50 Book Challenge 2020 Part Three

[southeastdweller]

Welcome to the third 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.

The first thread of the year is here and the second one here.

What are you reading?

I agree remus - an interesting experiment but I wouldn’t let it alter my feelings towards the original, especially as it is a much less enjoyable read. I read Jane Eyre when I was 9, and to me Jane was the first narrator in a proper book I loved and identified with, and the one by which all others would be judged thereafter. She was the reason I loved it though I enjoyed the romance rereading it in my teens, and liked the dynamic between Jane and Rochester, she found someone who appreciated her oddball, quiet personality, but she wasn’t a walkover and only went back to him when he’d been thoroughly scorched into humility and lost the firestarter in the loft, who, yes, I’m sure had her reasons.

Oh I love Patrick Ness, I've met him

Didn't realise he had a new one

The Crane Wife was gorgeous

I loved the writing in Wide Sargasso Sea and never thought that much of Rochester in the first place so didn't get upset by the portrayal of him.

With the chat on Shakespearean retellings - a slight tangent to that, Ian Doescher has done the Star Wars books in Shakespearean language (The Empire Striketh Back and The Jedi Doth Return etc) and has now released Get Thee Back to the Future. I've heard samples which sound fun but would wonder if it would get annoying for a full book.

I am still plodding on with TMATL and listening to The Most Fun We Ever Had. Both long but enjoyable.

Was the Rebecca retelling perhaps Rebecca's Tale by Sally Beauman? I remember enjoying that a few years ago, although the goodreads reviews are split between good and appalled.

year of wonder is to be recommended.

I'm currently reading Swell which is a history of women's swimming, mainly in the UK and is highly recommended, it's getting five stars from me.

noodle I think that might be it. I honestly can’t remember what I thought about it but I suspect I didn’t approve.

Satsuki I was about the same age on first reading Jane Eyre and I still remember the bit where she is hiding in the curtains reading and really identifying with her. Though I had lovely parents and was never sent to a cold miserable boarding school.

Terpsichore - I read all of A Dance to the Music of Time last year (as did many others on last year’s thread) and felt it was definitely worthwhile. Some books were better than others (in my opinion) but the whole overarching story and set of characters were fabulous. I did one a month which worked well - I would have found it too much to read them all back to back.

Latest reads are:

12. Queenie - Candice Carty-Williams

I know that lots of you have read this but can’t remember what you thought of it! Queenie is a young Londoner who has come out of a happy (or so she thought) long term relationship and is now rebounding around unsuitable men which is impacting on her job, friends, family and mental health. I found the first half a very uncomfortable read as I couldn’t bear the way Queenie allowed herself to be treated by men. The second half was better (for me) and shed light on the first half and I was rooting for Queenie by the end but I still thought this was over-hyped as a book.

13. Pigeon Pie - Nancy Mitford

I am slowly working my way through the complete works of Nancy Mitford. This one starts at the onset of WWII and follows Sophia, a young, wealthy, frivolous, aristocrat. It’s acerbic and very vacuous to start with but picks up as Sophia who has good intentions (so long as they don’t interfere with her social life) and a longing for excitement becomes unwittingly involved in espionage. An easy read.

I am holding off reading TMATL until I have got round to re-reading Wolf Hall and Bring up the Bodies (both of which I loved).

noodle, that was it! Though I think I read the other one mentioned up thread too.

Just finished Wyntertide, the second Rotherweird. I have the third waiting but I need a small break between them.

I've recently finished two fairly slight little nothings :
Clover of the Katy series - had read it before and a second reading confirmed that it's sweet enough but entirely insubstantial. I can't be bothered with a re-read of High Valley

The Four Pools Mystery by Jean Webster who wrote the wonderful Daddy Long Legs - this was a murder mystery set in the Old South. It was okay. There's quite a nice little anti-racism moral to the end of it, and a happy ending. It was another entirely insubstantial easy read.

14. A Country Escape - Katie Fforde

Fran has to look after an elderly relative’s struggling farm. Luckily, there is a rich, single, good-looking neighbour and you know the rest.

Perfect light reading for a long journey yesterday. Enjoyable and easy but entirely predictable.

Remus - in your pursuit of gentle reads, have you ever read Period Piece by Gwen Raverat?

1. Pet Semetary by Stephen King (2/5)
2. The Outsider by Albert Camus (5/5)
3. Somebody's Mother, Somebody's Daughter by Carol Ann Lee (3/5)
4. Just One Damned Thing After Another by Jodi Taylor. (4/5)
5. Ethan Frome by Edith Wharton. (5/5)
6. 4321 by Paul Auster. (4/5)
7. Valley of the Dolls by Jacqueline Susann. (3/5)
8. The Devil's Teardrop by Jeffrey Deaver. (1/5)
9. A Symphony of Echoes by Jodi Taylor. (3/5)

10. What Katy Did by Susan Coolidge. (4/5) 11. A Second Chance by Jodi Taylor. (4/5) 12. A Trail Through Time by Jodi Taylor. (4/5) 13. Elevator Pitch by Linwood Barclay. (1/5) 14. Sapiens by Yuval Noah Harari. (3/5) 15. The Talisman by Stephen King & Peter Straub. (2/5) 16. Ayoade on Top by Richard Ayoade. (3/5) 17. Black Ice by Michael Connelly. (2/5) 18. In the Woods by Tana French. (3/5) 19. The Dutch House by Ann Patchett. (3/5) 20. Red Ribbons by Louise Phillips. (1/5) 21. The Girl He Used to Know by Tracy Garvis Graves. (3/5)

21. The Other Us by Fiona Harper. Maggie is stuck in a rut, her career has stalled and her marriage is stale. A college reunion prompts her to think about a turning point in her life and where and who she would be had she taken the path not travelled. Maggie is given the chance to find out when she wakes up back at the crossroads in her life and is given the chance to answer her question, what if...? I think we all have at least one moment in our lives like that, where we wonder what would our lives be like if we had made another decision, so I did enjoy the concept and I'm surprised that I didn't like this more. I think the thing I found really difficult to understand is how Maggie could even focus on her alternate lives when she left a child behind, I'd be fighting tooth and nail to get back to whatever life my child was in. Like I said I know we all have our 'what if' moments but for me all the decisions I have made brought me my DD and I wouldn't have it any other way. (2/5).

Thanks, Tara. Not come across that.

Hi, joining in, enjoying reading everyone's posts; self-isolating with a cold, and likely to be stuck indoors as DH has a health issue so gives me time to talk about books:

1. Not So Quiet by Helen Zenna Smith (Evadne Price), 1930 – A novel based on the experiences of female ambulance drivers in France during WW1. I read this after re-reading Testament of Youth and there’s quite a stark contrast. This novel is altogether grittier, and the portrayal of the daily grind, the mean supervisor, fleas, lice and general exhaustion is incredibly forceful. This was quite a page-turner for me, the immediacy of the prose made me think it was semi-autobiographical but it seems based on research.

1. The Vicarage Family by Noel Streatfeild, 1963 – charming but not without its darker moments, autobiographical account of growing up as a vicar’s daughter in the years before WW1. I enjoyed this but at the same time didn’t find it as memorable as other books by Streatfeild.

1. The Amazing Mr Blunden (aka The Ghosts) by Antonia Barber – gentle, atmospheric ghost story for children, and one that has a bit of a cult following probably because it’s been out of print for so long.

1. Lost Girls: Love, War and Literature, 1939 -1951 by D.J. Taylor – literary group biography that includes Sonia Orwell, and depicts artistic and literary circles including Lucien Freud, George Orwell and others; I was particularly fascinated by Barbara Skelton so might track down her writing. The material was fascinating but found the delivery a little dull.

1. Abigail by Magda Szabo, 1970, trans. Len Rix 2020 – I really enjoyed this one. It’s basically a boarding-school story for young adults based in Hungary during WW2. It’s wonderfully detailed about everyday life in a rather strict, isolated school where the heroine is mysteriously cloistered by her father, an army officer. Set at the brink of the German occupation, reportedly to speed up Hungary’s processing of its Jewish communities, there are some central mysteries involving the Hungarian resistance, but the pace especially in the middle sections is leisurely.

1. Number the Stars by Lois Lowry, 1989 – children’s book set in Denmark in 1943 and focused on Denmark’s successful plans to rescue its Jewish citizens from the Nazis. Centred on a 10-year-old girl and her family, a stirring, uplifting book.

1. The Endless Steppe by Esther Hautzen, 1968 – great autobiographical account of a young girl and her family exiled to Siberia – which ironically saved them from being exterminated by the Nazis – really gripping account and the story’s focus on adjusting to sudden deprivation and isolation and overcoming these challenges seems a good one for a ‘lockdown’ reading list. Certainly more cheerful than either The Decameron or Defoe’s journal which are apparently flying off the shelves.

1. Stepmother (aka Elizabeth of the Garret Theatre) by Gwendoline Courtney, 1948 – wonderful, often comical account of a family of wild, ragtag girls who suddenly acquire a stepmother. This is a Girls Gone By reprint of a classic book for children/young adults, and I enjoyed it immensely. Also for any Antonia Forest fans still trying to acquire her books when I bought this also snapped up their new reprint of The Cricket Term.

On the way I abandoned Romain Gary’s The Kites far too whimsical for my taste, serves me right for being seduced by a stylish cover. Haven’t read as much as usual this year partly because I’ve developed an addiction to Korean dramas on Netflix but have a huge tbr pile so hoping this will help me start reading again, particularly as developing an unhealthy obsession with the recent news reporting.

Oh I read The Endless Steppe as a teenager!

I've never seen/heard it mentioned by anyone else!

Oh I read The Endless Steppe as a teenager!

EineReise so did I - and I've never encountered anyone else who's read it either. Now suddenly there are two!

Weird

I read the Endless Steppe too! Third year English I think (year 9). I dont remember anything about it except the cover

Pretty sure I read, The Endless Steppe as a child too, although only very vague recollections.

Book 21
The Seven Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle by Stuart Turton

Evelyn attends a grand party at her parents mansion and is killed. She’s been murdered hundreds of times and, as each day begins again, Aiden Bishop wakes in a different body as a different guest, trying to solve the murder and save Evelyn.

It’s an interesting idea to live the same day many times through the eyes of a different character. Gradually revealing the full picture. Unfortunately I found it only worked for around half the book and then it became a bit of a pain. Re-living the same events over and over didn’t really provide enough interest by itself to sustain what is actually quite a long book, with some fairly dull characters. The reasoning behind the whole time loop thing isn’t apparent and I skim read the last couple of chapters just to get it over with. Clever plot device to begin with, but not much substance and the ending was a bit annoying.

I remember reading the Endless Steppe when I was at primary school and rushing home to read it at lunchtime. I lost my original copy although I can still vividly recall the cover, and bought a replacement a few years ago (with a different cover). The bit that stayed with me was when she knitted the jersey out of unravelled wool only to be find that the lady who had commissioned it had had grown fatter.

I was at primary school in the 1960s so it may have been the original cover (I think it was a Puffin).