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?

Very sorry to hear about your mum, TimeforaGandT. A Murder is Announced is one of my favourite Christies. Sympathetically portrayed lesbian couple as well.

Thanks Welshwabbit and good point about Christie considering the time she was writing.

so sorry for your loss TimeforaGandT

TimeforaGandT

62. Waterlog by Roger Deakin A journey of wild swimming around the UK, starting at, and returning to, the author's own Elizabethan moated manor house (as you would do if you had one). This was a lush book of meanderings, as much about nature, people who swim, land ownership and the right to access land as it was about the swimming itself. Unfortunately I read this at the wrong time of year, as I want to dip my toe in some outdoor water now. We have a lagoon near the edge of our town, where DS and I occasionally go kayaking and paddleboarding. We usually have a little splashy swim as an adjunct to that, and we always say we should come here for a proper swim, but we never do. The last time we were in was early October and it was already on the chilly side of stupid, and will probably remain so until May. So, a rare thing, a genuinely inspiring book, even though the poor timing of the reader means the inspiration needs to be stored away for a few months.

Im sorry to hear of your loss Time. I love your list and I think perhaps we have similar tastes,though I prefer the first half of Fridays Child! I wonder if you've read A civil contract and Cotillion which are two of my favourite Heyers?

Sorry to hear about your mother, TimeforaGandT, and sympathies for all you have been through. I am also dealing with two frail, elderly parents and frequent hospital admissions, which is one reason I keep falling off the thread, although I am still reading (books help keep me sane...).

Sorry for your loss TimeforaGandT and for your troubles exexpat

A heavy cold meant I have had a couple of days in bed feeling steamrollered so I filled the time between sleeps and sneezes with no.120 Dark Pines by Will Dean which fitted the bill perfectly. It's not the most elegantly written book but I enjoyed the descriptions of the sinister forest in rural Northern Sweden in which murders are committed whilst admiring the pluck of city loving (and wine gum loving) local journalist Tuva who is determined to get her story.

Prior to this I read Bad Behaviour by Mary Gaitskill, short stories written and set in New York in the 1980s in which rather unpleasant people do rather unpleasant things. I didn't like this but can't deny the stories were well written.
I also finished The Burgess Boys by Elizabeth Strout. My least-favourite of her novels but this still has a lot of very good quality, insightful writing and I was fond of the seemingly hopeless character of Bob, the younger Burgess son, who develops so well. I do, on the whole, feel uncomfortable with people writing from the view of those in certain ethnic groups, so I wasn't keen on the parts of the novel written as if from the point of view of a Somalian refugee but felt the rest was decent.

Thank you all for your kind messages and sympathies to you exexpat - I found reading a welcome escape at the end of some tough days.

Thanks PermanentTemporary for the recommendations for Georgette Heyer. I have not read either of those as I read on Kindle and only buy them on 99p deals but will look out for them.

TimeforaG&T - I'm so sorry about your mum.

I absolutely love A Town Like a Alice.

I'm ill and reading Ballet Shoes for the millionth time for comfort.

TimeforaGandT So sorry to hear about you mum

So sorry to hear about your Mum TimeforaGandT

TimeforaGandT

I love A Town Like Alice too.

Currently re-reading Case Histories in between Westminsterenders threads and Twitter. Don’t know why, it’s not great.

Love the suggestion of The Dark Is Rising. I’ve re-read a couple over the last few years. Very timely.

I’m sorry to hear about your mum Time

232. A Snow Garden And Other Stories by Rachel Joyce

Christmas themed short stories, which all have a very loose connection to each other. I’m not generally a fan of short stories but I liked these.

233. A Very British Christmas: 12 Days Of Discomfort And Joy by Rhodri Marsden

A funny look at British Christmas traditions. I liked the extracts of people recounting (generally awful) experiences from their own Christmasses.

234. Christmas With The Savages by Mary Clive

Old fashioned children’s book about a prim and proper young girl sent to spend the Christmas holidays with a family of boisterous children. The title is a bit misleading as Christmas itself only takes up one short chapter. I didn’t like the main character but this is great as a period piece (it was published in 1955 but is set in Edwardian times, loosely based on the author’s own childhood).

235. The Lion, The With and the Wardrobe by C S Lewis

Seasonal reread.

236. Violet by S J I Holliday

Violet and Cassie are both travelling and team up for the Trans-Siberian rail journey. The book opens with a murder, but we don’t know who is dead or which of the women is involved. Probably not one to read if you have a child going off travelling in the near future! I found this quite gripping although I did see the very final twist coming.

237. Dishonesty Is The Second Best Policy: And Other Rules To Live By by David Mitchell (the actor/comedian)

This is a collection of his newspaper columns. It’s essentially him complaining in an amusing way, so whether you will enjoy this depends if you like him generally! I do, so I liked this. I listened to this on Audible, read by the author, and this is one of those books that is definitely improved listening to him reading it himself.

238. The Assistant by S K Tremayne

Bonkers thriller about a woman who moves into a flat controlled by lots of ‘assistants’ called Electra (basically Alexas). The assistants start tormenting her with information about an event in her past until she starts wondering if she’s ,going mad. I don’t have an Alexa and reading this does not encourage me to get one! This is quite far fetched and the writing’s not great, but I was gripped to see where it was going.

Now reading Confessions of a Bookseller which I’m loving as much as the original and also have Jeanette Winterson’s collection of Christmas stories on the go.

for TimeforaGandT

Ballet Shoes - a lovely, warm hug of a book. Just what I needed for a day in bed feeling ill.

I am so sorry for your loss Time.

I am also very fond of Friday's Child (some of Heyer's best supporting characters, especially Nemesis!), but These Old Shades, Frederica, The Unknown Ajax and The Grand Sophy are probably my other top picks!)

Also finished The Library of Ice by Nancy Campbell.

This began with real promise but suffered from two flaws: the writer's desire to utilise everything she's ever researched and, even worse, the writer's desire to write about herself too much. I spent most of the second half of it feeling bored and cross.

Sorry to hear your sad news Time

I have also just finished listening to 77. Dishonesty is the Second Best Policy and agree that if you're a fan of David Mitchell's grumpy middle-class rants you'd enjoy this. I am personally quite closely aligned to his left-leaning but also oddly elitist viewpoint (my ex always did say I was like the boring one from Peep Show).

93 The Prison Doctor by Amanda Brown

Reviewed previously on here - not great literature but a very interesting & readable insight into the challenges & rewards of working with prisoners.

Pepe Thank you so much for the recommendation of Children of Time - Love sci fi, love spiders so I’ve bumped this one up my list. I also have Adrian Tchaikovsky’s Dogs of War coming up soon. The blurb is great

“Rex is a genetically engineered Bioform, a deadly weapon in a dirty war. He has the intelligence to carry out his orders and feedback implants to reward him when he does. All he wants to be is a Good Dog. And to do that he must do exactly what Master says and Master says he's got to kill a lot of enemies.

But who, exactly, are the enemies? What happens when Master is tried as a war criminal? What rights does the Geneva Convention grant weapons? Do Rex and his fellow Bioforms even have a right to exist? And what happens when Rex slips his leash?”

I’m struggling my way through Jasper Fforde’s Early Riser . I usually love Jasper Fforde but I’m finding this one quite hard to get into. Set in an alternative UK (mostly in the Socialist Republic of Wales), people have taken to hibernating through winter to avoid the deadly cold. Those who don’t sleep are mad, dangerous, or both. I do wonder though if having some crackers on my tbr list is making this seem like more of a drag than it really is.

You’re right Tanaqui the other characters in Friday’s Child were much more appealing - I really enjoyed the interactions between Gil, Ferdy and George.

TimeforaGandT

Another Town like Alice fan here.

Sadik, I previously read Prison Doctor, I don't know if I reviewed it on here but I agree with your review. There is a sequel out next summer I believe.

I really enjoyed Dogs of War, Giraffe - in fact it's on my 'to re-read' list because I tore through it at double speed to find out what happens, & I'm sure will benefit from re-visiting.

I gave up on Early Riser, just didn't hit the spot for me (though dd liked it a lot)

I think it was probably your review that pointed me in the direction of Prison Doctor Rhubarb :)