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?

Remus

Women's Prize for Fiction shortlist here.

Thanks southeast.

I can't get round to Girl Woman Other. It doesn't appeal. Have Haynes on my Amazon shopping list but nothing is being sent out by them at the mo!

I have got Girl Woman Other on my bedside table and also want to read Weather

Yes I’d like to read Weather after was it fortuna’s review?

piggy my local independent is delivering nationwide at the moment even though they’re closed so worth checking your locals. I spent a bit of what I might have done commuting on some purchases for me and the kids.

Sadly, we have no local independent... To be fair, I have a large tbr pile!!

Thanks Southeast I wasn't expecting it until tomorrow. I was struggling to get it down to 6 for my personal list as it was a very strong field.

I'm quite shocked to see Dominicana and A Thousand Ships make it though as they were in my relegation zone. I'd have chosen Girl - Edna O'Brien and Actress - Anne Enright and another 6 before those.

I'm calling Weather for my win, although I think it will go to one of the bigger names. Mantel is the far superior writer by a mile, but looking at past winners, anything goes.

Also wanted to add that I think Weather will be a very marmite book. At the start I was not convinced I'd want to finish it.

My local bookshop will send anywhere post free at the moment with books they have in stock or ones they can get from their wholesalers (depends on publishers). They generally have a good selection of literary fiction & current/interesting non-fiction + childrens books and though they don't have an online catalogue they're doing a regularly changing page of suggested books.

On which note, my latest reviews.

46 Grow Food For Free by Huw Richards
I bought this for work to read / review as a possible recommendation for customers (and after being irritated by James Wong ). The author is in his early 20s and a bit of an Instagram / Youtube sensation, but his book is a very good solid introduction to vegetable gardening on the cheap, with an organic / permaculture slant to it. I'll definitely recommend it to any beginners looking for help getting started. (The many photos of him looking manly with his vegetables are quite funny though )

47 Happier at Home by Gretchen Rubin

I listened to this on audible, read by the author, and it absolutely hit the spot for me just now. The author, as she would acknowledge, is very fortunate to have a happy marriage, two young children, a job she enjoys and a nice place to live. This book is her project to make the most of all these advantages, appreciate them more, and generally make her home life as good as possible for her and her family.

I enjoyed her earlier The Happiness Project a couple of years back, and this is very much in the same vein. It's gentle, doesn't take itself too seriously, and generally offers some helpful suggestions for making the most of life. I suspect if you had any serious problems, you might find it irritating, but otherwise it's rather pleasing.

Yes I should have said independents rather than locals - a lot are sending anywhere postage free as sadik says. If you get desperate anyway!

I've just started my next Audible book, Radical Uncertainty by Mervyn King and John Kay. It's recently released, and I'm imagining they didn't expect it to be quite so very topical when they were writing it! I've only listened to the first chapter, but it's promising so far.

I’m excited to see Dominicana on the list. I didn’t rave about it but want more people to read and hear what they think. I also think it’s themes of isolation are quite relevant now.

Girl, Woman, Other is the obvious choice but none the less for me it was a masterpiece.

Coincidentally, I've just finished Girl, Woman, Other.

This follows twelve female characters of colour from different backgrounds living in the UK, from the early 20th century to now, and who are all somehow connected. I thought this was outstanding - the scope feels vast in terms of themes yet at the same time intimate so with the on-point characterisation and terrific humour this all means that nothing feels laboured. This is a novel rich in humanity and depth, with stories that felt heartbreakingly real, and a very worthy Booker winner. I will be amazed to read a better novel this year.

Maybe I will give it a go southeast.

I think it will probably win but Hamnet is very good and Mantel is obviously Mantel,

Likely to add Hamnet to my birthday request list now!

Recently finished these three:

25. Peas & Queues: the minefield of modern manners - Sandi Toksvig (Audible)

Quite literally a straightforward etiquette guide, but read with a wry charm by the author and featuring the odd anecdote from her life. Worked as an audiobook but probably would be a fairly dull and list-heavy in print.

26. Bookworm - Lucy Mangan (Audible)

Much-reviewed here, a very comforting, gently amusing stroll through Mangan's childhood reading. I did feel that a lot of her insights were likely down to rereads as an adult, rather than what she actually thought as a child. Personally I can't remember much detail about books I read last week 30+ years ago.

On the plus side, it's inspired me to read more of the Little Women series, and seek out some of the children's classics I've never read, like Alice in Wonderland. Mangan definitely read more of the literary cannon than I did as a child - I was a lot more into talking animals (specifically in the vicinity of Farthing Wood) and historical fiction and non-fiction (Rosemary Sutcliffe, and anything else with Romans or Vikings in it).

27. The Last Hero - Terry Pratchett

Heavily illustrated short novel in the Discworld series. Cohen the Barbarian and his Silver Horde go up against the gods who've condemned them to old age and irrelevance, while the Wizards try to prevent the end of the world by means of dragon-powered space flight... One of the simpler, laugh-out-loud entries in the series (published 2001 but harking back to the earlier Discworld books), just the antidote to lockdown I've needed this week.

30 The World I Fell Out Of by Melanie Reid.

I rarely read biographies/ non-fiction, however I've read Melanie Reid's Spinal Column in the Times fairly often and I'd heard this was very good. It was.

It's an unflinching account of the devastating consequences of her riding accident which left her tetraplegic. What it's like to cope with double incontinence is pretty thoroughly explored among other physical issues, and she is also honest about her feeling that she has lost her femininity and her sense of self - as a tall, sporty, active woman - generally, and the effect the situation has on her relationship with her partner and her son.

She describes life in the spinal injuries unit, the small triumphs and huge frustrations, the wide range of patients and staff she comes across, the correspondence she has with other similarly injured people, and her feelings as she watches other people leading the ordinary life she used to take for granted.

Not preachy at all, however reading this book can't help but give you pause for thought. A good book to have read at the moment especially, when everyday life is more restricted than normal.

Great review highland, if I hadn't already read it I'd be tempted to give it a go.

I've just added Weather to my wish list and noticed that the Dept. of Speculation by the same author is 95p on the kindle so I've bought it to give it ago.

I also loved The World I Fell Out Of and I just wanted to remind everyone it's still 99p on Kindle for the rest of this month.

I just noticed Daemon Voices: Essays on Storytelling by Philip Pullman is 99p at the moment (thank you ereaderiq), it looks like it might be worth a go.

28. Lonesome Dove by Larry McMurtry 'If you read only one Western novel in your life, read this one', says the endorsement on the cover. I have read only one Western novel in my life (disclaimer: may have read something by Annie Proulx about 25 years ago but can't really remember, so won't count that) and I am delighted it was this one. Gus and Call are two old Texas Rangers who, despite their considerable differences in outlook and temperament, have set up a successful ranching business together. With the decision made to drive their cattle herd to Montana, the story of their lives and loves, and those that travel with them, unfolds on the way in this epic tale. Life is hard, and violent, and sometimes short. Absolutely brutal and shocking things happen, to women as much as men. This is lyrical and moving; it is also very long, so it was a fascinating other world to be immersed in for hours on end. I also enjoyed vicariously going on a long journey from south to north through a wide open and sparsely settled USA. Recommended.

29. Dry by Augusten Burroughs A memoir of the author's boozing, rehab, relapse, then getting dry again, within the context of the advertising industry and gay scene of Manhattan, and with allusions to his truly awful teenage years, which are covered in Running With Scissors. I found this quite jarring at first, because I just picked it up without checking out anything about it, and assumed it was a recent book jumping on the current quit lit bandwagon. I was confused by the cultural references, and then realised that it takes place in the 1990s. It was ok, especially when he stuck to the subject of his battle with the booze, but I did find his (self acknowledged) shallowness, obsession with body image, and obsession with relationships pretty wearing. Although therein lies some of the explanation for his relationship with alcohol, I didn't need quite so much detail. Maybe it's that age thing that some of us are noticing. Twenty-something angst less relatable than it used to be (and by that I mean barely tolerated).

Oops, bold fail. Loved The World I Fell Out Of too.

Just bought Howl's Moving Castle on for 99p today :)

So pleased you enjoyed it, Ham.

There are others too, but I didn't think any of them quite lived up to this one. Worth a read though.

Thanks Remus. I'm not going to read the others in the series yet, because I know Lonesome Dove can't be topped, and I just want it to stand alone in my mind for a while. I probably will read the others in future though.