50 Book Challenge 2020 Part One

[southeastdweller]

Welcome to the first thread of the 50 Book Challenge for this year.

The challenge is to read fifty books (or more!) in 2020, though reading fifty isn't mandatory. Any type of book can count, and please try to let us all know your thoughts on what you've read.

Who's in for this year?

1. Reread The Book Thief - had read this for book club, had totally forgotten what it was about - but we did read a few "book" themed books that year. I also hadn't realised where exactly it was set when we visited Munich area a couple of years ago - including a visit to Dachau.

I would also like to join, I have read Giver of stars and Scrublands so far this year and have started City of Girls. I read a lot!

Can I join in? I've just finished "Little Women" to refresh my memory before the film. Halfway through "Little Men" now.

I used to read alot and have been a bit lazy recently, so I'm aiming for a book a week!

2.Dangerous Crossing - Rachel Rhys

Second book of the year finished. I don't normally read historical fiction but have had this one sitting since there was an author talk with Tammy Cohen at my work (her historical fiction is published under Rachel Rhys). It follows the story of Lily a young English girl on her passage from London to Australia on board a ship. She meets all sorts of people and sees all sorts of places but not everyone survives the journey and when they dock in Sydney people are dead and the world is at war.

As I said I don't normally read historical fiction but I read this after hearing Tammy discuss it and on the basis of it being inspired by a memoir from her mother's friend who took the journey from London to Australia. I throughly enjoyed this and may be more encouraged out of my comfort zone now.

I loved Marianne Dreams as a Child- and yes I did find it somewhat unsettling.

4)I'd Rather be Reading by Guinevere de la Mare Short coffee table book- a few poems and articles about reading, and lots of the kind of images you get about books on pinterest. This would probably be rather nice in print, but lost rather a lot of charm on a phone screen! Might be a nice present in its physical form if not too expensive (I had it from the library).

Respectable: Crossing the Class Divide by Lynsey Hanley

Am I the only one who now has the Mel and Kim song going through their head? ( for the uninitiated)

I've finished The World I fell out of and recommend it. I was concerned that it would just be a rehash of the newspaper columns but I only recognised one passage that was the same and that was one that was well worth including in the book. I started to think that the hospital part went on a little too long (so what must it have been like for the author?) when it ended and moved on to the time at home. I'd thoroughly recommend it, 4/5.

I've now moved on to The Hunting Party as I've seen it mentioned on here. It's a departure from what I'd normally read but I'm enjoying it so far. It's been on my kindle a while since I picked it up for 99p and probably would have languished unread if I'd not seen it mentioned here so thank you to whoever that was.

@MamaNewtNewt – I’m also a big fan of L’Etranger. Have you also read the Mersault Investigation by Kamel Daoud? That came out a few years ago and tells the story from the point of view of an Arab (the brother of the murder victim in the Camus)

@FortunaMajor – thanks for the Poem for Every Day recommendation. I’m another person who would like to read more poetry and it looks like an excellent way of dipping my toes in

I’ve finished my second and third books of the year (taking advantage of the holidays – back to work this week so the pace will drop precipitously from now on). Reviews below:

1. How to Survive a Plague: The Story of How Activists and Scientists Tamed AIDS – David France

This was a long and detailed but fascinating book following the first decade of the AIDS epidemic (primarily in New York) and showing the struggles that the early sufferers and the gay community around them had to get the medical and political authorities to take them seriously and develop treatments. The author was a gay journalist working in New York at the time and knew many of the people involved. They are some really fascinating and sometimes shocking issues raised – such as the drugs companies insisting on carrying out drug trials on existing protocols, with half the patients given placebos, even though that made it certain they would all die within a few months. Grim but really interesting and it’s easy to forget how relatively recent this all is. Accounts of truly horrific homophobia by the US authorities – only somewhat relieved by Clinton’s election in 1992 – are a reminder of how new the rights younger people take for granted really are. And the stories about families rejecting their sick sons right until the end are absolutely heartbreaking.

1. Gotta Get Theroux This – Louis Theroux

Going to join the general ‘meh’ from the previous thread on this one. He says at one point, when he recounts writing an earlier book, that he is not a good subject for a reveal-all book because he tries to put his real self into the documentaries so there is nothing left to reveal. I think he should have probably reflected longer on that before publishing this one. Some mildly interesting stuff around Savile (particularly the bonus chapter in the audio version about Savile’s defenders) but I wish I had bought David Mitchell’s new book as my light holiday listen instead.

I've taken advantage of the holidays and finished my third book of the year - Deric Longden - Diana's Story - a reread.

I love Deric's books and his sense of humour, but this is the hardest book of his to read for me as it deals with his wife's then unknown illness (1971), which was subsequently believed to have been a form of ME. I finished this with a tear in my eye and a lump in my throat, even though it is a reread.

Just finished Book 3.
Once a Pilgrim by James Deegan

Military drama. Spends some time in Belfast during the Troubles and then to the present day. I enjoy military fiction and this was well written. The author served in the same Para and SAS companies that he writes about, so it's believable without being over the top. The end sets itself up for another book should you want to read it, and I think I will.

Now to change my name.

Just loving hearing the variety of books people are reading!

2. Warlight, Michael Ondaatje

Warlight has a great opening line:

In 1945 our parents went away and left us in the care of two men who may have been criminals.

In the opening chapters, Nathaniel's parents tell him that they are going abroad (a new job in Singapore for his father) and that he and his sister Rachel will be spending the year as school boarders, while the house is looked after by their unfamiliar lodger, a man the children have nicknamed The Moth. The parents duly depart, but the children soon decide that they hate their new schools and make their way back to the house, and the care of the Moth, who has started to fill the house with his own friends/associates. Gradually, there are hints that the children's parents have not told them the truth, they have not gone to Singapore and that something more mysterious is going on.

It is 1945 and London is a place of eery absences and dark ruined houses:

There were parts of the city where you saw no one, only a few children, walking solitary, listless as small ghosts. It was a time of war ghosts and grey, unlit buildings, even at night…

This strange familiar/unfamiliar landscape, the sense of impermanence, the lack of rules - all of these elements of beautifully evoked post-war London reflect the themes of the book and the interior landscape of the characters. The first part of the book, where Nathaniel lives with the Moth in his parents' house in Putney, is both matter-of-fact and mysterious. We hear about Nathaniel's job in the backroooms of a grand hotel, about the girl he falls in love with, about his trips up and down the river with one of the Moth's associates, but about his situation (where are his parents? why did they go away? are they coming back? and who are these people in the house?) we get only hints and guesses. It's in the second part of the book that he slowly pieces together some of the mystery.

I'm normally a fast reader but this was a slow read for me - which was both a good and a bad thing. It's not exactly a gripping book - it has a dreamy, unreal feel (it really reminded me of Kazuo Ishiguro) which isn't for everyone. But it's so full of layers of meaning and description, things connected to other things, allusions, genres half-used, half-visible (it's a bit of a fairytale, a bit of a bildungsroman, a bit of a spy story but not really any of those) - you could talk and think about this book for a long time. I can see this appearing on future A Level reading lists and would say those future students are in for a real treat.

First three:

1. Blue Genes by Val McDermid

1. *Star Struck by Val McDermid.

The last two in the PI Kate Brannigan series. Got them on a kindle deal & quite enjoyed them. They were written in the late 1990's & McDermid has got better since then. Blue Genes has a very interesting take on fertility that I can't tell you about as it would spoil the story!

1. The Benefit of Hindsight: Simon Serrailler Book 10 by Susan Hill

I'd ordered this from the library in October & it came in last Friday! I quite enjoyed it but it was far more of a tale of Simon & his sister (who has featured in all the preceding books) than a real crime novel.

It seems to me that so many crime authors start really well with a series but tail off horribly after a while & the cynic in me wonders if they are just doing it for the money!

First two of the year:

1. The Seven Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle by Stuart Turton

This was an interesting concept. Evelyn Hardcastle is murdered at a house party thrown by her parents, and Aiden Bishop must relive the day - in the bodies of 8 different hosts - over and over again until her murder is solved.
All rather complicated and intriguing and I was very interested to see where it was going.

My main complaint was the explanation of the whole time loop scenario, provided near the end of the book. I couldn’t make that hang together properly at all, it just created more questions than it answered for me.

2. Death is a Welcome Guest by Louise Welsh

Second novel in her Plague Times series.
An attempt to be a Good Samaritan leaves Magnus locked up in jail waiting trial as a global pandemic called The Sweats hits London.
So instead of getting to prove his innocence, he ends up on the run with an escaped convict, in a country where civilisation is falling apart.

A gripping story, and much more plausible characters than the first in the Plague Times series.

1. The Hunting Party - I know a few PPs have read this.

It wasn't bad. I thought it was pretty well-written and ticked along at a decent pace. But it was essentially a story of a group of unlikeable characters with no apparent redeeming features, being fairly horrible to each other.

And, like with Tangerine (although this is much much better), I didn't care about any of the characters or what they did and it was a bit predictable.

I don't know, maybe I've just read too many similar books. I read and loved The Secret History years ago, and think that set the standard on the theme, IMHO. Still, it was a decent read, especially for this time of year.

My next one is Anthony Horowitz, The Sentence Is Death, which I'm really looking forward to. The first in the series (The Word is Murder) was a lot of fun.

Then after that I'm having a break from murder mysteries - have got Trust Exercise and Sorry I'm Late... waiting on my kindle, thank you to PPs for their reviews of these, both sound great.

keith that is a great review of Warlight and really mirrors how I felt. I do love Ondaatje's style but it is a bit slow for some I guess.

He should be on A Level specs : he does get rather overlooked, whereas Ishiguro is popular.

Thanks Piggy - tbh I didn't enjoy reading it as much as I'd expected, but since I finished it last night I haven't been able to stop thinking about it! The way that the setting, structure and themes interweave is so very clever.

I'm still reading The Hunting Party as I started it last night, I know what you mean about the characters though Piggy

It's not turning into an unputdownable book yet, I'm not sure that it will TBH.

Book 3
Two Victims by Helen H Durrant

This was a kindle daily deal. Easy to read page turner. A twisty-plotted crime romp told through the voice of detective Rachel King. Set in Manchester and involving several characters who all connect to two bodies, killed 2 years apart and discovered together.

Next book will be
A Honey Bee Heart Has Five Openings by Helen Jukes

Thanks

Late to the party but currently reading the Goldfinch!

@KeithLeMonde, what a thoughtful, detailed review of Warlight. Will definitely put on my TBR.

Also intrigued by Seven deaths @StitchesInTime... echoes of Life After Life?

1. The Woman In Cabin 10 by Ruth Ware

Traumatised journalist Lo is sent on a luxury cruise, hoping it will help her relax. Unfortunately she witnesses what she believes to be the murder of a young woman in the cabin next door. When she raises the alarm, she discovers that cabin is completely empty and there hasn’t been any young woman matching the description of the murdered woman on board. I enjoyed this - I thought the oppressive setting of the cruise ship, unable to escape, was done well and it was a good story.

1. The Wind In The Willows by Kenneth Grahame

A children’s classic but I genuinely can’t recall whether I actually read this is a child. I knew the story, but whether that is just from other sources or whether I did read the book I can’t recall. Anyway, I listened to this on Audible and thoroughly enjoyed the animal antics!

@StitchesInTime @JoeGargery I found 7 deaths much more muddled than Life after Life it was a good concept and initially the story works but the bit stitches is referring too loses its way and I thought just got too bogged down in the device and not enough of the story.

@grimupnorthLondon no I haven't heard of that book but will definitely take a look - thanks!

I've also read How to Survive a Plague and agree with you I also thought was brilliant and horrific in equal measure. I also found And the Band Played On which covers more about the early AIDS epidemic. Some of it hasn't dated well and the info on Patient Zero has since been disproven but I found it a really interesting read.

Can I stay if I confess to not liking Kate Atkinson's books at all?

I'm another one who loved Life After Life and really enjoyed the companion novel A God in Ruins which I think is a book that's even better the more you think about it.