50 Book Challenge 2020 Part Five

[southeastdweller]

Welcome to the fifth 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, it's not too late to join, 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, the third one here and the fourth one here.

How're you getting on so far?

Thanks Terpsichore sounds intriguing. I was impressed by the quality of Hughes’s writing: her ability to ramp up the tension, as well as the way she worked in a wider commentary on the experiences of men who can’t adjust to life after war. I’ll bump The Expendable Man up my list!

17. The House in Norham Gardens by Penelope Lively (1974) – Lively’s classic children’s book centres on Clare, a teenager living in a large, crumbling, Oxford house with her elderly aunts, retired academics. The house is packed with family heirlooms and relics. By chance Clare discovers a strange artefact: brought back in the early 1900s by an anthropologist ancestor after an expedition to Papua New Guinea. Her discovery sets off a series of strange dreams of the colonial past and, as snow falls on the streets outside, Clare is transported back in time to the warmer landscapes of Papua New Guinea.

A leisurely, wonderfully atmospheric, often insightful story - although sometimes Lively’s handling of issues around race and ‘othering’ was a little clumsy. I found the characters engaging and the themes fascinating: Lively’s exploration of the past and how it may haunt the present, the legacy of Britain’s colonial history including the plundering of other cultures; as well as a more intimate focus on age and change brought out in the contrast between the aunts and Clare who’s just starting out on life. After seeing some of the negative comments about older people on other MN boards, it was so refreshing to read something that stresses friendship and affinities between generations, creating a space where all life-stages/experiences are equally valued.

Disappointed in the Kindle monthly deals. Didn't buy anything, as the few that appealed, I'd already read. There's Queenie, Crooked Heart and Excellent Women (an excellent place to start if you've ever wanted to try Barbara Pym).

There's also The Most Fun We Ever Had by Claire Lombardo which is one of my standouts of the year. It's a long multi-generational family saga, bigger on character than plot, so not for everyone - but I adored it.

Thanks, noodle, will give that a shot.

Thanks noodle. I’ve been looking forward to that for a while.
Can someone help me? I can’t find the monthly deals - when I google that it takes me to a list on Amazon but it has a lot of terrible looking thrillers and none of the books above. Not that I really need more books of course. I have ample to keep me going for the foreseeable future. But it’s good to stockpile.

Here

They are divided in sections near the top then the full list starts near the bottom of the page.

Some great reviews, too many to namecheck but have read them all with interest, thank you.

Apart from what others have recommended (have bought the Lombardo The Adventures of Kavalier and Klay is on there which I’ve been meaning to read for ages and ditto The Shadow of the Wind. Also the prequel to Lonesome Dove. Also interested in the Alain de Botton about love after watching his TED talk anyone read any of his?

My Excellent Women had to go back to the library before I finished it, which was a very Excellent Women thing to happen so have bought it again. The Backlisted pe on this was very enjoyable.

29. Life Among the Savages by Shirley Jackson. Memoir set in Vermont about living in a big old house with a young family. A lovely, gentle, warm-hearted read, but I found it slightly insubstantial.

30. I Never Said I Loved You by Rhik Samadder. Despite the chick lit-sounding title, this is another memoir, about living with depression. Mental health is a subject that interests me and I have read several non fiction books about it over the past few years. This one is beautifully written and Samadder comes across as an interesting, thoughtful person. Compared to similar books I've read, it is more like a normal autobiography (of a non-famous person), with the mental health aspect threading through his life and relationships. This made it a good read, but perhaps less relevant in terms of learning about the wider topic, because it felt unique to the author and his personal experiences.

I loved the Samadder book, Tara.

There's a Backlisted on Excellent Women, Satsuki? Very excited - that will be my treat for the day!

Might get Postcards from the Edge from the monthly deals, but not a lot else caught my fancy.

Yesterday finished 38. The Secrets of Time and Fate by Rebecca Alexander, the last instalment of the urban fantasy trilogy featuring revenant Jackdaw Hammond and her efforts to shake off possession by the bloodthirsty angel Saraquel. I loved the world building in this series, mixing strands of vampire lore, 16th century sorcery and hedge witchcraft, here drawn together into a satisfyingly neat conclusion. I will be looking out for her new series of archaeological mystery novels.

13. Guitar Fretboard - Memorize the Fretboard in Less Than 24 Hours by Guitar Head

I played quite a bit of guitar in my youth, but never got around to learning to recognize all the notes - learning the chords seemed quite enough. Now, with a DC interested in my old guitar during lockdown, this was the perfect Kindle Deal. Short but surprisingly effective, it taught me some tricks and shortcuts that I'm happy to find out about.

@BestisWest thanks for the review of Lost Dog that sounds great, have picked that up.

I also picked up The Sun Does Shine, The Most Fun We Ever Had Her Last Day and Valentine from the 99p monthly list. I don’t know anything about any of them but I’m so close to finishing The Stand which has taken me the whole of lockdown that I am looking for something a bit less epic to take in next.

The only thing that caught my eye in the monthly deal was A Year of Living Danishly written by a British Ex Pat who moved to Denmark with her husband who took up a job working at Lego HQ. Super easy reading, would recommend if you are interested in finding out more about living in Scandinavia and also a bit of what Lego is like as a company too.

Yes I really enjoyed Danishly it was a fun read I bought because of Lego but did learn a bit about Denmark.

biblio yes it was quite recent, a really good one and made me want to go back and finish EW. Their enthusiasm is so infectious.

Dear piggy and other fellow David Copperfield readers, I'm just letting you know here that reading has had to take a back seat over the past couple of weeks and I haven't finished reading my chapters so can't join the discussion this month. I'm posting here so I don't accidentally spot any spoilers as you will have started discussing, I'm sure! See you when I get to the end of Chapter 46 ;)

No worries !

14. Mindbridge by John Haldeman

Teleportation is accidentally discovered and humankind starts exploring other star systems and their planets - in short stints, because these explorations always involve all transported people and materials snapping back a certain amount of time later.

Published in 1976, this is was what I would call an "old school" SF story, which develops too quickly and with little realistic support from actual science. Still, it had interesting ideas and was head and shoulders above much of that period's SF (I'm looking at you, Neville Shute ), so I'll say it was pretty OK.

I enjoyed A Year of Living Danishly

Managed to steam through (pun intended ) Around the World in 80 Trains by Monisha Rajeshis ,which I purchased on a Waterstones recommendation. I enjoyed this, although it really, on appoint of order - isn't the world! She travels with her fiancé, predominantly across Asia, but also North America and Europe (although she says little about much of it). I wasn't aware of this writer who apparently has also done a book on travelling India by train.

I enjoyed this. It is interesting, in particular her journeys through North Korea and Russia. I do find she assumes some knowledge and could explain more. At first I found her style a bit hard going : not sure why. Perhaps she just needs to prune her paragraphs or sentences. But I settled in and as she met more curious personalities, I warmed to her and her journey. She also dotted about a bit and missed out describing legs of journeys which was bewildering in SE Asia : a tip, Monisha - include a map!

I've bought the Philip Kerr one about Hitler, and Dead Man Walking by Larry McMurtry (it's a prequel to Lonesome Dove).

Thanks for the link, satsuki. I have bought The Day of the Jackal, Excellent Women and Second Hand Time. That last one may be one for when times are better - Russian melancholy may finish me off at the moment.

Thank you Satsuki

I picked up :

The Count Of Monte Cristo
Postcards From The Edge
Accidental Tourist
Queenie
and
The Amazing Adventures Of Kavalier and Klay

This thread, and my bank account

But... 5 for the price of 1

And then I went back for Excellent Women