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?

"purchased Station 11 as I've seen it mentioned so many times here. Is it ideal for just now or shall I wait?"

It's ideal now, just so you can see just how ridiculous and implausible it is as a viral pandemic story

@CoteDAzur I've went with War Doctor for now but sure there's plenty of this left to fit in Station 11

Oh gawd. I've got nothing to read and I am really not very nice when I've got nothing to read.

Actually, that's a lie. I've still got lots of non-fiction to read, but I don't fancy any of it. I need a novel - a real page turner.

1. Fall, or Dodge in Hell by Neal Stephenson

+900-page book about the point in our evolution in the very near future when we start uploading our consciousness to computers before we die, written by my favourite SF author! This was supposed to an amazing book, a glorious experience. Instead, what I got was some interesting ideas in the beginning that quickly devolved into a teenage boy's fantasy of a multi-player online game, with sword fights and quests

He had a great idea, even worked it pretty well in the beginning, then it all fizzled out while all these souls/consciousnesses started living an incomprehensibly medieval world, farming, cooking, eating, shitting, fighting with knives, sleeping, having sex. How? Worse, why? It made no sense.

This will be the second Neal Stephenson book in a row that I won't be recommending, and that makes me

37. The Five by Hallie Rubenhold

Much reviewed already
I really liked the idea behind this, to humanise the women written off as whores, and I got off to a good start with it. Unfortunately I found it a bit repetitive in style

Also, I felt in the conclusion she tells the reader what to conclude, so either she doesn't have the confidence that her writing will produce it alone or she has no faith in the readers ability to conclude for themselves

Oh and @RubySlippers77 I tried it and felt that by doing a scripted show they had forgotten what made it magic in the first place which was him just saying whatever first came to mind.

1. The Eyes of Darkness by Dean Koontz

Well, this was silly. I got it because I read that it talks about a virus made in Wuhan. It does but that makes up about three pages of the book. The rest is your garden variety supernatural thriller for simpletons.

Glad I didn't bother with the Koontz, Cote.

All that panic buying in the shops recently did remind me of that bit at the beginning of Station Eleven where one of the characters does multiple trips to the supermarket to panic buy just about every non-perishable thing the shop stocks.

So best to avoid The Eyes of Darkness, and find my copy of The Stand then?

16. Bookworm - Lucy Mangan

I know lots of you have read this already. I don’t seem to be able to cope with anything very challenging at the moment (outside of a work context) so this was perfect. I really enjoyed this meander through childhood books and Lucy’s amusing commentary. I had not read all the books (or even heard of some of them) but we had sufficient overlap to keep me hooked. A winner for me.

The rest is your garden variety supernatural thriller for simpletons

Interestingly, the virus in the book was from a Russian city in the original print run and was only changed to Wuhan some time later.

timeforagandt my 6 year old picked my copy of The Railway Children from the shelf and asked me to read it to her yesterday. I thought she might be a little young to keep up with the language but every spare minute she’s asking for more and I am enjoying it so much, was always a favourite but had forgotten how good it was. Definitely a solace at the moment.

Satsuki the reminders of some old favourites made me quite tempted to revisit some of them myself. Sadly, all my childhood books are still at my parents’ house so not immediately accessible.

22. The Age of Innocence by Edith Wharton.

Finally I've found enough concentration to tackle a more literary novel

I so enjoyed this; had read it over 30 years ago and seen the film in the past. The portrayal of New York society in the 19th century, restricted and constrained by "good form" and hypocritical in its judgement of others' behaviour, is excellent.

The question is .. who is innocent in this story? A character may appear superficially naive and inexperienced and yet by the end we wonder who was really in control throughout.

On the strength of this book I'm looking forward to reading The House of Mirth in the future.

Oh @highlandcoo I hated House Of Mirth

Lily Bart the main character is fucking insufferable

Also, absolutely no mirth whatsoever, zero mirth.

Oh really Eine? How disappointing I don't have it yet; just a thought for the future.

Did you like The Age of Innocence though?

I wasn't necessarily expecting mirth to be fair

Its from Ecclesiastes

The heart of the wise is in the house of mourning; but the heart of fools is in the house of mirth

So I feel its probably ironic

Unrelenting misery fest

Have not read Age Of Innocence

Well, I am itching to start a classic 50 Books argument with you all over Beyond Black but I lack the wit :-) I'll just piggyback onto Satsuki 's post which captured the things which I liked about it. Mantel isn't a "nice" writer at all, she's extremely clever IMHO and has a real unsettling streak of nastiness at the heart of her books which is unsettling and unusual.

It does explain why I can't face reading her at the moment despite having the time to tackle a doorstop or two.

My updates:

17. Mudlark: In Search of London's Past Along the River Thames, Lara Maiklem

This was gentle and lovely, especially as I grew up not far from the Thames and have always loved it - the smell of the mud, the different moods it has on different stretches and in different weathers, the history and links to other places. Maiklem writes beautifully about all of this - I don't know how interesting it would be if you didn't know London but for me this was absolutely on the money. I did find that some of the descriptions of mudlarking in the central areas of London got a bit samey, but the outer stretches, which I had thought would be less interesting, were actually the best bits as they were unique and full of surprises. Recommended for anyone who loves the Thames and wants a gentle read.

18. Dark Fire, CJ Sansom

The history of the Thames inspired me to go back to Shardlake. This is the second book in the series, where he is first introduced to Jack and sent on a dangerous mission for Cromwell, who is falling out of favour with the King. Just enough peril to keep the story bowling along (knowing that there are another 4 to come in the series, I never worried too much for Matthew's safety) and lots of colourful Tudor detail.

I am wondering whether to take the opportunity of our current circumstances to read a real long classic. I've found and downloaded a lot of 19th century long novels, all of which I quite fancy but wondering whether, when my grandchildren ask me what I read in the great Covid-19 lockdown of 2020, I want to tell them that it was War and Peace ?

I'm supposed to be reading for my MA (education Piggy) but university incompetence has led me to withdraw so I now have even less to occupy myself than I did before.

I'm really enjoying The Easternmost House at the moment, the language is lovely. It's about a house on the east coast which will be lost to the sea at some point but isn't written in a negative woe is me way at all - quite the opposite. As a result it's quite a comforting read in some ways.

Remus I need a good page turner of a novel too.

I was supposed to be doing a GCSE this year so have stopped revising! I am assuming the kindly teachers at the school where I was about to sit it won't just predict me a grade 9 and submit it!!

They should take into account the teacher stress you've been under with all this going on and give you a 9. Or maybe an 8 if a 9 would be too obvious.

Mudlarking is now on my list. Talking of London, I picked up a book about London in the time of The Globe - it's 99p today.

betty

Keith I think Shardlake is a good shout at the moment. I never got to the last in the series and it's many years since I read the first three so maybe time to go back and reread the lot. Since then I've also been lucky enough to live in London for a few years so I would be able to picture the setting much better now and that would be fun.

I reread War and Peace last year for the first time since I was fifteen (we went on some very long dull caravan holidays) and really enjoyed it although I confess to slightly skim-reading some of the campaign sections .. much less than the first time round though. Huge but readable IMO.

I'm interested to know what your other long 19th century choices are? I have the whole of Barchester Towers - except The Warden - looking at me and also have always fancied Zola's Rougon-Macqart series. That would keep me out of mischief for a while