50 Book Challenge 2020 Part Four

[southeastdweller]

Welcome to the fourth 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, the second one here and the third one here.

What are you reading?

Hello everyone. Been doing a lot of DIY and hence a lot of (audiobook) reading. So here's my catch up.

16 The Lost Man by Jane Harper.
Another belter from someone who's rapidly becoming a favourite author. There are so many things I love about her writing. Not only is it incredibly evocative, but there’s a deceptively gentle pace to the narrative that carries you along while she expertly weaves the characters and the plot around you. Brilliant.

17 The Summer Before The War by Helen Simonson
This was a pleasant and diverting read. When I started the book I worried that it was a bit flimsy, but then I realised that there’s a real lightness of touch in the writing. It was predictable in places but I liked the characters and found them engaging. It’s a period in history that interests me, and I’ve read a few contemporaneous novels that were better, but I enjoyed it nonetheless.

18 The Sealed Letter by Emma Donoghue
This bored me rigid. Not much more to say, really.

19 Close to Home by Cara Hunter
I really enjoyed this. Not the most original plot in the world, but the characters were believable and the narrative was pacey. Rather than dramatic plot twists it has interesting meanders. I’ve started on the second novel in the series** already!

13. Behind the Scenes at the Museum by Kate Atkinson Now I know there's a lot of Kate Atkinson love on this thread...but this, my first Atkinson, was not a resounding success. I'm thinking this was probably largely wrong book, wrong time for me right now. She writes really well and the storytelling is exceptionally clever but for a book that others claim is 'a hilarious novel* or 'over-flowing with good jokes' it made me so very sad Don't think my shoulders were broad enough for such a tale this week.

Keith - I've just met the religious man with the signs, and my enthrall-ment levels have taken a sudden dip!

There was a book I read as a child where they had fake flowers in their garden and changed them with the seasons. I can't for the life of me remember the name of the book now - can any of you help please?

Just thought. I'm on book 7 of my own books. But I've covered at least 12 books with DS1 (aged 8). Full sized chapter ones too. Do they count? I can tell you all about Andy and Terry from the Treehouse series, we've just finished the Bolds trilogy and last night started Boy by Ronald Dahl.

Might get two lists running side by side on the go. Lost track of the books I've read with DS since January though.

I'm on 8, not 7. Hoping to get some catching up on the go now that I've finished uni work until October...

nowanearlyNicemum no I haven’t read the other Heiny - I don’t read many short story collections and hadn’t seen the other one though, thanks. Also I really admired Behind the Scenes and her writing can often have a comic voice, but would not describe it as a hilarious comedy, quite a heavy emotional story lightened by the style.

@TeetotalKoala I’ve occasionally included chapter books I’ve read to DS1, but generally only if I’ve read him the whole thing.

Usually what happens is that he reads a few more chapters after I’ve said goodnight, so I end up missing chunks of the story.

He loved the Treehouse series BTW.

No idea about the fake flowers, Betty, sorry.

Teetotal, I don't think it's a problem to count children's books - I think most of us are more interested in reviews rather than numbers, so I'd suggest adding them to your tally if you're able to comment, good or bad, but otherwise not. That's my personal view, though, and I'm not claiming it's a rule of the thread.

38. The Book of Humans, by Adam Rutherford
Popular science. I loved his previous book on genetics. Was less keen on the subject here, an exploration of how human and animal behaviors overlap and differ. Started it last year and abandoned it - felt too superficial, too many stick-wielding chimps. Picked it up again last week, and this time the short chapters suited my attention span. I still think his previous book is a better read, but who could resist this footnote about Finding Nemo:
"The biologically accurate version of this film would have the father, Marlin, physically transforming into a female, and then having sex with his own son, but I guess that would be a different, possibly less popular, story."

39. Walking the Thames River Path, by Joyce Mackie. Even by the low standards of the genre (self-published accounts of the author's long walk), this isn't great - regurgitated chunks of the guidebook interspersed with "What I had for lunch' and "How I booked a B&B". The guidebook stuff I could do without, having done the walk and pored over the trail guides then, but I'm always enthralled by the mundane daily arrangements, because that's the bit that looms large when you do it.

Currently on Drood, by Dan Simmons, which is good fun. It reads as if someone decided to do a group biography of Dickens, Wilkie Collins and Count Dracula. It's an odd mash-up, gleefully over the top.

@StitchesInTime I've read the whole thing. We've fallen into a pattern where DH reads to DS2 and I read to DS1 as we've all been doing chapter books, so no-one wants to miss parts of the story. DS1 isn't a confident reader, so he doesn't read them alone, though sometimes I get him to read parts of the story to me.

He and his bestie went as Andy and Terry for World Book Day this year. Easiest costumes ever.

DH could have completed the 50 book challenge on Beast Quest alone with DS2. DS2 went as Tom on WBD.

Maybe I'll include them if I'm running short at the end of the year. Might chuck in a uni textbook too.

Still reading The Body but it was not the thing I needed at 3 am this morning so I downloaded and read First Term At Malory Towers. I must have been about 10 when I last read it.

Still wide awake at that point I tried Stuart Maconie’s The Nanny State Made Me but was less than a page in when I had to stop reading because it made me too sad and angry. I think I shall have to put it aside for better times.

So, it’s back to Inspector Gamache no 4 A rule against Murder.

Glad there’s another Anastasia fan Satsuki!

Sorry Betty, I can’t help with the fake flowers book.

@BestIsWest Love the Malory Towers books. I was a huge fan as a child. My DS really liked The Naughtiest Girl ones when we read those to him. Definitely easier on the mind than The Body!

I loved the Mallory Towers books as a child as well as the Twins at St Clare's series

Love that Finding Nemo quote, biblio!

teetotalkoala agree with biblio that I don’t count Diary of a Wimpy Kid or Treehouse ones on the thread but if it’s more substantial and I could comment then I would. I’ve counted Harry Potters and The Hobbit and 101 Dalamatians on here as I had things to say about them. My ds went as Andy this year too!

Sorry teetotalkoala meant to add it’s up to you!

Following the Noel Streatfeild talk below I've come across 'The Growing Summer' on a bookshelf. I can vaguely remember it. Quite fancy it next

Just read Three Hours by Rosamund Upton in literally three hours! Slight, not deep but gripping, it seems one can't escape lockdown themes as this one revolves around a school siege. It is heavy handed and open in its political correctness, directing venom at , for example, Katie Hopkins : fine by me!!

I liked the Macbeth device and felt extra clever that I , therefore, got the point of something at the end.

I recommend this for a quick read. She has some irritating traits in her writing but I preferred it to some of the thrillers I have subjected myself to recently.

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. (3/5) 24. The Crow Trap by Anne Cleeves. (3/5) 25. The Dark Tower II: The Drawing of the Three by Stephen King. (3/5) 26. Guilt by Jussi Adler-Olsen. (3/5) 27. This is Going to Hurt by Adam Kay. (4/5) 28. Just One Damn Thing After Another by Jodi Taylor. (4/5) 29. The Very First Damn Thing by Jodi Taylor. (3/5) 30. A Symphony of Echoes by Jodi Taylor. (3/5)

I've been on a bit of a St Mary’s binge and read the following over the past few days. Didn't enjoy the last one so much but might just need a break.

31. When a Child is Born by Jodi Taylor (3/5)
32. Roman Holiday by Jodi Taylor (3/5)
33. A Second Chance by Jodi Taylor (4/5)
34. Christmas Present by Jodi Taylor (3/5)
35. A Trail Through Time by Jodi Taylor (4/5)
36. No Time Like the Past by Jodi Taylor (3/5)

@Sonnet, I read The Growing Summer a couple of months ago, after seeing the film. Really enjoyed it, and I keep meaning to start on the biography of Rumer Godden which I then got down off the shelf. The review's upthread somewhere (must be on the last thread, actually, come to think of it).

@ChessieFL @SatsukiKusakabe crikey I’ve not thought about Anastasia for so long but googling now I got such a warm glow remembering getting the first one as a present as a kid. Thanks for that.

I’ve completely fallen off this thread. Listening to a few minutes of audio here and there but too knackered for anything else. However, last night I picked up The Stand following the recommendations here. (Disclosure I’ve only read 2 King books, the terrible (Bag of Bones) and the lovely (The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon)). I’m 200 pages in and it so bloodey good. I know it doesn’t seem like a distraction but it really is. I feel a bit distant from fiction at the moment but I think the similarities (sort of) to reality make this easier to emerse myself in it. Only problem is staying up til 2 am reading doesn’t help with the tired (totally worth it).

I re-read The Growing Summer last year and loved every page. It’s really stood the test of time and was a complete comfort read at a difficult time. I think perhaps revisiting some other childhood favourites could be the way to go. I have a copy of Charlotte Sometimes somewhere which was a similarly loved book from the same period of my life.

49. Frances Lloyd - The Shetland Killer

The next book in the Inspector Jack Dawes series (racing through these in lockdown!). I enjoyed the Shetland setting but found the story a bit far fetched, even for a detective novel.

50. Neil Forsyth - Delete This at Your Peril: The Bob Servant Emails

A re-read having found this in the loft! The premise is that a Scottish chap replies to the random begging emails he receives and enters into correspondence with the senders. Worth a read and kept me entertained for a couple of hours again

51. Lucie Whitehouse - Before We Met

A thriller along the 'Girl on the Train' lines - twisty, turny, who can you trust, shock after shock. I enjoyed this but I couldn't work out if I'd read it before or if it was a bit formulaic; just seemed a bit over the top to me, I couldn't believe that all these things would happen one after the other. But, it passed the time and was generally well written, don't let me put you off!

Not sure when I last updated so I'll post my list as below.

1.The Dilemma - B A Paris 
2.Dangerous Crossing - Rachel Rhys
3.The Testaments - Margaret Atwood
4.A Wedding in December - Anita Shreve 
5.The Other You - J S Monroe 
6.To The Lions - Holly Watt
7.Here to Stay - Mark Edwards 
8.The Bigamist - Mary Turner Thomson
9.The Other Wife - Claire McGowan 
10.Finding Cupid - Bridget E Baker
11.All the Rage - Cara Hunter 
12.The Donor - Clare Mackintosh 
13.Who Did You Tell - Lesley Kara
14.I Wanted You to Know - Laura Pearson 
15.The Recovery of Rose Gold - Stephanie Wrobel
16.I Did It For Us - Alison Bruce
17.Half a World Away - Mike Gayle
18.The Suspect - Fiona Barton
19.War Doctor - David Nott
20.Tell Me Your Secret - Dorothy Koomson

Another one who has just finished 21.My Dark Vanessa - Kate Elizabeth Russell. I was waiting ever so patiently for this book to come out and I'm so glad I ordered it in hardback even during a lockdown so I can pass to others. Such an interesting book and I was glued to it. Unfortunately still had to go to work so took me a little longer to finish.

Now I just have the dilemma of how to pick what to read next