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.

Satsuki that sentence has left me imagining a woman fading away like the Cheshire Cat from Alice in Wonderland... only with her breasts being the last thing vanishing rather than her smile!

62. Where the Crawdads Sing - Delia Owens
I was rather meh about this to be honest. Kya is known as the Marsh Girl. Abandoned by her family as a young child, she has learned to live on the fringes of society in the South Carolina inlets and marshes building up an astonishing relationship with the natural world around her. This book has been likened to Barbara Kingsolver, but I disagree. Whereas I find Kingsolver to be insightful literary fiction, I found this to be a light, easy and sometimes pleasing but oftentimes cliched and implausible fiction. Good holiday reading material perhaps.

FYI, breasts were not prominent literally or figuratively.

63. Lanny - Max Porter
Better than the above, but another book that missed the mark for me. How I wish I could rate 3.5 on Goodreads as this is a definite 3.5'er. Lanny lives in an English village with his ex-actress turned author mother and London-commuter father. Dead Papa Toothwort also lives there, a kind of village spirit/guardian/devil who listens to everyone and everything. The first section of the novel is set from the point of view of Lanny's parents and friends and is punctuated by the musings of Dead Papa Toothwort who listens to the fragments of conversations, which are written in swirling typeface across the pages. The story is about what happens to Lanny over a few days but is also a commentary on the history of England and what is happening now to the country in its current unsettled times. Goodish, and has a lot to say, but not quite right for me somehow. They loved it on Backlisted though - it's mentioned at the start of one of the episodes.

Breast count was rudimentary.

nowanearlynicemum I actually think no, it didn’t.

biblio I will accept the dubious honour as recompense for my ordeal. I don’t think it was even the worst one. He described nipples like “grapes” a page or two after. I’d be seeing my GP. Or the greengrocer.

16. Words Best Sung by Lee Stuart Evans

This is about Alistair. It’s the 60s. He’s bright, has a beautiful girlfriend and is working in his beloved railway while he decides whether he wants to go to university or settle down with the girl. Meanwhile, he follows his friends band around and gets in with the music scene he loves, and wistfully explores a bittersweet connection with his childhood sweetheart. It started ok, a humourous coming of age tale of family, friendship, music and romance, but I was actually pretty disgusted with it by the end. It was like boob bingo from halfway in, I was calling them out to my husband “more nipples! More straining fabric!” and if it had been an overall lighthearted fun read then ok, but it was interspersed with other, pretty terrible sexism and then, worse, random thoughts of violence toward almost every woman that crossed the protagonist’s path. The women “clip clop” around giggling, but if they show any agency of their own he will imagine slapping the “sluts” or choking them or other charming acts completely out of place in the type of book it was and with no real reason for it to be there. Awful. His girlfriend asks if he will see other girls when he goes away for the weekend and he angrily envisions strangling her and leaving her bloated corpse to float down the nearby river. I think this was a rudimentary attempt at humour. He then tells her a creepy story of a murder while she pleads with him to stop. He only does these things “because he loves her so much”. Her tights come down and they make amends. Another girl sexually propositions him and he has to restrain himself from smacking her across the face. He accuses his childhood friend of prostitution and the very thought of this is enough to make him treat her with such violence it had a lot in common with attempted rape. And yet, we are clearly meant to be rooting for this guy and his choices and his happy ending (of all varieties). Weird.

whippet I hadn’t seen your post when I wrote mine - rudimentary is the word of the day.

stitches yes - what is it supposed to mean?! I can’t imagine someone reading that back and thinking “yep, that’s staying”

Yy to 3.5 ratings too.

Loving the breast counting. I'm listening to Consider Phlebas by Iain M Banks, and can happily report not a single case of breasts, male or female. (Voice, skin, hair - and in one case fur - colour, religion and political views are all described, but no breasts)

Enjoying the quivering breasts and straining fabric immensely.

53. Artemis by Andy Weir

Basically about a heist on the moon.
It’s a fairly lightweight read, especially compared to The Martian , but overall I enjoyed reading it.

Catching up as have been reading and running.
71 Expectations-Anna Hope This is a ARC - out 11th July I think. I read Wake By the same author years ago and it has really stuck with me. This is a group of women , mid to late 30's who have been friends for years. It is very much an observational novel, we find them at a cross roads in their lives re evaluating what has happened to them and making choices about their next steps. It isn't plot heavy but it does really concentrate on the feelings and motivations of character. Hope is extremely skilled at drawing individual portraits. Someone made a comparison the other day to Sally Rooney, but I personally found Rooney's characters dreary and self obsessed, these characters were far more relatable and I guess likeable. They were also nearer to my own age. Would say look out for it.
72. Tigers Child - Torey Hayden Book club read. A real life tale of working with a damaged child. Author is self obsessed and holier and than thou .
73.Bitter Orange - Claire Fuller. I thought this was excellent. Have read her previous two and thought they were ok. This one was very clever. We meet Frances Jellico as she is looking back to a fateful summer in her life. A summer when she was working and living a Bohemian life in a dilapidated mansion with a young and evocative couple. Recommend

Just noticed that My Sister the Serial Killer is in Kindle Daily Deals today.

Just came on 're My Sister but late to the party. Have bought.

Is it wierd that I now keep looking at my own beasts?!

39. The Bane Chronicles by Cassandra Clare and others. I've been watching Shadowhunters on Netflix (lots of cute boys, totally age inappropriate, entertaining drivel) so felt like revisiting the books; but I found the main novels rather dull. This short story collection has a couple of lovely lighthearted moments, but doesn't stand on its own.

Loving the beasts, Tanaqui!!!

Tanaqui thanks for the Temeraire series spreading tip. After I finished Throne of Jade I had decided pretty much the same, to save them for reading ruts of despondency or for episodes of ill health. Napoleonic warfare dragons will be just the ticket.

Satsuki wow that sentence really is a doozy. at Stitches Cheshire Cat boobs smile image.

My reading has ground to a pitiful trickle by way of Stephen King and a student. Started listening to 11:22:63 at the start of June, my first King I think I’ve read, but have had a blooming student all month who has required talking to and teaching in the car between patient visits thus severely cramping my listening capacity. Urgh! So inconsiderate of her. I’m enjoying this story so much but still have eight hours left. Can’t remember the last time it took over a month to listen to one book. Will almost certainly be asking for (non-horror) King recommendations after I finish this one.

I fell off the thread! My reading has been non existent the last few weeks really, partly because I use the library BorrowBox app on my iPad and was using it to read Hotel World by Ali Smith when my iPad died and now I’ve just got it up and running the loan has expired and I have to reserve and wait again, plus my audiobook just wasn’t working for me (A Time Travellers Guide to Elizabethan England - just couldn’t maintain attention). And also, please don’t throw me off the thread, but my usual reading slot once I get in bed has been taken up by catching up with Love Island. I’m suitably ashamed.

I’ve got The Hangman’s Daughter on the go on my kindle which was one of those free ‘read around the world’ books Amazon did back in April, but it’s not gripping me.

Is there a Kindle summer sale or similar? I can't see anything on the Amazon site but there suddenly seems to be a lot of cheap books listed on EreaderIQ, and they weren't there this morning.

To answer my own question there's far too few books for a Summer sale but one of the books that's been on my wish list for a while is listed so I'm not complaining.

Tanaqui at beasts. Yes I’ve realised mine are lazy.

Is My Sister the Serial Killer worth a punt?

I’m away for the weekend and reading and enjoying Ordinary People and Brazzaville Beach

25. Clothes Music Boys by Viv Albertine. A very enjoyable memoir/romp through the punk era and beyond that has been well documented on the threads. I felt it fell off a bit towards the end when she was trying to resurrect her musical career, it did get a little repetitive and she kept banging on about how insecure she was in her musical ability, but generally a good read and I will be seeking out the follow up at some point.

    26. The Passenger by Lisa Lutz a thriller/crime fiction novel recommended by a friend. We are introduced to Tanya, who is living under a pseudonym, upon finding her husband dead following a drunken fall she decides inexplicably to flee rather than contact the authorities. Her past and reason for living under the radar are slowly pieced together through flashbacks and correspondence. Meanwhile her life on the run becomes ever more ludicrous as she gets involved in several homicides and unlikely scenarios. Not my usual genre, it was mildly diverting but I wouldn't recommend.

    27. Floret Farm’s Cut Flower Garden by Erin Benzakein too late for this year but bought and read in the hope that I will get my act together on a beautifully productive cut flower patch next year. Some good advice and suggestions that I will no doubt ignore and continue in my haphazard way.

95. Uncommon People- David Hepworth This is a book about rock stars. Hepworth takes one rock star or band for every year from 1955 to 1994 and recounts an important event in their life (I particularly enjoyed the chapter on Spinal Tap!). At the end of each chapter, Hepworth also lists some important singles and albums of that year. Over the years, I have enjoyed Hepworth’s writing in the music press, from Smash Hits to Word magazine and beyond, and this book was also of a high calibre. I have ordered a couple of his other rock books from the library.

96. The Bookseller of Kabul- Asne Seierstad Recommended on these threads when it was 99p on the Kindle, this was an interesting, true account of one Afghan family’s life, with plenty of local colour. It was a little like a Khaled Hosseini novel with most of the action removed. I would have liked there to be more about the actual bookshops!

97. Schindler’s List/Ark- Thomas Keneally The audiobook is called ‘Schindler’s List’, like the film, but is should really be called ‘Schindler’s Ark’. This took me a couple of weeks to get through on audiobook, partly because of the harrowing subject matter, but also because many sections were really quite dull and I wasn’t that keen on the narrator. This is one instance where the film is far superior to the book.

98. Why Catholics Can’t Sing- Thomas Day I had often wondered why Catholic congregations often refuse to sing, while Anglicans usually join in hymns with great gusto. This book, though American and 20 years old, has some interesting thoughts on this and related subjects, and is even quite droll in places.

99. Faking Friends- Jane Fallon I had read and enjoyed a couple of Jane Fallon’s other books, and this audiobook really drew me in. It is quite cleverly plotted, with a few twists and turns, but the ending felt a little flat.

100. A Town Like Alice- Neville Shute As someone who loves both Australia and Malaysia, I have no idea why I hadn’t read this before. It is a wonderful novel, as you probably already know.

101. The End We Start From- Megan Hunter I enjoyed this tale (also 99p on the Kindle recently) of a woman bringing up her young baby after an apocalyptic flood, although it was far too short. Her husband/boyfriend was useless- not what you need when the world is in crisis!

102. Greek Mythology- Hourly History I’ve got Stephen Fry’s ‘Mythos’ waiting for me on BorrowBox and thought I’d read this short introduction first. I’ve read several Hourly Histories now and I’ve never been disappointed.

Agree re Schindler's Ark, Fran, the book tells an extraordinary story in a lifeless way and I didn't like the way the author didn't like to commit to facts. I realise it's difficult to be unequivocal about events you didn't actually witness but I felt there was a lot of prevarication that halted the flow of the narrative and stopped you becoming emotionally involved. The Spielberg film, on the other hand, whilst difficult to watch, is harrowing and moving.

In the last week I've finished:

41. Bernard Who? - Bernard Cribbins
    Autobiography covering the actor's wide-ranging career. Fairly obviously ghost-written, but Mr Cribbins has done so many different jobs (from paratrooper to novelty record singer to Wombles-narrator) that it was still an interesting and enjoyable read.

42. The Book You Wish Your Parents Had Read (and your children will be glad that you did) - Philippa Perry
    The psychotherapist gives her views on the best ways of parenting, with an emphasis on promoting future mental health by validating children's emotions and following a collaborative (rather than authoritarian) approach to problem-solving. This isn't always easy reading, as it requires a lot of self-examination and willingness to change default patterns of behaviour. Personally, it will be very helpful in my ongoing mission to parent DD differently from the emotion-dismissing, dogmatic approach my progenitors favoured; in other words, it does what it says on the tin.

Article in the ST today that suggests they are eventually going to get round to making the long awaited adaptation of A Suitable Boy. In six parts. Wow!

God, I hope it's better than Beecham House...

35: Monarchy: England and Her Rulers from the Tudors to the Windsors by David Starkey

I know David Starkey is a bit unpopular, but I enjoyed his Monarchy series on TV. I listened on Audible and quite like his narration, but as a popular history writer I prefer Alison Weir or Mark Morris.
I know my British Kings and Queens (with the 17th century being a bit hazy) but Starkey's account of Charles II-James II was quite confusing, mainly because he kept jumping back and forth and I was never entirely clear which one he was talking about.
I enjoyed the earlier part on the Tudors much more, but as that is Starkey's area of expertise, I would probably expect that.
As a book that claims to take the story of the Monarchy from the Tudors to the present day, I would expect more on the few lines of the 1936 Abdication and the reign of Elizabeth II (currently running at 65 years +)

InMyOwnParticularIdiom, how old are your children? I read the Philippa Perry and thought it was probably a book for parents of younger children or even the parent-to-be. I’d been hoping for practical tips on teens but perhaps should have paid more attention to the blurb.