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.

With the sad news about Toni Morrison, I really must get round to Beloved, which has been on my TBR for a long time.

Just finished 52. Forensics by Val McDermid. This is the crime fiction writer's factual account of the variety of methods used by forensic science, from fingerprint analysis to psychological profiling, featuring interviews with top experts in the field such as Dick Shepherd and Sue Black. I would strongly recommend this clearly written account to anyone interested in the subject, and have now bought a couple of McDermid's novels to try (luckily they were on a 99p deal last Sunday!).

64 Bloody Brilliant Women by Cathy Newman
I think this has been reviewed a few times on here. I found it an enjoyable fast moving canter through the 20thC, looking at a whole range of notable women.

I only had one objection - why, when I assume the author would strongly disapprove of the media habit of describing any woman in terms of her looks - is she so ready to use 'diminutive' as a supposedly significant description. Personally it's not the key thing I'd think of when describing, for example, Jayaben Desai of the Grunswick strikers. It may sound like a small point (so to speak), but it's typical of the way women are often patronised for specifically female characteristics.
It's a minor point though, and overall it's generally an excellent read.

Beloved - one of those books I'm very glad I've read, but don't think I could read again.

Thanks everyone for the kind wishes about my job. Am enjoying having a few weeks off with the DC and will get stuck into proper job-hunting in September.

Finally got into my second half of reading:

26. Imperium - Robert Harris Picked this up from the library for an easy holiday read as I was away last week. Sadly was a bit disappointed with it having enjoyed Pompeii a couple of years back - that was action-packed but this, dealing with the rise to power of Cicero, was more of a political / courtroom procedural and rather plodding.

95. The Hoarder, by Jess Kidd
Young woman is sent to scary old man's house as a carer. House is stuffed with mysterious objects, there are strange messages from the Other Side. Young woman is psychic, has her own secrets, is determined to unravel what happened in the dark past. So far, so Gothic, but what makes this really stand out is the author's jaunty voice, and the sheer relish with which she tells the story. I thought it was great fun, and immediately started on the same author's next book, Things in Jars.

96. The Passage, by Justin Cronin
Military experiments on humans go horribly awry, creating monstrous predators who descend with apocalyptic force on the entire of North America and possibly beyond. Fast forward nearly a century and we're with a small band of survivors in a ravaged world - but wait, who is this strange child arriving from nowhere, and does she hold the key to salvation? Probably, but there will undoubtedly be terrifying adventures along the way. I got to the 50% mark at Christmas and abandoned it for months - there are just many characters, and I'd got bogged down in a lengthy description of the interior life of pretty much every person in the surviving township: who's got Daddy issues, who fancies whom etc - like any small town anywhere, in fact. But I picked it up again recently and the story perked up when a ragtag band of improbable heroes leave the township on a quest to save the world. It could have done with pruning, but it's good genre fun once you get into it.

It may have been mentioned already but the excellent Into Thin Air is 99p on Kindle at the moment.

afternoon all. belated to Meg and Splother for your troubles.

I am still mostly watching telly instead of reading due to a month's Netflix membership, which we often do in the holidays. I have however managed to get through:

29. Lollipop Shoes by Joanne Harris. A sequel to Chocolat, following Vianne's move to Paris from Lasquenet, and her attempts to settle into a more ordinary life with the very dull Thierry. As charming as Chocolat, this time the supernatural elements are more than hinted at and form the basis for the plot. I preferred Chocolat's subtlety, but this was still good whimsical fun.

Just bought The Hard Way Up - autobiography of Hannah Mitchell (suffragette & Labour activist) for 99p. It was recommended to me ages ago on here, but at the time was only available very expensively 2nd hand, so a nice surprise to see it as a Kindle cheapie.

(I had a flurry of reading biographies of interesting women a few years back, and Bloody Brilliant Women has inspired me to seek out some more.)

142. Fierce Bad Rabbits by Clare Pollard

Similar to Bookworm, but focusing on children’s picture books. I loved the nostalgia of this - would recommend to anyone who enjoyed Bookworm.

Thanks for the new thread southeast. Bringing my list over so I can remember where I have got to and adding all my recent reads (loads as on a sun lounger holiday!)

1. The Hunting Party - Lucy Foley
2. Men without Women - Huraki Murakami

3. The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society - Mary Ann Schaffer

1. How Hard Can It Be? - Allison Pearson
2. Christmas Pudding - Nancy Mitford
3. Hangover Square - Patrick Hamilton
4. The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde - Robert Louis Stevenson

8. Any Human Heart - William Boyd 9. A Gentleman in Moscow - Amor Towles 10. Testament of Youth - Vera Brittain 11. The Mysterious Affair at Styles - Agatha Christie 12. Harriet - Jilly Cooper 13. A Buyer’s Market - Anthony Powell 14. Charity Girl - Georgette Heyer 15. New Boy - Tracy Chevalier 16. The Acceptance World - Anthony Powell 17. Our Man in Havana - Graham Greene 18. Here Be Dragons - Sharon Penman 19. Venetia - Georgette Heyer 20. The Five: The Untold Lives of the Women Killed by Jack the Ripper - Hallie Rubenhold 21. At Lady Molly's - Anthony Powell 22 The Suspect - Fiona Barton 23. Bath Tangle - Georgette Heyer 24. My name is Lucy Barton - Elizabeth Strout 25. 4.50 from Paddington - Agatha Christie 26. The Age of Innocence - Edith Wharton 27. We have always lived in the castle - Shirley Jackson 28. I am Pilgrim - Terry Hayes 29. Last Bus to Woodstock - Colin Dexter 30. The Sense of an Ending - Julian Barnes 31. The Quiet American - Graham Greene 32. Black Sheep - Georgette Heyer 33. The Kindly Ones - Anthony Powell 34. Case Histories (Jackson Brodie) - Kate Atkinson 35. Warlight - Michael Ondaatje 36. The Covent Garden Ladies - Hallie Rubenhold 37. The Seven Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle - Stuart Turton

Now adding recent reads:

38. The House at Riverton - Kate Morton

Grace looks back from her old age as her time as a housemaid in 1914 (and the years after that) from her old age. A look at country house life from below stairs and the impact of the war set against a family background and tragedy. I really enjoyed this and thought it evoked the period and social background really well.

39. The Valley of Bones - Anthony Powell

Book 7 of A Dance to the Music of Time. WW2 has started and Nick has enlisted. I found this less enjoyable than some of the earlier books in the series because of the number of new characters introduced (as most of the focus is on regimental life). My favourite part was when he was on leave and we saw familiar friends and family. Thankfully Widmerpool made his appearance towards the end!

40. A Column of Fire - Ken Follett

The third in the the Kingsbridge series. Was slightly concerned about this after Pepe warning about the number of bosom references. However, I clearly have higher tolerance/lower standards and did not find breasts were overly intrusive!

Starting at the end of Queen Mary’s reign and mainly set during Queen Elizabeth’s reign the book moves between England, France, Spain and the Netherlands with the focus on the battle between Catholics and Protestants in England and France set against a backdrop of personal relationships.

Having enjoyed the earlier books in the series (on previous summer holidays) this was the perfect beginning to this year’s summer holiday.

41. Bitter Orange - Claire Fuller

This turned out to have quite a similar concept to The House at Riverton in that Frances is looking back from old age on her time spent at a stately home and the tragedy that unfolded there. In this case, Frances spent her time at the house in 1969 as a researcher. I didn’t enjoy this as much as The House at Riverton as I think the characters were less likeable and less believable. Perhaps I would have enjoyed it more if I hadn’t recently read The House at Riverton.

42. The Shadow of the Wind - Carlos Ruiz Zafon

This was a re-read. One of my all time favourite books. If you haven’t already read it please do. Beautifully written and plotted. Set in Barcelona in the 1950s and told from the viewpoint of Daniel who starts out as 10 year old but grows to adulthood during the book whilst he unravels a literary puzzle. Truly a book lovers book - all about books and so many layers.

43. Dominion - CJ Samson

I enjoy the Shardlake books so thought I would try this. Set in the 1950s with Britain having surrendered to Germany in 1940. Britain still has some level of autonomy (with it’s own PM) but is subject to certain policy from Germany and has SS/Gestapo stationed in UK. The story follows a civil servant who is recruited to the resistance and his mission to get a man who has valuable information which must not fall into German hands out of the U.K. to America. It’s an interesting read as to how things could have turned out (and not as severe as SS-GB by Len Deighton). Not as good as Shardlake for me!

44. Cat Among the Pigeons - Agatha Christie

Opens with a sheik trying to escape a coup in the Middle East but mainly set in a girl’s boarding school in England where schoolmistresses keep getting killed. Very jolly hockey sticks. Hercule Poirot eventually makes an appearance near the end and wraps up. As ever, didn’t guess who it was. Not one of her best but perfectly readable.

45. Paradise Fields - Katie Fforde

A re-read as am now working my way through villa bookshelves as one of DC has commandeered my Kindle. Easy and enjoyable if not always very realistic! A widow with teenage children fights to save her local hospice from developers whilst falling for the solicitor advising the development.

46. Second Life - SJ Watson

A re-read. Julia’s life falls apart after her sister is murdered and she tries to track down the murderer online. Clever but none of the characters are very likeable and I found it difficult to believe Julia could really behave in the way she does.

47. Shatter - Michael Rowbotham

A psychologist tries to stop a woman from jumping from a bridge and then gets involved in the subsequent police investigation as it turns into a murder investigation. I disliked the murderer’s attitude to women and language but then that was part and parcel of the plot and motivation. Not bad and good to see the psychologist was a SAHD as well!

Reclaimed my kindle so back to my unread list.

Just popping on to note that We Have Always Lived in the Castle is a quid on kindle today, if anyone fancies a delicious slice of American Gothic.

Damn - Fortuna not Pepe for bosom count!

Also forgot a book:

48. The Bat - Jo Nesbo

Slightly underwhelmed by this as I have heard lots of people rave about Jo Nesbo so expectations were reasonably high. Obviously popular as my villa has both a hardback and paperback copy! First in the Harry Hole series and Harry is in Australia helping to solve the murder of a Norwegian waitress which turns out to be linked to other killings. Chugged along but not sure I will read another.

50. Still Waters by Viveca Sten

Not an earth-shattering book with which to reach the 50 milestone, but an enjoyable read. Murder mystery set in the Swedish holiday location of Sandhamn - the first in a series featuring Inspector Thomas Andreasson who (inevitably) has a tragedy of his own to overcome. Great evocation of the location and the story rattled along although it was slightly laboured at points. I guessed whodunnit (largely due to heavy handed attempts at pointing away from the killer) but didn't really mind.

Just reached my half-way (still hopeful!!) mark with 25. The Little Friend by Donna Tartt
Too soon to review - still digesting.

89. The Wych Elm - Tana French Toby, a cheeky chancer of a lad returns home from a night out with friends and surprises two burglars who beat him to within an inch of his life. During his recovery he moves in with his terminally ill uncle to the house where he and his cousins spent their summers as children. With his memory shot to pieces he discovers his past is not as happy-go-lucky as he remembers and events of his youth come back to haunt him.

I really enjoyed this and thought it unfolded really well with lots of suspense and twists. I wasn't that thrilled with the ending, but it didn't detract from my overall enjoyment of the book.

90. The Door - Magda Szabó Fictionalised autobiography of an award winning Hungarian writer. She looks over the 20 year relationship she had with her very unusual housekeeper set against the backdrop of post-war Hungary.

This is an odd one, there is no plot and it is very slow moving, but it is strangely compelling. It explores the differences between the public and private personas people portray and the barriers they put up to those on the outside of their lives. Excellent writing and lots of symbolism.

91. Swimming Lessons - Claire Fuller Two very different sisters come back together to deal with their elderly father's illness and it brings back memories of their mother who disappeared while they were children. They have spent years wondering what happened to her, while all the time the answers were in the books their father has collected in the form of letters she wrote and hid between the pages.

While this kept my interest alternating between present events and the letters to explain the past, I did find the characters poorly written and very underdeveloped.

65 The Hard Way Up by Hannah Mitchell

Autobiography of Hannah Mitchell, born in 1871 on an isolated farm in the Peak District. She had no formal education, and ran away from home at 14 to go into domestic service. From early adulthood onwards
she became increasingly involved in both the radical labour and suffrage movements - this book was written in the late 40s after a long life of activism and public service (including as a magistrate & councillor).

It's an excellent read, & I particularly enjoyed the sections about her childhood and the time from leaving home until she got married - just the realities of working class life at that period. It's also lovely how much she credits the efforts of her women friends and especially neighbours in supporting her in her campaigning work when she has a husband (who despite also being a labour radical & theoretically in sympathy with her political aims) still expects meals on the table like clockwork & the housework, washing etc all done without a hitch.

25. My Little Friend – Donna Tartt
As a massive Goldfinch fan, I was delighted when I found this in my local second-hand book shop a while back.

It didn’t disappoint.
The minute detail with which every single event was described meant that I felt like I was reading this book forever (it is over 55O pages of very small print!) and with the very tense, claustrophobic atmosphere that Tartt creates I must admit I was quite relieved when the story finally drew to a close and I was able to leave Harriet’s world.

Harriet is part of a highly dysfunctional family. At the tender age of 12 she sets out to discover who killed her 9-year-old brother Robin when she, herself, was just a baby. She’s a brilliantly engaging character and I held my breath on several occasions, captured by Tartt’s energetic prose, when Harriet gets into scrapes of the kind I simply can NOT imagine my own similarly aged kids getting into!!
There’s a great deal of violence in this depiction of the American South in the 1970s and we are aware that Harriet is living in a pretty warped world. Her own family relationships, but also those of the drug-fuelled individuals she comes into contact with are ultimately very convincing thanks to Tartt’s direct style.
So… violence, misery and guilt a-plenty but ultimately a very rewarding read. My ‘take-away’ is just how much havoc a young child can wreak when she’s highly determined and has the intelligence and wiles to reach her goal.

Emerging from the other side of 50 with 51: Erebus - Michael Palin

Enjoyable if oddly low-key account of the voyages of the two ships Erebus and Terror whose crews met a terrible and mysterious end under the command of Sir John Franklin on their quest to find the Northwest Passage.

I was pleased to tick this off my wish list but, having previously read Fergus Fleming's terrific Barrow's Boys, which covers a lot of the same story (and fills in much more background) I can't help feeling a little bit underwhelmed. Sorry, Michael P, I'm a great admirer and I was engaged with this book, but tbh it doesn't quite have the sheer zip and brio of Fergus Fleming's, imho (although it does have the advantage of reporting on the discovery of the wrecks of both ships, which hadn't happened when Fleming wrote his book).

The Artificial Silk Girl by Imgard Keun
Set in Berlin in the early 30s.This began well - girl wants to be a star and it's all fluffy and funny- but got increasingly wittering and stream of consciousness and rather dull, as circumstances took her towards prostitution. It ended really abruptly too and left me a bit cold.

At least I finished this one though. I found the writer's other one that I tried so wittering that I lost all patience with it.

FINALLY FINISHED IT!

39. From the Beast to the Blonde: On Fairy Tales and Their Tellers -Marina Warner Been picking up and putting this book for well over a year now - not because it’s not fascinating and well written, just because it’s big and scholarly and vaguely connected to my Masters subject (which I finished the year before last) so whilst I’m very interested in the topic I think my brain was also a bit ‘urgh not this again’. But once I’d stopped buggering about and got on with reading it I really enjoyed this cultural and literary history which actually encompasses far more than just fairy tales.

39. Ken Follet 3rd Kingsbridge book - reviewed earlier today by TimeforaGandT. Enjoyed this, perhaps even more than the first two. Think I'll try some Rory Clements books set in Tudor England.

40. A Short History of England by Simon Jenkins. Very readable. Probably need to read it again as have already forgotten some of the finer details.

Halfway through The Overstory

30. Little Fires Everywhere by Celeste Ng
The very WASPy Richardson family, who live in a meticulously planned community, form a friendship with the new tenants of their rental property, a struggling artist and her bookish daughter. From the outside we know that that souring of this relationship has led to a fire being deliberately set at the Richardsons' home. Different perspectives on motherhood, order and chaos, and loss are woven through the tale of how we ended up with the burning house.

Light and readable but not lightweight, with believable characters and a strong sense of place and time. Decent holiday (staycation in my case) read.

I’ve been known to indulge in a spot of boob watch, GandT. But that particular one was Fortuna. No boobs in my recent reads because perhaps they are almost all by women. Can I recommend “men writing women” on Twitter for some genuinely jaw dropping boob travesties?

85 Give Me Your Hand by Megan Abbott
I haven’t been tempted by the whole “disturbed woman with a dark past” psychological thriller genre for a while but this came highly recommended and was cheap, so I thought it would pass a long train journey, which it did, albeit with a heavy dose of implausibility. Two school friends with a shared secret end up working in a lab researching severe PMS together and chaos ensues. I thought this had numerous plot holes but was just about well enough written to hang together.

86 The Library Book by Susan Orlean
The LA Central Library was destroyed by fire in 1986. This is the story of the fire, the library’s history and the people who work there. I think someone upthread was not so keen on this but I thought it was interesting - part science, part history, part whodunnit and part love letter to books and libraries.

87 The War on Women by Sue Lloyd Roberts
A highly depressing account of the many and creative ways men (and women) have found to oppress women, from sex trafficking to FGM and forced marriage. Lloyd Roberts talks to many women involved and her anger shines through, as well as her compassion. She died before she finished the book, which means there isn’t much in the way of an overview or any attempt to join up the various threads. Nonetheless this is a well-researched and hugely informative book, if very bleak.

88 In Order To Live by Yeonmi Park
Yeonmi Park escaped from North Korea via China and has since become something of a poster child for defectors. I find North Korea fascinating and while the broad sweep of her narrative is familiar if you have read other similar memoirs this has a lot of detail on life in North Korea, as well as some interesting reflections on the experience of assimilating to a new culture. She’s become the target of North Korean propaganda since defecting which probably tells you lots about the truth of her story.

89 The Cost of Living by Deborah Levy
Spare and elegant memoir about midlife divorce and finding yourself. I found this beautifully done and much more readable than Levy’s fiction which doesn’t do much for me.

90 Bad Blood by John Carreyrou
My favourite Goodreads review of this - "this was f'ing bananas". Elizabeth Holmes left Stanford to set up a biochemical company that looked to revolutionise blood testing. Along the way, Theranos signed up Walgreens and Safeway as customers and a set of board members and investors that included Kissinger, Murdoch and George Schultz. All good except the tech didn’t work and the scam got more and more out of control as she and her sidekicks attempted to hide this from regulators and the medical profession. Holmes comes across as a thoroughly nasty piece of work - bullying, controlling and with a bit of a Messiah complex. The book is a slightly odd mix - half legal/medical thriller then a sudden switch of gear and tone when Carreyrou (who broke the story in the Wall St Journal) gets involved in the investigation. It’s a crazy read and baffling that so many people were fooled for so long. I’d have liked a little more analysis by Carreyrou of how exactly this happened and how the corporate governance catastrophe unfolded and a bit less of the recounting of the minutiae of people’s lives at Theranos, but nonetheless this was gripping.

No boobs in Murder on the Orient Express but a use of the word pornographic! Does anyone know if this has changed in meaning since Christie's day?

I have of course read this years ago but DS2 has just read some Christies so I have joined in. I didn't recall there only being one murder but it is a claustrophobic, intricately plotted number. It can be hard to keep track of who is who. On the whole, preferred Death on the Nile but I can see (casual racism aside) why she has stood the test of time.

I'm glad you liked Bad Blood, Pepe, I've been pushing it enthusiastically to everyone I know! I also discovered there's a podcast ('The Drop-Out') by an ABC TV reporter which is interesting but basically just follows exactly what's in the book (I did wonder what Carreyrou thought about it), so it doesn't really add much, although it's entertaining hearing some of the participants speak.