50 Book Challenge 2019 Part Five

[southeastdweller]

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

The Warlord Chronicles was my introduction to Bernard Cornwall. I loved how loathsome he made Lancelot and Guinevere.

44 A Question of Upbringing by Anthony Powell

The first of the Dance to the Music of Time books, much reviewed on here. I think someone upthread commented that AP never uses one word where ten will do, and it's true, but still a gentle and enjoyable book. I listened to this on audio and it was perfect for the format (and particularly well read by Simon Vance).

I've got the first three books as one volume from the library audio service, so now onto book 2.

Sadik I agree that the narrator is fantastic. I'm also doing the audio versions and I could listen to him all day, he really suits the books.

and in other news... halleFREAKINGlujah

60. One Hundred Years of Solitude - Gabriel Garcia Marquez

Follows the Buendia family in their remote Columbian village for 100 years through epidemic, revolution, capitalism and ruin with a bit of rape and incest thrown in for good measure. Lots of political ideology and philosophy, commentary on Columbian history and I am pleased to confirm a whole lot of butterflies and TWO jaguars although neither were sexy.

I'm at a bit of a loss about what I can say about it. Beautiful, bonkers and in places brilliant, but ultimately quite boring and a battle to read. I feel like I went to war against this book. It's taken nearly a month to read and was something I couldn't settle into but also couldn't stop with. It tired me out. I would go to bed early thinking I could get a good hour with it but would find my eyes rolling back and my head nodding after about 6 pages. I fell asleep with it in my hand several times. I read No One Writes to the Colonel for my Spanish A-level lit paper and didn't find his work that hard to cope with in another language. I have no idea why it was so hard to read and I don't feel like I've won by finishing it. Enter if you dare, but if you don't like magical realism then run for the hills.

I'm definitely going to look out for him on other books Fortuna - his reading of The Difference Engine was also exceptional.

mortified to have written Columbian not the correct Colombian, although in fairness I have spent the last few days perusing walking trousers and have the Columbia brand on the brain.

I knew there were jaguars! You can see how they could have been sexy, right?

Have just seen that Tayari Jones has won the Women's prize for fiction for An American Marriage. A worthy winner imo.

37. Under the Pendulum Sun by Jeannette Ng

1843: Catherine Helstone follows her missionary brother Laon into Arcadia, the land of the Fae, where reality is unstable and the Pale Queen delights in trickery and deceit. The world building is fantastic and the revelations that Catherine uncovers are brilliantly woven into the narrative; this is an exceptionally well-planned novel. An excellent balance is struck between satisfying the reader and leaving Fairyland's ambiguity in place. My main criticism would be that the language does not ring true for Victorian Gothic (this draws heavily on Wuthering Heights and Jane Eyre), but I would strongly recommend this to fans of fantasy with a theological/mythical underpinning.

Piggy and Keith - I've added the Gary Younge to my list on the basis of your excellent reviews.

The Gary Younge book is a terrific and important read. I wish that every US library (especially high school libraries) had at least one copy.

John Boyne's most recent book, A Ladder to the Sky, is currently just 99p on Kindle and highly recommended.

Sadly unlikely egg!

InMyOwn that is an intriguing review of Under the Pendulum Sun and I have added it to my TBR list, thank you

Where did you see A Ladder to the Sky at 99p, southeast?

Just seen the link - doh!!
Many thanks - purchased :)

18. One plus one - Jojo Moyes
Lovely, easy read. Quite moving in places and laugh out loud funny in others. It was great to escape to Scotland with Jess and her kids in the hours it took to read this book.

Have finished 68. Lethal White, Robert Galbraith.
I now concede that auntie Remus and auntie Cote were right to warn us all. The book is bloated, and for a whodunit, that throws off the pacing and undercuts the climax: when the loquacious villain is helpful confirming plot details to the detective towards the end, I was distracted by wondering about all the other characters and plot lines that turned out to be irrelevant.

I'm also queasy about Robin endlessly being defined primarily as a Survivor of Male Violence. Obviously the effects can be lasting, but it seems to come up every few pages - the woman can't blow her nose without the narrator or Strike reminding the reader that she a Survivor of Male Violence. She may have nice-coloured hair and drive very safely, but her life's potential has been blighted and she is forever defined in terms of her victimhood. Stop making that her entire bloody identity.

Chronicle of a Death Foretold is a more accessible read by Gabriel Garcia Marquez . A man is going to die - everyone knows it but no-one is able to prevent it.

I've read quite a bit recently, just haven't had time to come and update here.

29 The Power and the Glory by Graham Greene
In 1930s Mexico the Catholic church and it's priests are being persecuted. In one state there is just one priest left and he is in hiding. Will he manage to escape or is he doomed? This is a very good read - Greene describes his characters and Mexico so well, you can feel the heat and humidity. The priest is neither entirely good or bad but just very human in his thoughts, fears, desire to serve the community, desire to escape.

30 Digging to America by Anne Tyler
One evening a plane carrying two babies who will be adopted by two families arrives in Baltimore. The two families stay in touch from this first meeting and the story follows various family gatherings over the following years. The families are from very different cultural backgrounds - one apparently All American, the other originally from Iran. Tyler is so good at writing about families, the dynamics between different family members. Enjoyed this.

31 Austerlitz by W G Sebald
This one was a bit of a challenge to read because of the style of reported conversation used throughout. Our narrator isn't named and he tells of a series of meetings he has with a man called Austerlitz during which Austerlitz tells of his life first coming to the UK as a refugee before World War Two and how he eventually is able to confront the past. If you can get over the sometimes double reported conversation and the lack of chapters to break up the story then this is a fascinating story. Only part that I found slightly annoying was the ease with which he was able to get in contact with someone who knew him as a child. Interesting use of photography in this book as well.

32 The Acceptance World by Anthony Powell
33 At Lady Molly's by Anthony Powell
34 Casanova's Chinese Restaurant by Anthony Powell
I read the first couple of books in this series a few years ago and wasn't that bothered but this thread inspired me to pick up number 3 and I enjoyed it so I read the next two. Will definitely look out for the next one.

Hello so late to catch up with this thread, had a really terrible time for reading with my health (and the health of my Kindle) but I have now finished some books and it feels like such a relief. I can’t remember where I finished reviewing but I think it was here:

11. A Question of Upbringing

I found this rather slow to get into but enjoyed it very much by the end and found it amusing. I am not keeping up with my plan to read one a month, but I have got the next two and will definitely be picking them up as and when. Pleased to see other favourable reviews here too.

12. How Steeple Sinderby Wanderers Won the FA Cup by J L Carr

I read this after being delighted with A Month in the Country and intrigued by reading about Carr and the fact that he never wrote the same kind of book twice. This is not just a book about football, it is about the life of a village, and the hopes and dreams, big and small, entertained by ordinary people, and the meaning given to life by collaborating with others towards a common goal. There is however, a lot of football in it, and it is a disjointed, slightly eccentric comic read, interspersed with instances of unexpected pathos. On the surface it is a vastly different book than Month, but it pulls on similar threads about life and one’s connection to the past; how the events of one’s youth can echo through the years, how one has no way of knowing what the defining people and moments of one’s life will be until they have passed us by. I was left with a similar feeling at the end, of exquisite, almost painful nostalgia, which made me look on the whole more favourably than perhaps I had whilst in the midst of it, which mirrors the theme of the book.

13. Beyond Black by Hilary Mantel

I picked up this book by a little known author - has she written anything else of interest I wonder? Anything new on the horizon? - after listening to the Backlisted episode on it. Despite enjoying WH and BUTB I had passed over this previously as I didn’t think I would be interested in a book about a psychic medium in the suburbs. I was wrong, it turns out I found it very interesting and it has cemented my admiration for Mantel and will send me scurrying to read everything else of hers in due course. It is book about hauntings, how you can never escape the horrors of life, as they merely go on to become horrors of the afterlife, strangling your existence in perpetuity. The sense of place in the book is perhaps it’s finest achievement. The punishingly real descriptions of suburbia, from sticky-walled chain pubs and the drafty disappointment of village halls, to the colourlessness of new build estates, all bound by the whirling, merciless motorways, heightens the claustrophobic horror of the supernatural world she pulls into the ordinary one. The dead are portrayed as still consumed by the petty struggles of life; they are as grubby, restless and greedy as they were in life, and there are a lot of them. Mantel uses ghosts to explore some very dark real world themes, it considers abuse, cruelty, spite and loneliness, but despite this is very funny and superbly written, with lots to say about the state of the nation, our common impulses and divisions, that feels pertinent to where we are now. A horrible, but brilliant, book.

I love Steeple Sinderby Satsuki - one of those books that is very slight at first reading but really stays with you, I think. The Battle of Pollocks Crossing is somehow similar to me (though very different in content!)

On a separate note, does anyone else feel painfully sorry for Widmerpool in the DTTMOT books? No wonder if he becomes awful (I imagine he does as the books go on) - but how dreadful to be a socially awkward child/young adult in such a milieu.

On a separate note, does anyone else feel painfully sorry for Widmerpool in the DTTMOT books?

I have a certain soft spot for him as we are one and the same including the dress sense. I think he comes into his own a bit more in the next few books. I do love the predictability of whenever something particularly dramatic or awkward is happening then Widmerpool pops up. I've found myself gleefully announcing his arrival out loud as I've guessed the narrator is about to say his name. This is usually when listening on headphones whilst walking the dog. He is rather an officious twonk later on though. On book 6 and hoping he is a feature of every book. He's one of my all time favourite characters so far.

Pepe ok fine, the jaguars were sexy.

I have read back but am a little out of touch with the conversation but re: jaguars are sexy what was Bagheera in the Jungle Book - a Puma? Asking for no reason....

Also there seems to be a split occurring around This Thing of Darkness. Those who have chosen to stray from the the status quo on this - have you even got a plan for a trade agreement?!!!

Sadik yes I found Widmerpool quite a sympathetic character at his introduction in the first book, in contrast the other characters are not particularly likeable, and I did warm to him rather. I found his later interactions in France hilarious and I’m looking forward to subsequent meetings with him after Fortuna’s description of how she heralds his appearances I can’t really justify paying out for audible at the moment but I imagine this would be great to listen to.

Bagheera was a panther - and very sexy!

Do you use library audio Satsuki? Our county subscribes to Borrowbox, and I've got it from there (I think they have at least the first two audiobooks, which cover the first 6 volumes)