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.

Congrats, Idiom!

Well done Idiom!

@Sadik thank you for the recommendations. I have read Black Swan (interesting in parts, partly because of how much of a complete arse the author comes across a - although clearly a clever one). I keep meaning to read some Cordelia Fine (she is Anne Fine's daughter isn't she? I love Anne Fine), so will definitely get into that, and I will check out the HP too. Thank you!

40-43) *The Demon's Lexicon series by Sarah Rees Brennan. This is much more interesting and intelligent than Twilight, but it might still appeal to your dd Pepe as it is YA Urban Fantasy. I like the first book best (they do need to be read in order), but I like that she uses a different narrative pov for each, and I like the balance of real and fantasy. Recommended if you like that sort of thing.

Well done Idiom !

That's brilliant, Idiom! I took 4 attempts...

Well done, Idiom.

I finished The Curious Case of the Clockwork Man by *Mark Hodder. It was typical steam-punk stuff, which I mostly enjoyed. Some very funny sections, and also some that needed editing down. It was too long, but mostly good fun.

Many congratulations Idiom

Yay! Well done Idiom

74. The Moonstone - Wilkie Collins A diamond is stolen from an Indian temple and brought back to England by an army officer. Be bequeaths it to his niece to be given to her on her 18th Birthday. It disappears on the same day and cannot be found. All present at the house party appear to be innocent so suspicion falls on the servants. A police officer and a detective try to solve the case and the action takes place across the 12 months following the theft.

One of the earliest detective stories in the English language that outsold Great Expectations which was released around the same time. It is considered one of the finest examples of the genre and I will admit it kept me guessing until the end. It is told by various narrators, not all reliable, from different levels of society. The author has fun with this and uses it to lampoon certain types. I found the very chatty anecdotal by-the-by writing style irritating in print and it took some time to settle in to as a result, almost like adjusting to a different language being spoken. I changed to audiobook about a quarter of the way in and found this easier to cope with although at times it felt like constant wittering going on and I just wanted them to get to the point. Ultimately I did enjoy it.

75. The Military Philosophers - Anthony Powell (DTTMOT #9) Jumps significantly ahead to towards the end of the war and ends with Nick being demobbed. He has avoided an real action with largely administrative postings but sadly we lose more friends along the way. There is some good news for my favourite friend that had me laughing out loud for ages. Lots of insight and reflection which winds up this latest season of his life. I will be so sad to reach the end of these as I don't think I have read anything that comes close in terms of beauty of the language used and the power to capture the time and feeling of the era.

Thanks everyone, I was so relieved when the examiner said I'd passed that I went all shaky and unco-ordinated and could barely sign the form!

Congratulations, Idiom! 👏🏻 What a relief for you..

My latest reads:

38. Wolf Hollow by Lauren Wolk.

I bought this for DS1 (10) for Xmas but it has been near impossible to tear him away from the *Skulduggery Pleasant” series. Anyway, attracted perhaps by the title, he read this recently and very much enjoyed it, encouraging me to read it too. I thought it was a good children’s book, bringing up some important themes which I was interested to discuss with DS1. The outcome of the discussion: I have a very different world view from a 10 year old boy. I know, not world-breaking news, but food for my thoughts.

39. Vanity Fair by William Thackeray Makepiece.

Loved this book - a clever and witty satire about upper class English life in the 1800’s. I thought it was excellent.

I have bought Spinning Silver for some holiday reading but am currently tackling This Thing of Darkness, surfing the Second Wave.

Well done idiom. Took me 7 !!

Took me 8! Well done Idiom

Congratulations Idiom :)

57. How Britain Really Works by Stig Abell
    Light liberal-left inclining canter through Britain's institutions - amongst others the police, military, schools, media etc. Nothing startlingly new, but a decent enough read - I suspect I'd have enjoyed this much more in my late teens/early 20s.

58. Devil's Cub by Georgette Heyer
    I needed something light to read while waiting for a minor op & recovering from sedation, so took this along, & it hit the spot perfectly. I think it's fair to say this is very much of it's time in terms of its sexual politics - abusive hero reformed by love of a good woman - and the plot is implausible to an extreme. Despite that it remains one of my favourite Heyers (along with These Old Shades) for the hilarious dialogue and straight-up farce.

Amazing Idiom I have been learning for so long and still don’t understand what I’m doing. There’s hope!

Satsuki I’m a bit sad about Taylor JR, I’d like a new easy author to follow but even I have my limit.

112. The Road to Little Dribbling- Bill Bryson I’ve just finished this tonight and loved it. Not only does he visit some delightful places- Lyme Regis, Buxton, Stonehenge, Oxford, Durham etc.- but I’d forgotten how funny he is. When leaving Grimsby, he says ‘I collected my car and drove on to a very much nicer place: elsewhere.’ I love his curmudgeonly style and the little digs at Trip Advisor, John Prescott, Jeremy Clarkson, Mrs Brown’s Boys, Microsoft etc. I also learnt that the Dunning-Kruger Effect is ‘basically being too stupid to know how stupid you are’.

I haven’t read nearly enough Bill Bryson books: does anyone have any recommendations please (as there are so many!)? I got Down Under cheaply on Audible recently, so I’ll listen to that soon (even though I’ve already read it!).

Well done on passing your driving test InMyOwnParticulardiom, that's great news!!!!

20. What Alice Forgot by Liane Moriarty
21. I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou
22. The End of Days by Jenny Erpenbeck
23. The Silence of the Girls by Pat Barker
24. Daughters of Chivalry The Forgotten Children of Edward I by Kelcey Wilson-Lee

Thanks to all of you for suggestions, tips and advice on getting dd reading again. Some great ideas here and a couple she even looked vaguely interested in. Off to Waterstones together after work.

The less she reads, the more I do - perhaps an attempt to encourage her although given her view of me perhaps the best thing to do would be to not pick up a book in her line of sight for several months .

But back to my updates...

75 American Prison by Shane Bauer
Journalist goes undercover in a private prison in Louisiana and interweaves his account with the history of private incarceration in the US. It’s shocking how enmeshed with slavery it was - white women couldn’t be imprisoned, so black women were sent to male prisons. If they got pregnant, which they did, the babies were properties of the state and would be sold as slaves when they got to the age of ten. The proceeds were used to fund education for white children. Some of this is squarely in the “you couldn’t make it up” territory and some of it is just very sad.

76 Alexander McQueen: Blood Beneath the Skin by Andrew Wilson
I don’t think this was a particularly well executed biography but McQueen’s demons and genius are on display throughout. I read it with YouTube to hand, matching the chapters to the footage of his shows which was a massive enhancement to the slightly pedestrian accounts of the clothes in the book. McQueen was extraordinary - his clothes were staggeringly beautiful and provocative. Whereas the Dior exhibition at the V&A leaves you thinking “oh, pretty frocks”, Savage Beauty was really breathtaking. So mixed feelings on this - I’m not sure I learned anything I didn’t know from the recent (highly recommended) documentary but good to be reminded of what great art can do.

77 The Valley of Bones by Anthony Powell
Everyone else who’s read this has reviewed it beautifully. I felt there was less comedy here than previous books and more of a narrative rather than set pieces but still just wonderful. And delighted to see everyone’s favourite pompous yet mysteriously successful man climb further up the greasy pole, even if it was left to the last minute. Anyone else find themselves revising their mental picture of Widmerpool to become more Boris Johnson-esque without really realising it?

Thanks for your review Fran. I've just downloaded The Road to Little Dribbling from the library audiobook app. My favourite Bryson is A Walk in the Woods.

Get Out of My Life... But FirstTake Me and Alex Into Town by Tony Wolf and Suzanne Franks and How to Talk So Teens Will Listen and Listen So Teens Will Talk by Adele Fabre and Elaine Mazlish.
Asked a friend for some recommendations for books to help improve things at home (have a 14 and 15 yo dd). She succinctly summarised that Get Out of My Life explores the why teenagers behave as they do, and How to Talk has more strategies for dealing with it.
Of the two I've found Get Out of My Life the most useful and relationships in the house between dd2 and dh and me have improved since reading it.

Thanks Scribbly, I'll give that a go.

My favourite Bill Bryson is The Lost Continent.

Also, I'm excited to be able to contribute to Boobwatch!! A woman in Infinite Jest (hoping to finish and review it next week) is described a Howitzer-breasted! I'm struggling to picture that, I must say

Thanks Tarahumara.

121. Lowborn: Growing Up, Getting Away And Returning To Britain’s Poorest Towns by Kerry Hudson

This is told in two parts; the story of Kerry’s childhood interspersed with her revisiting the towns she lived in. I found the sections about her childhood much more interesting than the bits where she revisits the towns. Apart from one part where she visits a food bank, there’s little analysis of what she sees on her later visits - just a mixture of saying what has and hasn’t changed. Ultimately there was something missing from this book for me although I can’t really put my finger on what it was.

122. The Prime Of Miss Jean Brodie by Muriel Spark

This is one of those books that makes me think I must be really stupid, because it is generally thought of as a classic and highly rated, but I hated it. I really don’t understand why it is so highly regarded. At least it was short.

123. Pie Fidelity: In Defence Of British Food by Pete Brown

In contrast, I really enjoyed this. It takes nine well known British meals/foods, and discusses the history of those foods and some wider social commentary on British food generally, before the author goes in search of typical examples of those foods. Well worth a read.

124. The Famous Five series by Enid Blyton

Work has been crazy lately and sometimes I just haven’t had the energy to read anything remotely taxing, so worked my way through this series. I’m sure I read them all as a child, but while I recalled some others didn’t ring any bells at all. Reading them all does highlight the similarities - most of them feature secret passages or rooms; and involve the Five either finding treasure that’s been hidden for years or finding something (or someone) that’s been stolen. I enjoyed reading them again though and losing myself in this idyllic world where children can just go off camping with no adults. They do have their faults of course - they’re very sexist and some of them are a bit racist and/or classist but they’re still good stories.

125. Sorry I’m Late; I Didn’t Want To Come by Jessica Pan

Non fiction about an introvert who lives as an extrovert for a year. However, most of the issues the author had were due to shyness rather than introversion and most of it was about her undertaking various classes to be a stand up comedian which was very extreme. I thought it would be more about living daily life in a more extroverted way (similar to Yes Man by Danny Wallace) but that isn’t what I got. As an introvert myself I don’t feel I got anything from this book.

Chessie - I loved Jean Brodie when I first read it years ago, but I tried a re-read relatively recently and found it utterly unreadable. DNF.

Chessie I read Jean Brodie last year and wholeheartedly agree with your review.