50 Book Challenge 2019 Part Six

[southeastdweller]

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

I wasn't impressed by the list either - it looks like they started with the bestseller lists and selected all the most middlebrow options. If I didn't like non-fiction and used this list as a starting point, I don't think I'd take to it as a genre. I liked the Jeanette Winterson, but mainly as a counterpoint to her earlier Oranges are not the only fruit. It was fascinating to see the bones of her story before she reimagined it.

The Hare with the Amber Eyes took an intrinsically interesting story and made it deathly dull. The Emperor of All Maladies was interesting in spots but a bit of a struggle. Harari was a competent synthesis but didn't break new ground. Piketty I've shied away from.

I've also steered clear of many of the fiction titles. The one that truly impressed me was Coulson's The Underground Railroad, but I found it so harrowing that I'm almost sorry I read it. Scenes still pop up to haunt me.

An update:

112. Seven Lean Years, by Celia Fremlin
     Domestic noir from 1961. Not one of her best, but settles down into an exploration of her usual themes: the trials and occasional pleasures of communal life in a boarding house, and the even worse trials and more occasional pleasures of married life.

113. The Chalet School Revisited, Sheila Ray et al
     Got it in free trial of Kindle Unlimited (which I won't be renewing). Not all that insightful, to be honest - Rosemary Auchmuty's "World of Girls" is a better read if you want to explore the peculiar charms of the girls' school story.

114. Confessions of a Bookseller, Shaun Bythell
     His second book, and very much a continuation of the last. Nothing new, but oddly soothing: the joys and frustrations of life as a bookseller in a small Scottish town.

115. It's All in Your Head, Suzanne O'Sullivan
     I seem to remember that a poster on here objected to some of her premises, but I thought this was excellent. She is very compassionate and clear that someone can be legitimately ill without there being an underlying organic disease - you need to work out causes, not to turf people out of treatment, but to ensure that they can get a treatment that will genuinely address the roots of the problem. Eye-opening.

Dnf In Praise of Walking, by Shane O'Mara. Too much technical detail regarding the neuroscience, didn't enthral me.

46. The Heartland: Finding and Losing Schizophrenia by Nathan Filer. This is exceptionally good. A balanced, interesting, empathetic book about the causes, risk factors, diagnosis and treatment of schizophrenia (and other serious mental illnesses). The author includes relevant case studies, but focuses on the general rather than the particular. I found the discussion about pharmaceutical versus therapeutic treatments especially interesting. Highly recommended for anyone with an interest in mental health (not just schizophrenia).

32. Autumn – Ali Smith
In the crazy times of the Brexit referendum, we follow the lives of ordinary people in the autumn of 2016. Poignant mixture of the passing of time, through different generations, with the backdrop of post-referendum Britain.

75 A Closed and Common Orbit by Becky Chambers

Second in the Wayfarer series. Sidra is an AI illegally installed in an artificial human body. She's taken in by Pepper - now a tech fixer-upper, but originally a genetically engineered factory slave. They have to figure out how Sidra can make a viable life for herself.

This is much my favourite of the series - it's still a light read, but asks lots of good questions about what it means to be human. It's also a great story about a developing friendship.

76. Prison: A Survival Guide, by Carl Cattermole I've read a few books (Orange is the New Black, obviously) set in US prisons, and at the time I wondered how similar/different UK prisons were. This started out as a home-produced guide by the author for those likely to go to prison, but it's been expanded with sections by women in prison on their experiences, family of prisoners and also a teenage girl whose father is in prison. A good read, & gives a real insight into the system (and it's failings).

I should say I was inspired by Boiledeggandtoast's review of The Prison Doctor which led me indirectly to the Survival Guide book (awaiting the Prison Doctor from the library!)

So you're not immediately contemplating incarceration, Sadik?

I hope not Biblio! Though having read The Secret Barrister I'm less optimistic that my generally upstanding behaviour is any guarantee that I won't be

It shook my faith too!

I saw The Prison Book Club by Ann Walmsley today, so it might not be a complete write-off if you do end up inside.

I was very privileged today in the charity shop. It is the distribution hub for the region so all donations go there to be sorted. They have an excellent book section as it is, but I managed to wangle my way in to the back room for books. My goodness I was there for ages chatting to the book sorting bloke and digging through piles of books. At 5 for £1 I may have liberated a few...

77. Disrupted: Ludicrous Adventures in the Tech Bubble by Dan Lyons, listened to on Audible

At the age of 52, having been made redundant from his job as tech editor at Newsweek, and after a couple of depressing online writing jobs, the author took a job at Hubspot, a start up selling marketing software, with £100million in venture capital and a super-funky ethos. His aim - he says - was to reinvent himself and learn how to be a marketer, and also to experience the tech start-ups he'd been writing about for years.

I would have liked this better if the author hadn't come across as a complete tosser with zero self awareness and an ego the size of a planet. It's a shame, as he makes lots of good points about lack of diversity within the tech industry, poor management practices, the fact that our pension funds are pouring money into tech companies many of whom make little or no profits, and that these poorly managed, largely unregulated companies are happily harvesting our data, in a society where it's almost impossible to 'opt out' and not use FB et al.

It's quite true that he shouldn't be in a position of feeling obliged to play along when people make jokes about his age - but strange that he then writes - apparantly un-ironically - in a different job about being happy to be back somewhere that people laugh along at knob jokes. It's also very true that companies shouldn't manage unwanted people out through constant criticism - especially where by his own description of his behaviour they could easily have dismissed him quite justifiably while following proper procedure (certainly by UK standards, and I suspect the US is no more strict).

Overall, the strongest impression is of a well educated middle aged white man from a prosperous background who has always been the privileged 'default male', and is bitter about suddenly not being on the top of every heap. It's sad, as it's a great idea for a book, and it could have been very hard-hitting and very funny.

59. Adele by Leila Slimani
    By the same author as Lullaby (which I thought was ok) this tells the story of Adele a married middle class Parisian whose attempts to cover up her sex addiction are beginning to unravel. This was pretty brutal and once again the female character was unlikeable. one again there was sparse language and it was an interesting look a female sex addiction. I don’t find Slimani’s novels stay with me very long though and I can see why they are a bit marmite.

60. The Testaments by Margaret Atwood.
    Sequel to the Handmaid’s tale - has sold 4 books a second in one week so probably needs little introduction. I hadn’t read the original in many years and it was definitely helpful to refresh my memory through the graphic novel (I’ve not seen the show).

Set 15 years after the original and tells the story of 3 Gilead women. Hmmm. It was just a bit too Testament-y for me. Characters explaining the steps of their actions and chipping in to explain their motivations with a bit of hindsight thrown in. I don’t think the style worked with 3 characters as it did with 1.

It was a good thriller but lacked the edge of the original. I completely agree with @FortunaMajor’s point that this sequel was unnecessary - mainly written for the fans (me!). It reminded me of a really good tv show that doesn’t know when to quit - you still love the world building but it’s all a bit awkward. None the less it scratched the itch.

Looks like a good haul Fortuna!

I'm very pleased with the book haul and now how the inner secrets of their restocking policy, so know when best to visit. I could have gone on but at 2 big shopping bags full, I was at the limits for what I could carry.

112. The Immortalists - Chloe Benjamin Four child siblings visit a fortune teller who tells them the date of their deaths. They each react and live differently with the information she gave them.

I know this got a mixed reception here when it was first out, but I really enjoyed it. I had a brush with being given an expiry date a few years ago with a major medical misdiagnosis and it definitely changed how I live my life. I went through different stages of dealing with it and I could recognise some of it in the book. I think the story of the first two siblings were the most interesting and it did peter out towards the end and lose its way a little, but that didn't detract too much from the overall idea.

Oh my word Fortuna, I am so jealous of your wonderful book haul. It looks amazing. I love a good haul.

I am listening to the Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy on the very latest technology of cassette tape in my car and getting very nostalgic. It's the radio version so I think I'm going to have to re-buy the series in book form (can't find mine) and re-read it all or I won't be able to count it. Basically my car died so we got a very old cheap KA as a stop-gap. Now have a bigger car but love the KA. It only has a cassette player and DP happened to have this on cassette. It's still making me laugh years later.

78. Cold Welcome by Elizabeth Moon

Science fiction. Best read if you’re already familiar with the characters from the Vatta’s War series.

Ky Vatta, now an admiral, is visiting her home planet of Slotter Key when a sabotaged shuttle leaves her and some other survivors stranded on a desolate and uninhabited frozen continent.

I liked the sort of survival thriller aspect of it, although some of Ky’s lucky breaks were a little too convenient.
The whole sabotage bit was left unresolved, I suppose this will be the subject of the next book in the series.

79. Two Sams at the Chalet School by Elinor M Brent-Dyer

Reread of a childhood book. Relies rather too heavily on implausible coincidences.

80. Why I’m No Longer Talking to White People About Race by Reni Eddo-Lodge

Much reviewed on 50 book threads previously. Thought provoking and well worth a read.

81. Dragon Haven by Robin Hobb

Fantasy. The dragons and dragon keepers continue their search for the lost city of Kelsingra.
Thoroughly enjoyable reading. I’m just sorry I didn’t get to these ones before I read the final Fitz trilogy.

82. My Sister, The Serial Killer by Oyinkan Braithwaite

Told by Korede, a nurse who keeps having to clean up after her sister Ayoola, who keeps killing her boyfriends.

This was quite a quick easy read but I don’t think it’s one that’s going to stick in my memory.

Ohhh Fortuna I am overcome with jealousy! Our local charity shop have been advertising for someone to come in and sort books, I am seriously considering applying just so I get first dibs on the all the good ones (then I can donate them all back again :) )

fortuna that’s amazing!

whippet we live parallel lives - I dug out my old copy of Hitchhikers to read the other day after there was a chapter on it in Andy Miller’s book. I downloaded an omnibus edition quite cheaply on the kindle for my husband ages ago as he’d missed them(!) and I’d got all the sequels out of the library first time round (can still remember the excitement when I found the next instalment)

I hope you enjoy it Sadik. It's not the best written book but is very thought-provoking.

ps Have you been watching the Channel 4 series Crime and Punishment?

I haven't but will look out for it (I don't really watch anything over the summer but have a bit more spare time once the evenings draw in). I'm pretty tolerant of less good writing in non-fiction from someone who has interesting things to say - often non-professional writers can be well worth reading for their life experiences I think.

I have known a few people over the years (all men) who have been in prison, unsurprisingly they didn't talk much about it but the consensus seems to be it's not so different from being (a) in boarding school, (b) in care or (c) in the army [delete according to social background as appropriate]

A sad indictment of the way society deals with some children and young people, as well as prisoners.

Fortuna - if you haven't read One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest before, you're in for a treat. It's absolutely brilliant - will make you laugh, hope, be furious and cry...a lot. You will need tissues. And maybe something to hit.

What a haul Fortuna!

I reached the target (though personal target is 60) with:

50. Educated: A Memoir Tara Westover Much read on this thread I think. Really interesting on Mormonism, the power of education, the complex dynamics within abusive families and the difficulties and pain of extracting oneself, the subjectivity of memory and the effects of trauma. She’s a remarkable woman but I found this so disturbing in parts it would be wrong to say I ‘enjoyed’ it.

Remus it's one of the books that I think I read in my mid to late teens, but I could very well have just seen the film around the same time and be confused. I figured it wouldn't hurt to get it for a whole 20p. I got two others that I have definitely read (borrowed from the library) as I know I will want to revisit them at some point - Beloved and All Quiet on the Western Front.

Keith same! Mine want volunteers too. It's very tempting. The book bloke was very good so I will start going in on his day. This shop only put pristine books out and won't entertain shabby ones. He wouldn't let me look at the unsorted books of which there were loads, but there were still hundreds for me to look through.

The film is excellent, but the book is even better. It's as much about the Chief as it is about Red. Jack Nicholson dominated the film so much that the Chief is very much pushed into the background.

Blood Detective by Dan Waddell
This was recommended by friends but I didn't think much of it. A serial killer in London increasingly seems to be echoing the crimes of a 19th century killer. I liked the three central characters but it was badly written with some glaring grammatical issues. I guessed the killer really early on, although not the motive, and also guessed the final victim. The ending was really clumsy. Not a writer I'm likely to be returning to.