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. The Dreams of Bethany Mellmoth - William Boyd

I'm not a fan of short stories but I am a fan of Mr Boyd. I actually really enjoyed these! Particularly the first third of the collection which are really very short stories. Several of which I thought were excellent. I was less enamoured with the final two longer short stories, including The Dreams of Bethany Mellmoth.

Book 20
The Secret Life of Cows by Rosamund Young

Cows invent and play games. Cows are kind. Cows can take umbrage.

This is an absolutely delightful book about the individual personalities of farm animals. Written by a farmer in Worcestershire, who describes the behaviour of individuals and families of cows that she has named and observed over 40 years.
I have always loved cows, having grown up around the family farm, and this confirms my suspicion that that they are each just as unique as people are.

Strikes just the right balance, with descriptions of cows as unique and sentient souls, whilst letting them get on with their own bovine business and without being too twee.

Book 9 - Amy and Isabelle Elizabeth Strout. I really enjoyed this...i picked it up through the day which is always a sign that I love a book. It did feel quite dated though in that the central storyline would have been viewed completely differently now, and reading the mother's reaction to her daughter being groomed made me feel quite uncomfortable. The descriptions and scene setting and the general honesty of the writing was wonderful though. 5/5.

I really want to read the secret life of cows. Not to insult the cows theough comparison but the secret life of trees was a wonderful eye opener for me last year!!!! I'm here to check off number 10 in my list- The Silence of the Girls by Pat Barker. I think a lot of people here have read it already, but just in case, it's the story of the Illiad (and also a play called the Trojan Women) told through the voice of one of the women who was taken as a slave by Achillies. I loved it- I dont know why the stories of ancient greece seem to be resonating with me so much at the moment, but there you go. I also rewatched Troy as a result of this book and couldn't ignore just how badly served women are by your average Hollywood epic. And Troy really was average. My other thought was how many parallels Pat Barker seems to draw between our first recorded war- Troy, and the first world war. And, finally, I read regeneration 20 years ago and had completely forgotten how brilliantly she brings characters to life. In this, I think she does an amazing job of imagining what it might be like to be enslaved at the hands of soldiers. I would definitely reccomend!
I have had to give up on now we shall be entirely free, as I have somehow managed to lose my copy! So now, I'm trying to read Let the Right One In which has been sat on my bookshelf for ages but I've been too much of a scary cat to read!

20. The Chalk Man by C J Tudor

About a murder involving a dismembered body and inexplicable chalk men, with the narrative switching between 1986 (when the murder happened) and 2016.

This was ok, I liked it for the most part.

oh I love the sound of that, JollyYella. I have broken my resolution not to buy new books yet again (last night) and bought 2, but I wish I'd read your review first as I think I would prefer it to at least one of the books I just bought.

I got Other Words for Smoke and The Lost Future of Pepperharrow.

39. Disappearing Earth - Julia Phillips The abduction of two small girls from a remote Siberian town has an effect on the wider community. Looks at the lives of those left behind who have a connection to the case.

Decent enough prose, good descriptions of the landscape etc, but I found my mind wandering a lot during this. Ultimately it has too many similar characters who are not interesting enough to care about.

I am reading The Wings Of The Dove

I am struggling, massively, worth persevering anyone?

9. The Most Fun We Ever Had, by Claire Lombardo. Continuing my streak of great reads, this was fantastic. It spans 40 years of the Sorenson family; Marilyn and David, perceived by everyone to have the perfect marriage, and their four daughters. There are two timelines told in alternating chapters - the first follows the year after fifteen year old Jonah, adopted child of one of the daughters, reappears in their lives, and the second begins in 1975 when Marilyn and David first cross paths and continues through to eventually meet the first timeline. I think some people have found this too long, but I thought the characters were fantastically drawn - I enjoyed every word and was sad when it ended.

10. Flash Count Diary, by Darcey Steinke. Less successful, this is a mix of memoir, research and cultural notes about the menopause. I loved the memoir sections and learned some really interesting things (killer whales are one of the only other mammals to go through menopause!) but overall found it very disjointed and a bit hard to stay immersed in.

Fell off the thread due to life and a new puppy!!
Still been reading though! List below

1 Sudden Traveller -Sarah Hall
2 Payback - R C Bridgestock
3 The Hunting Party - Lucy Foley
4 The Offing - Benjamin Myers
5 To the volcano and other stories -Elleke Boehmer
6 Wolf Hall - Hilary Mantel
7 The Unlikely Escape of Uriah Heep - BT
8 our Fathers - Rebecca Wait
9 The Dreamers - Karen Thompson Walker
10 Marking time - Elizabeth Jane Howard
11 Three hours - Rosamund Lupton
12 The alphabet of Hearts desire - Brian Kearney
13 The Need - Helen Phillips
14 Queenie - Candice Carty-Williams
15 Lady in Waiting - Anne Glenconner
16 Wild Spinning Girls - Carol Lovekin
17 saltwater- Jessica Andrews
18 Confusion - Elizabeth Jane Howard
19 The Hoarder - Jess Kidd
20 The secrets we kept - Lara Prescott
21 My cousin Rachel- Daphne Du Maurier
22 The illness lesson- Clare Beams
23 Dear Edward - Ann Napolitano
24 The foundling - Stacey Halls
25 Finding Clara - Anika Scott

And meet Orla!

I've fallen off the thread a bit with life, nothing as exciting as a new puppy though!

Full of warm, charismatic humour as you would expect, the sections on the discrimination she faced as a lesbian woman in the 1970s-1990s are shocking and poignant. It's striking how much attitudes have changed even within my lifetime.

I thought that the other day when Casualty showed a male couple kissing on the lips. My mother and grandparents would have been horrified. I've got the book on my wishlist.

I’d really recommend A Place Apart by Dervla Murphy.

Seconded, fantastic book. In fact it might be due a re-read.

I won't review them unless anybody is particularly interested (not expecting anybody to be!) but I've just read 4 books about the history of New Zealand, I was 3 books behind but now I've caught up with my reading challenge so happy days. I'm now reading 3mph around the world about a woman who walks round the world.

Orla's beautiful splother!
I've also lost my reading mojo, finding Mother Tongue on my Kindle a bit dull and not enjoying Jess Kidd's Himself on Audible as much as I did her other book The Hoarder. Don't want to start anything else before I get to meet He, Cromwell again next week.

7. Jo's Boys by Louisa May Alcott
And the series is complete. This is very much a sequel to Little Men, following up on what happened as the characters we met at Plumfield become young adults and go out in the world. For that reason it has been really nice to read the books back to back and stay in this world, they really do flow together and I've thoroughly enjoyed the writing.
Not sure what's next. No shortage of books and aydiobooks TBR but very busy at work for the next couple of weeks. Thought I might just take a reading break while I have a lot on, but having a good read to retreat to might keep me sane.

Splother Orla looks adorable!

I adore Jo's Boys though it always makes me sad. Dan! 😐😐😐

50. The Truth by Peter James

This is one of his earlier books and a supernatural one rather than crime. It’s heavily influenced by Rosemary’s Baby (James admits this in an introduction in my version). John and Susan are having financial problems until out of the blue they are contacted by an enigmatic Swiss banker who offers them £1.5million for Susan to have his baby. They agree but the pregnancy is very painful and other strange things start happening. I didn’t like the start of this book (lots of crude descriptions of women and sex) but kept going. The story itself was OK but the ending fizzled out rather.

clueless I followed the Little Women series with What Katy Did and all the sequels. Adored them both.

Remus yes, Dan.

How gorgeous Splother!

15. Norse Mythology by Neil Gaiman . I enjoyed these retellings of Norse myths- I knew most of the stories, but I felt Gaiman had a good voice for them and they held up well as a comparison to Stephen Frys Greek myths too. Anyone know any recent myth retellings from outside Europe? I'm thinking it would be nice to widen my scope.

Due to completing a course at the beginning of Feb my reading has taken a back seat but still managed two books this month.

1. The five by Hallie Rubenberg - non fiction abit each of the five victims of jack the ripper. Thre murders themselves are not featured at all (plenty of books around on that if anyone's interested) but instead focuses on the women's life's and how they ended up in whitechapel. Lots in here on women in the Victorian period from separation from your husband to how they treated alcoholics. The author seemed to really want to dispel the myth that they were all prostitutes and spent quite a bit of time going on about this. Really liked this.

1. A spool of blue thread by Anne Tyler- only my second Tyler book, started thinking that not much was happening and what was the point but then saw what Tyler was doing. A whole familys history of domestic life and their interactions I thought were really well drawn, will definitely seek out more Anne Tyler.

Totally with you on Dan Remus, was so invested in his story and rooting for him.

12. Deeds not Words - The story of Women’s rights then and now by Helen Pankhurst

Quite a hefty tome, have been reading on and off for a few weeks. She reviews progress 6 different areas: politics, money, identity, violence, culture and power and gives a score out of 5 at the end of each chapter for progress. Sometimes quite depressing to read, and sometimes feels like just a list of names eg of tennis players or musicians. Overall a good overview of how attitudes have changed since 1918. 3.5/5

splother She's gorgeous!!! If she's under 16 weeks, please consider joining Generation Pup. It's a lifelong study for canine health and behaviour run at Bristol uni in partnership with Dogs Trust.

I would highly recommend freezing whole carrots to give to the chompy little monster through the teething stage. (Mine also liked frozen broc and cauli).

I also had to clear the bottom few shelves of the bookcase as mine liked a nibble and I have a few battle scarred books to prove it.

That puppy is adorable!

I have just finished Contested Will by James Shapiro (and done my David Copperfield chapters ready for tomorrow!)

Shapiro's book is about the different claims to the writing of Shakespeare and discusses the main theories surrounding Bacon and Oxford. He sets his stall out from the beginning as not believing these theories, however.

I thought I would inform myself and now feel informed. Doesn't mean if a kid asks me in lessons about people' who say Shakespeare didn't even write his plays', that I can answer any more succinctly! The section on Twain is well worth a read, if only to learn what a preening peacock Twain was!

Put me top of the list of people to look after Orla when you go away please Splother - I promise to read to her daily.

Ooh puppy! She's absolutely gorgeous, splother

I have read may good things about Dear Edward so have put it on my tbr splother. Bit worried , though, as I hated Stacey Halls' first book and I see you liked her second. I am hoping they are poles apart in style?