50 Book Challenge 2019 Part Seven

[southeastdweller]

Welcome to the seventh, and possibly final, 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, the fifth one here and the sixth one here.

How've you got on this year?

I did like the original, whippet. I think some readers wanted him to be the perfect doctor, endlessly compassionate and noble, but he doesn't pretend to be that person - he accepts that he is tired and grumpy and cynical and falls short of the ideal, but he has some legitimate things to say about the way the NHS also fails the people who work for it.

I also get great rec's from this thread and love reading everyone's reviews.

89. Melmoth by Sarh Perry I'm not connecting with this and my Kindle is lying unused throughout the day and I didn't look forward to my nightly read in bed. I'm thinking of giving up and starting something new. I'm about 20 percent through, does it improve?

Ah, thanks bibiomania, in that case I might give it a go.

SapatSea, I've just checked back and I gave Melmoth 4 stars on Goodreads, which means I must have thought it was decent. However, I can't remember too much about it but I think I enjoyed it more than Serpent. I am a compulsive book finisher so would have to see it through but if you're not looking forward to it, ditch and move on.

Sapat I thought Melmoth was dreadful, rambling and pointless. She says a whole lot of nothing very prettily. Do you self a favour and move on!

sapatsea I rated Melmoth 4 too but looking back it was more because I enjoyed the writing and read it quite quickly after a dry spell so was generous. I had quite a few problems with the story in a few places as I remember. Some sections were very good in the middle when it goes into the past, but the present day stuff not so much. I would call it well-written with some good moments but if you want gripping and satisfying then I think it might not deliver.

I loved Serpent but can't muster up any enthusiasm for Melmoth.

Thanks all, will pass on it for now and start enjoying something else. I really liked Serpent too.

29. I am I am I am by Maggie o farrell. This is a terrific read and perhaps it's unfair that I'm not 'bolding' it partly because I flew through it so fast - I feel slightly cheated that it cost me £4 per hour of reading! O Farrell wrote about 17 brushes with death affecting her life. I've read reviews that were quite snippy about the less dramatic episodes being included, but I liked it that way - death really is close to us in many ways, some quite banal. The more dramatic episodes are simply terrifying, and o farrell knows how to turn the screw of a thriller. Her treatment at the hands of two particularly sausage factory NHS departments was mind blowing too - would love to hear the medics' version, not because I dont believe o Farrell but just in the hope that the medics in question acknowledge they were running on autopilot on those days and performing below par, risking lives in the process.

131. Mudlarking : lost and found on the River Thames, by Lara Maiklem
Non-fiction account of treasure-hunting by the river. It's the second book I read about mudlarking this year, and on balance I preferred the first (London in Fragments, by Ted Sandling). This one had a chapter on modern plastic rubbish and effluent which punctured the romance somewhat. Overall I did like it though.

Have now started Lowborn, by Kerry Hudson about growing up on the margins of society in the UK, which I'm finding very compelling.

Just caught up on the thread and added some more titles to my wishlist!

Not sure when I last updated but I have been busy reading or re-reading titles that my daughters are studying this year.

38. Of Mice and Men – John Steinbeck
I was convinced this was going to be a re-read but half-way through I decided that I had probably actually never read it Steinbeck's gift of creating so much emotion by such simple phrasing is outstanding. I discovered The Pearl last year. Next year maybe I will tackle The Grapes of Wrath.

39. Cyrano de Bergerac – Edmond Rostand
This was a re-read but I can honestly say I enjoyed it soooo much more this time around. As a teenager, with my A-level French, I quite enjoyed it as we read it together in class but now I can honestly say that I laughed out loud and was close to tears at certain moments.

On another note, I'm still fuming about the fact that my daughter's teacher thought this was a suitable book to set them over the holidays. DD2 didn't understand a flipping word of it!! It's a play!!! In old French!! Why on earth would they not study it in class???? I despair.

40. Animal Farm – George Orwell
Also a re-read (from the copy I had for GCSE). I'm sure I got more out of it this time round, being a little more familiar with the Russian Revolution and how that all played out. Looking forward to seeing what DD1 will make of it.

NB Nice teacher teamwork to be noted here as they are reading this novel in English and studying the Russian Revolution in History.

41. War Horse - Michael Morpurgo
Obviously very late to the party with this one but I zipped through it in a few hours yesterday afternoon. (I'm off work with a nasty tummy bug and pinched this from DD's bedroom!). I knew the basic premise of the story but actually had no idea it was narrated by Joey the horse himself. Maybe it's for this reason that it didn't quite make it as an adult book for me but it's definitely one I will be suggesting my DDs get stuck into soon.

Can anyone advice me on a kindle issue please?

Last night I was reading the first volume of The Cazalet Chronicles on my Kindle when I suddenly got an error message that said something like - there is a problem with this content, delete it from your device and download it from the cloud
This morning I have deleted the book from my device but can't seem to download it again. Any ideas what I could try next?

aaaaaargh advise me

nowanearlyNicemum bad luck - Kindle problems are a pain. You could try emailing them for advice? I ended up doing that when a book I'd bought refused to download. They did try to be helpful and emailed me back several times. Unfortunately there seemed to be a problem with the actual book and they couldn't make it work in the end, but if you've already been reading it I'd have thought this should be fixable?

Nicemum on the Amazon website you should be able to get up a list of all your Kindle books at Accounts and Lists, then Manage Your Content and Devices. Click the 3 dots by the book you want and it brings up more options including Deliver to Device, and you should be able to send a 'good' copy to your Kindle from there. Hopefully.

@nowanearlyNicemum when I've had problems downloading Kindle books I go to the 'Manage your content and devices' link on Amazon and choose 'Deliver'. This has worked for me when things have stubbornly refused to work from the Kindle end.

Oops! Cross-post with @MuseumOfHam, sorry!

Thanks all for the kindle help - and sympathy!
I won't bore you with the issue but I've tried all of the above, including posting my query on the help threads but am not getting anywhere.

Off to find an email address....

Desdemona Thanks again for mentioning the BBC programme. I got chance to watch it and found it really interesting and particularly apt considering my most recent reads below. I am quite surprised that I have never heard of Pamela and will now be on the look out for it. I was also happy to see Queenie featured as I think it is one of the most relevant books of the past few years.

145. Frankissstein - Jeanette Winterson Two stories set 200 years apart. The first a fictionalised account of Mary Shelley's life around the time she wrote Frankenstein. The second - a transgender doctor, a sexbot manfacturer, an AI expert and a cryogenic scientist walk into a bar... Told as a love story, with the underlying moral asking if modern science is creating monsters. It was a bit farcical and didn't really give much scope for dealing with the issues it touched on and completely failed to develop any of the characters. The Shelley parts were beautifully written and really interesting as I didn't know much about her life. A strange one overall that I enjoyed but I think it got a bit lost in what it was trying to say. A great idea but poorly executed in the modern setting parts.

I have recently picked up Frankenstein in a charity shop and this has made me bring it forward in my queue.

146. Their Eyes Were Watching God - Zora Neale Hurston Set after the abolition of slavery but before the civil rights era, a young black woman seeks independence and tries to find her place in the world through three difficult marriages, dealing with racism and mysogyny at every turn.

Literary excellence. Stunning prose, with a lot of very profound symbolism. This was a joy to read and one that I already know that I will want to read again to explore it more indepth. So much to pick over.

147. Difficult Women - Roxanne Gay A selection of short stories about modern women dealing with challenging and sometimes disturbing circumstances. Very well written but quite dark and hard hitting.

I was a bit over enthusiastic and ordered lots of books in the library. All coming my way next week. That’s on top of the recommendations I already have. Getting book anxiety here 😆. Time to get off mumsnet and read.

You're very welcome Fortuna, I enjoyed it too. Despite some rather strange readings from the texts!

Fortuna thanks for your review of Their Eyes Were Watching God. I recently had to return this to the library unread as I'd checked too many books out and ran out of time to read them all. Your review makes me want to give it another go!

Desdemona some of them were very odd.

Indigo Also guilty of the too many books in the time limit problem. Do get it again if you can. It took a little time to get into the parts in dialect, but the writing was gorgeous. I now want my own copy to make notes in the margins.

My reading has slowed right down this week as I am away from home on a horrendous training course which has required work in the evenings as well as all day, plus as I’m in a hotel I haven’t slept well so have struggled to concentrate on the few occasions I have found to read. I have managed to finish book 217 The Tattooist Of Auschwitz though. I’m in Krakow and I like to read books set in the places I’m visiting (unfortunately no time to actually visit Auschwitz while I’m here). Also unfortunately, the book is bad. I feel guilty saying that as it is apparently a true story, but it is told in such an emotionless way I just didn’t care about any of the characters. We’re not told anything about their personalities, it’s just ‘he did this then she did that’. I gather from the current thread on this book that I’m not the only one to feel like this - someone on there described it as ‘Mills and Boon in a concentration camp’ which is a very apt description. This could have been brilliant in the right hands but the writing really lets down a powerful story. Very disappointing.