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?

oh, and I got Fleishman Is In Trouble for a quid on daily deal today.

Checking in to stop myself falling off the thread.

My reading rate has fallen off a cliff this week due to everything else that’s going on right now.

Thanks for the audible information @FranKatzenjammer , that might be useful for entertaining the DC.

I, too, am struggling to read with all that is going on. I hope everyone stays well and safe.

My two latest reads:

14. Taken (Bk3 in the Alex Versus series) by Benedict Jacka.

Magicians in peril and rise to the challenge again. I continue to enjoy this urban fantasy series.

15. And Still I Rise by Maya Angelou.

Wonderful poetry.

I have now just finished Invisible Women.

It's a sobering read and I can't help but wonder how many men have read it...

I wish she had devoted a bit more time to house design. I cannot be the only woman who cannot read anything in the kitchen because of male kitchen designers, Caroline!

Invisible Women made me very cross overall, particularly the medical/safety parts. Although I will admit to having the opposite problem in the kitchen, I'm quite tall and mostly leg and the work surfaces could do with being at least 2 inches higher.

I do have a few male friends in relevant careers and I have urged them all to read it which 2 of the 4 have. They were initially quite bemused at the request, but did humour me and have said their eyes have been opened.

52. The Death of Mrs Westaway - Ruth Ware A seaside tarot reader in financial difficulty receives a letter telling her she is the beneficiary a significant inheritance. She knows it must be a mistake however she is desperate and decides to try and claim the money.

I like Ruth Ware, but I don't think this is her best work. It's competent enough and keeps the pages turning, but ultimately the plot and twist are fairly wide open. Still, a nice easy entertaining read without much need to concentrate.

21. The Affair by Lee Child (Reacher #16) I love Reacher. Another undemanding but satisfying read for these times. This feels like a pivotal one in the series, as it describes him going undercover in the very last of his army days in 1997. It's got the origin story of the toothbrush, and the attitude to acquiring and disposing of clothing. It's how he became him. It's got small town America, fights, sex, humour, justice winning in the end. It's got short sentences like this. Loved it.

Still limping through Wanderlust. Wrong book at wrong time, but I'll finish it.

Stay safe 50 bookers. Stay in your digital home on this thread - don't go within 2 metres of any other threads on Mumsnet right now.

I fell off the thread . Struggling to read much like everyone else, and audiobooks aren't getting a look in now DD's nursery is closed - I usually listen while she's at nursery and I'm doing the housework.

But I have finished:

18. How to Find Fulfilling Work by Roman Krznaric

I've got a whole batch of work-related books out of the library as I'm planning to reenter the workforce next year when DD goes to school. This had a lot of interesting ideas, but I was put off by the middle-class elitism which glossed over the lack of fulfilling work available for disadvantaged sectors of society.

19. The Foundling by Stacey Halls

In 1700s London, unmarried shrimp-seller Bess has no option but to give up her newborn to the Foundling Hospital. When she goes to reclaim her six years later, she is shocked to find that her daughter has already been taken by someone pretending to be Bess. Halls has a very clear, fluid writing style, and the last 100 pages were a nail-biting page turner that I read in one sitting. The characterisation was very strong, particularly of Alexandra, the troubled, agoraphobic (in our terms) middle class woman who becomes Bess' employer. However, the plotting was awry, with too much revealed too early on, and far too many co-incidences at vital points in the story. That said, I would try more by Halls, and will borrow her first novel The Familiars from my mum now. (Well, not right now, obviously. Maybe in 12 weeks or so...?)

Waving at everyone.

Have gone back to The Provincial Lady in Wartime as being the right book for the moment - set in the phony war, everyone equipping themselves with gas masks and being desperate to do the right thing and just waiting for it to properly start. Thinking particular about her views when she gets a letter from a friend complaining about how unfair it is that her young children can't get orange juice and asking in a casual aside if the Provincial Lady's teenage son has enlisted yet.

I cannot be the only woman who cannot reach anything in the kitchen because of male kitchen designers

That was my DD the other day, she came and asked me where her birthday cake was. DS and I are both tall and we'd put it in the cupboard over the extractor fan without realising that DD couldn't reach it. I had wondered why her cake was lasting so long

I have just enjoyed Keep Calm and Swim to France: Tales of an English Channel Swimmer by Mark Ransom , it's a good read though it's not something I'd ever do - he's overcome a phobia that I won't attempt to overcome.

21 Force of Nature Jane Harper A team building exercise in the Australian bush ends in disaster and disarray when a participant goes missing. This was a page turner which was what I needed at the moment. It was the characters that drew me in rather than the plot, which had its shaky moments , but I enjoyed it very much .

I read invisible women in hardback last year in about 3 days. I borrowed from the library as I’d heard so much about it. Then my lovely parents bought it as a Christmas present so now I have my own copy.

16. Look into my eyes - Aspergers, hypnosis and me. Dan Jones

Really interesting autobiography covering early years, primary, secondary and adult. DC are both autistic and I have other (undiagnosed) family members so this was interesting insight. He has a lot of self awareness and is also unapologetic for the way he is / feels about things. Eg food is just fuel so don’t expect him to compliment you on your cooking. Friends are fine when they are around but he doesn’t really get ‘keeping in touch’ as a concept.

I am always interested watching cooking shows to see how much men bend to chop and how they always look like they might bang their heads on the extractor hoods. I can't even reach my hood to clean it so it is filthy and I am 5ft 3, which is, apparently, only just below the average height

18. I Remember Nothing: And Other Reflections by Nora Ephron. I really enjoyed Heartburn and I LOVED When Harry Met Sally but I was disappointed by this. It felt a little self-indulgent - it's a collection of autobiographical anecdotes, some of which are interesting, but others really aren't except for the fact that it's happening to a famous person.

Then I read that she knew she was dying when she wrote it (she died two years later) and I felt bad

12. In Therapy: The Unfolding Story – Susie Orbach

Each chapter introduces a client/s, presenting with various difficulties and the reader is given a transcript of the session, interspersed with Orbach’s own thoughts and reflections on what the client is going through. There is very little heavy psychoanalytic theory; the writing is relatively straightforward and accessible.

I think I must have added this to my TBR list after hearing the BBC Radio 4 programmes in which Orbach and skilled actors recreated psychotherapy sessions. Unfortunately, the nuanced and dynamic radio episodes just do not translate well into print. The subtlety and interplay between the client and Orbach is lost.

Next up, A Mother's Reckoning - Living in the Aftermath of the Columbine Tragedy, Sue Klebold

Anyone else feeling Mrs Mantel could have done with a bit of serious editing? Nearly half way through TMATL on Audible and there's a lot of repetition.
Naffed off that I got the notification through that the hardback was available for me to collect at the Library on the day they closed, listening only is a slow process with a 38 hour+ tome.

Yes, Desdemona, I found it repetitious also.

Felt any callbacks to his father and Putney completely extraneous

I finished TMATL last night as book 53. Overall I do think she has accomplished something extraordinary, but this last volume was as flabby and bloated as Henry himself. It could definitely have been shorter without losing anything. I don't think it deserves another Booker. I was surprised at how little space she gives to the last weeks in the Tower.

I was hoping it would quicken pace in the last half, I'm sad given how much I was looking forward to this book, so far I'd rate it as the weakest of the three 😔

1. A spool of blue thread by anne Tyler

10. The dutch house by Ann pratchett 11. Ask again yes by Mary Beth Keane

All three books reminded me of each other, all dealing with multi generation white families and looking back at the past.

Much preferred the writing in the Tyler one, I liked the other two but wouldn't rave about them.

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) 22. The Other Us by Fiona Harper. (2/5)

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) 22. The Other Us by Fiona Harper. (2/5)

23. Ready Player One by Ernest Cline. It took me a while to get through this, probably because like lots of you I have been struggling to concentrate on reading with everything that's going ok. I thought it was good but would like to try reading it again when the world isn't so chaotic as I think it might be a better book than I am giving it credit for right now. I would have liked some more info on what happened after the contest too, I think that could have been very interesting. (3/5)

Not sure why I posted my list twice!

@FortunaMajor

Yes! I got near the end and it was still on Anne Of Cleeves and I was

Somebody on ereader is taking the piss - my recommended books are 'The Longest Holiday' , 'Five Feet Apart' and 'Living with it'

Betty

Eine I also thought a lot of the flashback/ Putney stuff felt like a do-over of things she could have put in the previous books but didn't and shoved it in here as she thought of it later. I'm not sure they really added anything at this stage. I didn't dislike the book but it's the weakest of the three and probably a case of which editor dare tell a double Booker winner what to do. I do feel a little bereft that Cromwell is no more.

My reading rate has massively slowed. I have zero concentration at the moment. This was a good one to keep my attention though.

Book 22
Bone China by Laura Purcell

Hester Why escapes from her old life as a maid, on the run and travelling under an assumed name. She arrives at a bleak house in Cornwall and a new position.
Hoping to remain hidden and anonymous, she takes the role of ladies maid, but the staff seem to be extremely superstitious.
The elderly lady of the house is practically mute. There are strange rituals at every turn and the house seems to contain some unseen, foreboding presence.
I really enjoyed this atmospheric, gothic tale. Lots of great ingredients; a lonely Cornish cliff top setting, strange characters, creepy house and growing tension throughout.