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.

MuseumOfHam, Life and Death In Shanghai was published in 1986 is that the book you're thinking of? I loved Wild Swans so much I read that afterwards
Thanks for the solidarity Nowanearlynicemum!

Thanks for the new thread southeast

No updates as still happily plodding along with Pillars of the Earth on audible and Game of Thrones on the kindle. It’s nice to be enjoying reading again.

Foundryside does sound fun Decumus. Thanks for your review.

Fortuna that is very kind of you. Thank you.
My list is :

1. The Salt Path - Raynor Winn
2. Everything Under - Daisy Johnson
3. An almond for a parrot- Wray Delaney
4. Courage calls to courage everywhere- Jeanette Winterson
5. Admissions: A life in brain surgery- Henry Marsh
6. Ghost Wall - Sarah Moss
7. Snap - Belinda Bauer
8. Chronicle of Youth : Vera Brittain’s War Diary, 1913 - 17 - Vera Brittain
9. Transcription - Kate Atkinson

10. Votes for Women - Jenni Murray 11. Henry VIII and the man who made him - Tracy Borman 12. The Woman in the Window - A J Finn 13. The Tudor Crown - Joanna Hickson 14. How to build a girl - Caitlin Moran 15. The silence of the girls - Pat Barker 16. The Song of Achilles- Madeleine Miller 17. A long way from home - Peter Carey 18. The Binding - Bridget Collins 19.The Glass Woman - Caroline Lea 20. Bodies of light - Sarah Moss 21. Scrublands- Chris Hammer 22. From a low and quiet Sea - Donal Ryan 23. Bookworm . A memoir of childhood reading - Lucy Mangan 24. The Casual Vacancy- J K Rowling 25. Is there anything you want? - Margaret Forster 26. The lion the witch and the wardrobe- C S Lewis 27. The daughter of time - Josephine Tey 28. All that remains: A life in death - Sue Black 29. London lies beneath - Stella Duffy 30. Old baggage - Lissa Evans 31. Crooked Heart - Lissa Evans 32. The five - The untold lives of the women killed by Jack the Ripper - Hallie Rubenhold 33. After the party- Cressida Connolly 34. The Hidden - Mary Chamberlain 35. The Queen and I - Sue Townsend 36. The lost words - Robert Macfarlane 37. Abide with me - Elizabeth Strout 38. Parliament of rooks : Haunting Bronte Country - Karen Perkins 39. Beyond Black - Hilary Mantel 40. Human Croquet- Kate Atkinson 41. The Bloody Chamber - Angela Carter 42. The complete poems of Rupert Brooke 43. Letters from a lost generation- First World War letters of Vera Brittain and Four Friends- Ed. Alan Bishop and Mark Bostridge 44. Boy of my heart - Marie Connor Leighton 45. Because you died : Poetry and Prose of the First World War and After - Vera Brittain 46. The Familiars - Stacey Halls 47. Graceland - Bethan Roberts 48. The Cut Out Girl- Bart van Es 49. The Cutting Season- Attica Locke 50. My sister the serial killer 51. Bottled Goods - Sophie van Llewyn 52. Lost children archive - Valeria Luiselli 53. Picking up the pieces - Jo Worgan 54. Signs for lost children- Sarah Moss 55. A Little Life - Hanya Yanagihara 56. This Stolen Life 57. Stanley and Elsie

The last one was fascinating. Tells the story of artist Stanley Spencer and his very unconventional marriages and love affairs. The Elsie in question was the Spenser's Maid who became almost part of the family and who both her and his first wife Hilda painted on various occasions. He is as commissioned to paint the walls of a purpose build chapel in memory of the patrons Brother who died of malaria caught during WW1. Because he didn't die of wounds he was not allowed to be remembered on the village war memorial. The chapel is stunning and still exists, managed by the National trust. www.nationaltrust.org.uk/sandham-memorial-chapel

Planning a visit soon!

Thanks Desdemona I don't think it was Life and Death in Shanghai although that does look interesting. I have a feeling it was more based around the early 20th century pre communist years, and there was lots of hanging around tea houses. Alternatively, it could be a figment of my imagination.

Oh and I liked Wild Swans but it is years since I read it and I remember it taking an age!

81. Cider with Roxie by Paul Hending

A series of walks Paul took around the borders of Somerset with his dog Roxie. If you know Somerset this is worth a read, but if you don’t know the area you wouldn’t get much out of it.

82. The Confusion Of Karen Carpenter by Jonathan Harvey

For the first two thirds this was an average slightly amusing novel with a slightly unbelievable heroine (I struggle to believe that a 36 year old teacher would think and act in the way Karen does) but then it took a twist I just did not expect and that made the whole book much better. Not the best of his I’ve read though.

Thank you for the new thread SouthEast.

I’m sorry to say that I’ve lost count completely and will have to go back through the threads.

Currently reading Stuart Maconie - Hope And Glory

I hated Wild Swans and didn't reach the end of it. So boring. So badly written. DP loved it - but he knows nothing...

Thank you for the new thread South.

Circe by Madeleine Miller. I loved this, recommended by you lovely lot, and a beautifully written reinterpretation of Greek Myth and The Odyssey. I have enjoyed other retellings of myth - Margaret Atwood's The Penelopiad; and a children's retelling of The Odyssey by Tony Robinson and Richard Curtis stand out; and my favourite of all is Diana Wynne Jones' 8 Days of Luke, but somehow had missed this, and Song of Achilles which I shall look forward to! I think there was another similar themed book out recently too, but I can't quite place a name. Highly recommend this if you haven't read it already.

I think there was another similar themed book out recently too, but I can't quite place a name.

The Silence of the Girls by Pat Barker, perhaps? Also supposed to be excellent.

Thanks for the new thread southeast.

Thanks also for the review of Secret Lives of Colour on the last thread from YesILikeittoo - adding that to my wishlist now.

I’ve started This Thing of Darkness - only a few chapters in. I am not enthralled as yet and quite scared of being the only person on the threads that doesn’t ‘get’ it - I hope I get more into it.

Off to check out The Long Song - another thank you for the heads up!

Copying my list over while I’m here - a few bolds but some are a little generous I feel, there’s not much/ not really anything that’s knocked my socks off yet this year.

1. Tied up in Tinsel - Ngaio Marsh
2. Nine Lessons - Nicola Upson
3. Bookworm - A memoir of childhood reading - Lucy Mangan
4. A History of Britain in 21 Women - Jenni Murray
5. The Mystery of Three Quarters (New Hercule Poirot Mysteries #3))

by Sophie Hannah

1. Cider with Rosie - Laurie Lee
2. Mythos - Stephen Fry
3. The Bear and The Nightingale - Katherine Arden
4. Heroes - Stephen Fry

10. Don’t you forget about me - Mhairi McFarlane 11. Amy and Isabelle - Elizabeth Strout 12. Lethal White - Robert Galbraith 13. Parsnips, Buttered: How to baffle, bamboozle and boycott your way through modern life. - Joe Lycett 14. Swing Time - Zadie Smith 15. Born a Crime - Trevor Noah 16. The Cater Street Hangman - Anne Perry 17. Callander Square - Anne Perry 18. The House Between Tides - Sarah Maine 19. The Essex Serpent - Sarah Perry 20. Girl Meets Boy -Ali Smith 21. The Masqueraders - Georgette Heyer 22. My Name is Lucy Barton - Elizabeth Strout 23. Bonjour Tristesse & A Certain Smile - Françoise Sagan 24. Pure - Andrew Miller 25. Season of Light - Katherine McMahon 26. The Autograph Man - Zadie Smith 27. Becoming - Michelle Obama 28. Anything Is Possible - Elizabeth Strout 29. Classic Scrapes - James Acaster 30. Black Sheep - Georgette Heyer 31. Paragon Walk - Anne Perry

I hated The Autograph Man - just stating that again for the record. I really hated it.

I'm not getting This thing of darkness either. I'm 13% through. Is it better when Darwin gets there?

Thanks for new thread southeast. Your review of Infinite Jest almost makes me want to read it Pepe - maybe at some magical point in my future when I have more time and concentration I will.

In the mean time:

38. If I Could Tell You Just One Thing: Encounters with Remarkable People and Their Most Valuable Advice by Richard Reed, listened to on Audible, read by the author.

Reed (one of the founders of the Innocent drinks company) interviews a wide range of notable people and asks them for their one best piece of advice. I was a bit dubious about this - it was published to raise money for various charities, and definitely had the hallmark of a book to be given as a Christmas present and sit in the loo (in fact Margaret Atwood says more or less this when interviewed).

In practice it actually worked really well for me, particularly as an audio book - it was more like listening to a series of short radio profiles of interesting people. The advice - unsurprisingly - isn't particularly earth shattering (listen to people - do something you're passionate about - that sort of thing) but the surrounding conversations as reported by Reed were interesting. (My only real disappointment was that Bill Clinton's advice wasn't 'don't sleep with the intern' - or even 'don't get caught'... though tbf I think the interview may have pre-dated this.)

Now moved on to the Chernobyl book reviewed on the previous thread as my next audible listen, and finding it fascinating, so many thanks to whoever it was who recommended it :) Also managed one chapter of TTOD, enjoyable so far, but hoping to get some proper reading time over the weekend.

1. From source to sea, Tom chesshyre
2. So disdained , Nevil Shute
3. Cruise ship sos, Ben macfarlane
4. Rosa parks, hourly history
5. Stephen hawking, hourly history
6. 101 bets you will always win, Richard wiseman. Returned for a 99p refund! shock
7. This is going to hurt, Adam Kay
8. Old man and the sea, Ernest Hemingway
9. The best friend, Shalini Borland

10. Triple crime, felix Francis 11. Beneath the surface, Heidi Perks 12. Crossing the bridge of autism, Stephanie Maddux 13. 365 surprising rock star quotes 14. I'd rather be reading, Anne Bogel 15. The wheel of justice, Stephen Livingston 16. The Librarian, Sally Vickers 17. Tickling the English, Dara O'Briain 18. Reading allowed, Chris Paling 19. Cottage by the sea, Debbie Macomber 20. Unbelievable - the bizarre world of coincidences, Jenny Crompton 21. Hello World, Hannah Fry 22. The Birthday, Carol Wyer 23. Kept: an American house husband in India, Gregory Buford 24. I use my thumbs as a yard stick, Andy Frazier 25. Upsticks, Tim Thomas 26. Wars of the Roses, Hourly History 27. Prince George, Brian Hoey 28. The Lighter Side, Andy Thompson 29. Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania Rough Guide 30. Post-modernism - a graphic guide 31. Gigantic world of gags 2 32. The Dark Side, Andy Thompson 33. The Perfect child, Lucinda Berry 34. Read all about it, Paul Cuddihy 35. The Secret Mother, Shalini Boland 36. After the crash, Michel Bucci 37. The Donor, Helen Fitzgerald 38. I know nothing, Andrew Sachs 39. The next big thing, Rhodri Marsden 40. The wife's shadow, Cath Weeks 41. In France we eat sofas 42. How to do your research project 43. Only daughter, Sarah Denzil 44. The little book of poems transporting you to a time long passed 45. Very British problems, Rob Temple 46. Martin Luther, Hourly Histories 47. Learning theories 48. Florence Nightingale, Hourly Histories 49. A thousand paper birds, Tor Udall 50. The best ways to teach primary science 51. The Mayflower, Hourly Histories 52. Race, ethnicity and crime 53. Identity in question 54. The sleep of reason (James Bulger case) 55. King George VI. Hourly Histories 56. War of the Roses, Patrick Auerbach 57. Adolf Hitler, Hourly Histories 58. Which way to lead (schools) 59. Which way to teach 60. The secret life of librarians, 44 61. The bookshop that floated away, Sarah Horshaw 62. Silent Tears, Kay Bratt 63. The 100 greatest novels of all time 64. The '86 fix, Keith Pearson 65. The chain of curiosity, Sandi Toksvig 66. Understanding the British 67. The things we keep, Sally Hepworth 68. Good ground, Tracy Winegar

Thanks for the new thread southeast.

My list so far:

1. Northanger Abbey by Val McDermid
2. Grey Sister by Mark Lawrence
3. The Christmasaurus by Tom Fletcher
4. The Mistake I Made by Paula Daly
5. The Magicians by Lev Grossman
6. Skyward by Brandon Sanderson
7. An Argumentation of Historians by Jodi Taylor
8. Big Little Lies by Liane Moriarty
9. The Darkest Secret by Alex Marwood

10. The Atlantis World by A.G. Riddle 11. Foundryside by Robert Jackson Bennett 12. Wool by Hugh Howey 13. Sticks and Stones by Jo Jakeman 14. When She Was Bad by Tammy Cohen 15. The Lie Tree by Frances Hardinge 16. The Anomaly by Michael Rutger 17. The Breakdown by B. A. Paris 18. Five Children on the Western Front by Kate Saunders 19. The Death of Mrs Westaway by Ruth Ware 20. Our House by Louise Candlish 21. Symbiont by Mira Grant 22. The Child by Fiona Barton 23. Perfect People by Peter James 24. The Three Secret Cities by Matthew Reilly 25. Brave New Girl by Rachel Vincent 26. Still Missing by Beth Gutcheon 27. The Tall Man by Phoebe Locke 28. We Have Always Lived in the Castle by Shirley Jackson 29. Into The Drowning Deep by Mira Grant 30. I Am Behind You by John Ajvide Lindqvist 31. The Dark Path by Michelle Sacks 32. Norse Mythology by Neil Gaiman 33. Sorcerer to the Crown by Zen Cho 34. The Last Four Things by Paul Hoffman 35. The Secrets of Drearcliff Grange School by Kim Newman 36. Night After Night by Phil Rickman 37. Grimm Tales by Philip Pullman 38. Ghost Virus by Graham Masterton

Fortuna, I feel no sense of despair or foreboding when you appear on these threads. You can't be Widmerpool!

Come on here to mark my place and to say a) outing myself as a Wild Swans lover. I learnt so much from it. I may be biased because of Jung Chang's connection with my alma mater but I remember devouring it when it came out. Did she ever write anything else?

and

b) yes, TTOD is livened up ,I think, by Darwin, I felt guilty when I read it because - flaws and all - I was more Team Darwin!

Jung Chang also wrote a biography of Empress Dowager Cixi, that looks pretty fascinating, Piggy.

I liked Wild Swans too, although it was an age ago that I read it. It appeared in the very first series of Big Brother, you know, back when they were allowed to take books in with them. /totally pointless trivia.

I remember that decumus! They stopped letting them take books because they were too civilised to each other and swapped books and had intelligent discussions! The first series really was a very different beast!

30: Truly Madly Guilty - Liane Moriarty

A friend has raved to me about Liane Moriarty's books and, although I missed the TV adaptation of 'Big Little Lies', I heard the novel being praised to the skies on 'A Good Read', so thought I'd investigate. I chose this one of her books fairly much at random (charity shop purchase).

The main action revolves around two couples: cellist Clementine, her husband Sam, and Clementine's childhood friend Erika, who's married to Oliver. A single shocking event (no spoilers) is the central plot point.

This is a big chunky book with a rather chicklitty cover and it turned out to be OK, but I wasn't as consumed by it as I'd hoped and expected to be. It was quite well-written and often funny, though. I can totally see how TV or film could come calling, because it would translate perfectly to the screen (and maybe will). I'd happily read another Liane Moriarty - as a holiday book perhaps - but maybe this wasn't the best one to start with. Anyway, onwards!

I don't object to Liane Moriarty when I'm in the right mood, but the TV adaptation of Big Little Lies is a hundred times better than the book, in my opinion. The views! The interiors! The clothes! The sex! It's what chick lit should be and never is, in my view. Complete escapist fun.

I've just finished This Thing of Darkness by Harry Thompson & it has to be my 'read of the year' so far. It was a real 'ripping yarn' but so much more than that as well.

I was particularly taken with how the author addressed Fitzroy's bi-polar disorder. Thompson kept it so much in its time & how frightening mental health issues must have been when you had no knowledge of what they were & nor did anyone else.

I find it hard to believe that it all happened less than 200 years ago. It made me aware of how far & how fastwe have come in terms of science.

piggy I was also on team Darwin & loved the way he was with his children.

To those of you who are finding it hard going at first I'd urge you to push on - it's really splendid.

Pepe I agree with you about Big Little Lies - the book was OK but the TV show was far better.

In other news, it is my birthday today and my family obviously know me well - my presents are almost exclusively wine, chocolate and books! I have received the following books:

A beautiful Folio Society edition of Rebecca
Revelation, Heartstone and Lamentation by C J Samson
A Book Of Book Lists by Alex Johnson
Amateurs In Eden by Joanna Hodgkin (this is the book about Larry and Nancy Durrell that was recommended on here recently)
Isabella of Angouleme part 3 by Erica Laine
Titanic Voices: Memories From The Fateful Voyage

That lot should keep me busy for a while!