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?

1. Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers: Mary Roach (3/5)
2. Circe: Madeline Miller (2/5)
3. The Girl with all the Gifts: M. R. Carey (4/5)
4. Odd Girl Out: Laura James (3/5)
5. Their Skeletons Speak: Sally M Walker and Douglas W Owsley (4/5)
6. The Royal Art of Poison: Eleanor Herman (3/5)
7. The Boy on the Bridge: M R Carey (4/5)
8. Rivers of London: Ben Aaronovitch (2/5)
9. The Handmaid's Tale: Margaret Atwood (5/5)

10. The Vagina Bible: Dr Jen Gunter (4/5) 11. Hormonal: Eleanor Morgan (2/5) 12. Bosh! How To Live Vegan: Henry Firth and Ian Theasby (4/5) 13. Ready Player One: Ernest Cline (5/5) 14. I Am Legend: Richard Matheson (2/5) 15. Oryx and Crake: Margaret Atwood (3/5)

A Boy and his Dog at the End of the World - My 11 - 14ish self would have loved this. The adult me liked it enough to finish it. It's one of those books where the beginning and middle are too slow, and the end is too fast. I guessed a few of the twists, but missed a big one. Got a bit bored in places where one character, in the first person, is making a journey alone. Some of the moments of tension that became deliberate anti-climaxes were unnecessary, and there was a side story that also felt more padding than purpose. I found the ending quite satisfying, having not expected to.

If you need a bit of light relief from apocalypsi Giraffe you could always Design your own Utopia

28 Christy Malry's Own Double-Entry by BS Johnson
Many thanks to Pepe for recommending this very delightful book. I can't really add to your review (in the last thread, for anyone who missed it), other than to say that Christy Malry reminded me very much of Denry Machin from The Card (always a good thing). In fact my only small quibble was that I felt that the Shrike should really, surely, have counted on the credit side?

Hello everyone - I dropped off not long ago it seemed but you’ve all been busy and are now somehow on thread 3

I’ll have an update soon but just catching up and placemarking.

Well done on finishing Ulysses tara and you can do it pepe!

I’m also v excited about Mirror and the Light

I agree Welshwabbit. Style over substance and why does Sarah Phelps think she can improve on Christie’s plots? The And then there were none adaptation was very good but they have been going downhill ever since....

38. Conviction - Denise Mina Much discussed recently. I thought it started well but got a bit farcical towards the end. I found it entertaining enough but ultimately wasn't that impressed.

I'd chosen it from the Goodreads list someone has compiled of eligible books for the Women's Prize 2020. The official longlist is announced on 3rd March.
Goodreads list

Thought I'd recently updated but it turns out it was almost an entire month ago on the previous thread, where does the time go! So here's a comprehensive update with highlights in bold:

1-5: Six Tudor Queens E-Shorts by Alison Weir - not really full books so I increased my total to compensate
6: I Am, I Am, I Am - Maggie O'Farrell
7: Wolf Hall - Hilary Mantel (re-read)
8: Notes to Self - Emilie Pine
9: On Chapel Sands - Laura Cumming
10: Twas the Nightshift Before Christmas - Adam Kay
11: Ink in the Blood - A Hospital Diary - Hilary Mantel

My stand-out so far has been the Emilie Pine, I read it in 24 hours and it really hit home on a great many levels.
Am now part-way through a reread of Bring Up The Bodies, aiming to finish in time to pick up The Mirror and the Light on publication next week. Also part-way through The House Party by Adrian Tinniswood, a short look at the history of the country house weekend based around National Trust properties - interesting light read.

Picking up too many good recommendations on these threads though, going to have to stop purchasing...!

@FortunaMajor I did a lot of the Conviction chat - enjoyed but certainly not an award contender.

I’ve always wondered how to find the contenders for prizes. It would be lovely to see Girl, Woman, Other win on its own. Although that’s had so much publicity would be good to give some outliers a chance. I’d love to see Black Car Burning get some more recognition.

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. An in-depth analysis of the dramedy View from the Top. I found this quite funny in places, especially as I was listening to the audiobook but felt the joke wore a bit thin after a while. (3/5)

Thought I’d only been gone for a few days, and I’ve spent ages getting up to date (might have been slightly distracted by DD reading out Coronavirus news stories, after her conversation with XH who basically told her we’re all going to get it and her grandparents will die).

Anyway, many thanks for your kind wishes. I’ve been on a mini-break to exotic, er, Birmingham, with DD and DM, and eaten a lot of chocolate.

My list so far:

1. Killing Dragons: The Conquest of the Alps by Fergus Fleming
2. My Sister the Serial Killer by Oyinkan Braithwaite
3. The Illustrated Police News: The Shocks, Scandals and Sensations of the Week, 1864-1938 by Linda Stratmann

4. Cause for Alarm by Eric Ambler 5. The Five: The Untold Lives of the Women Killed by Jack the Ripper by Hallie Rubenhold

1. Guts by Raina Telgemeier
2. Blood on the Tracks: Railway Mysteries ed. by Martin Edwards

8. I May Be Some Time: Ice and the English Imagination by Francis Spufford

1. The Midwich Cuckoos by John Wyndham

10. The Mirabelles by Annie Freud 11. Heartstoppers Vol. 3 by Alice Oseman 12. Transatlantic by Colum McCann 13. To Throw Away Unopened by Viv Albertine

14-17 Case Histories/One Good Turn/When Will There Be Good News?/Started Early, Took the Dog by Kate Atkinson

A comfort re-read/preparation for reading the fifth Jackson Brodie, but I actually read...

18. Kintu by Jennifer Nansubuga Makumbi

A book group choice, and a welcome find. A sprawling novel about Uganda: the first and best section is set in 1750, where Kintu Kidda, a local governor, on a visit to the new king, makes a fatal error that brings about a curse on his family. Makumbi wears her learning lightly, and really draws you into the pre-colonial world. The next sections follow descendants of Kintu Kidda in post-colonial Uganda, still afflicted by the curse/modern-day ills such as poverty, political violence, AIDS; the final section brings all the modern characters together at a Kintu clan reunion where they attempt to solve their problems/lift the curse.

I really enjoyed Makumbi’s fresh perspective on the world, and some of the characters really come alive. However, she perhaps tries to put too much into the middle sections - it’s her first novel - and the ending is a little anti-climatic. Moving and fascinating in general though.

Palegreen The Goodreads lists are put together by users of any books that are technically eligible for a prize, but that doesn't mean to say they will be nominated. I've never seen a full list of nominees for any of the prizes, just the official longlists then shortlists. I like looking on Goodreads just for inspiration. A few lists that may be of interest/ worth watching -

GR Booker 2020
GR Booker 2021
GR Women's Prize 2020
GR Women's Prize 2021

There are also lists for other major prizes if you search the year/ prize name in the lists section eg Booker International/ Dublin/ Goldsmiths

Another list I follow each year
What Women Born In The 1970s Have Read So Far This Year
(More a measure of what's popular rather than what's good).

@MamaNewtNewt

I thought the EXACT same, about Ayoade On Top a good hour too long.

Excellent - thanks @FortunaMajor these will keep me going for a bit!

I'm reading Kim Jiyoung, Born 1982 - a bestseller in South Korea. Very good...

16 This Book Will Change Your Mind About Mental Health by Nathan Filer This will probably end up boldened in my list of best reads at the end of the year, not because I agreed with every word of it, but because it's a well written and thought provoking read. It focuses on the 'heartland' (the former title of the book) of psychiatry, schizophrenia. He writes compassionately and with insight about people who have received this diagnosis, though I was surprised there wasn't more about how these people fare statistically in society, there is plenty of evidence out there, choosing instead to just use the individual case studies as examples of how life has panned out. His key argument is that schizophrenia as a diagnosis should be done away with for various reasons. While he made his case well, I like a diagnosis. It's one word. You can say 'I've got schizophrenia' to explain your difficulties instead of listing an exhausting shopping list of symptoms. And diagnoses, however lacking in the ability to biologically test for, or umbrella or annoyingly currently fashionable, can open doors to getting the right kind of support, even when our system is not perfect. He is in a position to identify this, as a former psychiatric nurse. Yes, a person saying 'I've got schizophrenia' in our current society is a problem in itself, and he does have a chapter on stigma and discrimination but I thought this was one of the weaker bits of the book. He argued himself in a circle about anti-psychotic medication, but it was a necessary circle to keep going round. I will be thinking about this for a long time.

Thanks Fortuna for that Goodreads list, looks like a useful one. I have added a few votes this morning.

Good review, Museum. I read it last year and it was one of my highlights too.

Finished Big Sky, by Kate Atkinson. Liked the dialogue/interior monologues. Lots of characters to keep up with, but you do get investigated. It's not a spoiler to say that it involves human trafficking and organised child sex abuse - she doesn't get too graphic about any of it, but I can't say I exactly enjoyed those elements.

Tried but DNF The Other Bennett Sister, by Janice Hadlow. The book focuses on Mary's story. She's a character I've always sympathised with, and it's not terrible, but the author tells where Jane Austen shows and I'm just not interested enough to pursue 700 pages of it.

Amazon have just told me that the sequel to The Watchmaker of Filigree Street can be pre-ordered now. I am almost crying I want it so badly BUT I'M NOT BUYING NEW BOOKS............. aaaaargh

14. Ma’am Darling: 99 Glimpses of Princess Margaret, Craig Brown

I'd avoided this because I thought it was 100% parody (like the stuff CB does for Private Eye), but having enjoyed The Crown and see a few positive reviews, I decided to give it a try.

So, it's not really parody, although it does contain a few made-up chapters (the Christmas message Margaret might have given had she been Queen for example). It's actually 99 snippets, some long, some very short, of gossip or stories about PM from a variety of sources and from all times of her life. We have the young mischievous princess as described by visitors to Buckingham Palace. There's the Swinging 60s princess on the back of a moped, cooking sausages in Tony Armstrong-Jones's flat. There's the 80s glamour princess in Mustique and the ageing princess in the wheelchair.

This started off very enjoyable but became less so as I realised that it's way too long and rather sad (PM is a definite "poor little rich girl", enormously spoilt and apparently very unhappy). A lot of the chapters, especially in the latter part of the book, are repetitive - PM shows up at a party/country house weekend/west end show etc, is rude to someone, gets offended by someone else's failure to follow protocol. Not much happens.

Brown explains that he isn't going to footnote everyone but the result is that there are huge swathes of people who, if you weren't alive or very old in the 60s and 70s, you will only vaguely have heard of, so probably won't care than much that they attended a party once with PM and wrote in their diaries that her dress didn't suit her. I also felt that he'd skimmed over some very key questions (perhaps he thought they were too well-known - again assuming his audience would share his knowledge of all the contemporary news articles and gossip? Perhaps he avoided them out of respect or fear of offending/being sued?) so there were lots of stories involving whiskey and Roddy Llewellyn and all the rest of it but they all felt like they were referring obliquely to things that weren't really explained. It felt a bit like being on the edges of a party where everyone knows each other and what the gossip is, and you only hear snippets.

Jux I'm not buying any new books either except for the 50% off pre-order copy of The Mirror and the Light which just 'accidentally' fell into my online shopping basket

Glad you enjoyed Conclave @Terpsichore! I thought it rattled along too, especially considering that the subject matter wasn't exactly one that I found fascinating.

Two more to add to my list:

24. State of Wonder - Ann Patchett

Much reviewed on here; I did enjoy it but couldn't say I'd rush to read it again. Kept thinking that if it was shorter then it would have held my attention better just seemed very long-winded in parts.

25. Two can keep a secret - Karen McManus

Another 'teen read' which I thought was better plotted than the author's first book (although that was also enjoyable). Newcomers to a small town try to solve two murders several years apart.

Have to report a DNF in The Vanished Bride - Bella Ellis. On paper I thought I'd love it, but sadly not. And The Body - Bill Bryson may go the same way; I usually enjoy his longer fact-based books (At Home, A Short History etc) but am having to really plough through this one. Think the library will require it back before I actually make it to the end!

ruby I had the same with State of Wonder - enjoyed the story idea but put it down somewhere in the middle and forgot to pick it back up again.

I’m currently listen to The Body on audible @RubySlippers77 . I’m not sure I’d be getting through it as quickly if I was reading it. I only listen when I’m walking somewhere on my own more than 5 or 10 mins away, so maybe 3 times per week.

Book 19
Surfacing by Kathleen Jamie

A narrative that swings between creative prose about wild places and descriptions of the archeology of two (Alaskan and Scottish) digs.

The author writes of her time spent in each location, excavating on site and meeting local people to discuss the finds and their heritage.

Overall a gentle read, but I found my attention wandering. I think I wanted to know more about what they were all digging up, and who all the people were, so when Jamie veered away from observations to long personal musings, I had to stop myself skim reading.

Lovely descriptions of the wild places that were the far outposts of early settlers. Less of an insight into the archaeology, local history and culture than I had hoped.

47. Hetty Feather by Jacqueline Wilson

One of DD’s favourite books that she wanted me to read, this is the story of a spirited Victorian orphan left at London’s foundling hospital. I thought this was great and pretty realistic (factoring in the age group it’s aimed at).

48. No One Home by Tim Weaver

10th in the series featuring missing person investigator David Raker. I really like Weaver’s books and this was no exception. In this, nine neighbours met for a dinner party and vanished completely, with no evidence to suggest they left the village or that anyone else was involved. I loved the premise and this was a good story. I recommend this series to those who enjoy mystery thrillers.

49. The Perfect Wife by J P Delaney

I’m on the fence with this book - there’s lots I didn’t like about it but it’s also given me lots to think about. I was expecting a psychological thriller as the blurb says that Abbie wakes from a coma but things aren’t what they seem as Abbie was declared dead five years ago. However, it turns out that the Abbie has woken up is a robot created to be exactly like a human being except, y’know, being a robot! The story is then about reaction to this technological breakthrough and Robot Abbie discovering how to ‘live’ together with back story about the real Abbie. Had I known this was going to be about a robot I wouldn’t have read it as that’s not my cup of tea, and this book doesn’t explain anything about how it would all be achieved so I found it hard to believe in it. Another thing I disliked is the writing about an autistic child. I have no experience with autism but I found the way this child was written about very uncomfortable. It’s also written in an unusual style - most of it is from the point of view of the robot but written in the second person. There’s also another point of view from an unnamed person working at a technology firm, which is all written as ‘we thought’, ‘we saw’ etc. All of this does make sense at the end but it does make it more difficult to read. Having said all that, it has made me think about where technology might go in the future which, based on this book, is a scary prospect!