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?

1. The Dogs of War by Frederick Forsyth

This was probably not Forsyth's best book, but it was still very good. The story is about the world of "private military contractors" - i.e. mercenaries. Very long and detailed, this book gives you more information than you will ever need to know about how exactly one can plan and carry out a coup in a small African country. As it turns out, the most difficult part is buying and transporting the arms.

Does everyone have enough books to read? I love my Kindle more than ever now that Amazon deliveries have stopped

I always have plenty of books to read. If lockdown lasted a year I could probably manage with what is in the house and on my kindle. I wish I could be less tempted by new books but it’s not much of a vice really...

37 Charlotte Sometimes by Penelope Farmer
Comfort reread and thanks to all on here for reminding me this is such a good children’s book. I remember the marbles in the glass and the margarine rations so vividly. I’d forgotten that half the book was set during the Spanish flu though which rather undermined my “no more pandemic fiction for a while” promise to myself.

38 The Five by Hallie Rubenhold
I was given this by a friend and put it to one side as I have little to no interest in Jack the Ripper. But several of you talked positively about it so I thought I would give it a go, and I was really glad I did. It put the women front and centre of the story and there was little or not attention given to their actual deaths and absolutely no speculation about their killer’s identity or motive, only the choices and circumstances that led to them living in the Whitechapel slums. As a piece of detailed social history it is fascinating and paints a very nuanced picture of class, patriarchy and addiction. This was powerful and moving.

Yes very pleased to have my Kindle. My ds wanted a Kindle for his birthday and I’d initially said no but changed my mind and ordered him one just before lockdown. So pleased I did as he’s motored through his library books and I’ve already had to give him one that was put aside for his birthday, and I’m glad I got him the thing he wanted since not much else will be going on. I’ve downloaded Howl for him

I just cannot get on with Kindles. I have a few actual books still left to read, fortunately.

I felt the same Ham and have not read any of the others

Really struggling with both books I've got on the go. Can't wait for them to end. One I'll finish tomorrow, but the other is an Audio and there's FIFTEEN hours to go.

I'm switching to Kindle and skimming when I'm down to ten hours

I read kindle books on my iPad app as I prefer the look of it (I don't have an actual kindle and, like Piggy, can't get on with them somehow) and have a decent stockpile of unread books on there. But it's safe to safe that there are enough actual books in the house to keep me going through a lengthy lockdown.

I prefer paper books too Piggy. I struggle to settle down to reading with a kindle at the best of times.

Fortunately I have plenty of unread paper books in the house, thanks to the difficulty I have in resisting temptation when passing any shop that sells books.

Weirdly I watched howls moving castle last night and have also ordered the book. Don't have a kindle so will have to wait awhile.

I love Howl’s Moving Castle, that was one of my favourite childhood books.

I still read more paper books than I do Kindle ones still as use library and second hand shops a lot, but I can read the Kindle at times when I wouldn’t normally be able to - sitting in the dark, one arm round a child while they watch Blue Peter, in between cooking tasks etc so wouldn’t be without it. Like having the choice too as I’m terrible for looking at a stack of unread books and wanting something else entirely

I've usually got at least three books on the go, one in paper (read downstairs), one Kindle (read in bed as DP always wants to sleep before me) and one Audible (for housework and exercise).

Kindle is also amazing for long-haul flights and holidays.

Is anyone else loving snooping on all the bookshelves currently on tv when ever anyone is filmed at home. Just wish more were in focus enough to snoop.

Latest updates
22.In Safe Hands - J P Carter
Think I ordered this book just to bump my books up to £10 for free delivery . However it starts with 9 nursery children being kidnapped and a random demanded. It's told from the perspective of the detective working the case who has her own difficult past and one of the children's mothers. I actually really liked this debut novel but I did guess some of the twists.
23.Anything You Do Say - Gillian McAllister
Joanna is sexually assaulted on a night out with her friend in the pub. After leaving the pub and walking home alone on a deserted street she hears footsteps following her. In a moment she reacts to the person behind her and pushed him. He lied motionless at the bottom of a set of stairs. The rest of the book switches between two scenarios, one where she stayed and called 999 and the other where she ran from the scene. This produces a "what would you do?" vibe and makes you wonder how each decision changes your life. It also tackles every women's worst nightmare of being attacked in a street at night.

My reading seems to have become easier again now that I've adjusted to lockdown (still working though and wondering just how much I'd achieve if I could be on proper lockdown..) and I'm actually so glad my reading mojo is back as I feel escaping from real life calms me at the moment!

45. The Wise Man's Fear by Patrick Rothfuss

Our pal Kvothe back at it again with the lute playing.

The problem is the whole thing is just so overblown in a way that is cringy. It is supposed to be framed as his life story over 3 nights with each night a new phase

Except in Book 1 we are told he was notoriously expelled from University, in Book 2 at the end ? STILL at University

So much waffle and bloody bunk, absolute filler. Kvothe takes a semester out and goes adventuring, is constantly found to be exceptional and takes it as his due.
So much of it could have and should have been cut. The two books combined are 1658 pages long.

You are really struck by the idea that the writer doesn't really have a clue where he's going with it and kept adding stuff in for more stuff in Book 3 to make sense.

Because the story hasn't really moved on in the sense that it's The Kingkiller Chronicle and as Satsuki pointed out zero kings have been killed, and this is still true at the close of book 2, so he has a lot of ground to cover still.

It feels like the story was good initially but has got away from him due to so much detail.

I suppose I must read the last in the trilogy (due August) now but I predict :

a) it will be long
b) it will waffle
c) his legendary adventures STILL untold will prove less than legendary
d) The conclusion will be less than satisfactory

Still, he got a new lute case though

24. Before Wallis by Rachel Trethewey

A well-written account of the lives of three women who were associated with Edward VIII, prior to his relationship to Wallis Simpson which led to his abdication in 1936.
I read read a fair amount about the abdication and thought I knew a reasonable amount, but have to admit that I had barely registered the names of his previous girlfriends.
In the early years of the 20th Century, during WWI and the 1920s, Edward was the world's most eligible bachelor.
His first, and only, serious relationship with a single woman was with Rosemary Leveson-Gower, the daughter of the Duke of Sutherland. They know each other as children, but became close when Rosemary worked as a nurse during WW1. Edward proposed to her but his father George V thought she was "unsuitable" due to her eccentric mother. He never seriously dated a single woman again, so George V may well have come to regret that decision.
The book then continue with the account of Edward's two long term mistresses, Freda Dudley Ward, who was a stable loving influence on his life for years, but could never have married him due to the fact that she was already married. Then there was Thelma Furness, an American who had married into the British aristocracy, who will always be remembered as the woman who introduced her lover Edward to her friend Wallis Simpson.

The second part follows the abdication, and is the account of what happened to each of them after Edward was no longer in their lives.
I found it a fascinating read, and I learnt things about Edward and the abdication that I hadn't know previously.

The Nickel Boys by Colson Whitehead is 99p today, if anyone has it on their radar.

Loved your review Eine. Satsuki, please please read it to give us all a giggle!

Thanks for the cute update, Eine.

Not going for the Then Nickel Boys as I'm still haunted by The Underground Railway, which I found brilliant but painful. I did pick up Cloud Atlas in the Kindle daily deal, much loved on here.

Love for convenience, speed of acquisition of a desired book, and to the pleasant surprise of a good daily deal. Otherwise my favourite is a nice sturdy library hardback.

Cute update was supposed to be lute update. Bloody autocorrect.

Love Kindles for convenience etc.

Completely garbled posts from me.

biblio, if you're planning to read Cloud Atlas you may be interested in a link to the famous Cote thread:

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/what_were_reading/1512201-Cote-Dazur-yes-please-give-us-your-insights-on-cloud-atlas

900 pages and the stand out event is he got a new case for his lute? That is classic Kvothe! He’s really running out of time to gain his rep as a Kingkiller. I didn’t realise there was a release date for the 3rd one. I could happily get lost in any text that doesn’t feature Matt Hancock at the moment so I won’t rule it out tarahumara

Cloud Atlas is 99p today.
I only read on a kindle, mainly because my time spent reading is (was) at various swimming pools, cricket pitches, tennis clubs etc as my DS's do (did) their sport activities.