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?

13. Inside the Kingdom - Robert Lacey A book about the modern history of Saudi Arabia. It is well researched and written in a very accessible way, using one event as a descriptor for a wider issue. However it’s always going to be a dry subject matter! Small/short chapters made it a lot less intimidating.

Worth a read for anyone who is curious

Next up is Hidden Lives -Margaret Foster
Really trying to get through more non fiction at the moment.

I am enjoying Normal People on television. I haven’t read the book because of my very not-good reaction to Conversations with Friends. I think it is easier on tv to manipulate audience responses to characters in ways you want than in fiction writing. I suspect I would form my own not good views of Marianne and Connell if I were to read the book but on screen I just think “oh, you sweet innocent kids”. Then feel sad for all those young adults who should be having intense complicated relationships and lots of sex at the moment and instead are locked away. It’s certainly passing the lockdown time as I wait for the next episode of The Great British Sewing Bee.

I really enjoyed Bel Canto when I read it; must be almost ten years ago now, although I do agree that the ending is flawed. As it deals with relationships forged during a lockdown type of situation, it might be an interesting time for a reread.

Ann Patchett appeared on Books and Authors with Mariella Frostrup on 26 April. I think it's still available on the podcast for those who are interested. You have to get through Garth Greenwell's slightly pretentious discussion of his own book first though.

47. Seven Days is Us, by Francesca Normal.
A couple and there two adult daughters be go into self-quarantine for a week after the elder daughter returns from working in an epidemic in Liberia. I'm not sure if the author's timing was good - she could never have guessed how topical her quirky little idea would be - or bad, as we are all experts and can pick holes in her descriptions. There's a lot of plot, a lot of toing and froing, and a few too many coincidences. But it's a good portrayal of a family. She's compassionate about her characters - one person is being very annoying and then you jump into their perspective and understand them. Not great literature, but I enjoyed it.

48. The Power of Six, Pittacus Lore
Second in YA series urged upon me by DD(12). We're on the run, looking for allies and battling aliens. Why not?

Failed to resist another Dick Francis:

25. For Kicks - Dick Francis

Particularly enjoyable and seen from the stable lad perspective this time which is the tougher end of racing. Quite violent in places but gripping.

Really must try and get back to my large unread piles both beside the bed and on Kindle although please to see that at sub 100 unread my Kindle is not as out of control as some.

Timefor - For Kicks, Blood Sport, Forfeit and The Danger are my favourite Dick Francis books, with Reflex a very close fifth. Perhaps sad that I know so many so well...

PermanentTemporary - it’s years since I had read For Kicks but I remembered it well. It is very good. I think I remember the earlier ones better as I read them several times (albeit 20+ years ago) as I couldn’t afford to keep buying new books in those days in the way that I do now.

53. Mrs Palfrey At The Claremont by Elizabeth Taylor

A group of lonely retirees wait for God in a fading London hotel

It's very short, and one of those novels that's dripping in pathos and leaves you feeling a sense of low level sadness.

Enjoyed isn't the right word. I admired it, but I'm not sure if I'd ever recommend it, it's the song Eleanor Rigby in novel form, and hard to pin down as a genre or suggest to someone you didn't want to depress.

It reminded of a play I've forgotten the name of.

And I bought it when you were all talking about it as I mistakenly thought Dame Elizabeth was the author and there would be glitz and glamour not faded carpets and chicken fricassee

I’m halfway through Proof, another Dick Francis and can’t believe how much I’m enjoying bit. It’s perfect for now.

I have a few in the loft, I’ll be digging them out.

@TimeforaGandT, reading the Dick Francis in order does sound good! Iirc, there is a big improvement in the writing after Dead Cert, For Kicks is noticeably more accomplished. Inquiry is another early one I remember being good!

Always happy when other people are reading DWJ, Howl's Moving Castle is one of my favourites. Also Power of 3, 8 Days of Luke, Charmed Life!

In fact, Dick Francis and DWJ are probably two of my most read authors- not just that I have read all their books, but most of them multiple times. A bit unfair on more recent authors, as as Time says, I couldn't afford many new books back in the 80s. Add Georgette Heyer, and that was a lot of happy hours I filled!

Just finished the incredibly detailed and researched The Volunteer, on of the few books I picked up on a whim in the supermarket that is actually very good!

For a non fiction historical work, it does read like a thriller and, if it weren't true and you were watching it as a film, you would think the screenwriter and director had got carried away with their far fetched tales of derring do. The stories related within the book and really absolutely remarkable, and little known. I have visited Auschwitz and , yet, did not know half of the stuff (for example, how many Polish resistance did get out, and how they did this - in one case stealing an SS car and basically driving out very fast!)

I thoroughly recommend this. It is very disturbing at times and I occasionally did need to stop reading it to regroup. But, ultimately, uplifting.

It does not reflect well on the British in particular, I must say.

@PepeLePew I really didn’t like CWF but loved Normal People. I found the lack of quotation marks irritating, and the politics cliche and hated the main character. In NP it has the same punctuation, but I viewed it totally differently, like an extension of Connell’s anxiety and insecurity. As I read it I saw an anxious insecure Irish lad, and the tv adaptation just bought it to life.

Just popping in to say hello. I have no updates. I am WFH and home schooling while DH is out all day, and I have just picked up the 800-odd paged The Mirror and the Light. I'll probably be back with my review around November...

31. Children of Ruin by Adrian Tchaikovsky Epic follow up to Children of Time. If you enjoyed the tale of accidental spider evolution and seemingly the last gasps of the human race playing out in a far flung outpost of the universe, wait until you see what happened next. This covers the evolving spider / human relationship, and what happens when it meets the results of a socially awkward crew member of a terraforming ship bringing his pet octupuses on a long journey to seek out worlds suitable for human habitation. There are also a few moments of sheer horror, thanks to the introduction of a completely alien species. Though covering a similar evolutionary timescale to the previous book, this has ways and means of ensuring that character arcs can continue throughout. This was superb.

Thanks for the review of Children of Ruin Ham - definitely on my TBR soon list :)

51. Night Boat to Tangier by Kevin Barry
Very many thanks to Keith for the review up thread, it's not something I'd ever have picked up otherwise. I thought this was fantastic - incredibly atmospheric. (I used to live in Andalucía back in the 90s, & it was really spot on for the feel of the region.)

52. Radical Uncertainty : Decision-making for an unknowable future by John Kay & Mervyn King (listened to on audio) I think it's fair to say that this recently published book was perhaps a little more prescient in timing than the authors might have hoped.
    Their base thesis is that the fashion in economics since the 1980s for ever increasing dependence on 'mathiness' and complex models is serving neither policymakers nor businesses well.
    The authors argue that these models perform well only when the future is more-or-less like the recent past and fall down dramatically (as in the 2008 financial crash, and indeed right now) when the 'unknown unknowns' intervene. Instead of searching for one overarching mathematically based universal theory of everything, economists would do better to use 'small world' models to explore elements of the economy, and back these up with real world research - seeking to understand 'what is going on here'. Policymakers & businesspeople should avoid asking un-answerable questions (which will just result in advisors making up numbers to fill in boxes) and instead explore different scenarios and look to make policy or business decisions that will be robust in a wide range of situations.
    There's obvious overlap with Taleb's ideas around 'black swans' and his call for 'antifragility', but this is wider ranging in the ideas explored (they're also a great deal less annoying than Taleb, admittedly not hard). It could have done with a bit more editing, particularly in the early sections & there's a bit too much repetition, perhaps more obvious in audio format, but overall a really thought provoking book.

Been working on a garden project so have had an audiobook splurge.

25 The Offing by Benjamin Myers

This is a post-WW2 story of a young man who, having left school, decides to go on a walking tour of England before his inevitable working life as a coal miner. He meets a woman called Dulcie on his travels and their friendship changes his life for ever.

It is such a beautiful book. The prose is rich, descriptive and lovely. It pulls you right into the idyllic pastoral England that he describes. I love the character of the eccentric Dulcie and could absolutely picture her, her world and her lifestyle. I found the whole book uplifting without being saccharine.

26 In An Instant by Suzanne Redfearn

A teenage girl narrates the story of her family's car accident on the side of a mountain in winter. She describes the effects of the tragic crash on her family and close friends, as they all come to terms with what they did/didn't do in the aftermath and the longer-term impact this has on their lives.

This is a gentle and compelling read which had me in tears in places. I recommend it.

27 Three Hours by Rosamund Lupton

A school finds itself under attack and this tells the story, minute by minute, of what happens. A good read, if a little clumsily preachy in places.

12. The Stranger Diaries by Elly Griffiths (2018) – Clare is an English teacher, and someone is murdering her colleagues. The case is investigated by Harbinder Kaur, a local detective, and Clare may be her prime suspect. Old-school crime story i.e. plot and character are key, rather than strange twists, unreliable narrators or gore, although there are flourishes of gothic suspense, and a Victorian ghost story seems to be serving as inspiration for the murderer’s deeds. I don’t read much contemporary crime but I found this surprisingly absorbing; it was also refreshing to have a lesbian female, British-Asian detective – although I could have wished that the character’s background and family were not presented as quite so stereotypical! Raised similar questions to Lovecraft Country why do white genre writers have the freedom to write from the perspective of BAME characters without it being considered an issue, when it’s been such a cause for contention in literary realms? I also realise part of the reason why I don’t usually read much genre fiction is that I race through it and rarely go back to it, with a few exceptions Chandler and Sayers for example; this definitely brings out my miserly side, it seems less cost effective to read recent genre fiction - which I may not enjoy, the ridiculously convoluted/over the top Wakenhyrst comes to mind, and that will end up going to the charity shop - than investing in books I can guarantee will be more challenging and so last longer.

ThreeImaginaryBoys good review of The Offing have put it on my wish list

Piggy I'm so glad you enjoyed The Volunteer, I thought it was an incredible book. Have you read East West Street by Philippe Sands? It also gives a fascinating, although harrowing, account of wartime Poland and the role played by Poles in defining international law at the Nuremberg Trials.

She's written a sequel to the stranger diaries.

I like the sound of The Offing too Three. Sounds a bit like A Month In The Country which I really enjoyed.

36: Eating Up Italy: Voyages on a Vespa - Matthew Fort

Quick and easy read. Food writer Matthew F does exactly what the title says - travels Italy on a scooter, a trip of almost 5,000 km (not done all in one go, I don’t think), meeting food producers and growers and ordinary Italians who love food, talking about the future of food production in the country (which is fraught with challenges) and eating hugely. His prose is mouthwatering and I spent most of this book alternately drooling at the vivid descriptions of wonderful food, and wondering how the hell he managed to pack it all away.

There are some nice recipes included too, though personally I’m unlikely to tackle eg Gnocchi di ricotta con ragout di lumache (ricotta gnocchi with snail ragù).

Thanks Cherrypi checked and see it’s out soon!

As for the other debates: really loved the spiders in Children of Time waiting for DP to buy the sequel. And couldn’t get into Bel Canto either but really liked States of Wonder - also see there’s a movie with Julianne Moore based on Bel Canto and might try that if I can find it online.

And second Boiledeggandtoast’s recommendation for the Phillipe Sands, thought it was an excellent book. Did you see his documentary partly based in Ukraine, My Nazi Legacy, it was on telly around the time the book came out? Worth tracking down if not. Have his new book on my tbr list but waiting for it to come down in price. Did you read Daniel Mendelsohn’s The Lost you might find that interesting if you liked the Sands; slightly more literary than human rights territory but very powerful.

Terpsichore that sounds interesting, sometimes read foodie books at bedtime, something very soothing about them. Have you come across the series of memoirs – also I think with recipes – by Colette Rossant? Starts with Apricots on the Nile, she’s French-American, lived in France but then brought up in Cairo before moving back to France and then New York, so a lot about different cuisines and food culture.