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 have bookmarked the What We're Reading board and don't even look anywhere else

No idea if and when I last updated I'm sorry to say so will just post my list so far. Have had a weeks annual leave before heading back to my NHS job on Monday. Should be the ideal time for reading but I can't seem to concentrate in case there are any updates!

1.The Dilemma - B A Paris 
2. <strong>Dangerous Crossing - Rachel Rhys</strong>
3.The Testaments - Margaret Atwood
4.A Wedding in December - Anita Shreve 
5.The Other You - J S Monroe 
6. <strong>To The Lions - Holly Watt</strong>
7.Here to Stay - Mark Edwards 
8.The Bigamist - Mary Turner Thomson
9.The Other Wife - Claire McGowan 
10.Finding Cupid - Bridget E Baker
11.All the Rage - Cara Hunter 
12.The Donor - Clare Mackintosh 
13.Who Did You Tell - Lesley Kara
14.I Wanted You to Know - Laura Pearson 
15.The Recovery of Rose Gold - Stephanie Wrobel
16.I Did It For Us - Alison Bruce

Hello lovely 50 bookers! I hope you are all OK.

Latest to add to my list:

15. Eat, Drink, Run: How I Got Fit Without Going Too Mad by Bryony Gordon. This is the third of Gordon's memoirs. I preferred the second one, which is very open about her mental health issues. This one felt rather insubstantial in comparison, but it is fun to read and quite inspiring.

16. Bel Canto by Ann Patchett. A large group of people, including an American opera singer, a Japanese businessman and the vice president of a South American country, are taken hostage by a group of armed terrorists while attending a dinner party. I'm a massive Patchett fan and this is awesome.

17. To Throw Away Unopened by Viv Albertine. This is the second part of Albertine's autobiography. The first one deals with her time in the punk band The Slits, whereas this is more about her family relationships with her parents, sister and daughter. Autobiographies are often described as "searingly honest" but OMG this one really is. I can't believe some of the stuff she shared! Superb.

Taswama, your selection includes two of my all-time favourites (The Lacuna and The Pursuit of Love) - anjoy!

I am also basically sticking to this thread, endless threads of varying ignorance and hysteria and even sensible questions being not so much triplicated as triplicated x 3

I did just see a very witty comment on one though that said

"Rishi Sunak is 63. He just uses very good moisturiser"

It was the "why do all the people in charge look young" thread.

Oh blimey, so many coronavirus threads essentially asking for info/ advice on things people should be just looking on the government websites for...! I'm enjoying the economising/ recipe threads but apart from that am avoiding them!

I like that Rishi Sunak comment though Eine

@bibliomania I enjoyed the Dreadful Company books but yes, I felt they were a bit 'light' too. Interesting concept though.

@SatsukiKusakabe has your DF tried Edward Rutherfurd or Ken Follett? Long historical family sagas (often found in charity shops too now, which helps).

@RemusLupinsBiggestGroupie if you see this - sorry to see you go but I completely agree, some of the backbiting I see on MN is really sad and unnecessary.

A few to add to my list:

32. Father, Son & the Pennine Way - Mark Richards - gentle humour as a middle aged man challenges himself to walk several miles a day with his (much fitter!) teenage son. Interesting descriptions of the scenery plus thoughts on family relationships.

33. A Lovely Way to Burn - Louise Welsh - I think this was recommended upthread? I did enjoy it but as it's the first in a series set during a global pandemic, I think I perhaps picked a bad time to read it!!

34. Death on a Shetland Isle - Marsali Taylor - the latest in the Shetland sailing mysteries series. I'm fascinated by the far flung Scottish islands and would love to visit - Shetland, Orkney, etc - so love the descriptions in these books. I'm not quite so interested in the boats but can appreciate the lifestyle! The mysteries are a bit far fetched but entertaining and the background makes up for it for me.

Thanks for the recommendations for my dad they all sound great and I wouldn’t have found them on my own. I particularly think the Falco might be up his street fortuna and I hadn’t come across them previously. He has read and loved Hornblower and Sharpe and Cadfael so definitely the right track. I managed to get him the Crime Classics recommended by privatespidey on my final library run plus a couple of others. My local indie bookshop is doing free delivery so I’m going to get him a selection from there and keith and sadik’s rec for the Kindle (he has a tablet). I’m not going to be seeing him in person for a little while so it’s nice to have been occupied doing this for him - thank you all

Our local libraries are closing Saturday and have upped the limit to 44 books with automatic renewals. Sort of lovely but sad at the same time. I got Less by Andrew Greer and Back When We Were Grown Ups by Anne Tyler for me, Jack Reacher Past Tense for dh, Tom’s Midnight Garden and The Dark is Rising for me ds and The Sheep Pig and The Famous Five for dd. I was drawn to some old favourites for them as a result of remus’s request and it was quite comforting.

Don’t stay away too long Mary Poppins remus

I’m finding the Yr6 parents’ WhatsApp group annoying enough, so I’m staying well away from Mumsnet, apart from ‘Books’ of course.

24. At Freddie’s by Penelope Fitzgerald
I’m not sure I can really do this book justice: it’s a wryly comic portrait of London theatre in the early 1960s, set in a rackety stage school run by the monstrous but mesmerising Freddie. There are outrageously precocious children; a veteran whose greatest triumph was understudying Nana the dog in ‘Peter Pan’; a pretentious director; as well as a quietly devastating portrait of unrequited love, and a wonderful evocation of Covent Garden when it was still a market. Fitzgerald’s understated, elliptical writing is brilliant as ever.

, and indeed , for everyone in these trying times.

rubyslippers I don’t think he has read Ken Follet, will make a note for future thanks.

I only come on here, too so don’t see anything else sounds like I’m not missing much.

plornish I’ve really liked the Fitzgeralds I’ve read and sounds like that’s another great one.

A friend was asking on FB about plays with 3 cast members for her dc who fancy some theatricals while at home - perhaps an unfortunate reflection on the times that the first thing that came to mind for more than one person was Samuel Beckett

Thanks for the Queens of the Kingdom rec. from upthread, sorry can't remember who it was. Will review properly another day, but it was just the ticket. Any other good suggestions for non-fiction that will hold my interest but not too heavy for my next Audible listen? Things I've enjoyed have been The Stopping Places, Poverty Safari, the Oliver Burkeman books.

I've just bought Happiness at Home as reviewed by PrivateSpidey upthread - I liked her Happiness Project, and it looks hopefully suitably cheering yet undemanding.

Remus, I come straight to this thread and I do not pass go. I’ve also culled my Twitter and have limited myself to checking the news once a day. It’s helping, somewhat.
What I cannot do is read. I’ve read ten pages of a Jilly Cooper book since Sunday which is unheard of. I’ve been working like crazy trying to keep the show on the road (small business, looking v shaky) and also have all the symptoms of the dread virus so am fraying round the edges after also trying to corral and encourage three teens/pre teens for the last three days since we went into quarantine. But I plan on a calm and restorative weekend with board games and books so am welcoming these suggestions as I make a list.

That sounds so tough Pepe

I am struggling to read, too pepe. I bought tow jigsaw puzzles so am quite looking forward to getting out of SI to do those and play board games. Like Christmas. Without any food .Or sport on telly.

Love to everyone on this lovely thread.

I have never read Penelope Fitzgerald but there was round about her on UC the other night if anyone wants to test themselves. The beautifully named and rather wonderful altogether Prance of the Courtauld Institute seemed to be a fan.

Personally, I think I always got her confused with Lively!

pepe

I haven’t been able to concentrate either.

Thanks piggy might look for that. She seems very dry at first but then I realised she was darkly funny and approached her that way and she suddenly opened up for me.

When I'm stuck in bed (often) and I can't concentrate to read, I crochet. It is very calming. I recommend that or knitting! When I've done a bit of calming crochet, I can then read a bit, then MN a bit, crochet a bit...... and so it goes on.

If I'm too shaky to crochet, then I reread Pratchett, or other childhood novels - the ones which aren't stuck in boxes anyway!

20 The Confession Jessie Burton. Difficult to pin down how I feel about this book. The idea was intriguing but most of the large cast of characters seemed insubstantial. I never felt that I really got to know anyone except Rose. I felt quite frustrated that I had no real idea of the plot of the books Connie had written although the were referred to so many times. I also thought the plot meandered in the middle and some editing would have been beneficial . However , the description of the way becoming a mother and her post natal depression affected Rose and those around her was very vivid and well written .
Going for a Jane Harper thriller next as I feel the need for a page turner!
No news about library closures in my area yet but have the maximum number of books in case that happens or I have to self isolate. Best wishes to everyone self isolating for what ever reason and to those whose are struggling to concentrate enough to read. I think it's very difficult when a source of comfort fails.

remus I rarely use Mumsnet for anything other than this thread these days. Don't isolate yourself any further than necessary!

Mumsnet on my phone goes straight to ‘threads I’m on’ so I can ignore the madness if I want. I hope we continue chatting even if we’re not reading as much as normal, this thread is one of the things keeping me sane!

Satsuki if that sort of historical series appeals to your Dad then there is also the Saxon series by Bernard Cornwell, they made a tv series of it a few years ago called the The Last Kingdom. If he does fancy the Falco series as mentioned upthread, the first isn't the greatest but they are worth persevering with. I would love to be able to discover them for the first time.

Still plodding on with TMATL and Dickensing about for the DC thread.

Our library said on Tuesday that they were staying open and then simply didn't open the doors on Thurs and announced mid-afternoon that were closed for the foreseeable. I have the full allowance of books including some lovely walking route guides that I will use to plan some trips for when normality returns. I can get lost for hours with a map both at home and on a hill.

Fortuna

Our library had a notice saying all loans extended to May 31st. Not actually closed but obviously expecting to be soon.