes off topic, comes back to repeat himself, tells a story which may or may not be related to the point then finishes the chapter. His arguments are rarely backed up either with anecdotal evidence (the exceptions to this are some of the strongest parts of the book) or with statistics. I wish this book was more clearly written as the points that he makes are so important and we really need to hear more commentary from writers outside the mainstream.

27. The Truth About Lorin Jones, Alison Lurie

Darkly comic 80s novel about an earnest, angry feminist art academic researching the life of a talented female painter who she sees as a victim of the patriarchy. while at the same time trying to navigate her own life following the break up of her marriage. I'm not sure whether the outcome of the book was supposed to make a point - if it was, then it's not a point that I particularly agree with - but it was a good story, sharply funny and with some great depictions of 1980s Manhattan and Florida.

28. The Mars Room, Rachel Kushner

Wow. Thanks to everyone on this thread who recommended this book. So, so good. I know it's been reviewed a lot so I won't go back over the plot, characters etc. I would only say don't be put off by descriptions of this as bleak or brutal. It is those things in places but it is also very readable, with humour and emotion and even some glimmers of hope. If we judge a society by how it treats its most vulnerable members then we can learn a lot about contemporary America from considering the experiences of prisoners - the events that led to them ending up in prison and what happens to them when they get there.

29. Snap, Belinda Bauer

I wanted something with lighter weight after The Mars Room and this was a good choice. Thriller-stroke-police-procedural, it opens on a hot day with three bored children waiting on the hard shoulder for their mum to come back - the car has broken down and she went for help, a long time ago. I'm not sure that this was Booker-longlist-worthy but it's original and well plotted, and didn't have an ending that made me want to stick pins in my eyes, which is often a plus with "twisty" thrillers!

9. Wait for Me! Memoirs of the Youngest Mitford Sister – Deborah Devonshire

I picked this up mistakenly thinking it would be a bit like a real life version of Nancy Mitford's novels but was rather disappointed.

The first half focussed on the immediate family and the Mitford sisters growing up, which was much more interesting than the adulthood and married life half of the memoirs.

I wasn't sure what to make of this book; it certainly doesn't live up to the high praise from the various newspapers quoted on the back cover saying how exhilarating and 'unputdownable' it was. It was a bit of a struggle to finish and felt quite turgid in places. All the name dropping became tedious and the whole thing felt like a vanity project.

I'm now going to try something completely different and a first of its genre for me The Last Man, book one A graphic novel my DH suggested I try.

I couldn't read Brooklyn - so, so boring. DP loved it though.

31: A Town Like Alice – Nevil Shute – a re-read of this, one of my favourite novels for decades! This hits so many of my checklists – long journeys / history / strong characterisation / Australia / peril / war / love that isn’t sloppy or driven by hideous sex scenes

It's been a difficult few weeks and this was just what I needed.

40. Human Croquet- Kate Atkinson a bit late to the party with this one, in fact with Atkinson generally, having only really read her last year.
This was her second novel. Typical Atkinson with it's humour, whimsicality and vivid characters. I liked it, didn't live it. She plays around with time and place but doesn't seem quite committed to it or clear where she is going. It almost feels like she loses her nerve in the end, tying it up neatly with a whole 'Bobby Ewing in the shower moment' ( Really showing my age there!)
This felt a bit like a practise run for Life after life, where she fully commits to the concept of playing with time and makes no apologies for it.
And on that premise I can forgive her because I thought L after L was fantastic.
Such a shame I have taken so long to discover Atkinson. I do remember trying and abandoning Emotionally Weird. Anyone read it? Should I go back?

16. Yellow Crocus by Laila Ibrahim. A freebie from Amazon Prime Library. Set in the Deep South between 1837 and 1859 this novel traces the story of a plantation owners child Lisbeth and her enslaved wet nurse and nanny Mattie. It was a bit one dimensional and the author isn't going to win any prizes for writing but it moved along at a lick and I was sufficiently invested to want to find out what happened to the two protagonists, however The Long Song it ain't.

17. Milkman by Anna Burns on Audible. This has been reviewed many times and split opinion, I'm in the 'hated it' camp. I nearly gave up two hours in and probably should have. It was a unique style and it did have a rhythm to it which I occasionally enjoyed, when something was actually happening, but overall the stream of consciousness/lack of plot was not for me.

Satsuki yes I know what you mean about the writing in Swan Song being a bit overworked. For some of the characters it was right, after all they were kind 'over worked' themselves, all style and appearance with an enormous side order of anxiety and self doubt. The later characters in the book however felt like overblown caricatures while simultaneously all blending into the same woman. I don’t know if that was the authors intent, she did keep on using the same collective voice technique.

I too was a huge fan of Friday Night Lights. Oh Tim Riggins, I do miss a regular dose of on screen Tim Riggins.

Finished #29 The Lord God Made Them All and enjoyed it again (I'm very pleased I decided to reread this series). Gentle observational humor which evokes a world gone by. And helps lighten miserable commutes.

Moved onto #30 Grass for His Pillow which is the second of the Tales of the Otori. Japanese Fantasy. I loved the first so have high hopes of this one.

I'm another one who had to give up on Swan Song.

I too found Brooklyn and Nora Webster (loosely linked book) a bit dull. Some of the writing is fantastic but the story arc doesn't ultimately deliver.

I think Kate Arkinson's Behind the Scenes at the museum is her masterpiece.

scribbly Riggins! Like all teenage crushes rolled into one. Got me through a difficult pregnancy. Immensely therapeutic.

I recall having discussion on here before about Brooklyn as it seemed to divide people and one of the things that came up amongst those who liked it was identifying with the sense of displacement and rootlessness it evoked; I know this was the case for me and why I think I found it had an accumulative power beneath the spare surface. The homesickness and the feeling of being caught between your past and your future were quite meaningful to me and that was my overriding impression of the book.

sapatsea agree on Behind the Scenes. Well worth reading God in Ruins if you haven’t yet splother, it is flawed but still a lot to think about, and Atkinson always gives good prose. She is fantastic for making you feel like you’re in a Spitfire watching all hell break loose around you.

@DecumusScotti thanks for the tip. I'm not meant to be buying books but...have added this to my backlog. I really should be trying to reduce the number of unread books in my Kindle queue...

Satsuki I have read God in Ruins, had a bit of binge over the last year. Think Emotionally Weird is the only one I haven't read now.

Bakewell - I'm a huge fan of the Tales of series. Eldest devoured them all aged 9/10 - would recommend if anybody has pre-teens who like a good series. They are a bit 'sexy' in places, but she said later that she just read those bits fast to get back to the story!

Tim Riggins. Swoon. When my colleague saw me reading Friday Night Lights she just said “Tim Riggins”. We might have googled a few things...

SapatSea oh my goodness, I had no idea so many Richmal Cromptons were on Kindle - thank you! Just had a bit of a buying spree

11. The Negotiator* by Frederic Forsyth

This was top notch Forsyth, mixing international politics, multinational corporate shenanigans, greed, power, and solid suspense. The president's son is kidnapped and the world's top hostage negotiator is called on to secure his release however he can. What follows is fast-paced, believable, and cynical as Forsyth does best. I recommend this book to everyone here.

Bringing my list over:

1. A Game of Thrones (A Song if Ice and Fire #1) by George R. R. Martin
2. Avenger by Frederick Forsyth
3. Mr Spaceship by Philip K Dick
4. The Collectors (Camel Club #2) by David Baldacci

5. Longitude by Dava Sobel

1. The Wandering Earth by Cixin Liu
2. Total Control by David Baldacci
3. The Door Into Summer by Robert Heinlein
4. Call For The Dead by John Le Carré (Smiley #1)

10. Other Minds: The Octopus and The Evolution of Intelligent Life by Peter Godfrey-Smith

ScribblyGum Thanks for the Swan Song tip - that sounds amazing. And yes yes to In Cold Blood - quite short and Truman does that kind of novelisty-journalisty thing better than anyone else (except maybe Norman Mailer - if you can look past his ultra-macho-mid-century-American attitude to the sheer quality of the writing, The Fight and A Fire on the Moon are excellent)

And thanks Satsuki and others for the Colm Toibin recommendations. I have only read Dancer, which I thought was great (on the face of it about Nureyev's defection, but really about those around him in 1960s London and incredibly evocative of time and place) so must try some of the others.

This thread is giving me too many ideas! Am currently a bit bogged down in a book on Waterloo that is not as interesting as I thought I was going to be and also distracted by sipping into the Things I would tell you anthology also recommended on this thread.

Oops - have just realised I am being an idiot and Dancer is by Colum McCann! Will go back and actually read some Colm Toibin

19. the Standing Chandelier by Lionel Shriver. A novella about two Americans who meet in college and settle on being friends. When the man Baba gets engaged his fiancé causes strife in the friendship.

This starts with a description of how unlikeable women find Gillian - The best friend. And it’s true she is. Couldn’t really get past that. I think it must be Shriver’s MO to write about unlikable women - but I didn’t find much else in this.

20. The Good Immigrant various.

Different people who are first or second generation immigrants write essays about their experiences.

I’ve just seen @KeithLeMonde describe this as patchy but important. My thoughts as well. Suleyman’s was the standout essay for me.

21. The Sudden Appearance of Hope Claire North.

Age 16 people start to forget Hope, eventually not even her parents can remember her. She makes the most of this fantastical ability by becoming an expert jewel thief pursued by Interpol and other mysterious organisations.

The description makes this book sound exactly as fluffy as I was hoping and for the most part it lived up to my expectations. There was lots of layers (TOR) to the book and an interesting look at the potential of apps to take over your life.

However, I found North’s writing style hard going. Weirdly reminded me of Milkman in her love of the thesaurus. She so often tells rather than shows and her penchant for describing to us what happens if you google a word, or the OED definition was very first year uni. I probably won’t read her work again but it was a good story.

Ooh, Grim thank you for being an idiot

I have read both Transatlantic and Let the Great World Spin by Colum McCann which were both great, so I will add Dancer to my evergrowing wish list!

I have lost my previous list but think I was up to:
48. The Travelling Bag - Susan Hill - I can appreciate that Susan Hill is a good writer but I can't really see the point of ghost stories (such as these are).
49. The Good Liar - Nicholas Searle - John Le Carre-type spy thriller - not as clever as the author thinks.

50 Day of the dead- Nicci French - The Freda Klein series finally grinds to a halt (I think). Descriptions of grisly murders coupled with cosy domestic accounts of what people had to eat & did. As usual Freda is completed vindicated with the assistance of her Scooby-doo type crew including the Ukrainian builder.
51 Our House - Louise Candlish yet another psycho drama but with a better twist than most although still weighing in at more than 400 pages (not including acknowledgements).
52 The only story - Julian Barnes - this stands as a stark contrast to all the chic-lit psycho nonsense as an elegantly-written book by a "proper" writer.
19 year old Paul takes up with an older woman at the tennis club in a Mrs Robinson type romance and sticks with her throughout her dreadful marriage and descent into alcoholism. This inevitably has an impact on the course of his life which is hampered by his unsuitable attachment.

I’m halfway through Swan Song at the moment and am enjoying it, although I do keep needing to look at Wikipedia to keep track of who is who and who was married to who!

@KeithLeMonde - you are most welcome! Plenty more idiocy where that came from

25. I Contain Multitudes - Ed Yong

Popular science overview of our relationship with the bacteria in our bodies. Plenty of interesting information (eg the description of the way breastmilk contains sugars which specifically feed the 'good' gut bacteria a newborn needs) and a welcome corrective to simplistic solutions offered by the probiotics industry.

However, it took me a long time to get through this, and the National-Geographic-esque style really grated. I don't need to know that 'Professor Boffin was an avuncular man with a twinkle in his eye and a grey shirt' (only exaggerating slightly); just tell me what Professor Boffin found out. Also often uses quotations from scientists as evidence; could do with reminding of the Royal Society's motto Nullius in verba ie take nobody's word for it.