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?

41 Lies Sleeping by Ben Aaronovitch
Another installment in the Rivers of London series. I didn't think this one was particularly notable, but it ticked the boxes for a gently absorbing comfort read right now.

Also, I've decided that I need a project during this lockdown, so alongside my normal reading matter I'm going to read one of Giorgio Vasari's Lives of the Painters, Sculptors and Architects every night. I bought it when I was going through an art history phase and I've skimmed bits but it's not really a book (well, two books) you can read in one go. There are well over 100 artists in volume 1 alone so it should keep me going for a while!

Just finished The Stand , all 1421pages of it. Is it too long? Probably. Did I care? Not at all. Weirdly, it was just what I needed right now. I just needed to fall into something for a while, and King is always good to fall into. Did I cry? No, but there were a fair few close calls. At its heart, this book isn't really about the flu, or the end of the world or even the battle between good and evil, imo. It's just about ordinary little people, trying to stay good in a world that's gone very bad. And remembering that is important, I think.

Remus, funnily enough after saying I thought it was too close to the bone right now I’ve been wondering if it is just what I need at the moment. I feel like you about it. It’s my favourite book, hands down, ever.

I'm not doing well with reading at the moment but I've read the hourly histories book about the American Revolution. Well, I say read but more that I looked at the pages, I think it went straight in and straight out. I got two free Audible choices so have had Stephen Fry's Mythos on in the background but couldn't tell you anything in it

Pepe - I f it's your favourite book, ever, you should definitely read it now. We need old friends to guide and comfort us in these interesting times!

update from slow readers' corner:
6. Half of a Yellow Sun by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
Set before and during the Nigeria-Biafra War of 67-70. Events are told largely from the perspective of Olanna, a nouveau-riche Igbo academic, her house boy Ugwu, and Richard, the white British partner of Olanna's sister.

This was stunning. I knew embarrassingly little about the time portrayed, but this was accessible nonetheless. The story and characters are human and compelling. First proper corker of the year.

I haven't been keeping up very well over the past ten days but, after reading this thread half of the morning, I've caught up now.

I hope everyone is bearing up OK in these strange times.

I haven't finished any books in the time. I'm about a quarter of the way through Ducks, Newburyport and I'm enjoying it but finding it very slow going. I just can't seem to read more than a few pages at a time.

I'm also reading the first Harry Potter to my granddaughter and Five on a Hike Together to grandson.

I took advantage of Jane Badger's free Kindle edition of Josephine Pullein-Thompson's Pony Club Team so I may put Ducks aside for a bit and read that. I feel the need of a bit of an escapist read just now.

Speed read of The Lost Girls : Why a Feminist Revolution in Education Benefits Everyone.
This books follows on the heels of the much talked about education hit Boys Don't Try . I found the beginning , which is general, very interesting and thought provoking but when Woolley moves on to separate subjects and other aspects of the curriculum, she often doesn't write specifically about girls, and the advice is rather nebulous, although I do like the audits.

It was OK : not a game changer.

14. Invisible Women by Carolind Criado Perez
Woah! The only trouble with this was what I think was a huge peak in my blood pressure from reading it. Damn good stuff. Recommended.

@KeithLeMonde thanks so much for the Shardlake notification

10. The Light Years - Elizabeth Jane Howard First instalment of the Cazalet Chronicles, family saga which has waaaaay too many characters and fried my brain for at least the first half of the book as I tried to retain which children belonged to which parents and who was married to who. That hurdle out of the way, I thoroughly enjoyed it and am looking forward to finding out what happens to the family members as they head towards WWII and beyond.

As I like to mix up my reading I won't read the next instalment, Marking Time I believe, straight away. Random number generator threw up Scissors, Paper, Stone by Elizabeth Day (oooh another Elizabeth!) which I've been steaming through this morning.

Book 23
Small Steps by Louis Sachar

Young adult fiction. From the same author as Holes, which my DS is reading and I saw as a play and really enjoyed. The main character here is Armpit, just out of a juvenile correction facility and who sets five goals for himself. Leave school, get a job, save money, avoid trouble and lose the nick name Armpit.
It’s a good story, well defined characters and jogs along nicely with lots of warmth and humour.
There was however one element that really jarred - the very dated terms used to describe Ginny, a ten year old girl with cerebral palsy (and Armpits best friend). The relationship between the two characters is one of the best parts of the story, but the language used to describe a disabled child I found uncomfortable to read.
Overall a good story but I’d be wary of letting a younger adult read it today without explanation of the language to put it into historical context.

Should have said - Be wary of a younger tween reading it without explaining- not a young adult.

Remus - just purchased The Stand. Great review.

Thanks, PaleGreen. Hope you enjoy it.

I now have no idea what to read next.

21. Heartburn by Nora Ephron

Short, sharp, by turns very funny and very sad, Ephron's only novel is based on her discovery of her husband's infidelity when she was seven months pregnant with their second child. This is right up my street and I really enjoyed it.

Remus, if you have the strength for The Stand, what about A Journal of the Plague Year? I’m about half way through and I can’t even begin to fathom why it’s this of all things that has got me reading again but I think perhaps it’s the knowledge that people have lived through this before. And there is so much overlap - social distancing, people fleeing to second homes, food shortages. It’s oddly comforting in the midst of madness to know that this is something people have endured and survived.

KeithLeMonde, I'm really sorry, but the first Mantel I read was Beyond Black which I thought was meh, what's the fuss all about. I haven't read any of her Cromwell books at all and I'm not going to

I'll get my coat

I love Shardlake though, except the last one which I thought was a bit too "look how much research I've done".

So I was flicking through the kindle monthly deals yesterday I think and have purchased Station 11 as I've seen it mentioned so many times here. Is it ideal for just now or shall I wait?

Jux - I thought Beyond Black was terrible.

Pepe - I don't think I've got the strength for ye olde Englishe though.

Oh and totally agree re the final Shardlake!

Remus I’m putting The Stand on my list now. Thank you. It sounds exactly the sort of reading I need right now. Pure grit, with extra helping of human resilience.

I’m just starting Tidelands which has been recommended by my mum. We are sharing book reviews too, which is comforting as we’re so far apart.

That reminds me, I still haven’t read the final Shardlake and it’s on my Kindke somewhere.

I might get the kindle edition of the final Shardlake as I bought it for my husband in hardback and it’s a lump.

I thought Beyond Black was good. The suburban mundane pierced by the creeping horrors of the supernatural, the terrors of life and death unravel slowly through dull days until they become one and the same. It was chilling and hard work at times but also funny and describes a side of England we all know but doesn’t find it’s way into literary fiction much.

Talking of comfort reads, I have not been able to get into anything but my son and I have just steamed through the first two Lord of the Rings movies and it is just what I needed. I have been rereading favourite bits from the books and it’s like a hug from an old friend.

I can see The Stand fulfilling the me same role as the best writers create worlds and characters and moments that transcend the plot and King and Tolkien are two of the very best at that.