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?

Eine - that sounds so difficult. I'd drive myself bonkers, I think.

Sorry Eine I was being a bit self indulgent last night. I’ve actually got it easy compared to many, can easily wfh, no health problems, just felt sorry for myself last night.

Everyone is allowed to feel sorry for themselves sometimes whatever their situation.

It's a surreal time.

On the plus side, I think I might hit 100 books by Sep

Thanks Eine

Sorry you’ve had a rough time best. I’ve been ok mentally so far despite being unwell for most of lockdown because I’m fortunate in other ways, but earlier this week I had a short walk in the woods near my house which was the first time I’d been out since March. It was lovely but then straight after I felt really down for a couple of days. It can hit in different ways and unexpectedly I think. I’ve not read very much this week as I’ve found it hard to get my head out of the news.

eine It is so tough. You give such great and entertaining reviews here

Really recommend Stasiland for 99p and thanks for the Sedaris tip.

Remus, the Malory Towers books are a treat. Thank you. I have a weighty science tome and The World According to Garp on the go plus I need to get on with Ulysses which I vaguely promised myself I’d try and make some headway with over this period but it’s nice to have something comforting and undemanding, particularly when the world feels both uncomfortable and demanding.

30. How the Dead Speak by Val McDermid

After 11 books, you either like the increasingly but in my view enjoyably implausible Tony Hill and Carol Jordan books, or you don't. I love them and I loved this one. Ending a bit less of a massive shock than the last one.

15. Mudlarking - Lara Maiklem

I enjoyed this although perhaps not quite as much as I thought I would - compared to some writers about London and its past lives (Iain Sinclair, Peter Ackroyd etc) her prose was rather plodding and the minor interspersed bits about her private life weren't enough to be particularly interesting. I also thought the book was crying out for illustrations of the finds she writes about. But it's an interesting subject matter and an easy enough read.

@FortunaMajor

It's that author, Laura Thompson, her Mitford biography was an embarrassment I thought.

to everyone who is struggling in different ways.

I couldn’t get through the Thompson book about the Mitfords, Eine. Shame as their lives sound very interesting but that book was just a mess.

115. Fifty Shades of the USA by Anna McNuff

I think I got this recommendation from this thread. The author cycles almost 12000 miles across the USA, visiting every state (and a bit of Canada) along the way. I really enjoyed this although I was disappointed there were no pictures in the book (although you can see lots on her website). Thanks to whoever recommended this!

Eine it's baffling how some authors get a contract in the first place, let alone a second deal. It was bloody awful.

Haven't been on for a while as work has got particularly busy over the last couple of weeks!

to everyone who may be feeling a bit down this morning. Probably like everyone, I am quite up and down with it all. It's heartening to see some of the small pleasures in life start to return. Our local Turkish Restaurant has just re- opened for takeaway so DD and I had a very nice dinner on Friday night. However, I have mixed feelings about it all; poor DD really misses her mates, my DF is in the shielded group and very vulnerable. Life isn't going to change for him or DM for a good while yet. I guess this too shall pass - eventually. Anyway, here are my latest reviews.

26. Nineteen Eighty Four – George Orwell

A re-read. I’m sure everyone knows how the story goes, so I won’t go into it here. I’m enjoying re-visiting some of George Orwell’s works during the lockdown; I listened to the audiobook for this one and thought the narration was excellent. This kept me company on an hour long walk back to my office to pick up some files and felt like a very appropriate choice as I walked over a deserted Waterloo Bridge.

Love George Orwell's prose, but this is by no means perfect. On re-reading, I had some misgivings about Winston’s girlfriend and partner in rebellion Julia, who comes across as a two dimensional, functional plot device, rather than a real, actual person. Having said that, the section where O’Brien convinces Winston that 2+2= 5 was amusingly prescient given that I reached this section over the weekend that the Dominic Cummings story broke .

27. Clothes, Clothes, Clothes. Music, Music, Music. Boys, Boys, Boys (CCC, MMM, BBB) – Viv Albertine

I really enjoyed Viv Albertine’s later book To Throw Away Unopened and so am pleased to report this one did not disappoint. CCC, MMM, BBB focuses on the early years of the developing punk scene in and around her North London home. Young Viv is obsessed with music, and increasingly dissatisfied with just being a spectator at the feast, joins all female punk outfit The Slits. I particularly loved the photographs of the deliberately provocative outfits and hairstyles she braved during this period – rubber stockings and pink patent boots anyone?

This is not just a collection of star studded anecdotes about the punk scene, because although there are candid and funny anecdotes a plenty, what I most liked about this book was Viv Albertine’s irrepressible spirit. She wants to become a guitarist, so she pretty much teaches herself. She embraces the possibility that she might not be the best guitarist in the world but she doesn’t let it hold her back or prevent her from single mindedly achieving her ambition to be in a band. In the second half of her book she must re-invent herself in a post punk world, face infertility and illness, and weather the breakdown of her marriage. She meets all these challenges with courage and tenacity. An inspiring read about a life lived to the max.

Taken me about four weeks but I have now finished Stephen King's The Stand . Not sure I'd say I enjoyed it; it is a riveting good read and so clever. And scarily prescient.

It has put me three books behind on the 50 Book Challenge. Any recommendations for short, fun (but not too fluffy)reads that will help me catch up?

Indigosalt I’m not sure I could face reading 1984 again, another one had to do at school, but have been thinking about it recently, particularly the way it’s been co-opted by the far-right and by neo-conservatives in the US – the recent photos of Tommy Robinson, the fascist agitator, wearing a Covid-84, Big Brother T-shirt a prime example. Although I remember reading a fascinating article in the LRB – not behind the paywall – by Terry Eagleton that mentioned Orwell having to spell out in public that his book was as much anti-fascist as anti-Soviet-style communist. I now have Dorian Lynskey’s The Ministry of Truth his ‘biography’ of 1984 on my pile, so looking forward to seeing the discussion about its legacy in that.

Also loved the first Viv Albertine memoir, keep meaning to try the sequel, so thanks for the review, really whetted my appetite for that one!

Just finished Things In Jars by Jess Kidd,another one of these kind of magical realism, Victorian Gothic books, mermaids and experimentation and circuses and all.

She does write well but I found the book very bitty and , owing to my own lapses in concentration, a bit confusing in places.

I really haven't liked many of these types of books : Frannie Langton, Cora Burns, the Night Circus, the one about the pre Raphaelites, Mermaid and Mrs Hancock etc. They just all now seem too derivative of each other. This is probably one of the better ones. I probably liked The Rapture the best.

@ChessieFL

The best place to start (and stay) with the Mitfords is their own words. The Collected Letters are riveting.

I read 1984 as a sort of obligation read because it's on every "must read" list. Didn't really do anything for me and I hated the long manifesto section. Bore Off.

Controversial!

I think it had been so heavily pillaged as a reference point by the time I got there it felt "done"

Any recommendations for short, fun (but not too fluffy)reads that will help me catch up?

Olly you could look at The Restraint of Beasts by Magnus Mills. Three feckless guys living in squalor in a ramshackle caravan while they complete various fencing jobs. I realise that may not sound enticing . The humour is dark, the banter is sharp and I enjoyed it.

Commiserations to everyone finding this a tough time. I'm still reading a fair bit but not feeling very focused and not getting round to posting. Keeping a list however and will aim to update soon.

Fortuna thanks again for the Hay heads-up. I thought Maggie O'Farrell was particularly interesting and I'm looking forward to catching up with Hallie Rubenhold very soon, having wanted to read The Five first, which I've just done. Much admired on here, I also thought it was excellent.

YounghillKang thanks for letting me know about the LRB article, I will check that out. I have also added the Dorian Lynskey book to my audible wishlist. It looks right up my street! Very timely as I have finally exhausted the haul of library books I checked out just before lockdown.

Eine I actually quite liked the long manifesto bit but agree, it's either kind of thing or it's not. And yes, there are many references in Nineteen Eighty Four which have become ubiquitous to the point that they no longer have the same impact.

Piggy agree re the Victorian gothic mermaid/circus genre. I really did not get on with Frannie Langton and it's put me off for life.

@Piggywaspushed. I feel the same about Things With Jars and other similar books. I was drawn to their attractive covers in the library and they were a different genre from what I usually read, but I'm done with them now I think.

Frannie Langton was dreadful, though I see people absolutely raving about it elsewhere. Won't bother with Things in Jars - I do like a Victorian novel, but only when it's either really well done, or just aiming to be fun.

for all the lovely people on this thread. Hit a few down days myself (but am on the way back up now), so this was perfect...

41. All Creatures Great and Small by James Herriot Can't go wrong with this. I always find there's something so lush about between-the-wars English pastoral. When a newly qualified vet with a clear love for animals, people, and life in general and an ability to find gentle humour in every situation arrives to become assistant in an eccentric practice in the Yorkshire Dales in 1938, you just know that comfort reading doesn't get more comfortable than this.

28. Lost Children Archive – Valeria Luiselli

The narrator, her husband and their young children (her daughter and his son from previous relationships) take a road trip across present day USA from New York to the Mexican border.

We never find out the protagonist’s names, they are simply “the girl” or “my husband”. I mention this as I had a few trepidations at first because I wasn’t in the mood for something conceptual and difficult to read. In fact I found this a surprisingly easy read, and raced through it in a couple of days. However! On reflection, I think the writer’s simple, almost soothing style is deceptive. It’s actually a very ambitious text which sets out to address many issues.

The two most obvious themes are the thousands of unaccompanied minors who make the hazardous and often deadly trip from Mexico to join family in the USA and the historic displacement of the Apache people by invading white settlers. That might seem like quite enough for one book, but the writer also explores her faltering relationship with her husband, as professionally they want to go off in different directions – but is it selfish of her to split up the boy and the girl, who have grown up as siblings? Should she sacrifice her own fulfilment and settle for simply following her husband's career?

The writer employs multiple techniques to tell this story. To name but a few - shifting narrators, a book within a book which is read out loud by different protagonists and the use of many cultural references to sign post meaning. These are helpfully listed in the appendix and include TS Eliot’s The Wasteland and Mrs Dalloway.

I thought there were a few missteps along the way. For example towards the end of the book she uses one long sentence which goes on for pages and pages, which I found indigestible. Overall though, I thought the writer pulled off what she wanted to achieve and I found this book to be political without being preachy and beautifully written and clever without feeling pretentious or exclusive.