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?

Next up is Native Tongue by Suzette Haden Elgin More blurb as my brain is exhausted.

“It is the year 2205 and the women of Earth are once again property. Two women, Nazareth and Michaela - one a brilliant linguist, the other a rebel servant - are destined to challenge the power of men. What neither woman reallses is that a revolution is already underway: women, hldden away in Barren houses, are slowly creating a language of their own to free them from men's control and make resistance possible for all women. As Michaela and Nazareth's worlds collide, each of their secrets threatens to reveal the presence of a women's native tongue. Rich in wry wit, fierce intellect, and faith in the subversive power of language, this book has become a cult classic since its first publication in 1984. Subtly weaving ideas about gender relations, power, technology, and consclousness Into her grlpping story, Elgin creates a stunningly original novel - the first book in the acclaimed Native Tongue trilogy.”

I don't usually count cookbooks but have just read Nigel Slater's Christmas Chronicles which is far more writing than recipes. It was okay - very Nigel.

Nigel Slater's recipes are great, but I can't read his prose without hearing Miles Jump as Damien Trench from In and Out of the Kitchen.

@UtterlyPerfectCartoonGiraffe Native Tongue sounds great and it’s only 99p on the kindle - added to my never ending tbr thanks!

90: Grass in Piccadilly - Noel Streatfeild

I did buy The Whicharts , along with a lot of other Streatfeilds, as recommended recently, on Kindle ...but started with this one from 1947.

I'd say it's very Streatfeild in being a family novel in disguise: Sir John Nettel and his second wife, kind and sensible Charlotte, come to London to live in the big, draughty, inconvenient old family townhouse in Mayfair, forced out of their country home by postwar compulsory purchase.

At Charlotte's suggestion, the house is divided up into flats and tenants move in to join them - as does Sir John's young widowed daughter, Penny, and various family retainers. The novel traces the overlapping lives of the inhabitants as they grapple with the stresses and tensions of late-1940s rationing, shortages and the aftermath of war, not to mention their often-fraught relationships.

This was great fun and reminded me a lot of Norman Collins's London Belongs To Me - a big, sprawling saga, with a lot of classic Streatfeild touches familiar from the childrens' books....though with much more grown-up themes chucked in: casual sex, illegitimate children, same-sex relationships and extra-marital affairs. Swearing, too

79. Born Lippy: how to do female - Jo Brand

Random collection of thoughts from the comedian, some autobiographical and some life advice directed towards unspecified young people. Gently entertaining, wouldn't set the world alight but perfect for long haul flights to the upside down part of world such as I've just been on!

('I read much of the night and go south in winter.')

I am not going to get to 100 this year which had been a sort of target but number 87 was a very quick read : Frost Fair , Carol Ann Duffy's 2019 special Christmas poem. It's a lovely little book and a sweet and rather magical pome, nicely illustrated. Nice gift if anyone is as last minute as me! I bought it for myself as no one ever gives me decent presents

poem ! poem!! Not pome

122. A Wind in the Door - Madeleine L'Engle
The second in the Time Quintet, following on from A Wrinkle in Time, a much loved book of mine as a child. I do like this one but not as much as the first. There's less planet hopping here and more of an internal journey, quite literally at one point, but still a fearsome enemy to be defeated in the Echthroi, who swallow everything, including time and space, leaving a howling void of nothing.

123. On Chapel Sands - Laura Cumming
Thanks to @Terpsichore for this recommendation. I thought this memoir about the mystery behind her mother's birth and upbringing was beautifully written and I am looking forward to reading her other book The Vanishing Man, when I get my paws on a copy.

124. The Lottery and Other Stories - Shirley Jackson
I think the story The Lottery with its almost casual horror is excellent but I wasn't too keen on the others, although some will stay with me for a long time, particularly the one about the woman who travels to New York for a tooth extraction. Eeek. So sinister!

125. Under the Rock: The Poetry of a Place - Benjamin Myers
Yay! I really enjoyed this meditation and exploration of The Rock, or Scout Rock above the village of Mytholmroyd. Myers, like the poet Ted Hughes, lived in the shadow of Scout Rock and this book is mostly nature writing about the local area, the rock in particular but is also partly about Ted Hughes and his poetry and about Myers himself. He doesn't shy away from discussing the darker side of Yorkshire life; murder and buried asbestos also feature here, as do long walks with his Patterdale terrier. I finished it this morning and coincidentally, the book itself finishes on the day of the winter solstice, so it was perfect timing.

The Lottery is terrifying, isn't it? I finished it and had a few moments of wondering if what I had just read was what I thought I had read then real horror as I realised it was.

127 Doctor Sleep by Stephen King
This was less sinister and much baggier and less focused than The Shining but reassuringly familiar King territory - addiction, kids, spooky stuff, small town America. It’s a kind of bonkers and odd plot all the way through (rather than his normal terrible ending), but a really enjoyable read.

128 Hearing Secret Harmonies by Anthony Powell
The final book in the series. And very good it was too. Sad in places, and very funny in others. I don’t want to spoil the fun for Widmerpool lovers who haven’t got this far yet but I didn’t expect him to end up in....one of those .

64. Option B: Facing Adversity, Building Resilience, and Finding Joy by Sheryl Sandberg and Adam Grant Written following the death of her husband Dave Goldberg. The problem, as with Lean In, is that she's always going to be writing from a position of privilege and financial stability. She also has a huge support network. Despite barely acknowledging that this is not going to be the case for most people, she writes in a clear no nonsense style. It was ok.

Good to see the Noel Streatfeild review Terpsichore and also to be reminded of London Belongs to Me which has been lurking on my TBR list for ages.

Giraffe I'll be interested to see what you think of Native Tongue. I really like both NT and the sequel The Judas Rose.

Anyone who's read them might be amused by the not-at-all-Women's-Press cover to an earlier one of her books (it also won't surprise you that it doesn't feature any women in purple bikinis )

Ahh Widmerpool I miss him so Pepe.

189. Friday Black - Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah
     Short stories placing characters into very surreal situations to highlight the absurdities of the way black people are treated in America. Very clever and well written but very cross genre combining sci-fi with magical realism. It was a bit hit and miss for me as it links a lot to US culture and was satire on events that I am not very familiar with.

190. The Whisper Man by Alex North
     A slow moving thriller concentrating on the relationship of a young father with his autistic son after the death of his wife. They move home for a fresh start but get caught up in the investigation of a serial killer that bears a lot of the hallmarks of a historical case in the town 20 years previous. I really enjoyed this.

191. A Small Person Far Away - Judith Kerr
     The final part of Judith Kerr's series based on her experiences of fleeing Nazi Germany. Now a young adult the character deals with the aftermath of the war and the impact it had on her family. This was the least enjoyable for me as dealt with dysfunctional family relationships and seemed to drag it out too much. Kerr does write well though.

192. Celine - Peter Heller
     An elderly and glamourous private investigator takes on a cold case to find a man who disappeared in a suspected grizzly bear attack, but whose daughter thinks there was more to it. I really like Heller's writing, but I could not engage with this character at all.

193. The Silent Companions - Laura Purcell
     Gothic horror. A young Victorian woman in a mental asylum relates how she got there. Newly married and almost immediately widowed she moved to the country estate of her husband's family and finds a 200 year old diary in the locked attic and a large wooden doll that looked remarkably like her. I didn't really get in to this and didn't feel there was really any atmosphere or tension to it. A decent enough idea that needed a better writer to bring it off.

whippet I'm glad you enjoyed On Chapel Sands - it turned out to be one of my standout reads of the year.

Sadik I’m about 100 pages in, and so far finding it very “Handmaid’s Tale plus aliens” It keeps making me very angry, but thankfully due to the events (repealing the 19th amendment! The treatment of wives! ) rather than the writing, which is excellent.

I’ve just read the Michaela/wasps part. Oof! Well done Michaela

88. Kate Atkinson's three short stories Festive Spirits. Jolly good fun. Quick read. I liked the middle one best and it is very topical!

243. The Whicharts by Noel Streatfeild

Not much to add to the reviews upthread - as a book in its own right it’s not that good but fascinating as the origin of Ballet Shoes.

Palegreenstars I hope you enjoy it too! I know what you mean about endless tbr piles.. every time I think I have a grip on mine, I read this thread and end up adding more on! I was especially excited about native tongue as it’s been on my wishlist for ages but kept going up on price then disappeared. I was happy to see it pop up for 99p!

@Utterly this thread has tripled my reading output this year but definitely tripled my TBR too!

Fortuna I adored Celine but it's definitely a marmite book - I've recommended it to a few people and they have had decidedly mixed reactions. I found a really interesting interview with him after I first read it where he explained that she is based on his mother and quite a few episodes in the book closely mirror her life. The mind boggles!

I love his writing as well, particularly his nature writing. I recently read (and reviewed up thread) his latest, The River, and felt much the same about it although I did find the way it was written a bit 'Hollywood', as if it was written to be filmed.

42. Love for Lydia by HE Bates Unhappy journalist Edward Richardson is sent to dig a little dirt on the aristocratic Aspen family. The Aspens trust him to look after their niece Lydia and introduce her to local life. He falls in love, and mistakes her flirtations with him for reciprocation, while in fact she is similarly bewitching several other young men.

Stared well, lovely evocation of 1920s society, both in terms of Lydia's elevated social circle and Richardson's slightly grubbier one. Richardson was such a sap that I got bored though.

"Started well"

Trying to gauge whether DS has bought me The Testaments for Christmas.(I hope not.) Had a conversation yesterday with him which went.

DS “Have you read The Testaments? I saw it in Waterstones window”
Me “No, not yet” (has he bought it or is he testing the ground?
DS “You’d read it though wouldn’t you?”
Me - not sure what to say in case he’s actually bought it already “Er yes” (but don’t want to).

He returned to the subject later too. I dropped hints about liking poetry books (love a random poetry book).

96. The Most Human Human by Brian Christian

The Loebner Prize, for those who don't know it, is an annual artificial intelligence competition. It used to be based on the well known Turing test, with human / computer pairs, and judges trying to establish within short conversations with each which was the computer. The author took part as a human confederate in 2009, aiming to be the 'most human human', by being most successful at convincing the judges that he really is human, and not just a computer pretending to be a human.

Although the prize forms the notional framework for the book, it is really a much wider discussion of what it means to be human, including discussions of philosophy, linguistics, art, and chess amongst many other things. I found it a fascinating read, quite dense - I needed to stop every so often to think about the previous section for a while before going on - but easy to read and often very funny. Definitely a stand out for me and one where I'm sorry to have bought it on Kindle rather than in paper, as there's lots of people I'd like to lend it to. (Anyone tempted by it, the kindle version only £3.99 which I reckon is a bargain.)

Best Pray he's got you the hardback so you can slip the cover on something better.

noodle I really liked The River too, so I was a little disappointed by Celine. I used to read his kayaking related stuff years ago when I was a gnarly adventurer. He's a bit of a divisive figure in that world, but he can write even if no one likes him personally. I have a few others of his in my TBR, but I haven't made any decisions about next year yet.